HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: fmayhar@altair.mpd.tandem.com (Frank Mayhar)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.written
Subject: Re: Re : _Postman_ Movie
Date: 14 Apr 92 22:21:10 GMT
Reply-To: fmayhar@mpd.tandem.com
Organization: Tandem Computers (MPD) Austin, TX

In article <1992Apr13.175856.48868@ccvax.ucd.ie>, h236_011@ccvax.ucd.ie writes:
|> He wrote *** Earth **** . Its much better than the Postman (in my not so 
|> humble opinion), if not quite as good as Startide Rising.

I beg, nay, _demand_, to differ!  I read _Earth_ when it came out, and I just
got through rereading _The Postman_.  There's a world of difference between
the books, and all in favor of the latter.  I was very annoyed with _Earth_,
when it came out, because of its flat characterization and utterly
unbelievable, deus-ex-machina denouement.  I really feel that he copped out.
_The Postman_, on the other hand, is quite enjoyable, although it does
have the problem of flat (or nonexistent) characterization in the minor
characters.
-- 
Frank Mayhar  fmayhar@mpd.tandem.com
              Tandem Computers, Inc.  Micro Products Division
              14231 Tandem Blvd., Austin, TX  78728    Phone:  (512) 244-8969
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.written
From: pciszek@isis.cs.du.edu (Paul Ciszek)
Subject: Re: Irish/Celtic Fantasy
Organization: University of Denver, Dept. of Math & Comp. Sci.
Date: Fri, 10 Apr 92 05:01:59 GMT

The _King of Ys_ quadrology by Poul and Karen Anderson has an Irish plotline
that appears to contain about as much effort as the Ysan plotline.  The
Andersons research things exaustively, and feel no compulsion to "nice up"
other cultures.

--
Paul Ciszek, pciszek@nyx.cs.du.edu | Saddam Hussein still has a job; do you?
From: cgy@cs.brown.edu (Curtis Yarvin)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.written
Subject: Re: Isaac Asimov Dies...
Date: 7 Apr 1992 04:59:56 GMT
Organization: Readers Against Writers
NNTP-Posting-Host: cslab9b.cs.brown.edu

In article <1992Apr6.134651.11707@ncar.ucar.edu> jsloan@ncar.ucar.edu (John Sloan) writes:
>From article <1900@transfer.stratus.com>, by Laurie Mann:
>> Isaac Asimov died this morning
>
>NPR reported this morning that he died in a New York hospital of heart
>and kidney failure.

That's what they think.  The reality is a bit more interesting.

Piers Anthony is next!

(Actually we planned to get him last night, but he was attending an
 All-Night Sheep Party at the Wampanoag Animal-Lovers Farm.)

And wait till the police report on the Robert Asprin case leaks.  We think
they'll try to cover it up for a few days, because of certain... unusual
circumstances associated with his, ah, unfortunate demise, but the Press
will have the cat out of the bag soon enough.

We should reach Zelazny by the end of the year.  

Zen ze Master Plan can proceed viss no further obstacles.


Signed,
Comrade Yarviniyeff

(Asimov was a great man; I hope humor doesn't insult his memory.)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.written
Subject: Isaac Asimov R.I.P.
From: rphanser@amherst.edu
Date: 7 Apr 92 11:48:45 GMT
Organization: Amherst College, Amherst, MA.

As you may (or may not) know, Isaac Asimov passed away yesterday at the age
of 72...

I'm not knowledgable enough to properly eulogize him.  I know many of you
have grievances with his writing, but I think it is fair to say that Asimov
played a great role in mking science fiction what it is today.  I personally
regard the Foundaton trilogy and _Edge_ as classics... 

As I said, there are people more able to give Asimov proper tribute than I am,
but wherever you are, Isaac, rest in peace.  You gave me many hours of
enjoyment.

Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.written,rec.arts.books
From: nadel@aero.org (M.H. Nadel)
Subject: Re: Emotional Responses (was Re: Why Do People Read Horror?)
Organization: The Aerospace Corporation, El Segundo, CA
Date: Tue, 7 Apr 1992 14:48:29 GMT

In article <1992Apr3.005803.3374@mdd.comm.mot.com> rudoff@mdd.comm.mot.com (Doug Rudoff) writes:
>Do people really get frightened while reading?
>
>Yet, I have been quite scared while watching movies. I expect it's the
>explicit visual aspect of movies that cause the difference.
>
Hmmm.  I find the opposite.  I'm far more easily frightened while reading.
Perhaps because I have a very intense and visual imagination.  Some of
Lovecraft's stories are quite chilling (Pickwick's Model gave me nightmares)
but I find the most frightening pieces are neither the monster stuff nor
the gore, but the apparently innocent but twisted people.  

The most terrifying book I've ever read was Thomas Tryon's _Harvest Home_.
The movie version wasn't the least bit scary.

>How about other emotional responses to books? Only one book has made
>me cry, V. Seth's _The Golden Gate_, and I think it was related the
>emotional turmoil I was going through at the time.

I remember _Black Beauty_ making me cry as a child.  And I wept and wept
when I read S.E. Hinton's _The Outsiders_ in junior high.  More recently,
sections of various books by Chaim Potok and Elie Wiesel have gotten a bit
soggy.

Miriam Nadel

-- 
"UCLA's fans are so totally mellow, nine out of every 10 have no idea where in
the world Duke University is located, or whether it was endowed by John Wayne
or named after Patty."     - Mike Downey
nadel@aerospace.aero.org
Xref: sparky rec.arts.sf.written:5719 rec.arts.sf.movies:3242
From: jdeitch@umiami.ir.miami.edu
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.written,rec.arts.sf.movies
Subject: Re: _Postman_ Movie!
Date: 12 Apr 92 21:36:07 EDT
Organization: Univ of Miami IR

lis@chaos.cs.brandeis.edu (Elisabeth Riba) writes:

> I just heard that Ron Howard will be filming David Brin's _Postman_
> to star Tom Hanks.  Not quite the best casting, but I have faith in

Interesting ... could be very, very good ...

- Jonthan
-- 
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Internet : jdeitch@umiami.miami.edu | Go Braves !! | "I hate it when I can't
---------------------------------------------------| trust my own technology !" 
"Thrills!  Chills!  Magic!  Prizes!"  -- Hurricane |    -- Geordi LaForge

Gene Roddenberry, Isaac Asimov, Jim Henson, Dr Seuss, Mel Blanc ... Sigh ... 
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.written
From: cpf@alchemy.ithaca.ny.us (Courtenay Footman)
Subject: Poetry in Lem's Cyberiad
Organization: Alchemy International, Ithaca, N.Y.
Date: Fri, 10 Apr 1992 02:16:43 GMT


In Stanislaw Lem's Cyberiad, someone builds a computer that can write poetry.
His competitor challenges him to demonstrate, and after its first success,
makes the following challenge:
    "Have it compose a poem--a poem about a haircut! But lofty, noble, tragic,
timeless, full of love, treachery, retribution, quiet heroism in the face
of certain doom!  Six lines, cleverly rhymed, and every word beginning with
the letter s!!"
    The computer builder is protesting the ridiculousness of this demand,
when the computer breaks in with this:

	Seduced, shaggy Samson snored.
	She scissored short.  Sorely shorn,
	Soon shackled slave, Samson sighed,
	Silently scheming,
	Sightlessly seeking
	Some savage, spectacular suicide.

    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?

