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docholligay · 7 months ago

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@thoughtfulfuri sorry this took me so long! A revised list of books you should look into reading this year. I could have added more ahaha, but this will keep you plenty busy.

Deeply informed by your list and the brief of: “Books that have deeply influenced the thrust of the genre and media broadly”

I also went for breadth over depth--you had some authors with a TON of books on your list, and if you’re looking for understanding of media influence I’m not sure that’s the best use of your time. THis isn’t a perfect list but I think it’ll provide a better net than your original. I do not know what you have an haven’t read. Spots where I think you might have read my recommendation I supplied a second. An incomplete list, because no list is ever complete, and always has huge gaps in judgment. WE can always make a new list next year!

Agatha Christie -- And Then There Were None This was already on your list and it’s perfect. I prefer Murder On the Orient Express, but in fairness, those are the only two Christie novels I’ve ever read. And I’d keep it to one from each author.

The Art of War — Sun Tzu From your list, I have no issue with it

Kurt Vonnegut -- Slaughterhouse Five This is his best and most enduring work. IF you’re looking for incredible influence, this is the one.

Octavia Butler -- Kindred I winnowed down your multiple Butler works to this big hitter.

Isaac Asimov -- I, Robot From your list, make total sense

Daphne DuMaurier -- Rebecca You had My Cousin Rachel, which is great fun, but Rebecca is THE DuMaurier book.

Leo Tolstoy -- War and Peace I replaced Crime and Pnishment with this not because I don’t like Crime and Punishment, but because if you’re going to commit to a russian novel, you may as well make it the most influential one ever written. This is routinely hailed as the best fucking novel ever written. It is in fact great. I will reread it with you this year!

Frank Herbert -- Dune. This is from your original list and it’s fine I guess. I think reading Dune is a waste of time unless you’re super into sci-fi, but I won’t fight it.

JRR Tolkien-- The Fellowship of the Ring From your original list and yeah absolutely. Cannot hope to ujnderstand fantasy as a genre without reading this. If you like it I recommend the whole series, but Tolkien can be hard for people.

Harper Lee -- To Kill A Mockingbird From your list. Yes, this is an incredibly important American piece.

Jane Austen -- Pride and Predjudice. There is no more influential Austen novel. You gotta. If you’ve read P&P read Sense and Sensibility, which has the added benefit of being at least four times better (according to people named Doc, who are me, who do not like P&P)

Ray Bradbury -- Fahrenheit 451. I actually prefer Something Wicked from your list, but F451 is much more influential. If you’ve read Farenheit, read 1984 by George Orwell. IF you’ve read that, read Brave New World by Huxley. If you’re read that, scrap totally, your list is very sci-fi weighted anyhow.

Oscar Wilde -- The Picture of Dorian Gray. Replaced A Woman of No Importance, which most people haven’t even heard of, with Picture, a deeply and widely referenced novel. If you’ve read picture, read “The Importance of Being Earnest” or better, watch a proshot of a play.

Gregory McGuire--- Wicked. I dunno that I think this deserves a spot on your list, but I get that everyone’s talking about it right now. And I like the book! But it’s just not very genre influential, it’s more deeply influenced BY the genre. I left it, because I get wanting to engage with everyone talking about it, but those are my reservations.

WE ARE OFF YOUR LIST TOTALLY NOW. So I took a bunch of repeats off your list. I admire wanting to track influential books, and broaden your understanding of media generally, but I think you were sorta getting into the weeds. So I added a few others that have huge media impact.

Charles Dickens -- David Copperfield Boy did this suck for me to try and pick. I fucking love Charles Dickens. He was a dick in a lot of ways, revolutionary in others, and the man could write his ass off. He knew how to write a serial style that also keeps track of itself, and there is stuff that blows my mind as a modern reader even now. (If I hadn’t unintentionally made last years book clubs essentially Brit Lit 2: Brit harder i would be doing a Dickens novel for book club. I do have an idea of theming this year as “The American Answer” so like, we did Brideshead last year and the, well, an, American answer to that book is the Secret History. Here On Earth for Wuthering Heights. I don’t know. Actually, there’s an AMerican restyling of David Copperfield in my to-reads for this year) BUT ANYWAY, I ended up picking David Copperfield. It was Dickens’ own favorite, it’s one of his only first person novels, and it is the clearest example of Dickens’ tendency to impress himself upon a character. It has its flaws, of course, but I think centering yourself on David, a nostalgic, emotional writer trying to make his way in the world up from poverty, gives you a great understanding of both Dickens’ incredible influence and his own understanding of HIMSELF. Wow that was a lot of words. I have feelings about Charles Dickens. Sorry.

Toni Morrison -- Beloved I didn’t like this book, when I read it. But it is good, it won the fucking Pulitzer Prize. I think Song of Solomon is better for me though. Anyway, you have to read Toni Morrison. The way she weaves in the Black American experience with undertones of magical realism impacts the way stories of what I’m going to call “difficult narratives” are allowed to be told today, influencing even people outside of the Black community.

Salman Rushdie -- The Satanic Verses A masterwork of parallel storytelling, people keep trying to kill Rushdie over this book, a fantastic story about the immigrant experience in Great Britian.

And some genre stuff for flavor:

Spy Novels:

Ian Fleming -- Casino Royale You know who james fucking Bond is. He was a book character first!

John LeCarre -- The Spy who Came in From the Cold Okay, I am gonna level with you that this and fleming are two opposite poles, but I think they are two opposite poles that give you a really good look at what the spy novel can be and has been. I really enjoy John LeCarre despite not being huge into the genre

Horror:

Shirley Jackson -- The Haunting of Hill House This is the novel that launched Stephen King of all people, among others. Jackson is a fucking genius.

Stephen King -- The Shining Horror is hard, because I read and love a lot of it. But The Shining had a huge influence on both horror and the American consciousness broadly.

Fantasy:

TH White-- The Once and Future King. Were you at the book club for this? I cannot fucking remember to save my own life. Anyway, if you weren’t, this and LoTR changed fantasy forever. Same time period, even. How we understand fantwasy broadly today comes out of how Tolkien and White were thinking of it. If you read this, read The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe by CS Lewis.

Grr Martin-- A Game of Thrones Oh, I’m gonna get letters. But genuinely this book changed the game in fantasy, and had a huge cultural impact on America and many other Western countries.

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teachingmycattoread · 9 months ago

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Things We've Yelled About This Episode #4.0

The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, Robert Louis Stevenson (ed. Roger Luckhurst, Oxford 2008)

You can check out friend of the pod Charlotte's previous episode on Anno Dracula here

Frankenstein, Mary Shelley (our episode here)

"If he is Mr Hyde, I shall be Mr Seek." Ch.2 p.14, Jekyll and Hyde

Treasure Island, Robert Louis Stevenson

Kidnapped!, Robert Louis Stevenson

"In this character, it was frequently his fortune to be the last reputable acquaintance and the last good influence in the lives of down-going men." Ch.1 p. 5, Jekyll and Hyde

Dracula, Bram Stoker (our episodes here and here)

Charlotte's video work can be found at CharlotteWithAD on youtube

Queer Street - the editor has "there have been some energetic interpretations of Jekyll and Hyde by 'Queer Theorists', who pick up on instances like this and suggest that the modern understanding of 'queer' as a slang term for homosexuality was already in use in the late nineteenth century. Being 'in Queer Street' was in fact a standard phrase for being in financial difficulties, and is a corruption of Carey Street, where the bankruptcy courts were located."

Politics of disgust - here referring to the (flawed) idea that disgust is a reliable indicator of moral value.

The illegality of pushing a moose out of a moving plane in Alaska (source) . This fun fact turns up in a lot of clickbait listicles but I haven't been able to find anything that actually quotes chapter and verse of the relevant law code, so take this with a grain of salt!

