HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: ca572@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Mark L. Stackpole)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.written
Subject: Re: Ian McDonald's _The Broken Land_: review
Date: 13 Oct 92 17:31:34 GMT
Article-I.D.: usenet.1bf15mINNaii
Organization: Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio (USA)
NNTP-Posting-Host: hela.ins.cwru.edu


Don't flame me before I'm finished, but I found McDonald's
"Fragments of an Analysis of a Case of Hysteria" very moving...BUT
it was moving not by any quality of the writing or story but 
because is was about the Holocaust. 
	The best way I can describe it is to point out the movie
"Testimony" as a similar case. That biopic of Shostokovich was
emotionally powerful because during the last reel footage was
shown of Concentration camp victims and bodies being bulldozed.
The picture was moving because that footage by itself was moving
and "Testimony" expropriated that emotion - without it, the movie
was negligible.
	The same way with "Fragments...". Invoking an ethnic group
irrationally persecuted, rounded up, thrown by the hundreds into
a box car to be executed at a death camp masqurading as a relocation
center makes the mind sick just to consider such inhumanity. 
McDonald in his story just says "remember the Holocaust" every
page and uses the emotions and memories brought up in the reader
to carry his bad writing along.
	I was angry at the end because McDonald stole emotions and
used a horrific event for cheap imact. He used the Holocaust the
same way a TV show uses an exploding car: a quick thrill.
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.written
From: urban@krusty.jpl.nasa.gov (Michael Urban)
Subject: Re: Weirdstone location? (Was Re:Alan Garner)
Reply-To: urban@krusty.jpl.nasa.gov ()
Organization: Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA
Date: Fri, 9 Oct 1992 15:32:03 GMT

The founder of the Tolkien Society of America, Richard Plotz, used to
tell about his visit to England back in the 60s.  Having read the
Garner books, he naturally had to visit the Alderly Edge region.
Entirely by chance, he met a woman riding a bicycle along the road,
who turned out to be the woman whom Alan Garner had used as the model
for the farmer's wife in the books (I forget her name -- and the
character's for that matter -- but believe that it is mentioned in an
acknowledgement at the end of Moon of Gomrath).  He visited their farm
(Mr. whatever was watching television, which Plotz found rather
disconcerting for some reason).

The Wizard of the Edge is noted on the Ordinance Survey map of the
area.

	Mike Urban

	urban@cobra.jpl.nasa.gov
From: "milan rezac" <milan.rezac@canrem.com>
Subject: tolkien ?
Reply-To: "milan rezac" <milan.rezac@canrem.com>
Organization: Canada Remote Systems
Distribution: rec
Date: 13 Oct 92 08:27:43 EST

KD>I believe the story went something like this:

KD>The Tolkien mailing list was started about a year before The Big
KD>Split. This drained the original rec.arts.sf.lovers of Tolkien-related
KD>postings, so when the split arrived, very few could see the need for a
KD>special tolkien group.

Aww, damn!  I can't subscribe to lists.  Guess I'll have to talk to my sysop
again...and again...and again....  Is it (either of them, actually)
interesting?

KD>Also in general people was opposed to special-groups like Heinlein or
KD>Tolkien.

Well, perhaps it could have been called Middle-earth.  After all, there's
enough stuff there to keep us occupied for decades to come!

Thanks for the info,

Milan
---
  DeLuxe 5.60 #7817  BBSi ye rima, nan sera indo-ninya smen, ullume
--
Canada Remote Systems  - Toronto, Ontario
World's Largest PCBOARD System - 416-629-7000/629-7044
From: chrismg@ccwf.cc.utexas.edu (christian gadeken)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.written
Subject: The Shadow Rising (Spoilers)
Date: 12 Oct 92 19:19:39 GMT
Reply-To: chrismg@ccwf.cc.utexas.edu (christian gadeken)
Organization: The University of Texas at Austin, Austin TX
Originator: chrismg@sleepy.cc.utexas.edu

This is my impression of the latest Wheel of Time book, 
having just finished it yesterday.

(If you haven't been able to find a copy yet, check Waldenbooks.
I think they have a deal with Tor.)

Spoilers...


Well, this was a mixture of what I expected and what I didn't expect
at all.

