Friday 19 April 2013

Is Sci-Fi The Next Big Thing?

One of the things I've learnt about YA fiction is that it most of it tends to follow phases of popularity - the vampire/paranormal one is possibly one of the most memorable ones with the popularity of the Twilight books, but there is always the question 'what is going to be next?'

Now I've heard it on the publishing grape-vine that sci-fi is going to be big for YA in 2013 - what do you think of that?
I'll admit I'm not a massive sci-fi fan - I'm more of a contemporary, real-life fiction reader, but I do read sci-fi titles on recommendation and I find the dystopian fiction alot more interesting that I expected.
YA already has a large amount of dystopian sci-fi titles from the likes of The Hunger Games, Mira Ink's own 'Inside Out' by the ever amazing Maria V. Snyder and Patrick Ness' Chaos walking triology (I'd recommend these is you're a Hunger Games fan, as long as you don't directly compare the two! The first book 'The Knife of Never Letting Go' is a WBN book for this year too) but we've not had a large amount of popular major science fiction - now I'm talking aliens, monsters, stuff from your wildest imaginings. Do you think this is because YA readers just aren't that interested (so far) in these topics?  Or I could be completely wrong - maybe there is a whole YA sci-fi world out there that has not been revealed to me, you tell me? Maybe it could be that there is such a massive market of sci-fi adult fiction that readers haven't needed specific YA versions?



Well maybe this is about to change?
With the recent film release, 'The Host' could be considered to be starting the ball rolling for 'alien invasion' YA stories. Although it has been out quite a few years - and I think it is largely riding on the back of Stephanie Meyer's success with Twilight - the film has brought it back into the spotlight. Have you read it? Or seen it in fact? I've yet to see the film, but I did like the premise of the book - I just found it very long. The first two thirds were quite drawn out and it felt like a bit of an endurance test to be able to get the last third where the pace picked up and it got exciting. It probably says alot about my taste for sci-fi when my favourite scenes were the ones between Ian and Wanda near the end. I prefer it when it has more depth than just aliens - romance and character development are just as important for me than alien invasions and save-the-world-type heroes.
Do you agree? Or am I just trying to fluff up sci-fi into romance too much?

Penguin seem to think that Sci-fi is definitely the YA genre of the year. They have a new title out in May called 'The 5th Wave' and it is going to be huge! They seem to have created a massive marketing campaign around it - Check out the website they have set up for it: http://the5thwaveiscoming.com/ - even I admit I am intrigued and have downloaded the taster. It appears to mix the right amount of dystopia with unidentified alien 'others' and is probably going to be film-worthy! What do you think? Intrigued?

Could this, along with The Host be the start of the alien revolution in the YA world of 2013?


If yes, what would you like to added to this list? Either older titles that deserve a light shining on them, or even the type of alien/sci-fi plot lines you would love to see published this year?

18 comments:

  1. I do love me some YA dystopia but proper scifi?? Not really. But I always like to try different books.

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  2. I love scifi and fantasy all of ya is my home. So ya I think that ya scifi is on the rise.

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  3. I have been a Sci-Fi & Fantasy fan since I was around 10 or 11 and it was one author that hooked me on both genres - the late, great Douglas Hill. He wrote the galactic Warlord (Last Legionary) series and the ColSec sequence and The Blade of the Poisoner for fantasy. Then there was Saint Asimov of the first Church of Robotology who with his wife created The Norby Chronicles and other classic Sci-Fi series.

    Like most genre fiction Sci Fi has always been with us (in YA) but has quietly bubbled on with its fans and now with more and more dystopian fiction hitting the big time people are taking notice of other types of Sci-Fi around it and saying hang on it is good, add to this new Sci-Fi imprints including Strange Chemistry focusing exclusively on the weird for YA then yes there is potential for YASF to explode but even if it doesn't it is here (and always has been) - you can't stop the signal!

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  4. I wasn't a big fan of sci-fi until about a year ago when I read Across the Universe by Beth Revis and adored it. I've been reading more sci-fi since. Last one I read was the upcoming Zenn Scarlett by Christian Schoon. It's great.
    Can't wait to read The 5th Wave!

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  5. Kirsty Stanley I think sci-if allows us to explore issues affecting outer current society by looking at the impact they will have in the future. That's often scary and challenging. As long as the book is well written I'm in.

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  6. I love sci-fi,and I love the fact that I can find so many new novels involving sci-fi.

