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This is the common mythology of
the science ficiton fan: SF
requires different skills to read
than mainstream fiction.

The science fiction reader is
expected to make inferences about
the background technology, social
structures, and history
underlying the foreground story.

Direct lectures to the reader on
these subjects are regarded as        TELL_ME_TRUE
crude and clumsy, a violation of
the "show don't tell" rule.

SF readers like to pat themselves       (on the head,
for being more intelligent than         back, whatever.)
mainstream readers...


There's probably *some*
truth to this point of
view, but I've an
uncomfortable feeling that
it's exaggerated.

I've often thought about conducting
a literary experiment on human
subjects:  Have two groups of
people read the same two novels
in different orders:

   Larry Niven's "A Gift From Earth"
   Roger Zelazny's "Lord of Light"

My expectation would be that comprehension
of "Lord of Light" would be much easier for
the group that read "A Gift From Earth"
first, because Larry Niven, being the
straight-forward (some might say, simple-
minded) writer that he is spells out the
historical background.  Zelazny, in his
more Literary mode in those days, was
trying hard not to insult the reader with        (The set-up: A large
explanations.  You have to piece together        colony space ship, with
the background from more oblique hints, but      passengers in suspended
the scenario has many features in common         animation, and a crew in
with "A Gift from Earth".                        charge of transporting
                                                 them and building the
                                                 colony... after which
                                                 the crew decide to
                                                 retain their privileged
   Which is to say, that it                      position and become a
   may be that the reason                        new aristocracy.)
   the regular SF reader has
   an edge in reading more
   SF, is that they're
   already familiar with all
   these standard tropes.

   It's not necessarily superior
   intelligence that let's you
   figure it out.  It may be a
   superior tolerance for trashy
   fiction which allows you to             REVENGE
   develop your familiarity with
   the genre.



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