Bewildering Stories Editorial

by Jerry Wright

Anyone up for defining Science Fiction? You over there in the corner, yeah the young guy... You have a definition? Cool. What about you, that old guy over behind the bouganvillia? Want to try your hand? Nope? You say that because SF is about change it is almost inherently undefinable because it metamorphoses when you point at it? I can see that.

And that, basically, is where I stand. You want to know how some of the leading lights have defined SF? Someone with more time than me has collected as many SF definitions as he could. The site is available here. Have at it and destroy your mind.

One other site I highly recommend is that of Eric S. Raymond. Iconoclast, Unix master, one of the founders of Open Source software, and gadfly to the corporate mindset, Mr. Raymond achieved a wider audience with the writing of the landmark article The Cathedral and the Bazaar. However, another fascinating article deals with the politics of SF writers called The Politics Of Science Fiction.

These and more are available at Eric S. Raymond's Home Page.

Have a pleasant week.

--Jerry