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BS: Growing Up SF
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Subject: BS: Growing Up SF From: Rapparee Date: 24 Oct 05 - 10:35 PM The thread about Azizi's location got me thinking -- who were the science fiction/fantasy authors you read while you were growing up (assuming that you did -- I'm still not through, myself)? Mine included Robert Heinlein Isaac Asimov Murray Leinster Cordwainer Smith Theodore Sturgeon Jules Verne EE Smith Robert Howard HP Lovecraft Andre Norton Edward Miller Pat Frank James White Robert Bloch Ray Bradbury AE Van Vogt L. Sprague Decamp Poul Anderson Jerry Pournelle Spider Robinson Dana Stabenow and a bunch of others, the names of whom will come to me. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Growing Up SF From: Amos Date: 24 Oct 05 - 10:49 PM Yes to all the above. It was the Great Escape into possibility. Just what I needed as a vibrant young over-imaginative teenie boyo. Still brings out the best in me! :D A |
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Subject: RE: BS: Growing Up SF From: Peace Date: 24 Oct 05 - 10:49 PM Most of the above, Rapaire. Also fell in love with The Mars series AND the Venus series by ER Burroughs. Read "Tarzan at the Earth's Core" to see if it jived with another Pelucidar story Burroughs wrote, but was never much of a Tarzan fan after a few of the books. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Growing Up SF From: Peace Date: 24 Oct 05 - 10:55 PM Harlan Ellison--that man, well, nothing short of genius. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Growing Up SF From: bobad Date: 24 Oct 05 - 11:11 PM I'll add a few that I recall: John Wyndham J.G.Ballard Arthur C.Clarke Frank Herbert I remember really enjoying "A Canticle for Liebowitz" (I think that's what it was called) humour and post holocaust - can't go wrong with that combo. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Growing Up SF From: Peace Date: 24 Oct 05 - 11:15 PM Funny. Just when I think that's it, there y'all are with more. Yes to the above, also. Not familiar with these from Rapaire's list: Spider Robinson Dana Stabenow Murray Leinster Cordwainer Smith Pat Frank Robert Howard |
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Subject: RE: BS: Growing Up SF From: Bill D Date: 24 Oct 05 - 11:47 PM Murray Leinster & Cordwainer Smith were classics...Spider Robinson is not exactly SF...the others escape me. I will add John Brunner and Larry Niven and Marion Zimmer Bradley (Darkover series) and Roger Zelazny....and one of the best ever, James Tiptree, Jr....who was actually Dr. Alice Hastings Bradley Sheldon (1915-1987) |
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Subject: RE: BS: Growing Up SF From: Cluin Date: 25 Oct 05 - 01:12 AM Robert E. Howard wrote the Conan stories for pulp mags among other tales of that ilk. I liked Asimov, Tolkien, Niven, Clarke, Anderson,... ...and when I was a hormonal sex-obsessed teen, a pervert called John Norman. As I became the hormonal sex-obsessed adult, I quit reading Norman when I realized what a shitty writer he is. Read a lot of shitty stuff over the years too, most of which I've forgotten. Hey, how else do you recognize the good stuff unless you have something to compare it to? |
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Subject: RE: BS: Growing Up SF From: michaelr Date: 25 Oct 05 - 01:24 AM When I was a kid, I gobbled up the whole gamut from utter crap ("Perry Rhodan" anyone?) to thinkers like Asimov, but Frank Herbert was the first SF writer I read whose work seemed to go deeper: he was ecology-minded, and interested in comparative religion study. Reading "Dune" really opened up my mind in several ways. Chers, Michael |
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Subject: RE: BS: Growing Up SF From: Morticia Date: 25 Oct 05 - 02:53 AM all of the above plus Orson Scott Card......but what's this about being a kid? I still read Sci fi...... |
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Subject: RE: BS: Growing Up SF From: GUEST,DB Date: 25 Oct 05 - 05:00 AM My Dad introduced me to SF by lending me his copies of the ER Burroughs books (I inherited these when he died last year). I then discovered that my local library was full of SF - first the Heinlein and Blish juveniles in the childrens' section and then the Heinlein and Blish novels for adults in the adult section. Of course, there were many other SF writers featured in the adult section: Anderson, Sheckley, Galouye, Sturgeon, Herbert, Aldiss, Ballard, Simak etc., etc., etc. Anyone remember the Gollancz hardcovers with their hideously dull and inappropriate yellow and magenta covers? Next I discovered that, about 20 miles from my home town (Peterborough, UK), in the small Fenland market town of Wisbech, there was a shop devoted to SF (what joy!). The shop was called 'Fantast (Medway) Ltd.' (I never did find out