Example: I was pretty sure the next book would be about Rand going to
Rhuidean and being marked by the Dragon.  I was *not* expecting the
history of the Aiel we were given, or that the Tinkers were an off-
shoot. (Question:If the Tinkers are of the same stock as the Aiel,
why hasn't anyone noticed the physical resemblance?  Answer:  They
actively recruit people to the Way of the Leaf, and over 3000 years
have assimilated enough people of other races to hide it.)

I was expecting at least more information on the Whitecloaks in the
Two Rivers, I was *not* expecting Perrin to return and start a full
scale war.  On reflection, it makes more sense than anything else
he could have done though.  I certainly wasn't expecting Luc and
Isam to show up the way he/they did.  (Re:the dark prophecy from
Book 2)  

Has anyone noticed that all the *really*, *really* weird stuff seems
to happen to Mat?  Rand is the Dragon Reborn, "doomed to save the
world and then destroy it" as the New York Times Bestseller List
puts it, and Perrin has a mental link with wolves, okay; by the
standrds of modern fantasy, those are almost normal.  Mat though,
starts out looking like a reincarnation of the last king of Manetheren,
then gets possessed by a cursed dagger and turned into a raving 
paranoid, gains some kind of weird luck power, and now apparently
has the memories of thousands of soldiers.  Yeesh.  (I see a peculiar
military triumvirate forming: Rand as the general, Mat as the
strategist, and Perrin as the point-man or bannerman.)

Well, this is enough rambling I think.  See you next book.

-- 
			C h r i s t i a n  G a d e k e n

Yakumo: "But I really did destroy a monster in Hong Kong!"
Saru  : "Ahem, ahem"
Yakumo: "Saru, do you believe me?"
Saru  : "Where's my Hong Kong souvenir?"
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.written
From: lairdb@crash.cts.com (Laird P. Broadfield)
Subject: Re: Need help finding short story/novelette....
Date: 7 Oct 92 19:44:06 GMT

In <lairdb.718328594@crash> lairdb@crash.cts.com (Laird P. Broadfield) writes:
>Here's the clue:  In the society (which, as I recall was either the US,
>or some sort of US-outgrowth, e.g. "North American Federation") when
>a child got to be 18 (or whatever the age of majority was) they were 
>required to sign (literally, as in you go down to the post office or
>some such) an "Articles of Citizenship" (something like that) that spelled
>out the rights and obligations.  Rather as if we were to sign the 
>Constitution when we turned 18.

>Vague recollection that this might have been a Heinlein juvenile, but
>I can't think of one that it would make sense in.  Help?

Following up my own post, and thanks to the many who have replied with 
the wrong answer: it's definitely *not* Starship Troopers.  Thanks, though!
Entries still being accepted....

-- 
Laird P. Broadfield     lairdb@crash.cts.com    ...{ucsd, nosc}!crash!lairdb
Hi!  I'm a shareware signature!  Send $5 if you use me, send $10 for manual!
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.written
From: hellmann@cs.scarolina.edu (Doug Hellmann)
Subject: Re: Gibson, Neuromancer: Why ICE works
Organization: USC  Department of Computer Science
Date: 15 Oct 92 17:18:53 GMT

tomas_e@LINK.Physchem.KTH.SE (Tomas Eriksson) writes:

>In article <urf.718745416@sw2001>, urf@icl.se (Urban F) writes:
>>I think I've figured out why ICE works:
>>
>>        It works because people think it works.
>>
>>Why not? If you believe the witch doctor, and he
>>says you'll die in five days, you very likely do.

>I don't believe your theory. I usually think that my experiments will 
>work, but that doesn't help a bit! :-)

>Tomas
>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>Tomas Eriksson                                          tomas_e@physchem.kth.se

You just don't believe hard enough!  Maybe "Thomas the Doubter" ?

Doug Hellmann
hellmann@cs.scarolina.edu
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.written
From: advax@reg.triumf.ca (A.Daviel)
Subject: Review: A Plague of Change, L.Warren Douglas
News-Software: VAX/VMS VNEWS 1.41    
Organization: TRIUMF: Tri-University Meson Facility
Date: Wed, 7 Oct 1992 06:24:00 GMT

According to the postscript, this is the authors first published novel.
I found it mature for a first novel. The characters are moderately detailed, 
nothing in the science grates on my nerves; it was a good read. I'll probably
get his next book.

There is a bit of detail on computer systems, but nothing too outre. 
Descriptions of alien language and genetic science are absorbing.

