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Jan. 18th, 2005 11:59 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
zdashamberNeil Gaiman points on his blog to a lady who's doing research on children's science fiction, and has a questionaire she'd like people to answer so she has a baseline. Some interesting questions... I've forgotten a lot; I need to call my parents so they can look on the bookshelf in my room to see the name of a great book about a kid (alien? From the future?) who's hanging with a family in the 50s for a few days, dodging the government until the time lines up right for him to pop back through a rock to his home... Sort of like a cross between "ET" and _Escape to Witch Mountain_. _The Forgotten Key?_ _The Door to Yesterday?_ Something like that.
(Internet poking about) Haha! Not only is it like _Escape to Witch Mountain_, it's by the exact same guy, Alexander Key! _The Forgotten Door!_ I am so smart! S-M-R-T!
Anyway, I thought, Hey, I'd like to see what other people would say for this, since I'm certain I'm forgetting a lot about those years. Sounds like a meme to me... (Also, no doubt she'll need more representation from those out of the US, and I know there are a couple of you guys maybe reading this.)
So, this is what I've got so far. The italicized stuff is the stuff I'll be clipping out of the e-mail to the lady. Let me know if I'm lying/missing something, eh?
8. When did you start reading science fiction?
10? 9? I don't remember.
9. Did you read sf written specifically for children? (ie. age 0-16yrs)
Yes, along with SF written for adults.
10. Name up to five authors of sf for children you liked.
Andre Norton - (I need to go find those Apache spaceman books again...)
Alexander Key - (Voila! Yeah, I'm remembering how much I like his stuff now...)
Isaac Asimov - (I liked the Robot stuff, I recall.)
Eleanor Cameron - (Journey to the Mushroom Planet)
11. Name up to five authors of sf for children you did not like.
I can't think of any. I mostly read sf for adults, and I forget a lot.
12. Name up to five authors of sf for children with the same nationality as the country in which you experienced the bulk of your reading childhood.
Andre Norton
Alexander Key
Isaac Asimov
Eleanor Cameron
Robert Heinlein
13. If you started reading sf meant for the adult audience before the age of 16, who were your favourite sf writers at that time? (Name up to five).
E. E. "Doc" Smith!! - (Whoooo! ::throwing up horns::)
Andre Norton
Roger Zelazny (liked his fantasy stuff more) - (I'm pretty sure my deep love of _Doorways in the Sand_ started before I could drive, but I'm not sure if I liked any of his other SF particularly... Well, the car stuff was good. When did I come around to liking _Eye of Cat_? Teenage, yes, but... Alright, I'm cutting out the fantasy qualification when I send the response.)
Anne McCaffery - (Sue me. I liked the Crystal Singer books. Still do, probably. Good cheesecake. Before she got all twisted sexually... Or has that been all through, and I just noticed stuff like _The City Who Fought_ and _The Coelura_ lately?)
Douglas Adams
14. List up to five qualities that you think you looked for in science fiction when you read it as a child (under 13).
Fast-moving story
Characters who weren't whiny putzes
No gross sexuality (sex I could deal with, but rape and S&M I disliked) - (Yeah, screw you, Phillip Jose Farmer! And Piers Antony, statutory rape is still rape! My god! Ick! I'm lucky points 1 and [especially] 2 caused me to put down Donaldson's stuff in disgust before I got to the rape.)
15. List up to five qualities that you think you looked for in science fiction when you read it as a teenager (13 and over).
Good story, wraps up without leaving major threads hanging
Characters who weren't whiny putzes
16. List up to five qualities that you look for in science fiction now.
No sexism
Interesting plot that lasts for one book (can't stand the "this is getting long, see book 2" style)
Likeable characters with realistic motives and psychologies
Antagonist should have realistic motives and psychologies, too
17. Do you define yourself as a genre reader?
Yep. Nothing but F&SF really holds my attention, though I appreciate the good out-of-genre stuff on a book-to-book basis.
18. What proportion of your reading as a teenager was outside of the genre?
20%? I also liked historical fiction back then.
19. What proportion of your reading as a teenager was non-fiction? (what subjects or genres?)
10%? Stuff on medieval castles and life and weaponry, animals, Greek mythology, stained glass, spies
20. How much of your reading outside of the genre was set by others? (and who were they?).
I'm including the books I read in English in the 10% of out-of-genre fiction above. (I read a lot of F&SF...) So, English teachers. No one else set me to read stuff.
21. Did science fiction influence your political views? In what ways? What books were most important to you?
No, not really. It may have encouraged the tendency implanted by suburban schools in the 80s towards environmentalism (Reduce, Reuse, Recycle!), but I can't name anything in particular.
22. Did science fiction influence your religious views? In what ways? What books were most important to you?
I think I picked up a whole lot on ethics and an individual's duty to humanity from Doc Smith's stuff, like _Triplanetary_. Doc Smith's theme of the indomitable power of a single human will may have also strengthened by general humanistic tendenices... Zelazny has "one guy on his own out there" strain, too, and I like it.
23. Taking no more than 100 words, describe briefly how you chose books between the ages of 13 and 18, and how those books were acquired (ie libraries, friends, second hand books, new books).
