genuinegirly

I'm a science fiction junkie, and have been since before I could speak. If it's sci-fi, I'll read, listen, watch, and enjoy every second. I become attached to the stories, planets, characters, science, and technology. Whether geared for adults or children, I'm a fan. From classic Jules Verne to Starship Troopers, I can't get enough (Oh, and the steampunk movement has brought the genre to a whole new level of yay). Even though this is one of my passions, I've become aware that a large percentage of women in this world are indifferent - or even hostile - to the genre. Hearing perspectives in real life has made me curious about your interest.

A few questions to help guide the discussion... feel free to answer all, none, or simply share your thoughts as you see fit.

What do you think of when this genre is mentioned, do you have a positive or negative mental image?
Do you gravitate to this genre, or stay clear?
What is your favorite piece?
Do you have any treasured childhood memories on the topic?
How do you view the portrayal of women by the genre?
How do you respond when you meet a woman with interest in the topic?
List the first 5+ sci-fi works that come to your mind.

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What do you think of when this genre is mentioned, do you have a positive or negative mental image?
The first thing that I think of is classic Star Trek - cheezy sets, terrible acting, and unexpected adventures.
Do you gravitate to this genera, or stay clear?
You know the answer to that already.
What is your favorite piece
The Restaurant at the End of the Universe
Do you have any treasured childhood memories on the topic?
Yes. Too many for my own good. My siblings dressed me up like Princess Leia frequently. Oh, and one especially poignant memory is that of my brother reading excerpts from Hitchhiker's Guide at the dinner table, resulting in bouts of laughter.
How do you view the portrayal of women by the genre?
Mixed. I wasn't fond of Classical Star Trek's take on women, but I love how Princess Leia took control and basically rescued herself in A New Hope. In David Weber's Safehold series, the fate of the world is placed squarely on the capable shoulders of a young woman android who transforms herself into a man - seeing Merlin with a woman's set of emotions is really pretty entertaining. Then there's video games where nearly every woman seems to be under-dressed, curvy, and senselessly stupid - except, as more women show interest in gaming, this seems to be diminishing.
How do you respond when you meet a woman with interest on the topic?
As a child, if I met another girl who liked science fiction, we frequently became inseparable. It was always welcome to find someone with whom I could easily converse. There wasn't any shortage of topics to discuss. As an adult, sci-fi doesn't come up often in conversation. Most people have no clue that I'm such a geek. When among fellow scientists, little references to sci-fi are occasionally made, in which case it's nice to see their look as I respond appropriately (laughing or rattling off the following line). I had an office-mate that was equally versed on Star Wars as I was, and that made for some fun conversations. I do have a group of microscope nerds that I sit with at lunchtime and the discussion usually revolves around various sci-fi topics, but those are mainly men. The one other woman that usually joins us is younger and doesn't quite have the same depth of interest. Sci-fi trivia has shockingly come in handy at dinner parties and cocktail hours as an ice-breaker.
List the first 5+ sci-fi things that come to your mind.
Star Wars
Tabula Rasa
War of the Worlds
Earth 2
Perelandra

__________________
"Sometimes I have to remember that things are brought to me for a reason, either for my own lessons or for the benefit of others." Cynthetiq

"violence is no more or less real than non-violence." roachboy

GreyWolf

I'm a sci-fi junkie myself of MANY years (too many to mention). I've been reading it for on the order of 50 years now. It is definitely my preferred genre, and I have a personal collection of almost 800 volumes.

To answer your questions:

What do you think of when this genre is mentioned, do you have a positive or negative mental image?
Definitely positive, as you can imagine. I find it invokes flights of fancy that take you beyond the plot structure of a particular novel/series in ways that no other genre can match.

Do you gravitate to this genre, or stay clear?
Gravitate, as in black hole.

What is your favorite piece?
Tie between Julian May's Pliocene Saga/Intervention/Galactic Milieu works and the first 5 of Jack Chalker's Well World series (which always requires a tip of the hat to Forbidden Planet/W J Stuart)

Do you have any treasured childhood memories on the topic?
My father loved westerns and sci-fi. I began reading the Tom Swift Junior books when I was barely able to read. Had the whole collection, which disappeared in an unfortunate situation . I remember reading The Green Brain when it was first published; I would have been 10 or so.

