SciFi history?

[DMcCunney]

Originally Posted by mike_bike_kite

It sounds very much like Philip K Dick's The man in the high castle written in 1963. Perhaps it would be better to call Harris's novel derivative alternative history

Well, both start from the premise of a timeline in which the Axis won WWII. Dick's protagonist has an idea that there are multiple timelines, and one in which the Axis didn't win exists. (In his world, the US is partitioned between Germany and Japan, and he lives in a thin unoccupied zone in the Rockies.)

You can make a stronger case that Dick's work is SF. But while Alternate History originated in SF, it's become a separate genre of its own with increasingly tenuous connection to the SF mainstream.
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Dennis

[mike_bike_kite]

The quote of the day via my google app was "Where a calculator on the ENIAC is equipped with 18,000 vacuum tubes and weighs 30 tons, computers in the future may have only 1,000 vaccuum tubes and perhaps weigh 1.5 tons." - Popular Mechanics, March 1949. Not quite SciFi but I thought I'd mention it here.

[Fat Abe]

The thing I like most about Science Fiction is the genre's ability to cross the line in the realm of fantasy, with no worry about the fantasy being deemed impossible. Using some sources mentioned in this thread, I've been searching for origins of the concept, "Fantasy Wife". My ideal wife would be Bridget Bardot, circa 1965, without all the politics.

First we have Fritz Leiber's story, Mechanical Bride (1954):

http://www.technovelgy.com/ct/content.asp?Bnum=1041

An excerpt from the story is quoted on the site:

"...Men don't want real women anymore. You and I are behind the times, Chernik. We still believe in love. But most men just want beautiful, brainless robots. That's all my man really wanted. He didn't want me to have a will of my own. He didn't want me to be alive..."

Sorry, I can't point you to sources for the full story, since the Leiber collection is oop.

Next, we have Richard Matheson's teleplay for Twilight Zone (1960):

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0734553/

In "A World of His Own", author/character Gregory West conjures up dream women with his typewriter. How intriguing. When I was a young boy, I thought Victoria West, the author's wife, who was portrayed by Phyllis Kirk, was a foxy b*tch. This tale has a twist, so it is best just to rent the episode on dvd.

A decade or so later, we have Ira Levin's, The Stepford Wives (1972). This book needs no introduction, since most of you have either read it, or seen the movie(s).

Well, we see a recurring theme, and clearly in later years, there are probably more examples of stories involving the fantasy wife or mistress. However, is there anything that precedes Leiber's story?

One last request. What was the first SF story that dealt with the breast implant? This abomination is one of man's worst inventions! I'd like to go back in time and eliminate the man who first thought of the idea.

[DMcCunney]

Originally Posted by Fat Abe

Well, we see a recurring theme, and clearly in later years, there are probably more examples of stories involving the fantasy wife or mistress. However, is there anything that precedes Leiber's story?

Lester Del Rey's "Helen O'Loy", published in 1938, though she's not exactly a fantasy wife.

One last request. What was the first SF story that dealt with the breast implant? This abomination is one of man's worst inventions! I'd like to go back in time and eliminate the man who first thought of the idea.

I can't offhand think of any SF story on that topic.

The first ones were developed by plastic surgeons Thomas Cronin and Frank Gerow of the University of Texas, using silicone provided by Dow Chemical. They were intended for women who had undergone mastectomies, to provide a prosthetic replacement for cosmetic reasons. That's not a reason I'd go back in time to eliminate someone. The subsequent arguable misuse isn't their fault.
______
Dennis

[Fat Abe]

Originally Posted by DMcCunney

Lester Del Rey's "Helen O'Loy", published in 1938, though she's not exactly a fantasy wife.
Dennis

Much appreciated. I'll have to track down that story.

[mike_bike_kite]

Originally Posted by Fat Abe

The thing I like most about Science Fiction is the genre's ability to cross the line in the realm of fantasy, with no worry about the fantasy being deemed impossible. Using some sources mentioned in this thread, I've been searching for origins of the concept, "Fantasy Wife".

