Coffee With David

Over the last few weeks I have been working on the first draft of The Guardians and it is nearing completion. As I have been writing that and dealing with growing Federal Government involvement in my life outside of writing, I have found myself missing days when I would write and ride herd over 20 or 30 heads of horses. (No, I was not a Cowboy. I was a Wrangler. I do not nor have I ever known anything about beef except how to cook it.) Thinking back on those days I began to reflect on the Western and the future of man—assuming we ever do settle among the stars. All of this led to a desire to try my hand at a space western.
So, why title this “an argument”? As I began to research the genre I have learned that there are some in the science fiction genre who reject this type fiction. Some of the criticisms are:
“The Turkey City Lexicon, a document produced by the Turkey City science fiction writers' workshop, condemns the space Western as "The most pernicious suite of 'Used Furniture' [that is, use of a pre-established background instead of a freshly created world]."
Galaxy Science Fiction ran an advertisement on its back cover, "You'll never see it in Galaxy", which gave the beginnings of make-believe parallel Western and SF stories featuring a character named Bat Durston” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_western)
These are only a few examples. If you have read my blogs, my work, or know me personally you will know exactly how I would argue against this. I would turn back to history. Why? Mankind has a nasty habit of repeating history—the good, the bad and the ugly aspects of it. The idea of a space western is a story with Western themes set in the future. Let us look for a moment at many of today’s nations that have been built with the blood and sweat of what Americans call “Cowboys.” Obvious the United States is the first one to come to mind. Let’s move on: Canada, Mexico, actually—all the countries from North America to South America. However, that is not all. Let us, as the British say, jump the pond: Australia, New Zealand, and there are others. At one time, all of these lands were considered frontiers. On all of these lands, a people developed a “western” type of society. It was different by degrees in each land, but there was commonality of personality that existed.
If mankind continues to repeat history and if we go out to the stars, then yes, I expect to see some kind of frontiersman/cowboy. He may not be sitting on a horse. He may not engage in Hollywood style gunplay. However, the personality will still exist. The frontier will not be antiseptically clean or without the conditions that was seen in the old frontier—in fact I would be highly surprised if those conditions are not somehow magnified.
Maybe I am wrong, but the genre of Science Fiction is the exploration of what may be—what is possible—what if this or that. On that stage, in that universe of imagination, there is still room for a few space cowboys.
Thank you for reading and please visit www.davidalanlucas.com for updates to blogs, stories and poems I write.