(Quotes from Stanislaw Lem , "The Cyberiad", Avon books, New York 1976.)
-- 
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Courtenay Footman			I finally got back on the net.

cpf@alchemy.ithaca.ny.us		Now I will never get anything done
From: marotta@hannah.enet.DEC.COM ("I'm gonna wake up in Heaven on the cold, cold ground...  06-Apr-1992 1529")
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.written
Subject: Card's "Memory of Earth"
Date: 6 Apr 92 23:09:42 GMT

As a read more and more widely and more at a time, I see similarities
everywhere.  Sometimes things are so similar I cannot continue, but
at other times, I wonder if Jung had something in this concept
of a shared conciousness.  For example, I read Card's "Xenocide"
and Sheri Tepper's "Raising the Stones" back-to-back.  I
found similarities among the messages and symbols in these books,
and yet each is a great work, unique and deserving of individual
attention.

Anyhow, I've done it again: I read "The Summer Queen" by Joan D Vinge
and then "Memory of Earth," by O. S. Card.  Both new novels,
only in hardcover at this time, by two of my favorite authors.
And was I surprised to find the similarity: A computer is in
charge, but we no longer know how to run it, so we have to figure
out a way to refresh the system (like a reboot?).

I will point out that Card's novel should not otherwise be compared
to Vinge's epic.  "Memory of Earth" has vaguely Old-Testament 
undertones.  A man with 4 sons has visions and has to leave
the city to obey these visions, with his sons.  Their quest
will be to figure out what they have to do to make everything
right again.  In this novel, we have an Evil City that is about
to be destroyed by "the Oversoul."

The fact that these people are very ignorant about the Oversoul, which
is actually a computer that keeps the civilization stable for
30 million years, works to Card's advantage in this first novel
of what is planned to be a 5-book series.  He has also provided
for the humans learning more about the Oversoul, over time,
which will probably be advantageous in the next books.

This is great beginning to a unique offering from Orson Scott Card.
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.written
From: draphsor@deathstar.Stanford.EDU (Matt Rollefson)
Subject: Re: Irish/Celtic Fantasy
Organization: Stanford University, California, USA
Date: Sun, 12 Apr 1992 03:59:43 GMT

willimsa@unix1.tcd.ie (Gavin Williams) writes:

>In <1992Apr10.013953.1683@nic.umass.edu> s5223927@titan.ucc.umass.edu (Daniel Lescohier) writes:

>>	Katherine Kerr's Deverry series (five books so far) is an
>>original story in the traditional Celtic style.  
[Titles deleted]

>I didn't know that there was a fifth?  The series finished with
>the fourth didn't it?

Yes, there is indeed a fifth. The series didn't exactly finish with
the fourth; it would be more accurate to say that the storyline
which started in the first book came to a conclusion (of sorts) in the
fourth.

The fifth book starts up a new storyline - actually, it feels more
like a bridge between the old story and a new one. It deals with Rory,
but many years after. We also learn a lot more about one of Nevyn's
fellow dweomermasters, and the Western Folk. Looks like this next
story will focus a lot of the Western Folk (forget if I'm using the
correct euphemism for elves here), with the same sort of past-future
back and forth that we've become used to. I'm looking forward to
future books.

>And yes, it's a very good series.

Ditto. It's refreshing to have a series composed of relatively
self-contained (or at least not artificially chopped-up) stories with
large ties from one book to the next, instead of 'trilogies' that are
actually one book published over a longer period of time.

Rollie
--
Draphsor vo'drun-Aelf                   draphsor@deathstar.stanford.edu
Xref: sparky rec.arts.sf.written:5759 rec.arts.sf.science:1458
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.written,rec.arts.sf.science
Subject: Cherryh's technology (was: SF about doing science ?)
From: ecmtwhk@ccu1.aukuni.ac.nz (Thomas Koenig)
Date: Tue, 14 Apr 1992 04:19:27 GMT
Followup-To: rec.arts.sf.science
Organization: University of Auckland, New Zealand.
Keywords: Don't read _Twistor_

[Note followup to rec.arts.sf.science, this is getting technical :-)]
lfd@cbnewsm.cb.att.com (Lee Derbenwick) writes:

>C. J. Cherryh's _Downbelow Station_ includes some strange physics:

> - Long, narrow spaceships hanging sideways by the nose at the edge
>   of a spinning space station.

