HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: lozanoj@ucsu.Colorado.EDU (Jones)
Subject: "Blood's a Rover" by H.Ellison, what's the deal?
Keywords: Confusion, frustration, general annoyance
Organization: University of Colorado, Boulder
Date: Mon, 6 Apr 1992 09:28:55 GMT

This may be a FAQ, but:

Is Harlan Ellison *ever* gonna get "Blood's a Rover" out?
It seems like we (his fans) have been promised time and time
again that the book will be released, but when it comes down
to actual *publishing*, he chokes in the clutch and delays
it's release date for another month/year/decade.

Fer chrissakes, its been over twenty years!

Any info would be greatly appreciated,

Jones
-- 
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
James "Jones" Lozano      |
University of Colorado    | "Don't ask _me_, I just sleep here."
lozanoj@ucsu.Colorado.EDU |
From: joel@upchrch.UUCP (Joel Upchurch  )
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.written
Subject: Re: Isaac Asimov Dies...
Date: 9 Apr 92 05:14:50 GMT
Article-I.D.: upchrch.F47XiB3w164w
Organization: Upchurch Computer Consulting, Orlando FL

jsloan@ncar.ucar.edu (John Sloan) writes:

> I would expect some Asimov retrospectives at the WorldCon in Orlando.
> It would be interesting to see perhaps panel discussions in the literary,
> academic, science and fannish program tracks.

Asimov's death was on the front page of the Tuesday Orlando Sentinel and
they also wrote about it on the editorial page and there was an editoral
cartoon in Wednesday's mourning his passing. I have been reading his
books most of my life and have read more by him than any other author,
but I was pleased and surprised that his death got this much attention
so far from where he lived and worked.

I think he said in his autobiography that he had come to the realization,
that he had written so much, on so many different topics, in so many
different venues, that almost everyone with any serious claims to
literacy in the English-speaking knew of him. It sounded like bragging
at the time, but now I realize that it was just the honest truth.

I miss him.

(If your mail bounces use the address below. My map entry is new.)
Joel Upchurch/Upchurch Computer Consulting/718 Galsworthy/Orlando, FL 32809
joel@peora.ccur.com {uiucuxc,hoptoad,petsd,ucf-cs}!peora!joel (407) 859-0982
From: jefft@athena.mit.edu (Jeff Tang)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.written
Subject: Re: Zelazny/Amber
Date: 6 Apr 92 23:28:59 GMT
Article-I.D.: neptune.JEFFT.92Apr6192846
Organization: Massachusetts Institute of Technology

In article <6APR199208290060@zeus.tamu.edu> slh5087@zeus.tamu.edu (Steve Hayes) writes:

   the tenth book is out now in hardcover (as I understand).  Is it the last
   book to the second series, is this thing open-ended, or what?  

Yes.  Yes.


It is a wrap up of the second series.  All the dangling plot lines
introduced in the first 4 books of the second series are resolved.

However, the 5th book throws in many now plot twists which it leaves
unresolved.  I count at least 10.

Spoilers Follow!


1.  How will the jewel for an eye effect Coral?
2.  How much danger is she in now that she posseses the most sought after
item anywhere?
3.  What about Delwin? He must be fairly powerful to have so many spikards
at his beck and call.
4.  Is Grayswandir a spikard? And did it predate the pattern?
5.  Is Werewindle also a spikard?
6.  How will mandor and dara try and manipulate Merlin now?
7.  How will Random like having a nephew who's the King of Chaos?
8.  Is Jurt really all that chummy with merlin now, or is he just laying
low?
9.  Just how does Ghostwheel like being a god.
10.  Now that Luke done and spilled blood on the pattern, is Dworkin all
bonkers again?
--
Jeff Tang
jefft@athena.mit.edu
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.written
From: csmith@onetouch.COM (Craig Smith)
Subject: ISAAC ASIMOV IS DEAD!!
Organization: MCS/OneTouch, Inc.
Date: Tue, 07 Apr 92 13:41:37 GMT

I just read in the paper this morning that Dr. Isaac Asimov has passed on.

