One of the consistent themes of e-books has been the popularity of two specific genres... romance and sci-fi/fantasy. True, there has been consistent interest in older classic works such as collections of the Harvard Classics and Charles Dickens. But the gadget freak favorite always seems to be sci-fi/fantasy.

Whether you fit that pattern or not, you might just find these 20 facts (and speculations) about science fiction to be fascinating.

1. Arguably the inspiration for much science fiction traces back to classical mythology. Think of it—Earthlings abducted by beings from the sky, humans morphing into strange creatures, and events that defy the laws of nature.

2. Birth of the (un)cool: In 1926 writer Hugo Gernsback founded Amazing Stories, the first true science-fiction magazine.

3. Gernsback loved greenbacks. He tried to trademark the term science fiction, and he paid writers so little that H. P. Lovecraft later nicknamed him “Hugo the Rat.”

4. Rat’s revenge: The most famous sci-fi writing award is called the Hugo.

5. Writers for the early pulp magazines would often write under multiple pseudonyms so they could have more than one article per issue. Ray Bradbury—taking this practice to another level—used six different pen names.

See the entire list at Discover Magazine's Top 20 article (http://discovermagazine.com/2008/feb/20-things-you-didn2019t-know-about-science-fiction?utm_campaign=DISCOVER%20Magazine%20Newslet ter%202%2E06%2E2008&utm_content=rrs12345@comcast.net&utm_medium=Email&utm_source=VerticalResponse&utm_term=20%20Things%20You%20Didn%26rsquo%3Bt%20Kn ow%20About%2E%2E%2E%20Science%20Fiction). You'll find out which technology was avoided by Ray Bradbury and Isaac Asimov, the book that apparently inspired Second Life and Google Maps and much more.

Not meant to be a flame but I thought this was a superficial article.

I wonder if any of the authors had ever read much science fiction other than a generic college textbook about fiction or a Wikipedia search. They included mostly factoids and trivia questions (interesting but not significant) and one rather vague claim (#1) about the source of science fiction with weasel words like "Arguably" and "much". True for some of the science fiction genres but also "arguably" true for "much" of standard fiction.

My assessment is a "C".

Nice list (in a tongue-in-cheek sort of way). I was surprised that they mentioned Gene Wolfe helped develop the machine that cooks Pringles, while Robert Heinlein conceived the first modern water bed... but they neglected to mention that Arthur C. Clarke conceived of the communications satellite.

Not meant to be a flame but I thought this was a superficial article. I wonder if any of the authors had ever read much science fiction other than a generic college textbook about fiction or a Wikipedia search.I bet that our readers can come up with more interesting facts as than the article if there's interest. Steve started us out with the missing tie between Arthur C. Clarke and the communications satellite. Anyone here read enough SF to chip in, or as readers are we just as superficial as the article writers?

<Forgive me for the obvious baiting, but I'm really curious to see what you folks might know!>

Alright, here's a factoid for you...

SF writer Brian Aldiss has argued that the first real science fiction novel was Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, because it was based on the cutting edge science of the day, at a time when science had really only just been invented.

I bet that our readers can come up with more interesting facts as than the article if there's interest. Steve started us out with the missing tie between Arthur C. Clarke and the communications satellite. Anyone here read enough SF to chip in, or as readers are we just as superficial as the article writers? #3 was a new one on me. Gernsback subtitled Amazing Stories "The magazine of Scientifiction", and his innovation was devoting a magazine to the genre and giving it a name. Stories that were SF had been published in the pulps for a while. Gernsbach was the first to devote a publication to them.

Calling the genre Sci-Fi can be blamed on Forrest J. Ackerman, who coined it as a contraction of Scientifiction. It's a touchy topic in SF fan circles (#5), who vastly prefer SF as the name, and consider Sci-Fi a term used by people who don't know anything about the genre and equate it with cheesy TV and grade B movie offerings.

Gernsbach's business practice of "payment upon presentation of lawsuit" has been well known in SF circles for years, and Uncle Hugo was hardly the only practitioner of that tactic.

#4: I wouldn't call it the rat's revenge. The folks who first created the Hugo were well aware of Gernsbach's flaws, but he did effectively create the genre the award honors.

#5: The practice of multiple pseudonyms carried on well past the pulps. The late Randall Garrett a/k/a Walter Bupp, Darrell T. Langart, and (with Laurence M. Janifer) Mark Phillips is one example, and there are many others. I once spent several years looking for the novelette that was a prequel to the late Henry Kuttner's _Fury_. Turned out I had it all along: it was titled "Clash By Night", and had been published under the pseudonym Laurence O'Donnell.

#8 and #9: Well, Alice Sheldon had been a government operative during WWII. Tragically, she took her own life in a murder/suicide when caring for her aged and invalid husband became too much.

#18: Dick had bouts with mental illness all along. Most of his work concerned the boundary between reality and fantasy, and how you knew which side you were on. No surprise, since Phil often didn't know. Should you get a chance, ask David Hartwell, currently a Senior Editor at Tor Books, about Dick. He'd been Dick's editor at another house, and still expresses bemusement about the experience.
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Dennis

Alright, here's a factoid for you...