What's strange about that?  Given a means of redistributing mass around the
station (water tanks and pumps in "Downbelow Station", I recall) and a
reorientation of some interior sections of the ships, it is feasable.

> - Same ships, while spinning about their long axis, being easily
>   maneuverable.

I seem to remember them taking off spin for combat, though, and definitely
for docking, in the Chanur series, which uses the same type of ships and
stations.

> - The background of early exploration with conventional-drive
>   robot ships happens amazingly fast, given that the ships were
>   supposed to stay sub-light.

I agree on that one.  Not only that, I cannot see the earlier stations
being viable, for reasons of maintenance with a limited population.

One other thing which peeves me are the speed and acceleration.
Accelerating at 10 g's will not get you up to light speed in a matter
of minutes.

>She won the Hugo for it.

That she did, but not for describing technology, methinks.  Cherryh's
strong points are character and intruige; she would make an excellent
thriller writer, too.

[rest deleted]
-- 
Thomas Koenig, ecmtwhk@ccu1.aukuni.ac.nz
Snail-Mail: 
c/o Department of Chemical and Materials Engineering, University of Auckland,
Private Bag 92019, Auckland, New Zealand
From: ed@wente.llnl.gov (Ed Suranyi)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.written
Subject: Re: Asimov
Date: 14 Apr 92 16:55:51 GMT
Organization: UC Davis Dept of Applied Science at LLNL

In article <9204132224.AA20993@rutgers.edu> ST401844@BROWNVM.BROWN.EDU (Stewart Crall) writes:
>Isaac Asimov was a prolific writer, but it seems that lately he only
>came out with one novel every 2 years or so.  Does this mean that he
>outstripped his publishers?

No, it's just that for the last few decades most of Asimov's work has
been other than science fiction.  Mostly non-fiction of all kinds, and
some mystery fiction.  In the 1970s his only science fiction novel was
"The Gods Themselves", but that doesn't mean that was his only book
during that decade!  Far from it.

The reason he went back to writing some SF novels in the eighties is that
his publisher insisted on it.  He tells an interesting story of how
he came to write "Foundation's Edge".  Doubleday came to him and told
him how they had supported him through the years, how they had published
virtually everything he had written, including things with no chance
at high sales, like "Asimov's Annotated Don Juan".  They said, in a very
friendly manner, that they thought he owed them a novel.  "By a novel,"
Asimov wrote later, "they said they meant a science fiction novel.  And
by a science fiction novel, they said they meant a Foundation novel."
As an added incentive, he says they gave him an advance ten times his
usual one.

Ed
ed@wente.llnl.gov


Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.written
From: pally@mikejag.wimsey.bc.ca (Pally Hoffstein)
Subject: Re: Another Story Request - old timers!
Organization: mikejag (mike) is a private system in Vancouver, BC, Canada
Date: Tue, 7 Apr 1992 01:59:34 GMT

In article <1992Apr06.185849.1752@sdd.hp.com> regard@hpsdde.sdd.hp.com (Adrienne Regard) writes:
>
>I'm looking for a Kornbluth story, too:
>
>The Lady who Sailed the Soul.  I saw it (decades ago) in a collection
>called (something like) The Mind Benders.  And the net told me it had
>appeared in other collections as well.
>
>I'd appreciate it if anyone who has this story would consent to sell me
>their book.  I've looked and looked and looked, and have a crink in my
>neck from all the sideways titles.... (-:
>
>Adrienne Regard
>at regard@hpsdde.sdd.hp.com
>
>Yes, I know it's a weird address.
>

"The Lady Who Sailed The Soul" was written by Cordwainer Smith and appeared in
Galaxy magazine in 1960. It can be found in "The Best Of Cordwainer Smith". It
is a truly wonderful story as are all the tales in that collection. I'm sure
it's the story you're looking for. I imagine your trouble in locating it is due
to having the wrong author. I hope this helps.