ISBN 0-345-37828-8
Del Rey/ Ballantine Books

Spoilers (mostly from the back cover)

Beyond the antimatter barrier known as the Reef, the stellar systems are low 
in heavier trace elements. The human colonies rely on interstellar trade for
these elements; with economic collapse and piracy, colonies are failing, some
turning to cannibalism. Computer prodidgy Bass Cannon finds a possible
solution on the planet Phastillan, a psatla colony. The psatla rely on human
technology to terraform (psatlaform) their colony planet, communicate by
pheromones, and can manipulate the genes of any species. Bass didn't realize
that his experiences would make him a radical, a visionary, and possibly the
savior of his own species. 

--
 Andrew Daviel, Vancouver, Canada
From: x92qba@ESSEX.STFX.CA (HAL)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.written
Subject: RE: SF-LOVERS Digest   V17 #514
Date: 15 Oct 92 15:08:37 GMT

HELP!!!
I have now been trying for a WEEK to sign off. The listservers for ALL nodes 
of SFLOVERS insist that I am not subscribed. Still, I get digests. I DO like 
the list, but I simply cannot afford the space any longer. Please ask the 
listowner to remove me.

HAL, X92QBA@ESSEX.STFX.CA, out of options
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.written,rec.arts.sf.movies
From: ott@ansoft.com (nancy ott)
Subject: Re: SF Novels That Would Make Great Films
Organization: Ansoft Corp. Pittsburgh
Distribution: rec
Date: Tue, 13 Oct 1992 20:30:56 GMT

>@apollo.HP.COM (Jennifer E. Levine) writes:
>
>
>> In article <22416@venera.isi.edu>, jas@ISI.EDU (Jeff Sullivan) writes:
>> 
>> We were discussing SF novels or novellas that were by other than the
>> "mainstream" authors (e.g., Asimov, Clarke, Heinlein, Bradbury, etc.)
>> that haven't been made into movies, but would be great.
>> 
>>
>>I always thought the first book of Anne McCaffery's The Dragonriders of Pern 
>>would make a good movie if they could pull off the Dragon effects well.
>>


Just imagine the merchandising tie-ins.  Fax, F'nor, and F'lar Action
Figures.  An entire product line of flame throwing dragons with
riders.  Spray-on Thread (a la Silly String).  Not to mention the
Benden Weyr and Ruatha Hold Play Sets (batteries and dragons not
included).  For the girls, there's Lessa in Riding Gear, Impression
Robe, Drudge Rags, and Festival Gown.  Plus a golden plush Ramoth who
lays eggs that hatch tiny dragons.  And let's not forget a soundtrack
album that has no relation to anything that went on in the movie, and the
obligatory Saturday morning cartoon spinoff.

Shudder.  ;-) ;-) ;-)  


- nancy
From: warda@vax.oxford.ac.uk
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.written
Subject: Re: Jack the Bodiless-Availibility in Britain/Ireland ?
Date: 9 Oct 92 19:21:48 GMT
Organization: Oxford University VAX 6620

> There have been alot of posting about Julian May recently. I have 
> a question for fellow fans.
> 
> Has her new book "Jack the Bodiless" been released in Britain ?.
> I ask because we would get the British edition here.
> 
> If so when was it released ?. Thanks.
> 
It has definitely been published in hardback here, because I asked at the
local bookshop (in Oxford).  It came out very shortly after I saw postings on
it in this group - probably around May. 


Cheers,

   Bill Bennett                           JANET: warda@uk.ac.oxford.vax    
   CRC Growth Factors Research Group   Internet: warda%vax.oxford.ac.uk  
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.written
From: cooper%midkemia@plains.nodak.edu (Jeff Cooper)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.written
Subject: Re: Brian Lumley's NecroScope Series
Date: 10 Oct 92 04:18:03 GMT
Article-I.D.: plains.1992Oct10.041803.3458
Reply-To: cooper%midkemia@plains.nodak.edu (Jeff Cooper)
Organization: North Dakota State University

William Michael Perry writes
> Hello all,
>    I just finished reading Brian Lumley's latest NecroScope book
> (Blood Brothers) last night.  Anyone know when the next one is due
> out?  Only thing I didn't like about this one were the 4 or 5
> gratuitous sex scenes.
>    Has anyone else out there read these books?  They deal with
> vampires as parasites in human hosts (leeches) that amplify their
> hosts emotions, etc.  Also about a man who can speak with the dead
> (thus Necroscope) who finds out about them when a murder victim asks
> him for help.

