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Looking Toward the FuturisticA long time ago in a galaxy far, far away... With those words, George Lucas gave us Star Wars and launched a renewed interest in science fiction that’s evident even today in summer releases like Armageddon and Deep Impact. As an SF fan myself but also a devout romance reader, I was thrilled when Leisure first began publishing futuristic novels on a regular basis. What is a futuristic? It’s a story usually set away from Earth in a time many years in the future when science and technology have progressed to the days of Star Wars and Star Trek. These books come in a variety of flavors--some feel like historicals, others like contemporaries, some take place on Earth, others in galaxies far removed from our own, some have a very technical feel, others a softer tone. To put it simply, a futuristic takes the reader to "a different time and a different place." Though Jayne Anne Krentz writing as Jayne Castle and Janelle Taylor had futuristic novels in print, it was Kathleen Morgan with her crystal series The Knowing Crystal and Crystal Fire and her cat man books Heart’s Lair and Heart’s Surrender that sparked the readers’ interest and sent them clamoring for more. Leisure searched for more authors and found them, publishing another first rate writer--Anne Avery, author of All’s Fair and A Distant Star. Both these authors created unique worlds--some technical, some primitive--that provided the perfect background for the story. These worlds, though different from our own, still must follow rules. If the inhabitants have magical abilities, explain why and stay true to that explanation. A character can’t produce fire from the air one moment, then be unable to in the next...unless the author can explain it. Rules also dictate the gravity, air, lifestyle and traditions of these new races. Be consistent. That’s my number one rule for writing a futuristic. Create the world (or worlds) first, then place your story over top of that. Some excellent how-to books that better explain how to do this are How to Write Science Fiction and Fantasy by Orson Scott Card, World Building by Stephen Gillet, and Creating an SF Universe by Ochoa and Osier. Then use these backgrounds to develop your characters. Raven, my heroine in Sword of MacLeod, can’t swim--a trait most of us take for granted--and nearly drowns. But as explained earlier in the book, she was raised on a desert planet where water was scarce and there was no opportunity to learn to swim. Her sudden inability to get herself out of this dangerous situation after she’s mastered many others is not author convenience, but normal for her character. Another rule to remember is don’t throw in some aliens or spaceships and expect your story to be a futuristic. The story must have a reason to be set in that time period at that place or it’s not a true futuristic. The setting must be as much an integral part of the book as the hero and heroine. But now that you have your futuristic written, where do you market it? The list of publishers who are willing to even look at futuristics has declined until Leisure Books Dorchester Publishing) is about the only one still accepting these manuscripts. And while Leisure remains committed to futuristics, sales have forced them to cut back their publication schedule for this type of book. Are sales really that bad? It depends on who you talk to. Most futuristic readers are very loyal. Tamara Parkins lives in Grand Island, NE and has a very hard time finding futuristics on any bookshelves in that city. To locate the stories she loves she resorts to driving for miles or ordering her books through the mail. The reader is there, but she can’t get what she wants. Her mother Laralyn Tiberghien agrees. "Tami and I have been very disappointed in the limited number of futuristics available to the reader of that genre. I believe that there are a large number of readers who like the futuristic genre and are very upset at the few books in that genre that are published." Beth Anne Steckiel of Beth Anne’s Book Corner in Colorado Springs, CO handsells futuristics to her customers. They have learned to trust her during her 11 years in business and often ask for more after reading one. In fact, Beth Anne introduced one die-hard historical reader to Kathleen Morgan’s futuristics and the reader’s been converted ever since. With the declining number of futuristics published, she recently moaned to Beth Anne, "Now what do I read? There’s nothing out there for me." Beth Anne understands that sentiment and blames publishers for not giving the futuristic genre enough time to build their audience. "Now-a-days if something doesn’t grow in one to two years, it’s considered a waste of time. Instead of