Oh, sorry for doubting you, DX. I will still insist that you drink it first, and if you live, we can all go live on the moon.
The eyeball suckers have not bee disproven yet.
Oz is the highest-scoring person ever to fail to graduate.
Willow ,'Him'
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.
Allyson - Jun 24, 2004 4:24:14 pm PDT #767 of 10001
Wait, is this real-world child support, where the money goes to buy food for the kids, or MRA fantasyland child support where the women just buy Ferraris and cocaine? -Jessica
DXMachina - Jun 24, 2004 4:50:08 pm PDT #768 of 10001
You always do this. We get tipsy, and you take advantage of my love of the scientific method.
I'd have no qualms about drinking it at all. Probably a lot cleaner than some of the river water around here. Actually, it would probably be easy enough to distill it. One thing the moon has is plenty of energy.
Polter-Cow - Jun 24, 2004 7:35:46 pm PDT #769 of 10001
What else besides ramen can you scoop? YOU CAN SCOOP THIS WORLD FROM DARKNESS!
Hi. I love Crichton. Sorry.
Frankenbuddha - Jun 24, 2004 7:45:27 pm PDT #770 of 10001
"We are the Goon Squad and we're coming to town...Beep! Beep!" - David Bowie, "Fashion"
So, in this context, just for fun:
P.K. Dick, love him or hate him?
dcp - Jun 24, 2004 7:48:06 pm PDT #771 of 10001
The more I learn, the more I realize how little I know.
Crichton is one of those authors whose stories are better on the the screen than they are on the page.
Gris - Jun 24, 2004 8:23:56 pm PDT #772 of 10001
Hey. New board.
Dick is the god of idea-men, with a writing style that drives me bats. I don't mind if every science fiction ever made is loosely or directly based on his works, though, because his ideas are gold.
I like Jack McDevitt. And would like to offer up James P. Hogan as somebody I think of as "hard" and Greg Egan as somebody who's so hard it hurts. of course, he can't write endings, which is unfortunate, but everything before the ending is one heck of a hard SF journey!
DCJensen - Jun 24, 2004 8:50:03 pm PDT #773 of 10001
All is well that ends in pizza.
I really liked The Andromeda Strain, enough so that I've reread it several times. I've enjoyed a lot of his other books. The "said" thing doesn't bother me at all.
Journalistic style is to use "said" for everything.
I rewrote one of my stories using it a few years ago and I plan to someday go back and undo it.
Mr. Broom - Jun 24, 2004 9:30:32 pm PDT #774 of 10001
"When I look at people that I would like to feel have been a mentor or an inspiring kind of archetype of what I'd love to see my career eventually be mentioned as a footnote for in the same paragraph, it would be, like, Bowie." ~Trent Reznor
English major chime-in:
The golden rule of Show, Don't Tell dictates use of "said" whenever possible. "Asked" and "replied" are pretty much the only accepted alternatives. Dialogue tagging ought to be as simple and unobtrusive as possible; I prefer to see "said" everywhere, because when that's all you see, your brain tunes it out and all you see is the dialogue, which is the way it should be. The idea is, if you can't get across in the dialogue itself that Jim whined his lines, tagging it ..., Jim whined isn't going to do the legwork for you. I've had teachers refer to it as an admission of failure.
End English major chime-in.
Ginger - Jun 25, 2004 3:48:20 am PDT #775 of 10001
"It didn't taste good. It tasted soooo horrible. It tasted like....a vodka martini." - Matilda
I like most Jack McDevitt. However, I love his A Talent for War with the kind of passion that has made me urge it upon strangers on the street and buy every used copy I find to give away. It's so good that it taints his other books, because I read each one breathlessly hoping that it's another Talent for War and it never is.
§ ita § - Jun 25, 2004 3:58:13 am PDT #776 of 10001
Well not canonically, no, but this is transformative fiction.
Dialogue tagging ought to be as simple and unobtrusive as possible;
But dialogue tagging can be simpler. So why bother with "said"? It's medium simple, conveys nothing. If you intend to convey nothing, use nothing.