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- Subject: rec.arts.sf.written Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
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- Originally-From: dant@techbook.techbook.com (Dan Tilque)
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- Archive-name: sf/written-faq
-
- Last change:
- Mon Jun 18 08:30:47 EDT 2001
-
- Changes;
- 7. What is science fiction?
-
- ----------------------------------------------------------------------
- This is the frequently asked questions (FAQ) list for rec.arts.sf.written.
- If you have written something you think belongs in the FAQ that you don't
- see here and want included, please send it to me, Evelyn Leeper
- (evelynleeper@geocities.com), as well as any corrections or additions you
- think should be made.
-
- [Oh, and in answer to a somewhat frequently asked question, Evelyn in this
- case is a woman's name.]
-
- Table of Contents
- 0. Introduction
- 1. Story identification requests
- 2. Spoilers
- 3. What books or stories are about X?
- A. Cyberpunk
- B. Steampunk
- C. Alternate Histories
- D. Transformation Stories
- E. Gender Issues
- F. King Arthur and Robin Hood
- G. Jewish SF
- H. Mormon SF
- I. Christian SF
- J. Only non-human characters
- K. Post-apocalypse
- L. Other
- 4. What books have been written by author X?
- 5. List of the Hugo, Nebula, or World Fantasy Award winners
- 6. Does anyone want to talk about X?
- 7. What is science fiction?
- 8. What is the difference between science fiction and fantasy?
- 8a. Isn't magical realism just another name for fantasy?
- 8b. Why are fantasy works nominated for Hugo Awards?
- 9. The SF-LOVERS Digest
- 10. Star Trek
- 11. Common abbreviations
- 12. Various questions about multiple editions, long-awaited books,etc.
- A. Iain M. Banks
- B. The sequel to Steven R. Boyett's ARCHITECT OF SLEEP
- C. The next book in David Brin's Uplift series
- D. The next book from Steven Brust
- E. The next book in Orson Scott Card's Alvin Maker series
- F. The next book in Glen Cook's Black Company series
- G. The third book in P. C. Hodgell's God Stalk series
- H. Guy Gavriel Kay's Tigana ending
- I. The next book in S. M. Stirling's Draka series
- J. The sequel to David R. Palmer's THRESHOLD
- K. [deleted]
- L. The next book in Sharon Lee and Steve Miller's Liaden Universe
- M. The next book in Catherine Asaro's "Skolian Web" series
- N. The next Ken MacLeod book (and reading order)
- O. The fourth book in Alexei Panshin's Anthony Villers series
- P. The next Merlin book from Nicolai Tolstoy
- Q. [deleted]
- R. The third book in Paul Edwin Zimmer's Border series
- S. The third book in Meredith Pierce's Darkangel trilogy
- T. The fifth book in the Chtorr series
- U. The next book in Vernor Vinge's Slow Zone series and the annotated
- FIRE UPON THE DEEP
- 13. Clarke's Laws
- 14. SF themes in music
- 15. Oldest Living SF Authors
- 16A. Black SF authors
- 16B. Asian/Asian-American SF authors
- 17. Good SF bookstores in town Z and ordering by mail/Web
- 17a. Are chain bookstores evil?
- 18. What is Johnny Rico's ethnic group in STARSHIP TROOPERS?
- 19. In what order should I read:
- A. Lois McMaster Bujold's "Vorkosigan" series?
- B. Steven Brust's "Dragaeran" series?
- C. Isaac Asimov's "Foundation" series?
- D. Ken MacLeod's books?
- E. Terry Pratchett's "Discworld" series?
- F. Iain M. Banks's "Culture" series?
- 20. Science Fiction Book Club
- 21. Recent Obituaries
- 22. SF ENCYCLOPEDIA et al
- 23. What is the difference between "mass-market" and "trade" paperbacks?
- Why do some books come out in trade paperback instead of the
- more affordable mass-market format? What about A, B, and C format
- in Britain?
- 24. What do the letters "PJF" after Steven Brust's name mean?
- 25. Is Megan Lindholm writing under a pseudonym?
- 26. Who is William Ashbless?
- 27. Who is Kilgore Trout?
- 28. Pronunciation of Cherryh
- 29. Stephen Jay Gould and Steven Gould
- 30. Sturgeon's Law
- 31. What is the Thor Power Tools decision and how did it affect publishing?
- 32. What is the best science fiction magazine to subscribe to?
- 33. How much do authors get in royalties?
- 34. Who said:
- A. "He's a chimp! She's the Pope! They're cops!"
- B. "The Golden Age of Science Fiction is 12."
- C. "War God of Israel/The Thing with Three Souls"
- D. "Science fiction should get out of the classroom
- and back in the gutter where it belongs!"
- E. "Life is like a simile."
- 35. Would the windmills in Kim Stanley Robinson's "Mars" books work?
- 36. What's the world's shortest science fiction story?
- 37. What are the books that come up again and again in rec.arts.sf.written?
- 38. What are good SF books for children/young adults?
- 39. Spelling
- 99. Science Fiction Archives
-
- ----------------------------------------------------------------------
- 0. Introduction
-
- rec.arts.sf.written is a newsgroup devoted to discussions of written
- SF. It is a high-volume newsgroup and this article is intended to help
- reduce the number of unnecessary postings, thereby making it more
- useful and enjoyable to everyone.
-
- "SF" as used here means "speculative fiction" and includes science
- fiction, fantasy, horror (a.k.a. dark fantasy), etc.
-
- If you have not already done so, please read the articles in
- news.announce.newusers. They contain a great deal of useful
- information about network etiquette and convention.
-
- If you have any bibliographic or similar questions, please try the
- Internet Speculative Fiction Database at
- http://www.sfsite.com/isfdb/index.html.
-
- Before we begin, two pieces of net.etiquette. Both of these are
- mentioned in news.announce.newusers, but since they are so frequently
- violated, and at least one of them is particularly relevant to this
- group, we mention them here:
-
- SPOILER WARNINGS: Many people feel that much of the enjoyment of a book
- is ruined if they know certain things about it, especially when those
- things are surprise endings or mysteries. On the other hand, they also
- want to know whether or not a book is worth reading, or they may be
- following a particular thread of conversation where such information may
- be revealed. The solution to this is to put the words SPOILER in your
- header, or in the text of your posting. You can also put a ctl-L
- character in the *first* column for your readers who are using rn. Some
- people think that spoiler warnings are not necessary. We don't understand
- why, and do not want to discuss it. Use your best judgment.
-
- Some people say that since not all news readers honor the ctl-L, you should
- insert twenty or so blank lines as well. My personal opinion is that I hate
- having to page through those blank lines because some people's newsreaders
- are antiquated, but it's up to you.
-
- REPLIES TO REQUESTS AND QUESTIONS: When you think that many people will
- know an answer to a question, or will have an answer to a request,
- RESPOND VIA E-MAIL!!! And if you don't know the answer, but want to
- know, DON'T POST TO THE NET asking for the answer, ask VIA E-MAIL! If
- you think a lot of people will want the same information, you might
- suggest that the person summarize to the net.
-
- Please keep in mind two points:
-
- 1. Always remember that there is a live human being at the
- other end of the wires. In other words, please write your
- replies with the same courtesy you would use in talking to
- someone face-to-face.
-
- 2. Try to recognize humor and irony in postings. Tone of
- voice does not carry in ASCII print, and postings are often
- snapped off quickly, so that humorous intent may not be
- obvious. More destructive and vicious arguments have been
- caused by this one fact of net existence than any other. It
- will help if satiric/ironic/humorous comments are marked with
- the "smiley face," :-)
-
- ----------------------------------------------------------------------
- 1. Story identification requests
-
- "Does anyone know this story?" <plot summary follows>
-
- It used to be said that you should ask that all responses be e-mailed
- back to you, then post the correct answer to the net. These days, no
- one does that, and people seem to enjoy the discussion that often
- follows. Nevertheless, at least check if someone else has responded
- before you post a bare-bones reply.
-
- And *do* put a useful subject line on your posting. For example,
- "Subject: ID req: telepathic dog story" is more likely to get people
- who know the answer to respond than "Subject: story request".
-
- [Provided by Evelyn Leeper [evelynleeper@geocities.com].]
-
- Four of the most common requested stories are:
-
- 1) There are some time travellers to the age of dinosaurs. They have
- to stay on a special floating path to avoid changing the future.
- However, one steps off the path. When they return to the future,
- things are subtly changed. The guy who steps off the path then looks
- at his shoe and finds a dead butterfly. == A SOUND OF THUNDER by Ray
- Bradbury
-
- This has been anthologized many times, but according to William
- Contento's database on www.sff.net, the most recent is Bradbury's
- collection CLASSIC STORIES VOLUME 1 (Bantam 1990, 1995). It can also
- be found in Asimov & Greenberg's anthology THE GREAT SF STORIES: 14
- (DAW 1986), which is often available in used book stores. [Provided
- by Robert Schmunk, [rbs@skatecity.com]].
-
- 2) An expedition to a dead star discovers that the supernova had
- destroyed an entire civilization. When they compute the exact time
- the star exploded, they find that it was seen on earth at the right
- time to be the Star of Bethlehem. == THE STAR by Arthur Clarke
-
- 3) A special kind of glass has been invented where light takes years
- to pass through it. Panes of this glass are hung in scenic areas and
- then sold to be used as picture windows. == LIGHT OF OTHER DAYS
- by Bob Shaw:
- - "Light of Other Days" is the title of the original short story,
- first published in ASF 8/66, and frequently anthologised.
-
- - OTHER DAYS, OTHER EYES is the title of the "fix-up" (novel),
- which incorporates "Light of Other Days" and three of the other
- slow glass stories: "Burden of Proof" (ASF 5/67), "A Dome of Many-
- Coloured Glass" (FAN 4/72) and the eponymous novella (AMZ 5/72).
-
- 4) The protagonist of this novel lives through a "time loop" wherein he
- would die, return to his youth (only a little later each time), live a
- new life each time, but always die and re-commence a cycle. In the
- course of one life he encountered a woman who experiences the same
- phenomenon. == REPLAY by Ken Grimwood
-
-
- ----------------------------------------------------------------------
- 2. Spoilers
-
- In case you missed it above:
- Many people feel that much of the enjoyment of a book is ruined if they
- know certain things about it, especially when those things are surprise
- endings or mysteries. On the other hand, they also want to know
- whether or not a book is worth reading, or they may be following a
- particular thread of conversation where such information may be
- revealed. The solution to this is to put the words SPOILER in your
- header, or in the text of your posting. You can also put a ctl-L
- character in the *first* column for your readers who are using rn.
- Some people think that spoiler warnings are not necessary. We don't
- understand why, and do not want to discuss it. Use your best
- judgment. [Provided by Evelyn Leeper [evelynleeper@geocities.com].]
-
- ----------------------------------------------------------------------
- 3. "What books or stories are about X?"
-
- There are several lists published of works in specific sub-genres:
-
- A. Cyberpunk
-
- Laura Burchard defined cyberpunk as "a subgenre of SF which
- (usually) combines high technology ("cyber") with an alienated, often
- criminal, subculture ("punk"). Some people consider cyberpunk to be a
- Literary Movement; others consider it a marketing gimmick. Arguing
- about which it is is pointless and not encouraged in this newsgroup."
- There is a news group called alt.cyberpunk which is the best place to
- discuss cyberpunk. A comprehensive list of cyberpunk works can be
- gotten by sending e-mail to John Wichers at wichers@husc4.harvard.edu,
- and there is an alt.cyberpunk FAQ, edited by "Frank"
- (frank@knarf.demon.co.uk) available at
- http://www.knarf.demon.co.uk/alt-cp.htm.
-
- There is also another cyberpunk bibliography (novels and anthologies)
- at http://maskull.home.mindspring.com/cpunk.htm.
-
- Robert Schmunk (rbs@skatecity.com) points out that "cyberpunk must be dead,
- because Time magazine has done a cover article on it."
