HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: dani@netcom.com (Dani Zweig)
Subject: Re: Midori Snyder: Beldan's Fire
Organization: Netcom Online Communications Services (408-241-9760 login: guest)
Date: Wed, 23 Dec 1992 22:27:38 GMT

mab@wdl39.wdl.loral.com (Mark A Biggar):
>>It's too bad that Snyder's first 'novel' was a trilogy...
>
>But she did write a single novel first, "Soulstring" a fairly well written
>fantasy novel about a girl whose lover has been turned into a stag.

Oops, you're right.  I forgot.  I found it a fairly forgettable novel.
"New Moon" was more original and better written.

-----
Dani Zweig
dani@netcom.com

   God helpe the man so wrapt in Errours endless traine  -- Edmund Spenser

Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.written
From: jdnicoll@prism.ccs.uwo.ca (James Davis Nicoll)
Subject: Re: SF + PC
Organization: University of Western Ontario, London
Date: Fri, 1 Jan 1993 21:35:19 GMT


In article <1993Jan1.201203.28531@cbnewsj.cb.att.com> ecl@cbnewsj.cb.att.com (Evelyn C. Leeper) writes:
>Laura Mollett writes:
>> Sometime later I get a note from the librarian that says, 
>> in part: Of course, Amanda may choose more challenging 
>> reading material.  I will be delighted to help her select 
>> something more substantial. However, I really feel that 
>> there are more appropriate choices for Amanda's maturity 
>> level than _The Babysitter's Club_.  I hope when she 
>> finishes the series she will embrace the multitude of 
>> excellent literature we have at Ashland.  I will be glad 
>> to provide you with a list of books if you so desire.
>> 
>> Is there any reason at all why I should choose her "for 
>> fun" reading forher from a list.  What's wrong with what 
>> she chooses for herself?

	Can  the librarian choose to  revoke  Amanda's access to
more desirable books if you do  not  acknowledge the librarian's
status, and is the librarian the sort of person who would abuse
their power if irked?  I've run  into teachers who became irritating
if not kowtowed to, but  never a librarian, so perhaps the above
is a tad paranoid:  I note that the librarian used  the phrase
'If you  so desire.'

	Maybe it would  a good idea to get  to know the librarian,
and find  out what criteria are being  used wrt  what is  suitable
for your daughter.

>> Any suggestions?
>
>Well, since presumably part of why you read rec.arts.books is for
>reading suggestions from other people, I don't see what the problem is
>either.  As long as Amanda understands that everyone has different
>tastes and she doesn't have to feel guilty if she doesn't like what the
>librarian recommends, you should encourage her to try some of what
>other people suggest--that's how she discovers new things.

	This  works  as long as the librarian  is  playing by  the
same rules, and won't  use the  position they are in  to force
the librarian's choices on Amanda.

							James Nicoll
From: fath@mbcrr.dfci.harvard.edu (Michael Fath)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.written
Subject: Accuracy in SF
Date: 22 Dec 1992 03:03:18 GMT
Organization: Dana-Farber Cancer Institute
NNTP-Posting-Host: mbcrr.harvard.edu

I am on a discussion panel at the upcoming ARISIA convention in Boston that
will be discussing "Accuracy in SF".  My science background is strong but I
have not been much of an SF reader lately.  I would like to get your 
suggestions about good books to read on this subject and get your comments 
on these questions:

When is scientific inaccuracy acceptable in SF?
Give examples.

When is it not?
Give examples.

How has SF affected science?


