{"id":1894,"date":"2010-10-16T06:00:52","date_gmt":"2010-10-15T17:00:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/?p=1894"},"modified":"2010-10-16T10:05:08","modified_gmt":"2010-10-15T21:05:08","slug":"the-heir-of-night-guest-author-series-michael-pryor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/2010\/10\/16\/the-heir-of-night-guest-author-series-michael-pryor\/","title":{"rendered":"“The Heir of Night” Guest Author Series: Michael Pryor"},"content":{"rendered":"

I met Michael Pryor<\/a> through Worldcon, where he was the organiser of the YA Programme and did an excellent job—and not just <\/em>because he asked me to moderate two panels! Being a programme organiser though, meant that Michael was very busy throughout the convention so we only got to meet up briefly: even more reason, I felt, to meet up again through this F-SF Guest Author Series<\/a>. I know you’re going to enjoy Michael’s take on why F-SF rocks his world!<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>F-SF Guest Series Post: Michael Pryor Says “Fantasy and Science Fiction are the Best !”<\/h2>\n

Two things about Fantasy and Science Fiction are the best: the writers and the readers.<\/p>\n

Fantasy and Science Fiction are the best for a number of reasons. For a start, Fantasy and Science Fiction are the most challenging forms of writing to undertake. I have to do everything that other writers do, like have convincing, multi-dimensional characters and engaging, lucid prose PLUS incorporate all the imaginative elements that are the hallmark of Fantasy and Science Fiction. Then I have to deal with the consequences of this, making sure I don\u2019t fall foul of inconsistencies because of the scenario I set up at the beginning of my story. Fantasy and Science Fiction writers simply juggle more balls at the one time than other writers.<\/p>\n

Also Fantasy and Science Fiction writers are the best because we get to deal with profundities.<\/p>\n

Fantasy and SF are the Literature of the Profound. Writers who spend their times documenting the trials of everyday life don\u2019t have the opportunity to deal with the philosophical questions that have intrigued us all since the dawn of time. Who are we? What are we? Where did we come from? What makes us what we are? These fundamentals about our existence are meat and drink to Fantasy and SF writers as we imagine other worlds where Normal Rules Do Not Apply. Situations like this give us ample room to explore what it means to be human or the basis of moral choice or place of aesthetics in our society.<\/p>\n

Time to pluck an example. I can\u2019t imagine a mainstream novelist producing a work that examines the Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis of the interaction between language, culture and cognitive abilities, but that\u2019s just what Jack Vance did in his 1958 novel The Languages of Pao by positing ruthless overlords who created a global experiment to test how imposition of languages could shape various societies into ultimate warriors, consummate merchants or brilliant scientists. Not only did Vance explore this fascinating possibility, but he embedded this speculation in a rattling good yarn.<\/p>\n

One example, decidedly non-random, but my point is that Fantasy and Science Fiction don\u2019t just allow exploring such matters, they actually enable this exploration. This is because one of the strengths of these related genres is their limitlessness. Nothing is out of bounds for a Fantasy or SF writer to speculate about. In fact, any hint of boundaries prompts Fantasy and SF writers to wonder what lies on the other side. We imagine. We create.<\/p>\n

Everything is grist for the mill, and that\u2019s another reason Fantasy and Science Fiction writers are the best.<\/p>\n

It helps, of course, that Fantasy and SF writers have the best readers in the world. That isn\u2019t blatant sucking-up, either, even though it might sound like it. Whenever Fantasy or SF readers open a new book, they know that that they have to be on their toes, that they have to do some work. In this book, things will be different \u2013 and they have to read carefully to understand the world, the society, the magic system or the political milieu that the writer has created. Fantasy and SF readers are ready for this, and they rise to the challenge.<\/p>\n

This of course, is the reason why one hears, so often, from non-genre readers who say about Fantasy and Science Fiction: \u2018I couldn\u2019t get into this\u2019. This is because they\u2019ve become weak and flabby, unable to work even a little bit hard. Their reading antenna have been dulled by years of reading mainstream novels where they just have to look at character, while taking the setting for granted \u2013 and not being worried about having to keep up with anything as grubby as an actual plot.<\/p>\n

Naturally, I have my tongue in my cheek here, but the fact remains that just as Fantasy and SF Writers are the best because they had to do more, then Fantasy and SF readers are the best because they have to do more.<\/p>\n

I love Fantasy and Science Fiction.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>About Michael Pryor:<\/h3>\n

Michael Pryor is a best-selling author of fantasy for teenagers. He has published over twenty novels and more than 40 short stories. He has been shortlisted for the Aurealis Award six times, and five of his books have been CBCA Notable books. His website is www.michaelpryor.com.au.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I met Michael Pryor through Worldcon, where he was the organiser of the YA Programme and did an excellent job—and not just because he asked me to moderate two panels! Being a programme organiser though, meant that Michael was very busy throughout the convention so we only got to meet up briefly: even more reason, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22,14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1894","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-fsf-guest-author-series","category-other-writers"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1894","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1894"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1894\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1907,"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1894\/revisions\/1907"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1894"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1894"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1894"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}