Is this Sci Fi? The Love We Share Without Knowing

[PenelopeTX]

I tried to find a thread where this question fit, but couldn't decide, and I didn't feel certain it would be of general interest enough to start a new one (although previously even with a "no reply needed," this generous, supportive circle addressed the topic completely. Thanks everyone). If anyone knows about this work, I would appreciate your comments.

One of the libraries in my area sends out genre newsletters to let us know what they recommend from their new books section. Under Science Fiction, they recommend a book that seems if anything to be a mix of psychological fiction, romance, and (maybe) paranormal. If anyone knows anything about The Love We Share Without Knowing by Christopher Barzak, I would appreciate feedback that would help me weigh the choice of trying it. I am just not big on heart-crushing drama; if it could become a movie on WE, it's just not for me, most of the time.

[TiggerBear]

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PenelopeTX wrote:

I tried to find a thread where this question fit, but couldn't decide, and I didn't feel certain it would be of general interest enough to start a new one (although previously even with a "no reply needed," this generous, supportive circle addressed the topic completely. Thanks everyone). If anyone knows about this work, I would appreciate your comments.

One of the libraries in my area sends out genre newsletters to let us know what they recommend from their new books section. Under Science Fiction, they recommend a book that seems if anything to be a mix of psychological fiction, romance, and (maybe) paranormal. If anyone knows anything about The Love We Share Without Knowing by Christopher Barzak, I would appreciate feedback that would help me weigh the choice of trying it. I am just not big on heart-crushing drama; if it could become a movie on WE, it's just not for me, most of the time.

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Ah well, It got recomended to me too by a friend. But I skimmed her copy and deamed it newage fluff. She reads far too much romance fluffy foam in my opinion. Thought it was more Lifetime than WE. (chuckle)

But if anyone did read it, I'm curious. Did you think it was a romance subgenre or something else? 

[paulgoatallen]

Penelope and Tig:

This is a big gray area for me because what exactly constitutes SF? Does it have to be science-based speculative fiction or does it have to just include elements of SF? 

Also, it goes back to the discussion about the importance – or insignificance – of genre categorization... I see examples like this one quite a bit and I think it all points to a general blurring of the boundaries of all genre fiction.

Paul 

[PenelopeTX]

Thanks Tiggerbear. We seem to have had the same instincts about this. It does not seem to be for me, but it may open doors for other readers.

As Paul says (Thanks to Paul as well for addressing this question) the genres are blending, opening the door for readers to try new authors and genres that they may have missed previously. That is a good thing.

However, not all blends will work for all people and that is ok too. No amount of pico de gallo will get me to eat haggis. 

[TiggerBear]

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paulgoatallen wrote:

Penelope and Tig:

This is a big gray area for me because what exactly constitutes SF? Does it have to be science-based speculative fiction or does it have to just include elements of SF? 

Also, it goes back to the discussion about the importance – or insignificance – of genre categorization... I see examples like this one quite a bit and I think it all points to a general blurring of the boundaries of all genre fiction.

Paul 

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True, but if it was Sci/fi/romance  it would be one book, but if it's romance/fi it's another. Blurring isn't a bad thing. It just make it harder to pick a book sometimes. Wallets are only so deep, being able to tell where a book fits; well it helps.

(shrug) But fluff is just fluff. No matter the genre.

[TiggerBear]

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PenelopeTX wrote:

Thanks Tiggerbear. We seem to have had the same instincts about this. It does not seem to be for me, but it may open doors for other readers.

As Paul says (Thanks to Paul as well for addressing this question) the genres are blending, opening the door for readers to try new authors and genres that they may have missed previously. That is a good thing.

However, not all blends will work for all people and that is ok too. No amount of pico de gallo will get me to eat haggis. 

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(chuckle) I've always thought my Scottish ancestors left Scottland just so no one would ever put haggis on their plate again. Ever smelt that stuff, only thing worst is chullens boiling.

[paulgoatallen]

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TiggerBear wrote:

True, but if it was Sci/fi/romance  it would be one book, but if it's romance/fi it's another.

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Tig:

Great point. Your comment reminds me of a book I reviewed a few years ago for BookPage. It was The Morcai Battalion by Diana Palmer, a  SF thriller written by the "romance" icon Palmer in 1980 and originally published under her real name Susan S. Kyle. It was rereleased by Luna Books (I think in large part) because they were trying to cash in on the genre-transcendent craze and maybe make the book appealing to longtime Palmer fans who were beginning to look outside the boundaries of the romance genre for their literary kicks.

The interesting thing is that this reissue wasn't as successful as it should of been because there was no genre blending – this was a straightforward SF novel – and Diana Palmer fans looking for  a little SF with their romance were sadly disappointed and hardcore SF fans may have been turned off by the "romance" stigma... 

It's a fascinating dynamic and one that I think is just going to get more interesting as  more and more authors (and publishers) explore this new, boundless "genre free" frontier...

Paul 

Message Edited by paulgoatallen on 01-10-2009 12:08 PM

[Ryan_G]

I have a questions.  Why does it seem these blurring of boundaries are more prevelant in TV/Movies?  I can think of numerous TV shows that would fall under more than one genre.  Fringe is Scifi/Police Procedural/Romance, Buffy would probably fall under 5 or 6 categories, Alias would qualify as Spy/Scifi, and I could probably think of many, many others.  Is it easier to accept in this form of media where books are still more defined by the genre they are place into?