Doctor Who (wiki)

Jules Verne (writer)

The Time Machine, H. G. Wells

Isaac Asimov (writer)

This meme from Buzzfeed Unsolved:

Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea, Jules Verne

Around the World in Eighty Days, Jules Verne

Jack the Ripper (wiki)

The unfortunate coincidence of the stage production of Jekyll and Hyde and the Ripper murders (wiki)

Gestalt therapy (wiki)

"Henry James's praise for Stevenson was that 'His books are for the most part without women, and it is not women who most fall in love with them.'..." p. xxvi, Jekyll and Hyde

Dr Jekyll (2023)

Suzie Izzard (imdb)

The Labouchere Amendment (wiki)

Oscar Wilde (writer)

The trials of Oscar Wilde (wiki)

Charlotte is quoting from this article on Crime Reads from 2023

Dictionary Corner; Countdown (1982-ongoing)

"Stevenson also had a friend in John Addington Symonds who was an ardent campaigner for the legal recognition of homosexuality", p. xxvi, Jekyll and Hyde

"In 1887, Stevenson's sense of sheer disappointment that Hyde had already come to be regarded as a 'mere voluptuary' is palpable: 'There is no harm in a voluptuary,' he wrote, 'no harm whatever - in what prurient fools call "immorality."' Hyde, he claimed, was 'no more sexual than another,' and dismissed as impoverished 'this poor wish to have a woman, that they make such a cry about'." p. xxviii, Jekyll and Hyde

Peep Show (2003-2015)

Kill James Bond! (podcast)

The specific episode Charlotte is referencing here is S3E22.5 "Cruising". Preview here and patreon link to full episode here

ACAB (wiki)

“Everyone was guilty of something. Vimes knew that. Every copper knew it. That was how you maintained your authority—everyone, talking to a copper, was secretly afraid you could see their guilty secret written on their forehead. You couldn’t, of course. But neither were you supposed to drag someone off the street and smash their fingers with a hammer until they told you what it was.” Night Watch, Terry Pratchett

Sins of the City series, K. J. Charles

Brandon Sanderson (writer)

November Kelly on returning to the mothership - this is also from Kill James Bond!, but we haven't managed to track down the specific episode - if you know it, give us a shout!

Blindsight, Peter Watts

Echopraxia, Peter Watts

Countess Boochie Flagrante (meme)

Hogwarts Legacy controversy (source)

Stonewall (website)

Well well well, if it isn't the consequences of my actions (meme)

Muppets Treasure Island (1996)

Hercule Poirot; Agatha Christie

Midsomer Murders (1997-ongoing)

Miss Marple; Agatha Christie

Le Chevalier C. Auguste Dupin; The Murders at the Rue Morgue, Edgar Allan Poe

We! Do Not! Talk About! The Orangutan! story from this tumblr post

The Librarian; the Discworld series, Terry Pratchett

The Mystery of Marie Rogêt, The Purloined Letter, Edgar Allan Poe

House MD (2004-2012)

Beowulf (our episode here)

His Majesty's Dragon, Naomi Novik (our episodes here, here and here)

Back To The Future (1985)

The Bodysnatchers, Robert Louis Stevenson

Cat Rating

7/10

What Else Are We Reading?

The Hollow Places, T. Kingfisher

Ghazghkull Thraka: Prophet of the Waaagh!, Nate Crowley

Harrow the Ninth, Tamsyn Muir

The Discworld series, Terry Pratchett

Remarkably Bright Creatures, Shelby Van Pelt

The Southern Reach trilogy, Jeff VanderMeer

#teaching my cat to read #tmctr #tmctr ref

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rabbitcruiser · 7 months ago

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National Science Fiction Day

Get ready to explore galaxies and dimensions beyond your wildest dreams with stories that push the boundaries of what's possible!

No one is going to place any blame for those people who may have never heard about National Science Fiction Day! It’s common in some circles but virtually unknown in others. Reading science fiction books, watching Sci-Fi films, dressing up as a favorite superhero and perhaps even taking part in Comic-Con may not be for everyone. But,as it turns out, in the last few years National Science Fiction Day has become a very popular and unique event that marks the calendar of every true and dedicated fan of science fiction.

Although it’s not an official holiday of any sort (meaning that it is not recognized or declared by any government), National Science Fiction Day is given some degree of credence through its recognition by organizations such as the Hallmark Channel as well as the Scholastic Corporation. National Science Fiction Day has expanded not only across the United States, but has also made its way across different parts of the world.

Now it’s time to learn about and prepare to celebrate National Science Fiction Day!

The History of National Science Fiction Day

National Science Fiction Day is celebrated on this date very early in the year for a good reason. January 2 was the date that was chosen in order to correspond with the official birth date of famed science fiction writer Isaac Asimov, who is thought to have been born January 2nd, 1920. Mr. Asimov is responsible for some incredible works of science fiction literature during his lifetime, such as “Nightfall” and the “Foundation Trilogy”.

Isaac Asimov, originally a biochemist, was known to be one of the most prolific writers of all time, having written or edited more than 500 books. He is widely considered a master of hard science fiction and was a long-time member and vice president of Mensa International. His dedication to scientific accuracy was to be envied.

Asimov was responsible for a variety of terms related to National Science Fiction Day. He coined the term “robotics” in his 1941 story “Liar!”. In addition, he also came up with the term “spome” in a paper entitled, “There’s No Place Like Spome” which was published in Atmosphere in Space Cabins and Closed Environments. Eventually the term “psychohistory” was created in his foundation stories to name a fictional branch of science which combines history, sociology, and mathematical statistics to make general predictions about the future behavior of very large groups of people.

Isaac Asimov was an atheist as well as a humanist and a rationalist—he did not actually oppose the religious convictions that others had. However, he was frequently angered by superstitious and pseudoscientific beliefs that tried to pass themselves off as genuine science.

How to Celebrate National Science Fiction Day

Celebrating National Science Fiction Day can be a delightful way to have fun, to learn and to use the imagination. Weather celebrating on your own or getting some friends and family together, here are some ideas to get started on ways of celebrating this day:

Read Famous Works of Science Fiction

While Asimov was one of the most prominent science fiction writers of the last century, fans usually like to show their appreciation to National Science Fiction Day by reading books from a whole variety of authors.

A list of some of these interesting authors might include:

Jules Verne Born in the mid-1800s, Verne was a French novelist and playwright, and his work made a huge impact on Europe especially as it has to do with science fiction. He is most well known for his books Twenty Thousand Leagues Under The Sea (1870) and Around the World in Eighty Days (1873).

H.G. Wells This famous author lived from the mid-1800s to the mid-1900s and his unforgettable science fiction has been made into radio shows and modern movies, such as War of the Worlds (1898) and The Time Machine (1895).

Ray Bradbury A well known 20th century author, Bradbury wrote masterpiece novels that inspired a variety of sci-fi writers and creators that would come after him. He wrote Fahrenheit 451 (1953) and The Martian Chronicles (1950).

Kurt Vonnegut This creative postmodern writer was a science fiction creative whose works were also hailed as strong works in the literary category as well. His books include titles such as Player Piano (1952) and Slaughterhouse Five (1959).

Watch Some Science Fiction Movies

For those who are less inclined to reading but still want to celebrate the day, a great way to enjoy National Science Fiction Day is by having a movie marathon. Grab a few friends and some snacks, or go it on your own. Whichever film is chosen, purely classic or distinctly modern, it’s sure to pay homage to National Science Fiction Day.Some of these are even parts of a series of films that could be binge-watched in honor of the day:

Alien (1979) by Ridley Scott One of the most famous works of sci-fi horror cinema of all time, Alien is about how “in space, no one can hear you scream” and how a close encounter of the third kind becomes a Jaws-style nightmare when an alien invades a spacecraft. Sigourney Weaver and Tom Skerritt star in this film that went on to have five more in the series over the next 30 years, as well as a variety of spinoffs.