Well I'm not sure if we're talking about the same series, but I've read  
the Necroscope series and I don't have one called 'Blood Brothers'.  I've  
got the following:

Necroscope
Necroscope II: Vamphyri!
Necroscope III: The Source
Necroscope IV: Deadspeak
Necroscope V: Deadspawn

I really enjoyed all of them, it was a new angle on the old vampire  
legends and it's one of my favorite series.  The series goes together  
fairly well and it ends in the fifth book, although it could probably be  
continued if Lumley really wanted it too.

I don't want to spoil it for anyone, but if you like a good adventure and  
like reading about vampires, physic abilities and international intrigue  
I'd give them a try.  One warning though, these aren't books for the  
squeamish, there are some pretty graphic scenes (if you have a good  
imagination).  I really didn't think that the sex scenes were gratuitous  
though, you've got to remember that you're dealing with a creature who has  
had ALL of it's needs/wants/desires amplified.  I would have thought it  
rather odd if there had been no mention of sex in the book myself, but  
then to each his own.
-- 
Jeff Cooper
NeXTmail: cooper%midkemia@plains.nodak.edu
	  uunet!plains!midkemia!cooper
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.written
From: kasprj@isaac.its.rpi.edu (Jim Kasprzak)
Subject: Re: Who Wrote RAMA II and GARDEN OF..., anyway? (was re: Next Rama Book?)
Reply-To: kasprj@rpi.edu
Organization: The Big Wedge 
Date: Sat, 10 Oct 1992 17:26:34 GMT

In article <BvtFHq.Gyx@acsu.buffalo.edu>, v075q5fr@ubvmsd.cc.buffalo.edu (Scott J Gorcey) writes:
|> In article <j_tz2kj@rpi.edu>, kasprj@rpi.edu writes...
|> >In article <BvqMLz.E0A@acsu.buffalo.edu>, v075q5fr@ubvmsb.cc.buffalo.edu (Scott J Gorcey) writes:
|>|> 
|>|>      Besides, Clarke hasn't written or cowritten a good book
|>|>      since 2061...  and that was an unexpected spike in 
|>|>      his quality.  The slide's been happening for a long
|>|>      while.  Check out GHOST FROM THE GRAND BANKS.

|>> Umm, what? Are you sure you aren't reading the Anti-Clarke? Or perhaps 
|>>holding your graphs upside-down? 

|>      Are you telling me he [cares]
|>      about any of the non-people in GHOST FROM THE
|>      GRAND BANKS?  You have to have a PHD in quantum mechanics
|>      to read that ... book - and that's just what it was: an
|>      especially LONG essay on how to, mathematically with chaos
|>      theory and fractals, raise the Titanic. 
 
 This is conclusive proof that you have been reading a different Clarke 
than I have. I don't have a Ph.D. in quantum physics (or anything else 
for that matter), but I read and enjoyed _Ghost_. Yes, he went a bit too
far with the fractals, but other than that, I place it in the same class
as _The Fountains of Paradise_ or _2010: Odyssey Two_ (which I enjoyed
much more than _2061_, and even a bit more than _2001_). 
 
 The characters in _Ghost_ seemed just as well-rounded as those in _2061_,
and more believable as human beings. What can I say to you? The Clarke in
your universe seems to have achieved the opposite effect. If there were a
way to send physical mail between alternate realities, I'd offer to trade
a copy of _Ghost_ from my world for a copy of _2061_ from yours, but as 
far as I've seen, the timeline-crossing phenomenon only seems to work over
the computer networks.
------------------------------------------------------------------
     __  Live from Capitaland, heart of the Empire State...
 ___/  | Jim Kasprzak, computer operator @ RPI, Troy, NY, USA
/____ *| Pro-Environment. Pro-Education. Pro-Family. Pro-Choice. 
     \_| Pro-Change. Pro-America. Pro-Clinton.
      ====  e-mail: kasprj@rpi.edu or kasprzak@mts.rpi.edu 


Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.written
From: ghost@openage.openage.com (Glenn Host)
Subject: Re: Wild Cards?
Organization: Open Age, Inc.
Date: Mon, 12 Oct 1992 02:27:58 GMT

kasprj@isaac.its.rpi.edu (Jim Kasprzak) writes:
 
