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From: patcl@tekecs.UUCP (Pat Clancy)
Newsgroups: net.sf-lovers
Subject: Brin, Sagan, etc.
Message-ID: <5703@tekecs.UUCP>
Date: Fri, 20-Sep-85 19:12:41 EDT
Article-I.D.: tekecs.5703
Posted: Fri Sep 20 19:12:41 1985
Date-Received: Sun, 22-Sep-85 06:25:02 EDT
Reply-To: patcl@tekecs.UUCP (Pat Clancy)
Organization: Tektronix, Wilsonville OR
Lines: 24


> I'm glad to hear that I'm not the only one who didn't like Startide
> Rising. Can't figure out why it won the Hugo and Nebula. If this was
> the best of the year it must have been a very bad year.


Agreed! Startide Rising was awful, with one of the
most unconvincing, most cliched, and generally worst depictions of
aliens I've come across in some time.  Possibly tied for
"most overrated" with Gene Wulf's (sp?) extremely bad novel
"Shadow of the Torturer".

I just got a copy of Carl Sagan's new sf novel, "Contact". So
far (about 1/4 through) it's quite good. As you might expect,
the science is accurate, and explained in some detail; far more
so than other works in the "sf by scientists" genre that I've
come across (eg.: Forward's "Dragon's Egg" or anything by
Scheffield). And as an additional bonus, he proves to be a
good novelist (convincing characters, etc.).

Another recent "hard sf" (ie., "real sf") novel I'd highly
recommend is Eon, by Greg Bear.

Pat Clancy, Tektronix