Science Fiction Osgiliation
- Primula Baggins
- Living in hope
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That's kind of what I thought, too. Still a lot of camels.
"Solar system" is probably fine, but "system" seems to be used alone a lot in SF.
"Solar system" is probably fine, but "system" seems to be used alone a lot in SF.
“There, peeping among the cloud-wrack above a dark tor high up in the mountains, Sam saw a white star twinkle for a while. The beauty of it smote his heart, as he looked up out of the forsaken land, and hope returned to him. For like a shaft, clear and cold, the thought pierced him that in the end the Shadow was only a small and passing thing: there was light and high beauty for ever beyond its reach.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Return of the King
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Return of the King
That;s what I immediately thought of. I was luckly that the first aspect I zoomed into had an author I know, and like - Neal Stephenson. So, I noted the other authors around him.Primula Baggins wrote:It's actually a fun reader's tool: find the title of an SF work you like, and the titles in the immediate vicinity will probably also be of books you'll like.
'You just said "your getting shorter": you've obviously been drinking too much ent-draught and not enough Prim's.' - Jude
- WampusCat
- Creature of the night
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I just came across this rewrite that Janis Ian did of "At Seventeen" for the Nebula Awards:
Says Janis "I'd always resisted writing any sort of 'take' on 'At 17'. The song is too precious to me, and to many others. When SFWA asked me to host the Nebula Awards, though, I wanted to do something really special for the ceremony, something that would speak to my love of the genre and form, and the stories that informed me as an artist and as a human being. When I finished writing it, I felt like instead of creating a silly 'take-off', I'd actually written from the heart, something real, and true."
WELCOME HOME (THE NEBULAS SONG)
(Janis Ian)
I learned the truth at seventeen
That Asimov and Bradbury
and Clarke were alphabetically
my very perfect A-B-C
While Algernon ran every maze,
and slow glass hurt my heart for days,
I sat and played a sweet guitar
and Martians grokked me from afar
Odd John was my only friend
among the clocks and Ticktockmen,
while Anne Mccaffrey’s dragons roared
above the skies of Majipoor
Bukharan winds blew cold and sharp
and whispered to my secret heart
“You are no more alone
“Welcome home”
Tribbles came, and triffids went
Time got wrinkled, then got spent
Kirinyaga’s spirits soared,
and Turtledove re-wrote a war
While Scanners searched, and loved in vain,
Hal Nine Thousand went insane,
and Brother Francis had an ass
whose wit and wile were unsurpassed
Every story I would read
became my private history,
as Zenna’s People learned to fly,
and Rachel loved until I cried
I spent a night at Whileaway,
then Houston called me just to say
“You are no more alone,
“so welcome home”
Who dreams a positronic man?
Who speaks of mist, and grass, and sand?
Of stranger station’s silent tombs?
Of speech that sounds in silent rooms?
Who waters deserts with their tears?
Who sees the stars each thousand years?
Who dreams the dreams for kids like me,
Whose only home is fantasy?
Let’s drink a toast to ugly chickens,
Marley’s ghost, and Ender Wiggins
Every mother’s son of you,
and all your darling daughters, too
When the aliens finally come,
we’ll say to each and every one
“You are no more alone,
“so welcome home
“Welcome home”
* Sung to the tune of “At Seventeen”, by Janis Ian
Take my hand, my friend. We are here to walk one another home.
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- Primula Baggins
- Living in hope
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Absolutely lovely. Thank you for finding and posting it, Wampus.
“There, peeping among the cloud-wrack above a dark tor high up in the mountains, Sam saw a white star twinkle for a while. The beauty of it smote his heart, as he looked up out of the forsaken land, and hope returned to him. For like a shaft, clear and cold, the thought pierced him that in the end the Shadow was only a small and passing thing: there was light and high beauty for ever beyond its reach.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Return of the King
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Return of the King
- Primula Baggins
- Living in hope
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Me, too. One after another. And it made me remember why reading SF was so central to my life growing up.
“There, peeping among the cloud-wrack above a dark tor high up in the mountains, Sam saw a white star twinkle for a while. The beauty of it smote his heart, as he looked up out of the forsaken land, and hope returned to him. For like a shaft, clear and cold, the thought pierced him that in the end the Shadow was only a small and passing thing: there was light and high beauty for ever beyond its reach.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Return of the King
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Return of the King
- WampusCat
- Creature of the night
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And here's an explanation of all the references!
http://www.janisian.com/lyrics/welcomeh ... ructed.php
Now I know what books to look for that I somehow missed.
http://www.janisian.com/lyrics/welcomeh ... ructed.php
Now I know what books to look for that I somehow missed.
Take my hand, my friend. We are here to walk one another home.
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I only recognized a few. My consolation is that I am probably the only person here who read Beliaev's beautiful, romantic novels like Amphibian Man, or the Strugatsky brothers (whose Picnic by the Roadside was filmed as Stalker), or Stanislaw Lem of Solaris fame, or the unrelentingly patriotic Trublaini who had a really interesting idea for gravity-driven trains. Or many others.
