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Bryn
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Mar 07, 2015 12:37PM
I have plenty of Theodore Sturgeon yet to read; but I found him very liberal-minded on gender in Venus Plus X, and Godbody was fairly out there on sex.
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I haven't read anything of his in years - maybe decades - besides the 2 I mentioned. I probably should & see what I think of him now. He was quite a good read as a teen/20's.
Pandanima wrote: " It's disappointing to know Atwood feels that way because I quite enjoy her work. It's also slightly confusing because having read Oryx and Crake I'm not sure how it could be seen has anything BUT science fiction. "Completely agree. I had read she didn't think of her work as SF, but didn't know it was due to snobbery.
From her works I've only read The handmaid's tale (and liked it a lot), but come on, if that's not SF then I don't know what is.
I still plan to read her MaddAdam trilogy, though.
"Saved" isn't the word I would have picked to describe what Terry Brooks did to fantasy.
Thanks! That was interesting, although I never managed to get through The Sword of Shannara. It really was too much a rip-off. I managed to feed my fantasy habit with a lot of other, better (IMO) writers so can't really agree with the basic premise of this article, either. Saberhagen, Farmer, McCaffery, Norton, REH, & Zelazny, were all available & far better.Brooks has his good moments, although I'll never be a real fan. I really enjoyed Magic Kingdom For Sale/Sold & a couple of others in the series. A Knight of the Word wasn't bad, but it never took off for me & was torturous as an audio book when I couldn't skim - a real test of writing. I recently enjoyed the short story that it originated from in Unfettered.
Brendan wrote: ""Saved" isn't the word I would have picked to describe what Terry Brooks did to fantasy."Me, either.
Jim wrote: "Thanks! That was interesting, although I never managed to get through The Sword of Shannara. It really was too much a rip-off,..."
I read the first Shannara, mostly imagining Brooks rubbing his hands together over a typewriter chortling, "so this stupid kids want to read stories about elves and dwarves questing after magic jewelry, huh?"
As you say, Jim, there were so many others writing better and more original.
I read the first Shannara, mostly imagining Brooks rubbing his hands together over a typewriter chortling, "so this stupid kids want to read stories about elves and dwarves questing after magic jewelry, huh?"
As you say, Jim, there were so many others writing better and more original.
Terry Brooks knew Scrooge McDuck-style swimming pools of money don't just fill themselves. Even 12-year old me with his dog-eared copy of lotr knew Brooks was a step too far. At least Eddings was funny.
I think I'd already read Saberhagen and Howard before I read Sword of Shannara. But, and it's a big 'but,' I read Sword of Shannara before I read Lord of the Rings (I'd already read The Hobbit). I realized the blatant ripoff only after the fact, though friends had clued me in before.I thoroughly enjoyed the early Shannara books when they came out, though they really got repetitious after a while and I don't think they've stood the test of time well.
Brendan wrote: "Scrooge McDuck-style swimming pools..."
The Elfpool of Shannara?
The Elfpool of Shannara?
Brendan wrote: ""Saved" isn't the word I would have picked to describe what Terry Brooks did to fantasy."Agreed. I wonder if an argument might be made for del Ray, though? That name still crops up a lot, although I don't know anything about it.
G33z3r wrote: "I'm waiting for a Kindle app that will let me download an entire book directly into my brain ..."
Settling the E-Books vs. Direct-to-Brain Digital Text Streaming Argument
Settling the E-Books vs. Direct-to-Brain Digital Text Streaming Argument
My wife won’t stop calling Harry Potter “Harriet” when she reads to our daughter.
Dear Prudence,
My wife and I have always been huge Harry Potter fans, to the extent that we were both on our colleges’ Quidditch teams. Now we have a 7-year-old daughter, and for the past month my wife has been reading my daughter a chapter from the first book. I listened in on the reading and discovered that my wife has been changing Harry into a girl! Her name is Harriet Jane Potter, and my daughter is utterly enchanted with the girl that my wife has created.
