Slow day, I guess, all around? Off to find something for tomorrow.

There was a time when Science Fiction really had a message of hope, technically as well as spiritually. Heinlein, Assimov, especially Clark who even now has one of his ideas, the space elevator, in consideration and many more.
Today's authors seem to dwell more on doom and gloom, variations of Nostrodamus or the Acopalypse, enforcing the negativity of today's society and nothing to look forward to.

Anneliese, you took the words right out of my mouth - or keyboard LOL

Not reading the right science fiction, are you? There's so much out there that is not doom and gloom at all, but a totally different way of looking at things. The list of good scifi/speculative fiction/cyberpunk, etc is long and stuffed with wonderful, fascinating ideas and people, and some of the best writing around. Atwood isn't even among my top ten, as it happens.
I'm still in Chicago, and haunting any used book store I can find (happily there are many real wonderlands) and spending my dwindling greenbacks on books. My sweetheart back home has reluctantly come to understand that I bring few gifts back, but more than my weight in used books - and that's a lot o'books - nearly all of them scifi and it's relations. I wallow like a pig in poop, knowing full well there's no place to put them at home, and not caring a whit.
Scifi is where the ideas are at, the juicy, messy, great slurping ideas of how we will spend tomorrow, and we not only undersetimate it at our peril, we'd be missing all the fun. Batya

Well said Annieliese. Just finished Cormac McCarthy's The Road. Holy Moly...end of the world, dying father and his little boy survived along with roving bands of cannibals. A truly uplifting book..NOT.Made me want to run and haul out my old childhood Anne of Green Gables.

Cormac McCarthy's writing may not properly fall under the label of science fiction. McCarthy is a main stream writer and most who toy with the genre of science fiction may classify their work as speculative fiction, as so not to be tainted with the label of writing in a genre that has for a long time been consider the ugly redheaded step child of fiction. The Road does not deal with anything that is not yet plausible. It doesn't deal with spaceships, other planets, unknown technology, sprites, faeries, or anything supernatural. It deals with both the dark side of human nature and the noble side. I must say, though that his prose in The Road is extraordinary, the over all tale is very depressing, to say the least.

The hallow halls of the Ivory Towers that dominate the literary world usually regard European Realism as the only form of literature worth being taken with any degree of seriousness.

Just splitting hairs; I'm a bit bored at the moment.

P.S. Would love to hear Pidge's views on this subject. Hope she's doing well.

endorphinjunkie said :"I'm a bit bored at the moment".
I don't know much about science fiction, I'm all about keeping both feet on the terra firma.
How about educating me about science fiction.

That might take a while. Start with Heinlein, Clark, and Asimov. The path for there is almost endlessly varied and infinite.

Let's start with a short story by Arthur C. Clarke,

The Star

I'm not as enamored of Clarke, but heartily agree with an endorsement for Heinlein and Asimov, any of their works. Also try George White (if you can find any). I just finished 'General Hospital'; it's a good mix of Heinlein's characterization and Asimov's belief that People [regardless of species] can indeed do better - at least individually.

If you like character studies along with SF bang-bang, Ringo has a series of four that is fair on the science and excellent on the fiction: March to the Sea, March Upcountry, Helle's Faire, and oops, I've forgotten the other title (but be careful, many folks would be highly offended by some of Ringo's other works).

Actually, getting into SF is easiest in a large library ~ no loss if you pick up a book and before the third chapter ends, toss it into the return bag! Like all fiction, it's only fair to give an author a couple chapters to get going -- although if you've been reading Heinlein, Asimov, or Mercedes Lackey (excellent "fantasy"), you'll realize that the very best authors have your attention within the first page!

When I asked to be educated about Science Fiction,
endorphinjunkie said:"That might take a while."
I think he's right about that.
But I'm game and I'll start with the short story. Thanks for all the suggestions.

Michael,you mentioned Pidge. I had lunch with her a couple of weeks ago and she fine and well. Thing is,she is banned from the GW for something or other she said over at the HT forum.

It's good to hear that she is OK, and I'm sorry she is banned. I don't even go over to that serpent's nest to read any more. That place is as depressing as McCarthy's Pulitzer prize novel. While there are a few reserved and civilized voices over there, they are usually shouted down by the less restrained voices.

I go over once in a while to peek in,but it's always the same ole. Just change the year and the names and the rants are always the same. Maybe they should change the name of it to The Road. Lot of cannibals over there.

Are you planning on seeing the movie of the book that comes out this month? Viggo Mortensen stars in it.

Well,Vigo is worth watching whatever he does,but no..I'm just trying to stay away from anything really depressing these days.

Sorry to hear that Pidge can't post. I went over there a couple of times to read, never posted. I don't need the extra aggravation, there is enough in the world already.

Meldy, White is fun to read and Fantasy has also a whole bookcase here, especially Lackey and there is Norton and Kerr, Huff, etc. In between the two sections you have Anne McCaffrey. Wished all of them would get younger instead of older so that they would write many more books

The Star is an interesting story with a surprise ending. It was fun reading.
I googled a few more short stories and while I was watching the 49ers football game on Sunday, I found a short story about a quarterback gene.
Lol, what fun it was to think about the genetic QB.
I tried to post a link to the story, I hope it works.

Here is a link that might be useful: QB Gene

From the late 30's onwad I really liked science fiction. Poul Anderson was probably my favorite. There was a Zelasny, Cordwainer Smith, probably a pseudonym, and those mentioned already plus many others. Either I changed or the genre changed. Seemed like science fiction rather segued into swords and sorcery. It was becoming harder to find what I thought was science fiction. The subscriptions ran out and I didn't bother to renew. this was about 20 t0 25 years ago. Ursula LeGuin (sp) wrote some rather good science fiction now I don't even know the modern days authors . Would like to sample it again but don't know where to start.