OFF: Moorcock on sci-fi

[Douglas Pearson]

Since my favorite SF authors tend to be the likes of Ballard, Spinrad, PK
Dick, etc. I tend to mostly agree with the sentiments expressed here by
MM.  Others may be disturbed to see some of their favorite authors slagged,
but either way, you gotta respect him for expressing his views ...

"If I were sitting in a tube train and all the people opposite me were
reading Mein Kampf with obvious enjoyment and approval it probably wouldn't
disturb me much more than if they were reading Heinlein, Tolkein or Richard
Adams."

(obligatory HW-related content: what about recording readings from 'Mein
Kampf' over Wagner?)

"All this visionary fiction seems to me to have a great deal in common.
Utopian fiction has been predominantly reactionary in one form or another
(as well as being predominantly dull) since it began. Most of it warns the
world of 'decadence' in its contemporaries and the alternatives are usually
authoritarian and sweeping -- not to say simple-minded. A look at the books
on sale to Cienfuegos customers shows the same old list of Lovecraft and
Rand, Heinlein and Niven, beloved of so many people who would be horrified
to be accused of subscribing to the Daily Telegraph or belonging to the
Monday Club and yet are reading with every sign of satisfaction views by
writers who would make Telegraph editorials look like the work of Bakunin
and Monday Club members sound like spokesmen for the Paris Commune."

full essay at:

http://www.geocities.com/CapitolHill/Lobby/3998/Moorcock.html

    -Doug
     ceres at sirius.com