What is Sturgeons Law?
In his 1972 interview with David G Hartwell (published in The New York Review of Science Fiction #7 and #8, March and April 1989) Sturgeon says: “Sturgeon’s Law originally was ‘Nothing is always absolutely so.’ The other thing was known as ‘Sturgeon’s Revelation'” The first reference I can find in his oeuve appears in the March 1958 issue of Venture Science Fiction, where he wrote: “I repeat Sturgeon’s Revelation, which was wrung out of me after twenty years of wearying defense of science fiction against attacks of people who used the worst examples of the field for ammunition, and whose conclusion was that ninety percent of sf is crud. “The Revelation: Ninety percent of everything is crud. “Corallary 1: The existence of immense quantities of trash in science fiction is admitted and if is regrettable; but it is no more unnatural than the existence of trash anywhere. “Corallary 2: The best science fiction is as good as the best fiction in any field.” It is this Revelation that has now b
In his 1972 interview with David G Hartwell (published in The New York Review of Science Fiction #7 and #8, March and April 1989) Sturgeon says: “Sturgeon’s Law originally was ‘Nothing is always absolutely so.’ The other thing was known as ‘Sturgeon’s Revelation'” The first reference I can find in his oeuve appears in the March 1958 issue of Venture Science Fiction, where he wrote: “I repeat Sturgeon’s Revelation, which was wrung out of me after twenty years of wearying defense of science fiction against attacks of people who used the worst examples of the field for ammunition, and whose conclusion was that ninety percent of sf is crud. “The Revelation: Ninety percent of everything is crud. “Corollary 1: The existence of immense quantities of trash in science fiction is admitted and it is regrettable; but it is no more unnatural than the existence of trash anywhere. “Corollary 2: The best science fiction is as good as the best fiction in any field.” It is this Revelation that has now b