A moment of silence, please.

-- 
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
::Craig Smith                                             csmith@onetouch.COM::
::Columbus, OH                                      ...!uunet!onetouch!csmith::
::"Life is a fulltime occupation."--Gene Kalman                              ::
From: jmr5125@tamsun.tamu.edu (James Reed)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.written
Subject: Re: Zelazny/Amber
Date: 6 Apr 92 18:23:05 GMT
Organization: Texas A&M University, College Station

According to Zeazny himself, there will indeed be another book, but he is 
planning to write some other stuff first (oh joy :( ), therefore there will be
another long delay...  Sigh.
From: terry@edsi.plexus.COM (Terry Dawson)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.written
Subject: Re: Ballad of Lost C'Mell
Date: 5 Apr 92 21:59:54 GMT
Article-I.D.: edsi.1992Apr05.215954.498
Organization: Appleton Public Library - Appleton, WI

loos@amber.mgh.harvard.edu (William D.B. Loos) writes:

>In the Asimov & Greenberg collection of Best Sf for 1962 (or whatever the 
>precise title is) the introduction to  The Ballad of Lost C'Mell  quotes
>Smith/Linebarger as saying that the story was based on "...some of the
>magical and conspiratorial scenes of the _Romance of the Three Kingdoms_
>by Lo Kuanchung, written during the 14th century ... ".  I thought it might
>be interesting to check this out.  Would anyone care to save me some legwork
>by pointing to where it might be found?  Thanx.

The story's introduction in the collection _The Best of Cordwainer
Smith_ gives virtually the same quote, though the author's name as given
as Lo Kuan-chung.  Since Smith/Linebarger was fluent in Chinese, there
is no offhand way of knowing if the work is even available in
translation.  Best bet would be a large university library supporting a
Chinese lit. program.  Since you're in Boston, you might want to start
with Widener.

-- 
     Terry Dawson       | "Only connect!" | voice: (414) 832-6168
Appleton Public Library |                 |   fax: (414) 832-6422
  Appleton, WI 54911    |  -E.M. Forster  | terry@edsi.plexus.com
From: STU_GLMCELHA@VAX1.ACS.JMU.EDU (Lord Drizzan)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.written
Subject: Re: SF-LOVERS Digest   V17 #160
Date: 10 Apr 92 23:56:00 GMT

You may want to try out the Lost Swords series--each book focuses
on one Sword, and the state of the world after the Swordwars...
In order (so far), they are:

Woundhealer's Story
Sightblinder's Story
Stonecutter's Story
Farslayer's Story
Coinspinner's Story
Mindsword's Story
Wayfinder's Story (July 1992)

Oh, each book is also "The nth book of Lost Swords", so the new one
this July'd be _The Seventh Book of Lost Swords: Wayfinder's Story_.
The series has gone up and down (and waaaaaaay down with Stonecutter's
Story) but I'm enjoying it.


One series EVERYONE should read is "Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn" by
Tad Williams.  Only the first two books are out, but when completed,
it'll be:

 The Dragonbone Chair
 Stone of Farewell
 To Green Angel Tower

Frankly, it's one of, if not the best fantasy series out there.  I can't
even BEGIN to do it justice--someone else want to?  :)

-Greg
From: marco@EMAIL.NCSC.NAVY.MIL (Barbarisi)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.written
Subject: Stanislaw Lem Translations
Date: 10 Apr 92 17:59:01 GMT



>cpf@alchemy.ithaca.ny.us (Courtenay Footman) writes...
>Subject: Poetry in Lem's Cyberiad

>In Stanislaw Lem's Cyberiad, someone builds a computer that can write
    [quote of good poem deleted]
>   Which is pretty impressive. However, what is fascinating is the fact
>that Lem wrote in Polish, and that the book is translated by Michael
>Kandel.  Were the poems originally in English, or was this masterpiece
>written by Kandel?  If so, what did Lem originally write?

