Clear as Martian mud, right? To clarify, Sterling was talking about what he saw as “the ongoing brain-death of science fiction.” For writers like Sterling, Asimov, Le Guin, and their ilk, science fiction was a high-brow art form using SFF genre tropes to speak to the human condition. They were seeing an influx of stories using these tropes simply to tell fun, if vapid stories. However, Sterling was also seeing some novels that weren’t strictly science fiction or fantasy using these tropes to tell compelling literary stories. These were stories of complex characters, deep personal stakes, and real-life human tragedy. So, Sterling and Dorsett labeled them as slipstream. These are far from the only slipstream books out there. Some predate Sterling’s designation, and many have been published since. What are some of your favorite slipstream books?