Pally Hoffstein
Vancouver, Canada
-- 
St. Kevin taught me how,
	John the Boxer is braver now.
Phil the Captain of the Cause,
        Fight your fight for what is yours.     - China Crisis
From: warda@vax.oxford.ac.uk
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.written
Subject: Re: Vonda N. McIntyre
Date: 16 Apr 92 16:50:25 GMT
Organization: Oxford University VAXcluster

>>>     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.")
> 
> 
>      _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.
> 
I personally came to Vonda through _Dreamsnake_, which I still reckon is her 
best work, for what that's worth.  There's a novella and a full novel version 
kicking around.  The novella may have won a Nebula, I'm not sure.  
Essentially, a healer wanders a post-apocalyptic landscape with her three 
genetically-engineered snakes (Grass, Mist and Dream if I remember rightly).  
The snakes bite a diseased person, and then manufacture an anti-disease shot 
in response to the patient's infected blood.  Sounds stupid, I know, but the 
central character is very well portrayed - I half fell in love with her as a 
teenager. 

 _The Exile Waiting_, her first novel, disappointed me. _Aztecs_, the short
story that _Superluminal_ was based on, I enjoyed far more than the novel.  I
don't know if she's been writing original stuff recently, I've only seen her
name on the covers of Star Trek novels (I think).  How are the mighty
fallen..... 


Bill Bennett

warda@uk.ac.oxford.vax
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.written
From: kirk@monashee.sfu.ca (Corey Kirk)
Subject: Re: Tad Williams next book?
Organization: Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, B.C., Canada
Date: Fri, 10 Apr 1992 03:50:06 GMT

>>In article <7APR199213293980@utkvx2.utk.edu> menees@utkvx2.utk.edu (Menees, Bill) writes:
>>>
>>>	Does anyone know when the last book from Tad's trilogy is due out?
>>>If so, please e-mail me the date and any other misc info you have about it.
>>>
>>>						Thanks,
>>>
>>>						Bill Menees
>>>						menees@utkvx.utk.edu

>>Actually, post it to the net.  Lots of us would probably
>>like to know.  Regards,

He is still working on it ... he just bought a powerbook to speed things
along though.  Here are a couple postings from him on GEnie regarding 
his next book:


Category 11,  Topic 44
Message 224       Thu Mar 12, 1992
T.WILLIAMS55 [Tad]           at 04:31 EST

[stuff deleted...]
 
Volume Never Again (oops, that should be Volume 3) will be called TO GREEN
ANGEL TOWER.  It is currently being finished, and will be about half again as
long as THE DRAGONBONE CHAIR.  It's just...large.  And slow-going.  But it
should be published in a little less than a year.  Sorry.

[stuff deleted...]

----

Category 11,  Topic 44
Message 508       Wed Mar 25, 1992
T.WILLIAMS55 [Tad]           at 04:40 EST
 
[stuff deleted...]

JimB: Chuq is referring to my massive disgust with the Novel That Will Not Lie
Down And Die.  TO GREEN ANGEL TOWER, volume last of the Huge Thing, is
currently 1200 pages long and still has a little way to go. Tell spouse that
it looks like early '93 for publication.  The author will be dead, so tour
support will be limited.

And speaking of, I've just about thrashed this fun-wave to its fullest
modularity, dudes and dude-ettes.  So I'm going to amble back up the beach and
see if any useful plot lines have washed ashore.  See you tomorrow.

Happy motoring.  Look for the union label.  LSMFT.  A little dab'll do ya...