what the 'Medway' bit represented) and was run by a couple called Ken and Doreen Slater. Their shop was a treasure trove - full of all the latest American SF paperbacks ('Ace', 'Pyramid', 'Lancer' etc., etc.). These all had very striking covers painted by such worthies as Ed Emsh, Jack Gaughan and Gray Morrow - a distinct improvement on the Gollancz covers! I used to save up my meagre pennies and make monthly (or bi-/tri- monthly, depending on how many pennies I had!)pilgrimages to this shop on the bus. It was in this shop that I discovered such diverse writers as Jack Vance, Roger Zelazny, Samuel Delany, L. Sprague deCamp and Philip K. Dick. I have been an SF fan ever since those far off days but don't really read as much as I used to (I'm much more selective now). If it's of any interest to anyone, the contemporary writer who still rings my bell as much as those 'Old Masters' used to do is Walter Jon Williams. Try his extraordinary urban fantasy 'Metropolitan' and its sequel 'City on Fire' and if you like Space Opera who have to read his trilogy that started a couple of years ago with 'The Praxis' - brilliant! |
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Subject: RE: BS: Growing Up SF From: mooman Date: 25 Oct 05 - 05:33 AM All the above plus the writer who first got me into the genre as a young lad. I remember it to this day... Hal Clement "Mission of Gravity". Also "Needle" by the same author. Now I'm heavily into Iain M.Banks and Peter F. Hamilton ("The Algebraist" from the former and "Pandora's Star and its sequel "Judas Unchained" from the latter are corkers). Peace moo |
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Subject: RE: BS: Growing Up SF From: Paul Burke Date: 25 Oct 05 - 06:34 AM Oh, science fiction, Ursula Leguin and all that. I thought you meant "Sinn Fein". |
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Subject: RE: BS: Growing Up SF From: Pied Piper Date: 25 Oct 05 - 07:45 AM Jack Vance Jack Vance Jack Vance PP |
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Subject: RE: BS: Growing Up SF From: Clinton Hammond Date: 25 Oct 05 - 07:54 AM William Gibson changed my life, but Clive Barker and Neil Gaiman put their arms around me and told me it'd be o.k. until I believed them..... |
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Subject: RE: BS: Growing Up SF From: Den Date: 25 Oct 05 - 09:06 AM Ha Ha Paul. That's what I thought when I fisrt saw the thread title. Weaned myself of the SDLP and grew up Sinn Fein;-) I kind of liked the first Terry Brooks books. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Growing Up SF From: Rapparee Date: 25 Oct 05 - 09:18 AM Spider Robinson: not SF? The Callahan stuff? The "Dancer" stuff he's written with his wife? Mindkiller? His Hugo? Dana Stabenow: better known for mysteries, for which she's won an Edgar. But her first novels were science fiction, and she wants to get back to it. Pat Frank: wrote Alas, Babylon, one of those post-nuclear-war novels. And how about Cordwainer Smith Edgar Pangborn Harry Turtledove Anne McCaffery Madeline L'Engle and even Kurt Vonnegut. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Growing Up SF From: GUEST,ClaireBear Date: 25 Oct 05 - 10:03 AM Okay, in roughly chronological order (and my definition of SF is pretty broad here): Madeleine L'Engle Ray Bradbury Zenna Henderson C.S. Lewis Mervyn Peake Pierre Boulle John Hersey J.G. Ballard Harry Harrison John Brunner Clifford Simak Philip K Dick Larry Niven Jack Vance Roger Zelazny David Lindsay Marion Zimmer Bradley (I hate to admit it, but it's true) Poul Anderson Keith Roberts Robert Silverberg Keith Laumer Fritz Leiber John Wyndham ...and lots of others, plus a ton of fantasy, but I don't call that SF Skip ahead about 30 years to my second childhood, and I'd add these as major influences: Greg Bear Richard Grant Tim Powers Charles de Lint Gene Wolfe Jasper FForde Diane Duane ...and lots of others, again That was fun! Thanks! |
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Subject: RE: BS: Growing Up SF From: robomatic Date: 25 Oct 05 - 10:54 AM You guys are playing my song, to which I'll add: Anthony Boucher Ben Bova Randall Garrett R A Lafferty Murray Leinster H G Wells |
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Subject: RE: BS: Growing Up SF From: Bill D Date: 25 Oct 05 - 11:12 AM " The Callahan stuff?"...*grin*...sorry, Rapaire, I'm a purist snob. "Callahan" (much as I enjoyed it) is to SF as Dylan is to folk, IMHO....(if he has written other, more centrist stuff, fine.) |
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Subject: RE: BS: Growing Up SF From: GUEST,DB Date: 25 Oct 05 - 11:28 AM Dear Pied Piper, Greetings from another Jack Vance fan! He's a complete original. I've been reading him since the mid 60s and have everything by him except the mystery novels (which appear to be very hard to find). I suppose my favourites are 'The Dragon Masters', 'The Last Castle','The Eyes of the Overworld','Emphyrio' and 'Lyonesse' - but it's really hard to choose! Best Regards, DB |
