DBarker@HIS-PHOENIX-MULTICS.ARPA (02/06/84)
Alfred Bester is certainly not unknown in England (well no more than any
SF author is unknown!) BTW the English title of "The Stars My
Destination" was "Tiger Tiger", which anyone who has read it will
comprehend. There are also a couple of books of his short stories, the
titles of which I forget, but they are both excellent.
In the same sort of 1950s space opera genre, may I mention Charles L.
Harness, whose three novels ("The Paradox Men", "The Rose" and "The Ring
of Ritornel") I can heartily recommend, and will submit synopses if I
get the time tomorrow. Anyone who enjoys late-40s Van Vogt
(particularly the Null-A books) will certainly enjoy The Paradox Men,
which takes as its inspiration Toynbee's theories of history (where Van
Vogt used Korzybski's theories of General Semantics). The Rose also
contains two of the nicest short-stories I know "The Chess Players" and
"The New Reality".
Even the people who have heard of Bester don't seem to have heard of
Harness!!ddern@bbnccb@caip.RUTGERS.EDU (02/03/86)
From: "Daniel P. Dern" <ddern@bbnccb.ARPA> Thanks to all who responded directly or indirectly to my query about Gordon Dickson's FINAL ENCYCLOPEDIA. By that point, I was already halfway into a copy. I wish to confirm, in my opinion, the book is a "good read." After reading [pause to don HEFLMP garb] ROBOTS & EMPIRE, and CAT WHO WALKED THROUGH WALLS, it was gratifying to read a book by an author I've enjoyed for ~ two decades and have it be 'up to par.' Dickson is a good writer - competant enough that he doesn't intrude. It was clear from the beginning that he knew in advance where the book was going, and by what route. And at the end, he had indeed gotten there. It doesn't hurt to have read the preceeding books; it certainly gives more context to the events. Again: a good read. And here's a new recommendation for a not new book: SS-BG, by Len Deighton. Deighton is viewed as a suspense/intrigue writer, author of FUNERAL IN BERLIN and all sorts of other neat books. This one is SF a la Phillip Dick's MAN IN THE HIGH CASTLE -- a parallel world. Here, England surrendered to Germany early during World War II. The book takes place in the early 1940s. It's reasonably complex. Like many murder mysteries, it doesn't untangle until the very end. Books like this are a good example of why many people DON'T like SF, in a way -- this one is well written, well paced, with good characters, etc. It is lightyears ahead of most sf in terms of quality. Sure, it's hard to write good sf. It's also easy to write bad sf. Whether it's the genre, the tradition, or the readership, the suspense & intrigue books are on the average better than average sf, or certainly more competant, or whatever the metric is. Or else I've only been reading the better ones of this sibling ghetto/genre. Daniel Dern ddern@bbn.arpa
scifi@ukc.ac.uk (I.L.Sewell) (02/04/86)
In article <1166@caip.RUTGERS.EDU> daemon@caip.UUCP writes: >From: "Daniel P. Dern" <ddern@bbnccb.ARPA> > >Thanks to all who responded directly or indirectly to my query about >Gordon Dickson's FINAL ENCYCLOPEDIA. By that point, I was already halfway >into a copy. I wish to confirm, in my opinion, the book is a "good read." >After reading [pause to don HEFLMP garb] ROBOTS & EMPIRE, and CAT WHO WALKED >THROUGH WALLS, it was gratifying to read a book by an author I've enjoyed >for ~ two decades and have it be 'up to par.' Dickson is a good writer - >competant enough that he doesn't intrude. It was clear from the beginning >that he knew in advance where the book was going, and by what route. >And at the end, he had indeed gotten there. It doesn't hurt to have read >the preceeding books; it certainly gives more context to the events. >Again: a good read. The book may be a good read but in my opinion you read 500+ pages to get ..well no where really. I agree Dickson is a good writer I wouldn't have the book otherwise, and he keeps you hooked right to the end where the book falls flat on its face. Okay there is nothing wrong with the end but as the culmination of a twelve(?) volume saga and 500+ pages you expect a bit of a climax. In fact the book is such written that a climax is really expected, okay not a galactic war but al least a confrontation with an ending and not the 'okay you've beaten me at the moment but I'll get back at you sometime ' we were given. This really spoilt the whole book for me. Okay now you can flame! Ian Sewell "Its winter and your all leaves - BANG"