ARPAVAX:UNKNOWN:sf-lovers (09/12/82)
>From SFL@SRI-CSL Sat Sep 11 19:16:15 1982
SF-LOVERS Digest Thursday, 26 Aug 1982 Volume 6 : Issue 46
Today's Topics:
SF Fandom - CHICON IV,
SF Books - Down to a Sunless Sea & Stanislaw Lem & VALIS,
Humor - Genderless Video Games,
SF Movies - TRON, Spoiler - TRON
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: 24 Aug 1982 2104-PDT
From: Zellich at OFFICE-3 (Rich Zellich)
Subject: SFL Party at CHICON
We have received little response to the SFL party query, and may have
trouble making contact with all those who want to attend but haven't
yet been in touch. Anyone who is interested, look on the Con's
bulletin board for a notice with ZELLICH@OFFICE-3 and a room number.
The party is currently planned for Friday night about an hour after
the GoH speeches and attendant ceremonies. See y'all there, Rich
------------------------------
Date: 17 Aug 82 8:46:25-EDT (Tue)
From: Earl Weaver (VLD/VMB) <earl@BRL>
Subject: Down to a Sunless Sea
DTASS has it's faults (some things a little "far fetched"), but in
general it's worth reading. It should appeal to anyone with an
interest in aviation; some of the action is the most realistic I have
ever read. One nitpick: the author several times refers to a safety
lever on a revolver; what kind of revolver has a safety like that??
(Does the old Webley have one?)
------------------------------
Date: 21-Aug-82 20:16:25-PDT (Sat)
From: sdcsvax!sdchema!donn
Subject: Lem
Re: Lem again [V6 #41, from JAF at MIT-EECS]
I beg to differ with some of JAF's judgments about (and titles of)
Stanislaw Lem's books. I would rank Lem among my top five or so
favorite authors of science fiction and I hope more Americans take the
time to read the books of this remarkable Pole. I have a fairly
extensive set of books by Lem in translation and I thoroughly enjoy
all of them, not just the satirical books. I will profile them
quickly and give my own recommendations.
SOLARIS: This book of his seems to be most widely known in the West,
partly because the Russians made a movie out of it and partly because
it was translated a long time ago. The current paperback version (I
think it's Berkley) has a translation that is just awful and spoils
the book. I think the book might otherwise be quite compelling: it
is a rather Dickian story of reality and surreality on board a
research station on the sentient planet Solaris.
THE INVINCIBLE: Also spoiled by a bad translation. This is a serious
novel about the nature of intelligence in a similar vein to SOLARIS.
The spaceship Invincible discovers a planet that once held a
civilization yet now appears to be lifeless; but it is and it isn't.
THE CHAIN OF CHANCE: Another bad translation. An ex-astronaut is
called in to serve as a guinea pig in an experiment to find a reason
for the deaths of several middle-aged men. As things turn out, this
is the wrong way to go about it. This book is a statement of Lem's
unique philosophy of nature.
THE INVESTIGATION: A quite good translation. This is a very
atmospheric science fiction detective novel, but the atmosphere is
more that of Lovecraft than of Chandler. A number of cadavers have
disappeared and some of them appear to have simply gotten up and
walked away. The setting is England, and Scotland Yard is called in
to investigate. The solution to the mystery will never satisfy
Chandler fans but I found it extremely intriguing (unlike JAF,
apparently). One of my favorites.
TALES OF PIRX THE PILOT: A reasonable translation. These are
(somewhat dated, and incomplete) stories of Pirx, a young man who
progresses from space cadet to space pilot. The first stories are
amusing, light pieces; these change to stories with an Asimovian
concern with life amid technology and conclude with a darkly
impressive science fiction ghost story.
RETURN FROM THE STARS: Just finished reading this one. It was
written nearly twenty years ago but only was translated recently (a
good job, too). Hal Bregg has returned from an interstellar mission
that lasted 10 years ship time and 127 years Earth time. Earth's
culture has changed radically in this period of time and Bregg's (and
the reader's) experience is very disorienting. A very good treatment
of a classic theme.
