Best book from the ads at the back of an old Bantam paperback of Crompton Divided

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Was thinking same, as thats not my favorite Pohl (by some distance) either

Οὖτις, Monday, 18 November 2019 03:22 (four years ago) link

lol @ their being a Logan's Run sequel

is Fredric Brown worth reading? why does he get so many entries on this list?

Οὖτις, Monday, 18 November 2019 20:30 (four years ago) link

I must've read some of his short pieces at some point, but they left no impression

Οὖτις, Monday, 18 November 2019 20:33 (four years ago) link

Can't load that image.

alimosina, Monday, 18 November 2019 21:00 (four years ago) link

lol @ their being a Logan's Run sequel

is Fredric Brown worth reading? why does he get so many entries on this list?

He’s very pulpy-he also wrote mysteries-almost too pulpy, but can have really good ideas which he often puts into super short stories of which form Malzberg, who has a chapter on him in Breakfast in the Ruins/The Engines of Night, considers him the master, I think. Maybe the best for me is his genre-tweaking stuff like the novels Martians, Go Home and especially What Mad Universe, the latter being an extremely well-done commentary on fan service gone bananas. Also wrote a much anthologized story upon which an episode of Star Trek:TOS was based on, and which probably inspired other episodes of that series.

Irae Louvin (James Redd and the Blecchs), Tuesday, 19 November 2019 01:08 (four years ago) link

I haven't read enough of these to vote in good conscience, but I'm basically a "Martian Chronicles" guy.

o. nate, Tuesday, 19 November 2019 03:07 (four years ago) link

Earthsea over Dhalgren for me

Book Doula (sleeve), Tuesday, 19 November 2019 03:40 (four years ago) link

I was just contemplating re-reading those McCaffrey books the other day but I'm afraid they won't have aged well as opposed to my pre-teen memory of them

Book Doula (sleeve), Tuesday, 19 November 2019 03:41 (four years ago) link

The only thing I've read by here was an anthologized early Pern story: blanking on titles, but it was from the 60s, orig. in Analog, I think (editor commented that she was one of Campbell's last proteges). Was immediately drawn into complicated intrigue, world-building and customized dragons (bred by lost Earthling colonists to psychic powers and bonding in pairs with humans, 4 life). The reversion or extension of feudalism went with retro-futuristic play of the dragon card in power struggles and other cultural activities. SF with the trappings and flavor of fantasy, so yeah planetary romance, as this article says (I'd just read Dune, so was especially up for McC.):
http://www.sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/mccaffrey_anne
Though caveat:
McCaffrey and her collaborators and successors have, perhaps inevitably, allowed a touchy-feely Young Adult glow to soften the impact of its first volumes, losing in the process the clarity of her focus on strong women protagonists (see Women in SF), and her remarkable nuts-and-bolts attentiveness to the problems of living and gaining career success in Pern.
So, yet more stuff that gets better the farther back you go, maybe---then again, she wrote other interesting-looking books mentioned here.

dow, Tuesday, 19 November 2019 23:29 (four years ago) link

There were at least two Logan's Run sequels, I owned the one on here as a kid.

My favourites are the Bradburys and the Delaneys and Earthsea but I'm conflicted about that one

The Man Who Was Thirsty (Noodle Vague), Tuesday, 19 November 2019 23:33 (four years ago) link

Almost certainly Something Wicked for me

valet doberman (Jon not Jon), Wednesday, 20 November 2019 16:47 (four years ago) link

dow (and sfencyclopedia) generally otm about McCaffrey - I re-read some of those books recently and the writing and plotting and general ideas tend to devolve as the series goes on (and on, and on). It's important to remember that there was basically nothing like this before her, this kind of pulpy YA sf fantasy fiction with strong women protagonists, written by a woman. She invented that shit.

Οὖτις, Wednesday, 20 November 2019 16:51 (four years ago) link

Norton's Ordeal In Otherwhere and Year Of The Unicorn pre-dates Pern by a few years. Don't know if they were the first.

Robert Adam Gilmour, Wednesday, 20 November 2019 17:46 (four years ago) link

idk anybody irl that read Andre Norton. Even as a kid, the only reason I knew the name was because of her foundation's grants to PBS lol.

