three prospects Jun 07 '01    Write an essay on this topic. Tweet Popular Products in Books Mildred D. Taylor - Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry: A Literature Unit From $8 Olivier Dunrea - Ollie From $7 The Bottom Line SUGAR RAIN, GOLDEN WITCHBREED, BOOK OF THE NEW SUN--show that a science fiction series can also be literature. normally i would say that there is something about a genre series that precludes its having any literary merit. the burden of repetition, the absence of suspense (you can't kill off your protagonist, ktp); all the things that make people want to fall into a series & efface their identity for hours & hours--well & fine for dissatisfied teens with plenty of time to kill--these tend to make books resemble television shows, whose chief aim is comfort (& secondarily, flattery). only a few are different. i cannot really endorse "the lord of the rings" unless you read it (as i did) at the golden age of thirteen. i mean, it made quite an impression on me then, but there's too much that would make me laugh out loud today. i wish i could have stopped the "dune" series after about the third or fourth book; but it turned into an industry, alas; & like a lot of 60's musicians that would be far more esteemed today if they'd died young, it went on to embarass its earlier parts... and as much as i like john crowley, the more he writes the farther he gets from science fiction--& to tell the truth, his characters aren't interesting enough in themselves to keep you wanting to ride all the way to the end with. now, gene wolfe's tetralogy "the book of the new sun" is written with power & skill, & not for adolescents. on the whole, it is a gloomy, unpleasant experience, not really ending in transcendence, so you have to be in the right place to appreciate it, but i make it #3 on my list. next, mary gentle's "golden witchbreed" books. i'm not sure now if there were three or only two, but these are exceptionally well written, & like wolfe's need not fear comparison with good contemporary non-genre fiction. she uses fairly familiar elements but comes up with a convincing world & fully realized characters. i also love her other books, set in a strange alternate universe in which, apparently, mithraism won out over christianity--colorful as they are, there is something frivolous about them... #2 for "golden witchbreed". i think the best is the "sugar rain trilogy" by paul park. not only is the writing terrific, but his conception is utterly original, & highly particularized. and, believe it or not, he has something profound to say. it's a crime this writer isn't better known than he is.

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