HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: cgy@cs.brown.edu (Curtis Yarvin)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.written
Subject: Re: Critics
Date: 7 Apr 1992 04:36:55 GMT
Organization: Brown University Department of Computer Science
NNTP-Posting-Host: cslab9b.cs.brown.edu

In article <1992Apr6.151732.6712@u.washington.edu> gwangung@milton.u.washington.edu (Just another theatre geek.....) writes:
>
>	I hate to say it, but the masses often DON'T know what they want
>or appreciate.  That is, they don't know it until they tried it. And for
>an artist/arts group to survive until that happens, they need the funding
>the NEA provides.

I decry your paternalism, but admire your honesty in admitting it.

Recently I read an NYT editorial by Leonard Garment, founder of the NEA
under Nixon.  A man of fascinating honesty in utter corruption.  As he
describes it - and I see no reason to doubt his words - Nixon set up the NEA
as a perfectly bald-faced barrel of pork for liberal intellectuals.  Garment
sees the NEA as an elegant political tool, and for that reason urged
Frohnmayer & Co. to cut back on funding of controversial art.

It was one of the most repulsive essays I have ever read.  I urge its
reading on anyone who still doubts that stolen money (I am no Libertarian,
but decline the usual euphemisms), like Midas in reverse, turns all it
touches to shit.

Much of modern art is still healthy.  By my standards, for example, the
photographs of Mapplethorpe and Serrano are beautiful. I'd pay money to see
them.  Artists are, by and large, decent folk, with a greater tendency to
honesty than sugar magnates and other recipients of Federal pork.  But any
system that turns them into amateur bureacrats who spend their time looking
for bigger and better nipples on the Federal Tit, instead of honest crafters
trying to please their customers, is a perversion of nature.

>	But if you plunk somebody by force (and with some couples, it
>pretty much works out that way for one of the two...) into one of our
>shows, theya re gonna be mesmerized, entranced, and, oh, yeah, ENTERTAINED
>by what we do.

If you had to get your money honestly, we'd soon discover the truth of your
words.

I've spent enough time haranguing against those who'd like to forcibly bend
society to fit their intellectual ideals.  The glorious & blatant evidence
above is sooo tempting, but today I have better things to do.  Consider all
those windy comparisons with Stalin, Mussolini and (yes) Hitler, made.

c
From: spedpr@thor.cf.ac.uk (Paul Richards)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.written
Subject: Re: ASIMOV list again
Date: 14 Apr 92 20:01:41 GMT
Organization: University of Wales College at Cardiff
X-Mailer: Cardiff Computing Maths PP Mail Open News Gateway

It is generally said that Asimov wrote around 500 books. Does anyone
know what they were. From memory, the previous list seemed quite
complete. I don't believe he wrote that many non-fiction books.

Does this figure include all his short stories as well?
-- 
  Paul Richards at Cardiff university, UK.

  spedpr@uk.ac.cf.thor	Internet: spedpr%thor.cf.ac.uk@nsfnet-relay.ac.uk
  UUCP:     spedpr@thor.cf.UUCP or ...!uunet!mcsun!ukc!cf!thor!spedpr
+++
From: anonymous@hmivax.humgen.upenn.edu (Liz Broadwell)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.written
Subject: Re: Patricia Kennealy (was Re: Irish/Celtic Fantasy)
Date: 13 Apr 92 18:36:41 GMT
Organization: Society of Independent Newswaifs

Susan Harwood Kaczmarczik writes:
> Robert Halloran writes:
>>If you want to stretch things, you could look at Kennealy's Keltiad
>>books; pre-Xian Celts in space.  If you can get past the plot device
>>used to create the setting, they're a pretty good read.  
> Hey.  I think the plot device (the Danaans being led by Brendan the
> Navigator to another universe when Patrick comes instead of going to
> the "Hollow Hills") is *great*.  

