I started rereading "Nightfall" last night but couldn't get past the classically clunky expository first sentence.
― ilx chilton (James Redd and the Blecchs), Wednesday, 14 January 2009 16:55 (fifteen years ago) link
Ok, well it's not really dark when you close your eyes, and it's probably hard to shut out the light from six suns with just blinds. And there are bits in the story where it suggests they're psychologically predisposed to fear darkness - one of them says he got terrified when he tried to go into a cave, and a bunch of them do get panicky when they just draw the curtains. So I'd imagine their society is pretty much set up to avoid darkness. xp.
― ledge, Wednesday, 14 January 2009 16:59 (fifteen years ago) link
"Aton 77, director of Saro University, thrust out a belligerent lower lip and glared at the young newspaperman in a hot fury." ?!
― ledge, Wednesday, 14 January 2009 17:02 (fifteen years ago) link
When I say I couldn't get past it, I meant I had to stop and admire it as an exemplar of a certain kind of sentence.
Re: People Afraid Of The Dark: I always thought he was evoking all those stories of Columbus and Cortez dazzling the natives by predicting an eclipse of the sun- taking that and putting it in some kind of more advanced civilization.
― ilx chilton (James Redd and the Blecchs), Wednesday, 14 January 2009 17:04 (fifteen years ago) link
― ilx chilton (James Redd and the Blecchs), Wednesday, 14 January 2009 17:07 (fifteen years ago) link
I guess it is a bit - "Renowned curator Jacques Saunière staggered through the vaulted archway of the museum's Grand Gallery."or"Physicist Leonardo Vetra smelled burning flesh, and he knew it was his own. "
- http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/001628.html
― ledge, Wednesday, 14 January 2009 17:08 (fifteen years ago) link
His eyes slid down the front of her dress.
― WmC, Wednesday, 14 January 2009 17:29 (fifteen years ago) link
One meter before Crap Nebula getting speed of light vehicle for emergencies (9)
― ilx chilton (James Redd and the Blecchs), Wednesday, 14 January 2009 20:55 (fifteen years ago) link
http://www.velvetglove.org/misc/macros/wahmbulance.jpg
― ledge, Wednesday, 14 January 2009 21:10 (fifteen years ago) link
Ok then, this one occurred to me earlier:
Cakes (one) and lidless pasties for Zelazny's rose gatherer (12)
― ledge, Wednesday, 14 January 2009 21:15 (fifteen years ago) link
We don't have those cakes over here but I gotcha.
― ilx chilton (James Redd and the Blecchs), Wednesday, 14 January 2009 21:44 (fifteen years ago) link
Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.
― System, Thursday, 15 January 2009 00:01 (fifteen years ago) link
Daniel Keyes “Flowers for Algernon” 1959
gtfo
― There was even a brief period when I preferred Sally Forth. (Shakey Mo Collier), Thursday, 15 January 2009 00:23 (fifteen years ago) link
What part of that is boggling your mind?
― Alex in SF, Thursday, 15 January 2009 00:35 (fifteen years ago) link
I'm just surprised it beat Bester in particular, but then I haven't read it since 6th grade
― There was even a brief period when I preferred Sally Forth. (Shakey Mo Collier), Thursday, 15 January 2009 00:42 (fifteen years ago) link
It's a pretty great story, but no it's not better than Bester. It's probably the most widely read thing in there though.
― Alex in SF, Thursday, 15 January 2009 00:44 (fifteen years ago) link
progris riport - wtf?
― ilx chilton (James Redd and the Blecchs), Thursday, 15 January 2009 01:43 (fifteen years ago) link
ok dudes this poll inspired me to get this book... i hadn't read most of these. just read "scanners die in vain"—what a sick story! the imaginary in it is just amazing... the Great Pain... habermanization... the spaceship lined with live oysters (!!)
i was actually kind of into the weapon shop one, mostly because it made such a huge left turn from the whole rural-paradise-spoiled-by-modernity thing i thought it was going for...
so ya this is cool
― s1ocki, Thursday, 22 January 2009 06:26 (fifteen years ago) link
one thing about "the weapon shop" that deserves credit is the sense of optimism ... compare to the usual misanthropy of libertarian fiction and/or "humanist" sci fi like asimov or bradbury.
politically speaking i think the scariest story in here might actually be "the little black bag". or maybe that's just harmless "nerds take over the world" / "teh stupids are taking over the world" wish-fulfillment for sci-fi readers.
