Reviewers debate literary fiction vs genre fiction in Newbery context

Children's literature devotees undoubtedly know about the John Newbery Medal, which the Association for Library Service to Children awards each year to authors of children's literature. Jonathan Hunt, a Newbery judge, has found himself invested in a back-and-forth discussion with other bloggers over how children's genre books should be judged.

Hunt seems to have lit the fire of debate by revealing he had picked The Hunger Games third on his Newbery ballot last year.

He followed up with a discussion of the differences in expectations for genre vs. mainstream fiction. Some of his comments may strike people as a little incendiary, although I don't get the impression that he is looking to make a divisive statement.

Still, Hunt concludes his analysis of literary meritocratic standards by suggesting that women seem to prefer character-driven stories while men seem to prefer plot-driven stories (some exceptions allowed in both generalizations, naturally).

I mostly like spaceships, rayguns, and complex background history. I rarely have a clue about what is going in the plot of any book I'm reading until maybe the 3rd or 4th pass through a book. And if a book cannot compel me to read it a second time the best plot in the world won't help it.

But what got my attention about the debate is the fact that the writers are discussing children's literature. If science fiction and fantasy are not going to be taken seriously because they tend to be plot-driven (not something I necessarily agree with -- Andre Norton, one of my favorite characters, sometimes came close to sacrificing plot for the sake of building interesting characters -- oh, wait, she was a woman -- darn!).

Okay, let me start over. If science fiction and fantasy are not going to be taken seriously in general when compared to literary fiction (I've never understood what that is supposed to be), then imagine how much of a disadvantage children's science fiction and fantasy must struggle with to win recognition.

Frankly, many people have commented to me they were not impressed with the first Harry Potter book. I thought it had all the elements of a great children's story and many elements of a more adult story. But I also point out that J.K. Rowling's writing seems to improve with each book. Her task undoubtedly became easier because the kids in the stories were growing up. She was able to gradually introduce them to more mature themes.

Voldemort and his cronies could become more dangerous, and more people could die, because that is what happens when you grow up. The world becomes more dangerous and more people around you die. I'm not sure if the last Harry Potter book is really a children's book, but if it is then I believe Rowling has demonstrated (as have other authors of children's fiction) that children's science fiction and fantasy can be a force within literature.

And that's really all I wanted to say.

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Terminator owners selling rights to franchise

Critics have really been down on the "Terminator" franchise this year, having expressed considerable disappointment with the fourth movie (I thought it was okay). So maybe they'll be happy to see that Derek Anderson and Victor Kubicek are selling the rights to the franchise to the highest bidder.

Fans of the Sarah O'Connor Chronicles may feel the sale is coming too late or not soon enough. But whether we'll see any more "Terminator" movies is anyone's guess. It seems to me that now they've brought the story full circle, all that's left (really) is to show John Connor being killed (or maybe thwarting the death foretold to him by his converted killer in "Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines").

All this time travel stuff can get really convoluted anyway. People who watch Star Trek can tell you that. After all, Captain Kirk is dead -- isn't he?

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David Tennant shooting pilot for U.S. TV dramady

United Press International is reporting that David Tennant is filming a pilot episode for a proposed TV series called Rex Is Not Your Lawyer, where his character will be a Chicago attorney who coaches people to represent themselves in court.

Tennant has been one of the more successful Doctor Who actors, in my opinion. I was disappointed when Christopher Eccleston left the Doctor Who show after only one season because, frankly, they're starting to run out of regenerations. But Eccleston was a fantastic Doctor. When Tennant took his place he fit the shoes perfectly and helped the show move forward.

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Xenite launches John Carter of Mars site

I have been strangely absent from blogging the last couple of days because I've been trying to set aside time to add a new section to Xenite.Org's Science Fiction Movies portal. The SF Movies Portal is, Alas!, but a shade of the site I would like it to be. It takes a lot of time to put together a decent portal section and time is just not something I'm wealthy in. Nonetheless, I figured if I don't get something up soon for "John Carter of Mars" I might as well not doing anything.

That said, I've now set up a John Carter of Mars section on the movie portal. As soon as I can I'll add some content to it but for now it's going to have to get by with a couple of cast lists, some headlines from the other SF-Fandom blog, and a list of fannish Web sites.

One day, assuming Disney makes all the movies it suggests it will make in the series, that John Carter portal should be pretty big -- much like our Harry Potter fan site (which is not actually part of the movies portal -- there has never been any science to how content gets included on Xenite's network).

In any event, I expect I'll have a few more announcements to make concerning "John Carter of Mars" over the next 2-1/2 years so I just figured it would be a good idea to set up a place where all that stuff could be collected.

I hope you feel it was worth the effort.

And, oh yeah -- we also added a John Carter of Mars store to the Xenite store -- just because we can.

SF-Fandom is a moderated, fan-run community devoted to science fiction, fantasy, history, and mythology. SF-Fandom was founded in 2001 and is part of the Xenite.Org network. Free registration is required to post. Please be sure you read our Posting Guidelines.

Confusion over fourth Mad Max film

MovieHole recently announced that Tom Hardy and probably not Sam Worthington have been rumored to take over the role of Max in the Mad Max film franchise.

Mel Gibson, who rose to cinematic fame in the original Australian "Mad Max" and "The Road Warrior" movies, announced some years ago he had no desire or intention of returning to the role he reprised in "Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome".

George Miller will supposedly begin production work on "Mad Max 4: Fury Road" next year. Max is a survivor living in a post-apocalyptic Australia, which presumably survived a nuclear war better than other parts of the Earth. Nonetheless, despite hanging on to some semblance of civilization in "Mad Max", by "The Road Warrior" Australia's outback had become the province of leather-clad, gas-gazzling savages.

In "Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome" Max undermined the efforts of Tina Turner and her leather-clad barbarians to restore a semblance of civilization in BarterTown. Nonetheless, me managed to lead a ragtag group of orphaned teenagers and a very small genius of a man to the ruins of a coastal city (possibly Melbourne?), where most of them settled and rebooted civilization for real.

Bruce Spence ("Legend of the Seeker") played Max's aviator associate in "The Road Warrior" and "Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome". One has to wonder where Miller thinks he can take the franchise now, unless he means to jump on the reboot bandwagon.

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