Yup, Matt. So many Jacks and Johns in sf.

Tried to read Poul Anderson and couldn't hack it. I just found it horribly boring. In the hard SF vein I like Kim Stanley Robinson and Jack Varley - do they count? Titan series was brilliant.

Even Three Hearts and Three Lions, Arby? Maybe not, as I never really had much trouble with any of Anderson's stuff. KSR is one of those writers whose talent I admire more than actually enjoying their stuff. The Varley Titan books, I did like quite a lot.

I love Poul Anderson's fantasies like The Broken Sword - which tend to be quite dark.

Hard Science: Greg Bear does good hard science, I think. I really enjoyed Queen of Angels though it had some flaws in the end (nothing requiring throwing the book at the wall though). Pat Cadigan did great hard science (really well researached) for Synners - which I will continue to pimp until all the science fiction fans have read it. Very absorbing, great three dimensional characters with distinctive voices.

Going back to the "said" debate: I'm definitely with ita on this one. "Said" blends into the background for me, unless it's overused. If the word "said" appears after every bit of dialogue, I'm going to notice it and it's going to distract me -- especially if, as in Chrichton's books, he doesn't try in other ways to let us know how the characters are feeling. In that excerpt I posted, we don't know if the characters are frustrated, or annoyed, or worried -- we just know they're saying stuff. That's not good writing.

I'm a journalist, and I realize we're supposed to use "said" almost all the time. We need to write simply and be impartial, and "said" is a very impartial word because it's not at all descriptive. I don't mind it in articles, and usually journalists don't use the word as often as Crichton does, so I don't notice it anyway. I don't like seeing press style in fiction, though; I don't want my fiction to be impartial and simple (or staccato) unless it's on purpose and adds to the story.

I'm a big fan of dialogue-heavy writing, and I've never had an issue with "said" in anything I've read other than Crichton. I think that's because most writers know when to use "asked" or "replied," they don't feel the need to attribute every bit of dialogue to a character (because often it's clear who's speaking), and they can let us know how characters are feeling by describing their actions or expressions (something skilled writers can do without falling into the trap of overusing words like "whined" or "cajoled" or "shrieked"). Crichton does none of that, and that's why I complained about him.

The only Philip K. Dick I've read is his collection of short stories entitled The Philip K. Dick Reader, and I liked most of them a lot.

But raw carrots have that outer/inner ring thing going. I used to love eating the outer ring first and then the inner ring when I was younger.

I thought I was the only one who did this. I've been successful with baby carrots too, but you have to work much harder at it. I'm usually not patient enough.

And yummy Betsy. Those ginger carrots sound too wonderful. I'll have to make them next time I visit my mom, who's a ginger freak.

David Brin, whatever his political stance, is known as a hard SF writer as well. I loved Startide Rising and The Uplift War, although the subsequent novels became too self-indulgent hard to follow, and I don't think I ever finished the series.

One or two salient points: Crichton defenders of Polter Cow's ilk are dead to me. Corpses littering the battlefield of science -vs- sensationalistic pseudo-science scare tactics, each of them. Crichton is Stephen King, with a metric ruler.

CJ Cherryh has an amazing ability to invoke science, without committing any. I particularly love how her hyperspace is a condition in which metaphysical things may happen in the minds of her people. The key to loving her books is that you have to abandon what you want it to be about. A Cherryh novel's "what it is about" will smack you upside the head the next morning, while you are riding public transportation, or driving to work.

He said.

But raw carrots have that outer/inner ring thing going. I used to love eating the outer ring first and then the inner ring when I was younger.

I thought I was the only one who did this. I've been successful with baby carrots too, but you have to work much harder at it. I'm usually not patient enough.

Ooh, I do this too! Do either of you eat Twix so that it breaks off just where the little holes are? The ones in the cookie part, I mean. (If you do this, you'll know what I mean -- if you don't, then I seem very insane right now.) I've always wondered why those little holes are there. Something about keeping the caramel connected to the cookie? But I'd think the chocolate should do that.

On the "said" debate, I was an English major and I'm in favor of variety or nothing. Said for every single quote is boring and often just plain inaccurate. Don't remember my English profs telling me one way or the other on it though, so that's just my opinion. Does remind me of my English teachers always telling us not to use words like "nice" because they don't add anything. If you're going to use a word, make it something with meaning. Or just let your quote stand for itself. Or write scripts and then you don't have to worry about the whole problem quite so much.

Crichton is Stephen King, with a metric ruler.

I think Stephen King is a talented writer, and especially enjoy his short stories and novellas (the stories in Skeleton Crew and Different Seasons are my favorites). I don't see any similarities between King and Crichton.

Do either of you eat Twix so that it breaks off just where the little holes are? The ones in the cookie part, I mean. (If you do this, you'll know what I mean -- if you don't, then I seem very insane right now.)

Sorry. I'm actually not all that fond of Twix. But I do pull off the edges of Reeses peanut butter cups, where the chocolate is thicker before it hits peanut butter. I don't know if this counts, but there you are.