On Sun, Oct 29, 2017 at 05:38:55PM -0400, Steve Kinney wrote:

On 10/29/2017 03:39 PM, Cecilia Tanaka wrote:

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17 Science Fiction Books That Forever Changed The Genre

# https://www.lifehacker.com.au/2017/10/17-science-fiction-books-that-forever-...

Interesting picks, including a couple of duds IMO. Missing in action:

Alfred Bester - The Stars My Destination - 1956 - the first New Wave science fiction novel

John Brunner - The Shockwave Rider - 1975 - the first Cyberpunk novel

I used to login to BBS's as "haflinger" in the early 90s. Even though the book was written about 5 years before I was born, and even though Neuromancer was my favorite sci-fi book for years from like age 12 on, I think I thought the reference to Brunner's book was a little more obscure (I wasn't gonna call myself "Case", lol), and it was still an awesome book ;) I was surprised to see the Windup Girl on the list (which is a cool book), but nothing from Peter Watts, Richard Morgan, or even Bruce Sterling.. I would've added Schismatrix by Sterling, and maybe The Difference Engine by Sterling & Gibson (they invented Steampunk!).

Vernor Vinge - True Names - 1981 - Vinge invents Cyberspace

Neal Stephenson - Cryptonomicon - 1999 - IMO more genre-changing than Snow Crash (1992) which did make the list referenced above, because Vinge got there first

I think Anathem might be my favorite Stephenson book. It's the one I've read the most number of times, although of course I loved Snow Crash when I was younger.. and Cryptonomicon, and even the Baroque Cycle (well, at least the Jack Shaftoe bits :P)

It remains to be seen whether Cory Doctorow's Little Brother will "change the genre" by introducing contemporary radical politics as core subject matter.

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Bonus: - The Best And Worst Philip K. Dick Adaptations

# https://www.lifehacker.com.au/2017/10/the-best-and-worst-philip-k-dick-adapt...

Hah! They didn't have the nerve to pick which was which.

I'm awfully fond of Blade Runner and The Man In The High Castle, but A Scanner Darkly FTW IMO: Keanu Reeves says he studied his lines straight out of a paperback copy of the novel.

That movie is fuckin awesome. I think it's also my favorite book by Dick.. he got a lot of it so right because he was a speed freak there for a good while, I think :P For those that enjoyed the Scanner Darkly film, Linklater did another film in a very similar animated style called "Waking Life" a few years before ASD came out, and it was great. The thing about Blade Runner is... its not a whole lot like the book. The book is a totally different creature, its not a cyberpunk/noir piece, its got all the weird Mercerism shit in it, and actually the phrase "Blade Runner" is never mentioned once in the book. The original title was of course "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?" - they actually got the title "Blade Runner" from a William Burroughs book, which was an attempt at a screenplay that got published as a novella (it was totally unfilmable) based on an EARLIER sci-fi novel that Burroughs apparently liked and wanted to make a film treatment of.. its a cool story: https://www.theverge.com/2017/10/4/16416082/blade-runner-name-backstory-ridl...

Just before theatrical release, the studio and distributors "pulled the plug", canceling all promotional appearances and advertising. The film was shown in one or two "art houses" per major city and was solid gone in a couple of weeks (I tracked that via show time lookups).

Problem is A Scanner Darkly tells the entire truth about Wars Against Drugs, through a broad enough metaphor to remain completely relevant for a looong time. We can't have that, can we nao?

:o/