This question arises in my mind quite often as I read Lem's stories.  Many
of his books are filled with jokes, alliterations, puns, and double 
entendres.  From what little Polish I've seen, such as in protest signs
shown during strikes in the 1980's, it could just as well be
Chinese to me.

So, all of you bilingual Polish-English speakers out there:  Do these
two languages resemble each other enough that Kandel and other translators
of Lem perform a virtually direct translation?  Or do the translators
see jokes and language tricks unique to Polish and insert English
words, phrases, sentences, and even poems(!) that approximate the spirit
of the original words?  For a prime example, read the poem Courtenay
quotes - and try to translate it into Spanish while remaining within
the constraints set by Lem's character.  Good luck.

Que pasa aqui?
Marco C. Barbarisi
marco@email.ncsc.navy.mil
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.written,rec.arts.sf.misc,rec.arts.books
From: kyle@uunet.uu.net (Kyle Jones)
Subject: Re: Asimov Dies
Organization: UUNET Communications Services
Date: Tue, 7 Apr 1992 23:12:20 GMT

gmartin@zia.aoc.nrao.edu (George Martin) writes:
 > It occurs to me as I write this that how easy it is to use the
 > first name of authors as if they are our friends.  I think that
 > they are and they made it easy for us to assume so.

Indeed.  Through his books, Isaac Asimov was a friend to me
through long years of misery in primary and secondary school.  It
was his non-fiction that kept my county's blighted educational
system from inexorably beating all vestiges of original thought
out of me by the time I graduated high school.  His books were my
lifeline.  I can never repay him.  I will never forget him.

Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.written
From: disaacs@pietrzak.carleton.ca (Dave Isaacs)
Subject: Isaac Asimov Dies
Organization: Carleton University
Date: Mon, 6 Apr 1992 14:18:42 GMT

Isaac Asimov died last night, finally succuming to multiple kidney and
heart failure.  He will be missed.  Though I was not a great fan of his
stories, he stood as a symbol of science fiction to the world today.

-- 
__________________________________________________________________________
 ____  ____  __  David Paul Isaacs ________________________________________
 _____ _____ __  Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering ________
 _____ ____  __  Carleton University ________________________________________
 ____  __    __  Ottawa, Ontario ___________________________________________
_________________disaacs@ccs.carleton.ca __________________________________
From: mcjunkin@hpspkla.spk.hp.com (Bart L. McJunkin)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.written
Subject: First-person Narrative Authors
Date: 7 Apr 92 19:53:46 GMT
Article-I.D.: hpspkla.26980007
Organization: Hewlett Packard Company, Spokane, Wa.

###########################################################################

I'm looking for authors that write first person narrative
stories.  These stories tend to be my head and shoulders
favorites.   Here are some examples:

Roger Zelazny
Steve Brust
Glen Cook
E. Friesner

Please help me add to the list,  I'll even take famous names ( I've found
that I've read so many Niven books that I cannot remember if I've read
a particular work -- so, I've stopped reading any of his work.)

Bart

Asimov memory:  The Mule was the first antagonist 'nobody'
who becomes galactic emperor.

###########################################################################
mcjunkin@hpspkla.spk.hp.com
Xref: sparky rec.arts.sf.written:5545 alt.fan.pern:610
From: steinly@topaz.ucsc.edu (Steinn Sigurdsson)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.written,alt.fan.pern
Subject: Re: did mccaffrey really write "all the weyrs of pern"?
Date: 7 Apr 92 21:14:26 GMT
	<1992Apr7.085803.15262@zia.aoc.nrao.edu>
Followup-To: rec.arts.sf.written
Organization: Lick Observatory/UCO
In-reply-to: gmartin@zia.aoc.nrao.edu's message of 7 Apr 92 08:58:03 GMT

No, it's actually one of Doug's cruel hoaxes!
They get better by the month... just wait 'till November!!!
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.written
From: fnord@cs.mcgill.ca (Andrew KUCHLING)
Subject: Re: Isaac Asimov
Organization: SOCS, McGill University, Montreal, Canada
Date: Wed, 8 Apr 1992 20:12:07 GMT

I know Asimov's death is an incredibly sad event; it always is when a giant
from the early days dies. However, he once wrote something appropriate
in an explanation of his disbelief in an afterlife. Someone raised the
point "Isn't it tragic to die and go down into nothingness? Shouldn't you
have lived in order to prepare for the glories of heaven?"
     