2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) by Stanley Kubrick In cooperation with Arthur C. Clarke, Kubrick wrote the story about a sentient computer, HAL, and a voyage to the planet Jupiter. This story is especially well known for its scientific accuracy related to space travel.

The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (2005) by Garth Jennings What would happen if someone discovered that their friend was actually an alien sent to earth to write a universal guidebook just before the planet is destroyed? That’s the premise of this book. Mere seconds before the Earth is to be demolished by an alien construction crew, journeyman Arthur Dent is swept off the planet by his friend Ford Prefect, a researcher penning a new edition of “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.”

Blade Runner (1982) by Ridley Scott Another fan favorite, this film is based on the novel by Philip K. Dick, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? Harrison Ford plays a space cop who comes to terms with his own understanding of what it means to be human. Blade Runner 2049 is a sequel starring Ryan Gosling and Harrison Ford that was made in 2017.

Listen to Science Fiction Themed Music

Throw on some CDs from sci-fi movie soundtracks to get the vibe going. Or, create a playlist on Spotify, Pandora or another favorite music hosting platform. Here are a few songs to get started with that National Science Fiction Playlist:

You’re Full of Stars by Max Richter (2021) This song from “Invasion” is perfect for space travel themed films and books.

Ripples in the Sand by Hans Zimmer (2021) From the modern remake of the 1965 film “Dune”, this song was made using newly created hybrid instruments to give the music an other-worldly sound, relying especially heavily on percussion, strings and celestial female voices.

Almost Human by Lauren Daigle (2017) The soundtrack from sequel Blade Runner 2049 features this soulful piece. The song also gives a little nod to the 2013 Fox television sci-fi series of the same name.

Ultimatum by Johann Johannsson (2016) An ethereal piece that provides suspense and drama as the listener imagines the tension from the film Arrival which stars Amy Adams and Jeremy Renner.

Throw a Science Fiction Theme Party

Get those friends and family members who are sci-fi fans together and host a gathering that honors all things related to National Science Fiction Day. Decorate with space themed items, play some of the music mentioned above, and be sure to have guests dress up as their favorite science fiction character.

A super fun part of a Science Fiction Party is creating a menu around the theme. Get started with some of these ideas for snacks, drinks and desserts:

Captain Nemo This drink pays heed to Jules Verne’s Nautilus captain from 20,000 leagues under the sea. It is made using fresh lemon juice, guava and raspberry puree, Ting (a Jamaican soft drink flavored with grapefruit juice) and Clement sirop de canne (a spiced sugar cane syrup.

Noodle Bar Giving a nod to the Blade Runner film (mentioned above), noodles have been eaten in several space films and shows over the years, including Almost Human, Battlestar Galactica, Cowboy Bebop, Prometheus and The Fifth Element.

Gingerbread Wookiee Cookies Everyone’s favorite Wookiee, Chewbacca, is featured here by simply altering a gingerbread cookie form slightly. Make some marks on the pre-baked cookie dough to symbolize the fur. Then, once the cookies are baked, use a piping bag to make an icing face and bandolier.

Alien Themed Snacks A variety of different types of treats can be turned into aliens or creatures from outer space. Try decorating cupcakes with green ice cream and just one eye in the middle. Or dye popcorn balls green, shape them into alien heads and create faces with black licorice cutouts.

National Science Fiction Day should be a time to stop and appreciate every author who has ever created a memorable character and even entire worlds. So, whichever author happens to be the favorite, be sure to pay some extra attention to them on that day!

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mitigatedchaos · 2 years ago

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Speaking of Scott, people have been making an argument that Astral Codex Ten is a lot weaker than Slate Star Codex.

I'll admit to it right now, I haven't been reading it! Since it's come up, I decided to have a peek.

I had a good laugh at a few parts of this recent post.

We can use this more serious post for calibration. There are a few things going on here.

1: Scott is writing for a more general audience, about a more common mistake, rather than a highly-selected audience of high-IQ nerds with a similar cultural background.

2: There is a pattern where someone is intelligent and relatively self-reflective and encounters some problem within society. Then they undergo rising awareness as they pour immense intellectual effort into figuring out what the fuck is going on. During this phase, they will tend to attack problems where there is high potential information gain.

3: Combining 1 & 2, we can see that Scott is taking on an officer role for a broader share of the blues than before, attempting to guide them away from a purely tribalistic pursuit-of-power approach. (We see something similar in the blog of another famous substacker - Matt Yglesias, despite (or perhaps because of) his partisanship attempting to reduce the epistemic debt load of the Democratic coalition.)

4: Scott is posting something almost daily (with new written posts every 2-3 days); this is less time to develop a topic.

5: Slate Star Codex apparently launched in 2013. The readers of the original blog are now ten years older, which means they've had ten more years to undergo ideological development.

Some time in the past couple of years, I reread Isaac Asimov's The Caves of Steel. It's well-written and a fun read, with a nice twist.

As a test, I decided to guess Asimov's age when he wrote it. I was correct. While many of us in the 2014-2022 encouraged people to look beyond the background of the author, the era and the author leak in. This just isn't a reason to throw out every book written before 2008.

#slate star codex #the rationalists #vibe shift #2010 vs 2014

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rynnaaurelius · 2 years ago

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I'd really love the sci fi reading list, if it's not too difficult! Thank you for your explanation

Yes! Okay, requisite this is Not Authoritative Or Comprehensive claim, I'm a dork with a Russian degree, but here we go:

(I tried to organize this chronologically because if I did it thematically we would be here all day. Also, I still have more books, but they get increasingly niche. This is a Greatest Hits playlist, and if you look these people up, you will find their contemporaries)

(Long list below the Read More)

Jules Verne — 80,000 Leagues Under the Sea, Journey to the Center of the Earth. Excellent continuations of that exploration/'ostracized' genius figure, so popular in the previous century. French, so English translations. Kinda marks the transition point between 19th c. pure spec exploration and what we would call sci-fi. BUT BEFORE HIM...

Mary Shelley — Frankenstein is probably the first sci-fi novel as we know it. BUT BEFORE HER...

Margaret Cavendish — Okay, the 'first sci-fi novel' is hard to define for obvious reasons, but The Blazing World has as good a claim as any. Published in the 17th c., so it really traverses the genres, but includes a utopian kingdom accessible via the North Pole. Her husband was so impressed that he composed a sonnet for her, which serves as the epigraph for the novel; it's a wild read in the same way Robinson Crusoe and other early novels are, and I'm mostly including it here because it's so, so wild to read in 2023.

John W. Campbell — That dude. The hero's journey guy. His short story Who Goes There? Has been adapted a million times into a little movie called The Thing. Unfortunately got really into race science, so Isaac Asimov told him to fuck off. Edited the magazine Astounding Science Fiction, which in 1939 published Black Destroyer by Alfred Van Vogt, usually cited as the beginning of Golden Age sci-fi.

H. G. Wells — Big critic of class divisions in Victorian English society, coined the term 'time machine' as we think of it in his novel...The Time Machine. A lot of what we consider 'classic' time travel tropes were, if not invented here, had their seeds planted here. Also famous for War of the Worlds, leading to a MINOR disturbance when Orson Welles did a dramatic radio reading.

Edgar Rice Burroughs — the man, the myth, the legend. If I could persuade you to read one white English sci-fi author with rather dubious politics, it would be him, if only because of how influential he was. Mostly famous for Tarzan, but he also wrote a whole series about Hollow Earth that crosses over with Tarzan at some point (Pellucidar), as well as the series Barsoom (A Princess of Mars and its sequels), and Amtor (Guy named Carson Napier gets transported to Venus, which was a watery hellscape, as was popularly theorized for a while).