SF writer Brian Aldiss has argued that the first real science fiction novel was Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, because it was based on the cutting edge science of the day, at a time when science had really only just been invented.Read Aldiss's _The Billion Year Spree_. He traces the roots of SF a lot farther back...
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Dennis

Nice list (in a tongue-in-cheek sort of way). I was surprised that they mentioned Gene Wolfe helped develop the machine that cooks Pringles, while Robert Heinlein conceived the first modern water bed... but they neglected to mention that Arthur C. Clarke conceived of the communications satellite.I hadn't know the bit about Wolfe, but it wasn't a surprise. He was editor of Plant Engineering magazine for many years before retiring to write full time, and was someone who could do something like that.

(I've met him. Nice guy as well as brilliant writer. I treasure my signed copies of the Urth of the New Sun series.)
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Dennis

Alright, here's a factoid for you...

SF writer Brian Aldiss has argued that the first real science fiction novel was Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, because it was based on the cutting edge science of the day, at a time when science had really only just been invented.

Nope. A much earlier SF novel was The Divine Comedy, by Dante Alighieri.

Nope. A much earlier SF novel was The Divine Comedy, by Dante Alighieri.Since when is a three-part epic poem a novel?
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Dennis

people who don't know anything about the genre and equate it with cheesy TV and grade B movie offerings.

But...but...but I LIKE cheesy TV and B-grade movies! (Looks happily at Space:1999 and Land of the Giants box sets.)

But...but...but I LIKE cheesy TV and B-grade movies! (Looks happily at Space:1999 and Land of the Giants box sets.)I concur, though I'll pass on Space:1999 and Land of the Giants. For cheese, give me "Buzz Corey in the 30th Century", Commando Cody, and Rocky Jones, Space Ranger.

The problem is that "Sci-Fi" has negative connotations, along the lines of "Crazy Buck Rogers Stuff!" that used to be applied to the genre.

OTOH, there has been a bit of discussion on what SF stands for, with many folks preferring "Speculative Fiction", and the late Judith Merrill once proposing in an anthology ("England Swings SF") that it might stand for "Space Fish". :p
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Dennis

Here's one for you guys: The form of the modern science-fiction motion picture traces its roots to Fritz Lang's Metropolis. Though not technically the first SF movie made (Melies' A Trip To The Moon is the first, I believe), Metropolis gave moviegoers:

An allegorically-based storyline;
Styles based on a current artistic movement (in this case, Expressionism);
Massive futuristic cityscapes;
futuristic vehicles and fashions;
Cutting-edge special effects;
The humanoid robot, simultaneously attractive and menacing;
The futuristic laboratory, as depicted by incomprehensible control panels, flashing lights, moving objects, and anything else that had a wildly kinetic look;
The "Mad scientist" (actually a mistake: The original movie was so badly sliced up before reaching the Americas, that the motivations of the character Rotgang were lost on the cutting room floor, leaving him apparently posturing like a maniac to viewers); and
Full orchestral score (recently re-discovered... its Germanic styles inspired the original Buck Rodgers serials to run German opera in the background);
(Edit, added 2/9) Technology Run Amok, the idea that technology, out of our control, can rise up and destroy us.


To date, every "big budget" science fiction movie, and most of the small ones, owes its heritage to this movie.

Here's a slightly more modern item: Michael Crichton, writer of Jurassic Park and The Andromeda Strain, is a Harvard Medical School graduate, and wrote and produced the series ER.

And another Arthur C. Clarke factoid:
Although Clarke is generally credited with writing 2001: A Space Odyssey, that credit is actually shared with Stanley Kubrick. The movie was based on a Clarke short story, The Sentinel (which essentially covered the Moon sequence when they discovered the monolith), but Clarke and Kubrick collaborated on creating a cinematic version of the story, and Clarke wrote the novelization of the story based on their collaboration.

Did you know that he wrote his first books during med school? Apparently he didn't have enough to do.

Since when is a three-part epic poem a novel?
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Dennis

And also, how can it be science fiction before the existence of science?

And also, how can it be science fiction before the existence of science?

That would depend on how you define science, and why you think it didn't exist until after the 1200s.

I was quoting Larry Niven. He said that The Inferno was the first SF in that it was based in the most up to date understanding of the world at that time.

That would depend on how you define science, and why you think it didn't exist until after the 1200s.I'll go with the late Susan Sontag's definition: science is the process of disproving theories.

I was quoting Larry Niven. He said that The Inferno was the first SF in that it was based in the most up to date understanding of the world at that time.Niven might consider it SF, but I don't believe he considered it a novel.
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Dennis

"The Illustrated Book of Science Fiction Lists" by Mike Ashley suggests the following ten candidates for earliest SF works:

1) 'The Epic of Gilgamesh' - c.2100 BC
2) 'The Odyssey', Homer - c.750 BC
3) 'The Birds', Aristophanes - 414 BC
4) 'Timaios' and 'Critias', Plato - c.350 BC
5) 'Heliopolis', Iamboulos - c.260 BC
6) 'The Argonautica', Apollonios - c.250 BC
7) 'Somnium Scipianus', Marcus Cicero - 45 BC
8) 'Facies in Orbe Lunare', Plutarch - c.100 AD
9) 'Of Marvels Beyond Thule', Antonius Diogenes - c.100 AD
10) 'Alethes Historia', Lucian of Samosata - c.170 AD

The form of the modern science-fiction motion picture traces its roots to Fritz Lang's Metropolis. ... To date, every "big budget" science fiction movie, and most of the small ones, owes its heritage to this movie.

Not sure I agree with that. I can think of SF films that don't seem directly related to 'Metropolis' (except in a very broad sense) - 'Incredible Shrinking Man', 'Alien', 'Solaris', 'Andromeda Strain', 'Next', 'Fantastic Voyage', 'E.T.', 'Jurassic Park' etc.