How do you view the portrayal of women by the genre?
Getting better ... come a long way since Dejah Thoris; although Princess Leia seems cut from the same cloth.

How do you respond when you meet a woman with interest in the topic?
Always a pleasure to meet someone who loves sci-fi, simply a nice bonus if she's a woman as it's relatively rare.

List the first 5+ sci-fi works that come to your mind.
Isaac Asimov - Foundation/Robots series.
Julian May - Pliocene Saga/Intervention/Galactic Milieu
Jack Chalker - Well World series (first 5, anyway)
Jules Verne - 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea
Marion Zimmer Bradley - the early Darkover books (pre-1988)

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The secret to great marksmanship is deciding what the target was AFTER you've shot.

genuinegirly

Grey Wolf, thanks for jumping in. Your bookcases must be filled to the brim. I'm going to have to check out some of those titles!

__________________
"Sometimes I have to remember that things are brought to me for a reason, either for my own lessons or for the benefit of others." Cynthetiq

"violence is no more or less real than non-violence." roachboy

spindles

Yep, I'm a bit of a nerd too. My bookshelf has a *lot* of Fantasy on it, but it not without Sci-Fi as well.

What do you think of when this genre is mentioned, do you have a positive or negative mental image?
Positive - one of my elder brothers has a serious book collection, and we've always (as a family) shared books. Funnily enough I never really got into Star Trek, though. TV in Oz is *very* sci-fi unfriendly. Most shows in this genre (if they are on at all) tend to be played late at night, out of sequence etc.

What I love about novels by guys like Heinlein is the science in them - written decades before man actually landed on the moon, these works show that the approach used to build things was well known well before we had the ability to actually build them.

Do you gravitate to this genre, or stay clear?
Absolutely gravitate.

Do you have any treasured childhood memories on the topic?
8 years old - going to the drive in to see Star Wars when it first came out.


How do you view the portrayal of women by the genre?
How do you respond when you meet a woman with interest in the topic?
These are hard to answer - do these women really exist?


List the first 5+ sci-fi works that come to your mind.
The Dune series
Star Wars
Starship Troopers (the book much more than the movie)
Robot series (Asimov)
Firefly (yes I know this is a western in space, but I'm a huge fan)

what about some favourite authors?
In no particular order - just how they come to my mind:
Piers Anthony - Bio of a Space Tyrant series
Alastair Reynolds - I read Relevation Space - and was hooked on his work. I've read quite a few of his book and enjoyed them all
CJ Cherryh - the Faded Sun Trilogy. I had previously read "Fortress in the Eye of Time" which is fantasy, and picked this one up in a sale.
Richard Morgan - Altered Carbon - good read.
John Scalzi - Old Mans War.

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GreyWolf

GG... I'm in the midst of recataloguing all my books. Most are in boxes and spread all over the house anyway. The sci-fi is only the largest part of over 2000 books (that doesn't count the comic books, which are mostly collector's editions). If you can get 100 pages or so into the Pliocene saga, you will probably be hooked. It does drag in places, but DAMN!!!... when you get through to the second set, Intervention, and eventually to the Galactic Milieu trilogy where everything comes together, it is mind-boggling. Midnight at the Well of Souls is a gripping read from the first chapter, IMO.

Spindles... I have about 40 Piers Anthony books including the Bio of a Space Tyrant. I enjoyed it, but found that it was probably 1 volume too long. I prefer his Xanth novels (early ones, anyway). I never enjoyed Dune that much, but read the first 3 books. And who doesn't like Heinlein? Space Cadet was the first ever hard cover sci-fi book I owned (when I was a kid). And as I said... the Robot series, and how it eventually tied into the Foundation series was simply one of the greatest plot twists in history, ranking up with the resolution of the Julian May series above.

__________________
The secret to great marksmanship is deciding what the target was AFTER you've shot.

spindles

I am sad to say I am yet to read *any* of the foundation series - blasphemous, I know.

Hangs head

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who hid my keyboard's PANIC button?

Anxst

What do you think of when this genre is mentioned, do you have a positive or negative mental image?