My dad had a library of SF and some fantasy numbering a thousand books or so. He'd point me to the authors he liked, and I'd burn through all their stuff, and then go to the library to find more. We would also stop by used bookstores. At libraries and used bookstores, I would buy/check out things by authors I didn't know if they had good titles, or back blurbs, or below-cover blurbs. No one aside from Dad recommended SF to me, really.
(Internet poking about) Haha! Not only is it like _Escape to Witch Mountain_, it's by the exact same guy, Alexander Key! _The Forgotten Door!_ I am so smart! S-M-R-T!
Anyway, I thought, Hey, I'd like to see what other people would say for this, since I'm certain I'm forgetting a lot about those years. Sounds like a meme to me... (Also, no doubt she'll need more representation from those out of the US, and I know there are a couple of you guys maybe reading this.)
So, this is what I've got so far. The italicized stuff is the stuff I'll be clipping out of the e-mail to the lady. Let me know if I'm lying/missing something, eh?
8. When did you start reading science fiction?
10? 9? I don't remember.
9. Did you read sf written specifically for children? (ie. age 0-16yrs)
Yes, along with SF written for adults.
10. Name up to five authors of sf for children you liked.
Andre Norton - (I need to go find those Apache spaceman books again...)
Alexander Key - (Voila! Yeah, I'm remembering how much I like his stuff now...)
Isaac Asimov - (I liked the Robot stuff, I recall.)
Eleanor Cameron - (Journey to the Mushroom Planet)
11. Name up to five authors of sf for children you did not like.
I can't think of any. I mostly read sf for adults, and I forget a lot.
12. Name up to five authors of sf for children with the same nationality as the country in which you experienced the bulk of your reading childhood.
Andre Norton
Alexander Key
Isaac Asimov
Eleanor Cameron
Robert Heinlein
13. If you started reading sf meant for the adult audience before the age of 16, who were your favourite sf writers at that time? (Name up to five).
E. E. "Doc" Smith!! - (Whoooo! ::throwing up horns::)
Andre Norton
Roger Zelazny (liked his fantasy stuff more) - (I'm pretty sure my deep love of _Doorways in the Sand_ started before I could drive, but I'm not sure if I liked any of his other SF particularly... Well, the car stuff was good. When did I come around to liking _Eye of Cat_? Teenage, yes, but... Alright, I'm cutting out the fantasy qualification when I send the response.)
Anne McCaffery - (Sue me. I liked the Crystal Singer books. Still do, probably. Good cheesecake. Before she got all twisted sexually... Or has that been all through, and I just noticed stuff like _The City Who Fought_ and _The Coelura_ lately?)
Douglas Adams
14. List up to five qualities that you think you looked for in science fiction when you read it as a child (under 13).
Fast-moving story
Characters who weren't whiny putzes
No gross sexuality (sex I could deal with, but rape and S&M I disliked) - (Yeah, screw you, Phillip Jose Farmer! And Piers Antony, statutory rape is still rape! My god! Ick! I'm lucky points 1 and [especially] 2 caused me to put down Donaldson's stuff in disgust before I got to the rape.)
15. List up to five qualities that you think you looked for in science fiction when you read it as a teenager (13 and over).
Good story, wraps up without leaving major threads hanging
Characters who weren't whiny putzes
16. List up to five qualities that you look for in science fiction now.
No sexism
Interesting plot that lasts for one book (can't stand the "this is getting long, see book 2" style)
Likeable characters with realistic motives and psychologies
Antagonist should have realistic motives and psychologies, too
17. Do you define yourself as a genre reader?
Yep. Nothing but F&SF really holds my attention, though I appreciate the good out-of-genre stuff on a book-to-book basis.
18. What proportion of your reading as a teenager was outside of the genre?
20%? I also liked historical fiction back then.
19. What proportion of your reading as a teenager was non-fiction? (what subjects or genres?)
10%? Stuff on medieval castles and life and weaponry, animals, Greek mythology, stained glass, spies
20. How much of your reading outside of the genre was set by others? (and who were they?).
I'm including the books I read in English in the 10% of out-of-genre fiction above. (I read a lot of F&SF...) So, English teachers. No one else set me to read stuff.
21. Did science fiction influence your political views? In what ways? What books were most important to you?
No, not really. It may have encouraged the tendency implanted by suburban schools in the 80s towards environmentalism (Reduce, Reuse, Recycle!), but I can't name anything in particular.
22. Did science fiction influence your religious views? In what ways? What books were most important to you?
I think I picked up a whole lot on ethics and an individual's duty to humanity from Doc Smith's stuff, like _Triplanetary_. Doc Smith's theme of the indomitable power of a single human will may have also strengthened by general humanistic tendenices... Zelazny has "one guy on his own out there" strain, too, and I like it.
23. Taking no more than 100 words, describe briefly how you chose books between the ages of 13 and 18, and how those books were acquired (ie libraries, friends, second hand books, new books).
My dad had a library of SF and some fantasy numbering a thousand books or so. He'd point me to the authors he liked, and I'd burn through all their stuff, and then go to the library to find more. We would also stop by used bookstores. At libraries and used bookstores, I would buy/check out things by authors I didn't know if they had good titles, or back blurbs, or below-cover blurbs. No one aside from Dad recommended SF to me, really.