― moonship journey to baja, Thursday, 22 January 2009 06:42 (fifteen years ago) link
collections like this make is just so painfully obvious that sci-fi as a genre took a wrongp-turn sometime in the last 50 years.
― ian, Thursday, 22 January 2009 06:44 (fifteen years ago) link
i think it was when someone (george lucas? gene roddenberry?) realized that sci-fi + cartoons + tv shows + movies + toy merchandising = big bucks
― moonship journey to baja, Thursday, 22 January 2009 06:50 (fifteen years ago) link
i don't even bother going into the sci-fi section of chain bookstores anymore since i know that it's going to be 90% licensed crap
― moonship journey to baja, Thursday, 22 January 2009 06:51 (fifteen years ago) link
i'm going to rep for this collection over the one in this poll:
http://www.amazon.com/World-Turned-Upside-Down/dp/1416520686
C.L. Moore, "Shambleau" (1933) John W. Campbell, Jr. (writing as Don A. Stuart), "Who Goes There?" (1938) A.E. Van Vogt, "Black Destroyer" (1938) Lee Gregor, "Heavy Planet" (1939) P. Schuyler Miller, "Spawn" (1939) Ross Rocklynne, "Quietus" (1940) Chester S. Geier, "Environment" (1944) Arthur C. Clarke, "Rescue Party" (1946) Theodore Sturgeon, "Thunder and Roses" (1947) C.M. Kornbluth, "The Only Thing We Learn" (1949) Wyman Guin (writing as Norman Menasco), "Trigger Tide" (1950) Jack Vance, "Liane the Wayfarer" (1950) Fritz Leiber, "A Pail of Air" (1951) Michael Shaara, "All the Way Back" (1952) Poul Anderson, "Turning Point" (1953) Robert Ernest Gilbert, "Thy Rocks and Rills" (1953) Tom Godwin, "The Cold Equations" (1954) Fredric Brown, "Answer" (1954) Robert Sheckley, "Hunting Problem" (1955) L. Sprague de Camp, "A Gun For Dinosaur" (1956) Isaac Asimov, "The Last Question," (1956) H. Beam Piper, "Omnilingual" (1957) Robert A. Heinlein, "The Menace From Earth" (1957) Gordon R. Dickson, "St. Dragon and the George" (1957) Christopher Anvil, "The Gentle Earth" (1957) Murray Leinster, "The Aliens" (1959) Rick Raphael, "Code Three" (1963) James H. Schmitz, "Goblin Night" (1965) Keith Laumer, "The Last Command" (1967)
― Tracer Hand, Thursday, 22 January 2009 11:24 (fifteen years ago) link
I'd go for the Penguin Science Fiction Omnibus - http://www.amazon.com/Penguin-science-fiction-omnibus/dp/0140031456
Sole Solution - Eric Frank RussellLot - Ward MooreThe Short-Short Story of Mankind - John SteinbeckSkirmish - Clifford SimakPoor Little Warrior! - Brian W. AldissGrandpa - James H. SchmitzThe Half Pair - Bertram ChandlerCommand Performance - Walter M. MillerNightfall - Isaac AsimovThe Snowball Effect - Katherine MacLeanThe End of Summer - Algis BudrysTrack 12 - J. G. Ballard The Monkey Wrench - Gordon R. DicksonThe First Men - Howard FastCounterfeit - Alan E. NourseThe Greater Thing - Tom GodwinBuilt Up Logically - Howard SchoenfeldThe Liberation of Earth - William TennAn Alien Agony - Harry HarrisonThe Tunnel Under the World - Frederik PohlThe Store of the Worlds - Robert SheckleyJokester - Isaac AsimovPyramid - Robert AbernathyThe Forgotten Enemy - Arthur C. Clarke The Wall Around the World - Theodore R. CogswellProtected Species - H. B. FyfeBefore Eden - Arthur C. ClarkeThe Rescuer - Arthur PorgesI Made You - Walter M. MillerJr.The Country of the Kind - Damon KnightMS Found in a Chinese Fortune Cookie - C. M. KornbluthThe Cage - Bertram ChandlerEastward Ho! - William TennThe Windows of Heaven - John BrunnerCommon Time - James BlishFulfillment - A. E. van Vogt
― ledge, Thursday, 22 January 2009 13:08 (fifteen years ago) link
in a penguin vein, the slug lords will be interviewing brian aldiss himself as a one-off special for resonance FM, probably some time in february
― Tracer Hand, Thursday, 22 January 2009 13:14 (fifteen years ago) link
Fab!
