Writing science fiction and fantasy / Crawford Kilian

Whether you're writing science fiction or fantasy, your basic theme is power and how to use it. Your plot is always a political one: who should have the power and on what terms? Maybe your heroes pay a high price for their power; maybe they abandon their power for the sake of love.

If power is your basic theme, your story - whether a 500-word short-short story or an epic trilogy - is anecdotal evidence for your particular mythic vision of the world. As a writer of science fiction or fantasy, you tell the reader how your imaginary world works in human terms, what kinds of values best inspire good behaviour, what kids of hazards and personal flaws can subvert such behaviour. Your story may take place in a guady world of demons and elves or on the satellite of a giant planet 50,000 light-years from here - but it is still a comment about the here and now.

From back of book.

Writing science fiction and fantasy can be found on the shelves at PN 3377.5 .S3 K54 1998