Is the Epic Sci-Fi Adventure genre dead, or Is There Still Room For It in Today's World?

by Todd Rogers
(Sacramento, CA, USA)

Question: I am a writer with big dreams of writing an EPIC storyline.


A storyline that dares to go so far as to create a new universe that runs parallel to reality, espousing, at its core, elements or scenarios that focus on the more positive, more optimistic, "in-a-perfect-world" vein, which runs counter to the real world's colder, darker, mostly negative, "glass-is-half-empty" version of reality.

My story, the core elements of which have been written just about 30 years ago, when I was but a teenager, was originally intended to be one which spanned three generations of the main character's family lines, dealing with issues common in today's society like, for instance, homosexuality (the main protagonist is gay), gay parenting, gay marriage and living in a world where there is no such thing as prejudice, hatred towards gay people from society, and where even the church has learned to embrace the concept.

My question really is this: Is there still room in this world for a universe spanning adventure of epic proportions like is found in Harry Potter, Star Wars, Star Trek, Babylon 5, and others like it?

If so, how best would such a thing be written?

If not, why not?

Answer: I sure hope there is scope for more grand, positive views of the future, because I have grown tired of all the post-apocalyptic and dystopian scenarios that have been created. (Not that some of them aren't great too, in their own way.)

Fortunately, themes, genres, subjects, etc. do trend and cycle. Or perhaps it's better to say that things come back in style, but are never the same as they were the first time, because society has changed in the meantime.

If you think you have a fresh way present such an epic, the only thing to do is write the first book and see if it can find a market. No one can predict what the next big thing will be, any more than a stock broker can name a stock you're guaranteed to make a killing on.

If I could tell you exactly how the next big thing would be written, I'd be the chief editor at one of the big six publishing houses, because they only ever know after it takes off.

You can only hope that if you feel a need for such a story, you aren't alone.

Comments for Is the Epic Sci-Fi Adventure genre dead, or Is There Still Room For It in Today's World?

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Don't lose faith.
by: Paul Ciampo

When it comes to Epic Sci-Fi, I feel that void too. I'm writing my own at the moment. My story is a personal representation of my opinions and interests... So my suggestion to you is to not be too concerned with how it is written, but instead be concerned about the individualization of the work you write and what it means to you (and your audience).
When Star Wars came out, they did not know it'd be such a it movie. In fact, I read about it recently... They did not include the subtitle "Episode IV," because it was not definitive that it would be a hit. The original film was released as "Star Wars." It wasn't until later that they released it with the complete name: "Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope."
Good luck!
by: Anonymous

I'm sick to the teeth of postapocalyptic and dystopian lit, and I'd love to read something more epic and classic. So the audience you're looking for does exist, even if it seems pretty small now- and the fact that your book doesn't fit the current trend means that it might be at the forefront of a newer one when it finally comes out.
Yes, Yes There Is
by: Kiwi

You want epic Sci-Fi Adventure? Read these:The Time of Ancient Order
Veara
A Little Fight? For Regimight?
Grox and Kisses
The Vacor Incident
Faith in Alliances
The Tale of Tesseract
The Storm

The Authors ~
The Caterpillar
VeeVee the Roleplayer
Lady Heston of Bloomingshire
ravenstarwolf
Railan101
NJKilleen
Patriot868


All can be found on Fanfiction.net
And by the way,
you don't have to read 1 to understand another.They're all connected, so get around to reading them all, see if you think the Sci-Fi Adventure genre is dead and gone.
Sci-Fi Epic Adventures
by: Todd Rogers

Thank you for the wonderful advice everyone!

I am very gratified that there are people that are sick and tired of the post-apocalyptic, dystopian genre, which I know has been exploited TO DEATH!!!!

For Kiwi: Fan Fiction is a wonderful outlet for writers of all styles and types and ability levels.

It balances the scales between those who believe they got the shaft with a totally uninspiring, anti-climactic ending to their favorite movie franchise and those that loved everything about said same movie franchise, but can't bear to be without it, so they take matters into their own hands and write more content.

I can appreciate that, because I am a firm believer that there is at least one good book or story in each and every person.

The trick is to nurture creativity while doing your best not to put lesser work down and trying to be a positive force in whatever circles you travel.

