|
|
|
|
Horror Hacks vs SF Scribes
opinion by Peter Schilling
It takes a great deal of imagination, and intelligence, to write a good horror story.
It takes a great deal of intelligence and imagination to write a good science fiction
story, too. But, anyone can write an average, or mediocre, horror story. You don't have
to be a genius to tap into human fears and phobias, and bash off some sort of nightmare
tale. And yet, it still takes a pretty fair amount of imagination and intelligence to
write even average, or mediocre, science fiction.
Why? Because, although there is a substantial grey area where the genres overlap, SF
and horror are - clearly two quite distinct forms of literature with the history of
horror entirely dissimilar to the development of SF.
Horror is subjective, and it has always been with us. Man is an animal, and primal fears
have haunted humanity since primitive times. Night, the most enduring symbol of horror,
has always seemed to be the domain of unknown and perhaps evil creatures, and even today
people are afraid of the dark. Horror literature stems from the traditions of oral storytelling,
and creepy tales of terror are probably as old as any language.
SF is based on a comparatively new mode of human philosophy and thought. Indeed, it has
been remarked (perhaps not entirely in jest) that SF writers and fans may be the next
evolutionary step forward for mankind! SF resulted in part from the widespread social
and century's industrial revolution. Since the era when workers left the fields for the
factories, and human curiosity lead to a growing understanding of the physical world,
the drive to control the environroent and conquer our animal fears has become a dominant
feature of the human psyche. SF provides an arena wherein 'Big Ideas' (and Questions and
Answers!), may be examined from all sides. And, quite unlike the the postmodern form of
horror writing, which, however powerful its language, still tends to continuously regurgitate
the same tired old clichés, SF has grown in sophistication over the decades.
And, whether certain elements in the SF community like it or not, the genre's primary
concern is the variety of possibilities that are implied by impatient progress, and the
appliance of science. Unlike horror stories, where an active imagination may be sufficient
to detail the psychological and/or physical impact of supernatural forces on human bodies
and minds, SF demands a measure of intellectual prowess.
To fantasise is not enough. For no matter how great a writer's powers of invention or how
skilled his use of the thesaurus, if he cannot abandon self-indulgence for objectivity,
and if he fails to observe - and then reflect, and if he never bothers to hypothesize or
extrapolate, then he will never produce any worthwhile SF.
|
|
SMALL PRESS REVIEW
SF SATIRE & GENERAL HUMOUR
NEWSLETTER OF PIGASUS PRESS
GENRE THEMED ANTHOLOGY
GENRE FICTION, POETRY & ART
HELICOPTERS IN FILMS & TV
HORROR HUMOUR PROSE & ART
MONTHLY VHS & DVD REVIEWS
SF, FANTASY, HORROR, MYSTERY
|
|
