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1: for Me, It Was Personal Names with Too Many of the Letter "Q"
1: For me, it was personal names with too many of the letter "q", "z", or "x". With apostrophes. Big indicator of "call a rabbit a smeerp"; and generally, a given name turns up on page 1... 2: Large scale conspiracies over large time scales that remain secret and don't fall apart. (This is not *explicitly* limited to SF, but appears more often in branded-cyberpunk than one would hope for a subgenre borne out of Bruce Sterling being politically realistic in a zine.) Pretty much *any* form of large-scale space travel. Low earth orbit, not so much; but, human beings in tin cans going to other planets within the solar system is an expensive multi-year endevour that is unlikely to be done on a more regular basis than people went back and forth between Europe and the americas prior to steam ships. Forget about interstellar travel. Any variation on the old chestnut of "robots/ais can't be emotional/creative". On the one hand, this is realistic because human beings have a tendency for othering other races with beliefs and assumptions that don't hold up to any kind of scrutiny (see, for instance, the relatively common belief in pre-1850 US that black people literally couldn't feel pain). On the other hand, we're nowhere near AGI right now and it's already obvious to everyone with even limited experience that AI can be creative (nothing is more creative than a PRNG) and emotional (since emotions are the least complex and most mechanical part of human experience and thus are easy to simulate). -
Earl Kemp: Ei54
Vol. 10 No. 1 February 2011 –e*I*54– (Vol. 10 No. 1) February 2011, is published and © 2011 by Earl Kemp. All rights reserved. It is produced and distributed bi-monthly through http://efanzines.com by Bill Burns in an e-edition only. Contents – eI54 – February 2011 Cover: “Cupid Goes Cosmic,” by Steve Stiles …Return to sender, address unknown….44 [eI letter column] by Earl Kemp Introduction “The Last Dangerous Visionaries,” by Earl Kemp A Touch of Ellison, by Earl Terry Kemp “I Must Have It,” by Ted White A Personal Remembrance of Harlan Ellison, by Lynn Munroe In Company with Harlan, by Linda Moorcock Harlan, by Michael Moorcock Harlan, by John-Henri Holmberg Harlan Ellison’s Dangerous Visions, by Rob Latham Fifty Years—That’s Not Too Many, by Richard Lupoff Nebula Awards Tempe AZ 2006, by Patricia Rogers Get Stuffed, by Jerome Winter Unzipped, by J.D. Crayne Harlan Ellison and Final Stage, by Bud Webster Fond Memories, by Various Back cover: “Steam Punk Rescue,” by Ditmar [Martin James Ditmar Jenssen] Writing is the hardest work in the world. I have been a bricklayer and a truck driver, and I tell you—as if you haven't been told a million times already—that writing is harder. Lonelier. And nobler and more enriching. —Harlan Ellison THIS ISSUE OF eI is for Harlan Ellison on the occasion of his being named recipient of the 2011 Eaton Award for Lifetime Achievement in Science Fiction by the University of California, Riverside. In the strictly science fiction world, it is also in memory of Ruth Kyle. -
Arch : Northwestern University Institutional Repository
NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY Myth and the Modern Problem: Mythic Thinking in Twentieth-Century Britain A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE GRADUATE SCHOOL IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS for the degree DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Field of History By Matthew Kane Sterenberg EVANSTON, ILLINOIS December 2007 2 © Copyright by Matthew Kane Sterenberg 2007 All Rights Reserved 3 ABSTRACT Myth and the Modern Problem: Mythic Thinking in Twentieth-Century Britain Matthew Sterenberg This dissertation, “Myth and the Modern Problem: Mythic Thinking in Twentieth- Century Britain,” argues that a widespread phenomenon best described as “mythic thinking” emerged in the early twentieth century as way for a variety of thinkers and key cultural groups to frame and articulate their anxieties