I am quite gratified that an audience exists for what I would like to do with my storylines. The fact that my work can be potentially groundbreaking is not lost on me, and that is a great motivation to get it out there.
My ideas of the Galaxy Warriors series I came up with
by: Kevin Lupton-Gonzalez

I wonder if there is still room too. About two years ago I came up with a Science Fiction Epic video game series called "Galaxy Warriors". I made four installments to the series so far. Even today I still work on this and I am 16 years old. The main protagonist of the series is Sergeant Eric Willian-Jackson,a Human-American soldier of the USCM (US Cyber-Marines). He and his squad of super soldiers known as "The US Cyber-Wolfpack" work on many missions across the Milky Way Galaxy. His partners in the beginning are Corporals Cheung Li-Sung Wang and Hideyoshi Akechi. Akechi has been Jackson's friend for a while and Li-Sung has developed a crush on Jackson since they started working together. Later in the series I reveal that Li-Sung is not a Chinese human but a humanoid Mozenese Princess of The Zao Dynasty on The Planet Mozenso this gives Jackson and Li-Sung a star crossed,inter species,teamates. Jackson also has a cousin who is female counterpart to him. Her name is Sergeant Erica William-Jackson. Later in the series she shares a lesbionic/bisexual inter species relationship with her teammate,Xyrrah,a blue skinned,humanoid,Mekulanian woman with a anglerfish antannae on her head. The main antagonist of the series is Commander Victor Bruchekov Mikuvich,a human,russian male revolutionary soldier and leader of the Russian Spetsnaz army. He travels around the galaxy, forming appeasements with many of the evil planets of the galaxy such as Zarka,Mozen,and Yubi. Jackson and Mikuvich both fight to assure that their countries and planets maintain order and balance across the galaxy. Throughout the series Jackson meets many new friends and teammates in the USCM as his career goes. I hope you all think this is a great idea. Because I came up with so many characters for the game series.
Re: My ideas of the Galaxy Warriors series I came up with
by: Todd Rogers

Wow! Kevin, I really liked reading your comment!

Thank you for posting!

You are only 16?

How STUPENDOUS it is that you've carved out such a rich, detailed character set for your series.

The only thing that I would caution.

When using human names, especially those that are hyphenated, usually the name is pluralized.

Like your name for Sergeant Erica William-Jackson. If I didn't know better I'd think you'd actually meant WillamS-Jackson?

Would I be right?

Look at the entymology of the names and how they are constructed. That's what I did in my sci-epic series and it's really taking the chains off my plot constructs.

Make your universe rich and detailed as well, right down to the physics of your universe.

What is allowed? What is NOT allowed? If something can fly, why can it fly? If something is heavier in normal gravity than it should be, why is it heavier?

Pay close attention to the mechanics, because believe it or not, things like quantum locking (which you can find info about on TED's website) and other real world scientific stuff can be the source of some GREAT technological leaps in your story and really unleash the power of what CAN be.

Hope I didn't go over your head there!

BEST OF LUCK on your endeavors!!!!!!! I really look forward to hearing of you being published.
Name translations and derivements of Galaxy Warriors
by: Kevin Lupton-Gonzalez

For some of things in the game were translated fromanother language or word.

Examples
-In Galaxy Warriors 3, One of the antagonists is an insectoid,grasshopper-like appearance named "Akrida'. "Akrida" is greek "grasshopper".
and one of the planets of the third game is "Glaciem" which is latin for "Ice".

-In Galaxy Warriors 4,I named several characters after some words and the seven deadly sins in chinese words. Like for "Kelong" and "Zhili Jiangdhi",the secondary antagonists of the game and evil clones of Cheung Li-Sung Wang. "Kelong" is chinese for "Clone" and "Zhili Jiangdhi" is chinese for "Reduced Intelligence". And for one of the bosses of the fourth game,two humanoid,mozenese twin brothers,named "Baoshi" and "Shu lan" are chinese for "Gluttony" and "Sloth".

-For the the character Sergeant Erica William-Jackson,who is the cousin and female counterpart of Sergeant Eric William-Jackson,the main protagonist of the series are basically the same name. and for a deromed countered of Sergeant Eric Jackson,his name is Noskcaj Millaw-Cire which is his name in backwards. Noskacj is also loosely based on the troubled DC Supervillian of Superman,"Bizarro".

