Where are all the science fiction readers?

I recently read a post on SFReader/SFWatcher stating that there are only 20,000 regular readers of science fiction. That's fewer folks than live in my home county here in Georgia, making this a really astonishing statistic. The webmaster at SFR/SFW is now paying for movie reviews, in hopes of growing the website. No compensation is offered to reviewers of novels, of course.

When I was taking Mythology in Literature during grad school, one of our texts was by Joseph Campbell, who says that science fiction is mythology for modern people. If science fiction is so important culturally, why aren't more people reading it, and what might attract a larger readership?


In 2004, Business Week ran an article entitled ScFi: Novel Inspiration which lists four valid reasons for reading science fiction. They include looking for new inventions, understanding the social consequences of invention, learning the lexicon of the future, and inspiring young minds. As America stagnates, and it really is doing just that, I wonder if our lack of wonder is at fault.


While science fiction does more than explore invention, that is one important aspect of it. A website called Technovelgy.com lists almost two thousand ideas which began within the pages of science fiction. Most people know that Captain Nemo's ship beneath the sea predates the submarine, but how many folks know that Verne also predicted live news conferences, retro-rockets, and was the first to postulate that space travelers would have to deal with being weightless?


One of my favorite SF authors, Robert A. Heinlein, employs 3-D television, exoskeletons for the military, and smart lanes on the highway. All of these are in the later stages of development, and will be as much a part of our future as the "pocket phone" (which he used in "Assignment in Eternity" in 1953) is today.


Recently Fortune magazine published an article about the dearth of math and science students in the United States. Of the 8,000 students who graduated from U. S. colleges with a Ph.D in engineering  this spring, two-thirds were foreign nationals. Just a few years ago, most of those students might have stayed in America, but today, the majority will return to their home countries, because the opportunities to use the skills they just learned are there, and not here.


"The fastest-growing college majors in America as of 2007, says the U.S. Education Department, were parks, recreation, leisure, and fitness studies, as well as security and protective services." (Fortune, July 29, 2010) As Americans turn their collective backs on science (and science fiction) our nation will continue down the road to economic ruin.


In my research on why readers don't enjoy science fiction, a number of reasons were mentioned, including:
"It's too hard to read." 
"The future in science fiction literature is too dark."
"The science is bad."


All of those reasons might have some merit, but there is a reason, which should have no merit, that I encountered while promoting Trinity on Tylos: There is a social stigma associated with reading science fiction. Ouch!


Oddly, people who see movies such as Avatar, The Dark Knight, or Jurassic Park don't seem to feel that society is shunning them when they view science fiction on the big screen. In fact, many of the top grossing films of all time are either science fiction, fantasy, or have some ties to speculative literature. Now, the question is, how do we get those youngsters to make the leap from looking, to reading, and on to inventing?


That question is far more important than expanding market share for science fiction, which is stuck at a mere six percent of book sales. What America must accomplish, to expand the job market and our economy, is to expand the minds of our younger citizens. Science fiction should have a role in that, but someone, somewhere, must introduce it to them, and the earlier, the better.

Infants and Small Kids at the Movies

Hubby and I took our children, along with a couple of teen friends to see The Dark Knight at the discount theatre today. I was rather surprised at the size of the crowd and fascinated by some of the other viewers. As our eyes adjusted to the gloom in the theatre, I noticed a young woman guiding a toddler toward one of the front rows, with a small baby in a carrier. As soon as the carrier touched the floor, the baby let loose with some serious "I'm hungry" crying. The mom pulled out a baby blanket, picked up the kid, and I think there was some breastfeeding going on. The previews rolled and a few more patrons entered, many of whom were accompanied by small children. A couple sat right behind us, and talked all too often, making me wonder if they normally take in movies at home. Or maybe they were just rude.

Having seen this movie previously, I was really taken aback by the number of young, impressionable minds in that theatre. As many have noted, The Dark Knight really is dark, with violence which is not the bloodless, comic book variety. Heath Ledger is brilliant and scary as the Joker, and Christian Bale's Batman is also rather menacing. The script, which is better than most comic book based fare, is far too sophisticated for a younger audience. My own children watched animated DC comics, especially The Justice League on television, and those are okay for the younger set. I kept wondering why the parents brought but those little ones who did not need to be in the audience. Anyone who read the rating or any reviews should have known take the kidlets next door and watch WALL-E.

Daughter said to me, "What are these babies doing at this movie?" As we waited for our party to get back together, I realized that we were both thinking along the same lines. Perhaps it was a matter of clientele, because there was a couple with an infant and a toddler too young to walk out of the theatre on his own. Most of the patrons didn't even have a drink cup or popcorn bag to toss. I suppose if you can't afford a snack, then a babysitter is also beyond your means. Maybe some of these parents didn't know, but I suspect that several of the adults went to see a film for themselves.

The mall next to the discount theatre did not have much of a crowd for mid-November, another sign of the times. Even Santa's workshop had no customers, and this on Saturday afternoon. The prediction for a weak holiday for retailers does seem to be certain, but it will be a good one for discount movies. Just watch out for the infants and toddlers who are along for the ride.