Archive for the 'Books' Category

My sister-in-law, who loves Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight novels, started reading her new SF novel, The Host during the holidays, and decided she just couldn’t get into it because there was too much Science Fiction in it. (Aliens and other worlds.) So knowing I love science fiction, she handed it off to me, and I started reading it on the plane ride home. I finished it last night.

I feel it may well be the best science fiction novel I have read in a decade. It’s definitely in the top five. I started thinking that maybe I should read The Twilight Series. I like vampire novels, and she is clearly a talented writer. Sure, all indications are that it is heavily targeted towards the female demographic (teen romance), but if the quality of writing is maintained, it might not matter to me.

I visited her website, and was stunned. At the top of her page for The Host, in large letters, is the promotional tagline,

“Science fiction for people who don’t like science fiction.”

Thus excluding all science fiction fans from her intended readership. (And the one non-fan I know who has read the book, didn’t like it, because it was too science fictiony.)

Maybe I won’t read The Twilight novels. I suspect she thinks they are vampire novels for people who don’t like vampire novels. And since I do, she doesn’t want me to read them.

***

I’d forgotten this quote from the August 2008 Ansible

Stephenie Meyer on her latest: ‘It’s science fiction because it’s about aliens, so there’s no other way to categorize it. And I like science fiction. But this doesn’t feel to me like science fiction; once you get past the basic premise, it’s just about being human.’ (Kansas City Star, 1 Aug)

[Betraying her misunderstanding of the entire point behind much of science fiction - talking about issues and concerns of present day humanity in an alien context.]