Comments on: Big Speculation – Fat Fiction

By: Bill Sherman

Bill Sherman — Tue, 31 May 2011 14:15:56 +0000

There was an anthology of plus-sized s-f and fantasy released by a small press in 2000: Lee Martindale’s Such A Pretty Face, a title that unfortunately has also been used on several other books. The writers in the collection are predominately women, none too surprisingly. None of the stories take the theme to the extremes that Wilson Barbers does in his Adipost Zone tales.

By: Dylan Fox

Dylan Fox — Sat, 14 May 2011 14:00:48 +0000

As much as anything else, it’s distinctly worrying that so many people assume future/fantastical societies will have exactly the same definitions of beauty, attractiveness and values as we do…

By: Athena Andreadis

Athena Andreadis — Thu, 12 May 2011 16:10:37 +0000

Indeed, being mildly overweight is apparently best — it gives a buffer against sudden and/or catastrophic illness.

I wrote about this from the other end (caloric restriction and its fraudulent claims to extend lifespan):

The Quantum Choice: You Can Have Either Sex or Immortality
http://www.starshipreckless.com/blog/?p=4389

By: Kay Holt

Kay Holt — Thu, 12 May 2011 13:38:52 +0000

It would be nice to see a balance, definitely. It's the skinny 'monoculture' that's worrisome. In the interest of finding balance, Crossed Genres opened a new anthology to submissions: Fat Girl in a Strange Land

By: Kay Holt

Kay Holt — Thu, 12 May 2011 13:33:59 +0000

Ah, thanks. I’ll look into it.

By: Jo Thomas

Jo Thomas — Thu, 12 May 2011 09:57:47 +0000

Hi Kay,

Sorry I took so long to reply.

There are strong parallels between the world of Soldier Son and the settlement of North America but how things actually work is quite scewed and different. The race in particular are secondary characters but pivotal to the plot. The main character is of a more Western / European race but finds himself tied up in and part of this secondary group. It never quite gets to the becomign one of the noble savages and being better than them at it. I can’t say much more without giving plot spoilers.

Wikipedia stuff here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soldier_Son_Trilogy

By: Dylan Fox

Dylan Fox — Sun, 08 May 2011 16:13:27 +0000

Of course, there’s also the ‘fat is evil’ trope: http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/FatBastard

And, despite the fact we’re constantly told so, being over-weight isn’t really a huge blow to our healths: http://www.medicinenet.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=91817

I agree entirely. We need more people like us in our spec-fic and less people who reinforce unrealistic and unhealthy body-ideals on people!

By: Kay Holt

Kay Holt — Sat, 07 May 2011 02:23:30 +0000

I’ll look into those – thanks for the links.

By: RJ

RJ — Fri, 06 May 2011 23:43:06 +0000

I suspect there isn’t much fat scifi around because most writers write what turns them on, whether they admit it or not. I assume that a lot of scifi writers also figure that by the future there will by then be an effective way to stop being fat which doesn’t include removing parts of your stomach and intestines. At which point everyone can make a choice to be fat or not.

I’m a big fan of Wilson Barbers, who writes a lot of erotic fat/weight gain science fiction – see: http://www.dimensionsmagazine.com/dimtext/Barbers/ Particularly the Adipose Zone Page Briant stories, which are set in a world where people choose to be fat or thin. (Page, a PI, has decided to live with his natural, plump body without any scifi assistance. I have written Barbers screamy fanmail about Page; he is the only writer I’ve ever written fanmail too, actually.)

Also, for pimping purposes: I put together an anthology a few years ago with a fat male theme; it’s not all science fiction but a fair portion are, and they explore a lot of fat themes. It includes pro writers as well as some completely new ones. Also, it has me in it. http://www.lulu.com/product/paperback/the-fat-man-at-the-end-of-the-world/4060425?productTrackingContext=search_results/search_shelf/center/1

Anyway, that’s enough fat fiction pimpage.

By: Kay Holt

Kay Holt — Fri, 06 May 2011 18:08:21 +0000

Yeah, those book covers are a bit of an affront. The denials that there’s anything weird about it are what get me, though. Whom do they imagine read these books?

Forgive me for not knowing already, but what is your book called?