I would be interested in knowing. "Selling High Hallack" is such a mournful statement, and a shock in a way. I wondered if she had named her home that, or was selling the rights to the High Hallack stories, or the use of the name, or what.
I couldn't believe it the first twenty times you told us, but it's starting to sink in now.
Riley ,'Lessons'
The Minearverse 3: The Network Is a Harsh Mistress
[NAFDA] "There will be an occasional happy, so that it might be crushed under the boot of the writer." From Zorro to Angel (including Wonderfalls and The Inside), this is where Buffistas come to anoint themselves in the bloodbath.
Beverly - Jun 24, 2004 7:05:34 am PDT #723 of 10001
Days shrink and grow cold, sunlight through leaves is my song. Winter is long.
sfmarty - Jun 24, 2004 7:14:43 am PDT #724 of 10001
Who? moi??
She named her home that.
Beverly - Jun 24, 2004 8:21:14 am PDT #725 of 10001
Days shrink and grow cold, sunlight through leaves is my song. Winter is long.
She named her home that.
Oh, I see. Thank you for clearing that up for me. That is sad. She's always been a writer I've loved, who had a great influence on my expectations for storytelling, since I read a lot of her work in my teens and early 20s.
Typo Boy - Jun 24, 2004 11:29:01 am PDT #726 of 10001
Calli: My people have a saying. A man who trusts can never be betrayed, only mistaken.Avon: Life expectancy among your people must be extremely short.
The funny thing about Heinlien is that he is about the only "hard" SF writer I really like. I like cool gadgets, but I enjoy stories about people more than I do about gadgets. And for all his flaws, Heinlein (to me) wrote mainly about (male admittedly) people. Mike in Moon came in part (I believe) out Heinleins inability to conveive of a really cool gadget that did not in fact turn out to be a person. I don't think the science was ever the point of the story for Heinlein. For this I could ignore the repulsive politics, and the reduction of women to some weird private fantasy of his. His books were about people, and society, and a view of the universe - the gadgets were just plot devices.
Matt the Bruins fan - Jun 24, 2004 12:51:54 pm PDT #727 of 10001
"I remember when they eventually introduced that drug kingpin who murdered people and smuggled drugs inside snakes and I was like 'Finally. A normal person.'” —RahvinDragand
Gar, have you ever read Charles Sheffield's collections of short fiction? Very hard science-y, but I think he does (well, did, he died in 2002) a good job of exploring characterization as well. Hidden Variables was my first introduction to him, and I also liked The MacAndrew Chronicles.
Daisy Jane - Jun 24, 2004 12:56:38 pm PDT #728 of 10001
"This bar smells like kerosene and stripper tears."
What means "hard" SF writer? Does Bradbury count? Atwood? Also is "The Children of Men" SF? I tend to think it is, but maybe there's some other category for apocolyptic stuff. What about Adams? I'm assuming he doesn't count because his is satire set in SFland- but then, should he not be counted as SF just because he's funny? Parts of The Martian Chronicals struck me funny too.
§ ita § - Jun 24, 2004 12:58:06 pm PDT #729 of 10001
Well not canonically, no, but this is transformative fiction.
I've always thought of hard as SF that puts ideas and technology above characters and atmosphere.
Asimov's my favourite.
I like Cherryh's Cyteen too, in that same category.
JohnSweden - Jun 24, 2004 1:02:27 pm PDT #730 of 10001
I can't even.
I don't think of Bradbury as Hard SF generally, because he wrote a lot of character-centric stories. He does have some stories of ideas, which revolve around some scientific concept or other, but I think of the Hard SF writers as being much more rule-driven, than people-driven.
Daisy Jane - Jun 24, 2004 1:02:59 pm PDT #731 of 10001
"This bar smells like kerosene and stripper tears."
Hmm. But what if there's lots of ideas and technology and stuff, but not at the expense of the characters? -Still thinking TMC right now.
§ ita § - Jun 24, 2004 1:04:13 pm PDT #732 of 10001
Well not canonically, no, but this is transformative fiction.
I think they can all be present in a story, but when I feel the ideas and tech are exalted, I feel it's hard SF. The rest is just SF.