It was anti-communist propaganda. George Orwell/Eric Blair didn't like Russian Communism, with good reason. His "Homage to Catalonia" makes it clear where the emotional component came from, but the intellectual component was broader-based.
It's not great art, but it was very effective propaganda, along with "Animal Farm".
I'd argue that it wasn't science fiction, but rather main stream writing that adopted a few science fiction conventions, much like Aldous Huxley's "Brave New World".
-- Bill Sloman, Sydney
Nightfall
Answer
The Nine Billion Names of God
All You Zombies
The Game of Rat and Dragon
are some that come to mind
I would not single out any one as the 'best'. They all have different takes on (un)reality which make you think.
-- Regards, Adrian Jansen
Which ought to be required reading in our schools to show the kids what life would be like living in Sloman's paradise.
That is, indeed, a very fine collection.
"Our Lady's Juggler", originally written by Anatole France (in French, naturally). Spider provided his recollection of Heinlein's retelling of the story in English, as I recall.
Spider's pick of Heinlein's stories was "The Man Who Travelled in Elephants".
Another one which I think definitely deserved to be in the collection :-)
Most of us have outgrown Wodehouse. Terry Prachett illustrated what Wodehouse could have been if he had ever acquired an education.
Ian M. Banks' "The Algebraist" was impressive.
Neal Stepenson's "Anathem" is probably better.
-- Bill Sloman, Sydney
Don't forget the squids in spacesuits.
But Ted Sturgeon memorably nailed that: "90% of everything is crap".
Unlike, say, Dan Brown whose writing is undoubtedly grate literetoor.
Very little makes John Larkin think - it doesn't seem to be one of his preferred activities - and he's happy to have even denialist web-sites do his thinking for him.
-- Bill Sloman, Sydney
'The New Accelerator' & 'The Cone' by H. G. Wells.
Cursitor Doom really is dim. I like democratic socialism , as manifested in Scandinavia and Germany, and really disliked totalitarian Communism as man ifested in the Union of the Soviet Socialist Republics (which weren't any m ore socialist than the German National Socialists).
Cursitor Doom's reading comprehension doesn't extend far enough for him to appreciate that putting the word "socialist" into your propaganda doesn't m ake you socialist, or all that like the other tyrannical nutters who have a lso hijacked the word.
-- Bill Sloman, Sydney
Exactly.
And, the "thinking" doesn't have to be with regard to some clever/novel idea.
E.g., one of my favorite moments (best illustrated in movie instead of novel) is the Jurassic Park scene where the paleontologists
*first* encounter living dinosaurs on the island (not realizing that this is, in fact, what their visit is about).The "thinking" goes along this line:
- imagine taking up a profession where you KNOW (with *complete* certainty) that you will always be GUESSING about the creatures you are studying from fossil records; that you will never be 100% sure of any of your deductions
- then, *seeing* one of those creatures before your eyes
Now, as the reader (or, watcher, in the case of the movie), imagine what that mental state would be like -- if *you* were that person!
Clarke has a short story (name escapes me) where you stumble upon a guy showing very realistic, but amateurish *movies* in some abandon storefront for pocket change. You quickly learn that the guy has invented a time machine that lets him only *view* past events (not interact with them).
So, filming those events and presenting them to the public (without even the claim that they are true historical accounts) is about all he can do to "gain" (financially) from his invention. The "thinking" here is to imagine how you'd be affected to KNOW (with *certainty*) ALL of the details of ANY historical event. Then, extrapolate that to thinking about how society would be affected by that sort of knowledge.
(i.e., you can convince even the biggest skeptic by simply revisiting ANY/EVERY part of *his* personal past to convince him that your "device" does, in fact, accurately show the past. So, why would it NOT show the past of OTHER events?)
Wells is an author that people often misread. Much better to (re)read his works in more of a formal "Literature" or "History" class than *as* science fiction.
"Locked in" (it's not about phase detection) is my favorite John Scalzi book. George H.
Ahh, thanks, (I didn't want to give away that the Virgin Mary was involved, but it's right there in the title.)
George H.
Made into the movie "Predestination".
-- Paul Hovnanian mailto: snipped-for-privacy@Hovnanian.com
------------------------------------------------------------------ When cryptography is outlawed, bayl bhgynjf jvyy unir cevinpl. -- Etaoin Shrdlu
You choose to live in the UK (as it currently is) instead of in the US; clearly you prefer the UK :)
"Wherever You Are", Poul Anderson
Small Talent For War.
It is like a filler clip for the new Twilight Zone I think. Maybe the new Outer Limits, not sure.
It is short. It is on youtube. I have a copy of it but now that Dropbox is no more, just search for it if you desire.
Drifting into memorable TV shows - An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge - still haunts me...
John
And Ambrose Bierce disappeared in Mexico in 1913. Rebels maybe.
It's more like Fantasy, Witchcraft, or Sorcery. :(
-- Never piss off an Engineer! They don't get mad. They don't get even. They go for over unity! ;-)
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