This might be total confirmation bias speaking, and I mean this to spur discussion rather than ramble about it too much. I see a very different style of posting from the Appendix N, Pulp Revolution, Science Fiction Should Be Fun crowd than the Literary SF group.
The Pulp group makes fun, talks about stuff they love. Music, movies, Edgar Rice Burroughs, gaming. The posts feel high energy and are about a lust for life on average.
The literary SF crowd has a lot of downer posts, usually links to fake news Huffington Post or angry poltiical sites on repeat. They talk about seriousness and professionalism at length.
Fun vs. Boring on display. It may come down to mindset, which could impact what we create in terms of art. Something to think about. Have you noticed this too?
This is EXACTLY what we’re going for.
Welcome to the party, man!
Yeeeeah! 😀
In the world of RPGs, a similar reformation movement, referred to as the Old School Renaissance, traveled a similar path. The other crowds were bitching about “fifteen minutes of fun crammed into a three-hour game” and how traditional RPGs harshed on their ability to create “stories that matter!”
The OSR folks, on the other hand, were all about fun. It started with, “Hey, RPGs used to be more fun. Let’s look at those older games and see if we can find out why there were more fun than what we’re playing today.” It progressed to, “Yep, those old games *are* more fun. Let’s play with the formulas and see what other kinds of fun we can spin off this.” And it’s still chugging along strong, after bringing boxed sets, gateway games, and an embrace of the virtues of simplicity back to the industry.
Follow the fun. At worst, you’ll smile more.
Fantastic and spot on. The only thing that I would add is that the guys working in the Pulp Revolution aren’t just fun, they are blisteringly intelligent. Do not mistake their cheerfulness for frivolity. These guys are serious about their fun, and they draw on *a lot* of years of study and analysis. They constantly surprise me with observations that look so obvious you wonder how you missed seeing it yourself.