-
- B. Steampunk
-
- Steampunk in analogous to cyberpunk, and refers to SF stories set in
- the 19th Century and involving technology of that era. There is no
- bibliography as yet, but for now,
- http://www.io.com/~bowman/Falkenstein/Fiction.html lists some of the
- well-known steampunk works.
-
- C. Alternate Histories
-
- "Uchronia," a large and searchable bibliography of alternate history
- stories is maintained by Robert Schmunk (rbs@skatecity.com) and is
- available on the Web at http://www.uchronia.net.
-
- CAVEAT: Flat text copies of the bibliography may be found at various
- science fiction archives around the net. However, they are archived
- Usenet postings and none will be dated more recently than March 1997.
-
- D. Transformation Stories
-
- A bibliography of books, stories, movies, and other works involving
- physical transformation (through lycanthropy, science, magic, etc.) is
- available at http://www.halcyon.com/phaedrus/translist/translist.html.
- A text-only version is also available at the same address.
-
- [Provided by Phaedrus [transform@halcyon.com].
-
- E. Gender Issues
-
- A bibliography of stories which address gender issues through
- science fiction is available on sflovers.rutgers.edu (Q#98).
-
- F. King Arthur and Robin Hood
-
- Arthurian and Robin Hood FAQs posted to rec.arts.books and
- news.answers.
-
- G. Jewish SF
-
- S. H. Silver (shsilver@ameritech.net) has a list of Jewish SF stories
- at http://www.sfsite.com/~silverag/jewishsf.html. He also has Pluto in
- SF, First Contact, debut stories & novels, Baseball in SF, and Chicago
- in SF bibliographies.
-
- H. Mormon SF
-
- A long, but not exhaustive, annotated list, with links to other
- materials, may be found at http://www.adherents.com/lit/sf_lds.html.
-
- I. Christian SF
-
- A bibliography by the late Ross Pavlac is at
- http://www.enteract.com/~mpavlac/christsf.htm. There is also the
- Christian Fandom website at
- http://www.christian-fandom.org/christian-fandom/.
-
- J. Only non-human characters
-
- Suggestions so far include:
- Robert Asprin's BUG WARS
- John Brunner's CRUCIBLE OF TIME
- Mary Caraker's WATERSONG
- Arthur C. Clarke's "Second Dawn"
- Samuel R. Delany's EINSTEIN INTERSECTION
- Diane E. Gallagher's ALIEN DARK (mostly)
- Raymond F. Jones & Lester del Rey's WEEPING MAY TARRY
- Ross Rocklynne's SUN DESTROYERS
- H. Beam Piper's FIRST CYCLE
- Robert J. Sawyer's "Quintaglio" Trilogy: FAR-SEER, FOSSIL HUNTER,
- and FOREIGNER
- Robert Silverberg's AT WINTER'S END and THE NEW SPRINGTIME
- Olaf Stapledon's STAR MAKER and NEBULA MAKER
- James Tiptree's "Love Is the Plan, the Plan Is Death"
-
- K. Post-apocalypse
-
- There is a bibliography and links at http://www.reed.edu/~karl/postapoc/.
-
- L. Other
-
- As with requests for plots, titles, or authors, ask that all replies be
- e-mailed to you and that you will summarize (set the Followup-to to
- "poster" to encourage e-mail response). Note that a summary is not
- just concatenating all the replies together and posting the resulting
- file. Take the time to strip headers, combine duplicate information,
- and write a short summary. [Provided by Evelyn Leeper
- [evelynleeper@geocities.com].]
-
-
- ----------------------------------------------------------------------
- 4. "What books have been written by author X?" "What books are in
- series Y?"
-
- A number of bibliographies have been compiled and posted to the net by
- John Wenn. These bibliographies also contain info on which books are
- in a series or in the same universe. The most up-to-date bibliographies
- are availiable via ftp from ftp.std.com [user anonymous, any password],
- directory pub/jwenn.
-
- They are also in the SF archives on sflovers.rutgers.edu (Q#98).
- File names are generally LastName.Firstname (e.g. Niven.Larry). Case
- *does* count.
-
- Requests for more bibliographies may be made to John at
- jwenn@world.std.com. [Provided by John Wenn [jwenn@world.std.com].]
-
-
- ----------------------------------------------------------------------
- 5. List of the Hugo, Nebula, or World Fantasy Award winners
-
- Lists of award winners, including Hugo Awards, Nebula Awards, and many
- others, can be found at Laurie Mann's http://www.dpsinfo.com/awardweb/.
-
- [Provided by Evelyn Leeper [evelynleeper@geocities.com].]
-
-
- ----------------------------------------------------------------------
- 6. "Does anyone want to talk about X?"
-
- If nobody seems to be discussing what you want to talk about, post a
- (polite) message opening the discussion. Don't just say, "Does anyone
- want to talk about X" or "I really like X" however; try to have
- something interesting to say about the topic to get discussion going.
-
- Don't be angry or upset if no one responds. It may be that X is just a
- personal taste of your own, or quite obscure. Or it may be that X was
- discussed to death a few weeks ago, *just* before you came into the
- group. (If this is the case, you'll probably know, though, because
- some rude fool will probably flame you for "Bringing that up *AGAIN*!!!"
- Ignore them.) [Provided by Evelyn Leeper [evelynleeper@geocities.com].]
-
-
- ----------------------------------------------------------------------
- 7. What is science fiction?
-
- This subject has been hashed out endlessly, and if you really want to
- see all the definitions proposed (or at least a very substantial
- subset), they have been collected by Neyir Cenk Gokce [gokce@panix.com]
- at http://www.panix.com/~gokce/sf_defn.html, or Beth and Richard
- Treitel's page at http://web.treitel.org/sf/sf.html. The only
- definition that seems to work is Damon Knight's: "Science Fiction
- is what we point at when we say it." Unless you have something really
- new and amazing, don't start this topic. [Provided by Evelyn Leeper
- [evelynleeper@geocities.com] and Taki Kogoma [quirk@vesta.unm.edu].]
-
- [If you *think* you have something new and amazing, try applying it
- to the following cases:
- alternate history novels
- novels set on another planet with no contact with Earth and
- no unknown technology (e.g., HELLO SUMMER, GOODBYE
- by Michael Coney, and possibly AGAINST A DARK BACKGROUND
- by Iain M. Banks)
- SWORDSPOINT by Ellen Kushner]
-
- As for the origin of the term itself, according to Sam Moskowitz in
- EXPLORERS OF THE INFINITE: SHAPERS OF SCIENCE FICTION (page 240):
- "The first issue of SCIENCE WONDER STORIES was dated June
- 1929. ... Most important, [Hugo Gernsback] coined, in his editorial
- in the first SCIENCE WONDER STORIES, the term 'science fiction,' which
- was to become the permanent name of the genre, completely eclipsing
- 'scientifiction.'"
-
- ----------------------------------------------------------------------
- 8. What is the difference between science fiction and fantasy?
-
- See Q#7.
-
- This also has been done to death. Virtually every answer you give will
- fail to clearly indicate which category a large number of books belong
- to. Familiar books mentioned that test the boundary conditions include
- Anne McCaffrey's "Dragon" series, Piers Anthony's "Apprentice Adept"
- series, STAR WARS, and anything that uses FTL. The most concise
- definition I've heard was given by John Clute in a radio broadcast 22
- March 1997: " "Science fiction: the model is that it is a kind of story
- which argues from this world a kind of possible outcome. It's possibly
- an improbable outcome, but it is arguable. Fantasy essentially, as I
- have been seeing it, is a series of stories, self-coherent stories (a
- term we use, kind of a bad neologism to describe stories which as [it]
- were understand themselves as stories; they're told stories), that are
- set in worlds that are technically impossible, that we can't argue. We
- may believe in them, but we can't argue them."
-
- A more complete listing of the borderline cases includes:
- Poul Anderson's "Operation" stories, collected in OPERATION CHAOS
- Piers Anthony's "Apprentice Adept" series
- James Blaylock's "Elfin Ship"
- Marion Zimmer Bradley's "Darkover" series
- David Brin's PRACTICE EFFECT
- Rick Cook's "Wizard's Bane" series
- L. Sprague de Camp & Fletcher Pratt"s "Incomplete Enchanter" series
- Charles de Lint's SVAHA
- C. S. Friedman's "Coldfire" series
- Lyndon Hardy's "Master of the Five Magics" series
- Robert A. Heinlein's MAGIC, INC.
- Rosemary Kirstein's STEERSWOMAN and THE OUTSKIRTER'S SECRET
- Julian May's "Pliocene Exile" series
- Anne McCaffrey's "Dragonrider" series
- Walter M. Miller's CANTICLE FOR LEIBOVITZ
- James Morrow's THIS IS THE WAY THE WORLD ENDS
- Kristine Kathryn Rusch's ALIEN INFLUENCES
- Robert Silverberg's "Majipoor" series
- Christopher Stasheff's "Warlock" series
- Michael Swanwick's IRON DRAGON'S DAUGHTER
- Sheri Tepper's "The World of the True Game" books
- Lawrence Watt-Evans's "Three Worlds" series
- Lawrence Watt-Evans's CYBORG AND THE SORCERERS and THE
- WIZARD AND THE WAR MACHINE
- Walter Jon Williams's METROPOLITAN and CITY ON FIRE
- Gene Wolfe's "Book of the New Sun"
- Roger Zelazny's LORD OF LIGHT
- (anything with faster-than-light (FTL) travel, time travel,
- parallel worlds/universes, psionics, or shoddy science)
-
- (Often someone suggests that fantasy and science fiction can be easily
- divided and this list is brought up, the original poster responds by
- saying they haven't read any of these so they can't say which category
- they go in. This is not likely to convince people that such a division
- is possible. :-) )
-
- Of course, you can also check out Jerry Oltion's essay on this in the
- March 1997 issue of THE MAGAZINE OF FANTASY & SCIENCE FICTION.
-
- [Provided by Evelyn Leeper [evelynleeper@geocities.com].]
-
- ----------------------------------------------------------------------
- 8a. Isn't magical realism just another name for fantasy?
-
- This is regularly hashed out; see
- http://www.geocities.com/evelynleeper/magreal.htm for a summary of
- the discussion, a list of books, possible definitions, and more.
-
- [Provided by Evelyn Leeper [evelynleeper@geocities.com].]
-
-
- ----------------------------------------------------------------------
- 8b. Why are fantasy works nominated for Hugo Awards?
-
- Constitution of the World Science Fiction Society
- Article II -- Hugo Awards
- Section 2.2: Categories.
- 2.2.1: Best Novel. A science fiction OR FANTASY story of forty thousand
- (40,000) words or more appearing for the first time during the previous
- calendar year. ... [caps mine]
-
- [Provided by Evelyn Leeper [evelynleeper@geocities.com].]
-
- ----------------------------------------------------------------------
- 9. The SF-LOVERS Digest
-
- The SF-LOVERS Digest is a service for those who cannot read the
- rec.arts.sf newsgroups directly. It is a compilation of the articles
- posted to sf.misc, sf.announce, sf.fandom, sf.movies, sf.tv, sf.written
- and sf.reviews which is sent out periodically via e-mail. The
- moderator, Saul Jaffe, does a certain amount of editing when compiling
- the Digest. Duplicate information is eliminated and the articles are
- organized by topic. Also, most meta-discussions are not included in
- the Digest.
-
- To subscribe, unsubscribe, report problems, etc., send e-mail to
- SF-LOVERS-REQUEST@RUTGERS.EDU. To post articles to the various
- newsgroups use the following addresses:
-
- Topic Address
- ----- -------
-
- Written SF sf-lovers-written@rutgers.edu
- Sf on Television sf-lovers-tv@rutgers.edu
- Sf Films sf-lovers-movies@rutgers.edu
- General discussions that don't
- fit specifically in the other
- topic headings sf-lovers-misc@rutgers.edu
-
- Due to the high volume of mail, it's quite likely that administrative
- type messages sent to the wrong address will be ignored.
