Arthur C Clarke dies

[Mr. Brian]

He wrote such "smart" sci-fi instead of all that schlocky crap that gave the genre a bad name. Childhoods End and Rendezvous with Rama were 2 of the best sci-fi books ever written.

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5jfE8 ... gD8VG4VI00

[JackT]

He wrote such "smart" sci-fi instead of all that schlocky crap that gave the genre a bad name. Childhoods End and Rendezvous with Rama were 2 of the best sci-fi books ever written.

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5jfE8 ... gD8VG4VI00

Never knew the genre got a bad name. What schlocky crap in particular?

I LOVED Rendezvous with Rama. I read it when I was in Middle School, I think. I remember using the word 'biot' in a Scrabble game with my mom.

Childhood's End was also excellent. I remember being over my dumb cousins house and reading that book and trying to explain it to them.

[withahip]

All sci-fi is good!

[Mr. Brian]

Generally the way Hollywood pushed out movie after movie of senseless stories and heavy on the bad special effects back in the 1950's tarnished a perfectly good thing in the minds of the general public. "Take me to your leader" and all that stuff, ya know?

I like my sci-fi to be more than spaceships and laserbeams and grounded in some real science with some imagination or bending the rules, you know science fiction. In fact it doesn't even need a spaceship. I think a lot of it is heavy on the fiction and light on the science. Of course there is is bad sci-fi so bad that it's good but thats generally just movies and TV and not books.

[withahip]

I was talking about books.

[Mr. Brian]

The first thing that comes to mind are those Star Trek novels. I'll have to think more about it. I haven't read a sci-fi book in ages to be honest

Oh and Dianetics

[JackT]

That kind of sci-fi is fondly referred to as "sciffy". The old space opera stuff. It may seem hokey (and much of it is) but it influenced a lot of the more modern writers, many of whom, I think, appreciate that kind of sci-fi.

Some of it was just bad, though. For instance, I think A.E. van Vogt was simply an awful writer. (Although I have paid good money for some of his 1st eds.) On the other hand, I was captivated by those old Andre Norton books, which were mostly of the starship space ranger type of story.

Also, the great Heinlein himself wrote in that vein, although maybe on a more sophisticated level.

Who do you read? By far, my personal favorite is Gene Wolfe, who almost defies classification as sci-fi. One newer guy I have read recently is Neal Asher, who writes pretty interesting stuff.

[Scouser]

That 50's / 60's sci fi was great - even the naff stuff. All fuelled by Cold War paranoia. OK, its not the best writing in the world, but it retains a certain charm and innocence.

I hate the snobbery directed at Sci Fi writing. Just because its not about some middle class tosser in India in the days of the Raj its considered a lesser form of fiction. When I came to do my English Lit degree I picked a college that had Science Fiction as a module. Brian Aldiss was one of the lecturers and we had talks from Ursula Le Guin and a few others (whose names escape me now).

I was already a Philip K Dick fan when I went but after a year there I was fanatical. I still read Ubik every year and it blows me away every time.

There is a UK magazine called Death Ray that has really reignited my interest in sci fi (books, movies, TV)

[starsabove]

Philip K Dick - the only author I can still read as an adult as well as a teenager and get more out of the book each time I read it. I discovered him and the Bunnymen at roughly the same time....kinda gave me a view of life not shared by me school mates.[/b]

[JackT]

Brian Aldiss was one of the lecturers and we had talks from Ursula Le Guin and a few others (whose names escape me now).

That is unbelievable. Those two are hall-of-famers for sure.

[Scouser]

Brian Aldiss was a lovely guy - softly spoken, really kind and very knowledgable about SF. He had a wicked sense of humour and was an outrageous flirt (despite being in his early 50's at the time). Ive got my copies of Greybeard and Trillion Year Spree signed by him.

Ursula Le Guin gave a lecture on the role of women in Sci Fi - Ive still got my notes! She talked about how The Left Hand Of Darkness was her attempt to do away with conventional gender roles but that language failed her (which it does in a way - my Dad borrowed my copy and he thought it was about homosexuality!)

It was a great time of my life - getting paid by the government to drink, sleep around and read SF. You couldnt knock the British education system of the 80's. If it was now Id be about 20 grand in debt.

On an unrelated SF note - Frank Herbert - charlatan or genius?

[JackT]

I would definitely not call Herbert a charlatan. I didn't even know anyone had anything negative to say about him, actually. What's the rap against him? That the last 7 Dune sequels started to fall off in quality? :)

Dune is one of the "great" sci-fi novels, and I would say on that merit alone he should be regarded highly.

BTW they are doing another Dune movie.

[Frank The Bunny]

BTW they are doing another Dune movie.

Please tell me Sting won't be in this one. He's a worse actor than he is a lyricist.
...and look what he's doing to that poor little pigeon!

[JackT]

I thought Sting was well-cast in that movie, actually.

[withahip]

I thought Sting was well-cast in that movie, actually.

I thought he was the only good thing about that movie.
I remember reading most of the Dune books a long time ago. They were addictive.


Speaking of sci-fi schlock - has anyone seen I think it is called Millenium with the kid from About A Boy - the one with the razor slice through his right eyebrow? Terrible movie but I sitll loved it!