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Sturgeon's Revelation
“Sure, 90% of science fiction is crud. That's because 90% of everything is crud.”
Normally this quip (also called Sturgeon's Revelation) is quoted as “90 % of everything is crap”. Some pessimists even go so far and insist the true value hovers around the 95% mark.
Wherever one puts the exact number, statistically Sturgeon's observation can't be far from the truth. But there comes of course a point where the granularity of things comes into play. Because there are Good Things, out there. Period.
Obvious question, then: how much of what I produce here (or in my books, for that matter) is crap and crud? Well, I should certainly hope it's somewhat less than 90%. Then again, I may be biased:-)
And anyway, beauty (or the lack of it) lies, as ever, in the eye of the beholder. A critic always has a point, whether I like it or not. (Mostly I do like it, despite being burdened with that thing… how do they call it? Oh yes, the sensitive soul of a writer. That's probably because I can be so opinionated myself, my sensitive soul notwithstanding.)
- Note: Sturgeon has also a Law to his name which should not be mixed up with his Revelation. The law resulted from a 1972 interview with David Hartwell (published 1989 in The New York Review of Science Fiction #7, #8). Sturgeon's Law says: “Nothing is always absolutely so.” Well, he's absolutely right.
$updated from: Sturgeon's Revelation.htxt Thu 27 Apr 2017 10:06:48 thomasl (By Thomas Lauer)$