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As soon as it was announced yesterday that Connie Willis had been named the next SFWA Grand Master, the Internet exploded with a wide range of chatter, ranging from “It’s about time!” to “Wow, I suddenly feel very old” to “Already?”
That was to be expected. Science fiction fandom doesn’t speak in one voice on anything.
But what I didn’t expect was to find some science fiction fans who had no idea who she was.
Here’s just one example, from Reddit:
Wow… Never heard of her, but she’s never written a series; it’s all short stories and individual novels, by the look of her wikipage.
How very unusual… And unmarketable, which is presumably why I’ve never heard of her.
Will look her stuff up, though.
How interesting to think that to some readers, if you’re writing short stories, or if your novels are not part of a series, you’re invisible—even if you’ve won seven Nebula Awards and eleven Hugo Awards.
I’m not judging the commenter, I’m just … surprised.
Damon Knight used to say that science fiction was the thing we pointed at when we said “science fiction,” but these days, science fiction is so fragmented that Damon would throw his back out trying to point in a thousand directions simultaneously.
And I keep forgetting that.
You know … you could be right. Perhaps I am sarcasm impaired.
Actually, I hope I am sarcasm impaired!
They really ought to use Fe+ delineations for this kind of thing….
Bellweather is one darn long short story.
I just polled my husband, who reads a modest 30-40 books a year, but mostly SF and Fantasy. He had no idea who she was.
I think as writers we tend to forget sometimes how many books are out there and how large the pond really is. Now, if a professional in the SF/F field makes the comment that they don’t know who she is, that’s pretty sad. But for a random casual reader? I’m not surprised at all.
Which is one reason I tried to be clear that I wasn’t judging the commenter, just startled. I was calling myself out, more than him or her.
I’d never heard of Connie Willis until I happened across the Locus issue with the best SFF writer poll results. Willis was voted top writer of the 1990s which prompted me to seek out her works. This took some doing because her books were not available at most of my local bookshops & is true even now, So I can understand if there are people who are not familiar with her work. I came late to Lois McMaster Bujold too. SFF is a large pond these days.
I’ve never heard of her either. Her Wikipedia entry (had to use mobile version, but that’s okay — Support Freedom!) pointed out that she dealt with the social sciences, which is a touch ironic and very appropriate. People tend to underestimate just how overwhelming the elite are in any group. Names (not even people, just names) like Doctorow (in my spell check BTW), Gibson, & Cameron so consume the mental and social space that names (and people) like Willis are pushed to the side.
How many people out side of the SF community know who Scott Edelman is, besides the tall guy who buys whole suckling pigs.
I think this says more about the gengre itself, the Hugo and Nebula awards and how it is covered in mass media and newspapers, than about Connie Willis. In a way, I think the grey text on black background, 15 yr old design and zero usability of this website is representable for the same thing. Introversion. In any case, Willis is indeed a grandmaster of writing and I have most of what she has published!
Thanks for the comment!
The design isn’t old, rather something I had created for me early last year, but I am realizing more and more that though the white on black may work for short snipped of text in galleries, it does cause trouble when reading long blog entries, and I’m looking into whipping up something new. So your critique is heard.
Eileen Gunn
Sounds like sarcasm to me, Scott. A truly avid reader of tie-in novels wouldn’t have thought to mention short stories.