schneefink

Friday was a busy day!

Space opera: boldly going where no genre has gone before!
Space opera, science fiction’s beloved subgenre, has changed a lot since the Golden Age. Some predicted it wouldn’t survive long into the 21st century, but space opera has not only survived: it’s thriving, with a new generation of writers boldly taking it in new directions. The panel will discuss current trends in space opera and how they see it evolving in the future.
Mr Adam Whitehead(M), Rivers Solomon, Martha Wells, Bo Balder

Martha Wells was a bit early to this panel and offered Murderbot ribbons if anyone wanted one, and so many people wanted one that she had almost none left at her reading ^^ This panel was fun, but basically all "questions" were just guys saying "and there's also this book…"

What is space opera?
MW: Not hard SF, not too concerned with tech etc. SF with fantasy tropes, even including ~magic, and/or "super science" (e.g. Stargate) without explanations.
RS: Five criteria: space, space ship(s), interstellar (or at least interplanar), a high amount of drama, and a narrow focus/scope.
BB: Often there is no mention of Earth/the origin of humanity
AW: about the grandeur of travel between worlds, civilizations etc., but also really big space ships and preferably some explode.
Some examples of things that might count:
Dune, even though there is no action in space? Yes, definitely significant elements
Machineries of Empire? Yes, overlapping with military SF, but you kinda need space battles anyway
Alien? More film noir
Ann Leckie's Provenance? A story set in a space opera universe
Ursula K. Le Guin? Often space ships are implied
Wagner's "Ring" set in space? Well, taken literally…
Generally it's easier to say what's not space opera.
There seems to be a movement away from the militaristic towards a more social focus, e.g. Ann Leckie, Becky Chambers. Yoon Ha Lee's story are in conversation with Murderbot and Ann Leckie. Bujold concentrates on the social consequences of the military, the military is more of a starting point. Space travel is often seen as a military thing, but stories open up from that, e.g. Firefly, Battlestar Galactica, where the military (background) is present but not the most important thing.
Star Trek and Star Wars still sort of define space operas as its two "poles."
Often space operas include empires, is there space for something new? "Provenance" e.g. was something new, more people realize their stories don't have to be their versions of Star Trek or Star Wars. People get tired of empires and imperialism in space, it's more interesting to think about how different societal structures can be. Star Trek: Discovery is at its best when doing something completely crazy. The question is always "how did we get here?", but increasingly more socio-political. Hard to write about land&settlers without these questions; more interesting stories of Star Wars without the empire.
Favorite space opera franchises?
RS: Star Trek. You can see the social/political reflection of its time with each generation.
MW: Also Star Trek, especially DS9, and Discovery. Also Stargate (SG-1 and SGA, not SGU – that got some laughs and I'm pretty sure I wasn't the only one who wanted to offer a high-five), it's stories about exploration, and SGA also has being trapped somewhere without help coming. She also likes Farscape, which is all about the rogues, and "Finders" by Melissa Scott.
BB: Star Trek, all except Enterprise, even Voyager. It's always hopeful, with people being better than now. Also Firefly.
AW: Gives a short defense of Enterprise (basically "they tried to do something interesting"). Then mentions Babylon 5 (applause from the audience): a space station, that also has homeless etc. Can you have space opera without faster-than-light travel? Early Star Trek tried without a warp drive but stopped soon. The Expanse is doing it. Other books focus on long space journeys. See also e.g. The Wandering Earth.
Then several more examples, mostly following questions: C.J. Cherryh, which has both a big scope and intimate stories; esp. interesting is e.g. "Pride of Chanur," which only has the perspectives of aliens
Heritage Universe, by Charles Sheffield
Son of the Morning & A Judgment of Dragons by Phyllis Gottlieb, which has large sentient cats Jack Vance, Larry Niven
Sector General books by James White, with a space hospital Iain Banks, Culture books And a couple more mentioned by audience members that I didn't bother writing down.

Bridging the language barrier: translated SFF
How has the landscape of translated SFF changed in the last decade or so, both into English and from English into other languages? We’ve seen translated pieces triumph in the genre’s prime awards and gain dedicated magazines, the attention of more readers, and many specialised anthologies. The panel will discuss trends in translated genre fiction as well as possible future directions.
Cheryl Morgan(M), Julie Novakova, Neil Clarke, Francesco Verso, Emily Xueni Jin

I was twenty minutes late to this panel, but it was still interesting.