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  7. I have always loved sci-fi and fantasy - but I think everyone is sort of already reading sci-fi - can't it be argued that dystopian reads are just an offshoot of this? You use a picture of the absolutely bloody fantastic 'The Knife of Never Letting Go in this post and while it is a dystopia it's set on an alien world. So, it's sci-fi. No two ways about it (I have this discussion with people all the time at work who say they hate sci-fi and then talk about how all they do is read dystopia).

    When people think of sci-fi they think of robots and aliens and epic space battles (or so it seems), but I think more people are recognising the genre is so much more than that. So many issues can be explored in sci-fi in an accessible way.

    Considering the success of the dystopian reads in the past year I can readily accept a rise in people reading other types of sci-fi - I'm looking forward to it!

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  8. I like reading lots of genres but for sci-fi, I can only read the 'lite' ones. The ones with too many scientific terms...it makes my brain glaze over. Not sure if it's sci-fi (or more of a space opera) but I greatly enjoyed Ann Aguirre's Sirantha Jax series. :)

    I'm really excited for The 5th Wave! So many bloggers with varied taste are singing praises for it. *anticipates*

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  9. You need to take The Host out of the YA genre altogether because Stephanie Meyer wrote that as an ADULT fiction, not YOUNG adult. With that being said, I think that the reason why YA sci fi has found such a niche is because young people still have the ability to imagine worlds being full of aliens or demons or monsters and they are drawn to books that include such things in the story. One of my favorite series is Left Behind by Tim LaHaye and he wrote the series in TWO SEPARATE GENRES, one for adults and one for t(w)teens so that it would reach both audiences differently.

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  10. I love sci-fi. It's refreshing, different, something I love to lose myself in. I haven't seen The Host film yet, but when the book was originally released I loved it. It was probably my first dose of sci-fi (and at the time I was a teenager!).
    I can definitely see the craze taking off. Dystopia is essentially sci-fi. Well, in my opinion anyway. I really can't wait to see what books will be coming out within the YA genre :D.

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  11. I honestly haven't read much sci-fi except for The Host I think it would be refreshing to see more sci-fi in YA and I definitely would check it out. It's one of them genres where you need to understand a lot of science-y stuff but it definitely is something a lot of people would accept and would bring in a wider range of audience. 2013-sci-fi? Yes yes yes :D

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  12. I absoulutely love sci-fi.It's such a broad genre with books that could contain absoulutely anything.my favourite though is the dystopian books.Monument fourteen by emmy laybourne is my fave at the moment.

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  13. I never liked sci-fi until a few years ago other than Star Wars and and Star Trek. I know the whole space and alien topics never appealed to me, still don't, but I do find I gravitate toward shows more dystopian or sciency with regards to magic, such as Hunger Games, Dr. Who, Eureka and Warehouse 13. Even books like the Host didn't go overboard with the sci-fi theme. It was more about the characters, which made it good.I just don't think it has the same appeal as fantasy for YA. My 15yr old likes to real Fantasy because it gives her a place to escape to that just possibly could never happen. With science, anything is possible.

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  14. I love Sci-Fi and I agree, there are more books out there. I think it's an exciting genre thta offers so much to both the reader and the writer. I always look for books with a sci-fi twist. Fantastic. Some books I'd add include Ender's Game (been around a long time) the Across the Universe series, Pathfinder series (also by Scott Card) Even Under a Never Sky has a sci-fi element. Great books all of them.

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  15. I love sci-fi and think there are some amazing YA sci-fi titles already out there. I hope this is a trend this year as it's one of my favorites. I know that Enders Game movie is coming out and I need to read this classic series. I liked Across the Universe as well although I've only read the first book. The Host was pretty interesting too.

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  16. As a rule, I prefer fantasy to sci-fi, but I'm a book-a-holic and will give anything a try!

    I'm wondering if perhaps the interest in sci-fi is being spawned by the fact that we have basically ruined our own planet? Perhaps it is easier to turn the focus elsewhere... Are we using books to explore the possibility of moving to a new planet? Are we hoping wistfully for an alien race to either come and fix our mess, or act as a scapegoat for it?... Or am I just over-thinking things? I do that a lot!

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  17. Yes, I think Sci-Fi will be welcomed. There are a lot of readers who don't want a contemp romance book, but would love to find more Sci-Fi books. I think X Men and the Avengers will have a huge impact as well.

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  18. I agree so much with Anna. There are a lot of books out there that seem to just be sci fi/romance or fantasy/romance and while I love YA fiction sometimes teen romance can get very samey. I would personally love to see more Sci Fi out there, mainly because I love Sci-fi and fantasy of any shape/form and it does deserve more recognition because some of the worlds/stories these authors create are just mind blowing!

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