I also read Wells, Jules Verne, Asimov, Bradbury and Clarke.
I have to say, there was a lot more foreign-language, translated fiction available in the old USSR than in the West.
I also read Wells, Jules Verne, Asimov, Bradbury and Clarke.
I have to say, there was a lot more foreign-language, translated fiction available in the old USSR than in the West.
If there was anything that depressed him more than his own cynicism, it was that quite often it still wasn't as cynical as real life.
Terry Pratchett, Guards! Guards!
Terry Pratchett, Guards! Guards!
- Primula Baggins
- Living in hope
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Isaac Asimov edited a couple of anthologies of Russian ("Soviet") short SF; I have one of them. I had Solaris, but the book fell apart.
I think SF anthologies and even magazines did a better job than most U.S. publications of including translated works, particularly from Russian authors. I grew up knowing that much great SF was being written and published in Russian, but not being able to find as much of it as I would have liked.
I think SF anthologies and even magazines did a better job than most U.S. publications of including translated works, particularly from Russian authors. I grew up knowing that much great SF was being written and published in Russian, but not being able to find as much of it as I would have liked.
“There, peeping among the cloud-wrack above a dark tor high up in the mountains, Sam saw a white star twinkle for a while. The beauty of it smote his heart, as he looked up out of the forsaken land, and hope returned to him. For like a shaft, clear and cold, the thought pierced him that in the end the Shadow was only a small and passing thing: there was light and high beauty for ever beyond its reach.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Return of the King
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Return of the King
To osgiliate an osgiliation, I really want to read this book
I say sometimes that once I see the cover, I often have a pretty good idea of the story, but this time I don't even have a hypothesis.
I say sometimes that once I see the cover, I often have a pretty good idea of the story, but this time I don't even have a hypothesis.
If there was anything that depressed him more than his own cynicism, it was that quite often it still wasn't as cynical as real life.
Terry Pratchett, Guards! Guards!
Terry Pratchett, Guards! Guards!
- Primula Baggins
- Living in hope
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Here it is on Amazon:
Link
$5 and it's yours (or much less used). It might actually be worth it; there are only five reviews but they make it sound pretty cool.
I'm not going to spring for it, because SF/fantasy humor mostly doesn't work for me, alas. It may be because I read those genres for something entirely other than humor, something that's more important to me. I'm not a stuffy person, but I laugh elsewhere.
Yesterday in church our intern pastor, a charming young woman, gave a card of thanks to a retired pastor who's a member and who oversaw the first month of her internship while the regular pastor was away. The card was a classic 19th-century image of Jesus holding a lamb, presumably #100. There was a cartoon balloon coming out of his mouth: "Oh, Fluffy! You're the only one who really understands me. . . ."
This was presented in church during the service, and we all laughed our socks off. I mention this to say it's not that SF is sacred to me, that's not why I can't laugh . . . I just can't. *
*Hitchhiker's always excepted.
Link
$5 and it's yours (or much less used). It might actually be worth it; there are only five reviews but they make it sound pretty cool.
I'm not going to spring for it, because SF/fantasy humor mostly doesn't work for me, alas. It may be because I read those genres for something entirely other than humor, something that's more important to me. I'm not a stuffy person, but I laugh elsewhere.
Yesterday in church our intern pastor, a charming young woman, gave a card of thanks to a retired pastor who's a member and who oversaw the first month of her internship while the regular pastor was away. The card was a classic 19th-century image of Jesus holding a lamb, presumably #100. There was a cartoon balloon coming out of his mouth: "Oh, Fluffy! You're the only one who really understands me. . . ."
This was presented in church during the service, and we all laughed our socks off. I mention this to say it's not that SF is sacred to me, that's not why I can't laugh . . . I just can't. *
*Hitchhiker's always excepted.
“There, peeping among the cloud-wrack above a dark tor high up in the mountains, Sam saw a white star twinkle for a while. The beauty of it smote his heart, as he looked up out of the forsaken land, and hope returned to him. For like a shaft, clear and cold, the thought pierced him that in the end the Shadow was only a small and passing thing: there was light and high beauty for ever beyond its reach.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Return of the King
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Return of the King
- Primula Baggins
- Living in hope
- Posts: 40005
- Joined: Mon Nov 21, 2005 1:43 am
- Location: Sailing the luminiferous aether
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<preens beside vison> Indubitably.
“There, peeping among the cloud-wrack above a dark tor high up in the mountains, Sam saw a white star twinkle for a while. The beauty of it smote his heart, as he looked up out of the forsaken land, and hope returned to him. For like a shaft, clear and cold, the thought pierced him that in the end the Shadow was only a small and passing thing: there was light and high beauty for ever beyond its reach.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Return of the King
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Return of the King