20 things you (probably) didn't know about Science Fiction

[Steven Lyle Jordan]

Originally Posted by moz

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.

[moz]

Originally Posted by Steve Jordan

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

[Steven Lyle Jordan]

Originally Posted by moz

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.

[Sparrow]

Originally Posted by Steve Jordan

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."

[Penforhire]

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.

[tompe]

Originally Posted by Penforhire

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.

[DMcCunney]

Originally Posted by Penforhire

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

[Gaurnim]

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.

[Lemurion]

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.

[DMcCunney]

Originally Posted by Lemurion

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

[Steven Lyle Jordan]

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.

[Steven Lyle Jordan]

Originally Posted by Penforhire

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.

Originally Posted by Penforhire

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.)

[zara]

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/

[pshrynk]

Originally Posted by Steve Jordan

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.

[pilotbob]

Originally Posted by pshrynk

Oddly, no porn.

So he got it hella wrong.

BOb