From: dant@techbook.com (Dan Tilque)
Subject: rec.arts.sf.written FAQ
Followup-To: rec.arts.sf.written
Reply-To: dant@techbook.COM (Dan Tilque)
Organization: Pseudopolis Yard
Date: Sat, 21 Nov 1992 11:28:03 GMT

Archive-name: sf-written-intro


----------------------------------------------------------------------
This is the frequently asked questions (FAQ) list for rec.arts.sf.written.
It is maintained by Dan Tilque (dant@techbook.COM).  Improvements to
this list are welcome.


			Table of Contents

 0. Introduction
 1. Story identification requests
 2. Spoilers
 3. What books or stories are about X?
 4. What books have been written by author X?
 5. List of the Hugo, Nebula, or World Fantasy Award winners
 6. Science Fiction Archives
 7. Does anyone want to talk about X?
 8. Defining Science Fiction and/or Fantasy
 9. Dividing line between Science Fiction and Fantasy
10. The SF-LOVERS Digest
11. Star Trek
12. Cyberpunk
13. Common abbreviations 
14. Filking (Filksinging)
15. Kilgore Trout
16. Can the X beat the Y?
17. Clarke's Laws
18. HAL vs. IBM
19. Johnny Rico's ethnic group (Starship Troopers)
20. Science Fiction Book Club
21. The fourth book of Alexei Panshin's Anthony Villers series
22. PJF after Steven Brust's name 
23. SF themes in music 
24. Other frequent subjects
25. Oldest SF Authors
26. William Ashbless

* Significant modification to this entry
** New entry

----------------------------------------------------------------------
0. Introduction

Rec.arts.sf.written is a newsgroup devoted to discussions of written
science fiction and fantasy.  It is a high volume newsgroup and this
article is intended to help reduce the number of unnecessary postings,
thereby making it more useful and enjoyable to everyone.

If you have not already done so, please read the articles in
news.announce.newusers.  They contain a great deal of useful
information about network etiquette and convention.

Please keep in mind these points:

      - Always remember that there is a live human being at the other
	end of the wires.  In other words, please write your replies
	with the same courtesy you would use in talking to someone
	face-to-face.

      - Try to recognize humor and irony in postings.  Tone of voice
	does not carry in ASCII print, and postings are often snapped
	off quickly, so that humorous intent may not be obvious.  More
	destructive and vicious arguments have been caused by this one
	fact of net existence than any other.  It will help if
	satiric/ironic/humorous comments are marked with the "smiley
	face," :-)

      - The net is a highly asynchronous medium.  It can take several
	days for an article to make it to all sites.  It is also quite
	common for followups to messages to reach a site before the
	original.


----------------------------------------------------------------------
1. Story identification requests

"Does anyone know this story?"  <plot summary follows>

When making this kind of request, ask that all responses be e-mailed
back to you.  After having found out what it is, then post the correct
answer to the net.

If you know the answer but are unable to send a message to the requester,
wait a few days.  It's likely that someone else will post the correct
answer, thus sparing you the effort.

Do not post messages like "I want to know, too" to the net.  E-mail the
person who asked the question and request that they send you any
information they get by e-mail.  Only if you cannot reach the person by
e-mail *and* no one has posted about the request after several days
should you post.


----------------------------------------------------------------------
2. Spoilers

Any message which reveals significant details of the plot of a book
should be flagged with "SPOILER" in its subject line (preferably) or at
least in the body of the message.  Be considerate to other readers,
don't ruin the surprises.


----------------------------------------------------------------------
3. "What books or stories are about X?"

When making these kind of requests, ask that all replies be e-mailed to
you and that you will summarize.  Note that a summary is not just
concatenating all the replies together and posting the resulting file.
Take the time to strip headers, combine duplicate information, and
write a short summary.


----------------------------------------------------------------------
4. "What books have been written by author X?"  "What books are in
series Y?"