It's possible to find loose connections between any films - perhaps it could be argued that Jurassic Park has a mad scientist (or at least a scientist who does a mad thing), and Metropolis has a mad scientist too - but then so did Frankenstein which predates Metropolis. And, in purely cinematic terms, Jurassic Park and Metropolis don't seem to have much in common.

So, I'd contend the SF tropes in Metropolis were not themselves original; and the cinematic influence of Metropolis is not apparent in "every" big-budget sf movie - all imho of course :).

Not sure I agree with that. I can think of SF films that don't seem directly related to 'Metropolis' (except in a very broad sense) - 'Incredible Shrinking Man', 'Alien', 'Solaris', 'Andromeda Strain', 'Next', 'Fantastic Voyage', 'E.T.', 'Jurassic Park' etc.

It's possible to find loose connections between any films - perhaps it could be argued that Jurassic Park has a mad scientist (or at least a scientist who does a mad thing), and Metropolis has a mad scientist too - but then so did Frankenstein which predates Metropolis. And, in purely cinematic terms, Jurassic Park and Metropolis don't seem to have much in common.

So, I'd contend the SF tropes in Metropolis were not themselves original; and the cinematic influence of Metropolis is not apparent in "every" big-budget sf movie - all imho of course :).

I was admittedly making a broad statement. I was suggesting that Metropolis ' elements became iconic of SF movies in general, not that every movie was made "like" metropolis. In fact, I should have added "technology run amok" to that list of elements... silly me!

Of the movies you mentioned, The Incredible Shrinking Man certainly breaks every tenet of the aforementioned template... although it could arguably be covered under "technology run amok," as that caused the crisis of the story. Many of the other "B" horror movies of that same era, like Them, similarly use the "tech run amok" element to create their menace, and have no other connection to SF.

Others that break those tenets might include Gattaca, Soylent Green, and Vanilla Sky. They are part of a separate movement in SF, represented by movies like Solaris, where technology and futuristic elements clearly take second place to the characters and their stories/motivations.

Of the others, they are obviously not "like" Metropolis, but they still use at least a few of the elements that were iconic to that movie. As time went by, other elements were added to the list of SF "icons," such as space travel in aircraft- or boat-like ships, ray guns, and aliens. ET borrowed from 2 of those later elements, plus the orchestral score.

Labs with incomprehensible displays, flashing lights and computers, were all prominent in Jurassic Park, Solaris (both versions), Fantastic Voyage, Alien, and The Andromeda Strain. Alien included a menacing robot.

Again, I'm not suggesting that these movies deliberately borrowed from Metropolis... just that those iconic elements of SF that they used were largely created for Metropolis originally.

I did not address Next... personally, I'm not sure if subjects like people with unique mental powers could be considered SF or fantasy (like traditional superhero powers). If you consider it to be SF, then yes, it also breaks the aforementioned tenets. Next is less the iconic SF movie, and more the iconic adventure movie (main character with unique abilities saves the day), which is the way I would consider it.

Did you know that (Crichton) wrote his first books during med school? Apparently he didn't have enough to do.

Scary, isn't it?

More trivia probably known to most of you:

1. Andre Norton is a pen name for Alice Mary North. She wrote other books under here own name but considered that the audience for SF wouldn't buy books written by a woman.

2. Not a singe SF author predicted that the first moon visit would be televised.

Dale

More trivia probably known to most of you:

1. Andre Norton is a pen name for Alice Mary North. She wrote other books under here own name but considered that the audience for SF wouldn't buy books written by a woman.Nope.

She was born Alice Mary Norton, and legally changed her name to Andre Alice Norton in 1934. "Andrew North" was a pen name she used, as was Andre Norton and Allen Weston.
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Dennis

The shortest SF story is "Why Booth Did Not Shoot Lincoln" by Ed Wellen; it appeared in Orbit 15, Damon Knight (ed.) in 1974, and is completely blank.

(Does anyone get it?? :blink: Maybe it's some sort of pun on 'blank' page/bullet?)

The shortest SF love story ever written is the cleverly titled "The Shortest Science Fiction Love Story Ever Written" by Jeff Renner ("F & SF", March 1964).
It's 9 words long.

The shortest SF story is "Why Booth Did Not Shoot Lincoln" by Ed Wellen; it appeared in Orbit 15, Damon Knight (ed.) in 1974, and is completely blank.

(Does anyone get it?? :blink: Maybe it's some sort of pun on 'blank' page/bullet?)Since Booth did shoot Lincoln, how long would a piece about why he didn't be? :p
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Dennis

SF can be credited with the creation of the 20th century "superhero" genre. Prior to 1900, detectives, cowboys, soldiers, and myths (like Paul Bunyan) dominated adventure stories. The growing popularity of SF in literature and movies led to the first heroes with "superhuman" abilities based on elements taken from science fiction, including alien origins or artifacts, advanced gadgets or tools, and powers obtained from lab experiments (or accidents). Their popularity in turn crowded out most non-superhero characters, and forced others to be altered to suit the new SF geist.

The first superhero costumes drew heavily from illustrator Alex Raymond's costume designs for the Flash Gordon newspaper strip, featuring capes, boots, chest insignias, bright colors and swashbuckling lines.