-- 
MM   MM FFFFF 	Michael Fath		fath@mbcrr.harvard.edu
M M M M F	Dept of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics
M  M  M FFF     Harvard Medical School         
M     M F       Boston, MA 02115	Merry Christmas Everyone!
From: higgins@fnala.fnal.gov (Bill Higgins-- Beam Jockey)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.written
Subject: Re: easy-to-confuse author names (was Re: New Ace SF Specials)
Date: 22 Dec 92 00:52:18 GMT
Organization: Fermilab Grossforschungenseinrichtungen
NNTP-Posting-Host: fnala.fnal.gov

In article <1992Dec21.211122.4829@genie.slhs.udel.edu>, nancy@genie.slhs.udel.edu (Nancy Lebovitz) writes:
> The ones it took me a while to get sorted out were Poul Anderson and 
> Frederick Pohl, Poul Anderson and Gordon Dickson, and Zelaney and Delazney.
> (Oh well, you know who I mean....)
> Any other bunches/pairs that it's easy to mix up?

*Marooned*, by Martin Caidin, and *Marooned*, by Martin Caidin.

The first one is about a Mercury capsule whose retrorocket fails,
leaving the pilot stranded in orbit.    Engineers on the ground race
to launch a not-quite-ready-for-flight 2-seat Gemini capsule in a
desperate rescue attempt.  

The second one is about an Apollo capsule whose service module engine
fails, leaving the crew stranded in orbit.    Engineers on the ground
race to launch a not-quite-ready-for-flight 4-seat lifting body
spacecraft in a desperate rescue attempt.  

The first one was made into a movie (also called *Marooned*) a few
years after it came out.

The second one is a novelization of a movie (also called *Marooned*).

Once, I found myself in a consuite where the TV was playing this old
movie.  Nobody was paying any attention to it.  I fiddled with the
color controls on the TV set to suppress current from the green
electron gun. I couldn't get anybody to comprehend the joke, however,
much less laugh at it.   

Bill Higgins                         | Favorite carol around Higgins house:
Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory| Glooooooooooooooria
Internet:  HIGGINS@FNAL.FNAL.GOV     | In excelsis Deo
Bitnet:     HIGGINS@FNAL.BITNET      | Deo
SPAN/Hepnet: 43011::HIGGINS          | Daylight come and me wanna go home
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.written
From: dani@netcom.com (Dani Zweig)
Subject: Re: My last reply.
Organization: Netcom Online Communications Services (408-241-9760 login: guest)
Date: Tue, 29 Dec 1992 03:34:23 GMT

arromdee@jyusenkyou.cs.jhu.edu (Ken Arromdee):
>>When it is completed, the largest made-made structure in the world will 
>>be the Fresh Kills Landfillin New York...  

>Thousands of miles long, bigger than the Great Wall of China?

You're being disingenuous.  If length were the only criterion, the Eighth
Wonder of the World could be a ball of yarn.  Maybe there are other
dimensions to consider.

>>How does one classify that?

The Ninth Wonder of the Shallow End of the World, The Sequel?

-----
Dani Zweig
dani@netcom.com

   It was mentioned on CNN that the new prime number discovered
   recently is four times bigger then the previous record.
				-- John Blasik

Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.written
From: mvp@netcom.com (Mike Van Pelt)
Subject: Re: SF + PC
Organization: Netcom - Online Communication Services (408 241-9760 guest)
Date: Thu, 31 Dec 1992 02:26:13 GMT

In article <1992Dec30.125910.13054@murdoch.acc.Virginia.EDU> prs9k@brain.med.virginia.edu (Phil Scarr) writes:
>In article <1992Dec30.000017.29100@bnlux1.bnl.gov> weiner@bnlls1.nsls.bnl.gov (Gary Weiner) writes:
>>The thing is, if you want a more diverse cannon (and this is a good thing
>>IMHO) then don't say "We Need More Black/Red/Blue/Yellow/Women/Homosexual
>>/etc authors in our cannon" say "We should have this book in our cannon
>>because it deserves to be there"
>
>Yes and no.  Many of the arguments for inclusion ARE based upon some form
>of merit or deservedness.  BUT, we, as literati should PUSH the non-DWM
>or even non-WM for inclusion FIRST, because they have been left out so
>long.  Kind of a literary affirmative-action if you will.

