"SF Grandmaster"

[Winters_Sorrow]

Personally I always enjoyed Asimov's short stories to his novels (with a few exceptions, Nightfall & Inferno/Caliban)
Likewise, I prefered Arthur C Clarke's novels to his short stories (Hammer of God & Rama among others)

but HG Wells should have been on the list as well

 

[Teresa Edgerton]

I'm sure he would have been on the list if he had qualified by being alive after the award was invented.

Not sure about this, but I seem to remember that the award is NOT handed out every year, which makes it even more special.

 

[Leto]

Here's a list of past Grand Masters:

Robert A. Heinlein (1974)
Jack Williamson (1975)
Clifford D. Simak (1976)
L. Sprague de Camp (1978)
Fritz Leiber (1981)
Andre Norton (1983)
Arthur C. Clarke (1985)
Isaac Asimov (1986)
Alfred Bester (1987)
Ray Bradbury (1988)
Lester Del Rey (1990)
Frederik Pohl (1992)
Damon Knight (1994)
A.E. Van Vogt (1995)
Jack Vance (1996)
Poul Anderson (1997)
Hal Clement (Harry Stubbs) (1998)
Brian W. Aldiss (1999)
Philip José Farmer (2000)
Ursula K. Le Guin (2002)

And :
Robert Silverberg (2003)

 

[Winters_Sorrow]

I'm sure he would have been on the list if he had qualified by being alive after the award was invented.

I thought he was on the same spaceship as Elvis?

 

[Nebogipfel]

I thought he was on the same spaceship as Elvis?

The more obvious solution would be time travel.

Ironically even if he could be resurrected HG Wells (and his rather small collection of brilliant social critique that just happens to be science ficiton) wouldn't qualify for the award and he would probably decline the offer anyways.

People always mention that he wrote "The Time Machine", "Invisible Man", and "War of the Worlds" but his shorter fiction contains the same Wellsian brand of science and cynicism>

"The First Men in the Moon" (yes in, they actually go in the moon)
"The Food of the Gods" (a strange and disturbing critique of societal entropy)
"The Island of Doctor Moreau" (3 novel sci-fi stereotypes created in one story)
"When the Sleeper Wakes" (great beginning with vivid description of insomnia but I sort of lost interest with the year 2090 by the end of the book. Still he did predict aeroplanes, and the "expressway" public conveyor belts that Asimov used in Caves of Steel)
There are several more, the only story of his that I didn't like at all was "In the Days of the Comet", in which he describes a utopian future.

 

[Outspacer1]

Personally, I can't believe Phillip K Dick never won this thing - I would have thought he was a more pivotal figure than some writers who did! Ne gustibus disputandem est, I guess...

 

[Stalker]

Nebula is a valuable prise indeed because it is given by SF-writers to SF-writers.

I wish there were space for translated authors. Because such Grand masters as Stanislaw Lem and A & B Strugatsky are not in the list.

 

[K. Riehl]

I remember a famous rant by Harlan Ellison, excoriating the Nominating commitee for not awarding Roger Zelazny grandmaster status before he passed away.

Politics also played a part in P.K. Dick not receiving it as well.

 

[Stig]

Does it not matter what the publisher says.
One good line may make a sale.

 

[The Wanderer]

I remember a famous rant by Harlan Ellison, excoriating the Nominating commitee for not awarding Roger Zelazny grandmaster status before he passed away.

Politics also played a part in P.K. Dick not receiving it as well.

he was part of left wing counter culture I guess, but a lot of US writers were left wing so I can't see what the peoblem was?

 

[The Wanderer]

I don't think Asimov ever got scary, but he could be a bit dry at times for some tastes. Incidentally, all the 80s pbacks of Asimov I have feature serene scenes of spacecraft, and the 90s editions look even more vanilla, so its possible that your mum has earlier editions. A lot of people are really into old sf covers, you should check out what these are!

The 60's - 80's covers were definately the best in ambience and artwork, great in my book, not keen on alot of the new stuff, seems rather sterile, like the Gollancz covers though, Orbit, Corgi, Penguin do good covers though

 

[j d worthington]

he was part of left wing counter culture I guess, but a lot of US writers were left wing so I can't see what the peoblem was?

