SF Market

[jon louis mann]

--- None of those series were commissioned by publishers. They also
cover a span of, what, thirty years?  So not exactly recent.

There has been an increase in Young Adult SF and fantasy but you would
have to be pretty churlish to think this was a bad thing. I really
doubt it is to the exclusion of adult fiction either.

Er, yes, authors do write series. This has been going on for some time.
Like you I prefer standalone books but there are still more than enough
them to satisfy me

Yes, the general quality of genre writing - literary or visual - has
undoubtedly increased.

Oh noes! Violent video games!
Martin

it is rude of you, martin, to suggest that i am saying the increase in
young adult sf and fantasy is a bad thing.  especially when i clearly
applaud anything that prompts children to read.  

i am not suggesting that all genre series are commissioned by
publishers, nor should it be suggested that none are.  i DO say that
publishers and editors recognize market forces, and i personally
consider it a lamentable trend if it tempts more writers like geo rr
martin and sm stirling to write series.   having said that,  i still
enjoyed reading philip jose farmer's "riverworld" series.  

it is true that this has been going on for some time.  it is also true
that pandering to the mass market is increasingly profitable in 21st
century mega-capitalist global commerce, which emphasizes quantity over
quality even more than in the past.   hopefully, the increase in
quality is keeping up with the increase in quantity, according to
sturgeons's law... 

this is of course just my opinion, but i believe there are enough
authors who write genre series, without publishers and editors
encouraging established authors, like niven, herbert, clarke, and
asimov, et al... (yes, i am aware the latter three of are deceased)  to
continue mass producing more ringworld, dune, 2001, and foundation
franchises...  i make an exception for the killer bees' versions
commissioned by the foundation shared universe. 

sometimes a remake is better than the original version, for example,
the 1978 version of  "invasion of the body snatchers",  but often
authors and scriptwriters should quit when they're ahead, instead of
adding prequels, sequels and parallelquels (although, not all the ender
series were bad)

as for violent video games, i make no apologies for that statement!~)
jon

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