- [Provided by Saul Jaffe.]
-
-
- ----------------------------------------------------------------------
- 10. Star Trek/Babylon-5/Dr. Who
-
- There are hierarchies of newsgroups for these topics. Articles about
- them, including books about them, should be posted there.
- rec.arts.sf.tv.babylon5
- rec.arts.startrek.*
- rec.arts.drwho
-
- Do not post flames about people violating this guideline. Use e-mail
- to request they follow it. It's likely that this person is reading
- rec.arts.sf.written via the SF-LOVERS Digest and has no access to
- netnews or rec.arts.startrek. If so, that person will not see your
- flame because discussions of what's appropriate in the newsgroup are
- not included in the SF-LOVERS digest. [Provided by Evelyn Leeper
- evelynleeper@geocities.com].]
-
-
- ----------------------------------------------------------------------
- 11. Common abbreviations
-
- AFAIK -- "As Far As I Know"
- BTW -- "By the way"
- FIAWOL-- "Fandom is a way of life"
- FIAJAGDH-- "Fandom is just a ghod damned hobby"
- FTL -- "Faster than light"
- FWIW -- "For What It's Worth"
- FYI -- "For your information"
- IIRC -- "If I remember correctly"
- IMAO -- "In my arrogant opinion"
- IMHO -- "In my humble (honest) opinion"
- ISBN -- "International Standard Book Number"
- ObSF -- "Obligatory SF reference"
- RASF -- "rec.arts.sf"
- ROFL -- "Rolling on the floor, laughing"
- ROTF -- "Rolling on the floor"
- RPG -- "Role playing games", like D&D (Dungeons and Dragons)
- RSN -- "Real Soon Now" (== within the next decade or two)
- SMOF -- "Secret Master Of Fandom"
- STL -- "Slower Than Light"
- YMMV -- "your mileage may vary"
- wrt -- "with respect to"
-
-
- ----------------------------------------------------------------------
- 12. Various questions about multiple editions, long-awaited books,etc.
-
- Note: It usually takes about one year from the time a manuscript is
- turned in until the book actually hits the stores.
-
- A. What's this I hear about two different editions of THE STATE OF THE
- ART by Iain M. Banks?
-
- "The State of the Art" is a longish novella, set in Iain M. Banks'
- popular 'Culture' universe. It was first published in a slim volume
- entitled "The State of the Art," in 1989 by Mark V. Ziesing, an
- American small press, ISBN 0-929480-06-6. In 1991, Orbit (a UK
- publisher) brought out a volume also entitled "The State of the Art."
- This contains the aforementioned novella, plus seven short stories, one
- of which ("A Gift from the Culture") is also set in the "Culture"
- universe. ISBN 0-356-19669-0. It has had both hardback and paperback
- editions in the UK but has not (AFAIK) been published in the US.
- [Provided by Mike Scott [Mike@moose.demon.co.uk].]
-
- [See also question 19F.]
-
- B. The sequel to Steven R. Boyett's ARCHITECT OF SLEEP
-
- The full story of this is at
- http://members.tripod.com/~steveboy/archetyp.html.
-
- C. The next book in David Brin's Uplift series
-
- All three books of the latest series are now out: BRIGHTNESS REEF,
- INFINITY'S SHORE, and HEAVEN'S REACH.
-
- Also, in David Brin's novel, SUNDIVER, he make frequent mention of a
- previous episode involving Jacob Demwa saving the Vanilla Needle and
- his first wife falling to her death in the process. The details are
- sufficient that many suspect that this story was actually written. As
- far as anyone knows, if it has been written, it has not been
- published.
-
- D. The next book from Steven Brust
-
- DRAGON, a new Vlad novel was published in 1998; the first five chapters
- are on the Tor website. ISSOLA, a Vlad novel, will be published in July
- 2001--it follows ORCA in the internal chronology.
-
- The final set of Khaavren novels will be: THE PATHS OF THE DEAD (this
- will appear to be first), THE ENCHANTRESS OF DZUR MOUNTAIN, and THE
- LORD OF CASTLE BLACK. These will be known collectively as THE VISCOUNT
- OF ADRILANKHA.
-
- E. The next book in Orson Scott Card's Alvin Maker series and the last
- book in his Homecoming series
-
- The fifth volume, HEARTFIRE, was published in July 1998, by Tor.
- A sixth and final(?) book, called THE CRYSTAL CITY, is projected.
-
- ALso, EARTHFALL and EARTHBORN (books four and five in the Homecoming
- series) are out. This completes that series.
-
- F. The next book in Glen Cook's Black Company series
-
- All of the four new Black Company books (collectively known as
- "Glittering Stone") are out: BLEAK SEASONS was published in 1996, SHE
- IS THE DARKNESS was published in September 1997, WATER SLEEPS was
- published in March 1999, and SOLDIERS LIVE was published in June 2000,
- all from Tor. Paperback publication is usually a year after hardback.
-
- According to some, Cook has an eighth novel in the Dread Empire series,
- but doesn't expect it to be published (since the others didn't sell
- well.)
-
- G. The next book in P. C. Hodgell's God Stalk series
-
- Meisha Merlin has the rights to GOD STALK, DARK OF THE MOON, SEEKER'S
- MASK, and a fourth as yet unnamed book.
-
- Publication schedule is:
- 15 August 2000: DARK OF THE GODS, an omnibus collection of her
- first two novels GOD STALK and DARK OF THE MOON
- (hardcover and trade paperback) [out]
- 15 August 2001: SEEKER'S MASK
- (hardcover and trade paperback)
- 15 August 2002: untitled new novel in the series
-
- Details are http://www.meishamerlin.com. Current email address is
- meisha.merlin@usa.net. Snail mail is Meisha Merlin Publishing, Inc.,
- P. O. Box 7, Decatur GA 30031.
-
- H. Guy Gavriel Kay's Tigana ending
-
- "How exactly is the meeting with the riselka at the end of Guy Gavriel
- Kay's TIGANA supposed to apply to the three characters who meet her and
- is there anything in the book which offers suggestions or is it just
- supposed to leave readers guessing?"
-
- The collective opinion of rec.arts.sf.written is that it is meant to
- leave the book deliberately open-ended, there being no indications in
- the book itself, beyond the obvious balance of probabilities.
-
- From an interview with Kay by Andrew Adams (aaa@dcs.st-and.ac.uk):
-
- Q: The end of Tigana with three men seeing a riselka suggests
- to some a hook for a sequel, to others merely an indication
- that "life goes on...". Do you have any plans to return to
- the Palm?
-
- GGK: The second theory is entirely correct. To put it another way,
- I wanted the sense that this whole very long story is NOT the
- whole story of these peoples' lives. No sequel was planned or
- hinted at. I think most thoughtful readers picked up on the
- point, but there have been an awful lot who have been waiting
- for the next volume. This depresses me, actually.
-
- And "Riselka" is indeed spelt "riselka," despite many creative attempts
- towards alternative spellings. It presumably comes from the
- Slavonic "rusalka" -- a female water spirit.
-
- [Provided by Mike Arnatov [mla1290@ggr.co.uk].]
-
- I. The next book in S. M. Stirling's Draka series
-
- DRAKON is now out from Baen. A prequel to the whole series, LAUGHTER
- OF THE GUNS, is currently in limbo, as well as UNTO US A CHILD, a
- sequel to DRAKON. An anthology of Draka stories by other authors, DRAKAS!,
- was published by Baen in November 2000.
-
- J. The sequel to David R. Palmer's THRESHOLD
-
- The blurb on the book to the contrary notwithstanding, it doesn't exist.
- [Provided by Ahasuerus the Wandering Jew [ahasuer@clark.net].]
-
- K. [deleted]
-
- L. The next book in Sharon Lee and Steve Miller's Liaden Universe
-
- According to Miller and Lee, there are four so far: CONFLICT OF
- HONORS, AGENT OF CHANGE, and CARPE DIEM, all published by Del Rey;
- and PLAN B, published in a signed, limited edition by Meisha Merlin
- They also have a chapbook called "Two Tales of Korval", available from
- the authors themselves since December 1995. "It's a charming two-story
- book set in the Liaden Universe, well worth reading for the hooked."
- There are two prequels, as yet unpublished: LOCAL CUSTOM and SCOUT'S
- PROGRESS. [Extracted from a Liaden home page by Steve Miller and Sharon
- Lee [kinzel@mint.net and rolanni@mint.net.]
-
- Updates:
- PLAN B has now been published in an autographed limited-run hardcover
- and a trade paperback from Meisha Merlin as well.
-
- A three-in-one omnibus of the first three books titled PARTNERS IN
- NECESSITY appeared in February of 2000.
-
- SCOUT'S PROGRESS and LOCAL CUSTOM debuted together as a single volume
- in February 2001 titled PILOT'S CHOICE.
-
- A new novelette, "Balance of Trade", was published in ABSOLUTE MAGNITUDE,
- issue 11. The "Coming in the Next Issue" feature promises that Issue 12
- of ABSOLUTE MAGNITUDE will have another Liaden story, "Choice of Weapons."
- [Updates from Rich Horton [rrhorton@prodigy.net].]
-
- Future plans:
-
- I DARE has been turned in should be published in February 2002.
- Contracted for February 2003 is BALANCE OF TRADE (working title).
- Contracts are in the works for a book each for 2004 and 2005 to deal
- with the teaming of Jela and Cantra.
-
- Ace mass market editions of the seven existing Liaden Universe(R) novels
- are set to begin appearing early 2002.
-
- The other frequent question they've been getting: "Will there be a one
- volume collection of the short works any time soon?"
-
- The answer is: Not currently in the cards. One reason is that we've got
- a backlog of short story requests and we're looking at five or six
- "write this real soon" items and we're two weeks behind on one due last
- month. Things may clarify after next summer's book tour, but not likely
- before, so right now the chapbooks or the originating magazines are the
- source for those.
-
- [Updates from Steve Miller.]
-
- M. The next book in Catherine Asaro's "Skolian Web" series
-
- The fourth book was THE RADIANT SEAS. It came out January 1999.
- The paperback of THE LAST HAWK was available in November 1998.
-
- The fifth book in the saga, THE QUANTUM ROSE, was serialized in Analog,
- in three parts, starting with the May 1999 issue. The Analog serial
- plus its sequel came out together as one book from Tor, in December
- 2000. THE QUANTUM ROSE is a stand-alone novel and doesn't depend on
- any previous books.
-
- The sixth book in the saga, ASCENDANT SUN, came out from Tor in
- February 2001, and the seventh book, SPHERICAL HARMONIC, will also come
- out from Tor, probably in 2001. ASCENDANT SUN is the sequel to both
- THE RADIANT SEAS and THE LAST HAWK. However, it can be read as a stand
- alone novel. SPHERICAL HARMONIC is also a stand-alone novel.
-
- The first three books, PRIMARY INVERSION, CATCH THE LIGHTNING, and
- THE LAST HAWK are stand-alone novels that don't depend on each other.
- All of them take place in the same universe and are tales of the Ruby
- Dynasty, but they can be read in any order. Although THE RADIANT SEAS
- is a stand-alone novel as well, it is also the sequel to PRIMARY
- INVERSION.
-
- Other Skolian Empire stories: The novella "Aurora in Four Voices" is
- the cover story for the December 1998 Analog. It takes place about
- fifteen years prior to PRIMARY INVERSION and has Soz from PI as one of
- its two main characters. The novelette "Light and Shadow" appeared in
- the April 1994 issue of Analog. It is a story about Kelric, the main
- character in THE LAST HAWK, and takes place a number of years prior to
- HAWK.
-
- The Skolian Empire books and the Ruby Dynasty books are the same.
- For more information, see the Asaro Books web site at
- http://www.sff.net/people/asaro/.
