LITERARY DEATH MATCH 2003
Do you enjoy great sci-fi and fantasy literature? Do you have strong opinions about the influence, fame, and just general 'specialness' of your favorite authors? Do you believe that your own opinions are intrinsically more valuable than those of your misguided, semiliterate, narrow-minded, inbred peers? Then join us on Saturday at 2 PM, because LITERARY DEATH MATCH 2003 is for you!
The moderator will introduce a variety of contests, pitting authors in the science fiction and fantasy fields of similar talent, scope, and vision against one another. It will be your part to defend your favorite against all attacks while viciously undercutting support for his or her opponent. In the end, consensus (or capitulation, or the inability to answer the bell due to extreme embarassment) will be reached; the winner will be hailed as the LITERARY DEATH MATCH 2003 champion, and the loser will be fed to the shredder.
Our proposed matches...
H.P. Lovecraft versus Edgar Allen Poe!
Antique masters of the macabre, these men introduced the world to its darkest fears with unflinching portraits of the evil and insane. So whose finger is it that points the way to cosmic horror and the ultimate futility of all human aspiration? Is it the obsessed yet casual murderer from The Cask of Amontillado, or the distant relation doomed to haunt the deathless seas in The Shadow Over Innsmouth?
J.K. Rowling versus Robert Jordan!
“If I have seen farther, it is only because I have stood on the shoulders of giants.” Sir Isaac Newton spoke these words sarcastically in reply to a detractor who compared his work unfavorably with other Renaissance greats. Wouldn’t it be nice to hear our two modern novelists admit the same? Whose concepts are LESS original? Whose characters and situations are more reminiscent of the classics of fantasy? Whose work, regardless of current popularity, would be of less worth without those that came before?
Robert Heinlein versus Ray Bradbury!
Perhaps as a reaction to the nationwide attitude of conformity, the 1950’s spawned many great writers of speculative fiction who sought to transcend the narrow limits of their time. Heinlein warned us of an impending ultra-conservative coup in America, but somewhat paradoxically worshipped the ideal of military service. Bradbury mourned for the loss of imagination and the inevitability of the nuclear holocaust that would make those very few ‘Martians’ the only survivors of Earth. Which man best exemplifies the spirit of 1950’s sci-fi, that grey spirit yearning in desire to follow knowledge like a shining star beyond the utmost bound of human thought?
Isaac Asimov versus Arthur C. Clarke!
The scientific science-fiction writer is a rarity. These two writers represent the intellectual wing of sci-fi: One was an original patent-holder for the communications satellite, and the other is the only person in history to author books that can be found in every category of the Dewey Decimal System. Assess their impact on history past, present, and future, and decide whose version of reality will make the greatest difference.
H.G. Wells versus Jules Verne!
It all had to start somewhere. Wells and Verne started the world speculating on the promises and horrors of tomorrow. From a submarine that could circumnavigate the globe without surfacing (Preposterous!) to the first use of the words “atomic bomb” (Impossible!), the body of work produced by these authors foretold so much of what we take for granted today. Which author stands as the ultimate oracle, the voice crying in the wilderness who warned us of the promise and peril of the 20th century?
Lewis Carrol versus C.S. Lewis!
The battle of the Lewises…Which one stands out as the best children’s fantasy author: Carroll, the brilliant, troubled and troubling mathematician and logician, or Clive, the creator of Narnia? Do we anoint C.S. simply because of that night at the pub when he said “Johnnie, you’ve got to get that book published!” and J.R.R. Tolkien said, “Okay, I guess…”? Are we AFRAID to honor Charles Dodgeson because of recent revisionist accusations concerning his morality and drug use?
Aldous Huxley versus George Orwell!
Even as the intellectual elite of the world embraced socialism like a forbidden lover and the economies of the corrupt capitalist states crashed into depression, a few voices rose up in warning against the death of the individual. Even as the spectre of fascism was replaced by the seemingly-endless spiral of the nuclear arms race and both authentic and suspected treasons were daily occurrences, a few gadflies stood up to the great herd-instinct of conformity. Which book best framed the struggle against the collective: Huxley’s BRAVE NEW WORLD, or Orwell’s 1984?
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