Have finally sourced myself a full copy of the subject of this poll. Will look for that World Turned Upside Down too (I have a stupid foible of not buying things from Amazon).
― ledge, Thursday, 22 January 2009 13:20 (fifteen years ago) link
it's from baen books which somewhat mysteriously offers the first seven stories free on its website but provides no direct link for ordering the physical object!!
― Tracer Hand, Thursday, 22 January 2009 13:27 (fifteen years ago) link
collections like this make is just so painfully obvious that sci-fi as a genre took a wrong-turn sometime in the last 50 years.
In Dreams, a celebration of the 7-inch single in all-original sci fi and horror fiction, is a great modern collection, which should also appeal to ILM nerds.
― ledge, Thursday, 22 January 2009 13:34 (fifteen years ago) link
> I have a stupid foible of not buying things from Amazon
it's not on amazon.uk anyway.
ONE of those collections must contain a story about an alien behind a two-way mirror. anyone? 8)
― koogs, Thursday, 22 January 2009 13:48 (fifteen years ago) link
The Lost In Space Episode With Michael J Pollard As The Boy Who Lived On The Other Side Of The Mirrors
― lemmy tristano (James Redd and the Blecchs), Thursday, 22 January 2009 14:57 (fifteen years ago) link
Don't know if he was technically an alien though, or if that was based on a short story. Was probably original.
― lemmy tristano (James Redd and the Blecchs), Thursday, 22 January 2009 15:00 (fifteen years ago) link
this was the first meeting between earth and some other alien race that could provide some technology or medicine or whatever. they would hand it over and help out but only on the condition that the earthlings didn't see the aliens (perhaps they were shy). hence the two way mirror*. only the earthling got curious and wanted to peek and finally managed it by shining a bright light, er, somewhere (alien side?). only the alien was wise to it and all he caught was a glimpse of a tail.
details sketchy, was a book rescued from (and later replaced onto) a pile destined for a jumble sale about 20+ years ago. was another story about a man being kept as a zoo animal. another which rested on you thinking the narrator was human but, surprise, no.
*or is it a one-way mirror, that makes more sense
― koogs, Thursday, 22 January 2009 16:16 (fifteen years ago) link
^ that is exactly childhood's end by arthur c clarke. ** mild spoilers ** it only happens 1/3 of the way through, the aliens really are benign and helpful (well, in the sense that they're guiding humanity to a higher plane of evolution which only the children will reach, everyone else dies and planet destroyed); the reason they don't want to be seen is 'cause they look just like devils (but the reason our image of devils is like that is because of jungian collective unconscious pre-figurative reversal causality racial memory).
― ledge, Thursday, 22 January 2009 16:34 (fifteen years ago) link
actually it was probably the short story which he later extended into childhood's end, called...
― ledge, Thursday, 22 January 2009 16:35 (fifteen years ago) link
... "Guardian Angel", which, I believe, does just deal with the events in your post, none of the higher plane of evolution stuff.