-
- N. The next Ken MacLeod book (and reading order)
-
- THE CASSINI DIVISION, THE STONE CANAL, and THE SKY ROAD are currently
- available in the US from Tor. THE STAR FRACTION will be published in
- hardcover in August 2001.
-
- COSMONAUT KEEP is out in the UK and is due out in the US in May 2001.
- A sequel, tentatively titled DARK LIGHT, is scheduled to be published
- in the UK in November 2001.
-
- The first series of books were first published in the UK in the following
- order: THE STAR FRACTION, THE STONE CANAL, THE CASSINI DIVISION, THE
- SKY ROAD.
-
- By internal chronology, the ordering is loosely:
- THE STONE CANAL, set starting in the 1970s, and also in the far future.
- THE STAR FRACTION, set in the 2040s in the UK
- THE CASSINI DIVISION, set some time after the future part of THE STONE CANAL
- THE SKY ROAD is an alternate future, which Rich Horton describes thusly:
- "The earlier parts ... of THE STONE CANAL and all of THE STAR FRACTION
- are set in a common past to both THE SKY ROAD and to THE CASSINI
- DIVISION, but one of the events in THE STONE CANAL goes a different way
- in THE SKY ROAD." Therefore, it is not consistent with THE CASSINI
- DIVISION. It is also set in two time periods, 2059 and several
- centuries in the future.
-
- According to some, THE STONE CANAL is the best introduction to the series,
- as it stands on its own the best and gives some of the background for
- relationships that are important in THE CASSINI DIVISION and THE SKY ROAD.
- Others say to start with THE CASSINI DIVISION, which gets going faster, and
- also stands on it own.
-
- COSMONAUT KEEP is completely independent of that series (referred to as
- "The Fall Revolution," at least by one person.)
-
- [Thanks to Patrick Nielsen Hayden [pnh@panix.com], Rich Horton
- [rrhorton@prodigy.net] and Tom Woamck [thomas.womack@ox.compsoc.net] for
- most of this information.]
-
- O. The fourth book of Alexei Panshin's Anthony Villers series
-
- Three books were published in the Anthony Villers series: STAR WELL,
- THE THURB REVOLUTION, and MASQUE WORLD. A fourth book was promised at
- the end of the third book and was to be titled, THE UNIVERSAL
- PANTOGRAPH. It was never published.
-
- P. The next Merlin book from Nikolai Tolstoy
-
- Though there was promised a sequel to Tolstoy's book, Tolstoy lost a
- libel case (long story having to do with what some British officers did
- and didn't do in 1945) a few years ago and is legally bankrupt, and
- whatever money he might be able to make writing books would go to the
- folks who won the case. It is unlikely, therefore, that he will spend
- the effort.
-
- [Provided by Ahasuerus the Wandering Jew (ahasuer@clark.net).]
-
- Q. [deleted]
-
- R. The third book in Paul Edwin Zimmer's The Dark Border series
-
- "There is no third book. Despite the somewhat cliffhanger ending, it
- is, and has always been intended to be, a duology."
-
- A GATHERING OF HEROES is set in the same world, but does not form a
- trilogy with the first two. There is also INGULF THE MAD, published by
- Ace in 1989.
-
- S. The third book in Meredith Pierce's Darkangel trilogy
-
- This was in fact published, as THE PEARL OF THE SOUL OF THE WORLD
- by Joy Street Books, a division of Little, Brown & Co.
-
- Harcourt Brace/Magic Carpet re-published all three books as mass market
- paperbacks: THE DARKANGEL and A GATHERING OF GARGOYLES in 1998 and THE
- PEARL OF THE SOUL OF THE WORLD in April or May 1999. There was also
- an omnibus from "Guild America Books" of the three closer to the date
- of the original hardcover publications.
-
- T. The fifth book in the Chtorr series
-
- This is currently called A METHOD FOR MADNESS. While Gerrold has some of
- this written, other projects are occupying much of his time, and no release
- date has been set."
-
- [Provided by Brendon Towle (towle@ils.nwu.edu).]
-
- U. The next book in Vernor Vinge's Slow Zone series and the annotated
- FIRE UPON THE DEEP
-
- A DEEPNESS IN THE SKY was published in February 1999 by Tor/St. Martin's
- Press.
-
- As of Aug 2000, Vinge has delivered the annotated text of A FIRE UPON
- THE DEEP (as it appeared on the 1993 "Hugo and Nebula Anthology"
- CD-ROM) to Tor, who are (is?) looking into publishing it as etext.
-
- ----------------------------------------------------------------------
- 13. Clarke's Laws
-
- Clarke's Law, later Clarke's First Law, can be found in the essay
- "Hazards of Prophecy: The Failure of Imagination", in the collection
- "Profiles of the Future", 1962, revised 1973, Harper & Row, paperback
- by Popular Library, ISBN 0-445-04061-0. It reads:
-
- # [1] When a distinguished but elderly scientist
- # states that something is possible, he is almost
- # certainly right. When he states that something
- # is impossible, he is very probably wrong.
-
- Note that the adverbs in the two sentences are different. Clarke continues:
-
- # Perhaps the adjective "elderly" requires definition. In physics,
- # mathematics, and astronautics it means over thirty; in the other
- # disciplines, senile decay is sometimes postponed to the forties.
- # There are, of course, glorious exceptions; but as every researcher
- # just out of college knows, scientists of over fifty are good for
- # nothing but board meetings, and should at all costs be kept out
- # of the laboratory!
-
- Isaac Asimov added a further comment with Asimov's Corollary to Clarke's
- Law, which he expounded in an essay logically titled "Asimov's Corollary".
- This appeared in the February 1977 issue of F&SF, and can be found in the
- collection "Quasar, Quasar, Burning Bright", 1978, Doubleday; no ISBN on
- my copy. Asimov's Corollary reads:
-
- % [1AC] When, however, the lay public rallies round an
- % idea that is denounced by distinguished but elderly
- % scientists and supports that idea with great fervor
- % and emotion -- the distinguished but elderly
- % scientists are then, after all, probably right.
-
-
- So much for Clarke's First Law. A few pages later on, in the final
- paragraph of the same essay, Clarke writes:
-
- # [2] But the only way of discovering the limits of the
- # possible is to venture a little way past them into
- # the impossible.
-
- To this he attaches a footnote:
-
- # The French edition of [presumably, the first edition of] this
- # book rather surprised me by calling this Clarke's Second Law.
- # (See page [number] for the First, which is now rather well-
- # known.) I accept the label, and have also formulated a Third:
- #
- # [3] Any sufficiently advanced technology is
- # indistinguishable from magic.
- #
- # As three laws were good enough for Newton, I have modestly
- # decided to stop there.
-
- [Provided by Mark Brader.]
-
-
- ----------------------------------------------------------------------
- 14. SF themes in music
-
- A list of songs which have science fictional themes is maintained by
- Rich Kulawiec. This list is posted to news.answers periodically. If
- you can not find it there, e-mail Rich at rsk@gynko.circ.upenn.edu.
- Alternate e-mail addresses for Rich are rsk@ecn.purdue.edu or
- pur-ee!rsk. [Provide3d by Rich Kulawiec [rsk@gynko.circ.upenn.edu].]
-
-
- ----------------------------------------------------------------------
- 15. Oldest Living SF Authors
-
- The major ones over the age of eighty are:
- Jack Williamson, 29 APR 1908
- Nelson Bond, 1908
- Lloyd Arthur Eshbach, 1910
- David Kyle, 1912
- Andre Norton, 1912
- R. A. Lafferty, 7 NOV 1914
- Wilson ("Bob") Tucker, 23 NOV 1914
- Charles L. Harness, 29 DEC 1915
- Jack Vance, 28 AUG 1916
- Arthur C. Clarke, 16 DEC 1917
- Philip Jose Farmer, 26 JAN 1918
- E. C. Tubb, 15 OCT 1919
- Frederik Pohl, 26 NOV 1919
- Ray Bradbury, 22 AUG 1920
-
- A more complete list can be found at http://www.sfsite.com/isfdb/oldest.html.
-
- Also worthy of mention are Frank Belknap Long, who died in 1994 at the
- age of 90, and E. Hoffman Price, who also died in 1988, also at the age
- of 90, and had published novels at 81, 82, 84, 85, 88, and 89.
-
- Gary Couzens suggests Geoffrey Dearmer (21 March 1893-18 August 1996),
- best known as a WWI poet, as the oldest SF author ever.
-
- Note: Do not post that X is dead unless you have heard this from a
- reputable source, such as a daily newspaper, or a reputable fan or
- author. Postings in other groups on the Net, and statements from
- friends such as, "Isn't X dead?" are not reputable sources!
- [Provided by Evelyn Leeper [evelynleeper@geocities.com].]
-
-
- -----------------------------------------------------------------------
- 16A. Black SF authors
-
- Are there any black SF authors?
-
- Yes. The three most prominent are Samuel Delany, Octavia Butler and
- Steven Barnes. Others are Mary Aldridge, D. Christine Benders ("Hollow
- Bones"), LeVar Burton, James Nelson Coleman (SEEKER FROM THE STARS and
- THE NULL-FREQUENCY IMPULSER), Tananarive Due (THE BETWEEN), Nancy
- Farmer (THE EYE, THE EAR, AND THE ARM; young adult), John M. Faucette
- (AGE OF RUIN, CROWN OF INFINITY), Eric James Fullilove (THE STRANGER,
- CIRCLE OF ONE), Jewelle Gomez (THE GILDA STORIES, vampire epic),
- Virginia Hamilton ("The Justice Cycle" trilogy and young adult
- fantasies), Nalo Hopkinson (short stories and a novel, BROWN GIRL IN
- THE RING), A. M. Lightner (DAY OF THE DRONES; mostly young adult
- novels), Jesse Miller, Frieda Murray, Ishmael Reed, Jewell Parker
- Rhodes (VOODOO DREAMS, a novel about Marie Laveau), Charles R. Saunders
- (IMARO and THE QUEST FOR CUSH), and Nisi Shawl (short stories).
-
- Toni Morrison writes what is certainly fantasy, though she is not often
- thought of as an SF ("speculative fiction") writer. Walter Mosely is
- primarily known for mysteries, but he has written one SF novel, BLUE
- LIGHT.
-
- Butler and Hamilton have both won MacArthur Grants and are the only two
- SF writers to have done so.
-
- Dennis Lien (Dennis.K.Lien-1@tc.umn.edu) notes: "The FAQ list refers to
- 'Black SF Authors' as opposed to specifically 'African-American,' so it
- may be worth noting that Charles Saunders is, more strictly,
- Afro-Canadian (US-born but for a long time now a Canadian citizen, I
- believe)."
-
- Some other Black (but not African-American) SF authors: West Indian
- authors Julian Jay Savarin (the Lemmus time trilogy) and Edgar
- Mittelholzer (MY BONES AND MY FLUTE), and above all the
- recently-deceased Yoruba writer Amos Tutuola (THE PALM-WINE DRINKARD
- AND HIS DEAD PALM-WINE TAPSTER IN THE DEADS' TOWN; MY LIFE IN THE BUSH
- OF GHOSTS; and others). It has been noted that both Alexander Pushkin
- and Alexander Dumas pere were black (by current standards) and wrote
- fantasy.
-
- (There is a bibliography of the work of "people of color in the field
- of speculative fiction (science fiction, fantasy, horror, magical
- realism, and fantastical literature of any type)" at
- http://www.netgsi.com/~fcowboy/intro.html. Its definition of "people
- of color" may not agree with yours.)
-
- [Provided by Evelyn Leeper [evelynleeper@geocities.com] and others.]
-
-
- -----------------------------------------------------------------------
- 16B. Asian/Asian-American SF authors
-
- Are there any Asian/Asian-American SF authors?