The shortest SF love story ever written is the cleverly titled "The Shortest Science Fiction Love Story Ever Written" by Jeff Renner ("F & SF", March 1964).
It's 9 words long.Quite a coincidence you bring this up. Yours truly has written the shortest dark sci-fi story of the decade. It's my first piece of fiction -- "Another Shortest Story" by Bob Russell. Nine words. I'm still looking for a publisher. :DSam piloted his fusion rocket... into a black hole.

Quite a coincidence you bring this up. Yours truly has written the shortest dark sci-fi story of the decade. It's my first piece of fiction -- "Another Shortest Story" by Bob Russell. Nine words. I'm still looking for a publisher. :DEver read Barry Malzberg's _Galaxies_?

It's a novel about a space liner falling into a black hole. Only it isn't, quite: as Malzberg explains, the writing techniques required to truly describe the experience won't even exist until the late 24th century, so it's more of a series of notes toward what such a novel might be...

Lots of fun in an odd handedly brilliant package.
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Dennis

Nope.

She was born Alice Mary Norton, and legally changed her name to Andre Alice Norton in 1934. "Andrew North" was a pen name she used, as was Andre Norton and Allen Weston.
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Dennis

Ah, my memory isn't as good as I though it was. thanks.

Dale

More trivia probably known to most of you:

1. Andre Norton is a pen name for Alice Mary North. She wrote other books under here own name but considered that the audience for SF wouldn't buy books written by a woman.

Dale

That's really odd. I've always read Andre as Andrea and thought the writer was a woman. It never occurred to me that it the name was supposed to be male, though I see it obviously now. Amazing what blind spots you can discover.

That's really odd. I've always read Andre as Andrea and thought the writer was a woman. It never occurred to me that it the name was supposed to be male, though I see it obviously now. Amazing what blind spots you can discover.I always read her name as Andre, but never thought she was male. Of course, I discovered her work as a kid many years after she changed her name. SF was still considered largely for boys, but I don't recall feeling it odd that a woman had written some of the work I read.

In the late 60's, Playboy published an Ursula Leguin story, as by "U. K. Leguin", and did not publish a picture of her in the contributor's page up front where they blurbed the authors in the issue. SF fans still snicker about that, because Playboy published work by women and men, and it was apparently the fact that the story was SF that made them decide to be coy about the author's gender.
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Dennis

H. G. Wells' book Things To Come, published in 1933, accurately predicted the beginning of WWII in 1940, with involvement by all the major countries of the world. (In that book he also predicted air raids on England, gas warfare, air conditioning, commercial televivion, and videotape recording.)

Hugo Gernsback's book RALPH 124C 41+, published in 1925, predicted:

Television
Wireless power transmission
Televised phone calls
Transcontinental air service
Scientific research funded by the U.S. government
Photographs transmitted by radio
Sliding doors that are automatically controlled
Solar cells and energy in practical use
Sound movies
Mass transmission of entertainment programs to the home
Practical use of Earth's heat to produce steam
Synthetic milk and foods
Artificial cloth
Voiceprints used for identification
Tape recorders and recordings
Spaceflight

H. G. Wells' book Things To Come, published in 1933, accurately predicted the beginning of WWII in 1940, with involvement by all the major countries of the world. (In that book he also predicted air raids on England, gas warfare, air conditioning, commercial televivion, and videotape recording.)Available here in a CC edition:
http://ebooks.adelaide.edu.au/w/wells/hg/w45th/

And the classic film made of it is available for download here:
http://www.archive.org/details/ClaCinOnl_ThingsToCome
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Dennis

I always tought the shortest published SF was 4E Ackerman's
"Earth's Report Card" "F"

There's mild controversy about "Cosmic Report Card: Earth" because the text can't be understood without the title- so is it really a one-letter story?

Another one-character story is "If Eve Had Failed to Conceive" by Ed Wellen (Orbit 15, ed. Damon Knight)

"."


(As "." is smaller than "F" - maybe Wellen beats Ackerman.) :)

Incidentally, "Cosmic Report Card: Earth" can be downloaded from http://www.lulu.com/4forry for £3.44 (print version £6.47) :smack: - does that make it the most expensive SF story ever sold in terms of price per letter?

Six-word short SF stories: http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/14.11/sixwords.html

My favorite is by Ursula K. Le Guin:

Easy. Just touch the match to


Oh, no! I have just posted a complete modern work of fiction and have ignored any and all copyrights. Sorry, Ursula. By the way, I love almost everything I've read of yours, particularly The Lathe of Heaven. You write my kind of SciFi. :)

Another one-character story is "If Eve Had Failed to Conceive" by Ed Wellen (Orbit 15, ed. Damon Knight)

"."

Co-incidentally, a period (".") is exactly what was painted on a canvas and reputedly sold for one million dollars. The painting's title: The End.

I wonder if that makes the painting science fiction? :chinscratch:

2. Not a singe SF author predicted that the first moon visit would be televised.

In that vein, I've been trying to find a list of other significant technologies or developments no SF author has predicted. Haven't found one yet...

2. Not a singe SF author predicted that the first moon visit would be televised.


Heinlein did. Well okay, he predicted that it was possible. It didn't happen in his story because of mass limitations in the rocket.

In that vein, I've been trying to find a list of other significant technologies or developments no SF author has predicted. Haven't found one yet...

How about the miniaturization of computers? From what I recall computers in strories from the '50s and '60s were leviathons stuffed to the gills with valves and flashing lights that squawked a lot.
We didn't get diddy computers in stories until they emerged in real life - but I could be wrong.

