
This is what can come from reading lots of speculative fiction!
Info for Readers and Writers
Here, you will find reviews of great stories. I hope you will seek these stories out. Writing reviews of high-quality SF helps me focus on what I want to do with my own writing.
I also post items of interest and resources for anyone who enjoys the speculative genres.
My work will appear here from time to time. I am a big fan of the short story form.
Kinds of Speculative Fiction Reviewed on DCDietrich.ca
Modern Stuff and the Classics: I can still see the bookmobile shelf (back in 1965), where I discovered a treasure trove of hardcovers by Heinlein, Bradbury, and Clarke. I was hooked and soon started reading science fiction anthologies, including collections by Damon Knight and Robert Silverberg, many compilations by Gardner Dozois and David Hartwell, and recent anthologies by Jane Yolen, Silvia Moreno-Garcia, and Carmen Maria Machado.
These days, I continue to read the pulps and their online equivalents (e.g., Asimov’s, Analog, Clarkesworld, and Lightspeed), and I try to keep up with award-winning work. There are so many great stories out there!
Influences: Stories that inspire that sense of wonder, e.g., work by authors like Herbert, Shelley, Verne, “Doc” Smith, Haldeman, Adams, Ellison, Willis, Silverberg, Gibson, Doctorow, Atwood, Vonnegut, Sterling, Resnick, Le Guin, Robinson, Butler, and Newitz. Many others, too!
SF poetry and visual art have grown on me.
Other influences range from Timothy Caulfield, Stephen King, and Joseph Heller to Kay Boyle, Eudora Welty, and Byrna Barclay.
My name is Don, and I am a news addict.
Themes and Tropes: I grew out of a science-as-saviour mentality, but that trope and early science fiction realism are still influences. I am drawn to stories that are the opposite of dystopian. Despite that, I loved 2001 and the Blade Runner movies, and I binge-watched The Expanse. The story “Fondly Fahrenheit” by Alfred Bester (“Reet!”) has stuck with me.
Going Forward: I want to dive deeper into the rich and not-well-known-enough world of Indigenous SF.
Comment If You Will
Let me know if you find my posts useful and enjoyable.
Respectful comments are always welcome. Feel free to criticize or disagree. Harassing or inflammatory messages will be deleted and reported.
Reference
Bester, Alfred. “Fondly Fahrenheit.” The Science Fiction Hall of Fame, Volume 1. Edited by Robert Silverberg, Avon, 1971. pp. 570-590 – see p 587.
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