--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Here now, in the elsewhen of the SF Café…" description: "\"“Here now, in the elsewhen of the SF Café, we’ve had the shenanigans going on for decades, but we haven’t yet adjusted to the idea of SF as a mode, sti..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/512/hal-duncan-11149_fiction_here-now-in-the-elsewhen-of-the-sf-caf-w_1419819.jpg" --- # Here now, in the elsewhen of the SF Café, we’ve had the… ![“Here now, in the elsewhen of the SF Café, we’ve had the shenanigans going on for decades, but we haven’t yet adjusted to the idea of SF as a mode, still search for ways to parse it all as one big generic form, one big conventional template, bound in negotiated strictures albeit abstract. We can…” quote by Hal Duncan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/512/hal-duncan-11149_fiction_here-now-in-the-elsewhen-of-the-sf-caf-w_1419819.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/512/hal-duncan-11149_fiction_here-now-in-the-elsewhen-of-the-sf-caf-w_1419819.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/512/hal-duncan-11149_fiction_here-now-in-the-elsewhen-of-the-sf-caf-w_1419819.jpg) > ““Here now, in the elsewhen of the SF Café, we’ve had the shenanigans going on for decades, but we haven’t yet adjusted to the idea of SF as a mode, still search for ways to parse it all as one big generic form, one big conventional template, bound in negotiated strictures albeit abstract. We can offer any text as SF.”” [Hal Duncan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hal-duncan/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Science fiction is often forced into a single, generic template, limiting its diversity and reducing it to a marketable form. **In simple terms:** SF is being reduced to a one‑size‑fits‑all model. Key Takeaway Encourage varied storytelling. Themes genre creativity standardization diversity media Mood thoughtful hopeful Type literary critical When to use this quote - publishing - writing workshops - reader expectations - film adaptation Key Concepts literary theory cultural studies genre evolution Questions to Reflect On - How can creators break the mold? - What defines true SF for you? A Different Perspective Standardization can help markets but stifles innovation. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Fiction](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/fiction/) [Sf-criticism](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/sf-criticism/) ## Related quotes > [“One can revise the rules, shift the goal posts, but to do so is just to conjure a chimera and mask it as a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hal-duncan/one-can-revise-the-rules-shift-the-goal-posts-but-to-do-so-is-just-to/) [Hal Duncan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hal-duncan/) > [“AI will begin as Artificial Idiocy . Who cares if a computer can play chess or take control of cyberspace? 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His story needs no Ovid, tells…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hal-duncan/susurrus-whispers-through-the-grass-and-gorse-godling-of-the-martian/) [Hal Duncan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hal-duncan/) > [“But the bigots always see those whom they hate as morally corrupt, as if they confuse their own aesthetics of disgust and fear with…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hal-duncan/but-the-bigots-always-see-those-whom-they-hate-as-morally-corrupt-as/) [Hal Duncan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hal-duncan/) > [“Susurrus is a different kind of flirt though, fickle as a godling of wind can only be but light and warm as one father,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hal-duncan/susurrus-is-a-different-kind-of-flirt-though-fickle-as-a-godling-of/) [Hal Duncan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hal-duncan/) > [Where names of people or places would mean little to a contemporary reader, I figured "translation errors" could create interesting new meanings.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hal-duncan/where-names-of-people-or-places-would-mean-little-to-a-contemporary/) [Hal Duncan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hal-duncan/) > [“One can revise the rules, shift the goal posts, but to do so is just to conjure a chimera and mask it as a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hal-duncan/one-can-revise-the-rules-shift-the-goal-posts-but-to-do-so-is-just-to/) [Hal Duncan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hal-duncan/) > [I'm sort of exploring where pacifism and socialism come into conflict. How do you reconcile a passionate rejection of might and violence with an…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hal-duncan/i-m-sort-of-exploring-where-pacifism-and-socialism-come-into-conflict/) [Hal Duncan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hal-duncan/) > [Prejudice validates itself as righteous abhorrence of the criminally deviant. So Christian homophobia is just a metonym of that abjection in general.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hal-duncan/prejudice-validates-itself-as-righteous-abhorrence-of-the-criminally/) [Hal Duncan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hal-duncan/) > [“Cause what do groanhuffs know? All’s they’ve done is heard our tales and passed em along in a game of Chinese Whispers, getting em…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hal-duncan/cause-what-do-groanhuffs-know-all-s-they-ve-done-is-heard-our-tales/) [Hal Duncan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hal-duncan/) > [The conflict between pacifism and socialism ultimately reflects a greater quandary of how one engages with such a system.