And just like affirmative-action in the "real world", such a policy
will perpetuate racism and whatever other -ism you're trying to
overcome.  If you push non-DWM works, not because they're good, but
solely because the racial/ethnic/whatever membership of the artist is
"in" this year, you will produce the effect of placing the best DWM
works side-by-side with inferior non-DWM works.

(That's the thing above all else that I find so infuriating about the
PC crowd:  Intentions are all that matters, and pointing out the
inevitable effects of fuzzy-minded good intentions gets you a bunch of
shrieking irrelevancies.  Not talking about you, here, but other
discussions I've been in.  Doubtless now that I've posted this, we'll
be treated to an example.)

-- 
Mike Van Pelt          | What happens if a big asteroid hits Earth?
mvp@netcom.com         | Judging from realistic simulations involving a
                       | sledge hammer and a common laboratory frog, we
                       | can assume it will be pretty bad. -- Dave Barry
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.written
From: puckett@lambda.msfc.nasa.gov (Jim Puckett)
Subject: Re: Political Correctness + Sci-fi
Organization: NASA/MSFC
Date: Wed, 30 Dec 1992 17:22:25 GMT

mvp@netcom.com (Mike Van Pelt) writes:

>In article <18945@mindlink.bc.ca> Crawford_Kilian@mindlink.bc.ca (Crawford Kilian) writes:
>>too much of Cold Equations depends on arbitrary assumptions:
>>1. Girls are emotional and dumb, even in a starfaring society.

>I don't know how this follows from the story.  _THIS_ particular girl
>was emotional and... well, maybe not dumb, but certainly ignorant and
>naive.  It's been a while since I read it, but I don't recall any
>indication that Godwin intended to generalize that.

As a male, if I read a story which includes a stupid male, I do not assume
that the author is saying that all males are stupid.

...ladies, please note 8-)

jim p.
-- 
Jim Puckett    NTI    puckett@lambda.msfc.nasa.gov     
Madison,AL (205)461-4922  
i need to ask myself.....
***********         Would I rather be right, or happy?         ***********
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.written
From: Caughill <Caughill@mixcom.mixcom.com>
Subject: Re: Niven/Mote in God's Eye
Organization: Milwaukee Internet Xchange BBS, Milwaukee, WI U.S.A.
Distribution: usa
Date: Mon, 21 Dec 1992 21:40:13 GMT

In <21DEC92.08445097@wums.wustl.edu> w95_cook@wums.wustl.edu writes:

>On the advice of several individuals here, I recently
>finished my first Niven novel - The Mote in God's Eye.
>I was highly impressed with the book.  It's been one of those
>things I've been meaning to get around to reading for a long
>time.  Anyway, can anyone suggest other Niven novels I might
>want to check out?

     Asking which Niven book to read next is like asking which flavor of ice
cream to try next - it really doesn't matter they're all great. Now that
you've gotten started you'll definitely want to read everything he's written,
but here's a list of books I don't think anyone should miss:

Ringworld
Ringworld Engineers
Dreampark
Lucifer's Hammer
Footfall
Inferno
(And just about everything else. There really are too many good ones to
mention them all.) Have fun.

Mike Caughill
-- 
Caughill@mixcom.com
Xref: sparky rec.arts.sf.written:16910 rec.arts.books:23751
From: curtis@cs.berkeley.edu (Curtis Yarvin)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.written,rec.arts.books
Subject: Re: SF + PC
Date: 4 Jan 1993 02:38:02 GMT
Organization: CS Dept. Snakepit - Do Not Feed.
NNTP-Posting-Host: cobra.cs.berkeley.edu

In article <1i7ntuINNj2c@usenet.INS.CWRU.Edu> aj834@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Scott A. Maehner) writes:
>
>>>In some cases, this will mean a student reads nothing but Harlequin romance
>>>novels or you-can-hear-the-dice-roll fantasy RPG novelizations the whole
>>>time they are in school.
>>
>>That's right.  And if that's what they like, so what?  Or are you
>>prepared to say that you know their tastes better than they?

