From: utzoo!decvax!ucbvax!sf-lovers Newsgroups: fa.sf-lovers Title: SF-LOVERS Digest V6 #121 wrap-up issue Article-I.D.: ucbvax.543 Posted: Fri Dec 31 06:49:37 1982 Received: Sat Jan 1 02:32:14 1983 >From SFL@SRI-CSL Fri Dec 31 06:40:09 1982 Reply-To: SF-LOVERS at SRI-CSL To: SF-LOVERS@SRI-CSL SF-LOVERS Digest Friday, 31 Dec 1982 Volume 6 : Issue 121 Today's Topics: Misc - filk, puns in SF, Nathan Brazil's death toll, tribbles, best fanzine, bookstores, Lucasfilm device, Gilliand's latest, comics list is born, Childhood's End, etc. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: 27 Dec 1982 11:58:34-EST From: csin!cjh at CCA-UNIX Subject: "filk" Unfortunately, the FANCYCLOPEDIA is severely dated, not to say having many errors even in its own time (e.g. its explanation of the development and exploitation of STEAM, which Lee Hoffman (who was involved) corrects in IN AND OUT OF \QUANDRY/ (edited by yhos)). "Filk" is not used as an abbreviation for "filksong"; it's either a transitive verb (meaning very similar to "parody") or an abbreviation for "filksing" ("The filk last night was getting \very/ -ose, so I crashed.") (It has also been used as an adjective with malapropish intent, e.g. "It were very filk out last night.") ------------------------------ Date: Mon 27 Dec 82 13:38:58-EST From: Bob KrovetzSubject: puns in SF I have recently finished the hugo-winning story "Riders of the Purple Wage" by Philip Jose Farmer. The story is full of puns, and it got me wondering about what other SF stories are especially punny. The following ones come to mind: The Flying Sorcerers by Larry Niven and David Gerrold Callahans Crosstime Saloon by Spider Robinson Time Travelers, Stricly Cash by Spider Robinson The Magic of Xanth series by Piers Anthony A Loint of Paw by Isaac Asimov (in "Asimov's Mysteries") The Ferdinand Feghoot series that used to be in F&SF (a collection of these was published entitled (I think) "The Compleat Feghoot") In addition, I remember reading a story by Spider Robinson (I think it was in Analog) which had an absolutely TERRIBLE pun regarding P.J. Farmer's Riverworld series. Does anyone know the reference? I'm interested in works that either have a lot of puns or in which the point of the story rests on a pun (as in A Loint of Paw). ------------------------------ Date: 15 Dec 82 10:17:52-PST (Wed) From: decvax!sultan!dag at Ucb-C70 Subject: Re: Nathan Brazil's Death Toll In reply to the comment that Nathan Brazil had topped anyone else in death toll: =~ Nathan Brazil did not "kill" all of the non-wellworld inhabitants. He altered (eliminated) the equation in which they existed. This did not eliminate their souls, though. When the well was repaired and the equations re-established, the souls found themselves in new exsistances. I believe that they even remembered what they had been previously. This was done in order to prevent the universe from being irrevocably destroyed. Even with this in mind, he was reluctant to do it, whereas Tarkin and Vader enjoyed (or seemed to enjoy) what they were up to. You don't see Vader running away from those who want him to destroy the rebel alliance. ~= Consider though, one "other" that has not been mentioned... Gypsy! He shows all of the important attributes of a Jedi. Like Obie-Wan he is able to make others forget that he is there and make them do things they would otherwise not do. I will not say what his connection is with the universe so as not to spoil it for those who have not yet read the Chalker "Wellworld" series, but it is much the same as the force. And he already knows Obie! Just entering my 2.8 cents worth, Daniel Glasser ...!decvax!sultan!dag ------------------------------ Date: 17 Dec 82 12:31:06-PST (Fri) From: harpo!ihnp4!ixn5c!inuxc!pur-ee!uiucdcs!mcdaniel at Ucb-C70 Subject: Re: tribbles, best fanzine, bookstores, - (nf) Moonstone's is at Pennsylvania Avenue and 22nd street NW. Smack dab next to Washington Circle and about 2 blocks from the Foggy Bottom-George Washington University subway stop. A really excellent place. Tim McDaniel (. . . pur-ee!uiucdcs!mcdaniel) ------------------------------ Date: 22 Dec 82 12:43:02-PST (Wed) From: harpo!eagle!mhuxt!mhuxa!mhuxh!mhuxm!pyuxjj!rlr at Ucb-C70 Subject: re: Lucasfilms device to impose speech on musical instrument Sounds a lot like an ordinary vocoder (NOT vocoRder) to me. A vocoder is a device (invented, by the way, at Bell Labs circa 1935) which imposes the audio spectrum of one sound onto another sound. What it does is to 1) analyze the spectrum of a sound (usually human speech) and 2) use this derived spectrum (really the set of amplitudes measured at a broad band of frequency ranges) to control the level of a series of bandpass filters through which a second sound is passed. (You can think of these bandpass filters as a sophisticated version of an audio equalizer with a large number of sliders, where the position of the sliders changes over time based on the audio spectra of a person's speech.) Simply put, it imposes the characteristics of one sound onto another, and can thus make virtually any sound with a broad enough spectrum and long enough duration sound like someone speaking. It is an extremely common musical/audio device, used by groups like Kraftwerk and (in a more SF-related vein) by the people who brought you Cattlecar Fascistica. The "voice" of the Cylon warriors ("By your command") was generated by imposing a human voice onto a sustained buzzer-like