oops

Actually, he writes damn fine SF. Sci-fi (pronounced 'skiffy') is for the pointy-eared Trekkies. :)

RobG

e wrote

I'd better go down to my Public Library on Tuesday and inform them of that. They've been calling it Sci-Fi since the early 1950s.

-- John The history of things that didn't happen has never been written. . - - - Henry Kissinger

i find a lot of it derivative and dull. his occasional flash doesn't hide a general lackluster hand. ymmv.

when i joined the futerians in 55, they said scifi, i always have.

I never heard of him. Now I'll have to look him up.

Bill Banaszak, MFE ...one of them round-eared Trek fans for the past 38 (? OMG!) years...

try his callahans crosstime saloon stories. his best bits imnsho.

You hung with the Futurians? Cool. As far as the sci-fi / SF thing goes, some of the more serious SF authors (Asimov, Clarke, Niven etc) tried to make a distinction between 'hard SF' and 'sci-fi' in order to make their work seem a little less pulpy. There was never, as far as I know, an organised movement for this, just a slight change of nomenclture (howzat for a big word!). I've seen no written reports or records of this, just what I've read between the lines in magazines, books and reviews over the last 25 odd years. I personally use the term 'sci-fi' to describe ST, Star Wars, ET, EE Smith and that sort of space opera stuff. The more serious 'SF' I reserve for the aformentioned authors and others of their ilk. And, yes, I read both. And I still like Robinson. :)

RobG

john campbell was the man credited for putting the sci in and pulp out. he insisted on good science and good plot. i agree with the scifi and sf distinction. i had used scifi here as a accessible public term, now that i know that the room is hip, i return to sf. campbell also came up with a philosophy called rational living that some bumblig putz failure of a writerswiped, rubbed the serial numbers off and renamed dianetics. and had the gall to pass it off as a religion. sadly, john died just before moron shlubberd published that awfull book. i got to meet almost all of the giants. never called hamilton a nothing like harlan, (he was a zit farmed geek then.) but i did get biggle pissed at me for stealing a paperback. treasure some postcards from heinlein. he cut cheap construction paper to size for them. coolest guy to me was charlie clarke who had great stories of the wizard war, barnes wallis and flying in a captured

You ever get anything published? From what I read, they were an odd bunch - but that's only one author's opinion. Somewhere in this mess I have a book entitled "The Futurians" by some bloke - can't remember now! A good read if you're interested in SF history and where it came from. As for shlubbard - less said the better. Truly a zit on the face of literature. :)

RobG

some short stories and poetry when i was a teen. at the time of the east village house i was 4th-6th grader. a gopher, hanger on, amusement. it was a sexless, drugless, haven for creators of universes and technologies undreamed. when i disappeared for 2 1/2 weeks to go to a confab in ohio, my parents knew i would never amount and come to a bad end...happily, they were right. it was inroxicating to here of the foundation and r daneel. and to win a quiz show trip to a space station... i miss those zit faced pocket protector nerds.

You should write your memoirs...

RobG

shlubbard -

but i'm not dead yet. shut up and get on the cart. look. i'm goin for a walk. you're not fooling anyone you know.

it has been an odd life. thank the military for putting me in weird's way often.

I almost feel sorry for him. There is a Dianetics Center in the downtown area and one of the guys that worked in my office got involved with them. THis guy was unstable when he went in and really hurting when he finally got out. They are as strange as the Hare' Krishnas, but with better haircuts.

-- John The history of things that didn't happen has never been written. . - - - Henry Kissinger

they kill people. and drive some mad.