Moments of Permanence - and I'll name the hero Godwin, nothing could possibly go wrong

From: tattered-pinion.livejournal.com Date: March 23rd, 2009 02:56 pm (UTC) (Link)

I would totally read a sci fi novel that just had a blurb reading; "There is a subtext in it of: Ayn Rand is a bad person, libertarianism is bad, and social justice is good."

I do think adding the white supremacist bit would make it a bit heavy handed. I've read some pretty bad fantasy/sci fi where they lay on the subtext way too strongly (Terry Goodkind is the BEST for that) and it just feels patronising which makes you less likely to treat the text seriously.

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From: (Anonymous) Date: March 29th, 2009 02:08 pm (UTC) (Link)

R,

If you make the bad guys completely bad, in every way, without a single redeeming feature, it can undercut the suspension of disbelief that SF novels need to work.

I would suggest looking at www.tvtropes.org for examples of just how badly some authors have done it, with a special visit for (who else) Ayn Rand herself. Terry Goodkind is another author who isn't satisfied with just making the villains bad - he has to make them political strawmen too.

Personally, I dislike seeing political strawmen (even of political philosophies I already don't agree with) in novels. But that's just my opinion - your mileage may vary.

M.

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