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Subject: RE: BS: Growing Up SF From: GUEST,ClaireBear Date: 25 Oct 05 - 11:55 AM My Jack Vance favorite is a long short story/short novella entitled, I believe, Noise. Cheers, Claire |
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Subject: RE: BS: Growing Up SF From: frogprince Date: 25 Oct 05 - 12:17 PM I've read at least 13 of the authors in Repaires initial post, and at least a dozen of the others mentioned since. I have to have read damn near everything Heinlein ever wrote by now, and probably from two to five or more books by most of the others. If the 'cat has a negative side effect, it's that I'm reading less. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Growing Up SF From: Le Scaramouche Date: 25 Oct 05 - 01:18 PM Apart from Wells, I only really like EE 'Doc' Smith. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Growing Up SF From: Rapparee Date: 25 Oct 05 - 08:26 PM Paul French (Let's see who gets it.) |
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Subject: RE: BS: Growing Up SF From: GUEST,Joe_F Date: 25 Oct 05 - 09:30 PM Heinlein & Bradbury, Kornbluth & Pohl in my adolescence -- plus some isolated works by authors not associated with the genre: Orwell, _1984_; Kipling, "Easy as ABC"; Davis, "Adrift on the Policy Level"; Shiras, "In Hiding"; Forster, "The Machine Stops"; Huxley, _Brave New World_. Those have all worn well. In more recent years I have not been part of the subculture, but I like Le Guin's _The Dispossessed_ & a couple of Greg Egan's books. --- Joe Fineman joe_f@verizon.net ||: There is nothing wrong with devil theories in politics. Just look to the devil in the mirror. :|| |
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Subject: RE: BS: Growing Up SF From: Bill D Date: 25 Oct 05 - 09:44 PM Paul French! wow...been awhile since I saw that name. Like in 1953 maybe...He was on the shelves of my Jr high library....and then there was this Asimov guy who was much too adult for me..... |
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Subject: RE: BS: Growing Up SF From: Metchosin Date: 25 Oct 05 - 10:21 PM A Classics Illustrated comic of Journey To The Centre of the Earth whetted my appetite when I was small, then I read Sturgeon's More Than Human when I was 11 or 12 and I was totally hooked. Read most of the authors listed except perhaps Lovecraft. I also found Stephen R. Donaldson's The Cronicles of Thomas Covenant engrossing. Who wrote The Green Child? |
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Subject: RE: BS: Growing Up SF From: robomatic Date: 26 Oct 05 - 09:24 PM I was in Summer Camp waiting for my turn at the firing range. Started a kid's book called: "Tom Corbett - Space Cadet" and never saw it again. Later in the school library I saw a book called "Space Cadet" but this one was different, by a guy name of Heinlein. Read everything by him I could get until I was turned off by "Farnham's Freehold" which was awful but still readable. Then "Stranger In a Strange Land" which can be read as hippie chic or fascist manifesto. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Growing Up SF From: Peace Date: 26 Oct 05 - 09:28 PM Read, Herbert [deceased] *** The Green Child This utopian fantasy is widely considered a high classic of general literature and shows up on numerous "canonical" lists of the "hundred greatest" sort; it is Read's only fantasy work. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Growing Up SF From: Peace Date: 26 Oct 05 - 09:45 PM Sorry. That's from a google of The Green Child. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Growing Up SF From: Rapparee Date: 26 Oct 05 - 09:54 PM And while we're at it: August Derleth John Wyndham Damon Knight H. Beam Piper Keith Laumer. Heinlein's Space Cadet was, I understand, the source for the Tom Corbett series. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Growing Up SF From: GUEST,DB Date: 27 Oct 05 - 04:37 AM I'm glad that someone has mentioned Damon Knight. He was an important figure in 20th Century SF. He was a writer, editor and critic. I never really enjoyed his novels very much but he was a great short story writer. The short story has always been an important vehicle for SF (probably because of the SF magazine format) and Damon Knight was definitely one of the best short story writers. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Growing Up SF From: GUEST,Dáithí Ó Geanainn Date: 27 Oct 05 - 07:50 AM I atarted readinbg SF (hurrah - it's NOT Sci-Fi") in the early nineteen sixties and read most of the names posted here. Especially fond of Zenna Henderson's People series. Another name to add would be L. Sprague de Camp (sp?). Eventually I moved away from fantasy stuff and now prefer time related stories. Either alternative histories, or time travel. Anybody know where I can find a copy of Robert Heinlein's short story "By his Bootstraps"? Great thread - thanks! Dáithí |
