Matthew Hughes's Blog: barbarians of the beyond - Posts Tagged "paul-difilippo"
Paul DiFilippo reviews Old Mars
As an author of unabashedly old-fashioned science fantasy, I like Paul DiFilippo's take on Old Mars, the retro-anthology of stories set in the "Mars of the mind" that existed before the Mariner probe began the cold, hard factual exploration of the red planet.
He poses a good question: What is the relationship of the genre’s past to the present, actual and ideal? Should certain old-school tropes and themes be abandoned as false and inutile? Can we ever step in the same stream twice, and recapture glories and pleasures of old? Can postmodern approaches somehow lend a fresh aspect to the antique? Are attitudes toward such SF strictly determinable and predictable by membership in a given generation? Is the medium stagnating or advancing by continuing to create such stories?
Advancing, I'd say. The mileage of others may, however, vary.
He poses a good question: What is the relationship of the genre’s past to the present, actual and ideal? Should certain old-school tropes and themes be abandoned as false and inutile? Can we ever step in the same stream twice, and recapture glories and pleasures of old? Can postmodern approaches somehow lend a fresh aspect to the antique? Are attitudes toward such SF strictly determinable and predictable by membership in a given generation? Is the medium stagnating or advancing by continuing to create such stories?
Advancing, I'd say. The mileage of others may, however, vary.