about, and their responses to, modernity. As such, can be understood in part as a response to what W.H. Auden described as “the modern problem”: a vacuum of meaning caused by the absence of inherited presuppositions and metanarratives that imposed coherence on the flow of experience. At the same time, the dissertation contends that— paradoxically—mythic thinkers’ response to, and critique of, modernity was itself a modern project insofar as it took place within, and depended upon, fundamental institutions, features, and tenets of modernity. Mythic thinking was defined by the belief that myths—timeless rather than time-bound explanatory narratives dealing with ultimate questions—were indispensable frameworks for interpreting experience, and essential tools for coping with and criticizing modernity. Throughout the period 1900 to 1980, it took the form of works of literature, art, philosophy, and theology designed to show that ancient myths had revelatory power for modern life, and that modernity sometimes required creation of new mythic narratives. -
The Latest Fantasy and Science Fiction
"The best anthology to be published in any year. A must!" usRARv JouRNAL THESE superb stories emphasize the science in science fiction-each pivoting around a particular science or technology. Isaac Asimov ... in a chilling little piece on physics and extraterrestrial life. Robert Heinlein .•. who offers a mathematic· ally perfect story about a nice, crooked. fourth-dimension house. Cyril Kornbluth ... predicts M.D.'s of the future in a fable that will never be made into a network television series. Julian Huxley .•. spins a timely and timeless adventure in molecular biology called the "Tissue-Culture King." Robert Silverberg ••. gives an enlightening cram course in Voltuscian archeology. Arthur C. Clarke ... investigates the astound ing capacity of the human body to withstand almost unlimited physiological pressure • • • • and many more. Fascinating introductions by Mr. Clarke on the history, significance and/ or prophetic accuracy of each story. TiME pRObE THE SCIENCES IN SCIENCE FICTION Selected and with an Introduction by Arthur C. Clarke $4.95, now at your bookstore ~A. DELACORTE PRESS 'Vi/ Including Y •nltwe Scimce Fiction NOVELETS Founder's Day DITH LAUMER 5 Brain Bank ARDREY MARSHALL 47 The Manse of Iucounu JACK VANCE 102 SHORT STORIES The Plot Is the Thing ROBERT BLOCH 26 Experiment in Autobiography RON GOULART 38 The Age of Invention NORMAN SPINRAD 78 Revolt of the Potato Picker HERB LEHRMAN 94 FEATURES Books JUDITH MERRIL 32 Cartoon GAHAN WILSON 37 Man in the Sea THEODORE L. THOMAS 76 Science: Balancing the Books ISAAC ASIMOV 83 F&SF Mt~rkelplace 129 Cover by Chesley Boneslell (see page 77) Joseph W. -
S67-00097-N210-1994-03 04.Pdf
SFRA Reriew'210, MarchI April 1994 BFRAREVIEW laauB #210. march/Aprll1BB~ II THIIIIIUE: IFlllmlnll IFFIIII: President's Message (Mead) SFRA Executive Committee Meeting Minutes (Gordon) New Members & Changes of Address "And Those Who Can't Teach.. ." (Zehner) Editorial (Mallett) IEnEIll mIICEWn!l: Forthcoming Books (BarronlMallett) News & Information (BarronlMallett) FEITUREI: Feature Article: "Animation-Reference. History. Biography" (Klossner) Feature Review: Zaki. Hoda M. Phoenix Renewed: The Survival and Mutation of Utopian ThouFdlt in North American Science Fiction, 1965- 1982. Revised Edition. (Williams) An Interview with A E. van Vogt (Mallett/Slusser) REVIEWS: Fledll: Acres. Mark. Dragonspawn. (Mallett) Card. Orson Scott. Future on Fire. (Collings) Card. Orson Scott. Xenoclde. (Brizzi) Cassutt. Michael. Dragon Season. (Herrin) Chalker. Jack L. The Run to Chaos Keep. (Runk) Chappell. Fred. More Shapes Than One. (Marx) Clarke. Arthur C. & Gentry Lee. The Garden ofRama. (Runk) Cohen. Daniel. Railway Ghosts and Highway Horrors. (Sherman) Cole. Damaris. Token ofDraqonsblood. (Becker) Constantine. Storm. Aleph. (Morgan) Constantine. Storm. Hermetech. (Morf¥in) Cooper. Louise. The Pretender. (Gardmer-Scott) Cooper. Louise. Troika. (Gardiner-Scott) Cooper. Louise. Troika. (Morgan) Dahl. Roald. The Minpins. (Spivack) Danvers. Dennis. Wilderness. (Anon.) De Haven. Tom. The End-of-Everything Man. (Anon.) Deitz. Tom. Soulsmith. (posner) Deitz. Tom. Stoneskin's Revenge. (Levy) SFRA Review 1210, MarchI Apm 1994 Denning. Troy. The Verdant Passage. (Dudley) Denton. Bradley. Buddy HoDy ~ Ahire and WeD on Ganymede. (Carper) Disch. Tom. Dark Ver.s-es & Light. (Lindow) Drake. David. The Jungle. (Stevens) Duane. Diane & Peter Morwood. Space Cops Mindblast. (Gardiner-Scon) Emshwiller. Carol. The Start ofthe End oflt AU. (Bogstad) Emshwiller. Carol. The Start ofthe End oflt AU. -
