Hello gang,
science fiction:that passion! Here some opinions:
"A predilection for genre fiction is symptomatic of a kind of
arrested development"
Thomas M.Disch(b.1940),U.S.author,ex-science fiction writer.Quoted
in:Face(London,March 1986).
"In sci-fi convention,life-forms that hadn't developed space travel
were mere prehistory-- horse-shoe crabs of the cosmic
scene-- and something of the humiliation of being stuck on a
provincial planet in a galactic backwater has stayed with me ever since."
Barbara Ehrenreich(b.1941),U.S.author,columnist.The Worst Years of
Our Lives, "Blocking in the Gates to Heaven"(1991; first published 1986).
"If science fiction is the mythology of modern technology,then its
myth is tragic"
Ursula K.Le.Guin(b.1929),U.S.author."The Carrier Bag Theory of
Fiction" (written 1986;first published in Women of Vision,
repr.in Dancing at the Edge of the World,1989)
"What the hell is nostalgia doing in a science-fiction film?With
the whole universe and all the future to play in,Lucas took
his marvelous toys and crawled under the fringed cloth on the
parlor table,back into a nice safe hideyhole,along with
Flash Gordon and the Cowardly Lion and Huck Skywalker and the
Flying Aces and the Hitler Jugend.If there's a message
there,I don't think I want to hear it"
Ursula K.Le Guin. "Close Encounters,Star Wars,and the Tertium
Quid",in Future(Aug.1978;repr.in Dancing at the Edge
of the World),of the film Star Wars.
"Where everything is possible miracles become commonplaces,but the
familiar ceases to be self-evident"
Eric Hoffer (1902-83),U.S.philosopher.The Passionate State of
Mind,aph.228 (1955)
"The fancy that extraterrestrial life is by definition of a higher
order than our own is one that soothes all children,and many writers"
Joan Didion(b.1934),U.S.essayist. The White Album,"Doris Lessing"
(1979)
"Science fiction writers,I am sorry to say,really do not know
anything.We can't talk about science,because our knowledge
of it is limited and unofficial,and usually our fiction is dreadful"
Philip K.Dick (1928-82),U.S.science fiction writer. I Hope I
Shall Arrive Soon,Introduction, "How to Build a Universe That
Doesn't Fall Apart Two Days Later" (1986)
"Everything is becoming science fiction.From the margins of an
almost invisible literature has sprung the intact reality of the 20th century"
J.G.Ballard (b.1930),British author. "Fictions of Every Kind",in
Books and Bookmen (London,Feb.1971;repr.in Re/search
no.8/9,San Francisco,1984).Ballard continued: "Even the worst
science fiction is better...than the best conventional fiction.
The future is a better key to the present than the past."
"Science fiction films are not about science.They are about
disaster,which is one of the oldest subjects of art."
Susan Sontag (b.1933),U.S.essayst. Against Interpretation, "the
Imagination of Disaster" (1966).
"Space or science fiction has become a dialect for our time."
Doris Lessing (b.1919),British novelist. Guardian (London,7
Nov.1988).
I propose to the friends of the mailing-list of give their
opinion on the science fiction.
Tanks
Bye bye
Ermes
Livorno---Italy
Date: Thu, 11 Apr 1996 01:50:14 -0700
From: Whyte Wolf(whytwolf@spots4tag.ab.ca)
Ermes et al,
Just my two cents on science fiction....
As science fiction writer, I agree with some of what has been said in
Ermes's quotes. Much of what I have written and read in the genre is horrid
trash. However, I don't think that is the point.
Science fiction, all science fiction, is about the universe, and the
wonder of what exists and why. As a fellow writer once told me, "Science
fiction is about the Universal constant. To find this constant, consider
yourself. Consider yourself as a member of a race of billions, on a lone planet
in an average solasystem, in an average galaxy. One of billions of galaxies
within the universe. -That- is the universal constant, just how bloody
insignificant you raelly are in the scheme of things."
Yes we are insignificant, and yet, we need to feel important,
significant. Science Fiction, as embodied in such books as A.C. Clarke's
Rendevous with Rama, and shows like Space:1999 and Star Trek, takes these two
opposites and attempts to explain our place in the universe.