   Asimov's answer was: the only truly tragic thing is a wasted life.
Isaac's life was not wasted. The Foundation series is, I think, one of 
those timeless works that will never be forgotten. Many of his non-fiction
books are incredibly helpful references, such as the Biographical Guide
to Science. And how many people have been guided toward science by his
work?

Goodbye, Dr. Asimov. RIP :'(


  Andrew Kuchling
  fnord@binkley.cs.mcgill.ca
From: jlpicard@woofer.austin.ibm.com (Craig Becker)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.written
Subject: Re: humorous science fiction
Date: 15 Apr 92 18:14:29 GMT
Reply-To: craigb@ot.austin.ibm.com
Organization: IBM Object Technology Products

b_hart@odin.dev.macsch.com (Bill Hart) writes:

   In article <1992Apr5.204028.22356@rice.edu>, khazel@is.rice.edu
(Kathleen DeAnn   
   Hazelton) writes...
   >There's also DeChancie's (?) Castle Perilous series.  4 in all I believe.
   >They were light, and fairly funny.
   ...
   There's actually 6 books in the series.
       1. Castle Perilous
       2. Castle For Rent
       3. Castle Kidnapped
       4. Castle War!
       5. Castle Murders
       6. Castle Dreams (just out this month)

My personal favorite is #4 (the one with the golf game).

Give #6 a miss. I wish I had. I think Mr. DeChancie had
mortgage payment due or something.

Craig
-- "To every man is given the     Craig Becker, Object Technology Products --
--  key to the gates of heaven;         Internet: craigb@ot.austin.ibm.com --
--  the same key opens the gates      Austin: craigb@woofer.austin.ibm.com --
--  of hell" - Buddhist proverb                     VNET: CRAIGB at AUSVM1 --
From: bs@gauss.mitre.org (Robert D. Silverman)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.written
Subject: Re: David Palmer: Threshold
Date: 15 Apr 92 13:26:01 GMT
Article-I.D.: linus.1992Apr15.132601.21316
Organization: Research Computer Facility, MITRE Corporation, Bedford, MA

In article <1992Apr14.222331.14990@hsv3.uucp> mvp@hsv3.uucp (Mike Van Pelt) writes:
:In article <1992Apr13.215334.26101@fy.chalmers.se> tfafr@fy.chalmers.se (Fredrik Rantakyr|) writes:
:>Looking for information on the sequel to the book Threshold by David 
:>Palmer. Info on the author also appreciated. 
:
:Last time this came up, someone claiming to have inside knowledge
:said that Palmer had submitted the sequel, but it was so dreadful
:that the publisher rejected it.  
 
That was me. I had actually *called* the publisher.
They said that it was not up to snuff, that they had rejected it, and
that it did not appear as if they would ever get a revised manuscript.


However, that was 2-3 years ago.

:
:A pity, I suppose.  I liked "Emergence" a **WHOLE** lot.  "Threshold",
:however, had serious problems, starting with overly-cutesy alien names
 
Yes, but it was rather pleasant mind-candy (IMO). I found the ecology
interesting.
--
Bob Silverman
These are my opinions and not MITRE's.
Mitre Corporation, Bedford, MA 01730
"You can lead a horse's ass to knowledge, but you can't make him think"
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.written,rec.arts.books
From: jdnicoll@watyew.uwaterloo.ca (James Davis Nicoll)
Subject: Introductions
Organization: University of Waterloo
Date: Wed, 15 Apr 1992 20:51:30 GMT

	I just began to read Dan Simmons' collection 'Prayers To 
Broken Stones'. The introduction is by Harlan Ellison, and he did
find time, after congratulating himself for various feats to note
that he discovered Dan Simmons (Although he also mentions Simmons
had two prior sales to magazines which then turned toes up, which
ties in nicely with his comment about the Indians). I'm in a bad
mood today, so I didn't care much for the self-congratulatory tone
I thought I saw in the introduction, but that may just be me.