I don't think it was politics in the macro-world, but in the micro-world or sf world; just as Vonnegut was nominated for a Hugo but never given one, etc. Politics because they weren't in the mainstream of sf at that point....

The 60's - 80's covers were definately the best in ambience and artwork, great in my book, not keen on alot of the new stuff, seems rather sterile, like the Gollancz covers though, Orbit, Corgi, Penguin do good covers though

Yes, they do. And the problem is a certain sterility of imagination, in general, yes. As for the earlier covers... try the sf books from the 1950s on, in paperback. Some got pretty strong for a little kid, I'm thinking... even the cover for I, Robot, had one that could give the impression that the robots were out to wipe out the humans.... Lovely artwork (and based on the story, to boot), but with the cover blurb....

 

[The Wanderer]

 

[The Wanderer]

 

[The Wanderer]

whoops, I've just realised I'm off topic here, perhaps I'll create a new thread with classic covers, anyone up for that?

 

[HardScienceFan]

Interesting. There are several on that list, however, that I don't know of...

Most of these are well represented in my bookcase.
Interested in my thoughts?Want some clues,if not already available otherwise?
(e.g.Wikipedia)

HSF

 

[HardScienceFan]

whoops, I've just realised I'm off topic here, perhaps I'll create a new thread with classic covers, anyone up for that?

Yes
Dammit,I don't have a scanner!

Ahh.those old Ace doubles*Emshwiller,Gaughan*sigh*
Groff Conklin,that's another name from the past for you.Ring any bells?
Anyone for a thread:ESSENTIAL ANTHOLOGIES
H.

 

[j d worthington]

Yes
Dammit,I don't have a scanner!

Ahh.those old Ace doubles*Emshwiller,Gaughan*sigh*
Groff Conklin,that's another name from the past for you.Ring any bells?
Anyone for a thread:ESSENTIAL ANTHOLOGIES
H.

Yes! And when was the last time I heard Emsh mentioned? (or Jack Gaughan, for that matter. Leo & Diane Dillon? Richard M. Powers?.....)

 

[Dr. Atomic]

I tend to mention them every day, but I think my girlfriend stopped listening... I once met a guy who owns a huge collection of Emsh cover art. And I'm good friends with a man who owns one of the largest collections of original pulp art in the world. (His is an amazing collection to pick through...)

...I recently purchased the Richard Powers art used as the frontis for the anthology Modern Science fiction, edited by Norman Spinrad and published by Gregg Press. I love all the classic artists (and many of the newer ones). I've also got a couple original Eddie Jones paintings (one of which is for a U.K. edition of Worlds of Null A), a small piece by Malcom Smith, and the Ralph Brillhart painting for Pohl's Plague of Pythons...

And in a desperate effort to direct this back towards the original topic, I've had the good fortune to interview four Grandmasters -- Jack Williamson, Ray Bradbury, Hal Clement (ne Harry Stubbs), and -- very briefly -- Fred Pohl. Nice guys, all of them, and chock full of interesting information.

 

[HardScienceFan]

Yes! And when was the last time I heard Emsh mentioned? (or Jack Gaughan, for that matter. Leo & Diane Dillon? Richard M. Powers?.....)

My dear Mr Worthington,my avatar until two days ago was a Richard Powers painting.Now he did some very repectable cover art.Being a fan of Max Ernst*,I very much respected what Mr.Powers was trying to do.He and Paul Lehr tried to steer away from the basic pulp style towards a slightly more restrained one.L. and D .Dillon did the Ace Special Series.I believe I have some Ballantine book which features their cover art.I think their covers were very aesthetic indeed,without being artsy-fartsy.Jack Gaughan's interior vignettes for a lot of Ace books in the 60's were sublime.Hands up everyone who agrees.
Those who don't will be smitten by me,thrown in the Nether Pits of Hell,
where they'll be forced to listen to Mantovani covers of Miles Davis's tunes
all day,and "Dilbert" is taken over By PIXAR.There,I've said it.

Now pray tell me:IS THERE ANYONE OUT THERE WHO DOESN'T GRIN SLIGHTLY WHEN LOOKING AT ED VALIGURSKY'S COVERS for Ace?
HSF
PS Yes I know it's late.Sometimes you just can't fall asleep,and hey,maybe there's still someone there who's got something interesting to say.