From: utzoo!decvax!harpo!npoiv!npois!ucbvax!sf-lovers Newsgroups: fa.sf-lovers Title: SF-LOVERS Digest V6 #22 Article-I.D.: ucbvax.8128 Posted: Tue Jul 27 02:55:07 1982 Received: Sat Jul 31 08:13:03 1982 >From JPM@MIT-AI Tue Jul 27 02:37:40 1982 SF-LOVERS Digest Thursday, 22 Jul 1982 Volume 6 : Issue 22 Today's Topics: SF Books - Little,Big & The Best of Randall Garrett & Lensman Series & Dennis Schmidt & Babel 17 & "The Digital Dictator", SF Movies - Das Boot & Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, SF TV - HHGttG, SF Topics - Brain Use, Humor - Genderless Video Games ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: 22-Jul-82 1:23PM-EDT (Thu) From: Steven SalzbergReply-to:Salzberg@Yale Subject: Little, Big I just looked at Crowley's "Little, Big" in a bookstore, after seeing it on this bboard recently. I didn't buy it because I could tell in my brief perusal what sort of story it was. Could anyone out there enlighten me, provide a few plot details, recommendations, etc.? Also, I'd be interested in the titles of good fantasy (a la Tolkien) where writing style and plot create absorbing reading -- too many books I find have one or the other, and I've been reading non-fiction for so long that I'm out of touch with who the good writers are now. Thanks. --Steven ------------------------------ Date: 23 Jul 1982 05:39:16-PDT From: decvax!duke!uok!uokvax!mwm at Berkeley Subject: The Best of Randall Garrett. I just finished reading this truly marvelous book. I advise everyone to go out and buy this book to read and enjoy and read and enjoy and ... For those of you not familiar with his work, Garrett published a lot of stuff in ASF during the 50's and 60's. This work tends to be entertaining. There were a couple of stories whose plot I remembered after 15+ years, even though I didn't remember the author/title/ magazine related to them. Among other things, Garrett demonstrates how far you can mislead someone by giving them the truth and nothing but the truth. Over the last decade, Garrett has been turning out Lord Darcy stories. Darcy is a detective in an alternate time stream, where Richard the Lionhearted didn't die young, and John Lackland (Black John) was never a king of England. And somebody published a book that laid out the mathematical laws of magic. Given a working magic, science doesn't stand a chance. The result is some interesting whodunits from Garrett. Not hard science fiction, but just as good. (Hard magic fiction?) Then there are the reviews. Garrett reviews (in verse, no less!) Bester's `The Demolished Man,' Asimov's `The Caves of Steel' and Anderson's `Three Hearts and Three Lions.' There's also an hilarious parody of the Foundation stories. Finally, for those who like personal comments from the writers, there are comments on Garrett by various authors strung between the stories. All good stuff. Share and Enjoy! mike ------------------------------ Date: 16 Jul 1982 1927-PDT From: Henry W. Miller Subject: Book review: The Lensman series Berkley Books has just come out with a re-release of the famous Lensman series, by Edward E. "Doc" Smith. These books have been out of print for five years, and with some luck, you might have been able to scrape together all six books by visiting many book stores. And, surprise of surprises, this re-issue has brand new cover illustrations, brilliantly done by David Mattingly. For once, the covers actually match the stories. These books are good old fashioned space opera, complete with blaster fire, damsels in distress and epic space battles. (Pure Star Wars genre.) To give you a brief idea of the story line, two galaxies passed through each other a few billion years ago. Two races of beings, each immensely old discover each other. The bad guys are concerned with universal domination, while the good guys are only concerned with the advancement of civilization. The good guys, the Arisians, discover that the bad guys, the Eddorians, can only be destroyed by intense mental force. Therefore, the Arisians set forth to develop in other, lower beings minds of sufficient power to perform the task. The six books of the series are, "Triplanetary", "Galatic Patrol", "First Lensman", "Gray Lensman", "Second Stage Lensman", and "The Children of the Lens". Smith wrote another book which is a spinoff of the series called "The Vortex Blasters", and later renamed to be "The Masters of the Vortex". This book has not been re-issued at this time. After Smith's death in 1965, a close friend of his, David A. Kyle, used Smith's notes, and penned "The Dragon Lensman", a book about the adventures of Worsel, one of the main characters of the series. This book has not been re-issued