I am furious! This bothers me as much as if she had tried to change our daughter’s religious upbringing without telling me.
Dear Prudence,
My wife and I have always been huge Harry Potter fans, to the extent that we were both on our colleges’ Quidditch teams. Now we have a 7-year-old daughter, and for the past month my wife has been reading my daughter a chapter from the first book. I listened in on the reading and discovered that my wife has been changing Harry into a girl! Her name is Harriet Jane Potter, and my daughter is utterly enchanted with the girl that my wife has created.
I am furious! This bothers me as much as if she had tried to change our daughter’s religious upbringing without telling me.
Hah! A lot of work went into those Troops.
Jonathan wrote: "I thought: why not have a topic that's about fun articles or humorous items all related to sci-fi and fantasy. This was brought to you by this article:https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/resp......"
I'm not sure why it took me so long to read this discussion thread, but the petition response article on www.whitehouse.gov is hilarious, although I do find Paul Shawcross' lack of faith disturbing.
Here's an opportunity for any of you space-minded inventors out there to earn a few bucks...http://www.ctvnews.ca/sci-tech/nasa-i...
I found this on You Tube and felt like it needed to be shared. The first comment sums it all up - "highly illogical behavior, Captain." https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AGF5R...
The Honest Trailers folks have done Rouge One (because "you've seriously got to learn how to spell rogue.") Funny. Also full of spoilers. (as if.)
I previously pointed out the Working podcast for a series of podcasts on how the Batman comic creators work. This week they look at How does Science Fiction author Samuel R. Delany Work? in a interview with the SFWA Grandmaster.
Clare wrote: "Watching this on a loop, can't read.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sB_nE...
Plenty of SF book references!"
Watching the synchronized landing of those two side boosters (at 9:15 here) is like watching a scifi movie from the 50's.
Sadly the main core rocket landing apparently missed the landing barge. "Two out of three ain't bad.").
Also, they seem to to have missed Mars. "There is a knack to flying. The knack lies in learning how to throw yourself at the ground and miss."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sB_nE...
Plenty of SF book references!"
Watching the synchronized landing of those two side boosters (at 9:15 here) is like watching a scifi movie from the 50's.
Sadly the main core rocket landing apparently missed the landing barge. "Two out of three ain't bad.").
Also, they seem to to have missed Mars. "There is a knack to flying. The knack lies in learning how to throw yourself at the ground and miss."
G33z3r wrote: "Why So Many People Make Their Password 'Dragon'"I felt like this was an obvious opportunity to explain that people think dragons protect treasure...
G33z3r wrote: "Why So Many People Make Their Password 'Dragon'"Guess I better change my password then.
I guess I'm not a 30 year old male so I've never used dragon as my passwords even though I clearly like them :)
I'm going through some older posts (rainy day, nothing better to do) and I had to laugh at Textual Ananlysis of "Hunger Games", "Harry Potter" & "Twilight". In particular if you scroll down to "Most Common Sentences by Each Author" I think the Twilight one is actually a pretty accurate 5 second summary of the whole series.
Antarctic scientist ‘stabs colleague who kept telling him the endings of books he was reading on remote research station’
So, be sure to use those spoiler tags! :)
So, be sure to use those spoiler tags! :)
Wow! I don't see any mystery there for the investigators. Long contact between them, otherwise isolated, alcohol, & a really, really obnoxious habit. I probably would have stabbed him years earlier. If I was on the jury, I wouldn't find Savitsky guilty of anything.;)
World Cup Quidditch team selected in Ireland.https://www.irishtimes.com/news/irela...
Seems fine until you look at the video. Yes they are all bonkers. But in a nice way. I have met a Quidditch player who was at university, so if this looks like fun to you, give it a try.
Clare wrote: "World Cup Quidditch team selected in Ireland...."
"The sport, which consists of athletes running around with a broom between their legs..."
