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Periodically, I get emails from Reactor Magazine. I must have signed up for them once upon a time. I usually scan the article titles and then delete the email unless something especially captures my attention. After all, so much of science fiction and fantasy targets an audience other than me.

But today, I saw the article When Did SFF Get Too Big?. The subtitle is, “Is it possible to pinpoint the moment when readers stopped being able to keep up with their favorite genres?”

I didn’t know this had ever been an expectation. That is, I hadn’t realized that lovers of science fiction and fantasy were supposed to read each and every title produced in the genre in a given year. Especially if you’re talking about reading all these books just as they’re published (brand new), that’s a lot of money to shell out (maybe some will end up in the “New Titles” section of the public library, but still…). How do you know you’re going to like each and every book? What if you know that some authors generally produce dreck but keep getting published anyway?

Apparently, according to the article author James Davis Nicoll, back in the day, it would have been possible:

In 1953’s Modern Science Fiction: Its Meaning and Its Future (edited by Reginald Bretnor), Anthony Boucher estimated that there were forty-one SFF books published in 1949; sixty in 1950; fifty-seven in 1951; and forty-five in the first two thirds of 1952.

That was all before I was born, but just barely. He goes on to say that didn’t include everything published in SFF magazines during those years.

I started reading science fiction and fantasy in the mid to late 1960s (Edgar Rice Burroughs’ “Barsoom” series, E.E. “Doc” Smith’s “Skylark” series, and Andre Norton’s “Time Traders” series). I found the latter in my Junior High School library and the others at the local outlet of a chain bookstore (they had just been released in paperback). There were other books I knew about but couldn’t afford (I was a kid and didn’t have all the money in the world, plus I was fueling my comic book addiction) and those I wasn’t aware of.

By the early 1970s, I was in high school and continuing to devour the genre (I specifically remember the Robert E. Howard “Conan” books which expanded into the works of other authors). From the article:

Jumping forward a generation, Lester del Rey’s 1972 Best Science Fiction Stories of the Year asserts that there were 195 new SFF works published that year. By this point, the number of SF magazines had plummeted sharply from the Eisenhower-era high. Still, 195 + Analog + Galaxy + If + The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction probably kept Books Georg busy. In fact, as a Books Georg myself, I know for a fact that there’s lots of stuff I never saw, although here I am inclined to blame spotty book and magazine distribution rather than book and magazine superabundance.

Oh, a “Books Georg” is someone who reads a book a day or 365 books in a typical calendar year. Where do they find the time? Compare this to Nicoll’s statement, “The average Canadian reader reads only about seventeen books a year. A book and a half per month won’t keep up with a single imprint, let alone all of them.”

Looking back over my reviews, I’ve read twenty-three books/stories so far this year. Most were novels, but a few were short stories. Hardly enough to keep up even with a 1970s level of publication, but there are two other issues.

The first is that almost none of them are new. Even the ones I read for the first time could be years or even decades old. The second is that I do re-read books. For instance, I’m sure I read C.J. Cherryh’s novel The Pride of Chanur (1982) before but didn’t remember it very well, so chose to read it again last May.

However, Nicoll failed to mention what I’d consider the largest barrier to reading every single SFF tale published in any given (recent/current) year. What about all of the indie novels and anthologies?

Indie publishers, most of the time, don’t have a huge budget (or any budget) for mass marketing, so unless you know they exist or know how to look for them, you’ll miss out on a ton of books and short stories available in the world (Amazon won’t have all of them either).

I have no data showing what percentage of SFF publications are indie, but given that the ability to publish digitally is very inexpensive, it’s probably almost impossible to even catalog how many books and short stories are being created.

If we’re talking about quality, many of these creations may have almost no vetting. I could self-publish a book on Amazon right now but A) Who knows if it’s worth the price of reading it and B) except for the author promoting it on social media and, if they’re lucky, word of mouth, the book could sit out there taking up digital space and be ignored.

Indie publishers offer varying degrees of vetting, editing, and even marketing, so that’s something. A significant number of the open submission calls put specific limits on what can be sent in for consideration and by who.

Outside of word count limitations, specific themes and/or sub-genres, and “no menacing children or promoting harmful stereotypes,” some indie publishers offer extended submission periods for authors from marginalized/underrepresented groups. Some publishers are open ONLY to marginalized or underrepresented authors. All of the indie publishers I’ve considered are clear that they are accepting of submissions from said-groups, and a few require blind submissions (where the identity of the author is omitted from the story itself) so that the editors can read it unbiased.

That means at least some of these stories may not be written for a general population of SFF fans, so while anyone “could” read them (assuming they could locate these books), they might not be attracted to them or even relate to the stories.

Of course, that’s true of much of what we see in mainstream entertainment today, including in science fiction and fantasy (The Acolyte for example).

Just because something exists doesn’t mean A) We have any idea it exists, B) Would want to read it if we knew, and C) Could afford to buy it all if we knew it existed and wanted to consume it. Sure, public libraries are wonderful and allow the reader access to a vast trove of publications, even the most recent acquisitions on their part are likely months old. Also, not every library system has every mass marketed book. Indie publications will almost certainly never be found in a public library or mainstream brick-and-mortar bookstore.

So, even if at one time it were possible to read every new SFF book in the year they were published, you’d have to know about them and you’d have to want to read them all, including the stinkers.

Pile on everything else I’ve said, and the goal is impossible, and even if it weren’t, again, there’s a lot to avoid either because of poor quality or only a very narrow range of readers is the target (by design or otherwise).

I’ll probably never know about books available that if I read them, I would love them. I know there are books I’ve read or tried to read that either sucked or just weren’t my proverbial cup of tea. I’m limited in knowing about books I’d like, plus sometimes I’d rather read something I’m fond of from my past rather than a new and unknown (to me) title and author.

I guess I’ll keep on pursuing titles that align with my interests (and biases) and for the most part enjoy myself. No one can read everything, especially in our current times. I’m okay with that.