Not sure why you deem it as impossible as I'd of thought it almost inevitable but if you want a quick laugh for now then you can try out my AI wife which is sort of similar to Eliza. I only wrote the app in an afternoon so don't expect a lasting relationship.

[DMcCunney]

Originally Posted by Fat Abe

Much appreciated. I'll have to track down that story.

It's considered a classic, and has been widely anthologized, so it shouldn't be hard to find.

Lester was a "Golden Ager", who got his start in the pulps. He's also the Del Rey of Del Rey Books, a Ballantine Books spin-off imprint started by he and his late wife Judy Lynn Benjamin, who had been editor at Ballantine.

I knew him, years back. He was a fan, and was a regular attendee at East Coast SF conventions with his first wife Evelyn. He commented that he "missed being a preacher by luck", having been raised in a fire and brimstone Christian family, and brought that sort of passion to what he did.

He caused a flap at an early Tolkien conference, by presenting a paper where he suggested that the Red Book of Westmarch had been altered by Merry and Pippin, and that Smeagol/Gollum had actually survived the destruction of the One Ring and the fall of Barad Dur, and had eventually passed over the sea into the West as the first of the Ring Bearers.

That was Lester.
______
Dennis

[kindlekitten]

Originally Posted by Fat Abe

One last request. What was the first SF story that dealt with the breast implant? This abomination is one of man's worst inventions! I'd like to go back in time and eliminate the man who first thought of the idea.

I don't recall any specific breast implant stories, but there seem to have been quite a few body sculpting stories. I wouldn't even hazard a guess as to which was the first one

[nyrath]

Originally Posted by Fat Abe

Well, we see a recurring theme, and clearly in later years, there are probably more examples of stories involving the fantasy wife or mistress. However, is there anything that precedes Leiber's story?

There is Galatea Galante by Alfred Bester, but it was quite a bit after Leiber.
http://www.ebookstack.com/content/galatea-galante
It is interesting for the concept of "a drop of acid"

[crich70]

I've read that one too I think. And there is also "The Sands of Mars" by Arthur C. Clarke in which the main character of Martin Gibson types his manuscripts (he's writing about the maiden journey of a new space ship he's traveling in) on paper which is then scanned so that an electronic copy can be beamed back to the Earth for reading by the public. Now days he'd probably have typed it on his netbook and sent it off to be beamed back that way.

Originally Posted by mike_bike_kite

I was just reading Time for the Stars by Robert A. Heinlein (1956). The crew on the space ship are out in deep space and needing to either grow or recycle everything to survive. It made me smile to be reading a SciFi story on electronic paper about the crew of some future space craft who were having to recycle paper for their morning newspaper

[crich70]

lol. Sounds like he really was a character. I've read Helen O'loy many times and enjoyed it. He was a very talented writer. One collection that Helen O'loy appears in is "18 Greatest Science Fiction Stories."

Originally Posted by DMcCunney

It's considered a classic, and has been widely anthologized, so it shouldn't be hard to find.

Lester was a "Golden Ager", who got his start in the pulps. He's also the Del Rey of Del Rey Books, a Ballantine Books spin-off imprint started by he and his late wife Judy Lynn Benjamin, who had been editor at Ballantine.

I knew him, years back. He was a fan, and was a regular attendee at East Coast SF conventions with his first wife Evelyn. He commented that he "missed being a preacher by luck", having been raised in a fire and brimstone Christian family, and brought that sort of passion to what he did.

He caused a flap at an early Tolkien conference, by presenting a paper where he suggested that the Red Book of Westmarch had been altered by Merry and Pippin, and that Smeagol/Gollum had actually survived the destruction of the One Ring and the fall of Barad Dur, and had eventually passed over the sea into the West as the first of the Ring Bearers.

That was Lester.
______
Dennis

[crich70]

Actually the 'fantasy women' created by science as a story goes back at least to 1932 with "The wand of Doom" by Jack Williamson. His character recreates a lost love (she died) by use of a device that he puts on his head (a set of electrodes that look like headphones). He just imagines what he wants to appear and with the help of the machine whatever it is appears. The story has a tragic ending though. It was reprinted in a hard cover collection of old "Weird Tales" stories which is where I read it.