Also don't think many writers predicted that half the population of the 21st century would be using their telephones to *type* messages to each other ;)

How about the miniaturization of computers?

Nope, Isaac Asimov covered that one in his Foundation series. Because of limited resources, the Foundationers were eventually able to shrink their computers down to the size of handheld devices, the size of a paperback book, I believe.

Also don't think many writers predicted that half the population of the 21st century would be using their telephones to *type* messages to each other

I think you're right there... I doubt too many SF writers have imagined that people would use cellphones for text messages, watching TV, playing games, downloading porn, or listening to music!

Nope, Isaac Asimov covered that one in his Foundation series. Because of limited resources, the Foundationers were eventually able to shrink their computers down to the size of handheld devices, the size of a paperback book, I believe.He also had a character using voice recognition technology to write a school paper, rather before such things were available in the real world.
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Dennis

In that vein, I've been trying to find a list of other significant technologies or developments no SF author has predicted. Haven't found one yet...

I'm not sure anyone predicted that after we landed on the moon, people would get bored and not bother going to any other planets, and that increasingly sophisticated robot probes would be used instead. Landing on the moon was always the precursor to a Moon Base and trips to Mars and Venus, and asteroid mining. It'll probably happen eventually, but it was supposed to be in my lifetime, dammit! :)

From what I've been able to determine, no SF author predicted the lowly transistor before its discovery at Bell Labs in 1947.

Although its cousin, the semiconductor crystal, was demonstrated as early as 1906, no one made the "quantum leap" beyond the technology of vacuum tubes to solid-state transistors until Bell hit upon the first device out of numerous studies and patents, some of which had been around for decades. SF stories of incredibly-miniaturized electronics all appear to have come after that.

(Somebody, if I'm wrong about this, let us know!)

I'm not sure anyone predicted that after we landed on the moon, people would get bored and not bother going to any other planets...

The public are fickle.
Once bright new digital watches had been invented - everyone was supposed to stick with them.
But most people I know have regressed to the 'big-hand, little-hand' type of watch they had when they were children :smack:.
It's a wonder we make any progress at all :(.

Internet and blogging was predicted by a Russian writer in 1837.
http://archive.dailypicture.net/prince_vladimir_odoevsky_russian_genius_predicted_ blogging.htm
(original post (http://dezhurnyi.livejournal.com/43817.html) in Russian)

The public are fickle.
Once bright new digital watches had been invented - everyone was supposed to stick with them.
But most people I know have regressed to the 'big-hand, little-hand' type of watch they had when they were children :smack:.
It's a wonder we make any progress at all :(.

I have some of both (I like watches). My digital watches light up, do a dozen different things, and set themselves to the Atomic Clock in Boulder, Colorado. But my battery-powered Skagen watch is classier-looking than any digital watch I've ever had, much better suited to my tastes in office fashions. :shrug:

At least it's not a hand-wound watch. Battery the size of your pupil, anyone?

In that vein, I've been trying to find a list of other significant technologies or developments no SF author has predicted. Haven't found one yet...

Memory foam mattresses
Outdoor christmas decorations
Slippers you can heat in a microwave

The shopping channels are full of 'em!

The public are fickle.
Once bright new digital watches had been invented - everyone was supposed to stick with them.
But most people I know have regressed to the 'big-hand, little-hand' type of watch they had when they were children :smack:.
It's a wonder we make any progress at all :(.
I'm one of those people who, as Douglas Adams said, "are so amazingly primitive they still think digital watches are a good idea." Mine has a built-in digital compass too! :D

I seem to remember a story where the "drive tube" was amplified by "Crystal Valves" that replaced the older "vacuum valves". A stretch, but who knows. And did you know that there was credible evidence that a Nazi lab had a working transistor at the end of the war? I spoke with one of the investigators that said that the physical lab was destroyed in bombings, but there were notebooks that described the work.

I seem to remember a story where the "drive tube" was amplified by "Crystal Valves" that replaced the older "vacuum valves". A stretch, but who knows. And did you know that there was credible evidence that a Nazi lab had a working transistor at the end of the war? I spoke with one of the investigators that said that the physical lab was destroyed in bombings, but there were notebooks that described the work.

I get the impression that there were a few separate efforts going on, combining the work of numerous earlier patents and research, including in Russia. We may never know if the Nazis figured it out first, or had just a sound theory, all we know for sure is Bell created a working model and documented it first.

I get the impression that there were a few separate efforts going on, combining the work of numerous earlier patents and research, including in Russia. We may never know if the Nazis figured it out first, or had just a sound theory, all we know for sure is Bell created a working model and documented it first.

Any even if we did find out what difference would it make? I hate it when everyone tries to find a earlier person to invent something that never made it available to anyone and then trying to get the credit for the invention. There is way too much of that. If society doesn't benefit then IMHO there is no credit due for an invention.

Dale

E.E. "Doc" Smith, who created the first starship in science fiction (and also the precursor of the dedicated command ship) spent much of his career as a chemist trying to get powdered sugar to stick to donuts.

E.E. "Doc" Smith, who created the first starship in science fiction (and also the precursor of the dedicated command ship) spent much of his career as a chemist trying to get powdered sugar to stick to donuts.

Did he ever succeed? ;)

Did he ever succeed? ;)

Have you ever eaten a donut with powdered sugar on it?

:D

Have you ever eaten a donut with powdered sugar on it?

