December's Delirious Descent into Dittological Dissections of Documents

Status
Not open for further replies.
Sounds to me like Demolished Man will be my choice -- thanks! I have it in A Science Fiction Argosy, that thick anthology compiled by Damon Knight.
images

(That's not my copy, which is a coverless library-rebound edition.)

Here's a little about Bester, by Fred Pohl:

http://www.thewaythefutureblogs.com/2011/03/me-and-alfie/
 
I have not read Demolished Man yet but there is no way you read it before The Stars My Destination in me eyes. Its a seminal SF novel and one of the most important in genres history. The story might be more widescreen being similar to certain Alexandre Dumas but its a great novel,character.

Demolished Man doesnt have half the acclaim,the history of The Stars My Destination.
 
With regards to The Quantum Thief:
J-Sun said:
Also agreed, except that I don't have mixed feelings at all - it was much ado about nothing both in internal terms (the work itself) and external (the buzz about it).
Click to expand...

Hehe, I wasn't going to be quite as judgemental as that :D But I think I agree with you. Half way through it was a pretty close call, whether I gave up or continued. That said I liked some of his ideas; particularly the idea of the gaming community evolving into a community less concerned with their physical human appearance but rather always using 'avatars' for their appearance to the external world.

It actually brings up an interesting transition that we might be heading for shortly. On the one hand there are some (eg. Facebook) who see the internet as removing all privacy and, they would probably argue, any need for that privacy. Then there are governments trying desperately to find ways to track and control whats going down on the internet. And then there are communities like the Chrons, where, with usernames/avatars etc., each individual chooses how much of their real lives they wish to reveal and how much hide. I thought Hannu Rajaniemi's exploration of this with 'gevulot' and the 'zoku' gamers was interesting and possibly the most thought provoking aspect of the story.
 
Connavar said:
I have not read Demolished Man yet but there is no way you read it before The Stars My Destination in me eyes. Its a seminal SF novel and one of the most important in genres history.
Click to expand...
But how do you know if youve not read it? You might hate it! ( I doubt it but you see my point)
 
Actually I could make a pretty strong argument for not reading TSMD first if it is considered Bester's best work. If it is truly his best then you are potentially setting yourself up for disappointment with the rest of his works.

However, personally, so long as there are no other reasons (such as one book being a sequel to another) then I don't worry too much about the order of reading a particular author (other than to try and avoid any dogs and neither of these books are considered to be that). Sometimes I will read in published order as a way of following the development of an author but generally I'm not too worried about that.
 
What clinches it, as far as starting with The Demolished Man, is that it got the Hugo in 1953, so why not celebrate that 60th anniversary by reading it for the first time?

220px-The_Demolished_Man.jpg


I can get to The Stars My Destination soon enough. I have it in this anthology -- though my copiues lack dustjackets.

lf

If you're willing to forgo djs you can get some of those classic Book Club editions from online dealers for little more than the cost of shipping.
 
I read THE DEMOLISHED MAN without having read THE STARS MY DESTINATION and thought it was great. Can't see how I did anything wrong. Cashier who rang it up for me forty some years ago didn't give me any warning. Here's my copy:

TheStarsMyDestination.jpg


Look, it's simple physics. If you read a book at the wrong time it will burst into flames while you're holding it. So worry not!

Started THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE ENGLISH NOVEL by Wilbur L. Cross a few days ago. Needed something to read at Starbucks and didn't have CRYPTONOMICON with me but Cross's book was still in the back seat where it has been sitting since I bought it a few weeks ago. Excellent so far. Very glad I found it at Goodwill.
 
Victoria Silverwolf said:
That the exact copy I had. Nice cover art. It manages to nicely capture the feel of the book, without being a literal depiction of the story.
Click to expand...

That's Bob Pepper art, if I'm not mistaken. He painted wraparound cover designs for several of the Ballantine Fantasy series books.
Redmoon.jpg

1b2299140.jpg

19c385fc0.jpg
 
The Shaw cover looks very much like the work of Leo and Diane Dillon. I think I can check that at a very useful website called the Internet Science Fiction Database.

**runs off to check**

Yes, that's the Dillons. They have a very distinctive style. They did a lot of Ellison art, including all the interior illustrations for Dangerous Visions.

I can also confirm that Bob Pepper was the artist for the Bester.

It's a great website for tracking down this kind of information.

http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/index.cgi
 
Victoria Silverwolf said:
The Shaw cover looks very much like the work of Leo and Diane Dillon. I think I can check that at a very useful website called the Internet Science Fiction Database.

**runs off to check**

Yes, that's the Dillons. They have a very distinctive style. They did a lot of Ellison art, including all the interior illustrations for Dangerous Visions.

I can also confirm that Bob Pepper was the artist for the Bester.

It's a great website for tracking down this kind of information.

http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/index.cgi
Click to expand...
ah thanks for that! Youre right, it is an awesome site- I keep forgetting about it!
 
I'll put in my two cents' worth on the Bester question: Personally, I'd go for The Demolished Man first, as it is a rather more intimate story in physical scope, but no less wide in implication in the psychological sphere. The two (for me) go hand in hand. In any event, they are both excellent books, and more than deserve their places in the history of sf.

As for the two anthologies you mention, Dale... I'd suggest reading the books in their entirety, as these would definitely be among my choices of essential sff anthologies.

My own reading has still been largely dominated by Henry James -- several very good surprises there -- but I've been mixing in a little nostalgic reading (the old Lancer collection King Kull) and a bit of other reading as well... the most recent being Donald Sidney-Fryer's wonderful and perceptive bio-critical essay on Clark Ashton Smith, "The Sorcerer Departs", which has been reprinted in The Miscellaneous Writings of Clark Ashton Smith.* I tend to agree with his assessments overall, even though Smith isn't quite as much to my taste (in prose; in verse he is infinitely superior) as HPL. That, however, is a matter of personal taste I think; and his critical comments on Smith are well-deserved....

*DSF knew Smith slightly, and has always been a great admirer of his work, having done the first large-scale bibliography (The Emperor of Dreams) as well as several shorter pieces and editing or co-editing several volumes of Smith's work. In his comparison of Smith to not only Poe and Baudelaire, but to Edmund Spenser and Sir Thomas Brown, I think he brings out some very important points.
 
I have started reading again Learning the World by Ken Macleod and i didnt finish before because i was stressed because of lack reading time. Now i have alot of time and its more fun to read then. Decided to make my last novel of the year a big world exploring first contact SF.
 
Connavar said:
I have started reading again Learning the World by Ken Macleod and i didnt finish before because i was stressed because of lack reading time. Now i have alot of time and its more fun to read then. Decided to make my last novel of the year a big world exploring first contact SF.
Click to expand...

:D I literally just started that one myself last night. Might be a bit slow being interrupted by the seasonal festivities and what not.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Thread starter Similar threads Forum Replies Date
GOLLUM December's Daring Descent into Dynamically Divergent Documents Book Discussion 99
GOLLUM December's Deliciously Delirifacient Dabblings Into Fictional Diversions Book Discussion 135
Fried Egg December's Diabolical Deviations (what are you currently reading?) Book Discussion 189
H December's Photo Challenge Technology 59
Pyan December's here! And you're reading....? Book Discussion 241

Similar threads


Back
Top