They're basically pulp comics before pulp comics, published in magazines, extremely lurid and dramatic, and he did write his own crossovers. These were what the first modern superhero comics writers often grew up reading and what inspired them—John Carter's cultural cachet was borrowed by Superman until it became his cultural cachet.

They're very fun, but also supremely products of their time, and extremely fond of the British Empire.

Judith Merrill — prolific writer and editor, who also wrote one of my personal favorite reactions to the atomic bomb in Shadow on the Hearth.

Gabriel García Márquez — we're gonna take half a sidestep into magical realism here (which is, to define quickly, a genre incorporating the fantastic into otherwise realistic narratives, often formed and associated with decolonial and post colonial Latin American fiction, but not always. It's a fuzzy genre). He wrote in Spanish, but I read him in English. One Hundred Years of Solitude is probably one of the great novels ever written. My mother is also telling me to rec Love in the Time of Cholera and she wrote about the man, so listen to her.

Jorge Amado — the sixties were the big magical realism heyday. Amado was Brazilian and his Dona Flor and her Two Husbands is a book my Spanish high school teacher made me swear to read some day.

Andre Alice Norton — Deserves a spot for being one of the most prolific sci-fi authors of all time during a time when sci-fi was INCREDIBLY inhospitable to women. Over 300 books!

Robert Heinlein — This man is the poster child for "male author who writes groundbreaking sci-fi novels but cannot be normal about women with a gun to his head". The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress is excellent and incredibly important for how comprehensive the creation of Luna and its workers was, even if it is very sixties free love. Also wrote Starship Troopers, the novel.

Edward Smith — you haven't seen drama until you read what they said when Lensman (first book is Triplanetary) lost to Foundation for the Hugo in the sixties.

Larry Niven — Fleet of Worlds! Ringworld won a whole host of awards and deservedly so in 1970. Fair warning, his stuff decidedly falls under "hard" sci-fi (lots and lots of discussion for plausible alien artifacts), though it is awesome just in terms of how he can communicate scale. If you see a big ring-like structure in space, you can thank this guy, basically (the term ringworld comes from here). Also did a bunch of co-writing. I haven't read his other stuff, but CoDominium is on my list (he co-wrote it. First book is The Mote in God's Eye). If you liked the TV show The Expanse when it did the alien stuff and the later books it never got to adapt, you'll love this guy.

Samuel R. Delaney — Dhalgren is a book I am forbidding you to research before reading. Go in prepared. You have been warned. You will either love this book or set it on fire.

Stanislaw Lem — Solaris. I started this novel last week after watching the Tarkovsky film and. It's doing something to my brain, that's for sure. It's a book where I have to read every sentence twice. If you read it, find a good translation if you don't speak Polish. The author famously is very mad at critics who use Freudian analysis for it, so tread carefully (it's about the limits of rationality and our ability to understand, so. Fair).

Joanna Russ — The Female Man is a seminal work of feminist sci-fi. It's—fascinating, to be honest. Discusses socially enforced dependence of women on men and the creation of a different gender, a "female man", when the protagonist chooses to reject it and thus her socially enforced gender. I wouldn't call it a transgender manifesto (written in 1975, features insufficiently masculine men undergoing sex change surgery, so...yeah) but it definitely awoke something in my brain when I was 16 lol. I would LOVE to see it revisited in literary criticism from a modern perspective, especially from trans people.

C.J. Cherryh — If we talked about female sci-fi authors from the 1950s-70s writing under gender ambiguous aliases, we would be here all day, so I'm picking the one whose books I got for cheap at a book sale. Her Foreigner series has such a good premise with descendants of a lost Earth ship and interstellar court drama, and it's SO fun.

Poul Anderson — the name is not a typo, do not look up Paul Anderson, you will never find him. I actually have a copy of Three Swords and Three Lions currently collecting dust on my shelf and judging me right now as I wait to read it. Tau Zero is one of the greatest things I've ever read. The time dilation stuff gets kinda dense at times, but he incorporates some interest in his Swedish history and folk tales into it, and his explanation of travel at the speed of light and incorporating that into his discussion of nationalism is incredible. The ending where they survived [REDACTED] and landed on what may have been [REDACTED] has been bouncing around my brain for a bit now.

Laura Esquivel — Like Water for Chocolate is from the magical realism reading list.

Salman Rushdie — Midnight's Children is one of those bucket list books, for better or worse. Recontextualized Indian independence from the British and the Partition through framing of a husband telling the story to his wife, as he actively tells the story to her. Really uses the fantastical versus the real w/history versus truth so well.

Nancy Farmer — The Ear, the Eye, and the Arm, for the kids lying about their age on Tumblr dot hell. Three kids try to escape a kidnapping after sneaking out—in 23rd century Zimbabwe. With the help of three mutant detectives. It rules.

Ben Okri — Okay, I have not read his stuff yet, but it is on my list. Other people here have discussed his influence on them in post colonial sci-fi. His big one is The Famished Road, first in a trilogy, and renowned for its discussion of the spiritual and realist world coexisting in African animist spiritual life.

Nnedi Okorafor — I have read one of her short stories, Remote Control, and currently have an book list with her other stuff on it. Other people I know vouched for her work. She specifically writes Africanfuturism and Africanjujuism centered around her Nigerian background, and follows on from the likes of Okri and Octavia Butler. I'd also add if you're a Stephen King fan when he's in Dark Tower mode, she's probably gonna have things that appeal to you.

Mentions that are absolutely influential but don't need explaining on this website: Franz Kafka, Ursula K Le Guin, Douglas Adams, N. K. Jemisin, Ray Bradbury, Arthur C Clarke, Isaac Asimov, Frank Herbert, Alduous Huxley, Philip K. Dick, Orson Scott Card, Kurt Vonnegut, George Orwell, Octavia Butler, Neil Gaiman, Toni Morrison.

(to be clear: you SHOULD read them, but you probably know who most of them are and/or why they're big deals. Most of them are also incredibly prolific, and explaining their bodies of work are other posts. Trying to make a list about other folks)

For more on Afrofuturism,(not to be confused with Africanfuturism), I recommend the shit out of Afrofuturism: The World of Black Sci-Fi and Fantasy Culture, full of short stories and guides to art and music. I, alas, lack similarly useful authoritative guides to other genres, but I have read that one, so wanna toss it out there. There's so much.

#scifi #science fiction #i got an ask!#literature #book recs

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ashton-slashton · 2 years ago

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Terror Ask Game:

Crozier, Fitzjames, Franklin, Jopson, Irving, Bridgens, Peglar, and HMS Terror

What's your proudest personal achievement?: Ohhh my God um??? That's hard, but probably moving 700 miles away from my hometown and my family, from Tennessee to Texas, with nothing more than a few boxes of my belongings and about $3,000 in my savings (almost all of that was from the stimulus checks during the height of the pandemic). I had no job lined up, no car, no bed. I somehow made it work, and have been making it work for almost 3 years. It feels insane that I even did that, let alone survived doing that!

If you could be at sea anywhere in the world, where would you choose?: Answered here!

Do you rely more on the judgment of others, or your own?: That's hard to say... a bit of both. I try to make my own way in the world and trust my gut instinct, but I don't have too much of a problem asking for the input of others. I've been a victim of hubris before, and pride, and I'm trying to learn from those mistakes.

Are you a neat person?: Oh dear... Ideally, yes, I would be!!! I prefer neatness and cleanliness, everything having a place. But chronic pain and illness, and the fatigue of existing in that state make it difficult. My room is a disaster area, but I'm hoping to make it nicer in the coming months, if we decide to stay at this apartment.

Do you have hobbies to keep you from satisfying man's worst urges busy?: I draw and paint, I'm trying to get back into reading. I like antiquing, too, and my partner and I collect movies. But, alas, I am still profoundly gay. I draw and paint MEN who I want to RIP APART (in the horny way).