Originally Posted by Fat Abe

The thing I like most about Science Fiction is the genre's ability to cross the line in the realm of fantasy, with no worry about the fantasy being deemed impossible. Using some sources mentioned in this thread, I've been searching for origins of the concept, "Fantasy Wife". My ideal wife would be Bridget Bardot, circa 1965, without all the politics.

First we have Fritz Leiber's story, Mechanical Bride (1954):

http://www.technovelgy.com/ct/content.asp?Bnum=1041

An excerpt from the story is quoted on the site:

"...Men don't want real women anymore. You and I are behind the times, Chernik. We still believe in love. But most men just want beautiful, brainless robots. That's all my man really wanted. He didn't want me to have a will of my own. He didn't want me to be alive..."

Sorry, I can't point you to sources for the full story, since the Leiber collection is oop.

Next, we have Richard Matheson's teleplay for Twilight Zone (1960):

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0734553/

In "A World of His Own", author/character Gregory West conjures up dream women with his typewriter. How intriguing. When I was a young boy, I thought Victoria West, the author's wife, who was portrayed by Phyllis Kirk, was a foxy b*tch. This tale has a twist, so it is best just to rent the episode on dvd.

A decade or so later, we have Ira Levin's, The Stepford Wives (1972). This book needs no introduction, since most of you have either read it, or seen the movie(s).

Well, we see a recurring theme, and clearly in later years, there are probably more examples of stories involving the fantasy wife or mistress. However, is there anything that precedes Leiber's story?

One last request. What was the first SF story that dealt with the breast implant? This abomination is one of man's worst inventions! I'd like to go back in time and eliminate the man who first thought of the idea.

[Roger Parkinson]

The fantasy women stories go back a little further. Don't forget Ovid's Pymalion about a fellow who carved a woman out of marble (he didn't like the live offerings) and the statue came to life with a little help from the gods.

[WillAdams]

::applause:: (for Roger for mentioning Pygmalion)

Remember, the Greeks invented everything --- all else is variation.

William

[crich70]

I remember hearing about an interview that Leonard Nimoy gave someone yrs back where the writer used the term SciFi and Mr. Nimoy took some heat for it from some fans so it's not too unbelievable that some people are easily irritated. What I don't like myself is the ScyFy (I think I've spelled it right) that they show on the Science Fiction channel now days. It's plain sloppy spelling I think, and not at all attractive.

Originally Posted by DMcCunney

I haven't seen them lately, but there are still knee jerk reflexes.

The term SciFi was coined by the late Forrest J. Ackerman (a/k/a "4SJ"), as a contraction of Scientifiction, the term coined by Hugo Gernsbach to describe what he was publishing in his pulp magazines Amazing Stories and Thrilling Wonder Stories in the 20's. SF had been around before, but Hugo was the first to devote publications to it and give the genre a name. Despite his status as a member of First Fandom, author, editor, agent, and owner of the world's largest SF/Fantasy collection, a lot of folks never quite forgave Forry for coining the appellation.

Unfortunately, SF took a long time to gain acceptance in the mass market. It was the sort of thing you wrapped in a disguising cover, to fend of the "You read that SciFi crap?" comments. To the rest of the world, the term connoted lurid pulp trash and nonsensical Buck Rogers movie serials.

Serious fans of literary SF vastly preferred SF to SciFi as the descriptor, and there was a strong movement in the 60's and 70's to call the genre Speculative Fiction instead of Science Fiction. The late Judith Merrill once proposed in one of her Best SF anthologies that SF might stand for "Space Fish".

But fighting against SciFi was always a rear guard action. At this point, pretty much everyone has grudgingly accepted that SciFi is the term people will use, and console themselves that at least the genre now has mass market acceptance, with SF/Fantasy being regular fare in movies and TV, and SF and Fantasy titles hitting best seller lists.

I just tell people "I watch SciFi. I read SF."
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Dennis