Wednesday, July 11, 2007
Members of James Gunn’s summer course dedicated to science fiction writing want people to know that the term “sci-fi” is considered derogatory to writers of the genre.
Some members of the 28th annual summer workshop were quick to point out the difference between “sci-fi,” which they said was a term reserved for cheesy television shows and movies about ray guns and space ships, and science fiction.
They also said that there were many camps of science fiction writers, sci-fi fans and enthusiasts.
Gunn, professor of English, hosts a summer workshop and a summer course dedicated to “SF” writing every year where he and his students work to create quality science fiction.
The workshop finished on July 4, and the summer course began Monday.
What distinguishes the workshop from others, Gunn said, was its brief duration. Most workshops tend to be about six weeks long.
“I wanted to offer people the opportunity to get as much as they could out of two weeks as they could get out of six,” Gunn said. “In other workshops there are a lot of assignments. I wanted to deal with stories that people had already written.”
The workshop writers dined together at Mrs. E’s and discussed the nature and theory of “SF” literature.
Eighteen people from all over the world came to live on the fourth floor of Lewis Hall and work with Gunn from June 26 to July 4. Two of the 18 have also stayed to attend the regular summer class as students of the University.
Apart from having taught at the University since the late 1950s, Gunn is the author of several novels and short stories in the science fiction genre. He began writing short stories in the late 1940s and was recently named a Damon Knight Memorial Grand Master by the Science Fiction Writers of America.
The summer class requires students to read Gunn’s four-book series, The Road to Science Fiction, which starts with the epic of Gilgamesh and continues through contemporary “SF.”
In an essay entitled Teaching Science Fiction, Gunn talked about what made the “SF” story format unique.
“Unlike the mystery, the western, the gothic, the love story or the adventure story, to cite a few of the categories to which it is often compared, science fiction has no identifying action or place,” he said. “Readers do not recognize it, as they recognize other genres, because of some defining event or setting. As a consequence, science fiction can incorporate other genres.”
Ryan Nichols, philosophy teacher at California State-Fullerton, is one of the two students staying on to take Gunn’s class.
“There’s no better way to teach students philosophy than to wrap their minds around science fiction,” Nichols said.
Gunn spent the first few minutes of the last workshop reading excerpts from his collection of original short stories, Future Imperfect, and talking about his encounters with writers such as William S. Burroughs, Frederik Pohl, Isaac Asimov and James Campbell.
Gulserene Dastur, novelist and workshop attendee from Geneva, Switzerland, called Gunn a remarkable man.
“He’s part of the golden age,” Dastur said. “What is really wonderful is that he can pick up a story by a novice, a newcomer who has never written ‘SF’ before, and he treats it with the same respect as if it were written by Asimov.”
— Edited by Joe Caponio
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