yet, but is still in print. There are rumors that Smith intended to write two more books about particular Lensmen mentioned in the series, but nothing has materialized yet. Rumor also had it that Smith was going to write additional Lensman books as sequels to the "Children of the Lens", but as yet, no one has gathered his notes. If you love good old fashioned SF adventure, whether you're young or old, I highly reccomend the Lensman series. Cost is $ 2.50 per book. -Henry ------------------------------ Date: 26 July 1982 01:21-EDT (Monday) From: Robert A. Carter Subject: Review of Das Boot ("The Boat") The German film Das Boot ("The Boat") takes place during World War II. However, the plotline is so intimately concerned with the effects of an enclosed micro-environment that it might as well take place in orbit, or in deep space, thus should interest many who follow science-fiction movies. Pico-review: Best submarine movie ever. Mini-review: This movie tells the story of one short patrol by a German U-Boat in l941. The plot concerns the crew's conflict with the British, their inhospitable environment, and their own fear, in ascending order of importance. This is a powerful and moving picture; seeing it after this summer's crop of Spielbergian sentimentality is a good reminder of what real movies are about. See it. Review: Das Boot is "science fiction" in all but date, and certainly deserves the title better than any of the SW or ST movies. It concentrates primarily on the personal and environmental stresses suffered by the members of a German U-Boat crew, and reproduces the submarine environment with much more detail and truthfulness than any similar movie I have ever seen. In particular, it is far superior to what I had thought the best such picture, The Enemy Below. It makes references to TEB and to other submarine pictures that must be conscious, but plot and character development are far superior. The movie is in German, and subtitled. I have German, and saw Das Boot with a group, some of whom also spoke it and some of whom did not. The non-German-speakers liked it just fine, although those of us who could understand (some) of the dialogue agreed that the subtitles failed to capture some of the jokes (especially the locker-room humor, which not objectionable, but about what you would expect in a submarine). The acting was first rate, as was the set design. You will be amazed at how small it is inside a sub. My only quarrel with the movie as that some effects (i.e. model work) had the sub moving much too fast through the water. By all means, see this picture. If you still think it has nothing to do with science fiction, compare it to Silent Running. I think you'll agree it is fundamentally the same kind of picture, but much better. _R. Carter ------------------------------ Date: 22 July 1982 10:41-PDT (Thursday) From: KING at KESTREL Subject: Hitchhikers' Guide broadcasts I started watching Hitchhikers' Guide yesterday. I'd like to maintain continuity when I go to Fair Lawn, N. J. and to Washington DC towards the end of August. Does anyone know of TV stations in these areas which are broadcasting HHGttG reasonably close to synchronously with channel 60 in Palo Alto? They just aired the first episode yesterday and will air one per week. Thanks. Dick ------------------------------ Date: 20 Jul 1982 1406-PDT From: Lynn Gold Subject: Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy According to the current KFJC program guide, the program is being aired Wednesday nights, I believe at 9:30PM (I don't have it in front of me as I type this, but I believe it to be right.). --Lynn ------------------------------ Date: 22 July 1982 20:55-EDT From: Howie Daniel Trachtman Subject: HHGtG and TRON Date: 12 July 1982 15:08 edt From: Boebert.SCOMP at MIT-MULTICS To: SF-LOVERS at MIT-MC Re: HHGtG and TRON 1. HHGtG snuck into town this Saturday. A 30-minute segment on PBS, so presumably we are going to get the whole thing. Special effects a little above the Dr. Who level; an adequate Dent and a perfect Prefect. I know about HHGtG on radio in the Boston area, but WHEN is it on PBS? --Howard-- ------------------------------ Date: 21-Jul-82 5:28PM-EDT (Wed) From: Todd Allen Subject: JUST JOINED! Just took a look at the SF-LOVERS drop bax here at Yale CS Dept. WOW!! But there sure is a lot of stuff out there!!! About TWOK: Have seen the movie twice (and enjoyed it greatly) and was lucky enough to see the Creatures Features thing out in SF (my sister was married in Berkely that weekend). However, all this analysis of the movie and refering to the book and all is begining to leave a bad taste in my mouth. As I watched the movie I certainly