A number of bibliographies have been compiled and posted to the net by
John Wenn.  These bibliographies also contain info on which books are
in a series or in the same universe.  The most up-to-date bibliographies
are availiable via ftp from world.std.com (192.74.137.5) [user
anonymous, any password], directory pub/jwenn.

They are also in the sf archives (see entry 6. Science Fiction
Archives below).  In the archives, the bibliographies are in directory
pub/sfl/authorlists.  Warning: the versions of the bibliographies at
eddie.mit.edu may not be the most recent.  The archives at Rutgers are
kept up to date.

File names are generally LastName.Firstname (e.g. Niven.Larry).  Case
*does* count.  

Requests for more bibliographies may be made to John at
jwenn@world.std.com.


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5. List of the Hugo, Nebula, or World Fantasy Award winners

Lists of award winners are in the Science Fiction archives on
gandalf.rutgers.edu (see entry 6. Science Fiction Archives below).
The lists are in directory pub/sfl with these file names:

hugos.txt
nebulas.txt
world-fantasy-awards.txt


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6. Science Fiction Archives

The archives are availiable via FTP from either of

  gandalf.rutgers.edu (128.6.7.26)
  eddie.mit.edu 

Please contact these machines only during off hours, Eastern time zone,
U.S.

For BITNET people, and those without access to FTP, the archives are
availiable via e-mail.  Send mail to BITFTP@PUCC.BITNET, with the
following in the message body:

FTP gandalf.rutgers.edu
USER anonymous
CD <dirname>
DIR
GET <filename>
GET <filename-2>

The DIR command will return a list of all available files.  The GET
command will retrieve the files themselves (and multiple GET's per mail
message are prefered).


For European readers, you may want to access the archives at the Lysator
Computer Club, Linkoping University, Sweden.  It's e-mail address is
ftp.lysator.liu.se (130.236.254.1).  The administrator is Mats Ohrman
(email: matoh@sssab.se).  The bibliographies are in directory
/pub/sf-texts.


----------------------------------------------------------------------
7. "Does anyone want to talk about X?"

If nobody seems to be discussing what you want to talk about, post a
(polite) message opening the discussion.  Don't just say, "Does anyone
want to talk about X" or "I really like X" however; try to have
something interesting to say about the topic to get discussion going.

Don't be angry or upset if no one responds.  It may be that X is just a
personal taste of your own, or quite obscure.  Or it may be that X was
discussed to death a few weeks ago, *just* before you came into the
group.  (If this is the case, you'll probably know, though, because
some rude fool will probably flame you for "Bringing that up
*AGAIN*!!!"  Ignore them.)


----------------------------------------------------------------------
8. Defining Science Fiction and/or Fantasy

Many people have attempted to define them and probably the best answer
was given by Damon Knight: "Science Fiction is what I point at when I
say Science Fiction."  Please do not discuss this topic unless you feel
you have a truly novel definition.


----------------------------------------------------------------------
9. Dividing line between Science Fiction and Fantasy

Many people have also attempted to pinpoint this and had no better
success.  Virtually every answer you give will fail to clearly indicate
which category a large number of books belong to.

Again, please don't discuss this topic unless you feel you have a truly
novel answer.


----------------------------------------------------------------------
10. The SF-LOVERS Digest

The SF-LOVERS Digest is a service for those who cannot read the
rec.arts.sf newsgroups directly.  It is a compilation of the articles
posted to sf.misc, sf.announce, sf.fandom, sf.movies, sf.tv, sf.written
and sf.reviews which is sent out periodically via e-mail.  The
moderator, Saul Jaffe, does a certain amount of editing when compiling
the Digest.  Duplicate information is eliminated and the articles are
organized by topic.  Also, most meta-discussions are not included in
the Digest.

