Gordon Van Gelder
Q-1.
Do you think a certain generation gap really exists, or, if not exactly a gap, do you feel some kind of distance between veterans who started their careers before 1960s and the younger generation Y in our genre, at least?
A-1.
When I first read Elizabeth Bear's post about the generation gap, I thought her comments were provocative but weren't really thought out well. (Tangentially, I should mention that the internet seems to encourage just this sort of thinking. It's easy to spend five minutes making a provocative post and then enjoying the popularity as hundreds of people comment. It's harder to spend a few hours thinking something through, researching it, and making a reasoned and balanced argument that doesn't stir up as many bloggers. This is a trend I don't much like, but so it goes.) But regarding the actual question, I don't think there is *one* generation gap. I think there are all sorts of generational differences and it's hard to generalize about them (though it's fun to try). For instance, Jeff Ford (born 1955) has more in common with Kelly Link (born 1969) than Michael Burstein (born 1970) does. I think the gap between writers whose careers started before 1960 and those whose careers started after 2000 is not as large as it was forty years ago if you'd measured the gap between pre-1920 and post-1960 writers. I mean, when Murray Leinster started publishing, Amazing Stories hadn't even been launched. I don't particularly like the term "generation Y," but in science fiction, I do think there are some small differences in the outlook of writers who remember when humanity first set foot on the Moon and the writers who don't. It was a different world in the '50s and '60s when a kid could read one or Robert Heinlein's juvenile novels and think, "Yeah, I could go into space when I grow up!" then it was for people who grew up thinking, "Some people have gone to the Moon and hit golf balls up there." Collectively, our dreams changed.
Q-2.
Do you think the general atmosphere for the genre is less passionate now than, say, thirty years ago? I know there are fewer voters for the Hugo, and even those voters usually vote for their favorite works now, rather than the ones we can boast about as the representative masterpieces of the genre that particular year, as cornerstones of SF history.
A-2.
Well, thirty years ago, I was thirteen, so it's hard for me to say. I do think the science fiction genre changed dramatically in 1969 when Neil Armstrong landed on the moon, and in the decade afterward, as the US space program grew and then shrank, it had a big effect on science fiction. But overall, I think there's as much passion now as there ever was, but some of it is channeled into other forms of expression.
Q-3.
Has fandom changed? Or is it writers who have changed? What are the things that concern them most? They used to be the moon, rockets, a-bombs, wars, urbanization, etc.
A-3.
The world has changed, so of course both fandom and pro-dom have changed. When I check message boards on the internet, I see SF fans arguing about politics, sexuality, race, the environment, and anything else that might matter in the future. I think that was just as true 30 years ago as it is now.
Q-4.
What do you think about the current state of SF? How do you like recent works by the newer generation of writers? Who is your favorite among them, or writers to watch? Can you recommend them to your personal friends who have never read our genre?
A-4.
The current state of the SF/fantasy genre strikes me as being pretty healthy. Lots of writers are doing lots of interesting work without being forced by market trends into doing a lot of things they don't like. There's more good work being published every year than most people can possibly read. This year's award ballots looked pretty diverse to me. All in all, things seem okay. How do I like recent works by the newer generation? Well, it varies from work to work. Even Ted Chiang doesn't hit a home run every time he goes to bat. My favorite writers to watch? Mostly, that's writers I've published in F&SF. In the horror genre, I like the work Laird Barron, John Langan, and Nathan Ballingrud are doing. In Science Fiction, I like the work of Paolo Bacigalupi and Charles Coleman Finlay. In fantasy, I like the stories of Kelly Link and M. Rickert. Those are just examples off the top of my head. Yoon Ha Lee is doing some interesting work right now. The first novels by Dexter Palmer and N. K. Jemison sound interesting to me, but until I get a chance to look at them, I won't know if they're worth recommending.
Q-5.
Which of your works would you like to be read by Japanese readers?
A-5.
Well, I'd love to have every issue of F&SF reprinted in Japanese *in toto.* I'd also love to see the anthology of Mars stories that I assembled, Fourth Planet from the Sun, be made available in Japanese. But if you're looking for specific writers or stories, here are a few I recommend: * Albert Cowdrey's stories "The Tribes of Bela" and "Murder on the Flying Vatican" are first-rate science fiction. * Matthew Hughes's Henghis Hapthorn stories are some of my favorites from the past five years. * Carolyn Gilman's "Economancer" in our next issue (June/July 2009) * James L. Cambias has written a lot of good science fiction (like "Balancing Accounts") without attracing much notice. That's just a few that come to mind right now.
Q-6.
What is your current work? Your next project?
A-6.
Thanks for asking. I'm busy preparing the Sixtieth Anniversary issue of F&SF and also publishing a BEST FROM F&SF anthology with Tachyon Publications. After that's done, then I'm hoping to launch a few more projects . . . but until they're off the ground, I don't want to say anything.
