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The Apolyton Science Fiction Discussion Group: June Nominations

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  • #31
    Originally posted by Wraith
    --"Fine. I nominate 1984 then."

    Who does have final call on the genre-suitability, anyway? Seems like that's a little bit important with the new nomination scheme.
    I would say it's up to the nominator to decide if his books fit into the theme or not, and not the person who picks the category. Che calls 'Dune' science fantasy, and I'm not sure I would agree with that categorization, but I can see why he would make it. It's a matter of perception really.

    I say let people nominate what they wish. If you disagree, call them on it, but nominations should not be barred because someone happens to disagree with it.
    "We are living in the future, I'll tell you how I know, I read it in the paper, Fifteen years ago" - John Prine

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    • #32
      If it's up to me, I'd definately nix 1984. I think we should stick the definition so thoughtfully provided by Wraith. I don't think Ramo's nomination makes the cut either, at least not from his exposition.
      Christianity: The belief that a cosmic Jewish Zombie who was his own father can make you live forever if you symbolically eat his flesh and telepathically tell him you accept him as your master, so he can remove an evil force from your soul that is present in humanity because a rib-woman was convinced by a talking snake to eat from a magical tree...

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      • #33
        I'm torn between Bruce Sterling's Schismatrix Plus and Arthur C Clarke's The City and the Stars...can someone confirm whether or not either of them are cyberpunk so I can make my decision?
        "Love the earth and sun and animals, despise riches, give alms to every one that asks, stand up for the stupid and crazy, devote your income and labor to others, hate tyrants, argue not concerning God, have patience and indulgence toward the people, take off your hat to nothing known or unknown . . . reexamine all you have been told at school or church or in any book, dismiss whatever insults your own soul, and your very flesh shall be a great poem and have the richest fluency" - Walt Whitman

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        • #34
          1984 is not cyber. Sorry.

          (Btw, as moderator, the call is mine.)

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          • #35
            --"1984 is not cyber. Sorry."

            Heh. I doubt that was seriously meant as the nomination. I thought it was a commentary on my reaction to his earlier nomination

            Wraith
            "Those who dream by day are aware of many things that escape those who dream only at night."
            -- Edgar Allan Poe

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            • #36
              Yeah, I'm not too sure about FUTD being "cyber" either.

              Finally got a nominee: Bruce Sterling and William Gibson's The Difference Engine.

              Comment

              • #37
                Originally posted by Clear Skies
                I'm torn between Bruce Sterling's Schismatrix Plus and Arthur C Clarke's The City and the Stars...can someone confirm whether or not either of them are cyberpunk so I can make my decision?
                Sterling definately is, don't know about Arthur C. Clarke. I've got a couple or three of Sterling's books, Islands in the Net, Globalhead (ownership of which is supposed to be a requirement of being L337), Mirrorshades (an anthology of cyberpunk short stories ), and The Difference Engine with William Gibson. He's kind of the "leader" of the cyberpunk movement.
                Christianity: The belief that a cosmic Jewish Zombie who was his own father can make you live forever if you symbolically eat his flesh and telepathically tell him you accept him as your master, so he can remove an evil force from your soul that is present in humanity because a rib-woman was convinced by a talking snake to eat from a magical tree...

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                • #38
                  In that case, what do I nominate? Schismatrix Plus is kind of an anthology, which might disqualify it, but I don't know if the main bulk of the novel is published separately or not. Also, Plus contains all his Spacer/Mechanist writings, including Spider Rose which is actually so good I could nominate it by itself but which is too short...
                  So, anyway. Before I degenerate into completely inane ramblings. Can I nominate Schismatrix Plus? If necessary I can limit it to the main novel, Schismatrix itself.
                  "Love the earth and sun and animals, despise riches, give alms to every one that asks, stand up for the stupid and crazy, devote your income and labor to others, hate tyrants, argue not concerning God, have patience and indulgence toward the people, take off your hat to nothing known or unknown . . . reexamine all you have been told at school or church or in any book, dismiss whatever insults your own soul, and your very flesh shall be a great poem and have the richest fluency" - Walt Whitman

                  Comment

                  • #39
                    Oooh, cyberpunk! I love cyberpunk! I offer to the book club two novels by Bruce Sterling, one of my favourite authors. Forgive any spelling mistakes as I just foolishly drank a glass of wine without realising my headache medication contained acetominophen. The room is kinda spinning.

                    Holy Fire:
                    The 21st century is coming to a clse, and the medical-industrial complex dominates the world economy. It is a world of synthetic memory drugs, benevolent government suveillance, underground anarchists, and talking canine companions. Power is in the hands of conservative senior citizens who have watched their health and capital investments with equal care, gaining access to the latest advancements in life-extension technology. Meanwhile, the young live on the fringes of society, eking out a meager survival on free government issued rations and a black market in stolen technological gadgetry from an earlier, less sophisticated age.