:D

We've got to get it working before we construct the first starship, otherwise the sugar's going to clog the ventilation system. The Lensmen never had clogged vents!:)

Clogged vents were not in their visualization of the Macro-Cosmic All.

:)

Have you ever eaten a donut with powdered sugar on it? :D

I've eaten a doughnut and gotten powdered sugar all over me...

I guess that'll be one food that'll never make it into space.

I've eaten a doughnut and gotten powdered sugar all over me...

I guess that'll be one food that'll never make it into space.

then I'm not going.

dale

then I'm not going.

dale

Dale, two words: Paris Brest.

Sure, you'll have to fly Ariane, but I'll just say "baked, almond-topped, choux pastry ring filled with buttercream" (the local patisserie mixes expresso in their cream...mmmmmmmmmm). Also, being French, you just know that they won't compromise on cuisine (""Space food sticks"? Are you mad?").

Of course, there's always jelly donuts. Here in Oz, we've really just got the Lamington, and that coconut's going to go just everywhere. Besides, we've got enough space just heading sideways to worry about any space heading up...looks like it might be time for me to catch a sand-ship to the interior (bonus points awarded for catching the reference ;) ).

Cheers,
Marc

Forget the powdered donuts just give me Krispy Kreme fresh and hot!

On the subject of multiple pseudonyms
E.C.Tubb,best known for Dumarest:
Chuck Adams, Stuart Allen, Anthony Armstrong, Ted Bain, Alice Beecham, Anthony Blake, L. T. Bronson, Raymond L. Burton, Julian Carey, Morley Carpenter, Judy Cary, Julian Cary, J. F. Clarkson, Norman Dale, Robert D. Ennis, James Evans, James Farrow, James R. Fenner, R. H. Godfrey, Charles S. Graham, Charles Grey, Volsted Gridban, Alan Guthrie, D. W. R. Hill, George Holt, Gill Hunt, Alan Innes, E. F. Jackson, Gordon Kent, Gregory Kern, King Lang, Mike Lantry, P. Lawrence, Chet Lawson, Nigel Lloyd, Robert Lloyd, Frank T. Lomas, Ron Lowman, Arthur Maclean, Carl Maddox, Philip Martyn, John Mason, Carl Moulton, L. C. Powers, M. L. Powers, Edward Richards, Paul Schofield, John Seabright, Brian Shaw, Roy Sheldon, John Stevens, Eric Storm, Andrew Sutton, Edward Thomson, Ken Wainwright, Frank Weight, Douglas West, Eric Wilding, Frank Winnard


http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Cavern/5792/tubb2.html

No... "F"in'... way. :stunned:

On the subject of multiple pseudonyms
E.C.Tubb,best known for Dumarest:
Chuck Adams, Stuart Allen, Anthony Armstrong, Ted Bain, Alice Beecham, Anthony Blake, L. T. Bronson, Raymond L. Burton, Julian Carey, Morley Carpenter, Judy Cary, Julian Cary, J. F. Clarkson, Norman Dale, Robert D. Ennis, James Evans, James Farrow, James R. Fenner, R. H. Godfrey, Charles S. Graham, Charles Grey, Volsted Gridban, Alan Guthrie, D. W. R. Hill, George Holt, Gill Hunt, Alan Innes, E. F. Jackson, Gordon Kent, Gregory Kern, King Lang, Mike Lantry, P. Lawrence, Chet Lawson, Nigel Lloyd, Robert Lloyd, Frank T. Lomas, Ron Lowman, Arthur Maclean, Carl Maddox, Philip Martyn, John Mason, Carl Moulton, L. C. Powers, M. L. Powers, Edward Richards, Paul Schofield, John Seabright, Brian Shaw, Roy Sheldon, John Stevens, Eric Storm, Andrew Sutton, Edward Thomson, Ken Wainwright, Frank Weight, Douglas West, Eric Wilding, Frank Winnard<gack!> I think that may be a record... :eek:

I read a number of the Dumarest books, but lost track of the series. Tubb did a good job of invention is the various cultures his protagonist encountered while trying to find his way back to Earth. At some point, I'll find a copy of the last book, and confirm whether my suspicions about the ending were on target.
______
Dennis

On the subject of multiple pseudonyms
E.C.Tubb,best known for Dumarest:
Chuck Adams, Stuart Allen, Anthony Armstrong, Ted Bain, Alice Beecham, Anthony Blake, L. T. Bronson, Raymond L. Burton, Julian Carey, Morley Carpenter, Judy Cary, Julian Cary, J. F. Clarkson, Norman Dale, Robert D. Ennis, James Evans, James Farrow, James R. Fenner, R. H. Godfrey, Charles S. Graham, Charles Grey, Volsted Gridban, Alan Guthrie, D. W. R. Hill, George Holt, Gill Hunt, Alan Innes, E. F. Jackson, Gordon Kent, Gregory Kern, King Lang, Mike Lantry, P. Lawrence, Chet Lawson, Nigel Lloyd, Robert Lloyd, Frank T. Lomas, Ron Lowman, Arthur Maclean, Carl Maddox, Philip Martyn, John Mason, Carl Moulton, L. C. Powers, M. L. Powers, Edward Richards, Paul Schofield, John Seabright, Brian Shaw, Roy Sheldon, John Stevens, Eric Storm, Andrew Sutton, Edward Thomson, Ken Wainwright, Frank Weight, Douglas West, Eric Wilding, Frank Winnard

It looks to be even more than those of Lionel Fanthorpe, and that takes some doing.