― ledge, Thursday, 22 January 2009 16:36 (fifteen years ago) link
^ only found out about the short story today, coincidentally, or i might have been more helpful earlier.
― ledge, Thursday, 22 January 2009 16:38 (fifteen years ago) link
cheers ledge
a quick google says that it appears in 'the sentinel' which is on the shelf at home, 90 miles away. and a copy of other places. could've sworn it was a multi-author collection though.
― koogs, Thursday, 22 January 2009 17:15 (fifteen years ago) link
"The Sentinel" sounds right. Don't forget that David Bowie wrote the song "Oh! You Pretty Things" based on Childhood's End.
― lemmy tristano (James Redd and the Blecchs), Thursday, 22 January 2009 17:24 (fifteen years ago) link
World Turned Upside Down at alibris.co.uk from less than 3 quid:
http://www.alibris.co.uk/booksearch?qwork=8344110&matches=58&wquery=baen&cm_sp=works*listing*title
― Tracer Hand, Thursday, 22 January 2009 18:51 (fifteen years ago) link
Brill, I've got it! I normally use abebooks but alibris looks really good, will keep 'em bookmarked.
― ledge, Thursday, 22 January 2009 18:59 (fifteen years ago) link
worst cover ever.
― koogs, Thursday, 22 January 2009 19:02 (fifteen years ago) link
"Arena" and "First Contact" are both just rather pulpy. Obviously influenced by the war, there's just a shred of a "war is stupid" theme in the first which could have been developed much more; but the fatalist xenophobia in the second I just find bizarre.
couldn't disagree more about "first contact"; the whole point of it is a sort of anti-xenophobic humanism, about the difficulty of negotiating co-existence! i mean the whole strand about the crewman who befriends the alien crewman seems almost too blatantly an argument AGAINST xenophobia!
― s1ocki, Thursday, 22 January 2009 21:16 (fifteen years ago) link
ok, sure, the "lol we spent all the time telling dirty jokes!" payoff. But that only works as a contrast to the background of the whole story, in which apparently "the only safety for either civilisation would lie in the destruction of one of both of the two ships here and now." Maybe not xenophobic as such, but kinda confrontational, and certainly fatalistic. I just didn't buy it - shit was never a problem in star trek!
― ledge, Thursday, 22 January 2009 22:15 (fifteen years ago) link
the whole point of the dilemma is to get AROUND that! it's an interesting logic problem and really, dude beats the "we're all the same thing" almost to death, dwelling on their sense of humour, their sympathetic expressions, how they really WANT to be friends. i can't for the life of me imagine how you'd consider the story's POV to be xenophobic in the slightest. or fatalistic; they do solve the problem in the end!
― s1ocki, Thursday, 22 January 2009 22:18 (fifteen years ago) link
Yeah they solve it but to me it's a non-problem! I don't get why they are so paranoid - that's the word, of course! - "We can't trust 'em so we'd better kill 'em". I know he argues it well, I just find it hard to imagine that's what it would come down to.
Also the story unwrites itself - if it is a genuine problem and that is the only solution, then, bingo! We have it! Problem will never occur!
― ledge, Thursday, 22 January 2009 22:32 (fifteen years ago) link
well it's not meant to be a treatise on human-alien relations; it's a story with a logic puzzle at the heart of it that gets satisfyingly solved by the end. QED!
― s1ocki, Friday, 23 January 2009 15:21 (fifteen years ago) link
man its a good life is such a scary fuckin story
― s1ocki, Sunday, 15 March 2009 23:22 (fifteen years ago) link
first encountered it thru the twilight zone episode which makes it creepier cuz the kid looks like a normal kid and not some purpley monster like in the story
― s1ocki, Sunday, 15 March 2009 23:23 (fifteen years ago) link
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y176/edwardiii/to_the_corn_field.png
― 鬼の手 (Edward III), Monday, 16 March 2009 01:21 (fifteen years ago) link
eep!
― s1ocki, Monday, 16 March 2009 01:38 (fifteen years ago) link