http://3dgpu.com/archives/2005/02/01/sci-fi-authors-strike-back/ The old adage remains - "truth is stranger than fiction". Even Science Fiction. There was a time when Science Fiction as a genre was considered something of a red-headed stepchild compared to "more serious" literature, but thanks to works like Alfred Bester's "The Demolished Man" (winner of the first Hugo award), Doc Smith's "Lensman" series, Sci-Fi Grandmaster Robert Heinlein's "The Moon is a Harsh Mistress", and Orson Scott Card's "Ender's Game", this is no longer the case. Sci-Fi has become big business, both in print and on film. This seems like a no-brainer, but apparently the good people over at PublishAmerica (assumed by many authors to be a "thinly veiled 'vanity publisher'") think differently. They wrote, on one of their sites, that "as a rule of thumb, the quality bar for sci-fi and fantasy is a lot lower than for all other fiction…." and continued in that vein, insinuating that the authors that write sci-fi and fantasy are not capable of writing believable storylines or characters. In the days of chivalry, this was called "throwing down the gauntlet", and writers love nothing more than a good challenge. For writers whose stock in trade involves the creation and destruction of entire worlds before breakfast, this was a golden chance to challenge the interloper on their own turf. QUOTE: Over a holiday weekend last year, some thirty-odd science fiction writers banged out a chapter or two apiece of "Atlanta Nights," a novel about hot times in Atlanta high society. Their objective: to write a deeply awful novel to submit to PublishAmerica, a self-described "traditional publisher" located in Frederick, Maryland. /QUOTE I won't spoil it for you. Click these links to see how it turned out: http://www.prweb.com/releases/2005/1/prweb202277.htm http://journals.aol.com/johnmscalzi/bytheway/entries/3500 -- johne cook | johne.cook at gmail.com | http://www.phywriter.com |