The Galaxy Warriors Universe
by: Kevin Lupton-Gonzalez

How the universe of Galaxy Warriors works is explained here.

The setting is in the year 2122. It is an era of peace for Earth and many of the planets around the Galaxy. Humans and other alien species live together in harmony on colonies on various planets and places such as on Mars and Earth's Moon. Tons of resources are gathered to support many of the planet's developing populations. Humans and other species travel through space flight from one planet to another. Scientists have found a cure for various diseases and humans age slightly lesser and live much longer thanks to advanced medical enhancements. Thanks to the support of The S.P.A.
(The Spatial Planetary Alliance),Earth has remained maintained with The US Cyber-Marines. But however there are some human threats and outer worldly threats who wish to see the human race tremble so they can takeover the planet. But the USCM'a best group of super soldiers,The Cyber-Wolfpack is always ready for battle. Defending the Earth from many threats such as human terrorists, revolutionaries,enemy armies,hostile robots, mutant outbreaks,alien invasions,space warfare, intergalactic warfare, Alien dynasties and empires and even powerful and supernatural beings.

The main characters are like super soldiers giving enhanced abilities for battle.

Galaxy Warriors pics on Facebook
by: Kevin Lupton-Gonzalez

For the concepts on Galaxy Warrirors,find my account Kevin Gonzalez on Facebook and find my pics and click on "Concept and Ideas on Galaxy Warriors" to see the concept art.
Many characters of Galaxy Warriors
by: Kevin Lupton-Gonzalez

The main characters of the Galaxy Warriors series are like super soldiers and most of their backstories have redemption as a theme to them. So the characters in their background may have lost someone important to them in the past,Something very terrible may have happened to them, and a few oof them may have did something very bad. I didn't want to make the characters like superheroes who are almost overpowered or just ordinary soldiers who just good strategic ways. So I made them like super soldiers so they are more better than the average soldier.

In the first game,there's just one group of super soldiers introduced in The USCM called "The US Cyber-Wolfpack" It consists of eight super soldiers such as the fearless battle commander, Sergeant Eric William-Jackson,born with genetically enhanced reflexes. The stealthy sniper and samurai swordsman,Corporal Hideyoshi Akechi. Oriental and curvy Chinese-American (but later in the series,revealed to be a humanoid, mozenese illegal alien-immigrant) Corporal Cheung Li-Sung Wang with her expandable long hair and her hidden demonic form that is trigger by extreme anger,torment,trauma,etc...The three former S.P.A. troopers,X-312K, the man with the plans of the trio,A-Zero-05,The brains of the trio and the squad,G-347,The dim-witted but super strong,gluttonous Archeian,The Big man of brain and brawns,Sergeant Kevin Gonzalez,an latin-irish muscular soldier named after me,and the recently created Japanese Hi-Tech combat-robot, The Hyperactive Intergrated Resourceful Interactive Killer Uni-bot or "H.I.R.I.K.U." for short.

In one of DLC stories of the first game and introduced in the second game, There is another squad of super soldiers known as "The US Super Squadron". It consists of super soldiers such as The genetically enhanced cousin and female counterpart of Eric Jackson, Sergeant Erica William-Jackson,the muscular tomboy, and sister-in-law and female counterpart of Sergeant Kevina Diaz, The mekulanian sea-huntress and marine biolists,Xyrrah,The quiet and "Phantom of Planet Inari" Sergeant Tanaka Kizanowa with his chained sword,The orphaned,hulking Ursian,Sergeant Urlam Rikami,The Toknan gunwoman and love interest of The Cyber-Wolfpack's X-312K,Corporal Tawna.

I hope you like the characters and Happy Halloween :)
A New New Wave
by: Anonymous

In recent decades, there has been a move away from adventure and escapism in science fiction, both literary and television/film (I don't count any Marvel Cinematic Universe movies as real science fiction and Star Wars is a pale ghost of its former self). In literary science fiction, there is a lot of focus on promoting underrepresented voices (typically female and LGBTQ) and they often want to write about issues closer to their experience instead of escapist tales of adventure. I'm sensing that we are going to see something similar to the New Wave of the 60s where certain authors didn't want to write spaceships, robots, and aliens. So another New Wave that will eventually burn itself out if it hasn't already.

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