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james_davis_nicollI regret not including authors' names before this but not so much that I am going to go back and add them.
Young Girl At An Open Half Door by Frederick Saberhagen
This is a variation on a kind of salvage archaeology seen in SF, where the archaeologists use a time machine and the disaster, whatever it is, is in our future. I'll excuse the protagonist for acting like a daffy loon since he was drugged but why would a woman of the future fall for him? Serious question as the sound quality on this was such that I could not make out what she was saying.
The Language Of Love by Robert Sheckley
It's pretty obvious that our young academic's quest to master love is going to go horribly wrong from the start, particularly since the race whose language of love he wants to master died out and that certainly cannot help but be relevant to the plot. The question is how will it go wrong?
When you read the bits about him mastering physical love, try not to dwell on the fact that the only other person on the planet is a nearly-toothless old man.
Desertion by Clifford D. Simak
Apparently I've mispronouncing Simak's name for 41 years*. This is from a series of stories that were collected under the title City, whose running theme is "good intentions, horrible outcomes". In fact, this particular story of transformation and exploration is an important step towards the almost complete extinction of humanity and its replacement by robots, intelligent dogs and much later, the Ants. The dogs and the robots are nice enough that it does not seem like such a tragedy.
What I wondered during this was at what point did our perception of Jupiter move away from it having some kind of solid surface?
* "Trouble with Tycho", which was included in the Ace Science Fiction Reader with "Empire Star", the first Samuel R. Delaney I ever read, and "The Last Castle", the first Jack Vance I ever read.
For the record, I don't actually remember the name of the first woman I dated in university, although at one point I did know it. Come to think of it, technically she never actually dumped me [1] so it's kind of rude I cannot for the life of me remember her name. Had an L in it, I think.
1: She used what I call the Opossum Method, which is to just stop responding to any communication and hope I'll take the hint.
Young Girl At An Open Half Door by Frederick Saberhagen
This is a variation on a kind of salvage archaeology seen in SF, where the archaeologists use a time machine and the disaster, whatever it is, is in our future. I'll excuse the protagonist for acting like a daffy loon since he was drugged but why would a woman of the future fall for him? Serious question as the sound quality on this was such that I could not make out what she was saying.
The Language Of Love by Robert Sheckley
It's pretty obvious that our young academic's quest to master love is going to go horribly wrong from the start, particularly since the race whose language of love he wants to master died out and that certainly cannot help but be relevant to the plot. The question is how will it go wrong?
When you read the bits about him mastering physical love, try not to dwell on the fact that the only other person on the planet is a nearly-toothless old man.
Desertion by Clifford D. Simak
Apparently I've mispronouncing Simak's name for 41 years*. This is from a series of stories that were collected under the title City, whose running theme is "good intentions, horrible outcomes". In fact, this particular story of transformation and exploration is an important step towards the almost complete extinction of humanity and its replacement by robots, intelligent dogs and much later, the Ants. The dogs and the robots are nice enough that it does not seem like such a tragedy.
What I wondered during this was at what point did our perception of Jupiter move away from it having some kind of solid surface?
* "Trouble with Tycho", which was included in the Ace Science Fiction Reader with "Empire Star", the first Samuel R. Delaney I ever read, and "The Last Castle", the first Jack Vance I ever read.
For the record, I don't actually remember the name of the first woman I dated in university, although at one point I did know it. Come to think of it, technically she never actually dumped me [1] so it's kind of rude I cannot for the life of me remember her name. Had an L in it, I think.
1: She used what I call the Opossum Method, which is to just stop responding to any communication and hope I'll take the hint.
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no subject
Date: 2012-09-29 03:59 am (UTC)I'd feel kind of bad if I misinterpreted what was going on and she's been waiting on a call from me for 30+ years but I am pretty sure she was hoping I'd go away or die or at least stop talking. 80% sure. Should I track her down and ask? What's the SOP for this?
Wait, was she called Lynn?
Date: 2012-09-29 04:04 am (UTC)Re:
Date: 2012-09-29 01:07 pm (UTC)(I can think of some who might like it. But I have weird friends.)
Re:
Date: 2012-10-01 07:05 am (UTC)I took a girl on a first date to Panic in Needle Park.
(In my defense:
a) I was only 17; and
b) in those far-off days, my town had relatively few entertainment options...)
no subject
Date: 2012-09-29 04:34 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-09-29 05:16 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-09-29 09:58 pm (UTC)Track her down and stand outside her bedroom window holding up a boombox playing Romantic Theme Song Of Choice, I believe.
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Date: 2012-09-29 04:55 am (UTC)It wouldn't be a Sheckley if it didn't.
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Date: 2012-09-29 04:58 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-09-29 05:14 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-09-29 05:05 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-09-29 05:11 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-09-29 05:32 am (UTC)X Minus One similarly gave me cause to resent Heinlein not knowing how to pronounce his own name.
(My real name is so routinely mispronounced by people who've only seen it spelled and misspelled by people who've only seen it pronounced that I assume no names to ever be pronounced correctly ever by anyone under any circumstances, and that maybe all of language is more efficiently done by variously intoned grunts and the occasional whapping with a stick.)
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Date: 2012-09-29 05:49 am (UTC)I'm a little disturbed that over the few years I've been participating in Minnesota fandom, we (Minnesota fans I've been hanging out with) haven't actually discussed Simak enough in person for this correction to have been made by a Minnesotan. I think that's because we tend to discuss Simak online in text, while f2f the fans I talk with are usually going on about writers who are still at work.
no subject
Date: 2012-09-29 05:17 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-09-29 05:29 pm (UTC)I did see some scientist on a documentary who was also surnamed Nicoll whose pronunciation was so odd not only did I not realize she was a Nicoll until the subtitles came on, I don't recall how she said it. Of course everyone has the right to pronounce their names as they see fit but they should have the basic decency to do it as I do.
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Date: 2012-09-30 09:17 pm (UTC)Should I link to the slightly relevant A Bit of Fry and Laurie sketch here? I think I should.
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Date: 2012-09-29 12:54 pm (UTC)Here's a Minnesota broadcast of people who knew him, including his daughter. All short I: http://www.prx.org/pieces/79129
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Date: 2012-09-29 01:02 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-09-29 09:51 pm (UTC)Bruce
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Date: 2012-09-29 05:45 am (UTC)Miss Manners at one point refers to your "Opossum Method" as "The Kafka Romance Dissolver" and actually seems to recommend it.
no subject
Date: 2012-09-29 05:34 pm (UTC)Which I won't, for much the same reason the Speaker of the House of Commons votes the way they do in the event of a tie.