To subscribe, unsubscribe, report problems, etc., send e-mail to
SF-LOVERS-REQUEST@RUTGERS.EDU.  To post articles to the various
newsgroups use the following addresses:

       Topic                            Address
       -----                            -------

       Written SF                       sf-lovers-written@rutgers.edu
       Sf on Television                 sf-lovers-tv@rutgers.edu
       Sf Films                         sf-lovers-movies@rutgers.edu
       General discussions that don't
         fit specifically in the other
         topic headings                 sf-lovers-misc@rutgers.edu

Due to the high volume of mail, it's quite likely that administrative
type messages sent to the wrong address will be ignored.


----------------------------------------------------------------------
11. Star Trek

There is a hierarchy of newsgroups for Star Trek, rec.arts.startrek.*.
If you have access to netnews, use it for discussions about any Star
Trek subject (old series, new series, movies, novels, etc.).  If you
are absolutely sure you cannot access the startrek newsgroup, and you
*must* post to sf.written, include the phrase "Star Trek" in the
subject line.

Do not post flames about people violating this guideline.  Use e-mail
to request they follow it.  It's likely that this person is reading
rec.arts.sf-lovers via the SF-LOVERS Digest and has no access to
netnews or rec.arts.startrek.  If so, that person will not see your
flame because discussions of what's appropriate in the newsgroup are
not included in the SF-LOVERS digest.


----------------------------------------------------------------------
12. Cyberpunk

Cyberpunk is a subgenre of SF which (usually) combines high technology
("cyber") with an alienated, often criminal, subculture ("punk").  Some
people consider cyberpunk to be a Literary Movement; others consider it
a marketing gimmick.  Arguing about which it is is pointless and not
encouraged in this newsgroup.  Probably the best definition parallels
the one for Science Fiction (see 8. Defining Science Fiction and/or
Fantasy above).

There is a news group called alt.cyberpunk which is the best place to
discuss cyberpunk.  A comprehensive list of cyberpunk works can be
gotten by sending e-mail to John Wichers at wichers@husc4.harvard.edu.


----------------------------------------------------------------------
13. Common abbreviations

	BTW  -- "By the way"
	FTL  -- "Faster than light"
	FYI  -- "For your information"
	IMAO -- "In my arrogant opinion"
	IMHO -- "In my humble (honest) opinion"
	ISBN -- "International Standard Book Number"
	ROTF -- "Rolling on the floor"
	ROFL -- "Rolling on the floor, laughing"
	RPG  -- "Role playing games", like D&D (Dungeons and Dragons)
	RSN  -- "Real Soon Now" (== within the next decade or two)
	wrt  -- "with respect to"


----------------------------------------------------------------------
14. Filking (Filksinging)

Filking, or filksinging, is SF/Fantasy fan folk music.  The term
derives from a typo in the word "folksinging" made in a program for a
convention many years ago.  Filksongs are often parodies of popular
tunes or folk songs.


----------------------------------------------------------------------
15. Kilgore Trout

Kilgore Trout is a fictitious SF author that appears in several books
by Kurt Vonnegut.  VENUS ON THE HALF-SHELL by Kilgore Trout was written
by Philip Jose Farmer.


----------------------------------------------------------------------
16. "Can the X beat the Y?" where X and Y are mighty ships or alien
races from different space opera books/movies/series.

These kind of discussions are fairly pointless.  Please keep them off
the net.


----------------------------------------------------------------------
17. Clarke's Laws

(This entry was written by Mark Brader.)

Clarke's Law, later Clarke's First Law, can be found in the essay
"Hazards of Prophecy: The Failure of Imagination", in the collection
"Profiles of the Future", 1962, revised 1973, Harper & Row, paperback
by Popular Library, ISBN 0-445-04061-0.  It reads:

# [1]		When a distinguished but elderly scientist
#		states that something is possible, he is almost
#		certainly right.  When he states that something
#		is impossible, he is very probably wrong.