I think the Keltiad is a fun read, but I too find myself having to suspend
disbelief every now and again about the consequences of the Kelts' migration to
the stars.  For example, a ship full of Earth people arrives and hears about
the Kelts' greatest ruler, Arthur of Arvon, born and bred long after the
migration, and not one of them comments, "Gee, we have legends about a King
Arthur back home, too."  Still in all, the books have held me for many an
afternoon better spent in the library, so I can't complain too much.

~ Liz Broadwell (anonymous@hmivax.humgen.upenn.edu) ~                        ~
~ Department of English                             ~ Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam ~
~ The University of Pennsylvania                    ~                        ~
From: murphy@npri6.npri.com (David P. Murphy)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.written
Subject: Re: Irish/Celtic Fantasy
Date: 13 Apr 92 21:14:16 GMT
Article-I.D.: npri6.5334
Organization: NPRI, Alexandria VA


>>I have read one thing by Morgan Llewellyn and enjoyed it.
>>
>>someone

>are you referring to _Red_Branch_ by Margaret LLewrllyn?
>
>me

so of course as soon as i get home, i see the book and her name is Morgan.
i was sooooo sure it was margaret, too!  (the "r" in LLewellyn i can blame
on my keyboard, i suppose)  anyway it's a great book.

ok
dpm
-- 
murphy@npri6.npri.com 602 Cameron St. Alexandria, VA 22314 (703) 683-9090

              When every one is dead the Great Game is finished.  Not before.
                              --- Hurree Babu, "Kim"
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.written
From: doom@elaine5.Stanford.EDU (Joseph Brenner)
Subject: SF about doing science ? 
Summary: looking for SF that's really fiction about science
Organization: DSG, Stanford University
Date:  7 Apr 92 23:46:27 GMT

Someone on rec.arts.books was asking about fiction about
scientists, excluding SF, (probably for obvious reasons).

I want to ask here for recommendations for "science" fiction
stories that are actually about the social process of doing
science, as opposed to engineering (or psuedo-scientific
magic or mysticism, for that matter).   

I realize that this may be a difficult point to get across
to the average net.head, but there is *no* reason to try and
make this an exhaustive list.  Don't recommend something
unless you think it's really worth something. 

Some of Gregory Benford's work (e.g. _Timescape_) is along
the lines of what I'm after, but Doc Savage doesn't count,
okay?
From: lgrant@maths.tcd.ie (Lesley Grant)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.written
Subject: Re: Use of Weapons by Banks
Date: 8 Apr 92 07:48:41 GMT
Distribution: rec
Organization: Dept. of Maths, Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland.

In article <JEFFT.92Apr6200143@neptune.mit.edu> jefft@athena.mit.edu (Jeff Tang) writes:
>Is Banks' other stuff as good as this?

	Better, IMHO. Go read _Consider Phlebas_ and _The Player of Games_
(which is the best of the three, I thought). He's an excellent writer.

					Lesley
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.written,rec.arts.sf.movies
From: lis@chaos.cs.brandeis.edu (Elisabeth Riba)
Subject: Re: _Postman_ Movie!
Organization: Brandeis University
Date: Mon, 13 Apr 1992 12:48:41 GMT

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

>>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

>What I found depressing was that none of Brin's other books ranked 
>anywhere near The Postman in terms of quality. JIMHOOC

Have you read the original novella?  I loved the novella--the novel
that was made from it was IMNSHO nowhere near as good.  
-- 
--------------->Elisabeth Anne Riba * lis@chaos.cs.brandeis.edu<--------------
It is said that the gods play games with the lives of men. But what games, and
why, and the identities of the actual pawns, and what the game is, and what the
rules are--who knows? Best not to speculate. Thunder rolled... It rolled a six.
From: branwen@cerebus.ccc.amdahl.com (Karen Williams)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.written
Subject: Re: Irish/Celtic Fantasy
Date: 9 Apr 92 23:49:21 GMT
Organization: Amdahl Corporation, Sunnyvale CA

In article <al.702856151@iris> al@iris.claremont.edu (crispy derson the wearer of wigs) writes:
>I am looking for recommendations for fantasy books based on (heavily or not
>so) Celtic/Irish myth.  This could include re-tellings of classic myth/legend/
>fairy tales, or just books in an Irish vein.  I've heard _The Book Of Kells_
>by R. A. MacAvoy (sp?) is a good place to start; any suggestions?