Οὖτις, Wednesday, 20 November 2019 17:51 (four years ago) link

but sure ok

Οὖτις, Wednesday, 20 November 2019 17:51 (four years ago) link

She seems to have some staying power because recent writers like Aliette De Bodard, Ann Leckie, Craig Laurence Gidney probably a few others I'm forgetting have some love for her.

I didn't like one book I tried recently but I've got a bunch more to get to.

I'm sure the anthology Dow is reading has one of her stories.

Robert Adam Gilmour, Wednesday, 20 November 2019 18:13 (four years ago) link

Yep, this one: ANDREW NORTH: All Cats Are Gray | 1953. Haven't gotten there yet. Title seems familiar, but I don't recall ever reading anything by her. Very good selections so far.

dow, Wednesday, 20 November 2019 18:47 (four years ago) link

title is from Mervyn Peake/Ghormenghast

Οὖτις, Wednesday, 20 November 2019 18:53 (four years ago) link

Okay, reminder that I still need to read all that too!
I don't know how her whole life-cycle might compare to those of Norton and McC.'s valiant women, but already, in this 1934 Weird Tales tale I tripped on above, Jirel of Jorey is a badass with emotional conflicts to match or overmatch physical violence, of which there is plenty, in a pulpy yet non-gratuitous way. I don't know that such a combo would have been acceptable in a comparable male character (don't recall Conan having those feels, although creator Robert E. Howard seemed to flame out after his mother's death, right? So maybe Conan did have some perceptible vulnerabilities somewhere--or Red Sonja? Never read stories of her).
Here, at least, Jirel seems like an ancestor of 60s teen angst Peter Parker->Spiderman--and his future peer Paul Atreides, who will have not wanna be no Dune Messiah for the Universe--and all or many such subsequent superheros and heroines.

dow, Wednesday, 20 November 2019 20:42 (four years ago) link

lol idk if you need to read *all* of it, I stopped after the first Ghormenghast book lol

Οὖτις, Wednesday, 20 November 2019 20:44 (four years ago) link

Yeah, me too.

title is from Mervyn Peake/Ghormenghast

Which title?

Irae Louvin (James Redd and the Blecchs), Wednesday, 20 November 2019 20:49 (four years ago) link

All Cats Are Gray

Οὖτις, Wednesday, 20 November 2019 20:52 (four years ago) link

although huh I guess there is some idiomatic saying that predates Peake? idk

Οὖτις, Wednesday, 20 November 2019 20:53 (four years ago) link

Poor Richard’s Almanac, if not earlier, I would hazard to guess.

Irae Louvin (James Redd and the Blecchs), Wednesday, 20 November 2019 21:00 (four years ago) link

No, that's "All Cats Are Gay."

dow, Wednesday, 20 November 2019 21:30 (four years ago) link

"Like Horses!"

dow, Wednesday, 20 November 2019 21:31 (four years ago) link

You guys have got to be kidding.

Irae Louvin (James Redd and the Blecchs), Wednesday, 20 November 2019 22:07 (four years ago) link

Usually see that quote attributed to Ben Franklin, although Wikipedia seems to have an earlier citation as well.

Irae Louvin (James Redd and the Blecchs), Wednesday, 20 November 2019 22:32 (four years ago) link

voted tombs of atuan btw, where earthsea starts to get interesting (i.e. not patriarchal).

The Pingularity (ledge), Thursday, 21 November 2019 09:53 (four years ago) link

Hello James Redd,

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Irae Louvin (James Redd and the Blecchs), Tuesday, 26 November 2019 14:40 (four years ago) link

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

System, Friday, 6 December 2019 00:01 (four years ago) link

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

System, Saturday, 7 December 2019 00:01 (four years ago) link

Rachel Bloom to thread!

A is for (Aimless), Saturday, 7 December 2019 00:23 (four years ago) link

Poor "The Farthest Shore" -- always the bridesmaid, never the bride.

doctor johnson (askance johnson), Saturday, 7 December 2019 15:34 (four years ago) link


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