Positive mental image. I've always loved sci-fi. In some ways, I believe that sci-fi is our future. In my opinion, one of the reasons things from sci-fi so commonly arrive in the real world in some form is because we can only engineer what we can imagine. Sci-fi is the idea testbed for our future.

Do you gravitate to this genre, or stay clear?

I gravitate to the genre. For fiction books, sci-fi and fantasy are my main genres.

What is your favorite piece?

Such a tough call. I think I will have to go with The Moon is a Harsh Mistress by Heinlein. The ideas in it seemed so wild but believable when I was a kid. Even now, the seeds of realistic societal changes are there. It's a future that could happen, and shows something that I could believably see resulting in revolution in such a society.

Do you have any treasured childhood memories on the topic?

I well remember reading sci-fi novels when we were camping in the summer, and telling my dad the stories of what I'd read when we went fishing the next morning. Although he was never a big reader, it got him into sci-fi movies, and we always had a great time watching and then discussing them.

How do you view the portrayal of women by the genre?

Differs by author, but overall it's pretty poor. It has gotten better, and I certainly hope it continues to improve.

Oddly, I always felt the sci-fi childrens authors had the better portrayals of women in their books, and I hope that, combined with the changing status of women in society, has been what led the new generations of male authors to have better thoughts on portraying women in their writings.

How do you respond when you meet a woman with interest in the topic?

The same as I do when meeting anyone with an interest in the topic: I start a conversation! I love talking any of my interests with people, male or female.

List the first 5+ sci-fi works that come to your mind.

The Moon is a Harsh Mistress by Robert A. Heinlein
Dune by Frank Herbert
Old Man's War by John Scalzi
Sassinak by Anne McCaffrey and Elizabeth Moon
Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card
Anathem by Neal Stephenson
The Mote in God's Eye by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle
The Warrior's Apprentice by Lois McMaster Bujold

If one of those doesn't get someone to love sci-fi, I wouldn't know where to send them anymore.

__________________
Don't mind me. I'm just releasing the insanity pressure from my headvalves.

Leto

Now you've freakin' done it. I was expecting to be productive at work today but now... This is as bad as a Stanley Cup game everything else comes to a halt!


What do you think of when this genre is mentioned, do you have a positive or negative mental image?

Positive - Very Positive.


Do you gravitate to this genre, or stay clear?
gravitate.

I was a total fan of Star Trek on TV. Also other shows like The Time Tunnel, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, Land of the Giants, Planet of the Apes, It's About Time. Later it was Space: 1999 & The Starlost)

In high school I took the plunge and joined up with the Science Fiction Book Club. I still have those tomes. Including the annual Hugo Award Winners.


Do you have any treasured childhood memories on the topic?
9th birthday - celebrating by going to the movies to see 2001: A Space Odyssey

What is your favorite piece?
I keep going back to Larry Niven - Known Space - it's just a fun relaxing read. But I must say that I have read through the Dune series about 3 times and the Prequels as well. So that may be my favourite.

How do you view the portrayal of women by the genre?
Getting better - the Dune series really explored this aspect. On the other hand, Heinlein tended to appeal to my hormonal side.

How do you respond when you meet a woman with interest in the topic?
Surprise - at first - like in this OP. Then I realize that currently the internet has spread this niche out into a more mainstream genre (video games etc) and hopefully women are included.


List the first 5+ sci-fi works that come to your mind.
The Dune Series (Herbert) (obviously a fan by my sig)

Foundation Series (Asimov)

Neutron Star Known Space series (Niven)

Also Ringworld by Niven

An Alien Heat (Dancers at the End of Time - Book 1) Moorcock - actually this particular series caused me to reluctantly blend over to dabble in fantasy. But in a good way. i didn't linger for long, just enough to read all of Moorcock's oeuvre, as well as side trips to Donaldson's Thomas Covenant series.