The Drink Tank 252 the Hugo Award for Best Novel
The Drink Tank 252 The Hugo Award for Best Novel [email protected] Rob Shields (http://robshields.deviantart.com/ This is an issue that James thought of us doing Contents and I have to say that I thought it was a great idea large- Page 2 - Best Novel Winners: The Good, The ly because I had such a good time with the Clarkes is- Bad & The Ugly by Chris Garcia sue. The Hugo for Best Novel is what I’ve always called Page 5 - A Quick Look Back by James Bacon The Main Event. It’s the one that people care about, Page 8 - The Forgotten: 2010 by Chris Garcia though I always tend to look at Best Fanzine as the one Page - 10 Lists and Lists for 2009 by James Bacon I always hold closest to my heart. The Best Novel nomi- Page 13 - Joe Major Ranks the Shortlist nees tend to be where the biggest arguments happen, Page 14 - The 2010 Best Novel Shortlist by James Bacon possibly because Novels are the ones that require the biggest donation of your time to experience. There’s This Year’s Nominees Considered nothing worse than spending hours and hours reading a novel and then have it turn out to be pure crap. The Wake by Robert J. Sawyer flip-side is pretty awesome, when by just giving a bit of Page 16 - Blogging the Hugos: Wake by Paul Kincaid your time, you get an amazing story that moves you Page 17 - reviewed by Russ Allbery and brings you such amazing enjoyment. -
Intermission #110
IINNTTEERRMMIISSSSIIOONN ##111100 E-zine by Ahrvid Engholm, [email protected] for EAPA, N'APA and some other Homo Fiawolensis. Follow @SFJournalen's newstweets on Nordic sf/f/h&fandom. SFJ is 6 decades of sf news! We demand a vote of No Con-fidence, no confidence in all typos! Early July, 2021. Editorially: Down with the Socialists... As the pandemic is approaching rock bottom,from vaccine, warm weather and rising natural immunity, I'll leave that subject for now. Something more interesting is brewing. The Swedish parliament (called the Riksdag) June 21st voted for no confidence in Prime Minister Stefan Lövfen, of the Social Democrats. (They are a sort of Socialists Light...or Dark or something) It's the first time in "modern times" a sitting government has been kicked in the ass this way. (Not counting 1990 when the then S government proclaimed an economic package as a "cabinet question", ie a proposition so important that the government would resign if it wasn't voted through. It fell, the government resigned...but came back a couple of weeks later!) The reason the Löfven government was kicked out is that their "passive support" from the Left Party (formerly the Communists) was withdrawn. And with that, there was enough support from the parties to the centre-right to oust Löfven - despite that they're not generally too fond of former Communists. The reason the Left Party left (no pun intended) Löfven is that the government to get support from two centre parties was to suggest investigating "market rents" for new housing (but not old). -
Higgins, David. "New Wave Science Fiction" a Virtual Introduction to Science Fiction