THE CYBERIAD: (Is Cyberaid a powdered soft drink for robots? ("Just
add a few tablespoons of positrons and stir...") Sorry.) These are
the crazy adventures of Trurl and Klapaucius, the great (and sometimes
not-so-great) robot inventors. The exuberant style is amazingly well
translated by Michael Kandel. A fave. Give this one to your most
dedicated computer addict.
MORTAL ENGINES: This book contains the Robot Fables, along with a new
Ijon Tichy story, a new Pirx story and a strange and beautiful
novellette called "The Mask". The Robot Fables are a kind of prequel
to the Trurl and Klapaucius stories. Excellent translation by Michael
Kandel, with a long and interesting foreword.
THE STAR DIARIES (of Ijon Tichy): More wonderful silliness, with even
sillier illustrations by the author. Ijon Tichy lives and travels in
a universe that manages to contain parodies of almost every science
fiction construct ever thought of, and a few that are yet to be.
Another brilliant Kandel translation. Highly recommended. The
preface gives a good etymology of Lem's name.
THE FUTUROLOGICAL CONGRESS: An independent tale of Ijon Tichy, in
novel form. This one travels through Philip Dick country when a
congress Tichy is attending is attacked with pharmaceuticals. This is
yet another comment on the nature of reality.
MEMOIRS FOUND IN A BATHTUB: A harsh satire of military bureaucracy
which takes place in the underground bastions of the Pentagon after
the bomb. The depiction of police paranoia in this absurd novel makes
me wonder if it is just the Americans whom this barb is meant to
prick.
A book which I haven't managed to read and which I would love to get
my hands on is A PERFECT VACUUM, which is a series of prefaces to very
profound (but alas, unwritten) books. I'm not sure if it exists in
translation yet; I may have to learn Polish, sigh....
[A comment on the medium: I really like the book reviews in SF-L even
when I disagree with them; I hope we see more. I'm afraid I've really
gotten tired of reading movie reviews in SF-L, and there's so many
good books out there I know I've read that other people ought to hear
about, and even more I haven't read which I would like to hear
about...]
Donn Seeley UCSD Chemistry Dept. RRCF ucbvax!sdcsvax!sdchema!donn
------------------------------
Date: 20 Aug 1982 1810-PDT
From: LEWIS at SRI-AI (Bil Lewis)
Subject: VALIS -- a personal review
What ever else one might wish to say about VALIS, it
is most certainly autobiographical. Philip K Dick plays the
major role, and Doris X, an old friend of mine, is the
number two figure (Sherri) through out the first half of the
book. I and various other friends appear as minor characters
or just in passing. Several others I don't know at all. The
only event that I know to be inaccurate is that Doris didn't
die in her second bout with Cancer, which implies that most
of the other weird things that occur are real.
When I returned from the Peace Corps in 1974, I met
"Phil" , a friend of Doris' who lived next door, and his
cat. He struck me as a depressed, moribund character with
little interest in people and none in living, exactly the
last type of person Doris needed at that time. I didn't
realize that this was Dick and that he and Doris were lovers
until last week.
VALIS is not so much science fiction as it is
religious/mystic fiction (however much of it really is
fiction!). Dick writes very well. He uses a huge vocabulary
makes innumerable literary references, and a fair number of
personal ones too. Having read the Bible, alot of SF & all
of Dick's works would certainly help in understanding the
book. Knowing the people involved would also.
The book is angry, confused, neurotic, and
brilliant, like Phil was. He yearns for, and half-believes
in, a mystic, quasi-religious reality where spiritual elites
exist and discover each other through subtle messages hidden
on TV and in movies. Age-old conspiracies, "Others", and
God-cum-human are an integral part of the universe. Just as
we expect these things in SF, Dick proposes them to be real.
Dick exposes himself as he is, he extols the mystic,
and bemoans his personal loss of the two girls [sic].
Ironically Doris now bemoans HER personal loss of two men,
David (a grand mal seizure), and now Phil. Somehow I find
all of this quite fitting, like closing a circle.
I cannot recommend VALIS as a book to read to very
many people. Only if you are particulary intrigued by the
questions posed above and posses a fine sense of the agony
of both life and love, and can empathize with a man's
struggling would you enjoy reading this. [Robert, YOU would
understand.]
If you still think of great writers as being all
around fantastic people, ones that are conversant,
personable, and in control of their own lives (like I did),
then avoid VALIS. He leaves few emotional stones unturned,
and they are real.
