tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4438041449595085165.post6832593871662480799..comments2024-03-17T14:31:21.769-04:00Comments on Fantasy Book Critic: "Vortex" by Robert Charles Wilson (Reviewed by Liviu Suciu)Roberthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15006565422867420980noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4438041449595085165.post-12677069314221452882011-08-01T16:36:51.575-04:002011-08-01T16:36:51.575-04:00I think "science fictional" is clumsier ...I think "science fictional" is clumsier and I am rather fond of sfnal; on the other hand I agree with the possibility of confusion for less experienced readers of sfLiviuhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04615405766065227026noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4438041449595085165.post-49529882439648799662011-08-01T15:20:10.405-04:002011-08-01T15:20:10.405-04:00"sfnal", as I understand it, is the adje..."sfnal", as I understand it, is the adjectival form of the noun "sf" ("science fiction"), and is meant to be an abbreviation of "science fictional". I think it's a rather clumsy construct (doesn't take that many keystrokes to type out "science fictional"), and it just alienates those who aren't as familiar with the genre.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4438041449595085165.post-89680092712357989352011-07-21T13:43:22.759-04:002011-07-21T13:43:22.759-04:00Sure, sfnal means the stuff that is essentially fu...Sure, sfnal means the stuff that is essentially futuristic, for example the setup 10k in the future with Vox which is a limbic democracy versus its enemies which are cortical democracies (it's explained what this means, but essentially in Vox all citizens share emotions so Vox itself is a sort of universal conscience for the good or bad this entails - eg when bad things happen to loved ones, Vox soothes you, but if Vox goes insane, everyone dies insane and that's one reason many regard polities like Vox as abominations) or the nature of the Hypotheticals and what they want with humans, why they did what they did etc.<br /><br />Usually sf novels that are not near future strongly depend on this content and they skim on the human part - eg characters, relationships - unless they are related to the sfnal part.<br /><br />Contemporary sf is better in this regard so you have less cliches (genius scientist, mad inventor,etc) but still most characters are dependent on the setup<br /><br />RC Wilson though is very good at I call "human interest" and combines it with pretty good sfnal content tooLiviuhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04615405766065227026noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4438041449595085165.post-44459596777718820842011-07-21T11:22:54.131-04:002011-07-21T11:22:54.131-04:00Can you explain what 'sfnal' means? You us...Can you explain what 'sfnal' means? You use it a few times in your review and I'm not picking it up by context.Meredithnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4438041449595085165.post-56395816041273537982011-07-19T10:59:21.098-04:002011-07-19T10:59:21.098-04:00RC Wilson novels are very "human oriented&quo...RC Wilson novels are very "human oriented" but also very sfnal which is a rarer combination - there is a lot of "human oriented" sf especially on the more literary part of the spectrum (eg M. Atwood or K. Ishiguro or David Mitchell as famous examples I love) but there the sf is very 50's in many ways - I mean there may be modern tropes like clones, viruses, etc but the sfnal execution is simplistic.<br /><br />I hope that you will try and like the series and maybe find more sf of interestLiviuhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04615405766065227026noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4438041449595085165.post-51788513722500407362011-07-19T01:29:32.483-04:002011-07-19T01:29:32.483-04:00I love the concept to the series :) I'm not a ...I love the concept to the series :) I'm not a huge sf fan but I may take a gander at these. Thanks for the review :DJamie Gibbshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15168603412367448706noreply@blogger.com