picked up on all the things mentioned in these columns and more, but all this back biting begins to wear. As for the book, well the movie has to stand on its own. Perhaps the book contains info left on the cutting room floor, and just maybe it sets out to correct deficiencies in the movie. But either way, the movie is a finished product separate from the book and not helped by it. Personally, I hope the flood of commentary on TWOK dries up! By the way, Ricardo Montalbon is/was quite impressive. The interview with him was nice. Though not particularly informative, it did give me the measure of the man. I am glad to see that others think (as I do) that Shatner is a rather shalow actor. An endorsement for Dennis Schmidt: Enjoyed seeing the reviews of "Way-farer", "Kensho", and "Sartori". Have read and enjoyed "Kensho" though I do not fall into any of the catagories mentioned by your reviewer. Mr Schmidt is an extremely competent author who tends to study contemporary issues in futuristic, pan galactic settings. I highly recommend him, and all his works to those as yet unfamiliar with him. On Samuel Delaney: Whew! For a while I was wondering why I couldn't make head or tail of "Dahlgren" and "Triton". It's good to see that others also find him impenetrable. On the other hand, "Babel 17" by Delaney is GREAT! Read it several times many times many years ago, and probably will read it again soon. Here is a brief synopsis from (possibly faulty -- "fuzzy") memory: This a we vs they pan galactic espionage situation. "They" are wreaking havok with sabotage, but no information can be gained as to who ar where they are located. To make maters worse, "they" have invented a language, Babel 17", which is used for all "their" communication. This language and its underlying assumptions and logic are so alien, that anyone learning to think in the language eventually becomes one of "their" agents and starts to perform acts of espionage and sabotage in a sort of fugue state. The protagonist is a cosmetically altered human (?) female ship master (captain) with the required skills (primarily languages) and contacts to be co-opted to break "their" code. The book is well written and highly accessible. You may have trouble with the story's basic assumptions about the effects of language, but it deserves careful consideration. this is a *MUST READ* book. Holographic memory: To whome it may concern: Tanx for the info on the holographic nature of memory. If you or anyone else has comments on "Electronic Dictator" a short story in a recent edition of Analog (or Fantasy & SF or IASFM - I'm not sure which), please broadcast them. The story proposed mitachondria (mitachondron according to the author) as the means of holographic memory, and proposed that virutally every cell in the body contains a "fuzzy" copy of your memory. ------------------------------ Date: 25-Jul-82 5:51PM-EDT (Sun) From: Todd Allen Subject: Holographic memory A few days ago I sent a message to SF-LOVERS reguarding a recent novellete that seemed related to recent a recent item on the holographic nature of memory. The correct reference is: "The Digital Dictator" by Ian Stewart, in the August 1982 Analog (last month) The story is weak (particulary from the cs point of view) but humorous. What i'd like to know is: is there any truth in the biological assertions / assumptions of the story? ------------------------------ Date: 20 July 1982 17:27 edt From: SSteinberg.SoftArts at MIT-MULTICS Subject: % of brain There was some work reported in SciAm in which pictures of oxygen use in the brain were made. One amusing result was that counting from 1 to 10 out loud used a different section of the brain from that used when counting to oneself. Needless to say there was no obvious dead load in the typical brain. As far as picking a percentage it might be a good idea to remember that the knee joints take a disproportionate fraction of the forces involved in walking but I imagine that removing half of one femur would make walking next to impossible. BTW If people are going to accuse ADA of being SF related I should mention that Peter Graves's (of I, Claudius fame) Hercules My Shipmate is in print again. It is an excellent renedering of the voyage of the Argo set near the end of the reign of the Triple Goddess. The novel itself is excellent in its renderings of Hercules, Orpheus and Jason but the book is worth reading for the appendix alone. ------------------------------ Date: 14 Jul 1982 1648-EDT From: Roger H. Goun Subject: Humorless video games Where are they filming the new Pacman movie? On a Hollywood PAClot. ------------------------------ End of SF-LOVERS Digest ***********************