The first thing I caught was one panelist saying they didn't like the term "diversity" – diverse from whom?
They also don't like the category "foreign films" at the Oscars. There's some discussion about whether it's a good idea to have a category for translated works – on the one hand translation is a good thing and important to highlight, but on the other hand works from other languages should also qualify for the main award and not the shunted off to their own category. It's currently like that with the Hugo. Someone from the audience mentions a German SF award that either has or is thinking about introducing a translation category, but the problem is how to judge the quality of the translation?, you'd need specialists for that. In Sweden(?) there is an award that has a category for best Swedish novel, best translated novel, and best novel.
With translated works, to what extent do you recognize author and translator? Translation is an art, author and translator are basically co-authors. (AIs will have to write its own novels before translating anyone else's.)
How are translators paid? Massive differences. In Korea you can get government grants. In some genres in the US translators earn more than writers. It's especially hard to get grants for genre fiction. Chinese->English pays much better than English->Chinese. More and more people write in English.

Is epic fantasy conservative?
Back in 2013, Gollancz’s Twitter account made the claim that: ‘Epic Fantasy is, by and large, crushingly conservative in its delivery, its politics and its morality’. The question sparked a discussion that is still relevant and ongoing. Is epic fantasy politically conservative and, if so, what does this tell us about the genre?
Joseph Malik(M), Juliet E McKenna, P C Hodgell, Mary Soon Lee

I enjoyed this panel, especially Juliet E McKenna. Joseph Malik was fun, and he did fine as a moderator (he suspected he was slated to moderate because he's a member of the US marines, specifically the "liberal hippie corps of Special Operations" who distribute aid in failed states etc.) even though he was one of those moderators who really want to be a panelist.

Is epic fantasy conservative? PCH is the only one who says ~yes, the others generally agree on mostly not anymore. It also depends on if you mean conservative with a capital C or not. There's different forms: historical conservatism, national conservatism, red baseball hat conservatism...
What is epic fantasy? JM: the main characters' actions have to change the world.
A lot of small villages in fantasy are conservative, often based on the author's outdated view of history, and especially when the worldbuilding is superficial. We need to interrogate the author's underlying assumptions. Fortunately nowadays there are more stories with different perspectives.
JEM talks about how when she was one of the judges of a big fantasy award, there were whole boxes of books (especially from US publishers) that were basically "yay patriarchy!"
Some tropes are hard to avoid (see e.g. even the Earthsea books in the beginning), for example who has power. Western Fantasy has a lot of feudalism, but "conservative" also depends on in regard to which culture, e.g. Chinese has its own conservative stories.
The assumption that epic fantasy is still conservative today comes mostly from outside the genre, e.g. booksellers with a narrow view of what epic fantasy is, and from a noisy minority of fans that try to claim they are "keepers of the one true flame."
US conservatism tends to think in black&white, good vs. bad people. Lots of early but also modern epic fantasy does that. There's a tendency to give the "good guys" a pass for their actions. This isn't new, and was e.g. often the case with the "epic farmboys" in the 80s. Shades of grey tended to morph into "moody guys in cloaks," tropes congeal into cliché. Hopefully we've reached peak grimdark, nowadays there are more stories toward where hope comes from.
Bestsellers tend to be more conservative, like GRRM, and many people try to copy him badly. Nebula-nominated fantasy novels have lots of nuanced main characters these years. It's hard to get readers interested if they don't root for a character (or, in the case of GRRM, against.)
Gender roles: Conservative stories put women in specific roles and often sexualize them, is that ever going to change? There's already a lot of pushback. A lot comes from an inaccurate understanding of history. Today people also use other historical periods as "templates", that helps break up classic stereotypes, e.g. Zen Cho, Fonda Lee. Different stories for women started with our generation (says PCH), as a reaction. It's what you choose to read and recommend. Publishes however are increasingly risk-averse and need to do more. Still, there's more room for diversity of various forms, e.g. JY Yang, "Armies of Saints." You can also have grimdark stories without sexism. In JM's personal experience, writing powerful women without relying on sexist tropes was surprisingly hard because he was so used to them, even though these tropes are tiring and lazy. Someone from the audience asks that if men and women are equal, why should a writer put more effort into writing women, and JM explains that misogyny can be a very easy shorthand and there can be a lot of unconscious bias. JEM says that for her writing men is harder, because writing "the other" is always a challenge.
Question from the audience: is conservatism always evil or is there something good in it? (The panelists seemed a bit taken aback by that question, I also didn't get the conservatism=evil thing from what they were talking about.) Conservatism is how despots maintain power, but it can also bring stability, e.g. in failing states. There are also plenty of books, current & interesting ones too, where traditions etc. are good values. In general, the idea of "the return of the king" can be hard to resist.