-Bil
------------------------------
Date: 18 Aug 1982 1416-PDT
From: Henry W. Miller <Miller at SRI-NIC>
Subject: More Wretched PAC Humour
What do you call a flat PACMAN?
A Disc PAC...
-HWM
------------------------------
Date: Wednesday, August 25, 1982 6:02PM
From: Jim McGrath (The Moderator) <SFL at SRI-CSL>
Subject: SPOILER WARNING! SPOILER WARNING!
The last three messages in this digest touch upon some plot details in
the movie TRON. Some readers may not wish to read on.
------------------------------
Date: 20 August 1982 19:15 edt
From: Boebert.SCOMP at MIT-MULTICS
Subject: The bit in TRON
Did anybody notice that the so-called "bit" in TRON was actually
tristable? I suppose this makes it a trit.
Earl
------------------------------
Date: 30-Jul-82 20:02:45 EDT
From: DUNTEMANN.WBST
Subject: TRON's Bit
Actually, the Bit from TRON is a direct descendant of the Cute Robots
(TM) we've seen so much of in recent years. I suspect they get
created in random framing errors, or else spontaneously a arise out of
alpha particle radiation from the substrate of that most peculiar
universe. I kinda liked the Bit, and, knowing Disney, I rather
suspected it was going to turn up again later in the move to save
Flynn's skin before rolling over and dying sentimentally.
One wonders how much of the flick ended up decorating a dumpster
somewhere. (Find me that dumpster!)
--Jeff Duntemann (duntemann.wbst at PARC-MAXC)
------------------------------
Date: 13 Aug 1982 03:02:36-PDT
From: decvax!duke!uok!uokvax!jab at Berkeley
Subject: Disney's Divine Comedy
I recently had a discussion with a English professor who had just seen
TRON. He kept commenting on the similarities to The Divine Comedy
(specifically, The Inferno).
The descent through Hell, and finding Satan at the bottom (buried to
the neck) seem very familiar.
Jeff Bowles
------------------------------
End of SF-LOVERS Digest
***********************ARPAVAX:UNKNOWN:sf-lovers (09/12/82)
>From SFL@SRI-CSL Sat Sep 11 23:22:32 1982
SF-LOVERS Digest Thursday, 26 Aug 1982 Volume 6 : Issue 46
Today's Topics:
SF Fandom - CHICON IV,
SF Books - Down to a Sunless Sea & Stanislaw Lem & VALIS,
Humor - Genderless Video Games,
SF Movies - TRON, Spoiler - TRON
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: 24 Aug 1982 2104-PDT
From: Zellich at OFFICE-3 (Rich Zellich)
Subject: SFL Party at CHICON
We have received little response to the SFL party query, and may have
trouble making contact with all those who want to attend but haven't
yet been in touch. Anyone who is interested, look on the Con's
bulletin board for a notice with ZELLICH@OFFICE-3 and a room number.
The party is currently planned for Friday night about an hour after
the GoH speeches and attendant ceremonies. See y'all there, Rich
------------------------------
Date: 17 Aug 82 8:46:25-EDT (Tue)
From: Earl Weaver (VLD/VMB) <earl@BRL>
Subject: Down to a Sunless Sea
DTASS has it's faults (some things a little "far fetched"), but in
general it's worth reading. It should appeal to anyone with an
interest in aviation; some of the action is the most realistic I have
ever read. One nitpick: the author several times refers to a safety
lever on a revolver; what kind of revolver has a safety like that??
(Does the old Webley have one?)
------------------------------
Date: 21-Aug-82 20:16:25-PDT (Sat)
From: sdcsvax!sdchema!donn
Subject: Lem
Re: Lem again [V6 #41, from JAF at MIT-EECS]
I beg to differ with some of JAF's judgments about (and titles of)
Stanislaw Lem's books. I would rank Lem among my top five or so
favorite authors of science fiction and I hope more Americans take the
time to read the books of this remarkable Pole. I have a fairly
extensive set of books by Lem in translation and I thoroughly enjoy
all of them, not just the satirical books. I will profile them
quickly and give my own recommendations.