What's the first book you remember falling in love with?: I think that would probably have to be Isaac Asimov's I, Robot. I thought it was a profoundly beautiful exploration into the nuances of the soul, free will, consciousness, and humanity's innate desire to see themselves in what they create. While also being a fun science fiction romp (which would inevitably kick off the universe of The Robot Series and Foundation.)

Have you ever written poetry?: I have, yes! Mostly when I was in high school and dealing with a lot of trauma (I was becoming more and more aware of my lifelong battle with depression, right around the same time that my family was dealing with their own mental illness, as well as other circumstances that made life in general kind of difficult for everyone.) It was angsty. I still consider writing poetry. It was always free verse because I'm not a terribly impressive poet, as it turns out! But it helped me cope with some of the deeper darker emotions I had trouble putting into words.

What was the first historical event or period you remember being interested in?: Answered here!

#ask games #terrorposting #SCREAMING YOU SENT SO MANY AND THEY WERE ALL SO GOOD

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thestudy24x7 · 15 days ago

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The Fun They Had Class 9 – Summary, Theme & NCERT Solutions Explained

Class 9 English Chapter 1: The Fun They Had, written by Isaac Asimov, offers a fascinating peek into the future of education through the lens of science fiction. The story is cleverly crafted around two young characters, Margie and Tommy, who live in a world dominated by robotic teachers and virtual classrooms. As we explore the summary, themes, character sketch, and NCERT solutions in this article, students will gain a complete understanding of this insightful chapter. It not only prompts us to appreciate our current education system but also encourages critical thinking about what learning might look like in the future.

About the Author: Isaac Asimov

Isaac Asimov was a famous American writer and professor of biochemistry, best known for his science fiction and popular science books. His visionary writing often explored futuristic themes. In "The Fun They Had," Asimov uses fiction to present a powerful social commentary on how technological advancement could impact education and childhood.

The Fun They Had – Summary

Set in the year 2157, the story begins with Margie, an 11-year-old girl, writing in her diary about a book Tommy, her 13-year-old friend, had found. Interestingly, the book is printed on paper—a rare item in their futuristic world, where everything is digital and automated.

As they explore the book together, they learn about schools from the past, where students used to go to buildings, sit in classrooms, and be taught by human teachers. Margie finds this concept very strange and fascinating because, in her world, she studies at home with a mechanical teacher that teaches her through screens.

Margie particularly dislikes her robotic teacher, especially when it malfunctions and has to be taken away for repairs. The idea of attending a real school with other kids, laughing and learning together, deeply appeals to her. The story ends with Margie thinking about how much fun those kids from the past must have had.

Character Sketch

1. Margie

A curious and imaginative girl.

Feels lonely and disconnected due to her isolated learning experience.

Symbolizes today’s students’ emotional need for social interaction in learning.

2. Tommy

Margie’s 13-year-old friend.

More informed and excited about discoveries.

Represents early interest in history and curiosity about the past.

Themes in The Fun They Had

1. Impact of Technology on Education

The story centers on the role of mechanical teachers and how education has become individualized and automated. Asimov predicts a future where technology dominates learning, and human connection is lost.

2. Human Interaction vs. Machine Learning

Margie’s longing for traditional schools shows the importance of social interaction, which is absent in robotic teaching. It reflects the limitations of a system driven solely by algorithms.

3. Curiosity and Imagination

The children’s reaction to a printed book reveals the innate human curiosity and desire to learn more about how things used to be. It highlights that even in a futuristic world, the imagination remains powerful.

4. Nostalgia and Appreciation of the Past

The chapter evokes a sense of nostalgia for current educational setups, encouraging readers to appreciate the joy of collective learning, physical books, and human teachers.

Important Word Meanings

NCERT Solutions for The Fun They Had

Q1. How did Tommy find the book?

Tommy found the book in the attic of his house. It was a printed book, which was strange and exciting for both Tommy and Margie because they were used to electronic texts.

Q2. What was strange about the book?

The book had printed words on paper instead of moving text on a screen. Once read, it couldn’t be updated or changed, which fascinated the children.

Q3. What did Margie think about school?

Margie didn’t like her school, especially her mechanical teacher. She felt it was boring and hard, and she didn’t enjoy the lessons, especially when the teacher gave her poor test marks.

Q4. Why did Margie hate school?

Margie hated school because she didn’t like the mechanical way of teaching. She couldn’t relate to the robotic teacher and missed human guidance, which made learning less enjoyable.

Q5. What does the story tell us about the future of education?

The story predicts a technologically advanced yet emotionally lacking educational system. It warns that while machines can teach facts, they cannot replace the human warmth, creativity, and shared experiences of traditional classrooms.

Value-Based Insights

The chapter reminds us that education is not just about information but also about experience, bonding, and emotional development.

It cautions against over-reliance on machines, urging the need to keep learning student-centered and emotionally fulfilling.

Encourages a balance between technology and traditional methods.

Moral of the Story

The moral of the story is that education should nurture both the brain and the heart. Machines may deliver content, but only human interaction can foster creativity, empathy, and meaningful learning. The chapter urges students to appreciate the present-day schooling system and recognize the irreplaceable value of real-life teachers and friends.

Conclusion

Class 9 English Chapter 1: The Fun They Had by Isaac Asimov brilliantly captures the contrast between mechanical and traditional education systems. Through the experiences of Margie and Tommy, students learn that while the future may be filled with gadgets and technology, the true essence of learning lies in human connection, shared experiences, and emotional growth. The chapter urges us to value our current schooling methods and the relationships that flourish within them. Whether you're a student, teacher, or parent, "The Fun They Had" is a timeless reminder of what truly makes learning meaningful.

By understanding the summary, themes, and NCERT solutions, you can confidently tackle Class 9 English Chapter 1: The Fun They Had in your exams and real life, gaining not just academic insights but also emotional awareness.

#class 9 #english

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myanswershub · 4 years ago

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The Fun They Had Summary and Word Meanings

Hello Students, if you are looking for summary and word meaning of Chapter 5 from Tulip Series English Class 9, then you are at right place. In this post I will discuss with you about the chapter The Fun They Had Summary and Word Meanings. It is written by Isaac Asimov. In my previous post I have discussed about the textbook solutions of chapter Sheikh Noor-ud-din Wali. Let’s get started with…

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#the fun they had by isaac asimov summary #the fun they had class 9 jkbose #The Fun They Had Summary #The Fun They Had Word Meanings #the fun they had written by isaac asimov

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j4gm · 3 years ago

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Mechanukkah night 1: I, Robot (2004)

It’s that time of year where my friends invite me to come and watch robot movies during Hanukkah. Our first vote was for I, Robot (2004), the 100% book-accurate adaptation of Isaac Asimov’s groundbreaking 1950 fixup novel.

For those of you unfamiliar with Asimov, he was writing about robotics and accurately predicting many of our modern ethical and practical concerns about artificial intelligence while everyone else was still busy inventing new ways to kill people during World War Two. In fact, one of the short stories which became a chapter in I, Robot, titled “Liar”, features the original inception of the word “robotics”, which had never been used before then. I’ve written about Liar before. Asimov also identified as a secular Jew, which makes a spin-off of his work a cool way to kick off this watch party.

Unfortunately just about the only feature consistent with the book is the name of the robotics expert Susan Calvin, who mostly gets sidelined into being a love interest and plot device for us to learn more about Will Smith’s character, an action hero cop OC called Spooner. He was given a bizarre and ham-fisted robot-hating arc which was seemingly supposed to be a racism parallel. The conclusion of the arc was that his racism was good actually because it meant he was able to solve the murder case that kicked off the whole plot. Needless to say it was not well executed.

