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You like science fiction, don't you? Of course you do!
rjbull:
shouldn't we split this off to a security discussion thread? No SciFi spoken here lately.-MilesAhead (October 29, 2012, 12:22 PM)
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You're right, and now done, I see :) Thanks to IainB for the review.
If it's any help, I just finished reading Monster Blood Tattoo 3: Factotum by D.M. Cornish. It's great - a fantasy with strong steampunk SF and New Weird (Wikipedia) overtones. Ships driven by engines of cultured muscle tissue, people getting organs implanted into them to dish out electric shocks, or going into battle throwing short-range chemical weapons at each other. And, the library service tells me that Mark Lawrence's King of Thorns is on its way; the first one, Prince of Thorns, makes you think it's going to be sword-and-sorcery. It isn't. It's definitely SF, very dark, with a very young and startlingly amoral viewpoint character. Also on its way, Pale by Chris Wooding, so new it's not yet mentioned on his Web site. From the blurb, it looks more like horror/supernatural than SF, though.
IainB:
Illegal to be an SF fan?
After downloading a Kindle version from Baen Books (price US$6.99), I have been enjoying reading a new (to me) book: Fallen Angels by Messrs. Larry Niven; Jerry Pournelle; Michael Flynn.
First published in 1992 and presumably written around 1990/1, the story is surprisingly and accurately prescient. It tells of a future time on Earth when a new Ice Age has occurred, and humankind lives in two environments: on the Earth, in a relatively Luddite and anti-science fashion; and in space, reliant on science and technology.
In space, there has been a collaborative and developmental peace. However, there has been war on the Earth and hostilities are still being maintained, and society is governed by Fascist states, and it is even illegal to read science fiction or to admit to being a fan of SF.
Here's an excerpt describing this (emphasis is the authors'):
'Tis a Proud and Lonely Thing to Be a Fan, they used to say, laughing. It had become a very lonely thing. The Establishment had always been hard on science fiction. The government-funded Arts Councils would pass out tax money to write obscure poetry for "little" magazines, but not to write speculative fiction. "Sci-fi isn't literature." That wasn't censorship.
Perversely, people went on buying science fiction without grants. Writers even got rich without government funding. They couldn't kill us that way!
Then the Luddites and the Greens had come to power. She had watched science fiction books slowly disappear from the library shelves, beginning with the children's departments. (That wasn't censorship either. Libraries couldn't buy every book, now could they? So they bought "realistic" children's books funded by the National Endowment for the Arts, books about death and divorce, and really important things like being overweight or fitting in with the right school crowd.)
Then came paper shortages, and paper allocations. The science fiction sections in the chain stores grew smaller. ("You can't expect us to stock books that aren't selling." And they can't sell if you don't stock them.)
Fantasy wasn't hurt so bad. Fantasy was about wizards and elves, and being kind to the Earth, and harmony with nature, all things the Greens loved. But science fiction was about science.
Science fiction wasn't exactly outlawed. There was still Freedom of Speech; still a Bill of Rights, even if it wasn't taught much in the schools-—even if most kids graduated unable to read well enough to understand it. But a person could get into a lot of unofficial trouble for reading SF or for associating with known fen. She could lose her job, say. Not through government persecution-—of course not-—but because of "reduction in work force" or "poor job performance" or "uncooperative attitude" or "politically incorrect" or a hundred other phrases. And if the neighbors shunned her, and tradesmen wouldn't deal with her, and stores wouldn't give her credit, who could blame them? Science fiction involved science; and science was a conspiracy to pollute the environment, "to bring back technology."
Damn right! she thought savagely. We do conspire to bring back technology. Some of us are crazy enough to think that there are alternatives to freezing in the dark. And some of us are even crazy enough to try to rescue marooned spacemen before they freeze, or disappear into protective custody.
Which could be dangerous. The government might declare you mentally ill, and help you.
She shuddered at that thought. She pushed and rolled Bob aside. She sat up and pulled the comforter up tight around herself. "Do you know what it was that attracted me to science fiction?"
He raised himself on one elbow, blinked at her change of subject, and looked quickly around the room, as if suspecting bugs. "No, what?"
"Not Fandom. I was reading the true quill long before I knew about Fandom and cons and such. No, it was the feeling of hope." "Hope?" "Even in the most depressing dystopia, there's still the notion that the future is something we build. It doesn't just happen. You can't predict the future, but you can invent it. Build it. That is a hopeful idea, even when the building collapses."
Bob was silent for a moment. Then he nodded. "Yeah. Nobody's building the future anymore, 'We live in an Age of Limited Choices.' " He quoted the government line without cracking a smile. "Hell, you don't take choices off a list. You make choices and add them to the list. Speaking of which have you made your choice?"
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Larry Niven; Jerry Pournelle; Michael Flynn (1992-12-07T05:00:00+00:00). Fallen Angels (Kindle Locations 285-305). Baen Publishing Enterprises. Kindle Edition.
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Edvard:
Mmmmm.... Sci-fi...
I remember some of my favorite sci-fi stories were to be found in old copies of Amazing, Galaxy, and Analog. The pulp era was a fertile field for the innovative, the plagiaristic, and the canonical alike. I found that old spirit briefly revived in the L. Ron Hubbard Writers of the Future series, where young unpublished writers could send in stories for a chance at publication and future fame and notoriety. Lots of great ideas in those first few, every one could have been a Twilight Zone or Outer Limits episode and it would have gelled beautifully.
For some smart new science fiction podcast style, check Escape Pod:
Escape Pod is the premier science fiction podcast magazine. Every week we bring you short stories from some of today’s best science fiction stories, in convenient audio format for your computer or MP3 player.
We pay our authors, but we will always be 100% free. We are supported through listener donations and sponsorship, so if you like what you hear, please consider donating via our PayPal button!
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Escape Pod
from Admit-one
Arizona Hot:
In regards to Oblivion interest in "I think the piece might have been called "Sideways [or maybe sidewise] In Time" ", I looked for such a story because I remember such a story. Unfortuantely, I didn't find anything like that. I did find this comic of the same name.
Pappy's Golden Age Comics Blogzine Number 1265 Sideways in Time!
IainB:
I just read that one of my favourite authors has died. Jack Vance (the science fiction writer, creator of the real Baron Bodissey, and his The Dying Earth Series being a major influence on Dungeons & Dragons) has died in California at the age of 96.
He apparently published his first story in 1945 and his last novel in 2008, and his autobiography in 2009.
That's a span of writing covering sixty-four years.
A quick google shows that there are a lot of tributes to him across the blogosphere from his fans.
This is another. R.I.P. JV. :Thmbsup:
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