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Post by berkley on Jul 7, 2017 3:02:18 GMT -5
Now that I brought up my plan of reading some of the classic SF I've missed out on all these years, anyone have any best-of-decade recommendations? These are two of my all time favorites. Babel-17by Samuel R. Delany Delany makes some interesting commentary on language and how it effects the way people think and act while telling an epic outer space adventure featuring a colorful full cast of characters, espionage and plenty of action. The Earth Alliance is fighting an interstellar war with the Invaders who have developed a communications weapon called Babel-17 that is responsible for multiple deadly attacks against the Alliance. Rydra Wong a starship captain, famous poet and telepath is recruited to decipher what they thought was a code but she discovers is actually a language. When her ship is sabotaged one of her crew is suspected of being an Invader spy. After witnessing an assassination her ship is again sabotaged. Her crew is saved by a privateer whose lieutenant, a man known as The Butcher may be the key to understanding Babel-17. and The Left Hand of Darknessby Ursula K. Le Guin George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four was published in the late 1949. E. E. Smith, godfather of the space opera, published the first novel in the Lensman series Triplanetary in 1948, however it was first serialized in Amazing Stories in 1934. The rest of the Lensman series were published as novels in the 1950s but those last four books were first published in the magazine "Astounding" in the 1940s. Excellent suggestions, thanks for taking the time. I Have read Babel-17, 1984, and the first few Lensmen books but not Le Guin's Left Hand of Darkness yet. I think that one came out in the 60s or 70s, right? Looking forward to it, along with a few other Le Guins I haven't read. Received Sturgeon's More than Human in the mail today and Stewart's Earth Abidesshould be on its way. [/b]. I also think I might re-read Charles Harness's The Paradox Men, which I think is a bit of a neglected classic. I'm trying the limit the re-reading for now because I have so much unread SF I want to get to, but for some reason I'm feeling the urge to revisit this one soon, now that I realise it came out in 1949, earlier than I had remembered . Another one from the 40s that's caught my eye is Henry Kuttner's Fury (aka Destination: Infinity, 1947), might give that one a look as well since I haven't read nearly as much Kuttner as I should have by now. So I think I should be set for the 40s and early 50s. BTW, I discovered that wiki has specific pages devoted to lists of SF novels of a given decade and Slam was right: the explosion in the number of titles from the 40s to the 50s is remarkable.
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Post by berkley on Jul 7, 2017 3:04:35 GMT -5
E.R. Burroughs being unwittingly funny, or making a social comment? In At the Earth's core, Perry balks at David Innes's plan to murder a trio of Mahars, who he explains are after all the dominant species in Pellucidar. But when he sees that his young friend is adamant, he proposes that while they're at it they could do something more... Commit genocide! Perry has learned that the Mahars are now a female-only species, and that for their eggs to hatch they have to be treated with a special formula that just happens to be kept within the surface men's reach. Once that formula is in their hands, Perry and Innes could do away with the Mahars and lead the land's primitive humans to supremacy! “David," said the old man, "I believe that God sent us here for just that purpose—it shall be my life work to teach them His word—to lead them into the light of His mercy while we are training their hearts and hands in the ways of culture and civilization.” Dear Lord! How typical of a XIX century colonial attitude! Exterminate the local rulers, impose one's religion on the uneducated masses and turn the land into a copy of one's own! (All of a sudden I'm rooting for the Mahars!) Yes indeed, it almost cries out to be re-written from the Mahar's POV. Or perhaps that of a dissenting Pellucidarian human who wants to free his people from slavery without committing genocide or succumbing to the cultural domination of the surface dwellers.