<gack!> I think that may be a record... :eek:

I read a number of the Dumarest books, but lost track of the series. Tubb did a good job of invention is the various cultures his protagonist encountered while trying to find his way back to Earth. At some point, I'll find a copy of the last book, and confirm whether my suspicions about the ending were on target.
______
Dennis

THE RETURN Dumarest
of Terra #32 by E.C.
Tubb
Acknowledgments:
THE RETURN by E.C. Tubb is copyright © 1997 by E.C. Tubb
"Introduction to THE RETURN" is copyright © 1997 By E.C.
Tubb
Dedication:
To Phil Harbottle, who has accompanied Dumarest all the
way.
Cover art by Ron Turner. Cover art Copyright © 1997 by Ron
Turner.
"Postscript to the Dumarest Saga," by Philip Harbottle.
Copyright © 1997 by Philip Harbottle.
Typesetting by Sean Alan Wallace.
Printing History:
Vaugirard (France): 1992 Gryphon: First English (Revised)
Edition: May 1997
ISBN: 0-936071-83-4 regular trade pb $20.00 ISBN:
0-936071-84-2 signed/* limited $40.00

A Gryphon Books Original!
This is the First English Language Edition and the First
American Edition!
Additional copies of this book can be ordered for $20.00 or
$40.00 each plus $2 per book from the publisher:
Gryphon Publications
PO Box 209
Brooklyn, N.Y. 11228-0209 USA

I don't think it even got a second printing
I've been looking for it for years
At the moment there's one copy
on Amazon for 53+4 us shipping
that's a bit to much for me
I guess the e-book I found
with a flashlight will have to do

John Russell Fearn A.K.A.

Matt Francis, Spike Gordon, Volsted Gridban (with E C Tubb), Griff, Malcolm Hartley, Conrad G Holt, Preston James, Frank Jones, Nat Karta, Marvin Kayne, Clem Larson, Herbert Lloyd, Paul Lorraine, Astron del Martia, Jed McCloud, Mick McCoy, Jed McNab, Dom Passante, Francis Rose, Laurence F Rose, Ward Ross, Frank Russell, John Russell, Arnold Ryden, Bryan Shaw, John Slate, Vargo Statten, Earl Titan, John Werheim, Ephraim Winiki

Waitaminit... I know Ephraim Winiki! He owes me money!!

just kidding... :D

Waitaminit... I know Ephraim Winiki! He owes me money!!

just kidding... :D

:rofl: Cool name. Wouldn't you love to have it for real?

:rofl: Cool name. Wouldn't you love to have it for real?

Well the guy is in the big library in the sky
so why not change your name ?
:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D

Forget the powdered donuts just give me Krispy Kreme fresh and hot!
I find Krispy Kreme to be too sweet.

But I'm originally a southern gal and there's no such thing as too sweet. ;)

H. G. Wells' book Things To Come, published in 1933 predicted... Practical use of Earth's heat to produce steam

Is it still a prediction if the subject has been in regular use for thousands of years? Cooking using geothermal steam is commonplace wherever the steam is found near people.

Is it still a prediction if the subject has been in regular use for thousands of years? Cooking using geothermal steam is commonplace wherever the steam is found near people.

I suppose Wells' use was of a larger-scale, i.e., for buildings or entire cities, rather than individual cooking... but the point is well-taken.

I suppose Wells' use was of a larger-scale, i.e., for buildings or entire cities, rather than individual cooking... but the point is well-taken.

Then according to this he was only 29 years late, rather than thousands:
http://www.rise.org.au/info/Tech/geo/index.html

I do like the idea of retro-prediction though, it allows people to be much more accurate than otherwise. But in the same vein, predicting obvious consequences of existing technology is not very special. In that sense stuff like AC Clarke's prediction of radio communication via artificial satellite instead of via bouncing signals off the moon was extrapolating quite narrowly. I'm more impressed by predictions of unexpected revolutions, like pre-WWII handheld computers. Or, honestly, by plot twists that involve things that are obvious once they're pointed out - like one short story where shooting a laser rifle inside a diamond temple was foolish :)

But in the same vein, predicting obvious consequences of existing technology is not very special. In that sense stuff like AC Clarke's prediction of radio communication via artificial satellite instead of via bouncing signals off the moon was extrapolating quite narrowly.

Not really... when Clarke made that prediction, the very idea of launching a man-made machine into permanent and trackable orbit, intact, was a very new and unique idea, not a "narrow" extrapolation at all. It required very involved and precise engineering to pull off, more involved than was available when Clarke proposed it.

It's like the Space Elevator concept proposed by Yuri Artsutanov in 1960... sure, it seems "obvious," but the trick is in pulling it off.

Not really... when Clarke made that prediction, the very idea of launching a man-made machine into permanent and trackable orbit, intact, was a very new and unique idea, not a "narrow" extrapolation at all. It required very involved and precise engineering to pull off, more involved than was available when Clarke proposed it.

I read somewhere that Clarke's envisaged communication satellites were huge.
Primarily made up of accomodation for the crew that would be up there swapping out the blown valves :).

Just dug up the source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/science/arthurcclarke.shtml
"Clarke imagined his satellites as vast orbiting space stations, manned by teams of engineers performing maintenance and regularly supplied by rocket flights from Earth. The miniaturisation that became possible with the transistor, he says, took him by surprise."

