Eyes Wide Open

Amen to this. Gabriel Morgan's new column in the News & Observer proclaims for the literary reader that "everything is going on" in speculative fiction. The article is an elegant appeal to the uninitiated, making points like this:

"Describe a subgenre of mimetic fiction, and there are speculative authors doing similar work. Do you prefer fiction that is heavily character-centered? Fiction that explores the human condition, that asks the big questions? Fiction that displays a sense of history, that draws connections between important things? How about fiction that explores what it means to be an American in the 21st century? Speculative authors are writing about all of these things. They, like Pablo Picasso, have every single one of the tools that a 'naturalist' (read: mimeticist) has to work with; but they, like Picasso, also have the freedom to abandon the appearance of reality when it suits their vision."

Naturally, I am excited to see where this column goes in the coming days.