Friday, August 26, 2011

What Is Science Fiction?

For the 1976 hardcover first edition of Man Plus by Frederik Pohl, the promotional writing on the front flap of the dust jacket says this:
Man Plus is so superbly well done that it will appeal not only to science fiction fans but to readers of such novels as The Andromeda Strain.
Does that mean The Andromeda Strain is not a science fiction novel?

2 comments:

desmoinesdem said...

Funny!

On a related note, I found out recently that two guys who were in my freshman dorm have both won the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer in science fiction or fantasy. What are the odds?

C - Log said...

The odds are low, probably in the neighborhood of 20:1.

Although: The location of your freshman dorm, which overlooks a certain New England urban thoroughfare as it dips beneath a well-engineered pedestrian overpass that allows foot traffic to move freely toward a large science building that vaguely resembles a now-obsolete-though-cool-in-a-hipster-sort-of-way instant camera, might raise those odds to 15 or 14:1.

Still, pretty long odds.

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