Joseph Major, Louisville, Kentucky
http://members.iglou.com/jtmajor
It would be interesting to compare The City and the Stars with its first draft, Against the Fall of Night. This is a strange case indeed, of a book that was seriously revised and yet the first draft is still considered an independent, worthwhile work. The broad theme remains the same (in some ways, Against the Fall of Night is as much a thematic follow-o John W. Campbell's stories "Twilight" and "Night") but there is a wealth of comparison to be made of the differences.
Clarke is one of the few writers who considers the universe as it stands beautiful and mysterious, who can evoke the wonder of reality. Sometimes this is in an entire book, and sometimes the wonder can stem from a single, wondrously suggestive line: "I do not think we will have to wait for long."
As I've said before, one of the most moving scenes in The Whole Wide World is the one where Novalyne Price hears a sound coming from the back of the Howard house, and following it, finds Robert bashing out a Conan story, bellowing the words out as he types them. How often do movies show the creative impulse so vividly? (I wrote an outline for a story where REH writes a letter asking for help with derivations of words, from which much contact, change, and cross-fertilization occurs.)
The recent fire in Cross Plains, which stopped just short of the Howard House, is proof that Crom is not as totally uncaring as some would like you to think.
The guy at the Space Cadets signing who had the wrong idea: I've read about similar cases. A few years ago, when the wondrous glow of JMS was still lighting the sky of fandom, after Babylon Five had gone off the air, JMS and the stars of his new show, Crusade, were guests at a con. People noticed that the actors went around in a group and never talked to anyone outside their official appearances. Did they think they were at a Creation*Con?
Now that the 70k limit is a thing of the past, why hasn't someone striven for a "Restored" edition of The Demolished Man, with the prologue restored? It works for others. But then, even with the Prologue restored, TDM would still be too short for today's book business.
Langford, as said, has a voting bloc. It isn't like that nomination of that book; these people genuinely think him the best fan writer they read. Or only. Wherein lies the problem. Can we make people go out and read a broader spectrum of writers?
Campbell often argued as a contrarian. Christopher Hitchens might take a lesson from his works.
"Worldcons lately have been ghettoizing fan-related programming." Tell me about it! Items put up against the Opening Ceremonies. Or on the last day of the con, an hour before closing ceremonies. San Antonio (and doesn't that go back a ways) had the best fan program, but even there one could see the harbingers of decline.
Louisville's own Sue Grafton is running into a P is for Problem with her L is for Letter series of mysteries. It may be necessary for her to buy and take to heart Dr. Seuss's On Beyond Zebra!
George Romney had only been elected governor of Michigan in 1962 and in those days that was not sufficient time in office to consider a candidate qualified for the Presidency. Also, he was born in Mexico, which some people might have thought a problem then.
I believe Burton's last words were actually "My God, I am a dead man!" See To Your Scattered Bodies Go.
There is a thread on James Randi's website forum about Ted Gunderson. Ted was assigned to supervise the digging up of the site of the McMartin Preschool. He and the diggers produced a report which showed that the cunning molestors had managed to fill in the tunnels so that they were indistinguishable from the undisturbed soil. Thus invalidating several hundred years of archaeological experience and practice.
And now Tucker.
He wasn't supposed to die. He wasn't supposed to die! That was the whole point of those reports so long ago. He couldn't die.
Life goes on, but it will never be the same.
It would be interesting to compare The City and the Stars with its first draft, Against the Fall of Night. This is a strange case indeed, of a book that was seriously revised and yet the first draft is still considered an independent, worthwhile work. The broad theme remains the same (in some ways, Against the Fall of Night is as much a thematic follow-o John W. Campbell's stories "Twilight" and "Night") but there is a wealth of comparison to be made of the differences.
Clarke is one of the few writers who considers the universe as it stands beautiful and mysterious, who can evoke the wonder of reality. Sometimes this is in an entire book, and sometimes the wonder can stem from a single, wondrously suggestive line: "I do not think we will have to wait for long."
As I've said before, one of the most moving scenes in The Whole Wide World is the one where Novalyne Price hears a sound coming from the back of the Howard house, and following it, finds Robert bashing out a Conan story, bellowing the words out as he types them. How often do movies show the creative impulse so vividly? (I wrote an outline for a story where REH writes a letter asking for help with derivations of words, from which much contact, change, and cross-fertilization occurs.)
The recent fire in Cross Plains, which stopped just short of the Howard House, is proof that Crom is not as totally uncaring as some would like you to think.
The guy at the Space Cadets signing who had the wrong idea: I've read about similar cases. A few years ago, when the wondrous glow of JMS was still lighting the sky of fandom, after Babylon Five had gone off the air, JMS and the stars of his new show, Crusade, were guests at a con. People noticed that the actors went around in a group and never talked to anyone outside their official appearances. Did they think they were at a Creation*Con?
Now that the 70k limit is a thing of the past, why hasn't someone striven for a "Restored" edition of The Demolished Man, with the prologue restored? It works for others. But then, even with the Prologue restored, TDM would still be too short for today's book business.
The deleted sequence is printed and discussed in Redemolished, a book of Bester's essays.
Referring to the Hugo Awards as a "failed system" leaves the question of what else to do. The FAAN Awards are hardly that much different, just smaller. So what does Frohvet see as the failure, and what does he think should be done?Langford, as said, has a voting bloc. It isn't like that nomination of that book; these people genuinely think him the best fan writer they read. Or only. Wherein lies the problem. Can we make people go out and read a broader spectrum of writers?
Campbell often argued as a contrarian. Christopher Hitchens might take a lesson from his works.
"Worldcons lately have been ghettoizing fan-related programming." Tell me about it! Items put up against the Opening Ceremonies. Or on the last day of the con, an hour before closing ceremonies. San Antonio (and doesn't that go back a ways) had the best fan program, but even there one could see the harbingers of decline.
Louisville's own Sue Grafton is running into a P is for Problem with her L is for Letter series of mysteries. It may be necessary for her to buy and take to heart Dr. Seuss's On Beyond Zebra!
"SNEE is for Sneedle
A terrible kind of ferocious mos-keedle
Whose hum-dinger stinger is sharp as a needle "
Guy and Bob: Thank you for your kind wishes.A terrible kind of ferocious mos-keedle
Whose hum-dinger stinger is sharp as a needle "
Wishes that worked! Congratulations on your Hugo nomination for Heinlein's Children!
I will say that Chris Garcia is a very enthusiastic recipient & LoChack of Alexiad. It's obvious that he lives in a dimension where there are 200k+ seconds in the day, and at least eight days a week (Beatles reference, y'know).George Romney had only been elected governor of Michigan in 1962 and in those days that was not sufficient time in office to consider a candidate qualified for the Presidency. Also, he was born in Mexico, which some people might have thought a problem then.
I believe Burton's last words were actually "My God, I am a dead man!" See To Your Scattered Bodies Go.
There is a thread on James Randi's website forum about Ted Gunderson. Ted was assigned to supervise the digging up of the site of the McMartin Preschool. He and the diggers produced a report which showed that the cunning molestors had managed to fill in the tunnels so that they were indistinguishable from the undisturbed soil. Thus invalidating several hundred years of archaeological experience and practice.
And now Tucker.
He wasn't supposed to die. He wasn't supposed to die! That was the whole point of those reports so long ago. He couldn't die.
Life goes on, but it will never be the same.
posted by ;-p at 4:26 PM
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