I recommend books of the actual Welsh or Irish myths. The Mabinogian is
excellent, for example, and books of Celtic myths can be found in mythology
or classics sections of a good bookstore. Barring that, The Lion of Ireland
is based on Brian Boru, Lloyd Alexander's The Book of Three, The Black
Cauldron, The Castle of Llyr, Taran Wanderer, and The High King are based
on Welsh legend, and Diana Paxton's The White Raven is a Celtic version
of Tristan and Yseult.


--
                                          Karen Williams
                                          branwen@cerebus.ras.amdahl.com
"Don't whine. Warrior women speak in a husky whisper."
  -- Brat Pack #3
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.written
From: ba@mrcnext.cso.uiuc.edu (B.A. Davis-Howe)
Subject: Re: Irish/Celtic Fantasy
Organization: University of Illinois at Urbana
Date: Fri, 10 Apr 1992 22:06:52 GMT


Evangeline Walton wrote four novels re-telling the four branches of the
Mabinogion.  She admits that it is her attempt to restore what they might
have been before they were Christianised.  They are fairly nice, and 
fairly close to the originals (though substantially padded).

I have read one thing by Morgan Llewellyn and enjoyed it.

Realise that the "Taran" series by Alexander, while fun to read, is very
inconsistent with the Welsh myths it steals from; of course, he says
that they are not Welch myths.

Susan Cooper's "Dark is Rising" series is not as specifically Celtic, (it
is set in modern Britain) but it does draw from Celtic folklore (more 
accurately than Alexander).  Both Cooper and Alexander wrote for young
teenagers.

_Mists of Avalon_ by Marion Zimmer Bradley is an interesting telling of 
the Matter of Britain (the Arthurian story) from the women's point of view.
Is is sometimes contrivedly feminist, but a good yarn.

Hmm, I've just noticed that, other than the Morgan Llewellyn book, which
was given me by a friend who is very Irish, all of the books are Welsh
focussed.  I guess I'm showing my bias. :-)

              Merry meet, merry part, merry meet again,
                               Br'anArthur

Queer, Peculiar, and Weird! :-)
From: al162929@mtecv2.mty.itesm.mx (LUIS M. MILAN LEAL)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.written
Subject: Isaac Asimov is dead?
Summary: Is I.A. dead?
Date: 7 Apr 92 20:13:34 GMT
Organization: I.T.E.S.M. Campus Monterrey

I saw in the newspapers that Isaac Asimov is dead. Is it true? Since it wasnt
April 1st I dont think it was a joke...either he's dead or the newspaper was
not well-informed.

If he is dead, then the world has lost one of the great founders of science
fiction. Darn it, why is all the good people dying?

                                                           V'uarnet


*******************************************************************************
Luis Manuel Milan Leal        * The eyes of a  *         laeL naliM leunaM siuL
al162929@mtecv2.mty.itesm.mx  * person are the *  xm.tmseti.ytm.2vcetm@929261la
Monterrey, NL, Mexico         * mirrors to his *          ocixeM, LN, yerretnoM
(Like, south of the US)       *   inner soul   *        (SU eht fo htuos ,ekiL)
*******************************************************************************
Wo-wee...get me another joint! Im in the middle of a creativity phase!
From: v075q5fr@ubvmsb.cc.buffalo.edu (Scott J Gorcey)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.written
Subject: Re: Chris Claremont's _First_Flight_
Date: 15 Apr 92 22:03:00 GMT
Organization: University at Buffalo
News-Software: VAX/VMS VNEWS 1.41

In article <92106.153621MAC139@psuvm.psu.edu>, MAC139@psuvm.psu.edu writes...

[Talking about _Grounded_, the sequel to _FirstFlight_]

>And then there's the morality thrown in: "If I kill this bad guy, I'm no better
>than he is."

>Claremont's a good writer overall, although sometimes his lines of dialogue can
>leave you confused. He just needs an original story. Don't we all.