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Subject: RE: BS: Growing Up SF From: artbrooks Date: 27 Oct 05 - 08:56 AM Spider Robinson not SF? Well, if you don't think Callahan fits, try Stardance and its sequals. And, for those of us who haven't quite grown up, there are all of the current crop of SF authors, such as David Weber and Mercedes Lackey. "Paul French"? That would be Grandfather Isaac and his Lucky Starr series of juvies. Daithi, here is a copy of By His Bootstraps. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Growing Up SF From: Rapparee Date: 27 Oct 05 - 08:59 AM "By His Bootstraps"...that's what I was thinking of when I responded to the post about "All You Zombies." I myself prefer "hard science" SF to fantasy, but I read both. Daithi, I wish you were a member so you could PM me your email address -- I'd scan in "BHB" and email it to you. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Growing Up SF From: Sandra in Sydney Date: 27 Oct 05 - 10:13 AM Good to see another Andre Norton fan. Over the last 12 months I've completed my collection of her books. 'taint the whole body, just the 8 or 9 series I loved with new titles in these series, reprints of old books & second hand books. Secret Santa Amergin gave me 4 of the titles I was wanting last christmas. I also remember The People, I'll take a copy of this thread to my local library, but I'm not buying any more, right, my bookshelf is full, I have no room for more books. Does anyone remember a book from the 60's (before the feminist movement) where the male author obviously wrote a typical adventure with a male hero, & changed the name & pronoun to female. When I read it in the late 70's it seemed way ahead of it's time, the hero(ine) was in total charge, nothing like females (traditional & emerging feminists) in stories of the period, which is why I assume the author wrote about a male character. I wish I could remember the title. sandra |
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Subject: RE: BS: Growing Up SF From: GUEST,Joe_F Date: 27 Oct 05 - 10:49 PM Yes, I should have mentioned Damon Knight too. I particularly liked "The Analogues" & "The Country of the Kind". Some other great sf by non-sf-writers: "Flowers for Algernon" by Daniel Keyes, and _Earth Abides_ by George R. Stewart. --- Joe Fineman joe_f@verizon.net ||: Promotion is the department of a business that is concerned with harrassing and insulting its customers. :|| |
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Subject: RE: BS: Growing Up SF From: bassen Date: 28 Oct 05 - 03:45 AM I was nine years old. I had never read or heard of SF. I found a book on the bookmobile called Catseye by Andre Norton. Reading that book, I felt like I was floating in this world of blue light and a solo clarinet was doodling low in the background. Honestly. It was a rush I've never felt with any other book. After that, I read every SF book the dear old bookmobile ladies could find. There was a 4 book limit for those of us under the age of 12. I'd borrow my four books on Friday afternoon and had all of them read by sometime Saturday. My one ambition was to turn 12 so I could check out as many SF books as I wanted. Finally turned 12. I read SF and fantasy on a daily basis for 30 years after that, all the names mentioned here and more. Favorite authors changed through the years, loved some, hated others, read them all. Then one day I'd had enough, can't say why. It's been 15 years and more since that day. I've slowly come back to my old love, but not in the all consuming fashion of previous years. My sons have adopted my passion only to a certain extent - Fantasy but no SF. But I know the boxes in the attic with all my Ace paperbacks and F&SF mags will be a motherlode for them one day. bassen |
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Subject: RE: BS: Growing Up SF From: Grab Date: 28 Oct 05 - 08:48 AM If we're on the "whilst-growing-up" thing, I'd nominate Nicholas Fisk - the "Starstormer" series, plus a one-off called "Futuretrack 5". All aimed at the kid/young-teen market, but well-written and great concepts. Also the Tripods series by John Christopher. New names for this thread, I think! To my shame, Heinlein too. I read tons of them when I was a kid, and it seemed great. It wasn't until I was about 18-19 that I realised what an utter tit he was. Also various crap writers. Ben Bova, Greg Bear, Greg Egan, Frederick Pohl, Larry Niven, Clarke, Kim Stanley Robinson, James Herbert (more fantasy/horror than SF), David Eddings (all fantasy), Asimov,... Some had good ideas (Clarke, Robinson, Asimov), but even as a teenager I could tell that the writing was pretty damn hopeless on all of them. For better writers, Clive Barker until it became obvious he was repeating the same story with