AN IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT
I am borrowing Ketlan's lap top because the second hand computer that I have been using has died and there will be a delay before it is replaced. Consequently, blog activity will become sporadic although hopefully will continue. Thank you for recent page views and comments.
I hope that recently I have inspired or revived in some blog readers an interest in future histories. I have been fascinated by this sf sub-genre for decades and it just gets better. Parts of the Man-Kzin Wars period of Larry Niven's Known Space future history are mini-histories within the longer history, as are the early Imperial and post-Imperial ages of Poul Anderson's Technic History.
Remember that Wells and Stapledon wrote future histories before Heinlein but did it differently and that Anderson, following Heinlein, made immense and unique contributions - but I have demonstrated this repeatedly.
I am continually reminded of the comprehensiveness of Sean M Brooks' contributions to this blog (see here) and hopefully these also will continue.
12 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
I am sorry your laptop has gone toes up and departed this vale of tears! I hope you are soon able to find a GOOD laptop, one that will last for years.
And thanks for the nice, flattering mention of me! I only wish I was as prolific a writer as you are. Hopefully, I will soon have another note ready for you. I simply need to be inspired!
You were kind enough to include with this blog piece of yours a link to my latest contribution: "Andersonian Themes And Tropes." Jerry Pournelle, in WEST OF HONOR, has the young officer Hal Slater remembering a lecture he heard at the CoDominium Naval Academy about ceremonial which would have been very relevant to my article if I had only remembered it at the time I was writing it. Oh, well!
Sean
Sean,
My first lap top lasted for an expectable life span. My 2nd was an old one lent by Ketlan. Next will be either another old one cobbled together by Ketlan or a new one but the latter will take a bit longer to acquire. Money that could be spent on it now should be kept for other contingencies.
Paul.
Sean,
Check out the Logic of Time Travel blog.
Paul.
Kaor, Paul!
Commenting on your first sentence: I think you meant "My first lap top lasted for A RESPECTABLE life span." And I agree there are good arguments either way for either putting together another lap top from old parts or getting a wholly new one. Yes, prudence dictates being careful about spending the large sum needed for a NEW lap top when more urgent needs may pop up.
Sean
Kaor, Paul!
Yes, I did. And I read the top article, discussing different kinds of time traveling stories.
One point puzzles me: why should "Time Machine" be antiquated term?
Sean
Sean,
But this could be the basis of a follow up article? There must be a lot about ceremonial in the CoDominium History.
Paul.
Sean,
Surely if not for Wells we would not say "Time Machine" any more than we still say "flying machine"?
I have now added to the Science Fiction blog.
Paul.
Kaor, Paul!
True, because of H.G. Wells THE TIME MACHINE, it still feels natural to use "time machine" in stories where artificially made machines are use for time traveling. Yes, these days SF authors prefer to use "time traveling" or similar terms.
Logically, a plane is a flying machine, a machine made for flying. So the term "flying machine" shouldn't be thought antiquated.
And I will check out your latest addition to your SF blog.
Sean
Sean and Paul:
There are different varieties of "flying machine" now. Airplanes, helicopters, blimps or airships, plus a couple of designs about halfway between planes and 'copters.... So "flying machine" is a generic term and people, in this case, tend to use the more specific word.
There's no time machine except theoretically (or maybe that's what some shadowy "THEY" want us to think), so no differing types except in SF, so no competing more specific term.
Hi, David!
I sit corrected as regards the more accurate use of "flying machine." More specific versus the generic term.
Your last paragraph mentioning the "shadowy THEY" made me laugh a bit! Are we supposed to think some anxious agent of the Time Patrol is keeping tabs on THIS blog in case we stumble across real time traveling and a real Time Patrol? (Smiles)
Sean
Sean:
Yes, I intended "THEY" as a joke along just those lines.
My favorite comment on conspiracy theories comes from Mark Sachs, who was artist for the SF webcomic *A Miracle of Science*:
"Seriously, anybody who’s been paying the slightest bit of attention at any time in the past fifty years should have realized by now that the United States Government couldn’t cover up a cupcake with vanilla frosting."
I'll add that I feel most if not all other governments are equally incompetent. There's a proverb: a secret known to one person is a secret; a secret known to two people is no secret; a secret known to three is shouted to the world.
Hi, David!
Oh, I agree to some extent, most governments, including the US, seem unable to keep secrets for long. But, SOME information has to be at least attempted to be kept classified, for any number of legitimate reasons. And persons entrusted with confidential information are morally and legally bound to follow all required steps in handling such information. Hillary Clinton's criminal carelessness and irresponsibility in her handling of classified documents Secretary of State is precisely why the email scandal has gotten her into so much trouble.
Sean
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