I think part of it may be (especially with "hard" SF) that our technological development has gotten to the point where it is getting hard for writers to postulate future tech and keep up the "gee-whiz factor". Look at how dated the original Star Trek TV show seems. Heck, look at Star Wars where the control rooms have banks of blinking lights and computer terminals and communicators that look clunky and crude to eyes that have seen the BlackBerry and Bluetooth Phones. We are starting to push Clarke's Law with speculative Sci-Fi, because to keep that cutting-edge-of science feel, we start gettng into quantum-based theories and exploiting those gives results nearly indistinguishable from the magic of pure fantasy. And the window of acceptance for techno-babble is narrowing rapidly as new discoveries pile up. The techno-babble of even the more recent Star Trek shows rings hollow (sometimes absurdly so) today if you're at all following science.
All this makes writing good SF harder and harder, and Fantasy easier by comparison. Myself, I like a good science-fantasy. Give me starships with plausible drives and aliens and heroes with magical or psychic powers.
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timeasmymeasure
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Date: 2008-05-21 09:17 pm (UTC)All this makes writing good SF harder and harder, and Fantasy easier by comparison. Myself, I like a good science-fantasy. Give me starships with plausible drives and aliens and heroes with magical or psychic powers.