Aucbvax.1529 fa.sf-lovers utzoo!duke!decvax!ucbvax!JPM@MIT-AI Fri Jun 5 07:39:44 1981 SF-LOVERS Digest V3 #141 SF-LOVERS AM Digest Friday, 5 Jun 1981 Volume 3 : Issue 141 Today's Topics: SF Poll - Favorite Rare SF, SF News - Locus, SF Books - Fantasticats & The Right Stuff, SF Movies - Capsule Movie Reviews & Script query answered, SF TV - Sex in Star Trek, Digest Correction - Wording Error, SF Topics - Children's stories (Mushroom Planet and Mr. Bass) & Children's TV (Super President), Spoiler - Star Trek (Sex) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: 4 Jun 81 16:00-PDT From: mclure at Sri-Unix Subject: Locus blurbs The June issue mentions that 1) Asimov has signed a contract for a new novel in the Foundation series, called Lightning Rod. 2) A new Star Trek movie is in the works, but with a $6 million dollar budget instead of $40 million+ for the last one, and reportedly Spock is killed in the preliminary script (since Nimoy apparently wants out of the entire thing), 3) Omni's successful science fiction anthologies may coalesce into a new magazine called Omni Science Fiction (the first anthology sold 350,000 copies in 3 months, the best for any SF anthology). ------------------------------ Date: 27 May 1981 at 0120-CDT From: hjjh at UTEXAS-11 To: sf-lovers at mit-ai ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ FANTASTICATS ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ I've been invited down to San Antonio to give a talk to a cat club on cats in SF, and would like to give them a "recommended reading" list of books which feature felines prominently and IN A FAVORABLE LIGHT. The books should be fairly readily come by-- if not in the public library, in paperbacks preferably not too long out of print. Here's what I've come up with, and would welcome further suggestions. For instance, I remember seeing a SF/F cat anthology I lack data on. Poul Anderson: OPERATION CHAOS A. Bertram Chandler: THE INHERITORS Cynthia Felice: GODSFIRE Robert Heinlien: THE DOOR INTO SUMMER Fritz Leiber: THE GREEN MILLENIUM Clive S. Lewis: THE CHRONICLES OF NARNIA Anne McCaffrey: DECISION AT DOONA Patricia McKillip: FORGOTTEN BEASTS OF ELD Andre Norton: BREED TO COME CATSEYE EYE OF THE MONSTER JARGOON PARD ORDEAL IN OTHERWHERE STAR MAN'S SON/DAYBREAK-2250 A.D. UNCHARTED STARS and THE ZERO STONE YEAR OF THE UNICORN <"BEAUTY WERE-CAT" AND THE> ------------------------------ Date: 4 Jun 1981 0832-PDT (Thursday) From: Heath at UCLA-ATS (Frank Heath) Subject: The Right Stuff I have just completed Tom Wolfe's book "The Right Stuff", and I highly recommend it. It is about the X-1, X15 rocket planes and the original Mercury astronauts. The title and the theme of the book relate to a quality supposedly possessed by all the hot military and test pilots. It seems to be a combination of macho, bravery, massive ego and superior flying skills. It is good reading and very humorous in parts. It fills in the background for events which I remember growing up with, i.e. the first satellite and manned launches and the space race. Also you can see why NASA got so fanatical about all astronauts being pilots for so long. No one else could possibly have had the "Right Stuff" to handle it otherwise, despite the fact that in most of the early missions the astronauts couldn't have flown the thing if they wanted to. Wolfe's style of writing is exaggerated to say the least and could easily have distorted the reality of the situation. Does anybody know of any other good references or experiences to give more opinions on the topic? Frank S. Heath ------------------------------ Date: 22 May 1981 1737-PDT From: Jim McGrath Subject: Capsule Movie Reviews (c) 1981 Chicago Sun-Times (Field News Service) ''Excalibur''-John Boorman directed this version of the Camelot legend. It's wonderful to look at, but the characters are maddeningly arbitrary and unexplained. Nicol Williamson (witty and fun as Merlin), Nigel Terry, Helen Mirren, Nicholas Clay and Cherie Lunghi star. Rated R. 2 1/2 stars. ''The Hand''-Science-fiction thriller stars Michael Caine as a cartoonist whose hand transplant goes awry. It's silly enough not to be frightening, but notobe enjoyable. With Andrea Marcovicci. Rated R. 1 star. ''Knightriders''-George (''Dawn of the Dead'') Romero's new movie is the Camelot story on motorcycles. ''The Legend of the Lone Ranger''-The masked man's life story stars Klinton Spilsbury and, as Tonto, Michael Horse. Rated PG. ''Outland''-Sea Conery stars in this science-fiction thriller, set in a mining colory on Jupiter's moon, Io. With Peter Boyle, Frances Sternhagen, Kiki Markham. Rated PG. ------------------------------ Date: 4 Jun 1981 12:10:09-EDT From: deryl at CCA-UNIX (Deryl Humphrey) Subject: Re: SF-LOVERS Digest V3 #139 In response to your message of Thu Jun 4 11:10:11 1981: One can usually find copies of scripts in a number of places. 