The Real Story:The Gap Into Conflict series - Donaldson's foray into (really) hard Sci-Fi. and highly recommended



what about some favourite authors?
Arthur C Clarke - in addition to 2001, there are countless others: Rendezvous with Rama, Fountains of Paradise (which is set in Sri Lanka of all places), Childhood's end
John Wyndham - can't get enough of his writing. Loved The Day of the Triffids.
Robert Heinlein - Number of the Beast - read it so many times, I had to buy a replacement copy; Stranger In A Strange Land - Grok!
Kim Stanley Robinson - Mars Trilogy
Robert J. Sawyer - Local Toronto writer (Flash Forward, Hominids)
another local Toronto writer: Karl Schroeder: Ventus
Kurt Vonnegut Jr - Slaughterhouse 5
Doris Lessing - Shikasta first in the Canopus in Argos: Archives

!~~~~~~
Additions:

gaa! I forgot Douglas Adams. I remember reading Hitch-Hiker's Guide back in 1981 - and laughing out loud on the bus. People stared. It was unnerving.
John Brunner : The Sheep Look Up, Stand on Zanzibar
Nevil Shute: On the Beach
Michael Crichton: Andromeda Strain
Ray Bradbury: Martian Chronicles

__________________
You said you didn't give a fuck about hockey
And I never saw someone say that before
You held my hand and we walked home the long way
You were loosening my grip on Bobby Orr

http://dune.wikia.com/wiki/Leto_Atreides_I

genuinegirly

That's how I feel about everyone's responses.

Wow, you guys are passionate about your sci-fi! Thanks for adding to my list of stuff to read/watch/play. This thread is starting to feel like a little book club.

__________________
"Sometimes I have to remember that things are brought to me for a reason, either for my own lessons or for the benefit of others." Cynthetiq

"violence is no more or less real than non-violence." roachboy

Willravel

What do you think of when this genre is mentioned, do you have a positive or negative mental image?
I generally get a positive feeling when science fiction is mentioned.
Do you gravitate to this genre, or stay clear?
I definitely gravitate to the genre.
What is your favorite piece?
My favorite pieces of science fiction are undoubtedly Dune and Foundation. Please don't as me to choose. They're both brilliant, complex, challenging, and groundbreaking works of fiction that inspire me and bring me great joy as a reader.
Do you have any treasured childhood memories on the topic?
After my grandfather passed away, I read Arthur C. Clark's Childhood's End while listening to my grandfather's favorite piece of music, Dvořák's Symphony No. 9. It was my own way of celebrating his life.
How do you view the portrayal of women by the genre?
In the mainstream, there's a lot more work to be done. Women in science fiction went from damsels in distress and sex objects to either one-dimensional warriors (who say "Bitch" a lot, you know, because Ripley said it) or overly emotional, immature woman-children. The best examples of female characters, imho, come more from novels. As a person who personally knows many women, I prefer when women in fiction have full personalities with consistent beliefs and opinions and traits, more akin to a real human being. When they're relegated to being a male virgin's caricature of a woman, the character is hollow and the story suffers as a result.
How do you respond when you meet a woman with interest in the topic?
Immediate intellectual attraction. I love science fiction with all my heart, and finding another person and potential mate with the same feelings draws me in like a moth to a flame. If she's hot, I might just propose. In all seriousness, it's really cool. For reasons outside of my understanding, the cliche is that science fiction should be more oriented towards and appreciated by men. Unfortunately, a lot of women buy into that and miss out on amazing stories, characters and ideas that they could really enjoy. To find a woman who's ignored that rubbish and who knows what she likes is awesome.
List the first 5+ sci-fi works that come to your mind.
Dune, Foundation, Stranger in a Strange Land, Brave New World, and Blade Runner.

Willem

What do you think of when this genre is mentioned, do you have a positive or negative mental image?
-About a notch below "Hello Nurse!"

Do you gravitate to this genre, or stay clear?
-see above and would not be posting if not.

What is your favorite piece?
-Bruce Sterling: Heavy Weather
-Heinlein:Moon is a Harsh Mistress

Do you have any treasured childhood memories on the topic?
-watching Robotech and Interster (South African and Afrikaans language sci-fi puppet show). Getting caught reading Vance's Palace of Love in primary school and causing a bit of a scandal , my dad catching me reading either stranger or fear no evil(never did get the birds and bee's talk...)

How do you view the portrayal of women by the genre?
-Mostly a bit of a hollow shell/damsel/bitch/puppy dog but getting better.

