Monday 26 September 2016

Cities


A writer of contemporary novels describes modern cities - London, New York, Stockholm, Amsterdam etc - that readers can check out for themselves.

A historical novelist describes, e.g., London, Rome or Paris as they would have been in earlier centuries.

A fantasy author describes imaginary cities inhabited by exotic beings like wizards, trolls etc.

A science fiction writer may describe any of the above - rationalizing the wizardry or trollery if wants to remain within the bounds of sf instead of diverging into fantasy. He may also describe:

Paris in an alternative timeline (see here);
cities on Earth in the future (see here and here);
human cities on other planets in the future (see here);
alien cities (see here).

As Brian Aldiss remarked once, an sf writer works hard for his living.

1 comment:

Sean M. Brooks said...

Kaor, Paul!

Writers work hard for their living? I agree! And I remember reading one writer saying (I don't recall his name) that a writer has to be stoical about rejection letters. And keep on trying. Next, the only way to write is to KEEP on writing, even if you think what you are writing at that moment is garbage.

Sean