sound that does not waver in pitch or volume. This technique should not be confused with genuine computer speech synthesis, although it is often used to pass for the real thing (esp. in movies/TV). There is nothing unusual about Lucasfilm having such a device. ------------------------------ Date: 12/28/82 1255-EDT From: THOKAR at LL Subject: Gilliland's latest ``The Pirates of Rosinante'', the third book of the Rosinante series by Alexis Gilliland, continues in the same superb style of the previous two. The author's only novel length works to date tell the story of an O'Neil Colony, Mundito(small world) Rosinante, circa 2040 and its struggle for survival against budget cutbacks, ecological crisis, and multi-national-corporate and international politics. Rosinante is a world populated by its constuction crew plus several thousand deported, mostly male, Texan collage-student rioters; an equal number of Korean female immigrants that Japan was getting rid of, and several sentient computers, the most intriguing members of the community. The computers have achieved "person" statis by the legal fiction of incorpating themselves. Truly unique characters. In book one, ``The Revolution from Rosinante'', the mundito and its two sister colonies are being built by a construction firm owned by Charles Cantrell for a multi-corporation venture. Due to world recession, the corporations plan to default on the projects to minimize losses. One mundito, in mid-construction, is destroyed by rioting, unpaid construction workers. Another has barely been started. Only Rosinante is habitable. Thus, burdened with the outcast Texans and Koreans, Rosinante decides its only hope to recoup its losses is to go it alone. Book two deals with Rosinante's break from earth. It adds new players to the game and focuses on the problems of creating a new national culture. The lead computer, Corporate Skaskash, in its personification of Bogart from ``Casablanca'', is the "brains" of outfit. In the latest book Cantrell, governor of the new nation, works to defend his coloney from the Japanese Space Navy, who have been pirating industrial production. The most straight-foreward action book of the three, it offers a host of technical solutions to Rosinante's political problems. A fast-paced read and richly enjoyable. ------------------------------ Date: 28 Dec 1982 1245-PST From: Henry W. Miller Subject: A new list is borne... A new list is being formed: COMICS-LOVERS@SRI-NIC This list will attempt to cover all aspects of of the comics, a subsection that has been sorely neglected by SF-LOVERS (No downplay on that list; it is merely that comics fans represent only a small faction of that list.) For the time being, this list will be an immediate distribution list, although I can soon see it growing into a digest. So, send your ideas to COMICS-LOVERS@SRI-NIC. If you wish to subscribe, send then to COMICS-LOVERS-REQUEST@SRI-NIC. Note: if you subscribe soon enough, I'll clue you in on what is planned between Superman and Lois Lane. Comically yours, -HWM ------------------------------ Date: 28 Dec 1982 15:29:51 EST (Tuesday) From: Drew M. Powles Subject: Childhood's End To Speaker: Oops! You're right.....not centaurs, but satan-like creatures. However, my original point is still true, the children did not leave the earth in spaceships......the aliens did. dmp ------------------------------ Date: 29 December 1982 02:53:46-PST (Wednesday) From: bothner%Shasta at Sumex-Aim Subject: "Fans" vs. "readers" My image of the term "fan" differs somewhat from that of ...!eagle!mhuxt!mhux1!macrev (I wish people would sign their contributions -at the end- with human names or even nicknames), at least as it applies to science fiction. "Reading" is an essentially passive activity, whereas a fan is someone who engages in fan activity (fanac). Admittedly there are fans who read uncritically, and others who hardly read at all, though I contend that most "real" fans steer the middle course. (Of course, these days it seems that fandom is being swamped by the media fans who seem not to read at all. These fall into a different category. Even "sf-lovers" isn't immume, as evinced by this month's pointless, longwinded and repetitious "Star Bores" discussion.) Fanac is some subset of, say: - Publishing, reading or contributing to fanzines (e.g. sf-lovers). - Attending and possibly helping to run conventions. - Taking part in other social interaction between fans, such as being a member of a science fiction club or corresponding with other fans. (fen? or is that an obsolete term?) The point of all this is that fandom is a place to meet people (not necessarily in the flesh) who share interests with you. And not just sf, since there will be many correlations among interests - all of you should be aware of the big overlap between people interested in sf and those interested in computers! And if not, their interests, even if you don't share them, are at least likely to be ... interesting! This is because the incidence of boring or shallow people in fandom is a lot less than that of the general population. In conclusion, my connotations of the term "fan" are a lot more postitive than the general (non-sf) use of the term would imply, and they have nothing to do with the amount or selectivity of one's reading. --Per Bothner ------------------------------ Date: 29 Dec 1982 11:39:53-EST From: csin!cjh at CCA-UNIX Subject: definitions--reader vs fan:net.sf-lovers As