ne of the benefits of working in science fiction is that I rarely get accused of living in the past. Actually, the opposite usually happens, and I am instead berated for living with my head in the clouds, thinking too much of the future, instead of the here and now. But what both sets of finger-pointers don't realize is that either of these alternatives is superior to living in the dull, dreary present.
Sometimes living in the past can be a good thing. This moral was inadvertently pointed out to me by my assistant, Brian Murphy, who I'm sure didn't realize he'd been doing just that when he told me how much neat stuff we've published in Science Fiction Weekly over the years, and how it would be a shame if readers overlooked it. Since those who don't learn from the past are doomed to repeat it, I decided to travel through time to take a look at some of that past. The occasion of the 250th issue of Science Fiction Weekly seemed to be the perfect time to do it. Here's some of what I found.
Six years ago, back in 1996, Kim Stanley Robinson talked in one of our earliest interviews about how science fiction can't seem to resist stories about the human urge to live forever. "The extended lifetime motif becomes one of the great science fiction metaphors for expressing the way life feels," he told our interviewer in issue 23. "In this way, science fiction becomes the most powerful generator of poetry in our time: its metaphors are so striking and beautiful. As for whether we will ever actually extend lifetimes, I can't tell. The biology is so complex, and there's so much we don't understand, that I think the court is still out on that. It might be possible, though; it's not physically impossible, as far as we can tell now; and so I ran with it in the book, and hope for it for our descendants. I'm afraid we were born a bit early for it."
I guess this passage stuck with me because now that Science Fiction Weekly has reached such an advanced age, living forever is something on my mind.
Breaking news from yesterday
I was amazed by how much of yesterday's news still talks to us today. For example, with everyone's favorite conpspiracy series finally coming to an end, it was fun to review what Frank Spotnitz, executive producer of The X-Files, had to say back in issue 134, when it seemed as if the show was about to go off the air: "I could go on forever, but I just think the time is right. There is a point in time when I thought five seasons was going to be it, and then we got two more years of life. And I think it feels right [to finish] at the end of this season." He didn't realize at the time that there were going to be another two seasons on top of that.
And back in issue 155, Brannon Braga had this to say about what would years later appear on our TV screens as Enterprise: "I'm very eager to get involved in something new, and add some new dimension to the franchise. And Rick and I are both very eager to do something different, do something that's going to take people by surprise and get them interested in Star Trek again. Hopefully. Those are lofty goals." Based on the response of Trek fans—both positive and negative—he certainly succeeded in getting their attention.
That's an interesting trio of excerpts, and there are many more where those came from. The history of recent SF—interviews, reviews, and news of proposed projects that may or may not have come to pass—are all waiting for you free of charge. You can do the same as I did, just by clicking the Back Issues button to the left. It would be a shame to miss the thousands of articles archived there.
And while you do that, I remain hard at work creating more back issues, so that when issue 500 is published, I'll be able to take a look back with you once again. Hmmmm... issue 500. Let me check the calendar. Done! Now I know where I'll be on Nov. 13, 2006—right here.
I hope you'll be there to join me.
Scott Edelman started his trek to the editor-in-chief position at Science
Fiction Weekly back in 1974, when he began working as an assistant editor at
Marvel Comics. Between these two positions, this four-time Hugo Award nominee in
the category of Best Editor was the founding editor of the
award-winning magazine Science Fiction Age, and also edited SCI
FI, the official magazine of the SCI FI Channel, in addition to
Sci-Fi Universe, Sci-Fi Flix and Satellite Orbit. A collection of his short fiction, These Words Are Haunted, has just been published by Wildside Press.