1) Fan clubs 2) nostalgia stores or husters at conventions 3) The Drama bookstore in NYC 4) The film studio The price will range greatly and availability is scarce. -deryl@cca-unix ------------------------------ Date: Wednesday, 3 Jun 1981 21:26-PDT Subject: More on Mr. Bass From: obrien at RAND-UNIX Like everyone else, I've been vastly enjoying the nostalgia discussion, and like everyone else, it's been reminding me of things I enjoyed more than any reasonable person should. It now occurs to me that Margaret Cameron's Mushroom Planet series was the first SF I ever read, back in second grade. Well, I decided to do everyone one better by not just remembering how great it was, but by going out and trying it again at the age of 32. I was very pleasantly surprised! I just read "A Mystery for Mr. Bass", which, to be fair, I had never read before, and found it quite acceptable. Ms. Cameron obviously is a fan of Welsh mythology and people, which I had not remembered, and this lends the book a very pleasant air. The series is dated, sexist, and strictly for the childish of mind, but I still have to say I enjoyed it. A much better experience than one has any right to, in re-reading childhood favorites. ------------------------------ Date: 4 Jun 1981 0737-PDT Sender: GEOFF at SRI-CSL Subject: Another Saturday Cartoon. From: the tty of Geoffrey S. Goodfellow When I read Lauren's message about drugs in cartoons, it reminded me of another one: Super President. (he could change himself into any substance), Perhaps with the aid of a drug? ------------------------------ Date: Thursday, 4 Jun 1981 10:13-PDT Subject: Correction From: obrien at RAND-UNIX To correct my message yesterday to the digest: "Margaret" -> "Eleanor" How embarrassing. ------------------------------ Date: 2 Jun 1981 1545-PDT From: OR.TOVEY at SU-SCORE Subject: favorite rare sf poll ****************** FAVORITE RARE SF POLL PART 2 ****************** At last! (sorry for the delay) here is the second part of the poll of your favorite obscure science fiction and fantasy. How to vote: all the works are labelled below as Ax or Bx, x integer, A for book length entries and B for shorter works. For each entry you can vote on obscurity and quality. Obscurity: 0 -- never heard of it (except on the sfl rare sf discussion). 1 -- heard of it. 2 -- read it. 3 -- many of my friends have read it, too. Quality: Use a scale of 1 (terrible) to 5 (excellent). Important: the default for Obscurity is 0, so you don't have to vote A2 0 if you've never heard of A2. A vote of "A4 0,5" means you saw A4 mentioned on sfl, read it, and thought it excellent. People who submitted entries \should/ vote for them, but do not need to repeat their comments, (e.g. "Shook my belief in reality"), which will appear in the poll results. Additional comments are welcome . We do have publishing information on almost all the entries and will include it in the poll results. ******* SEND YOUR VOTES TO SF-RARE@MIT-AI WITHIN ONE WEEK ******* A1) Chester Anderson // The Butterfly Kid (forms a trilogy with A74, A126) A3) Baker // The Garden of the Plynck A5) J. G. Ballard // The Crystal World A6) " " // The Overloaded Man A10) T.J.Bass // Half Past Human A11) T.J. Bass // The Godwhale A15) Alfred Bester // Starburst (especially the story Oddy and Id). A17) Fredric Brown // "Angels and Spaceships" A20) John Brunner // A Planet of your Own A22) Anthony Burgess // The Wanting Seed A24) G.K. Chesterton // The Ball and the Cross A25) " " // Tales of the White Horse A26) " " // The Club of Queer Trades A28) M. Collins // Lukan War A30) Michael Coney // Syzygy A31) Michael Coney // Brontomek! A34) Authur byron Cover // Autumn Angels A35) " " Cover // An East Wind Coming A40) Samuel R. Delaney, ed. // Quark 1,2,3,4 A42) Thomas