Dear James Gunn,

Thank you for your inspiring and insightful writing. I hope that this email finds you well and doesn’t serve to disrupt you too much from your dreams and nightmares.

I wanted to drop you a quick note in praise of your collections Some Dreams are Nightmares and The End of the Dreams. To be more precise because I’ve only just now finished “The Cave of the Night,” to praise your introductory essays in your collections. Your introductions to these two collections, especially the introduction in your collection Some Dreams are Nightmares, were inspirational, refreshing, and still valid.

First, I agree with your statement that “The ideal length for science fiction is the novelette…” and that it “…is not true of other genres…” (SDN, ix).  Too much focus, it seems to me, has been placed on the novel because it is easier for a publisher to market. Consumers, over the years have been trained – by publishers – to buy and respect the novel over other the shorter forms. Considering the novel, I truly enjoyed your observations regarding the genres two final out comes as demonstrated through your summary of Michael Crichton’s The Andromeda Strain (SDN, xi). The presupposition that in science fiction (or truly science disaster fiction) either a noble group of heroes and heroines think through a problem and save the day or humanity is lost, simply rings false. Which is why I truly love the shorter forms that need not live up to the promise of finality, but they can instead probe, issue and ask questions but provide no answers.

Second, I hope to adopt “…Gunn’s first law for freelance writers: nothing is worth writing if you can’t use it at least twice” (SND, xvi). The more I think about his rule, the more I feel its strength. To see your rule in action, I’m going to start by finishing both collections mentioned here and then looking for the novels the stories inspired. I’m going post this law where I can see while I write with the hope that it will inspire me to revisit old ideas and stories and re-purpose them.

Thirdly, I’ve just begun to discover your stories. I read “The Cave of the Night” this afternoon while my wife and I waited for the winery to open for tasting and tours. The winery opened before I’d finished. However, and to the consternation of my wife, I had to finish before we started our vacation adventures. I loved the ending. I was just as enthralled and committed to Rev’s liberation from the cave as the rest of the earth bound were that I didn’t see the ending coming, which is rare and a joy. Thank you!

Finally, this email is a thank you letter of sorts. I’m a fledgling short story author dabbling mostly in science fiction (speculative fiction, really), and I wanted to reach out to you to let you know that I have been inspired by your words. I look forward to discovering more of your writings in the days to come.

Sincerely,

Aaron M. Wilson

P.S. I’m considering publishing this letter at The Hive Mind. If you respond, which is in no way necessary, I would like permission to include your reply in the posting.

—– James Gunn’s Reply—–

Dear Aaron,

It is always the hope of a writer to influence the reader, at least to pleasure, sometimes to thought, and at best to action.  So your message is triply welcome.  Writing is a lonely business.  That’s not a cry for sympathy; the writer’s life has its own rewards.  But you can only do it alone and seldom see a response, so the one that comes, that gives evidence that there are readers out there who sometimes understand what a writer has been trying to communicate, is a delight. Thanks.

If you reach the point in your own writing where you are submitting stories for publication and need some help in making your stories publishable, you might try one of the several good writers workshops that specialize in science fiction and fantasy, including my own (which starts next Monday).

Sure, you can post this.

James Gunn
Let’s save the world through science fiction