> So what happened after that? We fast-forward to the late 80's and suddenly 
>everything becomes one huge superhero slugfest, just like in the comics. 
>If I wanted this sort of nonsense, I'd go back to Marvel. Okay, there was 
>some interesting character development in the first two books, but after 
>that, I really couldn't bring myself to care about what happened to anyone
>except the Great and Powerful Turtle (probably the most "human" of all the
>Wild Card victims). If someone can tell me what finally happened to him, 
>I'll quit looking for the fifth volume and give up on the series for good.
> 
> Wild Cards was a great concept that fizzled in the long run. I reccomend
>reading the first volume and quitting there. You'll save yourself time, 
>money and frustration.

I agree regarding the fizzling.  Recently the authors seem to be
trying to one-up each other with attempts to be the most perverse.

P.S. The Great and Powerful Turtle is still around and is still
the best character; the rest, especially Dr Tachyon, are degenerating
into characters you hope die just so that you do not hear about them
anymore.  Many times I hoped he/she/it would die in the solo novel
but no such luck.
-- 

                      Glenn E. Host - Reston, VA
Very grateful guest of Openage - the best SCO service shop in the area
************* my views represent no one - not even myself. ****************
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.written
From: baylor@nebula.ssd.lmsc.lockheed.com
Subject: Re: Wild Cards?
Reply-To: baylor@nebula.ssd.lmsc.lockheed.com
Organization: LMSC, Sunnyvale, California
Date: Mon, 12 Oct 92 18:34:27 GMT

In article <g5xz+y@rpi.edu>, kasprj@isaac.its.rpi.edu (Jim Kasprzak) writes:
>In article <1992Oct11.014258.16266@husc3.harvard.edu>, jvessey@husc8.harvard.edu (Jonathan Vessey) writes:
>|> Is anyone out there a fan of the Wild Card series of books? I've read all of
>|> them with the exception of part of Aces Abroad (I read books five and six first
>|> so I sort of know what happens and haven't felt like going back over it). 
>|> Needless to say, I was psyched to see that the newest book in the series is
>|> out a bit before I was planning on it. Has anyone read it? What did you think?
> 
[cut]
>that, I really couldn't bring myself to care about what happened to anyone
>except the Great and Powerful Turtle (probably the most "human" of all the
>Wild Card victims). If someone can tell me what finally happened to him, 
>I'll quit looking for the fifth volume and give up on the series for good.

Turtle is still alive and still a bit of a whuss (sp?) His pal Joey
moved out of state, so Turtle is pretty lonely. Any more would be a
spoiler, and I never did figure out ^F in this editor.

> 
> Wild Cards was a great concept that fizzled in the long run. I reccomend
>reading the first volume and quitting there. You'll save yourself time, 
>money and frustration.


Relative to other "shared universe" collections, I think Wild Cards
is doing quite well. (The concept, in my opinion, usually fizzles
after about book 3, but I'm still reading this one). I agree that
the alternatives to history were fascinating, but they've apparantly
decided not to fill in eras they've already covered, so they're 
pretty well stuck with being contemporary. (I however, am still
chuckling about "General Frank Zappa"). For the last several books,
they've been alternating NYC stories with "elsewhere" so that
lots of stuff can go on without everyone having to interact with 
EVERYONE else. They may have messed up continuity this time, though.
I think they forgot that Jay Ackroyd was supposed to be out of 
town. (Although he hasn't made an appearance since early on. Maybe 
this gets explained).

Anyhow, I'm a comic book fan, so I rather like the series.
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.written
From: steevesm@woods.ulowell.edu
Subject: Dark Sun
Organization: University of Lowell
Date: Fri, 9 Oct 1992 15:19:08 GMT

Netters:

Anyone bothered with the "Dark Sun" series at all?  I have the first three
books, and while they are "mind candy" (tm.), they are an entertaining read
on an interesting idea.  Just wondering if any of y'all read them and have
an opinion (and BTW, I *do* play the AD&D game of this, also...)

-darkelf
-----
"I have no brother, am like no brother;
 And this word "love", which the greybeards call divine,
 Be resident in men like one another
 And not in me.  I am myself alone."
	-Gloucester, Henry VI Pt. 3


-----
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.written