	Ellison has written a few memorable introductions IMO:
The version of 'Involution Ocean' I own has him crowing about 
having purchased Bruce Sterling's first short story, to be 
published in Final Dangerous Visions, in the spring of 1978,
which is amusing, and he wrote an introduction to Lupoff's 
'Space War Blues' in which the delay to the publication 
of 'Space War Blues' caused by a section of the book being
in one of the DV collections (I don't recall which) is discussed,
said discussion then being commented on by Lupoff's agent and
Lupoff himself (Dim dim memory suggests that Ellision thought
the delay wasn't worthy of the fuss it caused and being in 
DV is enough prestige to more than make up for trifling matters
of minor lateness, Lupoff's agent disagreed, strongly, and Lupoff
said 'It's been ten years and I Don't Care, Anymore.'). Sadly,
I found the intoductions to SWB the most interesting bit about
it (Although I think I'll go reread it after PTBS), which brings
me to my topic:

	Are there introductions which are particularly amusing,
ironic, or apt or are they just ways to pad the page count? I
plunk for the first, and wonder what the best examples are.

						James Nicoll
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.written
From: SG.MML@isumvs.iastate.edu (M. Loughin)
Subject: Re: Eddings-Seeress of Kell on paperback
Organization: Iowa State University, Ames IA
Distribution: usa
Date: Mon, 13 Apr 1992 19:32:47 GMT

>   Yes! I finally found it in my local bookstore. The end of the series was a
> bit of a let down. Something like "Sure Dave, string me along for 10 years and
> then make all the important people unimportant and make me not care about the
> end." Any comments?
>
>                                          Rick

I stopped caring about the end about 3 years ago, when I decided
that Eddings is a scam.  It goes like this:

"Gee, I can't wait for another Mallorean book.  I wonder if it's
out yet - it's been over a year since the last.  Darn,
it's not out.  But look!! Eddings has another series going,
and two of that series is in print."

Later, "Golly, this new series is a lot like the Mallorean, only
worse.  And the last one isn't out yet.  And the next Mallorean
STILL isn't out."

Now you are waiting on 2 Eddings series.  I wouldn't have been
surprised if he had started a third series with the first two still
pending.  Way to string 'em along, David!

(Sorry about the tirade, but shlock work gets under my skin.)
From: v075q5fr@ubvmsb.cc.buffalo.edu (Scott J Gorcey)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.written
Subject: Re: Vonda N. McIntyre
Date: 16 Apr 92 02:36:00 GMT
Organization: University at Buffalo
News-Software: VAX/VMS VNEWS 1.41

In article <167CA11939.REBECCA@YaleVM.YCC.Yale.Edu>, REBECCA@YaleVM.YCC.Yale.Edu (Rebecca Drayer) writes...
>In article <1992Apr15.210515.17293@acsu.buffalo.edu>
>v075q5fr@ubvmsb.cc.buffalo.edu (Scott J Gorcey) writes:

>>     Is anyone also a fan of Vonda's work?  I just found a copy of
>>     _Fireflood and other stories_, which is brilliant so far.

>You might also want to try _Superluminal_.  I believe it's an expanded version
>of one of the stories in the _Fireflood_ collection.  _Superluminal_ is about
>a woman who wants to become one of the elite star pilots, but to do so, she
>must have her biological heart replaced with a mechanical pump.  (I'm not quite
>sure why; something about the "rhythms of starflight.")

>Anyway, I thought it was really good.

     _Superluminal_ iis one of the books I'm after.  Like most of Vonda's
     work, it's out of print.  _Starfarers_ was really good but it's
     sequel, _Transition_ didn't deliver anything the first one promised.

