Trace elements : conversations on the project of science fiction and fantasy / Jo Walton and Ada Palmer.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Walton, Jo, Author.

Palmer, Ada, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Science fiction--History and criticism.

Science fiction.

Fantasy fiction--History and criticism.

Fantasy fiction.

Genre:

Literary criticism.

Physical Description:

ix, 354 pages ; 25 cm

Edition:

First edition.

Place of Publication:

New York : Tor, Tor Publishing Group, 2026.

Summary:

"From two of the most acclaimed writers in the field today, a groundbreaking look at how SF and fantasy writing--and reading!--work. Jo Walton and Ada Palmer are two of the most innovative and insightful writers to emerge in the SF and fantasy genres in this century. As writers of fiction they've each won multiple awards. As commenters on SF and fantasy in print and in visual media, they've both sparked new conversations that expanded our imaginations and understanding of how SF and fantasy work, and what more it could be doing. Now, in Trace Elements, Walton and Palmer have come together to write a book-length and supremely entertaining look at modern science fiction and fantasy, at how our genre is written and how it is read, that will join nonfiction works like Ursula K. Le Guin's The Language of the Night, Samuel R. Delany's The Jewel-Hinged Jaw, and Understanding Comics by Scott McCloud on the short shelf of titles essential to all readers of our genre. Subjects covered include the nature of genre itself, the history of SF publishing, the implicit contract between author and reader, the ways SF and fantasy disguise themselves as one another, what SF&F can learn from outside influences ranging from Shakespeare to Diderot to anime, the role of complicity in reading, the need to expand our "sphere of empathy", and finally the need for optimism, the importance of rejecting "purity" culture, and the fact that the human story for centuries to come will be composed of hard work"-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

Section 1: Genre; or, the modern Proteus. Integral to the plot : the author-reader contract ; The science fiction conversation : imprint SF ; Genre pacing and protocols, or what is genre? ; Poem: By their spaceships ye shall know them ; History of science fiction publishing ; Sheep's clothing : why SF and F might be disguised as each other ; Where does dystopia fit as a genre? ; Not saving the world? How does that even work? ; Mitfreude : the joy of sharing friends' joy ; A Mitfreude of Manga and Anima (and their relationship with SF) ; A Mitfreude of genre romance ; History and robots ; The ghost did what?! Translation exposing providentialist thinking

Section 2: Anyone who says differently is selling something. Chronic pain chronicle, in prose and verse ; Writing/realizing disability + power ; Not deluded : how I sold my first novel while on vacation ; The key to the kingdom, or how I sold Too Like the Lightning ; Author's note and acknowledgments from Too Like the Lightning

Section 3: Craft. Spear-point theory ; The protagonist problem ; What's reading for? ; Expanding our empathy sphere using SF&F, a history ; Poem: Translated from the original ; Censorship and genre fiction

Let's broaden our broader reality ; How to encourage space exploration? ; Poem: On praising tech ; Poem: Old question ; Meta, irony, narrative, frames, and The Princess Bride ; Hopepunk, optimism, purity, and the futures of hard work ; Poem: Somebody will.

ISBN:

9781250372604

1250372607

OCLC:

1513899513