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Oct. 30th, 2012
Sci-Fi Radio 07 - Diary of a Rose by Ursula K. LeGuin
The story of a woman who discovers the oppressive society in which she is a willing cog is oppressive. This belongs to a particular subgenre of dystopia involving prisons and medical facilities. It's generally bad to be a prisoner in one but sometimes worse to be staff.
Is it significant that the prisoner is male but all the people in positions of authority are female?
The story of a woman who discovers the oppressive society in which she is a willing cog is oppressive. This belongs to a particular subgenre of dystopia involving prisons and medical facilities. It's generally bad to be a prisoner in one but sometimes worse to be staff.
Is it significant that the prisoner is male but all the people in positions of authority are female?
Sci-Fi Radio 08&09 - Frost and Fire by Ray Bradbury
Oh, this one. I can never remember the title of this but the story has stuck with me for decades. In it humans trapped on a planet live short, frustrating lives of just eight days thanks to the local conditions and Bradbury's dubious grasp of science. The means of salvation is in sight but beyond the distance any local can hope to travel safely.
The fight scenes in this are unconvincing. Also, if I didn't know this was from the late 1980s, I would guess from the voices, in particular those of the actresses, that this was from the 1950s.
Oh, this one. I can never remember the title of this but the story has stuck with me for decades. In it humans trapped on a planet live short, frustrating lives of just eight days thanks to the local conditions and Bradbury's dubious grasp of science. The means of salvation is in sight but beyond the distance any local can hope to travel safely.
The fight scenes in this are unconvincing. Also, if I didn't know this was from the late 1980s, I would guess from the voices, in particular those of the actresses, that this was from the 1950s.
So, about Decree 770
Oct. 30th, 2012 11:43 amThe pro-natalist policy responsible for spreading a lot of unnecessary misery in Romania a couple of generations ago:
Decree 770 was still more open-minded about family planning than the Republican Party of Aikin and Mourdock.
"To counter this sharp decline of the population, the Communist Party
decided that the Romanian population should be increased from 23 to
30 million inhabitants. In 1967 (1966 according to some sources), decree
770 was authorized by Ceau.escu. This decree included roughly the
following: abortion and family planning was virtually declared illegal,
and really only allowed for
women over 40 (later raised to 45)
women who had already borne four children (later raised to five)
women whose life would be threatened by carrying to term, due to
medical complications
women who were pregnant through rape or incest"
Decree 770 was still more open-minded about family planning than the Republican Party of Aikin and Mourdock.
A stupid question
Oct. 30th, 2012 01:15 pmInspired by this Genreville post and by a book I just read (or rather, my guess as to what inspire the author):
Do Life On Mars or Ashes to Ashes count as portal fantasies?
Do Life On Mars or Ashes to Ashes count as portal fantasies?
The world does not need
Oct. 30th, 2012 02:57 pmA story in which Arrakisian Fremen are hired as guest workers by Norstrilian sheep-farmers.
It's kind of a close call whether your classic Instrumentality was more ass-hattish than the powers that be in the Duneiverse. The average human has a better life under the Instrumentality than the average human in Dune but this is more than balanced by the situation of the Underpeople.
It's kind of a close call whether your classic Instrumentality was more ass-hattish than the powers that be in the Duneiverse. The average human has a better life under the Instrumentality than the average human in Dune but this is more than balanced by the situation of the Underpeople.
Sci-Fi Radio 10 - The Cold Equations by Tom Godwin
This seems faithful enough to the original but about ten minutes in I remembered nobody is paying me to do this and life is too short to waste on yet another encounter with this story if the encounter has no greater purpose.
This seems faithful enough to the original but about ten minutes in I remembered nobody is paying me to do this and life is too short to waste on yet another encounter with this story if the encounter has no greater purpose.
Sci fi radio 11&12 - Sundance by Robert Silverberg
Sometime early on, when the narrator establishes protagonist Tom Two-Ribbons comes from a long line of alcoholic and addicted Native Americans, I was worried this story could go in unfortunate directions. I had no fucking idea.
Sometime early on, when the narrator establishes protagonist Tom Two-Ribbons comes from a long line of alcoholic and addicted Native Americans, I was worried this story could go in unfortunate directions. I had no fucking idea.
Sci-Fi Radio 13 - Wall of Darkness by Arthur C. Clarke
There is an essential problem with a lot of Clarke stories as plays in that there isn't a lot of dialogue in them and as a play they might involve either long periods of silence or people describing what they are doing, as people do in radio plays. In this case they seem to have added a new character who the protagonist inexplicably allows to accompany him during his one-man (plus one) quest to unravel his world's greatest mystery.
This is one of Clarke's mood pieces. The mood listening to this piece left me in was irritation at how the reaction to a very interesting quirk of space-time was to do their best never to think of it again and at Shervane's self-centered decision to destroy access to the Wall once he had had his little walk. Jerk.
Given the reaction to the revelation, I had not trouble at all understanding why the scholars of this age could not match the achievements of the First Dynasty.
There is an essential problem with a lot of Clarke stories as plays in that there isn't a lot of dialogue in them and as a play they might involve either long periods of silence or people describing what they are doing, as people do in radio plays. In this case they seem to have added a new character who the protagonist inexplicably allows to accompany him during his one-man (plus one) quest to unravel his world's greatest mystery.
This is one of Clarke's mood pieces. The mood listening to this piece left me in was irritation at how the reaction to a very interesting quirk of space-time was to do their best never to think of it again and at Shervane's self-centered decision to destroy access to the Wall once he had had his little walk. Jerk.
Given the reaction to the revelation, I had not trouble at all understanding why the scholars of this age could not match the achievements of the First Dynasty.