The Mundane SF Manifesto

[matt_arnold]

http://www.nemorathwald.com/SFandF.htm

Now that the website of the Mundane SF Manifesto is no longer down I have finally read the real thing instead of a representation from its critics. I've been looking forward to getting to the bottom of it ever since the storm came down from

Comments

[sarahmichigan]

You have a lot of obscure geek interests. I don't always know what to say in comments, but you've exposed me to some interesting ideas. I may read up some more about this mundane stuff.

[matt_arnold]

Thank you! I get that a lot. If you're interested in samples of obscure geek interests, I'll loan you some books sometime.

[avt_tor]

I think any "movement" self-defined by a manifesto is likely to be limited and boring. I'm interested in what individual writers have to say.

Mundane SF and Its Lack

[joatsimeon]

Why isn't there more "Mundane SF".

It's simple: not enough market. Most people, and more particularly most SF/F readers, find the whole concept boring, tight-arsed and likely to produce in the earnest acolyte a sort of quasi-Stalinst, "worthy", po-faced boy-meets-tractor drivel or to implode like the closely similar "dogme" movement in film.

There's extremely-hard, near-future SF out there and always has been.

It's a minor market niche and it'll stay that way; we can say that with some confidence, because if there was a bigger potential market the examples already on hand would have sold much better, and hence editors would have bought more of it. Demand, as always, creates supply.

The complaint that there isn't enough "Mundane SF" carries within it its own refutation. If there were enough people willing to give up some of their beer money to read it, there wouldn't be any "lack".

What we have here is a minority taste whining about being a minority.