building a line up slowly, publishers want instant success like they received with historicals." She also doesn’t like the way publishers tried to disguise the covers of later futuristics to fool the reader into believing it was a historical. Readers who don’t like futuristics will be unhappy at being deceived and those readers searching for futuristics can’t find them. In the past, Beth Anne would order 20-25 copies of every futuristic released and sell them all. Now, unless she reads the reviews and Ingram’s catalog closely, she misses the few that are issued until it’s too late to order enough. She adds that the unreliability of futuristics publication has hurt the genre just as it has hurt her business. Readers who came in regularly to pick up their futuristics are now only coming in every three months or so. Others are switching to another genre to fulfill their need for something different. This doesn’t help when futuristic readers are small in number to start with. According to Damita Lewis of The Book Shelf in Paris, IL (http://www.thebookshelf.com), her customers are more into time travels and the "true" futuristic doesn’t interest them. They’d rather read about going back in time or someone coming forward to today. Elaine Galit of Blue Willow Books in Houston, TX sadly agrees. Futuristics don’t sell in her store unless she pushes them, which she does as she reads and likes SF, fantasy and paranormal. However, Elaine feels part of the problem is the predictable stories regardless of the genre. "I realize this is not the author’s fault," she says. "But the problem lies with the publishing houses who seem afraid to take a chance on anything that isn’t ‘tried and true’. It’s a chicken and egg kind of thing. The publishers claim the public doesn’t want to read SF/Rom, so they don’t publish it." Beth Anne also blames the distributors who stock the non-bookstores, such as Walgreens and groceries. These sales points make up a significant part of the market. When distributors won’t put up the books, the readers can’t buy them. With a core audience of limited size, futuristics have no future. A publisher is in business to make money. If the books don’t sell, neither the publisher nor the author make money. It’s simple economics. So, how can we improve this situation? Caren Johannes in an article on the Romance Reader "Back to the Futur(istics)" (http://www.theromancereader.com/forum4.html) has encouraged readers to take a stand and write to the publishers. As a reader, she adds, "Even though I live in a fairly good-sized metropolitan area--Denver--and have a lot of options to find books, I can’t find futuristics either. Luckily, I have developed a good futuristics library of my own so I can re-read titles and quell my craving a little. (Beth Anne confirms this syndrome by stating that futuristics rarely show up used in her bookstore.) But I’m greedy, darn it! I’d much rather find out more about characters introduced in previous books who need their own stories than to keep re-reading the older ones all the time. Or I’d love to meet an entirely new set of characters in a new world." Caren goes on to say she haunts bookstores--old and new. "It’s really depressing when all you can find are copies of books you already have or stories that just don’t hit that magical mix of romance and "otherworldliness" that make a futuristic a futuristic. I’ve almost gotten to the point where I don’t even bother to look unless I hear that a book is specifically marketed as a futuristic--a "blue moon" occurrence these days. I fear a lot of futuristic fans are like me, which is even worse." Gail Shelton has a similar write-in campaign started at her web site. (http://www.hillsboro.net/shelton/writers.htm). She asks anyone who enjoys this type of book to write to the publishers--separate individual letters--and tell them that you love these books and want to see more, and that you are frustrated when trying to find them because you can’t find enough. Mention how many books you buy and how much you spend. This type of action saved a Regency line a few years ago--at least for a short while. However, if the audience doesn’t grow, the line won’t survive. What do you suggest? How can we revive futuristics and create a larger readership? I’d be glad to compile your ideas in a follow-on article to see if we can generate a renewed interest in this unique genre. Email me at karen@karenafox.com or drop me a line at P.O. Box 31541, Colorado Springs, CO 80931-1541. ©Karen Fox, July 1998 List of Publishers Who Have or Are Publishing Futuristics Ballantine/Fawcett Bantam/Doubleday/Dell Berkley/Jove Dorchester Publishing (Leisure Books) ImaJinn Books Kensington Publishing Group St. Martin’s Press
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