SOLARIS: This book of his seems to be most widely known in the West,
partly because the Russians made a movie out of it and partly because
it was translated a long time ago. The current paperback version (I
think it's Berkley) has a translation that is just awful and spoils
the book. I think the book might otherwise be quite compelling: it
is a rather Dickian story of reality and surreality on board a
research station on the sentient planet Solaris.
THE INVINCIBLE: Also spoiled by a bad translation. This is a serious
novel about the nature of intelligence in a similar vein to SOLARIS.
The spaceship Invincible discovers a planet that once held a
civilization yet now appears to be lifeless; but it is and it isn't.
THE CHAIN OF CHANCE: Another bad translation. An ex-astronaut is
called in to serve as a guinea pig in an experiment to find a reason
for the deaths of several middle-aged men. As things turn out, this
is the wrong way to go about it. This book is a statement of Lem's
unique philosophy of nature.
THE INVESTIGATION: A quite good translation. This is a very
atmospheric science fiction detective novel, but the atmosphere is
more that of Lovecraft than of Chandler. A number of cadavers have
disappeared and some of them appear to have simply gotten up and
walked away. The setting is England, and Scotland Yard is called in
to investigate. The solution to the mystery will never satisfy
Chandler fans but I found it extremely intriguing (unlike JAF,
apparently). One of my favorites.
TALES OF PIRX THE PILOT: A reasonable translation. These are
(somewhat dated, and incomplete) stories of Pirx, a young man who
progresses from space cadet to space pilot. The first stories are
amusing, light pieces; these change to stories with an Asimovian
concern with life amid technology and conclude with a darkly
impressive science fiction ghost story.
RETURN FROM THE STARS: Just finished reading this one. It was
written nearly twenty years ago but only was translated recently (a
good job, too). Hal Bregg has returned from an interstellar mission
that lasted 10 years ship time and 127 years Earth time. Earth's
culture has changed radically in this period of time and Bregg's (and
the reader's) experience is very disorienting. A very good treatment
of a classic theme.
THE CYBERIAD: (Is Cyberaid a powdered soft drink for robots? ("Just
add a few tablespoons of positrons and stir...") Sorry.) These are
the crazy adventures of Trurl and Klapaucius, the great (and sometimes
not-so-great) robot inventors. The exuberant style is amazingly well
translated by Michael Kandel. A fave. Give this one to your most
dedicated computer addict.
MORTAL ENGINES: This book contains the Robot Fables, along with a new
Ijon Tichy story, a new Pirx story and a strange and beautiful
novellette called "The Mask". The Robot Fables are a kind of prequel
to the Trurl and Klapaucius stories. Excellent translation by Michael
Kandel, with a long and interesting foreword.
THE STAR DIARIES (of Ijon Tichy): More wonderful silliness, with even
sillier illustrations by the author. Ijon Tichy lives and travels in
a universe that manages to contain parodies of almost every science
fiction construct ever thought of, and a few that are yet to be.
Another brilliant Kandel translation. Highly recommended. The
preface gives a good etymology of Lem's name.
THE FUTUROLOGICAL CONGRESS: An independent tale of Ijon Tichy, in
novel form. This one travels through Philip Dick country when a
congress Tichy is attending is attacked with pharmaceuticals. This is
yet another comment on the nature of reality.
MEMOIRS FOUND IN A BATHTUB: A harsh satire of military bureaucracy
which takes place in the underground bastions of the Pentagon after
the bomb. The depiction of police paranoia in this absurd novel makes
me wonder if it is just the Americans whom this barb is meant to
prick.
A book which I haven't managed to read and which I would love to get
my hands on is A PERFECT VACUUM, which is a series of prefaces to very
profound (but alas, unwritten) books. I'm not sure if it exists in
translation yet; I may have to learn Polish, sigh....
[A comment on the medium: I really like the book reviews in SF-L even
when I disagree with them; I hope we see more. I'm afraid I've really
gotten tired of reading movie reviews in SF-L, and there's so many
good books out there I know I've read that other people ought to hear
about, and even more I haven't read which I would like to hear
about...]
