The Newfound Popularity of Sci-Fi Books Has a Dark Side

Most fantasy and science fiction books are published by houses--Tor, DAW, Orbit, etc.--that specialize in genre titles. Larger publishers have tended to shun the genre, especially when it comes to particular subgenres like space opera. But Bruce Nichols, a senior vice president and publisher at Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, says that's changing fast. "It's no longer the case that the world is split between a sort of pulp ghetto and the literary world," Nichols says in Episode 195 of the Geek's Guide to the Galaxy podcast. "The entire genre has gone so mainstream, and some absolutely terrific writers are contributing to it, more than ever before."