     Claremont is a horrible writer with a talent for bullshit.
     He will tell the same story - he'w got about four of them
     with infinite varieties - again and again until the day
     he dies.
     His saving grace is that he seems to care for the characters -
     though he's got only so many of them in his stock as well.
     I deleted Dave's mentioning of Nicole as Storm, Ben as
     Wolverine, the Admiral as Stevie, etc.  
     Claremont is good at creating familiar moods - and they should
     be familiar, we've seen them all a hundred times before - 
     without making them feel stale.
     He isn't always successful - which is what I think happened
     in these books.

     (BTW, what's he doing now that Marvel canned his ass?  (Which
     is too bad because after years of crap, he was just starting
     to churn out some decent stuff...))



                ^She's My Cousin But Doesn't She^
                      ^Look Almost Exactly^
           ____________^Like Laura Palmer^____________
          ^Scott Gorcey, v075q5fr@ubvms.cc.buffalo.edu^ 
Xref: sparky rec.arts.sf.written:5625 rec.games.mud:4712
From: sterling@netcom.com
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.written,rec.games.mud
Subject: Am I Bruce Sterling?
Date: 9 Apr 92 22:57:28 GMT
Article-I.D.: netcom.nfsj1x-.sterling
Followup-To: rec.arts.sf.written
Organization: Netcom - Online Communication Services  (408 241-9760 guest)

In article <1992Apr9.174338.18649@jyusenkyou.cs.jhu.edu> arromdee@jyusenkyou.cs.jhu.edu (Ken Arromdee) writes:
>In article <farrell.702779026@coral.cs.jcu.edu.au> farrell@coral.cs.jcu.edu.au (John Farrell) writes:
>>For some reason I am of the belief that Bruce Sterling the SF author is the
>>same as Bruce Sterling the TinyMud player on this here net. I wonder if I am
>>right.
>No, he's not.

No, I'm not.

However, I'm used to the confusion... you aren't the first person who's asked
if I am *the* Bruce Sterling.  While I am an author, and I did intend Bruce
Sterling as my pen name, I'm not the famous writer of cyberpunk, nor is
cyberpunk my particular genre.  Hmm... I wonder if anyone has confused him at
conventions for being that annoying mud player?  :)

Btw, as for the origins of the name, my father's middle name is Sterling
and he passed it on to me.  Seems there was a Bruce Sterling who was a middle-
weight boxing champion in England or somesuch.

Bruce

-- 
--- sterling@netcom.com - sirbruce@gnu.ai.mit.edu - bwoodcoc@isis.cs.du.edu ---
Yes.  We fuck.  Often, and with great enjoyment of the act.  We aren't married,
we use birth control, we use interesting little toys on occasion.  We moan like
beasts in heat.  Life is *great*.  -- Bryant, ref. to Erin, on alt.brother-jed.
From: arc1@ukc.ac.uk (A.R.Curtis)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.written
Subject: Re: SF about doing science ?
Date: 14 Apr 92 12:05:48 GMT
Organization: Computing Laboratory, UKC


> >For one thing, many of the science details were just plain wrong.  It
> >is quite distressing seeing such major mistakes from a real physicist.
> >He must not attend too many department colloquims.
> >
> It's interesting that, if so much of Cramer's science was indeed bogus, that
> most people who liked _Twistor_ did so because the science was so
> realistic.  It suggests that the most effective way to write hard sf is not
> to do some research and get the science right, but to simply make it all up
> as you go along.  Any decent writer can invent "scientific" details that
> sound realer than the real thing; since most readers are non-specialists,
> it's foolish not to.

I seem to remember Cramer actually taking up this point
himself in the postscript to the book.  He said there was a
deliberate rubberiness about the hard science in it.

