Look at that smile!
Since everyone in my writing circle
seems to be doing a “welcome to 2019” thing, I figured I might as
well do the same. And its a way to do some dusting around here.
The blog has lain fallow for a couple
months, but for good reason. I'm working on a Mech Space Opera taking
influence from a lot that I've learned (and also un-learned
from my academic indoctrination) and putting into practice. Its going
to be big. Its going to be sweeping. Its going to come in at a
reasonable page count instead of a doorstopper. Its going to be
contrary to every major Science Fiction franchise in the West that's
devolved into meaningless goo over the last twenty years. Its going
to be four books, to start. I'm about halfway done with the draft of
book one, and the few eyes that have laid upon it, are stoked. Its
like “Red Dawn” meets “Buck Rogers,” but that's just a starting point.
I'm
hyping this up because a) I should probably do that some more when it
comes to my own work, and b) I'm legitimately excited to write this
story. In a lot of ways its a throwback love letter to the 80s sci-fi
that shaped me like Star Wars was a throwback to the 40s sci-fi that
shaped George Lucas. Its going to be nuts, and once I have more
details hammered out after the first draft, I'll start doing lore
posts for it.
As for
the broader world of science fiction and fantasy? I probably won't be
talking too much about that, because it would be beating a dead horse. Doom has already befallen every major
franchise under the sun owned by a massive corporation. The video
game industry is barreling toward a major crash for the big
publishers, and it looks like Hollywood and Music are also going that
way. Barnes & Noble is on its last legs, and when it goes, Big
Publishing is going to have a reckoning too.
In
short, Hell has come to Frogtown.
So
what do I think is actually going to arise this year?
Horror.
I think Horror is going to get more experimental and weirder as
talent flees the sinking ships of mainstream SF/F. Probably more
throwbacks, too, but not failures like the Mummy reboot reboot
reboot.
Fantasy.
Probably going to see a decline as everyone cringes away from Harry
Potter. The interesting stuff is going to be in the short story
market.
Science
Fiction. This is going to be a battleground, and I'll be there. Both
Pulp SF and Hard SF (represented by Star Wars and Star Trek,
respectively) are in extremely dire straits, and the spoils are ripe
for new blood to take advantage of audiences that are starving for
optimistic space adventures. Nick Cole and Jason Anspach are doing a
lot of great work with Galaxy's Edge, and I expect that series to
grow by leaps and bounds, but its a wide-open galaxy out there,
waiting to be conquered.
Westerns.
I've noticed Westerns have been quietly coming back to book shelves
over the last two years or so. I think it'll stay mostly underground,
but I think Westerns are going to slowly keep building momentum,
especially as Middle America ponders things like national identity
and what it means to be
an American.
Yesterday on Twitter, I ragged hard on
the Battlestar Galactica reboot as being boring, subversive trash
that was the root of modern (visual) SF being needlessly gritty with
unlikable characters and no payoff to anything. It was a good convo,
with some insightful back-and-forth. Over the course of the rant, I
linked to a 2004 essay written by Dirk Benedict, the original Lieutenant Starbuck from Battlestar Galactica in the late 70s.
I suggest reading it because Benedict
is quite eloquent in it, and every single observation that he lays
out is 100% relevant to the state of entertainment in 2019. And this
was written fifteen years ago.
There's a lot to meditate on there moving forward into the new year.
There's a lot to meditate on there moving forward into the new year.
