SF LIVES

Science Fiction lives.  Here are just a few reasons why:

1. People still read science fiction. (They also watch it on tv, in movie theaters, listen to it  on the radio, wear it on t-shirts and ball caps and play with SF toys.)

2. People still write science fiction. It may be called steampunk, or space opera, science fantasy or SF romance. It may take the form of a movie script or poetry, flash fiction or epic novel, but they are still writing it.

3. Companies still publish SF. Some of them even put the words right on their labels.

4. There is a cable television channel that used to be named for it and used to broadcast it that is still operating and that some people think is science fiction.  Perception is reality.

5. There are numerous awards given out every year in its name.  You don’t give awards to dead things without the word ‘posthumous’ attached.  I’ve yet to see an SF award with that particular word in front of it.

6. The Air Force is advertising itself by trying to make people believe that joining that branch of the military is cooler than Science Fiction.  No military service is going to willingly associate itself with something dead while seeking recruits.

7. Sci Fi has entered the popular lexicon. It may be the ‘dumbed-down’ version of what we all love, but everyone kinda knows what’s being talked about when they hear it.

8. Winners of Pulitzers and Nobel prizes talk about it. Positively.

9. More words than ever are being published on the internet about its impending death.  If SF were dead, those words would be eulogies, NOT prognostications.

10. I don’t think it’s dead. No one who cares about it does either. As long as fans believe, Science Fiction can never die.  If you don’t think SF is dead, feel free to copy the rocketship button and display it on your site.