The CGI remains okay for a film from 2004. The car tunnel scene and the climactic final battle were undeniably cool even though the latter had so much crazy camera movement it felt like a Universal Studios 4D experience at times.

As a computer scientist I’m not going to delve into all the reasons why the film’s plot is bullshit because we could be here a long time. It’s supposed to be bullshit. It’s an action movie first and foremost. I just wish it could have been a bullshit action movie without contradicting the core ideals of Asimov’s work, which included stiff resistance to the idea that robots always have to be these Frankestein-esque creatures who inevitably turn on their creators.

Anyway it was a fun movie to talk and joke over, and afterwards @simplyender roped me into watching the first episode of Inside Job which was also fun, and is the reason the Discord server now has an emote of Brett with a menorah.

Mechanukkah word of the day: wetware

#i robot #mechanukkah #will smith's favourite hobby is inventing robot slurs

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one-more-offbeat-anthem · 4 years ago

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Cas wishes that he could say he was frustrated by Dean Winchester’s presence, but that would be a complete and utter fabrication.

The thing is, he probably should be annoyed that this random civil engineering major found his way into an upper-level creative writing class, because everyone else is. Behind Dean’s back, they grumble about him “taking spots from other students” and writing pieces that are “too coarse and experimental.”

But that’s the sort of thing that makes Cas like him, that makes Cas feel lucky that Dean chose to sit next to him on the first day of class, chose to nudge Cas with one of his work boots and ask in a low whisper, “Did you also forget to bring a pen?”

Since that day, while the other students shun Dean, Cas has become, he hopes, Dean’s friend. They work on assignments together outside of class, meet up at the library at least once a week. Cas learns things like: Dean’s minoring in creative writing, that’s why he’s in this class. Yes, his engineering friends make fun of him for it. He likes to work on cars and has a part-time job at an auto shop (cars are why he likes engineering). Dean likes cowboy movies but also sci-fi (which is why, he claims, Star Wars is perfect. Cas has never seen the movies so he doesn’t really have an opinion). Dean likes to bake--he’s probably the only college student Cas has met who talks about owning a stand mixer.

At the current moment, Dean’s up in front of their class, reading something he wrote. Cas should be taking notes, because they’re supposed to critique their classmates’ work, but he’s having a lot of trouble paying attention to the words Dean’s saying and not Dean himself. He’s transfixed by the movement of Dean’s mouth as he shapes the words, by the change in his voice’s cadence as he switches characters in the piece.

When Dean sits back down next to Cas, the spell is broken, and Cas realizes he wrote nothing down. He quickly scribbles good movement and pacing before moving on to the next student, who’s already shuffling their papers together at the podium.

Dean steals Cas’s notebook and writes in his sideways scrawl in the margin seriously? no problems?

They’ve been doing this since the second week of class, when one of the students read a piece they wrote about milk as a metaphor for sadness--this writing is making me sad, Dean had written, angling his paper towards Cas, and then Cas had drawn a truly horrible milk carton underneath it, and Dean nearly had to stuff his fist in his mouth to keep from laughing. From then on, they always passed notes.

i wasn’t paying attention so i just decided it was good, Cas writes back.

ouch.

not like that. Cas sighs as he writes. you said something about lemons, right?

lemon squares that my mom used to make. Dean pauses writing but doesn’t put down his pen, as if he’s considering something. i could show you how to to make them sometime. if you want.

There’s clapping, and Cas realized he didn’t take notes for this person, either. He nudges Dean to shelve the conversation so that neither of them fail their critiques.

It’s still hard to pay attention, though. Sure, they’ve hung out, but it’s always been on campus--in the quad by the fountain, in the library behind the archives, in the union’s food court, talking about Isaac Asimov between bites of fast food lo mein.

Somehow this feels different.

Finally, class is over, and everyone starts packing up and chattering. Dean doesn’t say anything at first as he shoves his notebook into his backpack, but then he glances over at Cas. “You don’t have to say yes,” Dean says. “It was just an idea.” His cheeks are red.

“No, I’d like to,” Cas replies in a rush before he loses the nerve.

“Great. Friday?”

“Friday?” Cas squints at Dean. “Don’t people go to parties?”

Dean shrugs. “We could watch a movie, too. Since society failed you and you haven’t seen A New Hope.”

“You seem to have an ulterior motive,” Cas jokes.

“Oh, I do.” Dean swings his backpack on. “I’m hoping you decide that you like me.”

(Cas does like him, and on Friday he lets Dean know. They end up rewatching A New Hope.)

#b&acw #I don't want to talk about how long it took me to find the ampersand #because I do love ampersands I had just convinced myself it's on the 3 when it's on the 8 #amazing #anyways I went with AUs #obviously <3 #offbeatwrites #can't forget my *own* writing tag #Local Writer Cannot Do A Thing But College AUs <3 #writer and engineer dean my beloved

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lostcitycomics · 2 years ago

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On Quotes

Many of the books I grew up reading would start off each chapter with a quote. Sometimes this would be a real quote, sometimes a fake one. Isaac Asimov's Foundation series, for example, would have a passage from the Encyclopedia Galactica, the in-world project the characters in the book were ostensibly writing. The sequel series written by three other scifi authors after Asimov's death even had a clever moment where, at the very end, Hari Seldon is wondering whether all his machinations will amount to him saving humanity or dooming it, something that will only happen long after the end of his life. He concludes that if people still need encyclopedias in a thousand years, that will be proof humanity hasn't congealed into an unrecognizable hive mind, and his plans will have succeeded. The book ends with one more quote from the Encyclopedia Galactica, dated, if you notice, from after the time frame he mentioned. I love that. Is putting quotes in each chapter of your book arrogant and tropey? Sure. But it can be a fun chance to do some important world-building, too.

Both A Mad Tea-Party and Phobos and Deimos have had quotes for each chapter. In Phobos and Deimos, I decided that most of them would be fake, so that I could maximize this opportunity to do some world-building. Some of them are just general ambience. Here are the quotes from the first two chapters. The first is just to set the mood, to remind you that the story takes place in Antarctica and that it has a history to it.

The second is inspired by the nursery rhyme so many British kids seem to know to remember the fate of each of Henry the 8th's wives, which is obviously something enough people thought was important that everyone ought to be able to recite it by rote. In the world of Phobos and Deimos, what they really want you to know is how important these Coherence Crises are. You, the reader, don't have to remember them all, but schoolchildren across this planet do.

For the next quote, I decided to go with a comic. We've seen songs and poems, what are comics like in the 26th century? One thing is clear, four panel meme comics made with video game screen caps have survived well into the future. Basically when I drew this I was thinking about how Xi Jinping has banned Winnie the Pooh memes because he takes them personally. Authoritarianism is nothing if not stupid and petty.

I've only just realized, by the way, that this comic from the distant future isn't too far off from the infamous Loss comic. If anyone asks, I swear I didn't do that on purpose.

And then there's this quote from Carmen Jouska, who is someone whose name I want you to recognize later in the book. I'm laying that groundwork as early as possible. No further comment at this time.

This Toni Morrison quote is the first of two real quotes so far. It's one I've seen shared around the internet regularly, because she sums up the concept of utopia very succinctly. Most of the time, though, people will trim the quote shorter than this (The last sentence is usually the one you see). I went and found the video interview where she originally said these lines, and an interesting thing happened. People have been taking her words out of context. In the book she's talking about, the utopia is framed positively. Exclusivity is part of the price, and people aren't wrong to see that as her citing a shortcoming, I think, but after seeing the interview I think she meant it more as, if you want a utopia, and you probably do, you have to put some limits in place. Anyways I included more of the quote in the hopes that that fuller context could be preserved. Either way, it's good extra colouring to my story.

The quote that took me on the longest journey was this next one from Gaius Marius.

