Ok, I confess, I am still exhibiting avoidance behavior and not finishing the onerous task that I have been procrastinating about for months (yes, I have not finished my taxes!). I did manage to finish my review books although my moderator very kindly extended the deadline on one of them since I was really set back by the migraines this week...can you say psychosomatic influences? I did manage to finish reading about the latest adventures of Midnight Louie and get the review finished but it ruined my almost perfect record of on-time submissions. Enough about that, the latest Mike Shepherd tale of Kris Longknife: Daring was another example of rollicking good space opera. Kris is up to her usual exploits, exploring space and turning preconceived notions on their heads but this time she has a far greater mix of factions openly involved rather than delivering her information second or third-hand through the spy network. There is a bit too much carnage for me in this tale (a frequent problem with space operas) but I enjoyed the self-deprecating humor and the repartee that is characteristic of the princess and her shipmates. I am not quite sure I think that the budding romance is believable but I will withhold judgement right now. My Night Owl Review is at: http://nightowlreviews.com/nor/Reviews/ELF-reviews-Daring-by-Mike-Shepherd.aspx
I had the wonderful opportunity to chat with another excellent sci-fi author, Linnea Sinclair, when she came to town for the Romantic Times Reader's Conference this year and she dismayed me with the statement that females tend not to read science-fiction because they don't think they will understand it. Aaarggh! How do we expect to get ahead in science and technology if half of our population thinks like that? I thought we had made great advances when authors no longer had to pretend they were male (e.g. Andre or Andrew Norton) to get published in the sci-fi field. I began reading Heinlein, Asimov, Clarke in junior high (that will date me since it is an outdated term) and never quit. I admit that I skip over the sections in current novels that are devoted to describing the armament and how much of what was required to blow up what quantity of beings/ships/buildings, etc. but I do that whether I am reading sci-fi or an action adventure tale. It saddens me to think about that vicious cycle...fewer readers means a smaller audience for really good authors which means fewer minds are stimulated to think outside of the box...where will we go from there?
I'm surprised someone would say that about book readers. It's sort of a gender specific statement made in generalizations about women. I think women are reading these types of books as well as others and we can understand them just fine. I read Asimov and others back in high school and still read Sci Fi when I find books that I like.
ReplyDeleteActually, she said this is what is said to her over and over again by female readers. It is NOT what Linnea Sinclair herself believes. I was disappointed to hear that many females think so little of themselves.
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