Note that the adverbs in the two sentences are different.  Clarke continues:

#	Perhaps the adjective "elderly" requires definition.  In physics,
#	mathematics, and astronautics it means over thirty; in the other
#	disciplines, senile decay is sometimes postponed to the forties.
#	There are, of course, glorious exceptions; but as every researcher
#	just out of college knows, scientists of over fifty are good for
#	nothing but board meetings, and should at all costs be kept out
#	of the laboratory!

Isaac Asimov added a further comment with Asimov's Corollary to Clarke's
Law, which he expounded in an essay logically titled "Asimov's Corollary".
This appeared in the February 1977 issue of F&SF, and can be found in the
collection "Quasar, Quasar, Burning Bright", 1978, Doubleday; no ISBN on
my copy.  Asimov's Corollary reads:

% [1AC]		When, however, the lay public rallies round an
%		idea that is denounced by distinguished but elderly
%		scientists and supports that idea with great fervor
%		and emotion -- the distinguished but elderly
%		scientists are then, after all, probably right.


So much for Clarke's First Law.  A few pages later on, in the final
paragraph of the same essay, Clarke writes:

# [2]		But the only way of discovering the limits of the
#		possible is to venture a little way past them into
#		the impossible.

To this he attaches a footnote:

#	The French edition of [presumably, the first edition of] this
#	book rather surprised me by calling this Clarke's Second Law.
#	(See page [number] for the First, which is now rather well-
#	known.)  I accept the label, and have also formulated a Third:
#
# [3]		Any sufficiently advanced technology is
#		indistinguishable from magic.
#
#	As three laws were good enough for Newton, I have modestly
#	decided to stop there.


----------------------------------------------------------------------
18. HAL vs. IBM

There is a relationship between HAL (the computer in 2001: A Space
Odyssey) and IBM.  If you add 1 to each letter in HAL you get IBM.

According to Clarke, this relationship is entirely accidental.  In
fact, he claims that if he had been aware of it, he would have chosen a
different name for his computer.


----------------------------------------------------------------------
19. Johnny Rico's ethnic group (Starship Troopers)

What ethnic group does Johnny Rico, the protagonist in Heinlein's
STARSHIP TROOPERS, belong to?

(The following answer is from a posting by Eric Raymond.)

From page 205 of the 1968 Berkeley edition (end of Chapter XIII):

    I said, "There ought to be one named _Magsaysay_."
    Bennie said, "What?"
    "Ramon Magsaysay," I explained.  "Great man, great soldier -- probably
  be chief of psychological warfare if he was alive today. "Didn't you
  study any history?"
    "Well," admitted Bennie, "I learned that Simo'n Bolivar built the
  Pyramids, licked the Armada, and made the first trip to the Moon."
    "You left out marrying Cleopatra," I said.
    "Oh, that.  Yup.  Well, I guess every country has its own version of
  history."
    "I'm sure of it." I added something to myself and Bennie said, "What
  did you say?"
    "Sorry, Bernardo. Just an old saying in my own language.  I suppose
  you could translate it, more or less, as `Home is where the heart is.'"
    "But what language was it?"
    "Tagalog.  My native language."
    "Don't they talk Standard English where you come from?"
    "Oh, certainly.  For business and school and so forth.  We just talk
  the old speech around home a little.  Traditions, you know."
    "Yeah, I know.  My folks chatter in Espan~ol the same way.  But where
  do you--"  The speaker started playing "Meadowland"; Bennie broke into
  a grin.  "Got a date with a ship!  Watch yourself, fellow!  See you."

There is no room at all left for misinterpretation.  Johnny Rico is a
Filipino; Tagalog is a Philippine language, Ramon Magsaysay was a hero
of the Philippine resistance, and many Filipinos have Spanish names.


----------------------------------------------------------------------
20. Science Fiction Book Club

About once a year someone asks about the SFBC and the resulting
discussion inevitably goes like this:

A: I love it.  I get hard cover books for about half the bookstore
   price.  Plus they have these omnibus editions of various series so
   you can pick up several books in one volume.  The binding may not be
   up to regular hardcover standards, but it's still better than
   paperback.