Cultural appropriation: a product of a shrinking world?
White SFF authors have historically appropriated other cultures to add depth and excitement to their characters: The Wheel of Time takes the culture of POC and gives it to the Aiel, and Frank Herbert appropriates Islam and applies it to the Fremen. With relatively easy access to travel and digital information these days, how can we make use of a range of influences while avoiding cultural appropriation?
Dr Wanda Kurtçu(M), Michi Trota, Fulvio Gatti, Jeanette Ng, PRK

I was a bit disappointed by this panel because it talked about cultural appropriation in general and why it's bad and also experiences as immigrants, and while that was interesting I was hoping for more about cultural appropriation in fiction and as applied to fictional worlds/cultures inspired by RL cultures etc. There was not much time for questions (the moderator was not very skilled, for example she spent a long time making an ordered list of people who wanted to ask questions when it was abundantly clear there would never be time for that many), but at least they went more in that direction.

Cultural appropriation is a big topic in the US, and means taking something from another culture as their own and claim they made/invented it.
When people write outside of their own experience: pointing out inaccuracy is easy, inaccurate depictions are bad, but harmful portrayals are about more than inaccuracy and you also need to consider who wrote something and the context.
"Global culture" perpetuated by Hollywood influences other countries strongly, e.g. many Italians writers write about John in NYC.
When is a connection "enough"? Things like the dreamworld of the Australian Aboriginals are often used as "spice." Immigrants are not just a "gateway" to other cultures, they are interesting themselves. They are often expected to perform "authenticity" as imposed from outside.
What does it mean to be connected to one's ethnic roads? FG lives on a farm that belonged to his great-grandparents, and JN is envious because she can't imagine something like that.
How to respond to the assumption of cultural appropriation in the context of stories? It's a necessary conversation to have. Power structures are important. The system is a behemoth. See e.g. Scarlett Johanssen playing in "Ghost in the Shell": stories do not exist in a vacuum. There's a difference between e.g. clothes you personally wear and writing stories for the public. "Seeking permission" is problematic because a culture is never a singular people, and being asked to be the speaker for a group is very uncomfortable.
Where's the line between representation and cultural appropriation? It's good to use diverse characters in a world, but different when telling a main PoV story of another group.

Using SFF as sandboxes for ideas on politics and society
Speculative fiction can offer readers and writers a space, removed from ‘real’ life, to explore and criticise society and politics and offer possible solutions. From the economy of your galactic empire to the status of dwarves in your epic fantasy, it is impossible to separate the political from the fantastical, and SFF is a great place to imagine other ways of existing.
Nicholas Whyte(M), Sam Hawke, Eyal Kless, Taiyo Fujii

I was hoping for a few more ideas from this panel, but overall it was fine and at least there were many book recs.