one of the most active fans on this list I think it's fair to say that ...!macrev's distinction between SF "readers" and SF "fans" is totally at odds with current usage. Certainly there are Trekkies, Star Warts, and even (to foin a craze) Blakies around the fringes of SF fandom; they constitute a continuing problem (not just because of the derided lack-of-critical-sense but also because a significant fraction of them aren't housebroken), but to the extent that they behave as macrev describes they have very little to do with the 10,000 or so active fans in this country. We call most of these people "fringefans"; perhaps (further deriving from the above naming convention) non-fans could refer to them as "fannies"? ( -) ------------------------------ Date: 30 Dec 1982 0908-EST From: RG.JMTURN.MIT-OZ at Mit-Mc Subject: Fans and fen I've seen the flaming about Harper's turn into an attack on fans, and I thought I'd get my two cents in. Talking about fans as a group is a mistake. There are fringe fans, media fans, and trufen. There are people who just go to the conventions, people who belong to a fan club, and people who are heavily involved in the regional and national fanish networks. You can no more categorize the preferences and tastes of such a diverse group than you could the public in general. I think that the people who have been flaming so heavily against fandom are afraid that any identification with it will "taint them" in the eyes of mundanes. I'm proud to be a fan! I put long hours into my responsibilities to my local group, and enjoy it. If someone wants to call what I do pap, fine. But take a good look at what you're rejecting. Before you dismiss fandom out of hand as a bunch of idiots with blasters, consider some of the other things fandom and fanish groups do. I mean, just in the last month, I've helped enter text for a anthology, a songbook, and an SF index. I've participated in planning sessions of a con, and other things too numerous to mention. If someone thinks going to poetry readings is a better use of my time, I'll let them have my seat anyway. FIAGDH, James ------------------------------ Date: Thursday, 30 December 1982 15:43-EST From: Vince Fuller Subject: [coar.umass: Grossberg and Japan] Date: 2 Dec 82 00:57-EDT (Thu) From: the Golux To: HUMAN-NETS at MIT-MC Re: Grossberg and Japan O lord! Can't we dispense with the arms race before we start the brain race? I just read through my copy of Brunner's ``The Shockwave Rider'' for about the tenth time, and it raised some questions in my mind (collaterally triggered by a question about the impact of micros). In the book, the hardware foundation for the net is rarely referred to, and is either a terminal or the pleasantly ill-defined 'Fedcomps' when it *is* mentioned. Of people who have read the book, I ask: Does the culture Brunner portrays seem reasonable (i.e., a viable possible future), or is it off the wall? How does the burgeoning micro market impact the development of his society? If you believe his future is possibly ahead (please stipulate for this question), do you think personal micros will be `part' of the net, serve as mere terminals, or have no connection to the net at all? Will their influence deteriorate as time passes and mainframes get better and more readily accessible? (yes, yes - I know I forgot to ask about Naomi!) For those who have not read the book, I recommend it very highly. It forms a *very* interesting juxtaposition with Spinrad's ``A World Between'', as far as the use of computers as a communication medium goes. (Spinrad's book also rates quite high in my estimation.) ken coar.umass@udel-relay ------------------------------ Date: 30 Dec 82 9:00:02-PST (Thu) From: hplabs!intelqa!omsvax!bb at Ucb-C70 Subject: re: sf puns The story which involves the pun of the Farmers daughter (P.J. Farmer) and the time traveling salesman is: Have you heard the one ... ? Spider Robinson Analog June 1980 p. 68 The story concerns Tall Tales night at Callahan's and includes far more than the final pun. A friend claims that the story has appeared in an anthology, but I don't have the reference. ------------------------------ Date: 31 Dec 1982 0300-PST Subject: The Ayes of Texas From: Alan R. Katz Suggested reading: In my opinion, one of the best SF books to come out in the past year is "The Ayes of Texas" by Daniel da Cruz. It takes place in the 1990's whenthe main character, a disabled WWII veteran turned billionair gives a group of disabled vets unlimited funds to make the retired battleship USS Texas into a modern warship in time for Independence Day, 2000. However, it turns out the ship is needed in 1998 to (sort of) single handedly fight the Russians. There are lots of neat weapons of the future including particle beam weapons and the technical details seem to be correct. There is plenty of action. I have never heard of the author before, but the books says he is currently Professor of Anthropology at Miami University, and served aboard the USS Texas in World War II. If you can find it in your sf section, get it. Alan ------------------------------ Date: 30 Dec 82 9:26:26-PST (Thu) From: decvax!genradbo!mitccc!jmturn at Ucb-C70 Subject: Re: puns in SF The Riverworld pun comes from another story by Spider, a Callahan's story to boot. Don't remember the title. Another good book for puns is Stardance, by Jeane and Spider. James ------------------------------ End of SF-LOVERS Digest ***********************