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Post by Roquefort Raider on Jul 7, 2017 5:25:36 GMT -5
E.R. Burroughs being unwittingly funny, or making a social comment? In At the Earth's core, Perry balks at David Innes's plan to murder a trio of Mahars, who he explains are after all the dominant species in Pellucidar. But when he sees that his young friend is adamant, he proposes that while they're at it they could do something more... Commit genocide! Perry has learned that the Mahars are now a female-only species, and that for their eggs to hatch they have to be treated with a special formula that just happens to be kept within the surface men's reach. Once that formula is in their hands, Perry and Innes could do away with the Mahars and lead the land's primitive humans to supremacy! “David," said the old man, "I believe that God sent us here for just that purpose—it shall be my life work to teach them His word—to lead them into the light of His mercy while we are training their hearts and hands in the ways of culture and civilization.” Dear Lord! How typical of a XIX century colonial attitude! Exterminate the local rulers, impose one's religion on the uneducated masses and turn the land into a copy of one's own! (All of a sudden I'm rooting for the Mahars!) Yes indeed, it almost cries out to be re-written from the Mahar's POV. Or perhaps that of a dissenting Pellucidarian human who wants to free his people from slavery without committing genocide or succumbing to the cultural domination of the surface dwellers. Perry's genocidal intentions are made even worse by his revelation that the Mahars don't even know the humans they subjugated are intelligent beings. They consider us dumb animals, without the ability to think or communicate among ourselves. They are also pretty ethical beings, apparently, since they will not eat the flesh of any reptile, considering them too closely related to them. But they're the bad guys, so... Off with their head!
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Post by Calamas on Jul 7, 2017 9:11:38 GMT -5
Woman in the Dark by Dashiell Hammett This novella was originally serialized in Liberty Magazine 1933. It remained unreprinted for a number of years. I'd never read it before, but I decided too for a couple of reasons. It remained the only Hammett I hadn't read, save for a few short stories and it's short...and I seem to be doing better with shorter works right now. It was, I believe, the last thing he wrote before The Thin Man, which was his last work (unless you count his work editing and assisting Lillian Hellman's writing). Luise Fischer, a kept woman, is trying to escape from the keeper, who brought her from Europe and doesn't feel he's done with her. Through happenstance she finds assistance from Brazil, who has spent time inside prison and isn't anxious to go back. They end up on the run, though ultimately we get what appears to be a happy ending, though there are enough dangling threads and ambiguity to show that it may not be that happy. This is by no means important or even particularly interesting Hammett. He was tired of writing the works that made him famous. He was in the throws of severe alcoholism and he was more interested...and possibly capable...of advising and assisting Hellman than in writing his own work. This one is for completists only. I'm not unhappy I read it. But I won't ever read it again. Yeah, the basic storytelling skills are still there but clearly no passion. I did like how he allowed the female lead to take over the story once she got passed the disorientation of an unfamiliar country and its street-level environments. The ending, though, was convenient and not particularly satisfying, mainly because of the ambiguity you mention. It felt as if a word (or page) count told him it was time to wrap it up--and he promptly did.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 7, 2017 13:44:03 GMT -5
Finished Collapsing Empire by Scalzi today. Liked it enough to pick up the second book when it hits, but still have some reservations about the tone of the prose and some of the naming conventions in the book.
-M
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Post by Rob Allen on Jul 8, 2017 3:01:42 GMT -5
My wife just came home with a copy of Our Gods Wear Spandex: The Secret History of Comic Book Heroes by Christopher Knowles, with illustrations by Joseph Michael Linsner. It looks really interesting. Has anyone here read it?
