This and That

[eldritchhobbit]

Hearty thanks to everyone who responded to my poll about a Halloween-athon this October. If you haven't yet replied and would like to do so, the poll is still open here!

In other news, my article from the latest issue (October 2014) of Reason Magazine, "Not Your Parents' Dystopias: Millennial fondness for worlds gone wrong," is now online here at Reason's website.



In addition, I just accepted a lovely invitation to speak at Duquesne University in November. Pittsburgh, here I come!

Last but definitely not least, here's a Kickstarter worth attention: Young Explorer’s Adventure Guide: Tales of Science Fiction for a Middle Grade Audience. Foster the love of SF in a new generation.

Comments

[wellinghall.livejournal.com]

Ooh, must read that

[eldritchhobbit.livejournal.com]

Thank you so much!

[ankh-hpl.livejournal.com]

Big congrats on the article! I just Instapapered that puppy for later consumption.

[eldritchhobbit.livejournal.com]

Aw, thanks a million! :)

[litlover12.livejournal.com]

Great piece!

[eldritchhobbit.livejournal.com]

I'm delighted you think so! :) Thank you very much.

[gilda-elise.livejournal.com]

Wow, what a bummer it is for young people. But, while I remember reading a lot of science fiction, especially the works of Andre Norton, I don't remember tying it so much to what I thought the world would be like. I guess I wasn't as introspective as this generation appears to be. It's really quite sad.

That said, I did very much enjoy your article. :-)

[eldritchhobbit.livejournal.com]

But, while I remember reading a lot of science fiction, especially the works of Andre Norton, I don't remember tying it so much to what I thought the world would be like.

Maybe part of that was because the works were set so far in the future (I'm thinking of Norton's Star Man's Son, for instance) that they didn't have that day-after-tomorrow (or next-generation) sensibility? It strikes me that this is a shift, too, in recent storytelling.

It does make me wonder...

Thanks so much for reading the article! I really appreciate your comments.

[gilda-elise.livejournal.com]

You're probably right. And that's probably because we didn't think we'd end up destroying the world. Scifi then was more about the wonder.

[whswhs.livejournal.com]

An enjoyable article; thanks for the link!

I remember reading a number of the Tom Swift Jr. series in elementary school. But I was more a fan of the Rick Brant series, which appeared about the same time: the characters were more lifelike, and the scientific scenes were more convincing—rereading them in adulthood, I got the sense that the author had actually been in a scientific research organization at some time in his life.

From Robert Heinlein's letters, it appears that he originally envisioned Rocket Ship 'Galileo' as the first of a similar series, in which later volumes would have taken his young heroes to Mars, to the asteroids, and then had them go into business. I can't imagine this would have been as good as the books he actually wrote, or as lasting a success, but I kind of regret not having been able to read them back then.

(Curiously, the first Rick Brant novel, The Rocket's Shadow, also featured an atomic-powered moon rocket—more realistically than Heinlein's, an unmanned probe rather than a crewed vessel, though on the other hand it was launched not from the New Mexico desert but from a small island off the coast of New Jersey. Not much worry about radioactive contamination back then!)

[eldritchhobbit.livejournal.com]

An enjoyable article; thanks for the link!

Thanks so much for reading it! I'm delighted you enjoyed it.

Oh, Rick Brant! Great stuff! And that's a very useful comparison/contrast with Tom Swift Jr.

I can't imagine this would have been as good as the books he actually wrote, or as lasting a success

Good point.

but I kind of regret not having been able to read them back then.

Yes, I see what you mean! I would've loved to read those, too.

Curiously, the first Rick Brant novel, The Rocket's Shadow, also featured an atomic-powered moon rocket—more realistically than Heinlein's, an unmanned probe rather than a crewed vessel

Oh wow. Fascinating!

Not much worry about radioactive contamination back then!

LOL! Indeed!

[internet-sampo.livejournal.com]

I'm going to read it for (1) me and (2) for a possible spot in my lecture on the Millennials in my consumer behavior class. Thanks!

[eldritchhobbit.livejournal.com]

Oh, thank you!