-
- Well, there are tons of them writing in Japanese (and other languages),
- but I'll stick to just the ones available in English; this list also
- includes Anglo-Asian authors:
-
- Kobo Abe, Brenda Clough, Ted Chiang, Tony Chiu, Amitav Ghosh, Sakyo
- Komatsu, Eric Kotani (Yoji Kondo), Haruki Murakami, Linda Nagata
- (though someone has said that she is not Asian--her spouse is), Somtow
- Sucharitkul/S. P. Somtow, Hiroe Suga, George Takei, William F. Wu.
-
- [Provided by Evelyn Leeper [evelynleeper@geocities.com] and others.]
-
-
- ----------------------------------------------------------------------
- 17. Good SF bookstores in town Z and ordering by mail/Web
-
- Evelyn C. Leeper (evelynleeper@geocities.com) maintains several lists of
- bookstores in various North American, European, African, and Asian
- cities at http://www.geocities.com/evelynleeper/bookshop.htm. These
- lists are *not* SF specific, but extensive commentary makes it pretty
- easy to sort those stores out from the rest. Stores that are known
- to ship worldwide by mail are so noted.
-
- There are also always amazon.com, borders.com, and barnesandnoble.com.
-
- http://www.bookshop.co.uk, http://www.amazon.co.uk,
- http://www.amazon.de, http://www.indigo.ca, and
- http://www.bookworm.com.au are possibilities for British, German,
- Canadian, and Australian books.
-
- For used books, try:
- http://www.bibliofind.com/
- http://www.bookfinder.com/
- http://www.abebooks.com/
- http://www.alibris.com/
- http://www.powells.com/
-
- Powells is both new and used. It also turns up in several of the multi-
- dealer searches listed above.
-
- And in answer to a specific frequently asked question: There is no SF
- specialty bookstore in New York City.
-
- [Provided by Evelyn Leeper [evelynleeper@geocities.com].]
-
- ----------------------------------------------------------------------
-
- 17a. Are chain bookstores (particularly superstores) evil?
-
- Yes, if you live in an area which had several large, well-stocked
- independent bookstores that went out of business when a chain opened a
- megastore there.
-
- No, if you live in an area that had no bookstores (or only a mall
- bookstore) before the chain opened a megastore there.
-
- Which is a fancy way of saying your mileage may vary, and this topic
- is unlikely to be resolved by discussion here.
-
- [Provided by Evelyn Leeper [evelynleeper@geocities.com].]
-
- ----------------------------------------------------------------------
- 18. What is Johnny Rico's ethnic group in STARSHIP TROOPERS?
-
- From page 205 of the 1968 Berkeley edition (end of Chapter XIII):
-
- I said, "There ought to be one named _Magsaysay_."
- Bennie said, "What?"
- "Ramon Magsaysay," I explained. "Great man, great soldier -- probably
- be chief of psychological warfare if he was alive today. "Didn't you
- study any history?"
- "Well," admitted Bennie, "I learned that Simo'n Bolivar built the
- Pyramids, licked the Armada, and made the first trip to the Moon."
- "You left out marrying Cleopatra," I said.
- "Oh, that. Yup. Well, I guess every country has its own version of
- history."
- "I'm sure of it." I added something to myself and Bennie said, "What
- did you say?"
- "Sorry, Bernardo. Just an old saying in my own language. I suppose
- you could translate it, more or less, as `Home is where the heart is.'"
- "But what language was it?"
- "Tagalog. My native language."
- "Don't they talk Standard English where you come from?"
- "Oh, certainly. For business and school and so forth. We just talk
- the old speech around home a little. Traditions, you know."
- "Yeah, I know. My folks chatter in Espan~ol the same way. But where
- do you--" The speaker started playing "Meadowland"; Bennie broke into
- a grin. "Got a date with a ship! Watch yourself, fellow! See you."
-
- There is no room at all left for misinterpretation. Johnny Rico is a
- Filipino; Tagalog is a Philippine language, Ramon Magsaysay was a hero
- of the Philippine resistance, and many Filipinos have Spanish names.
-
- [Provided by Eric Raymond.]
-
- ----------------------------------------------------------------------
-
- 19. In what order should I read:
-
- A. Lois McMaster Bujold's "Vorkosigan" series?
-
- Opinion seems to be divided to reading them in order of the internal
- chronology (to avoid spoilers) or in order of publication. In either
- case, MIRROR DANCE, MEMORY, and KOMARR should be read last or the
- reader will likely miss some important connections. And I recommend
- reading SHARDS OF HONOR first in either case. The more recent editions
- of the Baen paperbacks have an internal chronology in the back of each
- book.
-
- By order of publication, the books in the series are SHARDS OF HONOR
- (1986), THE WARRIOR'S APPRENTICE (1986), ETHAN OF ATHOS (1986), FALLING
- FREE (1988), BORDERS OF INFINITY (1989), BROTHERS IN ARMS (1989), THE
- VOR GAME (1990), BARRAYAR (1991), MIRROR DANCE (1994), CETAGANDA
- (1996), MEMORY (1996), KOMARR (1998), and A CIVIL CAMPAIGN (1999).
- FALLING FREE and ETHAN OF ATHOS are basically independent of the other
- storylines. Bujold's other book, THE SPIRIT RING, is a fantasy not set
- in the same universe.
-
- By internal chronology (my recommendation), the order is FALLING FREE
- (peripheral), SHARDS OF HONOR, BARRAYAR, THE WARRIOR'S APPRENTICE, the
- short story "The Mountains of Mourning" in BORDERS OF INFINITY, THE VOR
- GAME, CETAGANDA, ETHAN OF ATHOS (peripheral), the short story "Labyrinth"
- in BORDERS Of INFINITY, the short story "Borders of Infinity" in BORDERS
- OF INFINITY, BROTHERS IN ARMS, MIRROR DANCE, MEMORY, KOMARR, and A CIVIL
- CAMPAIGN.
-
- [People have sent many variations to this, based on which books they think
- are stronger or weaker. I will not include all the arguments here.]
-
- [Provided by Peter L. Edman [pledman@access.digex.net],
- robertaw@halcyon.com [Robert A. Woodward], and others.]
-
- B. Steven Brust's "Dragaeran" series?
-
- The Vlad Taltos novels can be read in published order or in chronological
- order. Mileage varies on which is preferable.
-
- The published order is:
- 1. JHEREG
- 2. YENDI
- 3. TECKLA
- 4. TALTOS
- 5. PHOENIX
- 6. ATHYRA
- 7. ORCA
- 8. DRAGON
- 9. ISSOLA (July 2001)
-
- The chronological order is:
- 1. TALTOS
- 2. YENDI
- 3. DRAGON
- 4. JHEREG
- 5. TECKLA
- 6. PHOENIX
- 7. ATHYRA
- 8. ORCA
- 9. ISSOLA (July 2001)
-
- According to some, TALTOS, YENDI, DRAGON, and JHEREG are more
- stand-alone than the others. However, DRAGON comes both before and
- after YENDI in internal chronology and contains spoilers for YENDI.
-
- As noted elsewhere, ISSOLA will be the next Vlad novel.
-
- The Khaavren novels are:
-
- 1. THE PHOENIX GUARDS
- 2. FIVE HUNDRED YEARS AFTER
-
- and take place before the Vlad books. (The forthcoming third (which is a
- trilogy), THE VISCOUNT OF ADRILANKHA, will bring the chronology up to
- Vlad's time.)
-
- BROKEDOWN PALACE is effectively a stand-alone.
-
- [Provided by Kate Nepveu [knepveu@lynx.neu.edu].]
-
- C. Isaac Asimov's "Foundation" series?
-
- There are two answers here, a short one, and a longer one which also
- includes opinions on the quality of the books.
-
- From J. Hunter Johnson (jhunterj@donet.com):
-
- As with other series, the Asimov books can be read in published order or in
- chronological order. First-time readers should probably read the books in
- published order to avoid some of the spoilers present.
-
- The chronological order of the novels by Asimov or approved by his estate
- are:
-
- The Caves of Steel (1954)
- The Naked Sun (1957)
- The Robots of Dawn (1983)
- Robots and Empire (1985)
-
- Caliban (1993)
- Inferno (1994)
- Utopia (1996)
-
- The Stars, Like Dust (1951)
- The Currents of Space (1952)
- Pebble in the Sky (1950)
-
- Prelude to Foundation (1988)
- Forward the Foundation (1993)
-
- Foundation's Fear (1997, takes place after the first chapter of Forward the
- Foundation)
- Foundation and Chaos (1998)
- Foundation's Triumph (1999, takes place after the first chapter of
- Foundation)
-
- Foundation (1951)
- Foundation and Empire (1952)
- Second Foundation (1953)
-
- Foundation's Edge (1982)
- Foundation and Earth (1986)
-
- A full chronology including short stories and unapproved novels can be
- found at http://www.clark.net/pub/edseiler/WWW/insane_list.html.
-
-
- From Richard Harter [note this includes critical comments as well as
- a description of the series]:
-
- In his youth Isaac Asimov constructed three distinct major fictional
- universes, each thematically separate, the far future Foundation
- trilogy, the near future series of short stories about positronic
- robots, and an intermediate series about the conflict between Earthers
- and Spacers, the latter being potentially in the same universe as his
- earlier robot novels.
-
- Much later, after a successful career as an author of non-fiction
- expository works on a wide variety of subjects, he wrote a sequel to
- the Foundation trilogy, "Foundation's Edge". Not content with this he
- embarked on a series of novels to tie his various universes together.
- Since his death the composite universe has been extended by authorized
- novels by David Brin and Greg Bear.
-
- The time line for Isaac Asimov's composite universe:
- (The later works are marked with stars.)
-
- EARLY (IN THE NEAR FUTURE)
-
- The End of Eternity [1]
- I, Robot
- The Rest of the Robots
-
- EARTH AND THE SPACERS
-
- The Caves of Steel
- The Naked Sun
- * Robots of Dawn
- * Robots and Empire
-
- EXPANSION
-
- The Stars Like Dust [2]
-
- TRANTOR, PRE-UNIFICATION
-
- The Currents of Space
- Pebble In The Sky
-
- FOUNDATION
-
- * Prelude to Foundation
- * Forward the Foundation
- Foundation
- Foundation & Empire
- Second Foundation
- * Foundation's Edge
- * Foundation & Earth
-
- The theme of the original Foundation trilogy (a series of short stories
- and novellas packaged in three volumes)is the unfolding of a grand
- planned history, the Seldon plan, the threat of the plan being
- destroyed, and the plan being saved. The trilogy has its faults. Asimov
- was quite young at the time: His appreciation of the variety of human
- behaviour was limited and many of the details of his universe were
- quite naive in conception. The quality of his prose is subject to
- debate. The stories were somewhat dryly intellectual in conception.
- None-the-less there is a grandness of conception and intriguing
- puzzles. They also have one of his few great characters, the Mule. The
- real hero, however, of the trilogy is the Seldon plan itself. The
- Foundation stories are a triumph of science fiction as the literature
- of the idea as hero.
-
- In his early years he wrote two excellent novels, THE CAVES OF STEEL
- and THE NAKED SUN, both sparse. They carried the robots of I, ROBOT
- into a future of spacers vs Earth, the spacers having a mixed
- human/robot culture spread across many worlds and Earth a city based
- culture with a fear of robots. Earth is technologically backwards and
- its residents are psychologically restricted to their caves of steel.
- (The spacers vs Earth theme is an elaboration of an earlier novella,
- Mother Earth.) Both are detective stories in an SF setting. Both rely
- on two strong characters, the human detective, Lije Bailey and the
- human appearing robot, Daneel. A thesis of the novels is that the
- future of humanity lies in a C/Fe culture, i.e., in the equal
- partnership of human and robot.
-
- FOUNDATION'S EDGE was written many years later. His early novels was
- sparse; FE is the first of a series of bloated novels. In my opinion it
- is the first step in his disowning the Foundation trilogy. The entire
- basis of the character of the Mule is destroyed. The Seldon plan is
- disowned as being ultimately worthless and a cheap-jack psionic
- mysticism is offered in its place.