How do you respond when you meet a woman with interest in the topic?
-Divide by Zero

List the first 5+ sci-fi works that come to your mind
-Robotech, Bruce Sterling/Charlie Stross/Ken Mcleod ,Dune,Heinlein,Baen Books

EventHorizon

Neuromancer ftw

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Does Marcellus Wallace have the appearance of a female canine? Then for what reason did you attempt to copulate with him as if he were a female canine?

Quote:

Originally Posted by canuckguy Pretty simple really, do your own thing as long as it does not fuck with anyone's enjoyment of life.

spindles

I noticed someone mentioned Elizabeth Moon - if you want good female 'leads', her two sci-fi series (Vatta's War and Serrano Legacy) are both worth a read. Vatta's War series is earlier and isn't as polished, but both worth the time to read.

Her fantasy work (the Deed of Paksenarrion) is also excellent

The Deed of Paksenarrion - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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kramus

I read the Jules Verne series when younger, and really liked the feeling that here was a guy who was an original thinker and who really, really tried to put himself and his readers in places no one ever really thought about before. It was breath-taking. I had to take it slow because the flavour of the language was something I wasn't used to. Fortunately there were a fair number of books in my parent's house that had been written in the 30's and 40's - they helped me step back into the literary usages of the turn of the last century. My treasured gift from my mom is her first edition full set of his work with hand coloured frontispieces. I guess being the only one of her kids who read her books helped me there.

Read my first Heinlein juvenile fiction - I think it may have been Rocket Ship Galileo, and wondered what else I'd been missing. I maybe was 8 at the time? Looked for all his books at the school library. Loved Red Planet, Farmer in the Sky, Between Planets, you name it I read it. As I grew up so did the nature of the books available from Heinlein. It was always a pleasure to find a new one on the shelf somewhere. I loved how he made it seem so natural for people to live lives in the new situations that may arise. And the way he could toss in off the cuff references to major upheavals in society that shook my monolithic understanding of the world and allowed me to reconsider possibilities, reassess history, and evaluate change as a constant as opposed to anathema.

I remember coming home for lunch from high school and finding a shipment of SF books had shown up that I'd ordered via the mail from Ballantines or some such seller. I would tear it open, and start 2 or 3 books while eating lunch, and say to hell with it. Bail on school the rest of the day. Finish those books before going to bed, and bringing a fresh one down to read at breakfast the next day. Ah, youth.

I don't really think specifically about portrayal of women in the books. More about the portrayal of people living and breathing and dealing with situations framed by the imagination of the author. If you want an interesting look at women in the genre try Cecelia Holland's Floating Worlds. Or Kingsbury's Courtship Rite. Or the Gaea series by John Varley. Or David R. Palmer's Emergence (which also covers woman-child people and another take on the concept of Indigo Children).

I don't have a packaged response to women who read /watch the genre. It is great that my Lady is a Star Trek nerd - she knows episodes by number for heavens sake. I love that, but women enjoying SF isn't something that I've ever really paid any mind to as particularly special. Women are great in general. The specifics are what makes them individually great.

Early works that come to mind - how about authors instead? We already covered Heinlein and Verne . . .

John Wyndenham (The Day of the Triffids · The Kraken Wakes · The Chrysalids · The Midwich Cuckoos · The Outward Urge · Trouble with Lichen)

John Christopher (The Tripods trilogy · No Blade of Grass · The Ragged Edge · Pendulum)

Larry Niven has been mentioned. I love his Known Space books and short stories, and the weaving together of stories that he did with World of Ptavvs, the Ringworld books and the Beowulf Schaeffer stories. Not to mention the Mote books he co-wrote with Jerry Pournelle

I have to join in mentioning Dune, and the other Herbert books that go with it.

only 5? then I'll say C.J. Cherryh (just start reading Cherryh, doesn't matter what) in the same breath as the already listed Louis McMaster Bujold (again, anything that mentions Miles Vorkosigan is FTW). That ought to help cover the idea of women in SF because they are both such masterful female authors