Besides, is a novel meant to be a textbook?  It can be
irritating if you happen to be in a particular field which
is being misrepresented in some way, but as the characters
and events in a novel are fictional why not the science too?
If you want to really know you can go and get a textbook.
In fact, the book may even inspire you to take up physics or
some other discipline - which would be no bad claim for any
book.

tony
From: dani@netcom.com (Dani Zweig)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.written
Subject: Darktraders (was: Raymond's Reviews #191: short takes)
Date: 10 Apr 92 02:45:32 GMT
Organization: Netcom - Online Communication Services  (408 241-9760 guest)

eric@snark.thyrsus.com (Eric S. Raymond):
[Darktraders, by Eluki bes Shahar]
>A very tasty sequel to _Hellflower_ (RR#128).  Everything St. Cyr does seems
>to get her in deeper trouble as she and Valijon Starbringer race to head off
>a galaxy-destroying war.  Recommended.

I agree.  One of the attractive features of "Hellflower" was that it was
a rare example of an invented slang adding to a book, rather than simply
distracting the reader.  In "Darktrader", EbS reveals another uncommon
talent, by writing good space opera while still maintaining the focus on 
the characters.  All this and good story-telling too.  Worth reading.

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

   'T is with our judgements as our watches, none
   Go alike, yet each believes his own
		--Alexander Pope
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.written
From: kayser@nssdca.gsfc.nasa.gov (Susan E. Kayser NSSDC/STX (301)513-1673)
Subject: Re: _Wizard's Bane_ riddle
News-Software: VAX/VMS VNEWS 1.41    
Organization: NASA - Goddard Space Flight Center
Date: Mon, 13 Apr 1992 16:08:00 GMT

In article <1992Apr13.083029.15889@kithrup.COM>, sef@kithrup.COM (Sean Eric Fagan) writes...
>In _Wizard's Bane_, by Rick Cook, there is the following riddle:
> 
>	Black as night, white as snow
>	Red as blood from the death-wound flow
>	Precious as gold
>	Worthless as dross
>	Cold beyond cold
>	Gained without loss
>	Higher and deeper and wider than all
>	At fingertips always, gone beyond call
>	What am I?
> 
>Any ideas?

How about the written word, when published (no, it isn't red, but it is read)? 

Susan Kayser		NCF::KAYSER  or  kayser%nssdca.span@star.stanford.edu
Hughes/STX at NASA/GSFC/NSSDC
Greenbelt, MD
From: goldfarb@ocf.berkeley.edu (David Goldfarb)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.written
Subject: Re: Steven Brust
Date: 8 Apr 92 09:13:10 GMT
Article-I.D.: agate.rudf6INNinj
Reply-To: goldfarb@ocf.berkeley.edu (David Goldfarb)
Organization: The Sinister Icy Black Hand of Death Club
NNTP-Posting-Host: tornado.berkeley.edu
Originator: goldfarb@tornado.berkeley.edu

In article <1992Apr08.080558.29391@kithrup.COM> sef@kithrup.COM (Sean Eric Fagan) writes:
)In article <ru5acINNi6d@agate.berkeley.edu> goldfarb@ocf.berkeley.edu (David Goldfarb) writes:
)>	He also mentioned the possibility of a sequel to _The Phoenix Guards_
)>set about 500 years later. (Me: "500 years later? Wouldn't that be right
)>around the time of..." Brust, grinning: "Uh-huh.")
)
)Come on, tell.  500 years after TPG would be around the time of...?  (I
)assume _Brokedown Palace_.)

	Oh, all right. I'd've thought it would be fairly obvious, and I'll
stick in a spoiler protection just in case there's anyone out there who
wants to figure it out on their own.


	...of Adron's Disaster, the start of the Interregnum. I don't
recall if it was you who was arguing a few months back that the ending
of _Brokedown Palace_ coincides with the Disaster, but almost everyone
(and this *includes* Brust himself) places BP about two decades before
the Vlad books proper.

	At any rate, the story of Adron's Disaster should be interesting.
Would be nice to have a narrator a bit more reliable than Paarfi to tell
the story, but we take what we can get.