                    Mia Ziemann is a ninety-four year old medical economist who enjoys all the benefits of her position. But a deathbed visit from a long-ago exlover and a chance meeting with a young bohemian dress designer brings Mia to an awful revelation. She has lived her life with such caution that it has been totally bereft of pleasure and adventure. She has one chance to do it all over. But first she must submit herself to a radical - and painful - experimental procedure that promises to make her young again. The procedure is not without risk and her second chance at life will not come without a price. And afterward she will have to escape a team of medical keepers. Hitching a ride on a plane to Europe, Mia sets out on a wild intercontinental quest in search of spiritual gratification, erotic revelation, and the thing she missed the most of all: the holy fire of creative experience. She joins a group of outlaw anarchists whose leader may be the man of her dreams - or her undoing. Worst of all, Mia will have to undergo one last radical procedure that could cost her a second life.

                    Distraction:
                    It's November 2044, an election year, and the state of the Union is a farce. The government is broke, the cities are privately owned, and the military is shaking down citizens on the streets. Washington has become a circus and no one knows that better than Oscar Valparaiso. A politcal spin doctor, Oscar has always made things look good. Now he wants to make a difference. But Oscar has a skeleton in his closet. His only ally: Dr. Greta Penninger, a gifted neurologist at the bleeding edge of the neural revolution. Together they're out to spread a very dangerous idea whose time has come. And so have their enemies: every technofanatic, government goon, and laptop assassian in America. Oscar and Greta might not survive to change the world but they'll put a new spin on it.
                    Exult in your existence, because that very process has blundered unwittingly on its own negation. Only a small, local negation, to be sure: only one species, and only a minority of that species; but there lies hope. [...] Stand tall, Bipedal Ape. The shark may outswim you, the cheetah outrun you, the swift outfly you, the capuchin outclimb you, the elephant outpower you, the redwood outlast you. But you have the biggest gifts of all: the gift of understanding the ruthlessly cruel process that gave us all existence [and the] gift of revulsion against its implications.
                    -Richard Dawkins

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                    • #40
                      For a rather more accessible take on Cyberpunk, I'd like to nominate this-

                      http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0575071362/qid=1049658584/sr=1-10/ref=sr_1_3_10/026-2584800-6888465


                      "Mindplayers" by Pat Cadigan

                      I've read "Neuromancer" as well, and though I loved it, for wild imagination and storylines, "Mindplayers" is better.
                      The genesis of the "evil Finn" concept- Evil, evil Finland

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                      • #41
                        Only one, Starchild.
                        Christianity: The belief that a cosmic Jewish Zombie who was his own father can make you live forever if you symbolically eat his flesh and telepathically tell him you accept him as your master, so he can remove an evil force from your soul that is present in humanity because a rib-woman was convinced by a talking snake to eat from a magical tree...

                        Comment

                        • #42
                          Starchild: pick one, please.

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                          • #43
                            Originally posted by chegitz guevara
                            Only one, Starchild.
                            Oh like the rules apply to me....

                            Hmm....an artistic journey into the cultural stagnation facing a culture too smart, safe, and secure to live yet can't die or a political thriller about a nation that just stopped working? Why do I have to make the tough choices about such important matters?

                            I'd have to go with Holy Fire though. I've read it more often (a good seven times), it's more polished around the edges than Distraction, and it's accessable cyberpunk. More like a gentle introduction into the genre than the head-first-into-the-shallow-end-of-the-pool that Neuromancer is.
                            Exult in your existence, because that very process has blundered unwittingly on its own negation. Only a small, local negation, to be sure: only one species, and only a minority of that species; but there lies hope. [...] Stand tall, Bipedal Ape. The shark may outswim you, the cheetah outrun you, the swift outfly you, the capuchin outclimb you, the elephant outpower you, the redwood outlast you. But you have the biggest gifts of all: the gift of understanding the ruthlessly cruel process that gave us all existence [and the] gift of revulsion against its implications.
                            -Richard Dawkins

                            Comment

                            • #44
                              Originally posted by JohnT
                              Yeah, I'm not too sure about FUTD being "cyber" either.

                              Finally got a nominee: Bruce Sterling and William Gibson's The Difference Engine.
                              Isn't that steampunk?
                              "We are living in the future, I'll tell you how I know, I read it in the paper, Fifteen years ago" - John Prine

                              Comment

                              • #45
                                This isn't a nomnation, but has anyone ever been to Bruce Sterling's Dead Media Project website?

                                It's a collection of articles and essays on obsolete technologies collected from the Dead Media mailing list, and a very good backdrop for the cyberpunk "universe".
                                "We are living in the future, I'll tell you how I know, I read it in the paper, Fifteen years ago" - John Prine

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