different characters. Ditto Terry Brooks (the Shannara books were a blatant rip-off of LotR, but the first two were pretty good), and Raymond Feist started fairly well too until he descended into serial hell. Also Stephen Donaldson and John Wyndham. I never really got Bradbury when I was younger - only more recently. His short stories were accessible ("Illustrated Man", etc.) but the novels were too much. To be honest, I don't think most kids would be able to get into it, in the same way I guess most kids wouldn't get Philip Dick. On the "ones I wish I'd found earlier" list, I'd put Sheri Tepper and Robert Silverberg. I only got into them fairly recently, and they're both wonderful. Also Richard Matheson has some good stuff. And for pure dumb fun, you can't beat Harry Harrison. (Not even with Terry Pratchett.) I mean who else could think up a line like "He's having his hernia removed. They're putting in a new one."? :-) Graham. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Growing Up SF From: Rapparee Date: 28 Oct 05 - 06:24 PM Grab, I first read this essay while waiting for my mother to be buried (it's a long story) in 1981. Even today I can't refute what is written there. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Growing Up SF From: GUEST Date: 28 Oct 05 - 09:53 PM Growing up, I read mostly Asimov (particuarly the "Lucky Starr" stories), a few bits of Heinlein, Bradbury and Clarke, and the James Blish novelizations of the original Star Trek. I didn't start reading SF heavily until college when I discovered the Hopkins SF Association's collection in the library. It's been downhill ever since. These days, I've read just about all the authors I've mentioned here. Most common reads are David Weber, Lois McMaster Bujold, Niven, Pratchett, Robert Sawyer and Jack McDevitt. -- Gary |
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Subject: RE: BS: Growing Up SF From: GUEST,Dáithí Ó Geanainn Date: 31 Oct 05 - 08:22 AM Artbrooks - U R a star.Thanks SOOOOOOOOO much for "By His Bootstraps - what a surprise! Also Rapaire for the thought too. Was a member but can't figure out how to reset cookies on office pc (can't remember passowrd, if any, either...sigh!) D |
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Subject: RE: BS: Growing Up SF From: GUEST,DB Date: 31 Oct 05 - 08:40 AM Dear Grab, So, Clive Barker, Terry Brooks, Raymond Feist and Stephen Donaldson are 'better' writers than Greg Bear, Frederick Pohl and Kim Stanley Robinson, are they? All I can say is that you must be using an odd set of critical standards! Are you really saying that you prefer the former writers to the latter? If, 'yes', that makes more sense. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Growing Up SF From: Rapparee Date: 31 Oct 05 - 08:57 AM Daithi, post your problem at help.mudcat.org. Someone who can help will pick up on it. Hey, let's not get into "my authors are better than your authors." That leads to hard feelings, and before you know it it's all blasters and lightsabers and "space the doofus". And then someone has to pick up the pieces and clean off the walls and I, personally, always replace the carpet because, like Rufo, I get sooooooooo depressed looking at the spot when I had to kill a friend. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Growing Up SF From: jonm Date: 31 Oct 05 - 09:08 AM Read most of the authors list, but there were a few where you had to have the lot - read everything, seek out obscurities etc. Those were Bradbury and Larry Niven in my teens. Now Charles de Lint and Pratchett. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Growing Up SF From: GUEST,DB Date: 31 Oct 05 - 01:17 PM Can I just say, I hate Charles de Lint!!!!! He must have published at least 750 books this year, alone!!! I know, let's just call it 'de Lint Fiction'(dLF)and forget the rest. He's part of the creeping 'soap opera-isation' of SF. Come back 'Space Opera', all is forgiven!!! Let's get this straight, Charles, there are no f...ing fairies in Toronto, or whatever it is you write about!!! I never got past chapter one of your first book, let alone Opus Number 52,920 - all of which seem to be clogging up the shelves of the, so-called, SF section of my local bookshop!!! |
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Subject: RE: BS: Growing Up SF From: Rapparee Date: 31 Oct 05 - 01:30 PM I'd like to see bookstores make a distinction between Science Fiction and Sword-and-Sorcery. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Growing Up SF From: s&r Date: 31 Oct 05 - 01:30 PM Kurt Vonegut's 'Harrison Bergeron IV' is the most accurate prediction of the then future I've ever read. Pick your own Diana Moon-Glompers... Stu |
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Subject: RE: BS: Growing Up SF From: Cluin Date: 01 Nov 05 - 01:33 AM Alfred Bester, though I've only read "Stars My Destination" and a short story by him. Love to get more. |