)Sean Eric Fagan 

-- 
David Goldfarb    goldfarb@ocf.berkeley.edu   (Insert standard disclaimer)
"Baldrick, you wouldn't know a cunning plan if it came up, bit you on the
behind, and sang three choruses of a song set to the tune of 'I am a Pirate 
King' called 'I am a Cunning Plan'."
Xref: sparky rec.arts.sf.written:5559 rec.arts.books:7667
Organization: Ryerson Polytechnical Institute
Distribution: na
Date: Monday, 6 Apr 1992 12:17:11 EST
From: the Lurker <ACPS7146@RyeVm.Ryerson.Ca>
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.written,rec.arts.books
Subject: Re: Why Do People Read Horror?

Why do people read horror?
For the same reason that people ride rollercoasters.
People like to be scared, at least when there is absolutely no
risk to them. :)

There are lots of books out there on the subject. Psychologists just love
this kind of stuff.
People's love of horror stories can be linked to Jung's "shadow", Freud's "ID",
and there more that I have never heard of.

                               Jim



 JIM STEELE       | INTERNET: ACPS7146@RYEVM.RYERSON.CA               
  AKA THE LURKER  | BITNET: ACPS7146@RYERSON                          

                 'DO NOT TAUNT HAPPY-FUN BALL'
From: kayser@nssdca.gsfc.nasa.gov (Susan E. Kayser NSSDC/STX (301)513-1673)
Subject: Terrible book:  The Red Tape War
News-Software: VAX/VMS VNEWS 1.41    
Organization: NASA - Goddard Space Flight Center
Date: Mon, 13 Apr 1992 16:16:00 GMT

This is to warn people not to waste money on "The Red Tape War", by Chalker, 
Resnick, and Effinger.  They have a couple of cute ideas, they milk them for 
all they are worth, and then milk them again.  About 70% of the book is filler 
(telling you who wrote each chapter, telling you they just did it for the 
money, and so on), and 2/3 of the rest is repetitive.  Don't waste your time, 
either. 

Susan Kayser		NCF::KAYSER  or  kayser%nssdca.span@star.stanford.edu
Hughes/STX at NASA/GSFC/NSSDC
Greenbelt, MD
From: nikolay@husc10.harvard.edu (Philip Nikolayev)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.written
Subject: Re: Thanks, Isaac (was Re: Asimov Dies)
Date: 8 Apr 92 23:23:33 GMT
Followup-To: rec.arts.sf.written
Organization: Harvard Arts and Sciences Computer Services, Cambridge, MA
In-reply-to: dave@cs.arizona.edu's message of 8 Apr 92 03:10:49 GMT


In article <1992Apr8.031049.18359@organpipe.uug.arizona.edu>, 
dave@cs.arizona.edu (Dave Schaumann) writes:

> The untimely demise of the good Doctor has set me to thinking about what 
> he means for me, what place he holds in my personal definition of SF.

Yes, but have you noticed the irony of the new subject-line
you have created?

Philip Nikolayev at nikolay@husc.harvard.edu
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.written
From: doom@leland.Stanford.EDU (Joseph Brenner)
Subject: SF about science
Organization: DSG, Stanford University, CA 94305, USA
Date: Fri, 10 Apr 92 09:49:42 GMT

A brief summary of the recommendations thus far (email
results first):

John Cramer's _Twistor_
Dave Langford's _The Leaky Establishment_ 
Sagan's _Contact_
Carl Djerassi's _Cantor's Dilemma_ 
Asimov's "Lunatico"
Hogan's "Inherit the Stars" 
Paul Preuss' _Broken Symmetries_
Gregory Benford's _Timescape_
Bruce Sterling's "The Beautiful and the Sublime"

Non-fiction:
Watson & Crick _The Double Helix_
Gregory Benford's "Doing Science" from the May 1992 F&SF
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.written
Subject: new Tim Power's
From: rwilley@eagle.wesleyan.edu (Hrothgar)
Date: 15 Apr 92 12:31:31 EDT
Organization: Wesleyan University

I was somewhat surprised to see that no one has yet mentioned that
"Last Call" by Tim Powers just came out in hardback.  I picked the book up
yesterday, and IMHO it lives up to Power's usual high standards.
If you can't track it down at the library, this is one I'd definitely recommend
buying in hardcover.
if anyone wants a more complete review, drop me some email and I'll put
something together.

					richard