>I thought that at least one of things education should do is expose people
>to ideas and things new to them...whether it's Shakespeare, Maya Angelou or
>SF from other countries.  How does someone knows what they like or don't
>like in literature unless they try a few experimental bites off of the buffet
>platter of education and see what takes?

Precisely; but make sure your buffet platter holds something besides caviar.
Why force a Cheez Whiz fan to eat beluga?  If he's the sort of fellow
who eats little black things without knowledge of their pedigree, then
that's fine; and if he ain't, well, he probably knows better than you
what he likes.

>>If a person pays $20,000 to attend classes for the sole purpose of
>>enjoying himself, is it honest to give him anything other than what
>>he wants?
>
>A person can buy all the books that person wants to with $20,000, and
>not have to go thru the bother or expense of getting an education.

Well, not in our society, unfortunately.  Today's liberal arts degree
serves one useful purpose: it certifies that the holder does indeed
know what he should have learned in high school, namely, how to read
and write.

c
From: oglewis@ccwf.cc.utexas.edu (Lewis Phillips)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.written
Subject: Re:  Name this Book.....*pleeezze!*
Date: 23 Dec 92 19:48:57 GMT
Organization: The University of Texas at Austin, Austin TX



	It could also be "Armor" by John Steakley.  The main idea is identical, but it is not what one would call 'funny', although it does have some humorous  parts in it.
		OG
-- 
*******************************************************************************
* lewis@wixer.cactus.org      |if you're looking for adventure of a new and
* oglewis@ccwf.cc.utexas.edu  |different kind  and you come across a Girl Scout
*                             |who is similarly inclined....
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.written
From: rafem@gvlf7-e.gvl.unisys.com (Ralph Marrone)
Subject: Re: Motorcycle Science Fiction
Organization: Unisys Defense Systems, Great Valley Labs, Paoli, Pa
Date: Mon, 21 Dec 1992 17:21:44 GMT

In article <1h16tkINNrbo@usenet.INS.CWRU.Edu> cc697@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Eric Oppen) writes:
>
>In a previous article, troly@redwood.math.ucla.edu (Bret Jolly) says:
>
>>In article <9212181351.AA04903@rutgers.edu> JXA01@albnydh2.BITNET writes:
>>
>>>Could someone please help? I am looking for science fiction stories that
>>>have motorcycling as a main theme or component of the story. >
>>
>>   Try _Damnation Alley_, a widely-anthologized novelette (novella?) by
>>Zelazny.
>>
>There was also a post-holocaust novel covering the adventures of a Hell's
>Angel.  Don't recall the title offhand, but the author's name began with a
>W.
>-- 


I think this was _The Lost Traveler_ by Steve Wilson.



Regards,


Ralph Marrone
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.written
From: durrell@pinball.arcade.uiowa.edu (Bryant Durrell)
Subject: Re: Re^2: Motorcycle Science Fiction
Date: Tue, 29 Dec 1992 00:03:50 GMT
Distribution: usa
Organization: University of Iowa

In article <4340@novavax.UUCP> mitch@novavax.UUCP (Mitch Silverman) writes:
>mmaxwell@ucsd.edu writes:
>>Neal Stephenson wrote SNOW CRASH.  Good book, too.  As are his others
>>(which are all but impossible to find, unfortunately.)
>Amen to that, bro! 
>I have 'The Big U' and have read it many times.  I
>understand that he also wrote another book, and once
>upon a time I knew what it was called.  Anyone care
>to refresh my memory?

_Zodiac_, Atlantic Monthly Press, 1988.  ISBN #0-87113-181-1.

And yeah, I do own a copy, cause I was one of the lucky people who
read _The Big U_ when it was first published.  It's more mundane
than either of his other books -- no SF/fantasy elements to speak
of.  IMHO, it beats _The Monkey-Wrench Gang_ at its own game.