[paulgoatallen]

Ryan:

I think the answer lies in these shows looking for an expanded "audience." Just like in genre-hybrid novels, the readership – or audience – is greatly increased if the demographic covers more than one niche. Buffy, for example,  probably appealed to the paranormal fantasy demographic as well as those enjoy like comedies, the YA market, etc.

Also, from a purely entertainment standpoint, it's great because ideally the reader or viewer will never really be able to predict what's coming because the possibilities are endless...

Paul 

Message Edited by paulgoatallen on 01-10-2009 02:50 PM

[PenelopeTX]

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TiggerBear wrote:

 Wallets are only so deep, being able to tell where a book fits; well it helps.

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Very true. Also for me, guarding my time is as important as guarding my wallet. It is at a premium. This is one reason I so appreciate you and the others that post here for your experience and your time in helping me find what I really want. 

 

[PenelopeTX]

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TiggerBear wrote:  only thing worst is chullens boiling.

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Ok. I don't even know what that is, but I trust you. 

[TiggerBear]

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PenelopeTX wrote:

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TiggerBear wrote:  only thing worst is chullens boiling.

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Ok. I don't even know what that is, but I trust you. 

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Pig intestines, washed, put in vinger for one day, chopped into lengths, and boiled. (shutter) First time I smelt them cooking I ran out of my friends house and puked. Terrible stuff. But some people actually consider it food.

[paulgoatallen]

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TiggerBear wrote:

Pig intestines, washed, put in vinger for one day, chopped into lengths, and boiled. (shutter) First time I smelt them cooking I ran out of my friends house and puked. Terrible stuff. But some people actually consider it food.

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Thanks, Tig! I think I just vomited in my mouth...   

Paul 

Message Edited by paulgoatallen on 01-12-2009 07:09 PM

[Bradinator1]

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TiggerBear wrote:

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Pig intestines, washed, put in vinger for one day, chopped into lengths, and boiled. (shutter) First time I smelt them cooking I ran out of my friends house and puked. Terrible stuff. But some people actually consider it food.

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Criminy! I gotta vacate the house when my wife boils hot dogs let alone that! That sounds like something that might be a violation of the Geneva Convention. Gah!

Brad

[TiggerBear]

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paulgoatallen wrote:

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TiggerBear wrote:

Pig intestines, washed, put in vinger for one day, chopped into lengths, and boiled. (shutter) First time I smelt them cooking I ran out of my friends house and puked. Terrible stuff. But some people actually consider it food.

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Thanks, Tig! I think I just vomited in my mouth...   

Paul 

Message Edited by paulgoatallen on 01-12-2009 07:09 PM

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Sorry Paul.

At least it not smellovision.

[marilynpsychic]

Another older thread I'd like to add my comments to.

First of all, Chitlens is a southern African American dish.  In the slave era, whatever the white folks didn't want and threw out, the slaves learned to grab up and try to make a meal from.  It was the original Soul Food, and many African Americans today still cook it, because it is still something that, besides sausage-makers, that most Americans avoid (thus cheap to buy from butchers).  I've smelled it cooking too, and it can be gag-inducing.  But try to remember the starving slaves who knew they'd have something resembling meat for dinner.  (Speaking of which, have you ever had authentically Hispanic, Menudo Soup?  Absolutely delicious!  Just don't get hung up looking at the pig's foot.)

As far as the main contents of this thread, I agree that the genres are blending.  But while "anything goes" in Fantasy, I would think that Science Fiction still has to have a framework of "scientific possibility".  Besides, romance, heroic-myth concepts, and dark-things-that-go-bump-in-the-night have been part-and-parcel of a lot of the more popular Science Fiction and even Fantasy.  (We could even start a separate arguement about the "Alien" movie series.  Was it more horror than science fiction?  Or vice versa?  And why did the female heroine go thru all those movies without a romance?)

[TiggerBear]

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marilynpsychic wrote:

First of all, Chitlens is a southern African American dish.  In the slave era, whatever the white folks didn't want and threw out, the slaves learned to grab up and try to make a meal from.  It was the original Soul Food, and many African Americans today still cook it, because it is still something that, besides sausage-makers, that most Americans avoid (thus cheap to buy from butchers).  I've smelled it cooking too, and it can be gag-inducing.  But try to remember the starving slaves who knew they'd have something resembling meat for dinner.  (Speaking of which, have you ever had authentically Hispanic, Menudo Soup?  Absolutely delicious!  Just don't get hung up looking at the pig's foot.)

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Southern african American dish, codswallop. It's a southern poverty dish! I'm more than a bit sick of the soul food statements. Soulfood is just the food everyone below a certain economic level had to eat. Skin color has bupkiss to do with it. Did african Americans hold on to those foods, yes. But they aren't the exclusive inventors.

I've had Mexican menudo, they use cow's feet. Incidentally in cooking circles feet are called trotters. Used for the gelatinous properties after you cook down the massive amount of colegen in hooves.  (evil chuckle) You'd be surprised how many soups contain them.

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As far as the main contents of this thread, I agree that the genres are blending.  But while "anything goes" in Fantasy, I would think that Science Fiction still has to have a framework of "scientific possibility".  Besides, romance, heroic-myth concepts, and dark-things-that-go-bump-in-the-night have been part-and-parcel of a lot of the more popular Science Fiction and even Fantasy.  (We could even start a separate arguement about the "Alien" movie series.  Was it more horror than science fiction?  Or vice versa?  And why did the female heroine go thru all those movies without a romance?)

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Ever reads the original book Alien? Ridley's a lesbian. They expunged it out of the movie.