Your thoughts on new science fiction?

[Robert Zwilling]

I'm not familiar with older SF how is the writing style different and what do you like about it?

That's very easy to answer. Typically the events and ideas of the story are more important than character development. Some people go so far as to say that it's called cardboard characters. Character aspects can be part of the writing but they are less important than the story itself.

 

[Orcadian]

I would agree with an arbitrary watershed at pre-1990 and post-1990, though I'm sure it's not actually a sharp boundary.

With 'old' SF what jars is sexism; the portrayal of women as sex-bombs and airheads, and of men as driven by power struggles and genitals. I don't mind quaint technology so much but I do mind that most encounters with aliens almost invariably have the aliens as dangerous, out to kill, subjugate or eat us, or steal or transform our planet. Of course there are many terrific stories and series from this era too. The best possible combo, from my PoV, is an older novel with strong, independent female characters, and this is one of the reasons I like the work of CJ Cherryh and Octavia Butler so much.

With 'new' SF most of these negatives have disappeared. Stories have become more complex and nuanced, often with philosophical and ethical overtones. It is terrific to see women depicted as captains, scientists, heads of teams - all functioning competently & autonomously without men to do the heavy stuff and rescue the gals when inevitably they fall apart. Some of the most modern work (and I confess I haven't read a lot of it) does have a kind of 'yoofspeak' that I find distracting.

 

[paeng]

I think it's similar to other genres, i.e., the same sets of stories are used throughout.

 

[MaxRelaxman]

I like the aesthetic of older scifi. Like ignoring the science errors, Space 1999's Eagles are one of my favorite fictional spaceships. Newer Scifi goes for the realism which is cool, but I wish there was room for some of that weird 70's vibe in there too.