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Jul 8, 2017 9:49:05 GMT -5
My wife just came home with a copy of Our Gods Wear Spandex: The Secret History of Comic Book Heroes by Christopher Knowles, with illustrations by Joseph Michael Linsner. It looks really interesting. Has anyone here read it? I haven't read it. The reviews seem to lead one to believe that the author comes up with a conclusion and then goes to look for evidence to support that conclusion rather than actually analyzing the work and then drawing a conclusion from what's there. I'm interested in what you and your wife think of it.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 8, 2017 10:21:33 GMT -5
My wife just came home with a copy of Our Gods Wear Spandex: The Secret History of Comic Book Heroes by Christopher Knowles, with illustrations by Joseph Michael Linsner. It looks really interesting. Has anyone here read it? I haven't read it. The reviews seem to lead one to believe that the author comes up with a conclusion and then goes to look for evidence to support that conclusion rather than actually analyzing the work and then drawing a conclusion from what's there. I'm interested in what you and your wife think of it. Bingo. I read it a few years back. It's interesting in an Ancient Aliens/speculative history sort of way, as it is a new look at some classic ideas, and raises some interesting questions, but instead of asking to see what the answers could be, it is raised to put forward the author's pet theories, which have more holes in them than a pieces of Swiss cheese. Logic gaps and leaps in logic abound and if Occam's razor were applied, it would be shred to pieces. But it was a fun read nonetheless. I also read his follow up book-The Secret History of Rock and Roll where he puts forth the same ideas but has rock and roll legends being the types of divine archetypes he puts forward the various super-heroes as, trying to tie it all to the survival of ancient mystery traditions. -M
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Jul 11, 2017 16:09:38 GMT -5
The Incredible Herb Trimpe by Dewey Cassell and Aaron Sultan A look at the life and work of Happy Herbie Trimpe. Like most of these books by Twomorrows this is largely interviews with Trimpe about various books he worked on and general working conditions at Marvel during his time there. This one does have more "side-notes" that cover Trimpe's lesser works and also his licensed work. Herb's memory of his work other than on The Hulk seemed a bit sketchy. I'll admit that I was not a fan of Trimpe's work when I was a kid. I think that Sal Buscema was on Incredible Hulk at the time. But Trimpe work on the character was being reprinted in Marvel Super-Heroes. And I preferred Sal. But his work has grown on me over the years and even if he was never flashy, very few people were better story-tellers than Herb Trimpe. And he comes across as a genuinely likeable guy. Which is a plus. I never read any licensed books, back in the day. So for me Trimpe was pretty much The Hulk and the Phantom Eagle story. I pretty well unreservedly recommend any of these books from Twomorrows. And this one is no exception.
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Confessor
CCF Mod Squad
Not Bucky O'Hare!
Posts: 10,069
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Post by Confessor on Jul 12, 2017 14:56:01 GMT -5
The Incredible Herb Trimpe by Dewey Cassell and Aaron Sultan Is there any worthwhile discussion (or better yet, any pics of unreleased art) of his fill-in story from Star Wars #17? That's one of the best issues of the early part of the run IMHO.
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Jul 12, 2017 15:04:28 GMT -5
The Incredible Herb Trimpe by Dewey Cassell and Aaron Sultan Is there any worthwhile discussion (or better yet, any pics of unreleased art) of his fill-in story from Star Wars #17? That's one of the best issues of the early part of the run IMHO. I'll take a check in the book when I get home from the office tonight. But I'm going to tentatively say no. Almost certainly no to the pictures and if there's discussion of the book it's minuscule.
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Confessor
CCF Mod Squad
Not Bucky O'Hare!
Posts: 10,069
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Post by Confessor on Jul 12, 2017 16:37:59 GMT -5
Is there any worthwhile discussion (or better yet, any pics of unreleased art) of his fill-in story from Star Wars #17? That's one of the best issues of the early part of the run IMHO. I'll take a check in the book when I get home from the office tonight. But I'm going to tentatively say no. Almost certainly no to the pictures and if there's discussion of the book it's minuscule. I figured as much, to be honest, but just wanted to ask. Let me know if you spot anything though.
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Post by berkley on Jul 12, 2017 19:52:58 GMT -5
I might get that Herb Trimpe book myself, but as always, it would be nice to have a look at it first. Same with Our Gods Wear Spandex: the idea is interesting, but not too sure about how the author will handle it, from the comments here. Still, I'm into that kind of stuff myself enough that I could probably enjoy it even if it isn't all that well-written or thought through.
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Jul 12, 2017 19:57:32 GMT -5
I'll take a check in the book when I get home from the office tonight. But I'm going to tentatively say no. Almost certainly no to the pictures and if there's discussion of the book it's minuscule. I figured as much, to be honest, but just wanted to ask. Let me know if you spot anything though. Took another look and the only mention of that book is in the Index of his work at the back of the book.
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Jul 12, 2017 19:59:13 GMT -5
I might get that Herb Trimpe book myself, but as always, it would be nice to have a look at it first. Same with Our Gods Wear Spandex: the idea is interesting, but not too sure about how the author will handle it, from the comments here. Still, I'm into that kind of stuff myself enough that I could probably enjoy it even if it isn't all that well-written or thought through. I pretty well recommend any of the books by Twomorrows. If you've read an issue of Back Issue magazine or Alter Ego, you know what you're getting. A decent interview, some side-bars and a lot of artwork. I think they're a lot of fun and I'll buy any of them if I find them on sale.
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