A Twitter user chronicles his blocking by author Marko Kloos over a disagreement about the current and former state of science fiction.
Not only was the Golden Age better written, it was not the age Kloos is thinking of.
Kloos has fallen for the post-1980 memory holing of the Pulp Golden Age, which did in fact tend to be apolitical. Science fiction wasn’t overtly politicized until the Campbellian Silver Age. We even know the exact date when the politicization of SF began: October 30, 1937, the date of Donald A. Wollheim’s “Mutation or Death” speech to the Third Eastern Science Fiction Convention in Philadelphia, PA.
Pulp authors’ primary concern was writing entertaining stories that would sell. As a result, pulp masters like Walter Gibson and Edgar Rice Burroughs produced works that dominated popular culture.
It’s no coincidence that science fiction was relegated to a cultural ghetto in the course of Wollheim and Michel’s call for a communist revolution in the genre.
But according to Kloos, this reader is a wrongfan having wrongfun. Par for the course for a writer who turned down his 2015 Hugo nomination because the wrong people voted for him.
There is, however, a happy ending:
I’ll gladly accept the readership of anyone who values story, character, and fun over political lectures.
Brian
Wow just wow! Reading the wrong books and watching the wrong shows? Whoa double down why don't we?
In any case blocking a commentator who has been relatively civil is a poor means to persuade someone.
Why is Kloss a vaguely familiar name?
Finally my life is tough enough and I want to escape momentarily. So ifyou dubsribe to Joanna Russ's Reality is all there is no escapism i'll read othe writer. My beer money is too valuable to squander it
xavier
If I recall correctly, Kloos was one of the early Puppy nominees, but requested he be removed from the Pupply-list.
Correct.
That was the aim of the "Golden Age" bait and switch in the first place. This way you can argue that the genre was at its best and most popular when people thought exactly like the ideologues which means only ignorant idiots could possibly disagree. Not a true fan!
Comic fans screwed this up, too. The correct response was that there were no politics in Golden Age Captain Marvel, but they keep ceding this ground to the cultists. We need to stop giving them a victory where there isn't one.
The pulp Golden Age thrived on entertainment, and its sales were always higher than the Silver Age and later.
"The pulp Golden Age thrived on entertainment, and its sales were always higher than the Silver Age and later."
All excellent comments, but this is the silver bullet (no pun intended) to the Campbell=Golden Age crowd's arguments.
I am def. having all sorts of wrong fun. Giving wrong money to awesome wrong people. 😀
Fiannawolf
Flannawolf:
Stop being transgressive!!!! You.must.conform.to Literary Scifi/Fantasy(tm)
Remember: reality is all there is.
All there is (voice progressivelyfading )
xavier
Marko blocked me on FB years ago, after many fruitful discussions. Apparenly he saw something political on my page he didnt like and blockity block, gone. Sad, because I actually like his books, but going all Chuck Wendig on me was just pathetic, especially since I never once discussed politics with him.
Sad.
But I like how "going all Wendig" is now a readily understandable trope.