Is it easier to explore political/social ideas in SFF than in other genres? SF is the "what if" genre, or, as Phillip K. Dick put it, "not what if, but Oh my god, what if?" Is there even unpolitical SF(F)? GoT is a political story, space battles are more interesting with politics… Politics is more than political structures. Every choice has a political element, especially in worldbuilding. Books are only seen as unpolitical when they reflect the reader's thoughts.
Have local politics affected the panelists' work? The author's background also changes how their work is perceived. TF was inspired by social developments in Japan. SH sometimes only noticed what inspirations she put in after writing, at other times it was very deliberate.
Has the tone of stories changed? To really reach people stories have to be deep, i.e. think about the human condition. It's not always necessary to describe the process of change.
What does "politics" mean? There are politics on a macro- and micro-level. Even "what is valued" is political.
In SFF, readers don't have some background knowledge/assumptions like in stories set in our world, so how to make it not flat? People have a comfort zone. Writers can use shorthand and then choose in which areas they can push people, e.g. remove specific social/political institutions (SH removed marriage in "City of Lies" which some people found surprisingly difficult to accept.) These assumptions vary quite a lot in small areas/a short time. Examples of political SFF? "The Next Generation" by Maguire, "The Dispossessed" by Le Guin, "Doctor Who" has always been political. "Animal Farm", "Broken Earth" trilogy, "Divine Cities" series, "The Traitor Baru Cormorant", Sense8. Terry Pratchett, The Expanse, even LotR (easy&mono-political but still political.) "The two faces of tomorrow."

Let's do the time loop again
From GroundhogDayto Star Trek: Discovery’s ‘Magic to Make the Sanest Man Go Mad’ and this year’s Russian Doll, the time loop is a tried and true fan favourite. Why does it work? What does it do? What are our favourite examples?
E. Lily Yu(M), Shivaun Hoad, Laura Antoniou, Eliza Bentley, Ira Alexandre

Another interesting panel, however the questions were mostly "have you heard of X?"

What is the panelists' favorite time loop story? EB: Groundhog Day. SH: Russian Doll. IA: Dark. LA: Russian Doll.
What is the purpose of a time loop? It's a great tool to explore causation, morality, consequences of choices, anxiety over missed opportunities. People often wish they could go back & fix things. There's also an element of nostalgia, with pink glasses, and l'esprit d'escalier.
What's the emotional journey? It depends on the structure and type of time loop. IA is of the opinion that a time travel story with a closed causal temporal loop also qualifies as a time loop story (which is very wrong and almost nobody agrees with her.) Depending on what the characters know there's space for different emotional journeys. Sometimes it's better the further away you're from an attempt at an explanation for how it works. Loopers eventually acquire knowledge other characters don't have, does that give them added moral responsibilities? Definitely different moral choices. Should you go back and kill baby Hitler? It's interesting to explore different timelines. There's also often the question of why this specific character is looping.
Is there a different morality inside of a time loop, because everything will reset? How do you know which loop is the final one? There are time loops with and without awareness of the participants, where important decisions are easier or harder to change.
Who suffers, who wins, how many futures are there? What gets you out? Usually there is some sort of catharsis. Repetition is the scariest part, for how long?, you won't be ok after that, can be very effective horror. The stories aren't always about getting out of the loop. "12:01 pm" repeats just one hour.
Other cultures have more cyclical ideas of time, where do time loops fit in? "Russian Doll" focuses on community, reminds LA of Judaism.
Time loops in fiction vs. films vs. games? Video games may be a more natural fit; they already kinda happen naturally from the player's perspective, who can go back and replay scenes slightly differently, and some explicitly include time loops, e.g. Overwatch. Visual media can sneak in hints in the background better.
What time loop would you choose? LA: When I discovered I could have sex with women. SH: Maybe what's currently happening. EB: Her whole life. IA: Tomorrow's business meeting, until she gets the Games Hugo she wants.
Time loops as horror? E.g. "Happy Death Day," "Haunting of Hill House," there's an existential fear of making the same mistakes. "Sandman" has a woman who miscarries every morning. Time loops as a punishment go back to e.g. Sisyphos, Prometheus.
The only point of a time loop is to tell a story about morality, humanity, etc. It has to be a character story. Right now there is lots of anxiety of wanting to change things but feeling powerless, that might contribute to time loops being popular. Some more examples of works with time loops: "The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August," where there are multiple time loopers. "Replay" is one of the few examples where the protagonist enjoys the looping. "I hope I shall arrive soon," "All you zombies", "Live Die Repeat", "The man who folded himself", …
Does it count if it's repeated experiences? E.g. a specific Black Mirror episode? Not explored much. E.g. "Being Erica," therapists all the way up. What about outside PoVs on time loopers from not-loopers? Apparently there's a short film where that happens and it's called "Groundhog Day-ing", and it briefly touched upon in Westworld and SPN but not that common.