I wanted a quote about class from a classical source. This is a tall order, as the people most likely to sound anything like Marx in ancient Rome were also most likely to end up crucified on the road into the city, not have their words written down by Roman historians. I had recently listened to some audiobooks on Roman history so I had a few names to look up. I found this one, from one of the members of the Popularis political party during the Republic, before Caesar made them the pro-emperor-having party. Gaius is still a wealthy landowner, a "knight" as it were. It would be more accurate to call him middle class, if not upper middle class, rather than working class. He's just mad that people don't treat him as an aristocrat when he's new money. But it'll do. And once I'd found the quote, the real fun began.

I needed context. As I learned with Toni Morrison, the internet has a bad habit of taking things out of context. I needed to find the book this had come from. Several hours of internet searching finally turned up a copy of it for me. One advantage of classical sources is there's only so many of them, and most of them are well documented online. Heaven help me the first time I try to find a classical quote in Chinese.

Of huge benefit to me was the Perseus Digital Library, which has entire classical texts online. Including in Latin! Once I'd found the source of the quote there, I was able to read around it and check the context (and expand my quote), AND find that same passage in the Latin version of the book. I checked to make sure the English translation was in the public domain (it is), fed the Latin into Google Translate to make sure I was cutting it in the same spots in both languages, realized at the last minute that even the supposedly original Latin text uses modern, English punctuation so did a quick search for the history of punctuation to see how I could format it more authentically (I still fudged it by putting dots between the words, which was done but only rarely, rather than running it all as one long string of letters), and then ran with what I had.

It was a lot of fun. I felt very accomplished. My next book is going to be historical, not scifi, so it was good to spend a solid day delving the depths of historical research to prove that I could do it.

I have one more quote to go for volume one of Phobos and Deimos. I haven't picked one yet, but I think I might go with another real quote. I look forward to the journey.

...

This post was originally written for my Ko-Fi page! Ko-Fi is a place where you can give me money to help me keep making comics, give me NO money but still keep up with news about Phobos and Deimos, and where sometimes I’ll write blog posts about my process. There is actually a whole new post I just put up about future fashion right here.

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forgottenlivesobverse · 3 years ago

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‘The Hive Minders’

Ian McIntire’s ‘The Hive Minders’ is a story in two parts, showcasing the Philip Hinchcliffe and Robert Holmes Doctors. Ian talks us through his ideas for the story…

What made you want to write for Forgotten Lives 2?

‘The Hive Minders’ is a story that I’ve wanted to tell for a while, and the idea of spreading it across decades of the Doctor’s life (while at the same time building off of the wonderful character work that Kara and Jay set up in the first volume) really put a bug in my ear to write this story. That, and I couldn’t resist providing a punchline to a joke that the first volume set up in its illustration captions.

What’s your story about?

Humanity’s tendency to experiment with the strangest elements that this universe can throw at it, and perhaps how our morality and ethics lag behind our technical acumen in unexpected ways.

What did you most enjoy about writing for this version of the Doctor?

The two Doctors for which I wrote were fun in almost completely different directions. I found the Hinchcliffe Doctor very willing (as an imagined character) to play along with my attempts to set up jokes for him. He’s perfectly game to be seen as a fool, but nonetheless extremely confident when the chips are down. Plus, he’s got Rue alongside him, and the two of them together can be magical.

Holmes’ Doctor, by contrast, has mostly had the humour wrung out of him, and is practically on the verge of an anxious collapse. That’s a position in which we rarely see the Doctor, so writing for a version who’s been backed into this kind of a corner is a unique opportunity.

What were the influences on your story, and what genre were you writing in?

I initially pitched part one as ‘Isaac Asimov writes the novelisation for Them!,’ although I’m ultimately unsure how well I achieved that. The second half has a whiff of stories like Murder on the Orient Express and other mysteries set aboard lavish, isolated, self-contained environments, but it’s probably a bit of an overstatement to say that it’s written in that genre. Judge for yourself!

Aside from the one you’ve used, which of the Forgotten Lives Doctors is your favourite?

Ooh, I get to pick two, since I used two! (At least, that’s how I’m choosing to interpret this prompt.)

The Camfield Doctor’s parallels to the Holmes Doctor intrigue me – it’s easy to imagine a multi-Doctor story in which the former sends the latter out on a mission – along with the post-War nature of the universe in which they find themselves.

The Harper Doctor is nicely enigmatic, and the stories featuring them point to an era eager to experiment with technique and subject matter.

Can you describe your story’s Doctor in three words?

(Again, two Doctors, so three words each!)

Don’t encourage him!

and

Needs a hug.

#morbius doctors #forgotten lives #doctor who #philip hinchcliffe #robert holmes

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duncanwrites · 4 years ago

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All the books I read in 2021, reviewed in two sentences or less

The Killing Moon, The Shadowed Sun - NK Jemisin: I started the year with this duology by NK Jemisin, which came out before her much more well known Broken Earth books. I had tried to read the Broken Earth books years ago but didn't get the hang of them, and these are more fantastical and written in a voice that I preferred, and convinced me to retry her later works.

The Fifth Season, The Obelisk Gate, The Stone Sky - NK Jemisin: While I never fully adjusted to the style of the narration in this series, I'm glad I returned to it and finished it - even if the ending becomes a bit more handwavey than I had hoped.

The Birthday of the World and Other Stories - Ursula K. Le Guin: This is a book of some of Le Guin's later short stories where she plays more explicitly with gender and power dynamics with her extraordinarily clear voice. As with some of my favorite works by her, all of these stories focused on the slow churn of changing societies, and the personal stakes for the people leading that change.

Spain in Our Hearts - Adam Hochschild: While I'd say this book doesn't have the driving focus of some of his books on slavery and the Belgian Congo, you can still hear Hochschild's commitment to looking at the importance of social movements in world history, and his disappointment in the nations that let down the forces of freedom in the 30s. Fully captures the desperation, disorganization, and dedication of people who traveled to Spain during the civil war.

Foundation Trilogy - Isaac Asimov: All-time classics revisited partially out of nostalgia, and partially to feel out a theory I had about them that didn't pan out.

Barn 8 - Deb Olin: I could tell this book had its heart in the right place but left a bit to be desired in the execution; on the one hand uncomfortably realistic in its description of radical political subcultures, and wildly unrealistic in its plotting and story.

Uncanny Valley - Anna Wiener: I loved this memoir of Silicon Valley and the Bay Area under startup culture, which I think captured both the hopefulness of the people who are drawn to the industry, and the banality of the damage it does to both them, and the world around it. Exceptionally written, carefully reasoned, and highly recommended.

My Antonia - Willa Cather: I try to make a point of occasionally reading books from other eras than our own, this was one of those efforts and I'm glad I made it. A book that shows how the harshness of living as a colonizer shaped gender politics, and the voice of the women who wrote about it.

American Pastoral - Phillip Roth: A thoroughly intense slice of an older form of political paranoia.

We Are Never Meeting In Real Life - Samantha Irby: A terrific book of personal essays, with some of the funniest single lines, or moments of any book I read this year. A perfect mix of fun, dark, and optimistic.

The Ministry For The Future - Kim Stanley Robinson: This is one of the books that surprised me the most this year; I loved Robinson's Mars Trilogy but I didn't automatically relish the idea of reading a long novel about the climate crisis (you may note how few books about climate change I read in general). But it ended up being a work of real imagination, looking carefully but creatively at the future and crafting visions of the path through the climate crisis in a way that was both invigorating and grounding.

Crying in H Mart - Michelle Zauner: I wasn't as taken with this memoir as others have been, there were moments of grace and clarity, but a lot surrounding them felt unfocused and even a bit evasive at times.

Changing Planes - Ursula K. Le Guin: A fascinatingly structured book of interconnected short stories given to me by a friend. I hadn't seen this book of hers before, but I'm very glad I read it.

