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Here, without comment and thanks to Gordon Van Gelder, is a generous sampling of quotes from NY Times reviewer Dave Itzkoff's columns about science fiction and fantasy:
"What they expected from Mr. Crichton was his honoring the unspoken
understanding that exists between readers and writers of speculative fiction: the
reader will suspend disbelief as long as the writer starts with basic scientific
fact before weaving his science fiction. With these last two novels, they
concluded that Mr. Crichton, in his warnings of perilous futures, had violated
the pact."
---"When Science Fiction Morphed Into Politics" Nov. 8, 2008
"All science fiction has some element of titillation - a strategy of taking
known facts and stretching them to the limits of credulity, for the purposes
of both entertaining and enlightening."
---"Genetic Park", Jan. 7, 2007
"My tinfoil hat is off in admiration for anyone who translates speculative
fiction for fun or profit."
---"Cthulu Meets Godzilla," April 7, 2007
"It feels almost too confining to place Zivkovic's work in the category of
speculative fiction, but until our limited language can generate a more
befitting name for his genre, the classification will have to do."
---"Cthulu Meets Godzilla," April 7, 2007
"When an emerging science-fiction writer´s work earns him comparisons to
Robert A. Heinlein, should he take them as a compliment? Don´t misunderstand me:
I have no reason to doubt that the old master´s classic novels "Stranger in
a Strange Land" and "The Cat Who Walks Through Walls" are still as good as
I remember them (and if they aren´t, please don´t tell me). But Heinlein´s
military sci-fi, particularly the book that practically invented the genre, "
Starship Troopers," has not aged well, to put it mildly."
---"War of the Worlds", Dec. 24, 2006
"Maybe the right question to ask about Neil Gaiman isn't ''Why is he so
fixated on dreams?'' but ''Why aren't more of his fellow fantasy writers as
obsessed with the topic as he is?'' After all, dreams would seem to be the ideal
subject matter for any author of speculative fiction."
---"Dreamland," Nov. 5, 2006
" 'Dune,'' published in 1965, remains a perfect, self-contained work of
science fiction."
---"Dune Babies," Sept. 24, 2006
"Perhaps the surest sign that I paid too much for my college education is
the amount of time my classmates and I spent in a freshman philosophy seminar
debating the metaphysical underpinnings of the technology on "Star Trek" . . .
But do not squander your pity on a few precocious undergraduates
contemplating a 40-year-old television series - save it instead for the contemporary
science-fiction novelist, whose job requires him not only to reflect perpetually
on technology's philosophical consequences but to create such technology
ceaselessly out of pure imagination."
---"Fast Forward," July 9, 2006
"HERE'S a question I don't expect to come anywhere close to answering by the
end of this column: Why does contemporary science fiction have to be so
geeky?"
---"It's All Geek to Me," March 5, 2006
"Even in a science fiction writer´s most inaccurate predictions, there are
sometimes valuable truths to be gleaned."
---"Alice's Alias," Aug. 5, 2006
"I sometimes wonder how any self-respecting author of speculative fiction
can find fulfillment in writing novels for young readers."
---"Elsewhere's Children," Feb. 3, 2008
"Since this is a science fiction column, perhaps the best way to understand
Moorcock´s past is to peer farther into his future. In the late 1970s, with
the Tories preparing to take power and _George Lucas's "Star Wars" saga in ascendancy, he published his pioneering essay "Starship Stormtroopers," a brilliant, bench-clearing diatribe that ought to be required reading for any speculative-fiction fan who is ready to put down his
20-sided dice and become an adult."
---"Amorality tales," July 20, 2008
"Have the worlds of science fiction and presidential politics ever been more
closely aligned than they were in 2007?"
---"Planetary Politics," Dec. 16, 2007
"What they expected from Mr. Crichton was his honoring the unspoken
understanding that exists between readers and writers of speculative fiction: the
reader will suspend disbelief as long as the writer starts with basic scientific
fact before weaving his science fiction. With these last two novels, they
concluded that Mr. Crichton, in his warnings of perilous futures, had violated
the pact."
---"When Science Fiction Morphed Into Politics" Nov. 8, 2008
"All science fiction has some element of titillation - a strategy of taking
known facts and stretching them to the limits of credulity, for the purposes
of both entertaining and enlightening."
---"Genetic Park", Jan. 7, 2007
"My tinfoil hat is off in admiration for anyone who translates speculative
fiction for fun or profit."
---"Cthulu Meets Godzilla," April 7, 2007
"It feels almost too confining to place Zivkovic's work in the category of
speculative fiction, but until our limited language can generate a more
befitting name for his genre, the classification will have to do."
---"Cthulu Meets Godzilla," April 7, 2007
"When an emerging science-fiction writer´s work earns him comparisons to
Robert A. Heinlein, should he take them as a compliment? Don´t misunderstand me:
I have no reason to doubt that the old master´s classic novels "Stranger in
a Strange Land" and "The Cat Who Walks Through Walls" are still as good as
I remember them (and if they aren´t, please don´t tell me). But Heinlein´s
military sci-fi, particularly the book that practically invented the genre, "
Starship Troopers," has not aged well, to put it mildly."
---"War of the Worlds", Dec. 24, 2006
"Maybe the right question to ask about Neil Gaiman isn't ''Why is he so
fixated on dreams?'' but ''Why aren't more of his fellow fantasy writers as
obsessed with the topic as he is?'' After all, dreams would seem to be the ideal
subject matter for any author of speculative fiction."
---"Dreamland," Nov. 5, 2006
" 'Dune,'' published in 1965, remains a perfect, self-contained work of
science fiction."
---"Dune Babies," Sept. 24, 2006
"Perhaps the surest sign that I paid too much for my college education is
the amount of time my classmates and I spent in a freshman philosophy seminar
debating the metaphysical underpinnings of the technology on "Star Trek" . . .
But do not squander your pity on a few precocious undergraduates
contemplating a 40-year-old television series - save it instead for the contemporary
science-fiction novelist, whose job requires him not only to reflect perpetually
on technology's philosophical consequences but to create such technology
ceaselessly out of pure imagination."
---"Fast Forward," July 9, 2006
"HERE'S a question I don't expect to come anywhere close to answering by the
end of this column: Why does contemporary science fiction have to be so
geeky?"
---"It's All Geek to Me," March 5, 2006
"Even in a science fiction writer´s most inaccurate predictions, there are
sometimes valuable truths to be gleaned."
---"Alice's Alias," Aug. 5, 2006
"I sometimes wonder how any self-respecting author of speculative fiction
can find fulfillment in writing novels for young readers."
---"Elsewhere's Children," Feb. 3, 2008
"Since this is a science fiction column, perhaps the best way to understand
Moorcock´s past is to peer farther into his future. In the late 1970s, with
the Tories preparing to take power and _George Lucas's "Star Wars" saga in ascendancy, he published his pioneering essay "Starship Stormtroopers," a brilliant, bench-clearing diatribe that ought to be required reading for any speculative-fiction fan who is ready to put down his
20-sided dice and become an adult."
---"Amorality tales," July 20, 2008
"Have the worlds of science fiction and presidential politics ever been more
closely aligned than they were in 2007?"
---"Planetary Politics," Dec. 16, 2007
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