"The sport, which consists of athletes running around with a broom between their legs..."
G33z3r wrote: "The sport, which consists of athletes running around with a broom between their legs...""And the snitch is a person in a yellow suit.
I see people doing it all the time on my university campus. Looks ridiculous...but hey, if you start thinking about the rules of all sports they are all arbitrary too. Like trying to wack a tiny ball into a tiny hole so far away you can't even see it with a stick and have some lackey carry your other sticks around for you. Oh...and while it is a "sport" you can get a little car to drive you from hole to hole because, well, you don't want to break out into a sweat right? :)
Or curling, which my coworker's husband from Greece thought must be a competition between maids and butlers since they were using brooms to clean the floor so the teapot could slide better on it!
In the end, as long as it's fun :)
Clare wrote: "Er, yes."
Either play in three dimensions, or go home. Jet packs, people; jet packs!
Either play in three dimensions, or go home. Jet packs, people; jet packs!
Clare wrote: "World Cup Quidditch team selected in Ireland.https://www.irishtimes.com/news/irela...
Seems fine until you l..."
Just one more sport where Americans are trailing the rest of the world...
According to the article quidditch started being played in American colleges, bigger mass of students I suppose. Does sound like fun.
So when a crime occurs in space, who investigates the crime? I have used this in one of my books already and we can see much scope for SF writing. Here's the current state of affairs. https://www.space.com/who-investigate...
Credit where it's due; this article was brought to my attention by author Robert M. Kerns.
Robert M. Kerns
Santa Fe Historic Review Board Rejects George R.R. Martin's Plan for ‘Medieval Castle’
, complete with architect's sketch (aside: If that's the best concept image your architect can make, get a new architect.)
G33z3r wrote: "Santa Fe Historic Review Board Rejects George R.R. Martin's Plan for ‘Medieval Castle’
, complete with architect's sketch (aside: If that's the best concept image your architect can make, get a ..."
I wasn't going to click but I just had to know what the architect sketch was :)
I agree, G33z3r. And I am sure the books don't have to be stored in a tower. In fact this can cause problems: see The Name of the Rose.
That architect's rendering is ridiculous, but I've always found them to be overpriced & unreliable. I've run into too many issues while building custom homes to trust them. When I had my shop built, basically a free standing garage with an overhang on one side, they wanted ridiculous amounts for a simple drawing they should have had on file.Martin should spend some time finishing the GoT series. It shouldn't be difficult to do so better than the HBO series, either. Some of us read his books as he published them & have been waiting a long time. It's been close to 25 years now since he published the first & I read it.
Jim wrote: "That architect's rendering is ridiculous, but I've always found them to be overpriced & unreliable. I've run into too many issues while building custom homes to trust them. When I had my shop built..."Privately, I don't think he intends to finish it. Oh wait...
Leaked preview
Chapter: Hodor
"Hodor, Hodor Hodor Hodor, hodor hodor. Hodor! Hodor hodor hodor hodor..."
US Postal Service honours Ursula K. Le Guin on a new stamp. Art shows 'The Left Hand Of Darkness.'https://www.tor.com/2021/01/19/ursula...
Clare wrote: "US Postal Service honours Ursula K. Le Guin on a new stamp. Art shows 'The Left Hand Of Darkness.'https://www.tor.com/2021/01/19/ursula..."
Must admit that if you didn't know who she was, nor the book, you'd assume she was an Arctic explorer with that background, still, I think that's great.
Sci-fi and Heroic Fantasy
Books mentioned in this topic
The Name of the Rose (other topics)Awakening (other topics)
The Sword of Shannara (other topics)
Magic Kingdom for Sale/Sold (other topics)
Unfettered (other topics)
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Authors mentioned in this topic
Robert M. Kerns (other topics)Theodore Sturgeon (other topics)
Rudyard Kipling (other topics)
Kazuo Ishiguro (other topics)
Terry Pratchett (other topics)
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