New Wave Science Fiction David Higgins Science fiction's New Wave was a transatlantic avant-garde movement that took place during the 1960s and 1970s, and it had a lasting impact on the genre as a whole. New wave writers were highly experimental, they wanted to develop a modern literary science fiction with advanced aesthetic techniques, and they focused on 'soft' sciences like psychology and sociology rather than 'hard' sciences like physics and astronomy. The movement as a whole sought to subvert the pulp genre conventions that had dominated science fiction since the Golden Age. A wide variety of authors were part of the New Wave movement. Some of them, such as J.G. Ballard, Samuel R. Delany, Ursula K. LeGuin, Joanna Russ, and Philip K. Dick have achieved critical attention in the literary mainstream. Many others are known primarily as science fiction writers, and a short list of these includes Brian Aldiss, Barrington J. Bayley, John Brunner, Thomas M. Disch, Harlan Ellison, Philip Jose Farmer, M. John Harrison, Langdon Jones, Damon Knight, Michael Moorcock, Charles Platt, James Sallis, Robert Silverberg, John T. Sladek, Norman Spinrad, Roger Zelazny, and Pamela Zoline. In order to understand the New Wave, it is first useful to understand some of the profound technological, social, and political transformations that were taking place during the 1960s. In the Western world, there was an explosion of new techno- logical advancements during this time, and there were deep disagreements about the consequences of these new technologies. On the more optimistic side, some be- lieved that technological progress would lead mankind out into the stars. -
Philosophers' Science Fiction / Speculative Fiction
Philosophers’ Science Fiction / Speculative Fiction Recommendations, Organized by Author / Director November 3, 2014 Eric Schwitzgebel In September and October, 2014, I gathered recommendations of “philosophically interesting” science fiction – or “speculative fiction” (SF), more broadly construed – from thirty-four professional philosophers and from two prominent SF authors with graduate training in philosophy. Each contributor recommended ten works of speculative fiction and wrote a brief “pitch” gesturing toward the interest of the work. Below is the list of recommendations, arranged to highlight the authors and film directors or TV shows who were most often recommended by the list contributors. I have divided the list into (A.) novels, short stories, and other printed media, vs (B.) movies, TV shows, and other non- printed media. Within each category, works are listed by author or director/show, in order of how many different contributors recommended that author or director, and then by chronological order of works for authors and directors/shows with multiple listed works. For works recommended more than once, I have included each contributor’s pitch on a separate line. The most recommended authors were: Recommended by 11 contributors: Ursula K. Le Guin Recommended by 8: Philip K. Dick Recommended by 7: Ted Chiang Greg Egan Recommended by 5: Isaac Asimov Robert A. Heinlein China Miéville Charles Stross Recommended by 4: Jorge Luis Borges Ray Bradbury P. D. James Neal Stephenson Recommended by 3: Edwin Abbott Douglas Adams Margaret -
Norman Spinrad 1 Rue Frederic Sauton Paris 75004 France the TRANSMOGRIFICATION of PHILIP K. DICK by Norman Spinrad I Really Didn
Norman Spinrad 1 rue Frederic Sauton Paris 75004 France THE TRANSMOGRIFICATION OF PHILIP K. DICK by Norman Spinrad I really didn't want to write this essay, for Philip K. Dick was a close friend, his untimely death affected me deeply, and aside from a brief obituary I was cozened into writing at the time and an introduction to one volume of his collected short stories, I have been unwilling and perhaps unable to write about Phil since. But this book is intended as a critical overview of the modern literature, Phil Dick is arguably the greatest science fiction writer who ever lived and certainly a central figure in the literary history of the field, so SCIENCE FICTION IN THE REAL WORLD would not only have a gaping void at its heart if a consideration of Dick's work were omitted, it would do a disservice to his literary legacy. However, I will not be so disingenuous as to pretend to objectivity; indeed it is obvious from the two opening paragraphs that I cannot even decide upon a comfortable way of referring to my late friend and literary comrade. I cannot help but commit innumerable sins against conventional critical objectivity in this