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chinese crested

Dune sticks especialy - because a man I loved kept watching the same bit over and over, and he kept saying 'the answers there' - but I dont know what the question or answer are as he died and I hadnt asked him.
Have lots of sci fi, and have an interest in Arthurian myths and legends. Marion Zimmer Bradley was one author I followed from one genre to the other.
Do like Anne Rice - her descriptions are rich - probably influenced by the style she used writing slightly erotic books for ladies - although she is not sci-fi as far as I know. Moorcock at an early age - first picked up one of his books as I knew the authors name would disgust my mother.
Most recent good read was One dog at a time by Penn Farthing. Penn was on active service in Helmund, and came across a dog in need, and a dog became some dogs. Its written from his heart - and you do feel that he has transported you there, and you share his worries.
Currently re-reading Tad Williams book about Tailchaser.
Ought to read Thackerys The Rose and The Ring - a lot of politicaly inspired poems - but its a very old book, and the pages have not been cut, so I have just glimpsed bits in pockets. Any foolproof method of cutting pages open advice would be appreciated.

Leto

old book with uncut pages? You lost me there. can you use an Xacto knife?

__________________
You said you didn't give a fuck about hockey
And I never saw someone say that before
You held my hand and we walked home the long way
You were loosening my grip on Bobby Orr

http://dune.wikia.com/wiki/Leto_Atreides_I

chinese crested

Its linen bound, published 1879 (or was that 1897), has, from what I can see, some pretty and funny prints. A lot of the peotry is satirical/political. Its a bit tatty on the outside, but has never been opened up. I am afraid of damaging it. I rescued it some years ago from a thrift store type of shop. Its lucky it wasnt cut up and prints framed individualy.

Leto

Interesting. can you take a picture of it and post it?

I found this info at least it is a definition:

uncut - Refers to the untrimmed pages of a book—the edges appear rough and uneven. In early bookbinding, the unbound pages of a book were left uncut until the binder trimmed them flush and smooth as part of the binding process. Today the terms uncut and unopened are often used synonymously. See also deckle edges.


unopened - The folded edges of the signatures have not been cut open for reading. The book has been left in the beginning stages of its binding process or it was issued in this manner.


In the hand press period (up to about 1820) books were manufactured by printing text on both sides of a full sheet of paper and then folding the paper one or more times into a group of leaves or "gathering." The binder would sew the gatherings (sometimes also called "signatures") through their inner hinges and attached to cords in the spine to form the book block. Before the covers were bound to the book, the block of text pages was sometimes trimmed along the three unbound edges to open the folds of the paper and to produce smooth edges for the book. When the leaves were not trimmed, the reader would have to cut open the leaf edges using a knife.


so Maybe an Xacto knife will work.

__________________
You said you didn't give a fuck about hockey
And I never saw someone say that before
You held my hand and we walked home the long way
You were loosening my grip on Bobby Orr

http://dune.wikia.com/wiki/Leto_Atreides_I

pan6467

The very under rated H Beam Piper......

__________________
I just love people who use the excuse "I use/do this because I LOVE the feeling/joy/happiness it brings me" and expect you to be ok with that as you watch them destroy their life blindly following. My response is, "I like to put forks in an eletrical socket, just LOVE that feeling, can't ever get enough of it, so will you let me put this copper fork in that electric socket?"

Mssmartypants

What do you think of when this genre is mentioned, do you have a positive or negative mental image?
Positive. I am a big fan of science fiction and fantasy.
Do you gravitate to this genre, or stay clear?
I gravitate towards it.

What is your favorite piece?
Some of my favorites
-A Clockwork Orange
-Anthem by Ayn Rand
-Herland by Charlotte Perkins Gilman





Do you have any treasured childhood memories on the topic?
I was so enthralled by Ayn Rand's "Anthem" at 12 years old. It was a dystopian world, three years before Orwell's 1984. Although I was born in the 80s, I remember watching old twilight zone episodes back to back. Many twilight zone episodes were inspired by short works of science fiction.