-
- Having returned to the worlds of his youth, Asimov determined to unite
- his two grand universes. There are no robots in the Foundation universe
- so it was necessary to eliminate them. He did this in two more bloated
- novels, THE ROBOTS OF DAWN and EMPIRE AND ROBOTS. In these he disowns
- the thesis of the C/Fe culture. The spacers are discounted as not being
- viable; Daneel, on the other hand, is promoted into a mind-controlling
- demi-god. He followed these two with a third bloated novel, FOUNDATION
- and EARTH, a sequel to FOUNDATION'S EDGE in which it is ultimately
- revealed that Daneel is the master mind behind human history.
-
- This was, for the nonce, the capstone of his of his campaign to disown
- the work of his youth by rewriting the juice out of it. The value of
- the Seldon plan had been discounted; the Mule had been emasculated;
- Daneel had been destroyed by deification; and the C/Fe thesis had been
- discarded. He wasn't done.
-
- PRELUDE TO FOUNDATION and the sequel FORWARD THE FOUNDATION are
- set on Trantor; nominally they are about how Hari Seldon brings
- about the Seldon plan. Both are farragos of implausible
- melodrama. Concealed within them however is the final discounting - the
- revelation that the Seldon plan was never feasible in the first place.
- [3] The Bear, Brin, et al novels are a continuation of the melodrama.
- In the words of bard, they are full of sound and fury, signifying
- nothing.
-
- [1] THE END OF ETERNITY is not part of the series but it implicitly
- references it.
-
- [2] THE STARS LIKE DUST is an early work; it isn't quite consistent
- with his later works but is consistent with the earlier novels. It
- features a radioactive Earth whose radioactivity is due to a nuclear
- war.
-
- [3] In SECOND FOUNDATION the original plan was somewhat makeshift, a
- "best we can do" at the time job. The one sour note is the idea
- advanced in SECOND FOUNDATION that the Second Foundation was to be the
- ruling class.
-
- There is a fundamental problem with the psychohistory concept; the
- psychohistorians become the rulers and they, too, are human. Michael
- Flynn makes it all clear in IN THE COUNTRY OF THE BLIND. Asimov didn't
- come to terms with the issue in the Foundation trilogy; later on, in
- FOUNDATION'S EDGE he confronted it but his solution was icky.
-
- [Provided by Richard Harter [cri@tiac.net]. There may be an updated
- version at http://www.tiac.net/users/cri/asimov.html.]
-
- D. Ken MacLeod's Books?
-
- See Question 12N.
-
- E. Terry Pratchett's "Discworld" books?
-
- From Kate Nepveu (knepveu@steelypips.org):
-
- The Discworld novels consist of four sub-series and several
- stand-alone books. The sub-series feature the same character(s);
- while it is enjoyable to read these in order and see the characters
- evolve, it's not strictly necessary. (The lone exception to this
- rule is THE LIGHT FANTASTIC, which is a "traditional" sequel.)
- They are listed in order below, with the distinguishing
- character(s) of their sub-series noted.
-
- (U.K.) publication order and chronological order are effectively
- the same for the sub-series; history on the Discworld is a funny
- thing--see THIEF OF TIME for more information--so no representations
- about order across books is offered. At any rate, you won't
- encounter spoilers if you read the books in this order.
-
- 1. THE COLOUR OF MAGIC [Rincewind]
- 2. THE LIGHT FANTASTIC [Rincewind]
- 3. EQUAL RITES [Lancre Witches]
- 4. MORT [Death]
- 5. SOURCERY [Rincewind]
- 6. WYRD SISTERS [Lancre Witches]
- 7. PYRAMIDS [stand-alone]
- 8. GUARDS! GUARDS! [City Watch]
- 9. ERIC [Rincewind]
- 10. MOVING PICTURES [stand-alone]
- 11. REAPER MAN [Death]
- 12. WITCHES ABROAD [Lancre Witches]
- 13. SMALL GODS [stand-alone]
- 14. LORDS AND LADIES [Lancre Witches]
- 15. MEN AT ARMS [City Watch]
- 16. SOUL MUSIC [Death/Susan]
- 17. INTERESTING TIMES [Rincewind]
- 18. MASKERADE [Lancre Witches]
- 19. FEET OF CLAY [City Watch]
- 20. HOGFATHER [Death/Susan]
- 21. JINGO [City Watch]
- 22. THE LAST CONTINENT [Rincewind]
- 23. CARPE JUGULUM [Lancre Witches]
- 24. THE FIFTH ELEPHANT [City Watch]
- 25. THE TRUTH [stand-alone *]
- 26. THIEF OF TIME [Death/Susan]
-
- * THE TRUTH is set in Ankh-Morpork, which is the City of the City
- Watch, so readers will encounter familiar characters, but the focus
- is on a new character.
-
- Mileage varies on where to start reading for two reasons. First, the
- Discworld novels evolve and improve over time, and there can be
- disagreement over when the books become "good enough" to recommend to
- a first-time reader. Second, people may have strong opinions
- regarding a particular sub-series (the Rincewind books are perhaps
- the most frequent point of disagreement, as they are notably lighter
- than the others). Thus, the best all-purpose guideline is probably
- to just pick one from around the middle of this list and try it.
- (For whatever it's worth, I have had very good luck with recommending
- SMALL GODS to start.)
-
- Laurabelle Melton (lbmelton@mtholyoke.edu) demurs:
-
- Actually, this isn't strictly true; there have been great arguments on
- alt.books.pratchett and alt.fan.pratchett about the chronological order
- of the books (especially SMALL GODS). Unfortunately the Unreal
- Discworld Timeline is not on the Web.
-
- There's a suggested Discworld reading order at
- http://www.netcomuk.co.uk/~gidnsuzi/readord.html; I think that URL
- would make a useful addition to the FAQ.
-
- [Note that Pratchett has also written some non-Discworld novels, which
- frequently are packaged looking like Discworld novels--Kirby covers,
- etc.). STRATA is somewhat proto-Discworld; THE DARK SIDE OF THE SUN is
- completely separate.]
-
- F. Iain M. Banks's "Culture" books?
-
- From Andrea Leistra (aleistra@f1n7.u.arizona.edu) and others:
-
- [See also question 12A.]
-
- There are generally two recommended reading orders for Banks.
- None of the Culture books are directly connected, so in terms of
- spoilers it makes little difference, and generally most of the
- debate tends to be over which book should be read first.
-
- The publication order is one that is often recommended:
- CONSIDER PHLEBAS
- PLAYER OF GAMES
- USE OF WEAPONS
- "The State of the Art" (see question 12A)
- EXCESSION
- INVERSIONS
- ("A Gift from the Culture" can be read after any book other
- than CONSIDER PHELBAS)
-
- This is frequently recommended, at least to the extent of "Read
- CONSIDER PHLEBAS first," because there are low-level spoilers for
- CONSIDER PHLEBAS in the other books, to the extent that you know more
- about the Culture than you otherwise would.
-
- This is the order in which I read the books. I wasn't terribly
- impressed by CONSIDER PHLEBAS, and generally recommend the other order
- myself.
-
- The other recommended order just reverses the first two, and reverts to
- publication order thereafter; this is because PLAYER OF GAMES is, in
- the opinions of those who recommend this order, a better book, and it
- certainly gives the best general picture of the normal, internal life
- in the Culture. It is also in print in the US, if that's a factor.
-
- If you start with one of those two you probably will be fine. UoW is
- not generally recommended (although some people here will probably
- argue with that) because it needs some background. EXCESSION relies
- to even a greater extent on knowing about Culture Minds, though there
- are some people here who started with that without problems.
-
- As for what the Culture is: well, keep in mind that although there are
- no plot spoilers here it will alter the impact of CONSIDER PHLEBAS
- advocated by the "read-CONSIDER PHLEBAS-first" faction.
-
- [However, I have rot-13'ed it.]
- Gur Phygher vf n hgbcvn, bs gur yrsg-yvoregnevna inevrgl (ab
- tbireazrag, ohg ab zbarl rvgure) juvpu vf jul zbfg bs gur
- fgbevrf gnxr cynpr nebhaq gur rqtrf; erfbheprf ner nohaqnag
- rabhtu gung crbcyr qb fghss orpnhfr gurl jnag gb be gb trg
- erfcrpg (be gb trg vaivgrq gb gur tbbq cnegvrf) engure guna sbe
- zbarl. (Sbe vafgnapr, Thetru va _Cynlre bs Tnzrf_ fcraqf uvf
- yvsr, jryy, cynlvat tnzrf.) Gur arne-bzavcbgrag Zvaqf eha
- fghss, juvpu vf jul guvf nyy jbexf. Fbzr crbcyr urer fnl
- uhznaf va gur Phygher ner rffragvnyyl crgf; V qba'g nterr jvgu
- guvf, naq gur Phygher uhznaf pregnvayl qba'g nterr, be gurl
- qba'g pner. (Gur Zvaqf qba'g pner nobhg jung uhznaf qb,
- pregnvayl.) Zbfg uhznaf va gur Phygher yvir ba irel ynetr
- fuvcf jvgu ragregnvavat anzrf (juvpu ner pbagebyyrq ol Zvaqf,
- naq juvpu tb jurer gurl jnag) be ba Beovgnyf (yvxr zvavngher
- Evatjbeyqf, ohg beovgvat gur cevznel engure guna pragrerq ba
- vg).
-
- There is more than you would ever want to know at
- http://www.phlebas.com/text/cultnote.html, which is Banks's "A Few Notes
- on the Culture".
-
-
- ----------------------------------------------------------------------
- 20. Science Fiction Book Club
-
- About once a year someone asks about the SFBC and the resulting
- discussion inevitably goes like this:
-
- A: I love it. I get hard cover books for about half the bookstore
- price. Plus they have these omnibus editions of various series so
- you can pick up several books in one volume. The binding may not be
- up to regular hardcover standards, but it's still better than
- paperback.
-
- B: Yeah, but I keep losing the monthly cards and end up buying or having
- to send back books that I don't want.
-
- C: You should do like I did. I called them up and got on the
- "Preferred Member Plan". On this plan I only get books when I send
- back the card.
-
- D: But the selections for joining are no good.
-
- E. The best thing to do, for anybody who wants to join, is to find
- someone who is already a member, and fill out the "sign up a friend"
- form that members get. Then you get to pick your books from the
- current club flier, which has a much better selection and includes
- descriptions. And your friend gets a free book (or is it two?).
-
- ----------------------------------------------------------------------
- 21. Recent Obituaries
-
- [These are brief entries for well-known SF personalities who have died
- over the past couple of years. People who want more information should
- check the obituary columns in LOCUS or major newspapers for the dates
- listed. I will leave them in for two years before deletion.]
-
- Douglas Adams died 11 May 2001 at age 49 of a heart attack. He was the
- author of the "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" series, as well as several
- other books.
-
- Gordon R. Dickson died 31 January 2001 at age 77. He was the author of
- many science fiction books and stories, most notably the "Dorsai"
- series, a.k.a. the "Childe Cycle."
-
- L. Sprague de Camp died 6 November 2000 at age 92. He was an author of
- many talents and far more than could possibly be listed here, but
- highlights include his alternate history (particularly LEST DARKNESS
- FALL), his fantasy (THE COMPLEAT ENCHANTER), and his non-fiction.
-
- Keith Roberts died 5 October 2000 at age 65 of bronchitis and
- pneumonia. He was best-known for his alternate history novel PAVANE.
-
- Curt Siodmak died 2 September 2000 at age 98. He wrote novels and
- screenplays, being best known for the novels DONOVAN'S BRAIN and
- HAUSER'S MEMORY and the screenplays for THE TRANSATLANTIC TUNNEL and
- THE WOLF MAN, as well as many others in the Universal horror cycle. He
- also directed films, including THE MAGNETIC MONSTER and CURUCU, BEAST
- OF THE AMAZON.