Private Empire - Steve Coll: I can't remember why I finally decided to read this book about ExxonMobil, but what I liked best about it is how it gives a picture of the global reach of modern oil companies, and the work, violence, and money that has to go in to managing the kind of sprawl. Covering the time between the Valdez spill and the BP Gulf Spill, you really get a picture of what makes this company so uniquely dangerous.

The Topeka School - Ben Lerner: I find Ben Lerner's autofiction method a joy to watch unfold; it sparks so many questions and opens me up to looking at my own life more closely. While I think the ideas in this book are less sharp than in 10:04, the language and beauty he digs out of mundane life are undimmed and more than worth the read.

The Found and the Lost - Ursula K. Le Guin: a massive tome of Le Guin's short stories, this was a delight to return to night after night for almost a month. What I appreciated most about the compilation was the opportunity to look into new corners of her thinking and storytelling - I particularly enjoyed a series of short stories set across several hundred years about a society struggling to overcome a period of racially-charged civil conflicts.

On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous - Ocean Vuong: I understand and appreciate the craft that went into writing this novel, but I mainly finished it thinking about how frustrating I find poetry at times.

Ted Chiang - Exhalation: I had previously read Chaing's earlier book of short stories and didn't care for it, but the breadth and variety of stories in this collection is much greater, and I am grateful that a friend prodded me to try reading it.

Recollections of My Nonexistence - Rebecca Solnit: One of Solnit's more personal books, I'm disappointed more people didn't get a chance to read it when it came out in March 2020. One of the things I love about her writing is the core kindness that lies at its center, and I think that aspect of her work is brought out most in this book.

10:04 - Ben Lerner: I wanted to re-read this book after The Topeka School, and there are more than a few moments when I had to actually put it down because there were phrases or paragraphs that needed to be savored. So melancholy, so insightful, and so well-written.

The Waves - Virginia Woolf: This was my second reading of this exceptional book, and I think it may be a top-3 novel of all time for me. There still isn't anything like it, and the central section on grief is the best anything I've ever read on the subject.

Dune - Frank Herbert: Re-read in order to prepare for the (excellent) movie. A Long Way to a Small Angry Planet - Becky Chambers: I ended up not caring much for this recent sci-fi novel.

The Beginning Place - Ursula K. Le Guin: Yes, another Le Guin book - one that I found genuinely uncomfortable to read. I'm not sure exactly what the backstory here is, but this one clearly came from a dark place, and felt more like a strange horror story than a fantasy novel.

Your Heart Is a Muscle the Size of a Fist - Sunil Yapa: Imagine the movie Crash... but set at the 1999 Seattle WTO protests. That's this book, and it's not awesome.

Circe - Madeline Miller: I fully expected Madeline Miller's re-tellings of Greek myths to be a little on the corny side, but they are so well-written and so soulful, they bulldoze all objections. This one ended up being my most-recommended books of the year, and a fun one to read as I was walking around European art museums full of Greek sculpture.

Orwell’s Roses - Rebecca Solnit: I don't think there's a book for which I am more in the target audience than one written by one of my favorite writers, about another favorite writer, regarding his appreciation for flowers, which make me unreasonably happy, but Orwell's Roses fully lives up to the bill, and is recommended even if you're not yourself as much in the target audience.

Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger: I wanted to re-read this book because it's one of the best I know of where the plot only takes place over two days or less. It feels like a cliche to say that Catcher in the Rye is misunderstood (being a book, famously, about a misunderstood boy), but I think it's important to read this book as a reflection on how trauma - a brother dying suddenly, witnessing a suicide, a roommate harassing a recent romantic partner - can fester and become toxic when men are not given tools, support, or language to handle it.

I Love You But I’ve Chosen Darkness - Claire Vaye Watkins: I didn't set out to read this book, someone gave it to me on a whim and I am very glad they did. Dark, squirmy, but fully truthful and stunningly beautiful.

Barbarians at the Gate - Bryan Burrough and John Helyar: I've started to read more about finance and banking and picked this up off the shelf after having bought it a while back. I think this book gives you a good picture of how arbitrary, absurd, and emotionally stunted the highest-rungs of the ladder of Wall Street really are.

#books #2021 #reviews

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rabbitcruiser · 2 years ago

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National Science Fiction Day

Get ready to explore galaxies and dimensions beyond your wildest dreams with stories that push the boundaries of what's possible!

Now it’s time to learn about and prepare to celebrate National Science Fiction Day!

The History of National Science Fiction Day

How to Celebrate National Science Fiction Day

Read Famous Works of Science Fiction

A list of some of these interesting authors might include:

Watch Some Science Fiction Movies

Listen to Science Fiction Themed Music

You’re Full of Stars by Max Richter (2021) This song from “Invasion” is perfect for space travel themed films and books.

Ultimatum by Johann Johannsson (2016) An ethereal piece that provides suspense and drama as the listener imagines the tension from the film Arrival which stars Amy Adams and Jeremy Renner.

Throw a Science Fiction Theme Party

A super fun part of a Science Fiction Party is creating a menu around the theme. Get started with some of these ideas for snacks, drinks and desserts:

Source

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swordsxandxshadows · 4 years ago

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1, 19, 25

☯ Meme for Roleplaying Muns ☯

1. What is your favorite trope to rp?

Oh lord, I have plenty that I absolutely adore.

It's pretty obvious on this account but I absolutely die for Enemies-to-Lovers, Love/Hate, or Hero Falling for Villian/Villian Falling for Hero. I just love love love love these types of situations, where one or both absolutely are on opposing sides or hate one another with a passion but slowly start to bond or open up to one another and build into a romance that ends with both being absolutely devoted and deeply in love. Plus, it also checks off my need both angst and slow burn, which I also love to death...

Speaking of Slow Burn Romance is also my absolute favorite, kind of goes hand in hand with the above honestly. Especially works with characters who feel like no one can love them or don’t feel like they deserve love for some reason...or those who’ve had bad romantic experience before and thus kind of write off romance. It just depends really...but slow burn is just my favorite.

Fond Family is also my favorite, I just adore anything that has to do with Familiar Bonds/Platonic bonds just as much as romantic one. I am also sucker for Child/Parent relationships or Mentor/Student relationships.

I also adore Friendships, especially if combined with Fond Family. That just...love this so much and love seeing characters bond on a platonic level.

Also, I love just fluff and angst in general, which is pretty obvious XD I got plenty though but these are probably some of my favorite.

19. Who is an author that inspires you?

I don‘t know if I have an author that inspires me...I have plenty who written some of my favorite works though. I guess a few I can mention such as Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (who wrote my absolute favorite book Sherlock Holmes), Edgar Allen Poe, Oscar Wilde, Mary Shelley (Love Frankenstein), Isaac Asimov (I, Robot is another favorite of mine), J.R.R Tolkien, Susan Collins (Highly recommend Underlander Chronicles), George R. R. Martin, and a few others. I probably have more, but I can’t think of names right now or the author fell out of my graces for reasons.

As you can probably guess from most, their stories are highly character focused OR have a rich world, both of which I love with a passion. Especially some that focus on the morals and make you question certain aspects of humanity or the human nature.

But than again, I just have always liked writing, so I never really thought of who inspired me or why I started...I just like to be creative and tell stories XD

25. One thing you’d like new roleplayers to know?

You are allowed to take breaks and take your time with replies, do not stress yourself out with replies or think you have a dead-line. This is just a fun hobby and you should be having fun with it not stressing. Enjoy yourself and have fun.

#OutOfTime {OOC}#somniaxperdita #ask #answered #Meme for Roleplaying Muns #I honestly have read/written since I was like 5 #I was literally the child in class that would read ahead or finish a book before anyone else #I just always enjoyed it

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