"Happy birthday, dear Ted..."

Today is February 26th, and we commemorate the birthday of Theodore Sturgeon (1918-1985), perhaps best known for "Sturgeon's Law", the short version of which is:

Ninety per cent of everything is crud.

For some odd reason, it's almost always quoted as "crap" rather than "crud", but the concept is still clear.

Less well known is the fact that Sturgeon's Law is pulled from a defense of science fiction, although a somewhat backhanded defense:

When people talk about the mystery novel, they mention The Maltese Falcon and The Big Sleep. When they talk about the western, they say there's The Way West and Shane. But when they talk about science fiction, they call it 'that Buck Rogers stuff,' and they say 'ninety percent of science fiction is crud.' Well, they're right. Ninety percent of science fiction is crud. But then ninety percent of everything is crud, and it's the ten percent that isn't crud that is important. and the ten percent of science fiction that isn't crud is as good as or better than anything being written anywhere.

Hmmm...the picture above is the better part of my science fiction and fantasy library, and I can't really consider 90% of it to be crud (or crap). Mr. Sturgeon's comment dates from the 1953 World Science Fiction convention, and it's possible that the genre has progressed a bit since then, but it's equally possible that I've just avoided the 90% that fails to meet the critical standard below which lies crud - or crap. It's an interesting question: for every Dune, Left Hand of Darkness, or Neuromancer that gets published, how many Gor novels (or the equivalent) make their way onto paper?

- Sid