-
- Emil Petaja died 17 August 2000 at age 85. He wrote in fields of genre
- fiction; his best-known SF works were probably his "Kalevala" cycle:
- THE SAGA OF LOST EARTHS, THE STAR MILL, THE STOLEN SUN, and TRAMONTANE.
-
- David R. Bunch died 29 May 2000 at age 74 of a heart attack. He was
- best known for his surrealistic short fiction, much of which is
- collected in MODERAN.
-
- Edward Gorey died 15 April 2000 at age 75. Gorey was an author and
- artist of the comic macabre. He wrote over a hundred books and
- illustrated more than fifty by other authors, as well as working on the
- stage design for the Broadway production of DRACULA. His best-known
- and most available work is probably AMPHIGOREY.
-
- John Sladek died 10 March 2000 at the age of 62. Sladek was an
- American who became part of the British New Wave while living in
- London. His best-known works were THE REPRODUCTIVE SYSTEM (MECHASM)
- and THE MULLER-FOKKER EFFECT, as well as RODERICK and RODERICK AT
- RANDOM.
-
- A. E. Van Vogt died 26 January 2000 at the age of 87. He was one of
- the great writers of the "Golden Age" in John W. Campbell's ASTOUNDING
- SCIENCE-FICTION. His best-known works were THE VOYAGE OF THE SPACE
- BEAGLE, SLAN, THE WEAPON SHOPS OF ISHER, and THE WORLD OF NULL-A.
-
- Marion Zimmer Bradley died 25 September 1999 at the age of 69. Her
- career spanned four decades, with her best-known works being those in
- the "Darkover" series. She was also the editor of "Marion Zimmer
- Bradley's Fantasy Magazine" at the time of her death.
-
- James White died 23 August 1999 at the age of 71. He was best known as
- the author of the "Sector General" series about a space hospital
- serving many species.
-
-
- ----------------------------------------------------------------------
-
- 22. SF ENCYCLOPEDIA et al
-
- P Nielsen Hayden (pnh@panix.com) says:
-
- I think we're all going to be confused about this forever. In a wan
- attempt to straighten out what's what:
-
- The original ENCYCLOPEDIA OF SCIENCE FICTION edited by Peter Nicholls
- (1979) had pictures. [In the US, this volume was titled THE SCIENCE
- FICTION ENCYCLOPEDIA. -Joe Bernstein]
-
- The completely revised ENCYCLOPEDIA OF SCIENCE FICTION edited by John
- Clute and Peter Nicholls (1993) has no pictures. [It has the same name
- in Britain and the United States.]
-
- [John Pomeranz says that the trade paperback edition of this has additional
- text and corrects some errors. There is also THE FANTASY ENCYCLOPEDIA,
- a companion volume first published in 1997.]
-
- The CD-ROM edition of the ENCYCLOPEDIA OF SCIENCE FICTION (1995) has
- pictures, audio clips, Quicktime movies of authors, etc, in addition to
- the entire text of the 1993 edition of the ENCYCLOPEDIA.
-
- The SCIENCE FICTION: THE ILLUSTRATED ENCYCLOPEDIA by John Clute (1995)
- has tons of pictures, but is a completely separate work not based on
- the ENCYCLOPEDIA. (I bet Clute was less than wild about the publishers'
- insistence on giving this volume a name that will forever lead to it
- being confused with the actual ENCYCLOPEDIA.)
-
- THE VISUAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF SCIENCE FICTION is a 1977 work by Brian Ash.
-
- All of the above works are worthwhile. The ENCYCLOPEDIA is a serious
- reference work; the VISUAL ENCYCLOPEDIA is a fun coffee-table book.
-
- [end of Nielsen Hayden's comments]
-
- I would add that there are also:
-
- Donald H. Tuck's 1974-1982 three-volume set, THE ENCYCLOPEDIA
- OF SCIENCE FICTION AND FANTASY. No illustrations.
- Robert Holdstock's 1978 ENCYCLOPEDIA OF SCIENCE FICTION.
- Illustrations.
- James E. Gunn's 1975 ALTERNATE WORLDS: THE ILLUSTRATED HISTORY
- OF SCIENCE FICTION. Illustrations. (Okay, so it doesn't
- use the word "encyclopedia" and is more a "serious
- coffee-table book," but it seems pertinent to mention it
- here.)
- James E. Gunn's 1988 NEW ENCYCLOPEDIA OF SCIENCE FICTION.
- Illustrations.
- David Pringle's ULTIMATE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF SCIENCE FICTION:
- THE DEFINITIVE ILLUSTRATED GUIDE
-
- ----------------------------------------------------------------------
-
- 23. What is the difference between "mass-market" and "trade" paperbacks?
- Why do some books come out in trade paperback instead of the more affordable
- mass-market format? What about A, B, and C format in Britain?
-
- What is the difference between trade paperback and mass market: the
- channels of distribution. Trade paperbacks do not piggyback on the
- ID system of periodical distribution.
-
- ("ID distribution" is book publishing jargon for "that part of the
- periodical-distribution industry that puts cheap paperback books into
- non-bookstore outlets, like the wire racks at grocery stores." It has
- nothing to do with bookstores.)
-
- How does size relate: It doesn't. The reason that a number of trade
- paperbacks are oversized is that they are manufactured from the actual
- sheets printed for the hardcover edition, but bound in paper wrappers.
-
- Does being strippable make a difference: Yes. All mass market books are
- strippable. Any book that is distributed through both mass market and
- direct channels is strippable. [Strippable means that the retailer needs
- to return only the cover for full credit; the rest of the book is
- destroyed.]
-
- Books that are distributed -only- though trade channels, be they hardcover
- or soft cover, are usually sold on the basis of whole copy returns.
-
- [Provided by Beth Meacham [bam@azstarnet.com] and Patrick Nielsen Hayden
- [pnh@panix.com].]
-
- As for why (more expensive) trade paperbacks instead of (cheaper) mass
- market paperbacks:
-
- To publish a mass-market paperback successfully, you need to sell
- 10,000 copies of a 25,000 run to succeed--*and* you need to do this in a
- six- to eight-week period. Trade paperbacks can sell fewer, but even
- more to the point, they don't have a time limit, since they are not
- stripped by bookstores after six weeks. [culled from panels at
- Boskone and elsewhere]
-
- And on the British side:
-
- "A format" is the same as a US mass market size. "B format" is bigger,
- sort of like an Orb book. "C format" is yuppieback, excuse me, trade
- paperback, the size of a hardback but with a soft cover. Any of these
- may be trade, same definition here as there, but "C format" always
- are.
-
- [The above was provided by Jo Walton [Jo@kenjo.demon.co.uk].]
-
- And now some additional commentary from me:
-
- In the United States we have three basic "formats" for books: hardback,
- trade paperback, and mass-market paperback.
-
- Hardbacks (a.k.a. hardcovers) have stiff board covers under some
- covering, often with an additional dust jacket. This covering used to
- be cloth, so these are supposed listed as "Cloth" in ads and such.
- They cost US$20 and up (give or take). The size varies, but most
- novels are about 16cm by 20cm (6in by 8in) by whatever thickness the
- length requires. Coffee-table books are even larger ones, usually with
- lots of artwork and designed to be put on coffee tables (or perhaps
- made into them).
-
- Trade paperbacks have very thick paper covers, and paper similar to
- hardcovers (actually often better, since they don't usually have the
- ragged edges one sees these days on hardbacks). They are usually about
- the same size as hardbacks, sightly shorter because the binding is done
- differently, and without the added thickness of the covers. They cost
- in the US$10 to US$25 range (generally novels are in the lower part of
- that range, non-fiction in the upper). One feature several people have
- mentioned is that in general they have the larger font of the hardback,
- making them easier to read. There are also some trade paperbacks that
- look exactly like mass-market paperbacks, but usually with better
- quality paper/covers. You can tell they are trade paperbacks because
- the copyright page will have a notice that they are not strippable.
-
- Mass-market paperbacks have very thick paper covers, but cheaper paper
- et al than trade paperbacks. They are usually about 10cm by 18cm (4in
- by 7in) by whatever thickness, but there are also "large-trim"
- mass-market paperbacks that are the same size as the standard trade
- paperback. They are usually in the US$5 to US$9 range, but the
- large-trim ones cost more. They are "strippable"--that is, bookstores
- can rip off the front cover and return just that for full credit. They
- are supposed to destroy the rest--not all do, and so some publishers
- have/still do(?) require that they return the cover and the first ten
- pages. In general the quality is poorer than trade paperbacks, with
- glue that may give over after a few years, etc. Nowadays most, if not
- all, mass-market paperbacks have a notice on the copyright page that if
- you are buying a coverless copy, it is stolen property.
-
- And a new wrinkle: according to Elaine Y. Fisher (elainef@airmail.net)
- a "turtleback" is one of those paperback-turned-hardbacks that one
- often sees in libraries, usually with the paperback color cover
- laminated onto the front. One is now seeing this term on used-book
- websites.
-
- ----------------------------------------------------------------------
-
- 24. What do the letters "PJF" after Steven Brust's name mean?
-
- PJF = Pre-Joycean Fellowship
-
- The name is modelled on that of an artist's group named the
- Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. A number of writers have appended it
- including Brust, Emma Bull, Will Shetterly, Jane Yolen, Pamela Dean and
- Neil Gaiman (this is not an exhaustive list). Many, but not all of
- them are members of Minneapolis Fantasy Writer's Group, the
- Scribblies.
-
- In the words of Pamela Dean, here is roughly what the PJF is trying to
- do:
-
- "... we are trying to undo the separation of the so-called popular
- values and traits in literature (which probably include straight-
- forward narration) and the so-called literary values and traits
- (which probably include stream-of-consciousness writing). We don't
- always succeed; we don't always try; we don't feel that writers
- doing other things are evil. But we are trying to reunite, in our
- work, the popular and the literary. Every one of us has a different
- definition of those terms and a different notion of how what we are
- trying to do should be accomplished."
-
- Will Shetterly adds:
-
- "Good FAQ, but, uh, what's this Minnesota Fantasy Writer's Group? The
- Scribblies are either just the Scribblies, or they're the Interstate
- Writer's Workshop (which isn't true anymore since all the current members
- are in Minnesota, but that was our excuse for calling ourselves the
- Scribblies)."
-
- And later:
-
- "I keep fighting the impulse to discuss this semi-seriously. I think I've
- lost. Unfortunately, I wrote a couple of messages which I discarded and a
- couple which I posted, and I can't remember what was in which. So here's
- the very latest attempt at the full history of the PJF:
-
- I may be wrong, but I believe the name was my invention. It was primarily
- a joke inspired by the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. A number of us were
- fond of talking about how frustrating it is that bookstores, academics,
- and readers have a tendency to divide stories into the categories of
- fiction and literature, or story and art, or fun and serious work. We like
- the stuff that does both, like (everyone's favorite, especially Pamela
- Dean's) Shakespeare, who includes fart jokes for the rich and powerful and
- poetry for the people (and vice versa, of course). We tended to think this
- tendency to contentedly divide writing into two camps blossomed after
- Joyce, whose work has a great deal for the educated reader, but can be
- rather frustrating for the ignorant one. Keep in mind that when I either
- created or agreed to the title of PJF, I did that as someone who likes
- Joyce's writing a great deal (I haven't tried FINNEGANS WAKE, and am in
- no hurry to do so). In retrospect, it might've been better to use James
- than Joyce, or it might've been better to accept the label of
- "post-modern," which describes our intentions as well as any label. But
- also keep in mind that this was never meant to be a serious movement; it
- was an excuse for a few friends to get together and argue about books. We
- only succeeded in having one meeting at a bar, where we had fun but didn't
- really talk about books much, and then it would've all been forgotten if
- Steve hadn't decided to put "PJF" after his name on one of his books, just
- as some of the PRB did when signing their paintings. So it's an
- accidentally serious group that's still primarily a joke."
-
- ----------------------------------------------------------------------
-
- 25. Is Megan Lindholm writing under a pseudonym?
