Lucky you if you live in (the safe parts) of London town: the British Library are hosting an exhibition called “Out of this World” that looks at the history and culture of science fiction. If you, like me, are too far away to visit the London exhibition in person, don’t worry – their website has a bunch of goodies on it, including a short tour of the exhibition by the wise and betentacled China Meiville. I love his comment on how people get into science fiction:
“Anyone who reads a lot of science fiction is always asked ‘How did you get into this?’ and my answer is always , ‘Well, how did you get out of it?’ Because if you take the typical class of six and seven years olds, they love stories about monsters and aliens and other worlds and other planets and so on. What happens is that at a certain time some of them leave those things behind; but others of us remain true to those obsessions.”
Also, check out this podcast with a collection of short and concise talks on the science-fiction genre. It’s definitely worth a listen. I liked his observation that Wikipedia’s list of the highest grossing movies of all time consists mostly of science-fiction/fantasy films. This backs up something obnoxious I always think when someone tells me they don’t like science fiction/fantasy, which is, Ahhh, you mean you don’t know that you like science fiction/fantasy.