Donn Seeley UCSD Chemistry Dept. RRCF ucbvax!sdcsvax!sdchema!donn
------------------------------
Date: 20 Aug 1982 1810-PDT
From: LEWIS at SRI-AI (Bil Lewis)
Subject: VALIS -- a personal review
What ever else one might wish to say about VALIS, it
is most certainly autobiographical. Philip K Dick plays the
major role, and Doris X, an old friend of mine, is the
number two figure (Sherri) through out the first half of the
book. I and various other friends appear as minor characters
or just in passing. Several others I don't know at all. The
only event that I know to be inaccurate is that Doris didn't
die in her second bout with Cancer, which implies that most
of the other weird things that occur are real.
When I returned from the Peace Corps in 1974, I met
"Phil" , a friend of Doris' who lived next door, and his
cat. He struck me as a depressed, moribund character with
little interest in people and none in living, exactly the
last type of person Doris needed at that time. I didn't
realize that this was Dick and that he and Doris were lovers
until last week.
VALIS is not so much science fiction as it is
religious/mystic fiction (however much of it really is
fiction!). Dick writes very well. He uses a huge vocabulary
makes innumerable literary references, and a fair number of
personal ones too. Having read the Bible, alot of SF & all
of Dick's works would certainly help in understanding the
book. Knowing the people involved would also.
The book is angry, confused, neurotic, and
brilliant, like Phil was. He yearns for, and half-believes
in, a mystic, quasi-religious reality where spiritual elites
exist and discover each other through subtle messages hidden
on TV and in movies. Age-old conspiracies, "Others", and
God-cum-human are an integral part of the universe. Just as
we expect these things in SF, Dick proposes them to be real.
Dick exposes himself as he is, he extols the mystic,
and bemoans his personal loss of the two girls [sic].
Ironically Doris now bemoans HER personal loss of two men,
David (a grand mal seizure), and now Phil. Somehow I find
all of this quite fitting, like closing a circle.
I cannot recommend VALIS as a book to read to very
many people. Only if you are particulary intrigued by the
questions posed above and posses a fine sense of the agony
of both life and love, and can empathize with a man's
struggling would you enjoy reading this. [Robert, YOU would
understand.]
If you still think of great writers as being all
around fantastic people, ones that are conversant,
personable, and in control of their own lives (like I did),
then avoid VALIS. He leaves few emotional stones unturned,
and they are real.
-Bil
------------------------------
Date: 18 Aug 1982 1416-PDT
From: Henry W. Miller <Miller at SRI-NIC>
Subject: More Wretched PAC Humour
What do you call a flat PACMAN?
A Disc PAC...
-HWM
------------------------------
Date: Wednesday, August 25, 1982 6:02PM
From: Jim McGrath (The Moderator) <SFL at SRI-CSL>
Subject: SPOILER WARNING! SPOILER WARNING!
The last three messages in this digest touch upon some plot details in
the movie TRON. Some readers may not wish to read on.
------------------------------
Date: 20 August 1982 19:15 edt
From: Boebert.SCOMP at MIT-MULTICS
Subject: The bit in TRON
Did anybody notice that the so-called "bit" in TRON was actually
tristable? I suppose this makes it a trit.
Earl
------------------------------
Date: 30-Jul-82 20:02:45 EDT
From: DUNTEMANN.WBST
Subject: TRON's Bit
Actually, the Bit from TRON is a direct descendant of the Cute Robots
(TM) we've seen so much of in recent years. I suspect they get
created in random framing errors, or else spontaneously a arise out of
alpha particle radiation from the substrate of that most peculiar
universe. I kinda liked the Bit, and, knowing Disney, I rather
suspected it was going to turn up again later in the move to save
Flynn's skin before rolling over and dying sentimentally.
One wonders how much of the flick ended up decorating a dumpster
somewhere. (Find me that dumpster!)
--Jeff Duntemann (duntemann.wbst at PARC-MAXC)
------------------------------
Date: 13 Aug 1982 03:02:36-PDT
From: decvax!duke!uok!uokvax!jab at Berkeley
Subject: Disney's Divine Comedy
I recently had a discussion with a English professor who had just seen
TRON. He kept commenting on the similarities to The Divine Comedy
(specifically, The Inferno).
The descent through Hell, and finding Satan at the bottom (buried to
the neck) seem very familiar.
Jeff Bowles
------------------------------
End of SF-LOVERS Digest
***********************