                ^She's My Cousin But Doesn't She^
                      ^Look Almost Exactly^
           ____________^Like Laura Palmer^____________
          ^Scott Gorcey, v075q5fr@ubvms.cc.buffalo.edu^ 
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.written
From: parmentier@iowasp.physics.uiowa.edu
Subject: Re: Does Araminta Station contain an error?
Organization: Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Iowa
Date: Wed, 8 Apr 1992 17:52:05 GMT


********* SPOILERS *********
********* SPOILERS *********
********* SPOILERS *********
********* SPOILERS *********
********* SPOILERS *********

In article <2466@loki.une.edu.au>, jack@loki.une.edu.au (Jack Claff) writes:
> 
> When Glawen is trapped at the Monomantic Seminary, Kirdy goes
> back to Cadwal and tells Bodwyn Wook that Glawen is dead.  This
> is why Bodwyn never mounted a rescue mission.  But later,
> Spanchetta is accused of perpetrating a "nasty little fraud"
> against Glawen by not declaring Scharde Clattuck dead until after
> Glawen's 21st. birthday had passed so that Glawen missed out on
> Agency status and was declared a co-lateral.  Since Glawen was
> presumed dead, there could be no fraud!  This is significant
> because without the alleged fraud, Glawen would not have been
> granted full agency status by the court.
> 
> I wonder if Jack Vance overlooked this point, or possibly he saw
> it but the book was so far advanced that he left it in anyway.
>
	I don't believe Kirdy got back to Cadwall before Glawen's 21st
birthday.  While not explicitly stated that way (that I noticed), Kirdy
did finish the Mummers' tour, so he didn't go immediately back to Cadwall.
The placement of the mention of Spanchetta's fraud has nothing to do with
WHEN the fraud occurred, it is merely placed there because we are following
Glawen through the action.  Her infraction could well have occurred before
Kirdy's lie.  Kirdy announcing Glawen's death would not negate Spanchetta's
fraud.  Given Arles and Drusilla's other fraud, Glawen could still have
been granted agency status, even if Spanchetta were innocent.

                                                _/_
 _, .__  _  _,  _,     _   _, .__  ____  _  __  / o _ .__
(_)_/ (_(/_(_)_(_)_   |_)_(_|_/ (_/ / /_(/_/ /_/_/_(/_/ (__
 /|         /|  /|   /|      ___ Gregg  Parmentier ___
|/         |/  |/    |/ parmentier@iowasp.physics.uiowa.edu
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.written
From: mtan@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu (Maureen Tan)
Subject: Re: Zelazny/Amber
Organization: UIUC
Date: Mon, 6 Apr 1992 16:19:01 GMT

Re: Amber One

I loved Zelazny's first Amber series from the moment Corwin wakes up in
his hospital room.  And all those really nasty relatives!  Makes mine seem
positively benign by comparison.  Fortunately, I got ahold of a two-volume set
that contained the whole series.   

Re: Amber Two

Dangling is an understatement!   One could die of old age waiting...  I've been
buying  the second series one  book at a time and I am beginning to doubt I'll
bother buying any more.  In my opinion, his last book (Jack of Shadows?) was
written because someone kept nagging him...  It's Zelazny at his worst, pointless
and wandering, and the characterization that kept me going through numbers 6, 7, 
8, (and 9?  I've lost track), dies in his latest attempt to turn out something, anything
to keep his readers hooked.

Around 42 BC, Publilius Syrus said: An overtaxed patience gives way to fury.
Could he have been waiting for Zelazny, too???

Maureen (a.k.a. Jane)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.written
From: maxson@cerl.uiuc.edu (K R Maxson)
Subject: Re: SF about doing science ?
Organization: UIUC Computer-based Education Research Lab
Date: Thu, 9 Apr 1992 02:57:13 GMT

In article <1992Apr9.011751.14853@qualcomm.com> rskirsky@athena.qualcomm.com (Ray Skirsky) writes:
>If you would accept non-fiction, I highly recommend James Watson's "The
>Double Helix," an account of the discovery of the structure of DNA.

This has more to do with science fiction than you might guess.  It lends
credence to the adage, history is written by the winners.