M. Disch // Camp Concentration A44) Finney // Circus of Dr. Lao A45) Finney // The Unholy City (includes The Magician out of Manchuria). A46) Finney // The Ghosts of Manacle A48) Randall Garrett (pub as Darrel Langert) // ANYTHING YOU CAN DO. A50) Mark Geston // Out of the Mouth of the Dragon A51) " " // The Lords of the Starship A52) " " // The Siege of Wonder A54) Philip E. High, in general A60) Hubbard // Return to Tomorrow A64) William Johnston // Get Smart books: `And Loving It', A65) Sorry Chief, A66) Missed it by That Much'. A68) M.K.Joseph // The Hole in the Zero A70) Walter Karig // Zotz A72) Damon Knight // Hell's Pavement A74) Michael Kurland // The Unicorn Girl A76) R A Lafferty // Space Chantey A78) Keith Laumer // The Great Time Machine Hoax A80) Harold Livingston // The Climacticon A82) Angus MacVicar // SUPER NOVA AND THE ROGUE SATELLITE A84) Ellen K. McKenzie // Taash and the Jesters A86) Hope Mirrlees // Lud-In-The-Mist A88) Ward Moore // Bring the Jubilee A89) Ward Moore // Greener Than You Think A90) H. Warner Munn // Merlin's Ring A91) " " // Merlin's Godson A92) John Myers Myerson // Silverlock A94) Elizabeth Pope // PERILOUS GARD A96) John Rackham // The Double Invaders A98) Eric Frank Russel // The Great Explosion A100) Arthur Sellings // THE POWER OF X A101) Arthur Sellings // THE UNCENSORED MAN A102) Sellings, in general A105) Olaf Stapledon // The Flames A110) Leon Stover and Harry Harrison, eds. // Apeman, Spaceman: Anthropological Science Fiction A112) Theodore Sturgeon // Some of Your Blood A114) Dan Thomas // The Seed A116) Ruth Plumly Thompson // Jack Pumpkinhead of Oz A118) Jack Vance // The Many Worlds of Magnus Ridolph A120) VerCours // And Ye Shall Know Them A122) Alexander Volkov // The Wooden Soldiers of Oz A124) Per Wahloo // Murder on the 31st Floor A126) T.A. Waters // The Probability Pad A128) A.T. Wright. // Islandia B1) A.C. Clarke //'The Transit of Earth' B2) Larry Niven // "The Magic Goes Away" in its original novella-length version. (\Not/ the version published in paperback) B3) Theodore Sturgeon // "The Man Who Lost the Sea" B4) Sturgeon // "Maturity" again, send your votes to SF-RARE @ MIT-AI. --cat ------------------------------ JPM@MIT-AI 6/5/81 00:00:00 Re: SPOILER WARNING! SPOILER WARNING! The following message is the last in the digest. While concentrating on the topic of Sex in Star Trek, it reveals details about the plot development in the episode entitled "The Doomsday Machine." Those unfamilar with this episode may not wish to read any further. ------------------------------ Date: 21 May 1981 11:27:31-PDT From: C.dasilva at Berkeley Subject: Sex in star trek Forwarded from Dan'l Oakes. Re: Sex in stpek The \UNQUESTIONABLE/ dirtiest strek episode of them all is Norman Spinrad's "The Doomsday Machine" -- the perfect blend of sex and violence. Norman deliberately infused this apparently-innocent episode with every bit of Freudian psychosexual symbolism imaginable. Consider: The planet eater itself, viewed sidelong, is the ultimate phallic symbol; viewed head on, it is a classic \vagina dentata/. The other captain (the lesser male) attempts to ram his ship down the thing's maw (fuck the thing) and dies trying. Kirk (the dominant male) succeeds, with the following resultant event-chain: -- The people on the Enterprise are trying to beam him back on board. -- The shuttlecraft rams into the thing's maw. -- In a side view that looks remarkably like a male orgasm, the thing ejaculates white stuff which we assume to be flames (In a vacuum ???). -- The Enterprise crew \finally/ succeeds in beaming kirk aboard: his hair is disshevelled, he's sweating hard. No doubt if he turned around (he doesn't), we'd see fingernail-scratches on his back. Is this or is this not the dirtiest strek ? ------------------------------ End of SF-LOVERS Digest *********************** ----------------------------------------------------------------- gopher://quux.org/ conversion by John Goerzen of http://communication.ucsd.edu/A-News/ This Usenet Oldnews Archive article may be copied and distributed freely, provided: 1. There is no money collected for the text(s) of the articles. 2. The following notice remains appended to each copy: The Usenet Oldnews Archive: Compilation Copyright (C) 1981, 1996 Bruce Jones, Henry Spencer, David Wiseman.