"expansion of horizons" seems to me to be exactly what is needed. Thank
you for placing the
solution (what I perceive as a solution) in such clean terms. You are also
right in thinking that snobbish & cliquish is part of problem inside and
outside of fandom.
I'm probably wearing blinders, but I don't think that the snobs ruled
fandom as much as when I discovered fandom some thirty odd years ago. It
probably did, but I was so happy to discover others who shared my tastes
in reading that I probably overlooked any differences in opinions.
Unfortunately I am seeing something that I love (fandom) dying, because
of "it is my way or the highway" type of thinking. I guess that I am of
the "can't we all just get along" and stop being mean to each other group.
I enjoy the freshness that the youth and their passions bring to fandom,
even if I don't share their passions. I'll probably never enjoy live
action role-playing as much as my grandchildren, but I do enjoy their love
for role-playing and anime.
It is time for me to go and expand my horizons. Thanks again for your
thoughts on the problem and your solution.
Susan
PS: Please excuse any spelling errors. Dyslexics are known as creative
spellers. Even with a spell checker, my spelling is spotty at best.
Susan
On Wed, 15 Apr 2009 09:53:46 -0400, Helge Moulding <[log in to unmask]>
wrote:
> Susan Baugh wrote:
>> Instead of cliquish, I suspect that they are snobs. Vampire fiction is
>> hot in the current market place, so some feel that it can't be real
>> fantasy or science fiction. I believe that this mind set is currently
>> killing SF/F fandom.
>
> Snobbish or cliquish, I guess you mean by your observations that
> attendance of "real" SF/F conventions is down, because us snobs or
> cliques don't realize that Harry Potter fans or Stephenie Meyer fans are
> in fact part of fandom. I think the snobbishness or cliquishness is part
> of both sides of that. I've seen Star Trek clubs get peeved because too
> much attention was paid to authors, while old-timers think there are
> too many Klingons running around the con. Some expansion of
> horizons seems to be needed all around.
>
> Diana Harold wrote:
>> One of my soapboxes is how WorldCon refuses to see YA or teen as
>> part of the sf mainstream and won't even consider a YA category for
>> the Hugo awards. Right now YA publishing is hot and many of the
>> best writers are writing to this market.
>
> Well, Rowling did win the Hugo in recent memory, and there've been
> others, so it's not as if YA authors are excluded. There are awards for
> YA SF/F (e.g. Golden Ducks), too. I'm inclined to side with the Hugo
> committee on that - I think there are already too many categories, where
> only a small fraction of the voting members even know what they're
> voting for. (I'm not inclined to debate if YA writers are better than
> those
> writing for the adult market. But even if they were, why would that call
> for a separate Hugo category?)
>
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