How do you view the portrayal of women by the genre? strong female types in sci fi FILMS comes to mind.
Lisa in the Omega man, Sarah Connor in Terminator & Terminator 2, Dana Scully in The X-Files, Princess Leia Organa in Star Wars, Leeloo in The Fifth Element, Ellen Ripley in Alien films, Trinity in The Matrix, etc.
How do you respond when you meet a woman with interest in the topic?
List the first 5+ sci-fi works that come to your mind.
-Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? aka Blade Runner
-The Time Machine H.G. Wells
-No Exit by Jean-Paul Sartre
-Brave New World, a book by Aldous Huxley
-Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury

chinese crested

Thankyou Leto. I am unopened. I did ask at a local picture framer who also sold books - thinking he would have a steady hand and could share the experience - but he just wanted to flog it or get his paws on my etchings! Obviously not a gentleman!

greytone

What do you think of when this genre is mentioned, do you have a positive or negative mental image?
I generally have a positive image of SciFi, and have since I first read Space Cadet by Heinlein in the late seventies. It took me a while to realize he had written his juveniles lang before the Neil Armstrong took a lunar stroll.

Do you gravitate to this genre, or stay clear?
I periodically look for new authors or new books by favorites.

What is your favorite piece?
It is hard to say. The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress is probably it. All of Heinlein's work feels like an old friend to me.

Do you have any treasured childhood memories on the topic?
I remember having just a minute to choose a book off a small shelf in reading class. Nothing much appealed to me, but Space Cadet caught my eye. I was afraid to choose it because the title and cover art seemed goofy. I picked it up and it changed how I selected my reading material forever.

How do you view the portrayal of women by the genre?
It varies, but I tend to enjoy literature with strong female characters.

How do you respond when you meet a woman with interest in the topic?
I am still waiting for this too happen.


I just finished rereading Requiem about Heinlein. I would recommend it to SciFi fan and it made me relook at his early stuff as well as his social predictions. I really enjoy Scalzi. Old Man's War is really imaginative. I loved Asimov's Robot series, but I was never a big fan of Foundation. I read Hitchhiker every few years. Whenever someone comes up to me at work and says they have a question, I always give the same answer.......42.

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I was there to see beautiful naked women. So was everybody else. It's a common failing.
Robert A Heinlein in "They Do It With Mirrors"

fresnelly

Good idea for a thread!

What do you think of when this genre is mentioned, do you have a positive or negative mental image?

It depends on the medium. I have a much more positive outlook towards SF books given the breadth of sub-genres and imagination on offer. Most SF Movies and TV shows limit themselves to military scenarios or horror tropes. I'm much more interested in the wonders of the universe and the future of mankind than I am about an elite team of space-vampires out there hunting Aliens. Actually that doesn't sound too bad...I'm less interested in say, a serial killer loose on a space ship far from home.

We'll likely never see a proper film adaptation of Arthur C. Clarke's Rendezvous With Rama because there's no love story, no cute robots and no monsters - just thrilling exploration.


Do you gravitate to this genre, or stay clear?

Yes I gravitate. Lately I'm feeling guilty for not seeking out something more "literary". I'm a bit jaded on Canlit these days so it's hard not to find myself pulled into the SF shelves at the Library.

What is your favorite piece?

I think The Light Of Other Days by Stephen Baxter and Arthur C. Clarke. It's an easy read and perhaps overly optimistic but I loved how they explored the development of a fun new technology and its impact on society. It was also prescient given how social media is changing things. I don't want to spoil it.


Do you have any treasured childhood memories on the topic?

Falling in love with Star Wars and other movies like The Explorers.


How do you view the portrayal of women by the genre?

It's improved in that they aren't nearly as helpless and weak as in the past (see Doctor Who Companions from 1963 vs. present, Firefly etc...) but here's probably a thesis to be done exploring the Hollywood sexy-scientist cliche.

How do you respond when you meet a woman with interest in the topic?

Enthusiastically. My prejudice is that they will be dismissive.


List the first 5+ sci-fi works that come to your mind.

Super-8 - Saw it and enjoyed it last week.
Manifold Space - Mind-blowing trilogy by Stephen Baxter
Einstein's Dreams - more like Phi-Fi by Alan Lightman.
Pushing Ice - Great "Hard" sci-fi by Alastair Reynolds.
Brasyl by Ian McDonald. It's what I'm reading right now.

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Building an artificial intelligence that appreciates Mozart is easy. Building an A.I. that appreciates a theme restaurant is the real challenge - Kit Roebuck - Nine Planets Without Intelligent Life