essay, which perforce must be as much a personal memoir as a piece of literary criticism. Furthermore, I freely admit that what finally moved me to break my grieved silence on the subject of Philip K. Dick was the growing amount of cultish rubbish written about Phil since his death, which, I believe, has done a disservice to the serious critical perception of the true greatness of his ouevre by obscuring its center, which has little to do with relatively minor works like VALIS and THE DIVINE INVASION, let alone the so-called "Exegesis." Gregg Rickman has entitled one book of interpreted interviews with Phil THE FINAL TESTAMENT and it concentrates mainly on VALIS, THE DIVINE INVASION, Phil's experience with the so-called "pink light" and the dybbuk of a 14th Century rabbi who supposedly dictated to him the material of the "Exegesis" upon which these novels were based. -
Dick's First Novel
On SF by Thomas M. Disch http://www.press.umich.edu/titleDetailDesc.do?id=124446 The University of Michigan Press, 2005 Dick’s First Novel There are, by now, many science ‹ctions, but for myself (for any reader) there is only one science ‹ction—the kind I like. When I want to ‹nd out if someone else’s idea of sf corresponds signi‹cantly with mine (and whether, therefore, we’re liable to enjoy talking about the stuff), I have a simple rule-of-thumb: to wit—do they know—and admire—the work of Philip K. Dick? An active dislike, as against mere ignorance, would suggest either of two possibilities to me. If it is expressed by an otherwise voracious con- sumer of the genre, one who doesn’t balk at the prose of Zelazny, van Vogt, or Robert Moore Williams, I am inclined to think him essentially un-serious, a “fan” who is into sf entirely for escapist reasons. If, on the other hand, he is provably a person of enlightenment and good taste and he nevertheless doesn’t like Dick, then I know that my kind of sf (the kind I like) will always remain inaccessible. For those readers who require sf always to aspire to the condition of art Philip Dick is just too nakedly a hack, capable of whole chapters of turgid prose and of bloopers so grandiose you may wonder, momentarily, whether they’re not just his lit- tle way of winking at his fellow-laborers in the pulps. Even his most well- realized characters have their moments of wood, while in his bad novels (which are few), there are no characters, only names capable of dialogue. -
Kathleen Singles Alternate History Narrating Futures
Kathleen Singles Alternate History Narrating Futures Edited by Christoph Bode Volume 5 Kathleen Singles Alternate History Playing with Contingency and Necessity The research leading to these results has received funding from the European Research Council under the European Community’s Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007–2013) / ERC grant agreement no. 229135. Dissertation, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, 2012. ISBN 978-3-11-027217-8 e-ISBN 978-3-11-027247-5 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data A CIP catalog record for this book has been applied for at the Library of Congress. Bibliographic information published by the Deutsche Nationalbibliothek The Deutsche Nationalbibliothek lists this publication in the Deutsche Nationalbibliografie; detailed bibliographic data are available in the Internet at http://dnb.dnb.de . © 2013 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston Typesetting: PTP-Berlin Protago-TEX-Production GmbH, Berlin Printing and binding: Hubert & Co. GmbH & Co. KG, Göttingen ♾ Printed on acid-free paper Printed in Germany www.degruyter.com Content 1 Introduction | 1 1.1 Contexts: Alternate Histories and Future Narratives | 1 1.2 Methodology | 4 1.3 Proceedings and Theses | 6 1.4 Selection of Primary Sources | 10 1.4.1 Medium vs. Genre | 10 1.4.2 The International Spectrum | 11 2 The Poetics of Alternate History | 14 2.1 ‘History’ in Alternate History | 26 2.1.1 The Postmodern Challenge to History | 26 2.1.2 Referentiality: Possible-worlds Theory | 33 2.1.3 ‘History’ as the Normalized Narrative of the Past | 43