-- 
Bryant Durrell					   durrell@chop.isca.uiowa.edu
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                 I feed on the flesh of the living, and I vote.
From: bleys@wisdom.bubble.org (Bill Cavanaugh)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.written
Subject: Universe - The Game (was niven/mote in god's eye)
Date: 28 Dec 92 01:04:05 GMT
Distribution: rec
Organization: Xanadu Enterprises, Inc.

In article <199227.2760.4778@dosgate> "jonathan forbes" <jonathan.forbes@canrem.com> writes:
>-> \/   Like strategic interstellar conquest games?  Ask about UNIVERSE!
>-> \__/
>
>This may be slightly off topic, but what's Universe?
>--
>Canada Remote Systems  - Toronto, Ontario
>World's Largest PCBOARD System - 416-629-7000/629-7044

I don't know who the original poster Jonathan quoted was, but...

Universe is an SF RPG written many moons ago by the fun-loving guys at SPI
(back before it was bought by TSR).  I believe it's also an SF PBM.  I
can't imagine that the rpg is still in print...

bill

-- 
 *         Bill Cavanaugh       bleys@wisdom.bubble.org          *
XY + XX = :-)
From: jmann@vineland.pubs.stratus.com (Jim Mann)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.written
Subject: Re: John Woods Campbell
Date: 31 Dec 1992 14:01:22 GMT
Organization: Stratus Computer Inc, Marlboro MA
Reply-To: jmann@vineland.pubs.stratus.com
NNTP-Posting-Host: gondolin.pubs.stratus.com

In article <1992Dec31.130240.1991@math.ucla.edu>  
dstein@charon.math.ucla.edu (David Stein) writes:
>   You do not explain how Campbell redirected the thinking of SF  
writers so 
>   as to "reinvent" SF.  You do not even show that without Campbell  
we would
>   not have good writers like Heinlein, Asimov, Simak, Sturgeon.   
Were they
>   writing SF only because of Campbell?  Would they have a difficult  
time
>   being published elsewhere if Campbell were not an editor?  Would  
they 
>   write bad SF without Cambell? 
> 

How about the fact that many of these writers credit Campbell,
and some have taken the time to explain some of what Campbell
did.  (He, for example, provided lots of comments on how
to improve stories, and at times even wrote multi-page
rejection letters to authors he thought showed promise but weren't
there yet.)   Read Asimov's autobiography.  Read what other
writers who wrote for Campbell had to say about how Campbell
helped them.

Another point of evidence is to look at where the leading
stories were published.  It was clearly Astounding 
(and, in the fantasy field, Unknown) leading the way in 
the 1939-1950 period.

The overwhelming consensus in the SF field is that Campbell
was a major contributor, and vital to the founding of
"modern SF."   If you don't think that he is, perhaps YOU
should present some evidence to show this.




--
Jim Mann            
Stratus Computer   jmann@vineland.pubs.stratus.com  

Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.written
From: Crawford_Kilian@mindlink.bc.ca (Crawford Kilian)
Subject: John Woods Campbell (was: Re: Political Correctness + Sci-fi
Organization: MIND LINK! - British Columbia, Canada
Date: Sun, 3 Jan 1993 04:17:44 GMT

Eric S. Raymond leaps eloquently to the defence of John Campbell, whom I had
characterized as a crank and a bigot. I am keenly aware of the veneration
that many people held Campbell in, but Mr. Raymond's defence (even allowing
for a digression about the Dean drive) leaves me feeling decidedly
unrebutted.

I recall Campbell's presenting the following as a proof:
No organism can survive in an environment of its own waste;
Communism says workers have a right to what they produce;
Therefore communism won't work.

