A French Website Devoted to Jack Vance
October 2, 2001 11:19 PM Subscribe
A veritable potpourri of je ne sais quoi : so, I'm just dinkin' around, looking things up from my wish list, compiled before I got online at home,
tonight's quest was 'Virgil Finlay,'
and I back into this incredible virtual theme park devoted to the greatest living American science fiction author (that lifted straight from my show's, ahem, links page, that), imo--no humble here and now--and it's got starcharts of the Oikumene and maps and meals...gee, did I say it was a French site? And Rpgs and on and on and on...You 'could her nipples be any harder?' Klingon forehead hair splitting color TV babies have no idea: the technology does not exist to take his work to screen. The man is the premiere prose stylist of the genre and this concept has merit, I tells ya...
technology not exist??!? vance is not a science fiction writer, thankyouverymuch. no technology necessary to take any of his work to the screen. other, harder obstacles, yes no doubt.
hello mcfly??!? check this out, if you will thank god some of us care enough to bring the word to the people.
posted by sainthonore at 11:32 PM on October 2, 2001
hello mcfly??!? check this out, if you will thank god some of us care enough to bring the word to the people.
posted by sainthonore at 11:32 PM on October 2, 2001
What are you on, y2karl?
Talk about "a change is as good as a rest"...
The first link is worth visiting for the music alone, but it is also a great resource for future Mefi monickers. My favourite: Hoonch: le dieu-chien.. (That would be hoochledieuchien of course.) Hey, I've seen worse!
posted by MiguelCardoso at 11:57 PM on October 2, 2001
Talk about "a change is as good as a rest"...
The first link is worth visiting for the music alone, but it is also a great resource for future Mefi monickers. My favourite: Hoonch: le dieu-chien.. (That would be hoochledieuchien of course.) Hey, I've seen worse!
posted by MiguelCardoso at 11:57 PM on October 2, 2001
I can't recall the number of times that I've read Vance's "Emphyrio"...a beautiful, melancholy book with wonderful characters, intricate plotting, and a very twisted ending.
posted by MrBaliHai at 12:14 AM on October 3, 2001 [1 favorite]
posted by MrBaliHai at 12:14 AM on October 3, 2001 [1 favorite]
vance is not a science fiction writer
Gee, I bet he'd be surprised to hear that!
posted by rushmc at 2:56 AM on October 3, 2001
Gee, I bet he'd be surprised to hear that!
posted by rushmc at 2:56 AM on October 3, 2001
Was that a double-front-page-self-link, or is my medication wearing off? Have a look at this, y2karl. And somebody bring me my damn drugs!
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 3:08 AM on October 3, 2001
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 3:08 AM on October 3, 2001
somebody bring me my damn drugs!
"You seem down. Would you like an injection of some blue stuff?"
Gee, I bet he'd be surprised to hear that!
Is it any wonder stavrosthewonderchicken, rushmc and I will be medicating ourselves now?
posted by MiguelCardoso at 4:37 AM on October 3, 2001
"You seem down. Would you like an injection of some blue stuff?"
Gee, I bet he'd be surprised to hear that!
Is it any wonder stavrosthewonderchicken, rushmc and I will be medicating ourselves now?
posted by MiguelCardoso at 4:37 AM on October 3, 2001
The man is the premiere prose stylist of the genre
Vance is way way up there, but I'd have to give this title to Gene Wolfe.
posted by straight at 5:25 AM on October 3, 2001
Vance is way way up there, but I'd have to give this title to Gene Wolfe.
posted by straight at 5:25 AM on October 3, 2001
Vance is way way up there, but I'd have to give this title to Gene Wolfe.
There are a lot of similarities to the worlds that Vance and Wolfe write about. Both are great. But when you're discussing style and quirkiness, in science fiction, don't neglect to include R.A. Lafferty.
posted by bragadocchio at 5:38 AM on October 3, 2001
There are a lot of similarities to the worlds that Vance and Wolfe write about. Both are great. But when you're discussing style and quirkiness, in science fiction, don't neglect to include R.A. Lafferty.
posted by bragadocchio at 5:38 AM on October 3, 2001
Gee, I bet he'd be surprised to hear that!
well, no, actually he wouldn't. vance considers himself to be simply "a writer". he has always denied being an SF writer, and in fact he does not even like science fiction.
consider this also: not a single one of his stories is at all dependent on the technology used in it. remove any or all of it, and the story still stands alone.
posted by sainthonore at 7:55 AM on October 3, 2001
well, no, actually he wouldn't. vance considers himself to be simply "a writer". he has always denied being an SF writer, and in fact he does not even like science fiction.
consider this also: not a single one of his stories is at all dependent on the technology used in it. remove any or all of it, and the story still stands alone.