'Night.
 ------------


------------------------------------------------------

  Corey Kirk                       
  Simon Fraser University      internet: kirk@sfu.ca
  Vancouver BC                 GEnie   : c.kirk3
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.written
From: chris@MorningStar.Com (Chris Miller)
Subject: Re: Elspeth (Mercedes Lackey)
Organization: Morning Star Technologies
Distribution: na
Date: Tue, 7 Apr 1992 21:42:54 GMT

In article <1992Apr7.183235.6733@cbnewsm.cb.att.com> cash@cbnewsm.cb.att.com (john.i.mccash) writes:
>>On a related topic, if the Companians are Guardian Spirits, like the
>>Shin'a'in equivalent, where do they come from?  They are Sword-Sworn who
>>have been dead for at least a century, but what about the Companions?  It
>>seems terribly unlikely that they are dead Heralds 8-).
>>
>
>I wouldn't discount this possibility too quickly.  Or at least not the
>possibility that they may be dead Herald-Mages. If you look near the end
>of By_The_Sword you'll notice that the names of some new companions bear
>a close resemblance to the names of some deceased Herald-Mages. I'm
>straining to remember, but I think that one of them was a close variant of
>the name of Vanyels teacher. The origionals may be something else though,
>or is my memory playing tricks on me when I think that the first companions
>were created right after an event where some very good people were killed?
>							Just my two cents
>									John

Savil ---> Sayvel
Jayson ---> Jaysen

I may have the spelling wrong, but you get the picture, I'm sure.

Also: In WOF Elspeth's Companion refers to Sayvel (Kero's Compainion)
as having a contrary disposition.  This Fits with the Savil character from 
TLHM.  

Also: In TLHM, there is a scene where Vanyel briefly has a vision of Yfandes
as being a small brownish woman, sort of like like two images (horse&human)
superimposed upon each other.

Also: In Vows and Honor (forget which one)  The Shin'a'in speculate about
parallel origins between the companions and their 'spirit guides."

I admit that taken individually, these points prove nothing,  but it begins
to look just a _little_ bit suspicious when they are taken together.

Chris Miller

Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.written
From: yane@fraser.sfu.ca (Yan Choon Ee)
Subject: Sun-Cross
Summary: When's the next book coming out?
Keywords: Barbara Hambly Sun-Cross
Organization: Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, B.C., Canada
Date: Thu, 16 Apr 1992 03:01:29 GMT

Hi all!  Does anybody have any idea when the next book of
the Sun-Cross series (by Barbara Hambly) is coming out?  She's
usually pretty good about putting out her books in quick succession
(unlike some other series), but it's been two or three months
since the second book was read and gathering dust...

By the way, is she working on anything else?

yan choon
-- 
Yan Choon Ee
Simon Fraser University			Internet: yane@sfu.ca
						    ee@sfu.ca
From: aaron@space.ualberta.ca (Alfvaen)
Subject: Re: Why Do People Read Horror?
Organization: University Of Alberta, Edmonton Canada
Date: Mon, 6 Apr 1992 20:18:00 GMT

Shannon D. Appel writes
> I don't much enjoy straight horror, but Fritz Leiber has written some of
> the best Fantasy-Horror around.  I'd suggest trying some of his best  
works,
> namely:
> 
> Conjure Wife		; a bit dated, but still great
> You're All Alone
  ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Also called _The Sinful Ones_

> Night Monsters		; an _old_ collection [I have it in an Ace  
Double]
> 			; that contains "The Black Gondalier" which is my
> 			; favorite by far.
> 
> 
> They're all Fantastic Horror, and they're all really fun to read.

Don't forget _Our Lady of Darkness_, which, with _Conjure Wife_, are great  
examples of a precisely placed climax of tension, which in both books can  
be narrowed down to a single paragraph...

> Shannon

--

---Alfvaen(and no, this isn't my real name!)
Canadian Network For Space Research, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
If you stand on your head, you will get footprints in your hair.
Current Album--She's Having A Baby Soundtrack
 "I know you have a little life in you yet
  I know you have a lot of strength left."