-
- Yes; she has recently been writing as Robin Hobb. [Provided by Sharon
- Kim Goetz (goetz@soda.csua.berkeley.edu)].
-
- ----------------------------------------------------------------------
-
- 26. Who is William Ashbless?
-
- Who is William Ashbless? Both Tim Powers (THE ANUBIS GATES) and James
- Blaylock (THE DIGGING LEVIATHAN) have him in their books. Is this the
- same character?
-
- William Ashbless was a penname that Powers and Blaylock used to publish
- cowritten poetry in college. When they both needed a name for a poet
- character in their books, they independently used the same name. After
- this had been pointed out to them by their editor, they got together
- and added details to make it look it was the same guy.
-
- ----------------------------------------------------------------------
-
- 27. Kilgore Trout
-
- Kilgore Trout is a fictitious SF author that appears in several books
- by Kurt Vonnegut. VENUS ON THE HALF-SHELL by Kilgore Trout was written
- by Philip Jose Farmer.
-
- There are no other books by Kilgore Trout. After Venus was published,
- many people thought that Vonnegut had written it. Vonnegut did not care
- for this and refused Farmer permission to write any more.
-
- ----------------------------------------------------------------------
-
- 28. Pronunciation of Cherryh
-
- C. J. Cherryh's original last name was Cherry. The terminal H is
- silent. The H was added because her first editor thought that Cherry
- sounded too much like a romance writer. Her brother, artist David
- Cherry, retains the original spelling.
-
- ----------------------------------------------------------------------
-
- 29. Stephen Jay Gould and Steven Gould
-
- These are two different people. Stephen Jay Gould is the well-known
- Harvard paleontologist and author of several non-fiction books about
- evolution. Steven Gould is the author of JUMPER, WILDSIDE, and other
- SF novels and stories.
-
- ----------------------------------------------------------------------
-
- 30. Sturgeon's Law
-
- "Sturgeon's Law" is "Ninety percent of everything is crap." It comes
- from a quote by science fiction author Theodore Sturgeon, who once
- said, "Sure, 90% of science fiction is crud. That's because 90% of
- everything is crud." Scholars disagree on what word Sturgeon originally
- used. In its first appearance in print it was "crud," but someone present
- remembers that in the speech it was "crap."
-
- See http://glinda.lrsm.upenn.edu/~weeks/misc/faq.html for more details.
-
- ----------------------------------------------------------------------
-
- 31. What is the Thor Power Tools decision and how did it affect publishing?
-
- Kevin O'Donnell has provided a very clear explanation, available at
- http://www.sfwa.org/bulletin/articles/thor.htm. (My quick summary is
- that manufacturers (and publishers) could no longer use the fact that
- some inventory would go unsold to calculate their taxable inventory.
- According to at least one publisher, accountants figured out within a
- couple of years how to compensate for that. The damage to the backlist
- is mostly due to rising warehouse, production, and distribution costs.)
-
- ----------------------------------------------------------------------
-
- 32. What is the best science fiction magazine to subscribe to?
-
- The three most widely distributed [fiction] magazines are ANALOG,
- ASIMOVS, and F&SF. They concentrate (roughly speaking) on "hard SF",
- character-driven SF/fantasy, and literary SF/fantasy. Your best bet is
- to try a couple of issues of each and see which you like.
-
- There are also several other magazines not as visible. SF AGE has a
- mix of fiction and non-fiction articles on film, gaming, etc. Someone
- said that REALMS OF FANTASY has the highest circulation of any SF
- fiction magazine, but I have to confirm this. INTERZONE focuses on
- British science fiction (not surprising, as it comes from Britain).
- ABORIGINAL is not, as you might think, Australian, but American.
- AUREALIS and EIDOLON are Australian.
-
- ----------------------------------------------------------------------
-
- 33. How much do authors get in royalties?
-
- Beginners sometimes get 6% on paperbacks, going up to 8% after a
- certain threshold figure has been reached (often betweeen 100,000 and
- 150,000 copies sold).
-
- Established writers, and beginners with tough agents, get 8% on
- paperbacks, going up to 10% after the threshold has been reached.
-
- On trade paperbacks, 7.5% is the standard starting place.
-
- On hardcovers, most authors get 10% on the first X number of copies;
- 12.5% on the next Y number of copies, and 15% after that. For
- hardcovers the values of both X and Y are often 5,000 copies.
-
- So, for a typical hardcover priced at US$23.95, the author will get
- somewhere between $2.40 and $3.60 on the copy you buy, depending on how
- many have already sold. For a typical paperback priced at US$6.99,
- the author will get 52.5 cents.
-
- [Provided by Robert J Sawyer [sawyer@sfwriter.com].]
-
- ----------------------------------------------------------------------
-
- 34. Who said:
-
- A. "He's a chimp! She's the Pope! They're cops!"
-
- Michael Cassutt.
-
- B. "The Golden Age of Science Fiction is 12."
-
- Peter Graham.
-
- C. "War God of Israel/The Thing with Three Souls"
-
- Terry Carr, saying, "If Don Wollheim had published the Bible [as an Ace
- Double], it would be ...."
-
- D. "Science fiction should get out of the classroom and back in the gutter
- where it belongs!"
-
- Dena Benatan Brown
-
- E. "Life is like a simile."
-
- Terry Carr.
-
- ----------------------------------------------------------------------
-
- 35. Would the windmills in Kim Stanley Robinson's "Mars" books work?
-
- Or more specifically, in Kim Stanley Robinson's "Mars" books, can the
- windmills contribute anything to warming up the planet?
-
- No. Not even a very small amount as claimed later on in the
- series. According to RED MARS, the windmills convert one form of
- energy into another--no conservation of energy violation occurs. The
- problem is that they are irrelevant to the process of this conversion,
- which happens quite efficiently because of the Second Law of
- Thermodynamics, windmills or no windmills. That's what the growth of
- entropy is all about. While the actual, secret purpose of the mills
- was quite different, it is not credible that their official purpose
- should not be exposed as a fraud almost immediately.
-
- [Provided by Mike Arnautov [mla@mipmip.demon-co-antispam-uk].]
-
- ----------------------------------------------------------------------
-
- 36. What's the world's shortest science fiction story?
-
- Traditionally, the answer has been Fredric Brown's "Knock": "The last
- man on earth sat alone in a room. There was a knock on the door...."
- This appeared in the december 1948 issue of THRILLING WONDER STORIES.
-
- But there is a reference in an article by Anthony Burgess that cited,
- "That morning the sun rose in the west." However, I suspect he just
- composed that himself, and never published it as a separate story.
- ("Anthony Burgess on the Short Story," in Les Cahiers de la nouvelle
- "Journal of the Short Story in English, janvier 1984, pp. 31-47.
- Universite d'Angers,
- http://buweb.univ-angers.fr/EXTRANET/AnthonyBURGESS/ShortStory.html.)
-
- And Forry Ackerman claims he wrote the shortest one ever, titled
- "Cosmic Report Card: Earth" consisting of the single letter "F". (In
- the United States, grading is by letter: A, B, C, D, and F. Don't ask
- me why E is skipped, though Jeremy Meyers suggests it is because it
- would be too easy for students to alter an "F" to look like an "E".)
- See http://www.jophan.org/mimosa/m16/16_p05.html for details; it
- appeared in the June 1973 issue of VERTEX.)
-
- [Provided by Evelyn Leeper [evelynleeper@geocities.com].
- Updates/corrections welcome.]
-
- ----------------------------------------------------------------------
-
- 37. What are the books that come up again and again in rec.arts.sf.written?
-
- Here are the high runners (numbers in brackets represent an estimate of the
- number of mentions in rec.arts.sf.written in the last six months of 1999).
-
- Iain M. Banks's "Culture" novels [4584]
- Steven Brust's "Vlad Taltos" series [584]
- Lois McMaster Bujold's "Miles Vorkosigan" stories (see #19A) [3275]
- Orson Scott Card's "Ender" series [1918]
- Robert A. Heinlein's novels and stories, especially STARSHIP TROOPERS [3203]
- Robert Jordan's "Wheel of Time" [8172]
- Ursula K. LeGuin's "Earthsea" books and THE DISPOSSESSED [1880]
- Ken MacLeod's novels (see #12N) [1068]
- Ayn Rand's ATLAS SHRUGGED [996]
- Neal Stephenson's CRYPTONOMICON [2131]
- J. R. R. Tolkien's HOBBIT and THE LORD OF THE RINGS [1016]
- Vernor Vinge's "Singularity" and "Slow Zone" novels [1004]
- David Weber's "Honor Harrington" novels [263]
-
- [At this point--August 2000--I am adding J. K. Rowling's "Harry Potter"
- books. I haven't done a formal count, but my suspicion is that these
- books will continue to generate discussion.]
-
- ----------------------------------------------------------------------
-
- 38. What are good SF books for children/young adults?
-
- The best list I've found is at
- http://www.lasfs.org/lasfs/what/projects/rrl/. It includes science
- fiction and fantasy. The list itself has links to discounts, and the
- site has a couple of articles explaining how it came about.
-
- Note that it predates J. K. Rowling and the "Harry Potter" books, which
- is what made me add this question, but I don't think most people need to
- be told about them. :-)
-
- ----------------------------------------------------------------------
-
- 39. Spelling
-
- Here are the correct spelling of some commonly misspelled names:
- Samuel R. Delany
- Gandhi
- Robert A. Heinlein
- Patrick Nielsen Hayden
- Teresa Nielsen Hayden
- Martin Luther King, Jr.
- Edgar Allan Poe
- J. R. R. Tolkien
-
- ----------------------------------------------------------------------
-
- 99. Science Fiction Archives
-
- The SF-LOVERS archives are at:
- http://sflovers.rutgers.edu.
- The Internet Speculative Fiction DataBase is at:
- http://www.sfsite.com/isfdb/sfdbase.html
- The Science Fiction Resource Guide is at:
- http://sflovers.rutgers.edu/Web/SFRG/
-
- For European readers, you may want to access the archives at the Lysator
- Computer Club, Linkoping University, Sweden. It's e-mail address is
- ftp.lysator.liu.se (130.236.254.1). The administrator is Mats Ohrman
- (email: matoh@sssab.se). The bibliographies are in directory
- /pub/sf-texts.
-
- ====================================================================
-
- (Contributions for addition to this FAQL gratefully appreciated.
- Suggestions for things *I* should write to add to this FAQL are not so
- gratefully appreciated.)
-
- ============================================================================
- Copyright Notice
-
- Information contained in this FAQ is compiled from many sources. The
- compiler accepts no responsibility for the comments contained herein.
- The comments are provided "as is" with no warranty, express or implied,
- for the information provided within them.
-
- This FAQ is not to be reproduced for commercial use unless the party
- reproducing the FAQ agrees to the following:
-
- 1) They will contact the FAQ maintainer to obtain the latest version for
- their collection.
- 2) They will provide the FAQ maintainer with information on what collection
- the copy of the FAQ is in, and how that collection may be obtained.
- 3) They will agree, in writing, that the FAQ will be included in the
- collection without modification, and that acknowledgements of
- contributors (if any) to the FAQ remain in the FAQ.
- 4) They will agree, in writing, that the collection including the FAQ will
- be distributed on either a non-profit basis, or have some percentage of
- profit donated to a non-profit literacy program. Project Gutenberg
- counts.
-
- Information contained in the FAQ is compiled from many sources. No
- guarantees are made as to its accuracy.
-
- To support this, this FAQ is Compilation Copyright 2001 by Evelyn C. Leeper
- (the FAQ maintainer).
-
- ============================================================================
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- Evelyn C. Leeper, evelynleeper@geocities.com
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- Evelyn C. Leeper, http://www.geocities.com/evelynleeper
- "We should be as passionately opposed to those who discriminate against
- gays and lesbians as we were passionate in our opposition to apartheid."
- -- Archbishop Desmond Tutu, February 1999, Brown University
-