In the Beginning....
Science fiction has become rather diverse in recent years. Turtledove is doing alternative history SF (which is actually quite good). But there is also "the new weird" (though I have yet to understand what separates it from "the old weird" but it seems to be a form of SF where things just are, and there is no real explanation...)
SF's biggest challenge is trying to stay ahead of the technology. In fact, I personally think SF's decline in recent years is due mostly to the fact that by the time SF writers predict it, it's already happening.
My recommendations would be to look for Kim Stanley Robinson, Harry Turtledove and Elizabeth Moon.
Oh, and if you find my books in B&N let me know. They have never carried them as far as I know (though they have the MZB anthos I have been in).
Try B. Daltons (who used to have copies of ARD MAGISTER) and Waldenbooks Knoxville Center. They also had some copies of my first novel.
When DRAGON'S TONGUE comes out, I am hoping B&N will carry it since they have carried a number of Meisha Merlin titles in the past.
But most of my stuff is easier to purchase from the publishers themselves (Yard Dog Press will give you a big discount off the cover price if you order direct from them) or through Amazon.com.
Some bookstores are so inundated with "self-published" authors trying to get books into their stores, they have made it harder for legitimate small press authors to get in as well.
OTOH, I know part of it is due to the fact that some small press publisher refuse to do returns.
Laura J. Underwood
) First of 50% of the science fiction was ofcourse: On a distant planet where there is magic wizards and dragons. Then there was about a third that were all: a mass murdering machine designed to mass murder get sent on a mass murdering mission until it descovers the truth about mass murder and goes on a vengful (sp) mass murdering spree (which can be fun but im not allways in the mood for that). then 19 out of 20 of the ones left were all stuff that was 20years old when I read it 20 years ago. Did people just stop writing SF? are all the modern writes just sooooo bad that companies wont print them anymore? Or is it that we're stuck between LOTR and Harry potter right now?