There are some great unusual SF facts in this thread, some I knew but some I didn't. Bump, to please continue!

I take issue with "SF" nomenclature though. It does not provide the context "Sci-Fi" does. Walk up to strangers and ask, "do you read SF?" You'll get more blank stares than you will for, "do you read Sci-Fi?" SF makes sense, to me, in communication only after the context is established.

Back on topic, did you know Heavy Metal movie's release on video tape was delayed for years because of legal conflict over the sound track? I don't know what band or label was responsible for the delay.

Also, how many long series were like Perry Rhodan, tossed back and forth by so many authors? The American issues were childhood favorites of mine. Too bad it contracted to German since I don't speak or read Deutsch.

I take issue with "SF" nomenclature though. It does not provide the context "Sci-Fi" does.

Well, "science fiction" also provid context. Why should you use a shorter form when establishing context? I am also sensitive to "sci-fi" and do not use it since I also get these negative connotations. I think people in sf fandom is still carefull with the terms but I have met new fans that just don't care and use sci-fi without problem.

I take issue with "SF" nomenclature though. It does not provide the context "Sci-Fi" does. Walk up to strangers and ask, "do you read SF?" You'll get more blank stares than you will for, "do you read Sci-Fi?" SF makes sense, to me, in communication only after the context is established.

<...>

Also, how many long series were like Perry Rhodan, tossed back and forth by so many authors? The American issues were childhood favorites of mine. Too bad it contracted to German since I don't speak or read Deutsch.Oddly, there's a connection between these two.

"SciFi" was coined by Forrest J. Ackerman (a/k/a 4E and 4SJ), a long time SF fan, collector, anthologist, editor, and agent. (Forry edited Famous Monsters of Filmland and Spacemen in the 60's and early 70's, and his home, the Ackermansion, housed the world's largest SF and fantasy collection.)

Forry originated it as a contraction of "Scientifiction", the term Hugo Gernsbach coined to describe what he printed in Amazing Stories, the first pulp magazine devoted to SF.

It's a term over which much virtual blood has been spilled. Long time SF fans despise it. From where they sit, SciFi connotes cheesy B movies, lurid covers, and hack writing that give the genre a bad name. From their perspective, SF is vastly preferable, though you'll find disagreement on whether SF stands for Science Fiction or Speculative Fiction. (The late Judith Merrill, SF writer, editor, and anthologist, once suggested with tongue in cheek that it might stand for Space Fish.)

Unfortunately, we're probably stuck with SciFi as the abbreviation that everyone recognizes.

Since the term SciFi tends to be applied most often to media efforts, I sometimes say "I read SF. I watch SciFi."

The connection with Perry Rhodan is through Forry. The series is German in origin. The US versions were largely translations from the German edited by Forry and done by Forry's wife Wendayne. (And unfortunately, a lot of Perry Rhodan falls into the "hack writing that gives SF a bad name" category.)
______
Dennis

The use of those terms also depends on the country.
In France, the term SF is widely used for science-fiction.
The only use I know for the term Sci-Fi here is the name of a TV channel.

I was amazed Forry Ackerman is still alive, I would have thought he'd died years ago.

I too prefer SF to Sci-Fi, not because Sci-Fi is a bad term, but because it's been co-opted by those who think of the genre in a derogatory fashion.

I was amazed Forry Ackerman is still alive, I would have thought he'd died years ago.He's old and fragile, and was hospitalized a while back, which required selling some of his collection to pay medical bills. But he's still with us.

I too prefer SF to Sci-Fi, not because Sci-Fi is a bad term, but because it's been co-opted by those who think of the genre in a derogatory fashion.Precisely the problem. SF is more acceptable now than it once was, but there's still a fair residue of the days when you put your SF in a plain brown wrapper to disguise its provenance, and were circumspect about whom you admitted what you read to.
______
Dennis

You can always do what I do: Start the conversation with the phrase "science fiction," and thereafter, say "science fiction" or "SF." Everybody gets it.

Back on topic, did you know Heavy Metal movie's release on video tape was delayed for years because of legal conflict over the sound track? I don't know what band or label was responsible for the delay.

Not surprising... when many movies and TV series went to video, music rights either held up release, or actually forced them to replace original music with copyright-obtained "neutral" music. Video or DVD release of the TV series WKRP in Cincinnati has been held up for this reason for years.

Also, how many long series were like Perry Rhodan, tossed back and forth by so many authors? The American issues were childhood favorites of mine. Too bad it contracted to German since I don't speak or read Deutsch.

Perry Rhodan was some of the first SF I ever read, and the fact that it was a regularly-released short book made it fun. (Same notation on the Bantam Books Doc Savage reprints.)

oh, can't wait to read this thread when I have time, but there is a great deal that I didn't know with respect to "where science meets fiction"... the following site is one of my faves: http://www.technovelgy.com/

Nope, Isaac Asimov covered that one in his Foundation series. Because of limited resources, the Foundationers were eventually able to shrink their computers down to the size of handheld devices, the size of a paperback book, I believe.



I think you're right there... I doubt too many SF writers have imagined that people would use cellphones for text messages, watching TV, playing games, downloading porn, or listening to music!
Mote in God's Eye by Niven/Pournelle. Hand-held computers that were recording devices, MP-3 players, communicators, and instant messagers. Oddly, no porn.:smack:

Oddly, no porn.:smack:

So he got it hella wrong.

BOb