Quote:
Originally Posted by Anabran
A Truly Talented Sci fiWriter Like Frank Herbert Wrote Dune in the 1960's its Future tech was way more imaginative
|
I haven't read any of Herbert's stuff for a long time, but from what I recall his 'future tech' was a bit more towards the 'fantasy' end of the spectrum than Asimov's. Nothing wrong with that, there are two parts to Science Fiction and writers are free to pick which they emphasise.
However one particular problem the more 'sciency' writers suffer from is that they are punished for being real visionaries rather than speculating wildly, because their ideas are close enough to reality to be either mundanely ordinary or recognisably a bit wrong.
e.g. Heinlein who nailed the whole cell phone thing in the late forties - so well that sixty years later the only bits you notice are the minor wrongnesses (no-none answers their own cellphone by reciting their name and number).
This simply isn't an issue for those who fabricate an extraordinary McGuffin from whole cloth when the story calls for one. Something like Herbert's 'spice' isn't ever going to collide with our everyday experience of reality, for instance.