B: Yeah, but I keep losing the monthly cards and end up buying or having
   to send back books that I don't want.

C: You should do like I did.  I called them up and got on the
   "Preferred Member Plan".  On this plan I only get books when I send
   back the card.


----------------------------------------------------------------------
21. The fourth book of Alexei Panshin's Anthony Villers series

Three books were published in the Anthony Villers series: STAR WELL,
THE THURB REVOLUTION, and MASQUE WORLD.  A fourth book was promised at
the end of the third book and was to be titled, THE UNIVERSAL
PANTOGRAPH.  It was never published.


----------------------------------------------------------------------
22. PJF after Steven Brust's name

The letters PJF are appended to Steven Brust's name in some of his
books.  What do they mean?

PJF = Pre-Joycean Fellowship

The name is modelled on that of an artist's group named the
Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood.  A number of writers have appended it
including Brust, Emma Bull, Will Shetterly, Jane Yolen, Pamela Dean and
Neil Gaiman (this is not an exhaustive list).  Many, but not all of
them are members of Minneapolis Fantasy Writer's Group, the
Scribblies.

In the words of Pamela Dean, here is roughly what the PJF is trying to
do:

   "... we are trying to undo the separation of the so-called popular
   values and traits in literature (which probably include straight-
   forward narration) and the so-called literary values and traits
   (which probably include stream-of-consciousness writing).  We don't
   always succeed; we don't always try; we don't feel that writers
   doing other things are evil.  But we are trying to reunite, in our
   work, the popular and the literary.  Every one of us has a different
   definition of those terms and a different notion of how what we are
   trying to do should be accomplished."


----------------------------------------------------------------------
23. SF themes in music

A list of songs which have science fictional themes is maintained by
Rich Kulawiec.  This list is posted to news.answers periodically.  If
you can not find it there, e-mail Rich at rsk@gynko.circ.upenn.edu.
Alternate e-mail addresses for Rich are rsk@ecn.purdue.edu or
pur-ee!rsk.


----------------------------------------------------------------------
24. Other frequent subjects

Some subjects have generated long and acrimonious arguments (flamewars)
in this group.  Please think twice before posting anything on these
subjects.

	1. Robert A. Heinlein's attitudes towards women especially as
	reflected in his female characters.
	2. Orson Scott Card's attitudes towards homosexuality.

Other subjects, while not generating flames, have been discussed
numerous times in this group.  Please consider carefully before
starting dicussions on these topics.

	1. The nature of time travel.
	2. Asking everyone what the first sf they ever read was.
	3. Casting your favorite book as a movie.


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25. Oldest SF Authors

Based on Tuck's ENCYCLOPEDIA OF SF AND FANTASY, the oldest SF writers are:

    Frank Belknap Long, 27 APR 1903
    L. Sprague De Camp, 27 NOV 1907
    Jack Williamson, 29 APR 1908
    Andre Norton, 1912
    A. E. van Vogt, 26 APR 1912
    R. A. Lafferty, 7 NOV 1914
    Jack Vance, 28 AUG 1916
    Arthur C. Clarke, 16 DEC 1917
    Frederick Pohl, 26 NOV 1919
    Sam Moskowitz, 30 JUN 1920
    Ray Bradbury, 22 AUG 1920
    Kurt Vonnegut, 11 NOV 1922


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26. William Ashbless

Who is William Ashbless?  Both Tim Powers (THE ANUBIS GATES) and James
Blaylock (THE DIGGING LEVIATHON) have him in their books.  Is this the
same character?

William Ashbless was a penname that Powers and Blaylock used to publish
cowritten poetry in college.  When they both needed a name for a poet
character in their books, they independently used the same name.  After
this had been pointed out to them by their editor, they got together
and added details to make it look it was the same guy.
Xref: sparky rec.arts.sf.written:15099 alt.cyberpunk:6008