The final story has yet to be told.
Sean -> okay, it's late, and that must explain my rantings <G>.
Date: Thu, 11 Apr 1996 13:32:17 -0700
From: Van A Plexico (plexiva@mail.auburn4tag.edu)
I enjoyed the quotes. They made me think.
You know, that's the reason why I write Science Fiction, I think. You
are supposed to "write what you know," and subconsciously, I figure that
if I create my own universe in which to write, I will be writing about
something which ONLY I will "really" KNOW! So my accuracy will be
safer from criticism. Hmm.... Grounds for a lot of self-analysis there!
--Van
who obviously had some extra time to write to the list today!
Date: Thu, 11 Apr 1996 13:41:41 -0700
From: Van A Plexico (plexiva@mail.auburn4tag.edu)
Hmmm.... Maybe this is why I've always had a soft spot for that branch
of Science Fiction (the "American" faction?) that says that humanity has
a special place in the universe, and is destined for greatness. It goes
against the "European" faction, a la year one of 1999, I think.
This faction would include old Star Trek, as well as Larry Niven to a
degree (man can invent technology so great that he is almost a god, and
the universe has to come up with something pretty drastic in order to
hurt him--such as the Ringworld, or the Doomsday Machine, etc.) Marvel
Comics' universe has this approach as well--humans will one day rule the
universe, replacing the older, obsolete alien empires.
Space: 1999 (tying it back in) always seemed in the first season, to
me, to be taking the European approach--the humans have just enough
technology to get by, but still cut it close, against these mammoth and
enigmatic alien forces (all of which have British accents, by the way!
ha ha.) and are really saved by
something other than their technology, etc. Year Two was indeed more
American in this sense, but in so doing, spoiled the whole premise of the
original show.
Like I said, I generally prefer the "American" type, but the whole
point of 1999 and what made it different, to me at least, was that it
took the European approach. It tried to be 2001 rather than Star Trek.
Enough for now!
--Van #107
Date: Thu, 11 Apr 1996 17:23:15 -0700
From: Ermes Ventisetti (monachus@xtreme4tag.it)
Subject: Acronyms and abbreviations of SF
Hello Alphans,
in the lectures of Science fiction the writers and the scholars use
acronyms and abbreviations. For example:
Generic:
ASAP : As Soon As Possible
BTW : By The Way
FITB : Fill In The Blank
FUBAR : Fucked Up Beyond All Recognition
FWIK : For What I Know
FYI : For Your Information
IMHO : In My Humble/Honest Opinion
FAQ : Frequently Asked Question(s)
GMTA : Great Minds Think Alike
INPO : In No Particular Order
LASER : Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation
POV : Point of View
RPG : Role Playng Game
RTFM : Read The Frigging/Fucking Manual
ROFL : Rolling On The Floor and Laughing
SF/ Fandom
IASFM's : Isaac Asimov Science Fictions Magazine
SciFi : Science Fiction (used with prudence)
ST:TOS : Star Trek:The Original Series
ST:TNG : Star Trek:Deep Space Nine
ST-TMP : Star Trek-The Motion Picture
STII:TWOK : Star Trek II:The Wrath of Khan
STIII:TSFS : Star Trek III:The Search For Spock
STIV:TVH:Star TrekIV:The Voyage Home
STV:TFF:Star Trek V:The Final Frontier
STVI:TUC: Star Trek VI:The Undiscovered Country
E:Enterprise ( EA 1701-A )
FX : Special Effects
LM : Industrial Light & Magic (the company of Lucas)
PHASER : Photon Amplified by the Stimuladed Emission of Radiation
UFP : United Federation of Planets
YATI : Yet Another Trek Inconsistency
I have not found reference to Space 1999:WHY? Maybe the experts have
lost the memory?
In each way we learn the abbreviations:this will be useful in the
Convention of the September 1999 in Los Angeles.
Greetings
Ermes
Date: Fri, 12 Apr 1996 14:19:44 -0700
From: Leanne Dalley (ldalley@power44up.com.au)
Dear Ermes,
Thankyou very much for your generic list. I have been lurking on this list
for about 6 months, and have often wondered what the letters stood for.
Leanne Dalley
Australia