posted by sainthonore at 7:55 AM on October 3, 2001
memo to jpg: Jrgpshx? Wrdlmpmoi? stavrosmarvelpoutlry: point well taken, apologies to all. mrbalihai: my thoughts exactly, er, succinctly. As to what I'm on, MiguelCardoso, let's just say I'm high on life...at least until the drugs take effect....
posted by y2karl at 9:43 AM on October 3, 2001
posted by y2karl at 9:43 AM on October 3, 2001
memo to jpg: Jrgpshx? Wrdlmpmoi? stavrosmarvelpoultry: point well taken, apologies to all. mrbalihai: my thoughts exactly, er, succinctly. As to what I'm on, MiguelCardoso, let's just say I'm high on life...at least until the drugs take effect....
posted by y2karl at 9:44 AM on October 3, 2001
posted by y2karl at 9:44 AM on October 3, 2001
sorry 'bout the double post--thought I'd stopped it in time.
posted by y2karl at 9:45 AM on October 3, 2001
posted by y2karl at 9:45 AM on October 3, 2001
Science fiction writers? it's all about Barry Malzberg, friends.
posted by sonofsamiam at 10:15 AM on October 3, 2001
posted by sonofsamiam at 10:15 AM on October 3, 2001
The term "science fiction" is a marketing term, pure and simple. Most people who write novels consider themselves "writers"---Jack's written mysteries, too, and lord knows what all else and under what pseudonyms. A lot of "science fiction" novels printed in the 60s were reprinted in the 80s as "fantasy" novels because the publisher thought it would mean more sales.
posted by realjanetkagan at 2:44 PM on October 4, 2001
posted by realjanetkagan at 2:44 PM on October 4, 2001
Anyway, "speculative fiction" is much more accurate and inclusive, and less ghetto.
posted by rushmc at 4:51 PM on October 4, 2001
posted by rushmc at 4:51 PM on October 4, 2001
Anyway, "speculative fiction" is much more accurate and inclusive, and less ghetto.:
"...hold that proteinaceous filament still--I'll get the surgical micro-laser!"
More inclusive, like, including The Celestine Prophecy, Mutant Message From Downunder and the Collected Works of Carlos Castenada?
Common language or defensive re-definition? Who give a rat's ass what you call it? The people who will sneer at it, science fiction, will do so no matter how pretentiously you re-label it.
posted by y2karl at 11:11 AM on October 7, 2001
"...hold that proteinaceous filament still--I'll get the surgical micro-laser!"
More inclusive, like, including The Celestine Prophecy, Mutant Message From Downunder and the Collected Works of Carlos Castenada?
Common language or defensive re-definition? Who give a rat's ass what you call it? The people who will sneer at it, science fiction, will do so no matter how pretentiously you re-label it.
posted by y2karl at 11:11 AM on October 7, 2001
rodii, Not much, I'm sorry to say. First, family matters; now this. I hate foisting my depression on my readers. *sigh*
posted by realjanetkagan at 11:31 AM on October 7, 2001
posted by realjanetkagan at 11:31 AM on October 7, 2001
Janet, sorry if I rubbed any salt in your wounds. I (many of us, I bet) know that pain all too well.
Like Karl, I've never dug the speculative fiction label. For better or worse, SF is SF (actually, I call it "SF" whenever possible). Anyway, just as "science fiction" is not necessarily very much about science, "speculative fiction" is not necessarily very speculative. I also don't think it's purely a marketing-driven thing. As with any genre, it's impossible to define in a neccessary-and-sufficient way. It's what my graduate adviser called "a lineage of prior texts" that make it what it is. If it partakes of the long-running conversation that is science fiction, it's science fiction.
posted by rodii at 7:00 AM on October 8, 2001
Like Karl, I've never dug the speculative fiction label. For better or worse, SF is SF (actually, I call it "SF" whenever possible). Anyway, just as "science fiction" is not necessarily very much about science, "speculative fiction" is not necessarily very speculative. I also don't think it's purely a marketing-driven thing. As with any genre, it's impossible to define in a neccessary-and-sufficient way. It's what my graduate adviser called "a lineage of prior texts" that make it what it is. If it partakes of the long-running conversation that is science fiction, it's science fiction.
posted by rodii at 7:00 AM on October 8, 2001
The very best science fiction doesn't rely on the science at all. It's a backdrop to the real story. Look at oh, Heinlein, James White, James Gardener, or John (?) Varley. The important thing is really the people. The science is entertaining, but not the main focus of the story. Otherwise, we'd be reading science journals, and most likely have to have degrees in science to read them.
posted by stoneegg21 at 9:47 PM on October 15, 2001
posted by stoneegg21 at 9:47 PM on October 15, 2001
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posted by jjg at 11:28 PM on October 2, 2001