In general, I’m pretty excited for the new year. I’ve been giving it a lot of thought and I’ve written down some things that I think will happen, but mainly just want to happen. Enjoy!
Obituary Note: Stop Killing Main Characters!
Yes. You heard me. Don’t do it. At least not so quickly. Build them up. Let me love them. Let me see them struggle. Let me see them achieve greatness. Then after they’re old and washed up, maybe kill them then, although not before they’ve had ample opportunity to impart their knowledge on a fledgling generation of new heroes.
Ok. Maybe I’m being a bit wimpy here, but in 2013, some lines were crossed. I still haven’t really gotten over the death of Dumbledore and then 2013 rolls around and it’s like that same feeling all over again but 100 times worse. No one is safe! And it’s starting to fray the nerves.
So, my prediction is that 2014 will see the return of the hero’s (or heroine’s) triumphing over evil. We will no longer be in the throws of ‘Bad things happen to Good People’. We will no longer be able to use the excuse that bad things happen because the world is a sh*&#y place. Let’s hear some stories that inspire us to attempt to give the world a little peace if not happiness. Oh but do it in a way that doesn’t bludgeon us with morality. After all, we’ve spent 2013 being bludgeoned by immorality. So, now that all the epic, let me repeat EPIC, amounts of destruction are behind us, it’s high time we had a white knight.
Changing of the Guard.
If there wasn’t a stable leg to stand on concerning characters, 2013 hasn’t been much better in terms of authors. Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror (comics too!), have lost a startling number of authors in 2013. We saw the passing of Richard Matheson, Ian Banks, Tom Clancy (some of his stuff felt sci-fi to me), Ray Vance, Andrew J. Offutt, the list goes on. Michael France, the screen writer responsible for films like Golden Eye & Fantastic Four, passed after only 51 years! Another important figure, Carmine Infantino (The Flash & Batman) passed this year at age 88 (hope my math is right on that). A scholar named Jacques Sadoul passed this year at 79. His Historie de la Science Fiction Moderne is credited with being one of the first academic works to recognize Science Fiction and encourage its study in the academic arena. I assume there are a good many who have him to thank for their high school SF classes 😉
The list above isn’t meant darken the mood, or call out some inevitable doomsday for the genre of SF because the old masters are dying off, but more as an encouragement for younger authors, writers, and readers to realize that, in many ways, 2014 will send us to new places. The established names are, regrettably, starting to thin, but that simply means it is high time for the new comers to come in, carry on the tradition, but also seize the establishment for themselves. I feel that 2014 is in many ways the start of a new era, and I can’t wait to see where it brings us.
Starting Small But Thinking Big
At least in my mind, 2013 has been the year of the Self-Published & the Small Press. Of course, I don’t have many (or even any) numbers to support this claim but as I take a look around my book shelf, I see a bunch of POD’s and my eReader. The POD’s are all small presses and a lot of the titles on my Kindle were from self-published authors.
Fact is, 2013 sported a lot of flack for large publishing companies (I’m looking at you Big Six). With the lawsuits, mergers, that awkward switch to digital and eReaders, it’s a wonder anybody got traditionally published. It would seem, small presses and self-published authors, were well situated in 2013 to grab reader’s attention. I see one primary reason for this. These authors and small presses were part of the community. They attended conventions, tweeted give-aways, and were generally, wherever I was. Impressive guys, well played. Also, they usually didn’t charge as much for their books but that is another can of worms entirely (think Dune sized Sand Worms). I won’t get into it.
I feel (predict) that 2014 will behave similarly in terms of activity and engagement for small presses and self-published authors. It will be interesting to see how the big guys respond (I know Random House has already set up it’s Hydra imprint with some pretty disastrous effects and Simon & Schuster is poised to launch their own SF imprint soon). With such low (relatively low) cost to get into the publishing game these days, and the ever increasing simplicity of the technical skills required, I’m sure we will see many new authors which will self-publish and many more established authors who will do the same in order to gain a higher percentage of royalties. This will mean a wider variety of content, but also lower standards of quality. I see review websites playing and even larger role in consumer’s decisions to purchase. Get us those galleys!
Sharknado!!
I honestly can’t decide what Sharknado is an omen of, but it must be an omen of something. It certainly proved what an audience is willing to accept if correctly marketed and distributed. I foresee 2014 will give us more Sharknado’s. And not just literal sequels but also more and more content that will surprise us, enthrall us, appall us, and take us by storm. More content that will take us to place we never could have imagined or expected. A place where truly anything is possible . . .
And thank god for Tera Reid.