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hal-duncan/the-conflict-between-pacifism-and-socialism-ultimately-reflects-a/) [Hal Duncan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hal-duncan/) > [“I kissed the boys and made them cry ... in ecstasy.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hal-duncan/i-kissed-the-boys-and-made-them-cry-in-ecstasy/) [Hal Duncan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hal-duncan/) > [“For many readers, writers, editors and agents ... pretty much the working (in)definition: SF is short for So Fuck? ”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hal-duncan/for-many-readers-writers-editors-and-agents-pretty-much-the-working/) [Hal Duncan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hal-duncan/) > [“They say that nothing can stand against such a man, for the one gun – that marked Mutiny – deals instant death, but the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hal-duncan/they-say-that-nothing-can-stand-against-such-a-man-for-the-one-gun/) [Hal Duncan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hal-duncan/) > [Homophobia's just one form of abjection, and wherever you have a marker of deviance - skin colour, gender, gender identity, disability - you get…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hal-duncan/homophobia-s-just-one-form-of-abjection-and-wherever-you-have-a/) [Hal Duncan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hal-duncan/) > [“Losing maturity in one’s fiction for the sake of marvels and monsters can also mean losing propriety, and that’s not always a bad thing.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hal-duncan/losing-maturity-in-one-s-fiction-for-the-sake-of-marvels-and-monsters/) [Hal Duncan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hal-duncan/) [Explore all 61 Hal Duncan quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hal-duncan/) ## More Fiction quotes > [“…progress isn't necessarily about change but about things turning out as we want them to”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/phil-hogan/progress-isn-t-necessarily-about-change-but-about-things-turning-out/) Phil Hogan > [The thing about science fiction is that it's totally wide open. 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I also think some…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-einhorn/i-do-think-that-theater-is-a-great-venue-for-science-fiction-and-not/) Edward Einhorn > [Fiction is a way of exploring possibilities present but undreamt of in the living of a single life.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nadine-gordimer/fiction-is-a-way-of-exploring-possibilities-present-but-undreamt-of/) [Nadine Gordimer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nadine-gordimer/) > [I love writing fiction and can do it anywhere - I once even missed a flight because I was so engrossed.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/prue-leith/i-love-writing-fiction-and-can-do-it-anywhere-i-once-even-missed-a/) [Prue Leith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/prue-leith/) > [“The fiction will seek the real.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/coheed-and-cambria/the-fiction-will-seek-the-real/) Coheed and Cambria > [I think that most of us, anyway, read these stories that we know are not "true" because we're hungry for another kind of truth:…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/orson-scott-card/i-think-that-most-of-us-anyway-read-these-stories-that-we-know-are/) [Orson Scott Card](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/orson-scott-card/) > [The danger that may really threaten (crime fiction) is that soon there will be more writers than readers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jacques-barzun/the-danger-that-may-really-threaten-crime-fiction-is-that-soon-there/) [Jacques Barzun](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jacques-barzun/) > [There's always that discussion about fiction about how do you market it - these are books for boys, these are books for girls, these…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/l-a-weatherly/there-s-always-that-discussion-about-fiction-about-how-do-you-market/) [L.A. Weatherly](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/l-a-weatherly/) > [Inspiration comes from so many sources. Music, other fiction, the non-fiction I read, TV shows, films, news reports, people I know, stories I hear,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/trudi-canavan/inspiration-comes-from-so-many-sources-music-other-fiction-the-non/) [Trudi Canavan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/trudi-canavan/) > [I'm not interested in making a diagnostic novel or a concern. I'm 100 percent committed in fiction to the pleasure principle - that's what…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/martin-amis/i-m-not-interested-in-making-a-diagnostic-novel-or-a-concern-i-m-100/) [Martin Amis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/martin-amis/) > [“His hands on my waist he gently pulled me n embrace. 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It has to do with taking a large fiction itself and writing within it; that kind of self-reflecting writing that emerges…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-coover/metafiction-says-something-it-has-to-do-with-taking-a-large-fiction/) [Robert Coover](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-coover/) [Browse all 7,410 Fiction quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/fiction/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“Here now, in the elsewhen of the SF Café, we’ve had the shenanigans going on for decades, but we haven’t yet adjusted to the idea of SF as a mode, still search for ways to parse it all as one big generic form, one big conventional template, bound in negotiated strictures albeit abstract. 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