Now, even if Campbell saw his audience as the teenage male dopes they were,
and chose in his kindness to stimulate their thinking skills, this crippled
syllogism served as little more than a good example of equivocation--shifting
the meaning of your critical terms. He never, to my recollection, explained
or defended this syllogism (and those were the days when I read Astounding
very attentively indeed). It was just there, filling up the bottom of a page,
as futile as an unanswered posting.

Mr. Raymond might want to check out an old classic by Martin Gardner, Fads
and Fallacies in the Name of Science, which presents an uninterested (that
is, objective) portrait of Campbell as the exponent of various
pseudosciences.


--
Crawford Kilian   Communications Department   Capilano College
North Vancouver BC Canada V7J 3H5
Usenet: Crawford_Kilian@mindlink.bc.ca
Internet: ckilian@first.etc.bc.ca
From: saruman@cats.ucsc.edu (Nicholas Patrick Popoff)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.written
Subject: Name this book.......*pleeezze!*
Date: 21 Dec 92 09:03:12 GMT
Organization: University of California; Santa Cruz
NNTP-Posting-Host: si.ucsc.edu


	Hello all....
	Recently, a friend of mine was telling me about this book he had
read, and the basic story sounded realy interesting.
	So, I said "Whats the book called?" and he said "I dont remember."
and I said "well, who wrote it?" and he said "i dont remember..."  

	So now Im hoping that someone out there has read it.  Heres the basic
story, as I remember it:
	Futuristic military type deal, flashback to "starship troopers" with
people doing combat drops out of spaceships.  But the deal is that the
drops are basically suicide, and a troop only has to do one or two before
they get released.  Well, the main character gets lost in the paperwork or
something, and they keep on droping him and dropping him and he keeps on
coming back.  As i understand it, the book is funny, and probably written
in the first person.  
	Other than this, I have no idea.  It could be brand new, it could
be out of print.

Pleeeze tellmetellmetellme!
-nick
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.written
From: ecl@cbnewsj.cb.att.com (Evelyn C. Leeper)
Subject: Re: Solomon Kane: How many stories?
Organization: AT&T
Date: Sat, 26 Dec 1992 13:58:42 GMT

In article <1ha1v0INNda1@agate.berkeley.edu> chuahl@ocf.berkeley.edu (Chua HakLien) writes:
> How many Solomon Kane stories did Robert E. Howard write, and where
> might they be found? I think he's a much more intriguing character
> than Conan, but haven't EVER been able to find any Kane books either
> in the library or the bookstores.

There were *three* Centaur Press books (not just the one someone
mentioned earlier): MOON OF SKULLS, HAND OF KANE, and SOLOMON KANE,
containing three, four, and seven stories, respectively.  RED SHADOWS
from Donald M. Grant contains twelve stories and three poems.

Your chances of finding any of these are, of course, fairly slim,
unless you're willing to pay some pretty high prices.

Evelyn C. Leeper  |  +1 908 957 2070  |  att!mtgzy!ecl or  ecl@mtgzy.att.com
--
"God does not play dice with the universe."  --Albert Einstein
"Albert, stop telling God what to do."  --Niels Bohr
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.written,rec.arts.books
From: dstein@oak.math.ucla.edu (David Stein)
Subject: Re: SF + PC
Reply-To: dstein@oak.math.ucla.edu (David Stein)
Organization: UCLA Mathematics Department
Date: Sat, 2 Jan 93 15:26:41 GMT

In article <1i3j04INNr5l@shelley.u.washington.edu>,
twain@milton.u.washington.edu (Barbara Hlavin) writes:

|> _How to Achieve a Rich and Fulfilling Spiritual Life while Eating 
|> Pizza_, _Everything I Need to Know I Know Already_, and assorted 
|> collections of Calvin and Hobbes cartoons. 

   Have you read any? (Calvin and Hobbes)

 - David

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I'm not a native speaker of English, but I sure love Calvin and Hobbes.
Any flame will be ignored unless she post it in the form of a cartoon.
================================ - David (the metamathician) - =========
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.written