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 Post subject: Martian Oddysey by Stanley Weinbaum
PostPosted: Mon Mar 08, 2004 6:42 am 
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Anyone familiar with Martian Oddysey, a short story from the 1930s. IMO, a terrible story, almost nothing but dialogue. By the end of the story, you just want to tell these characters to "SHUT UP". And it reads like a comic book, not a good short story. Allegdly it is one of the best of early written short stories. taraswizard
Allan Rosewarne N9SQT/WDX6HQV
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 Post subject: Re: Martian Oddysey by Stanley Weinbaum
PostPosted: Mon Mar 08, 2004 4:54 pm 
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can't say that I am... *****
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 Post subject: Re: Martian Oddysey by Stanley Weinbaum
PostPosted: Mon Mar 08, 2004 6:29 pm 
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I've never heard of that one, but one of these days I would like to track down some of the really old masters and read some of their stuff... ******************************************************

Our lives are the songs that sing the universe into existence.~David Zindell
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 Post subject: Re: Martian Oddysey by Stanley Weinbaum
PostPosted: Mon Mar 08, 2004 9:02 pm 
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Duchesse wrote before me Quote:I've never heard of that one, but one of these days I would like to track down some of the really old masters and read some of their stuff...

Well, Duchesse, I'm not sure I would immediately agree. Not that some of the old stuff is not good, some of it's very good. Just, IMO, some of it so pointedly dated. For my community college class we are reading a deal of this stuff. Can not say I am not enjoying it cause I am. Just some of the dated references, for example: MDs making house calls, a delivery boy delivering groceries using a bicycle, and references to ration stamps. I am not sure if the authors thought everyone would always understand these references, or if they thought their stories would just die away and noone would care 50 or 60 years later. IMO, these types of things hurt the writing.

Some might be troubled(concerned) by the abscence of women characters or well developed women characters. Or the abscence of well developed characters in general. More to follow...(maybe) added maybe I am being overly critcal. But the best stories (see below) have almost no reference to information that dates things. Twilight and Nightfall. taraswizard
Allan Rosewarne N9SQT/WDX6HQV
Chicago area
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 Post subject: Re: Martian Oddysey by Stanley Weinbaum
PostPosted: Mon Mar 08, 2004 9:23 pm 
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Yeah, some of the older stuff really doesn't work for me. On the other hand, some guys like Phillip K. Dick can still make it work. Even though the sentient computer might run off of punched tape reels... ________________
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 Post subject: Re: Martian Oddysey by Stanley Weinbaum
PostPosted: Tue Mar 09, 2004 1:43 am 
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For Danlo's and everyones information. The anthology for my community college class might be what you had in mind. It is The science fiction hall of fame; volume one 1929 - 1964 editor Robert Silverberg. Selections for the anthology were made based on a poll of SFWA www.sfwa.org members.

Table of contents:
A martian odyssey by Stanely Weinbaum 1934
Twilight by John Campbell 1934
Helen O'Loy by Lester del Rey 1938
The roads must roll by Robert Heinlein 1940
Microcosmic god by Theodore Sturgeon 1941
Nightfall by Issac Asimov 1941
The weapon shop by A.E. van Vogt 1942
Mimsy were the borogoves by Lewis Padgett 1943
Huddling Place by Clifford Simak 1944
Arena by Frederic Brown 1944
First contact by Murray Leinster 1945
That only a mother by Judith Merril 1948
Scanners live in vain by Cordwainer Smith 1948
Mars is Heaven by Ray Bradbury 1948
The little black bag by C.M. Kornbluth 1950
Born of man and woman by Richard Matheson 1950
Coming attraction by Fritz Leiber 1950
The quest for Saint Aquin by Anthony Boucher 1951
Surface tension by James Blish 1952
The nine billion names of god by Arthur Clarke 1953
It's a good life by Jerome Bixby 1953
The cold equations by Tom Godwin 1954
Fondly Fahrenheit by Alfred Bester 1954
The country of the kind by Damon Knight 1955
Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes 1959
A rose for Ecclesiastes by Roger Zelazney 1963
taraswizard
Allan Rosewarne N9SQT/WDX6HQV
Chicago area
W/T forever, always
Plan C - http://planc.bravepages.com/main.html<i></i>


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 Post subject: Re: Martian Oddysey by Stanley Weinbaum
PostPosted: Sun Mar 21, 2004 10:11 am 
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I actually kind of like reading the really old stuff - the anacrhonisms make for extra weirdness or something. But then, I'm a mid-century design buff, so I have fun imagining all the cool "streamline modern" architecture and fins and flanges on everything. Plus, the idea of astronauts with Errol Flynn pencil mustaches cracks me up.

I've got this great anthology, Science Fiction of the 30's (1975) edited by Damon Knight. It has the Stanley G. Weinbaum story "The Mad Moon" in it, so I thought I'd give that a try. It's a surreal, if somewhat silly tale of survival on the Jovian moon Io, whose jungles (uh, okay) are populated by various zany-but-dangerous life-forms. Pulpy, but entertaining with colorful writing. I'd read more Weinbaum if I ran across it. ******************

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 Post subject: Re: Martian Oddysey by Stanley Weinbaum
PostPosted: Sun Mar 21, 2004 8:31 pm 
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Alph Seeker, I am with about the BEMs, or strange creatures in other garb, in Weinbaum's story!! Martian Oddysey has its own share fo strange creatures. Regardless of the anachronisms in some of the other stories, MO is just so loaded with dialogue. It was tedious to read. Short story as first person narrated expository dialogue, what my beginning fiction instructor might have to say about this!? taraswizard
Allan Rosewarne N9SQT/WDX6HQV
Chicago area
W/T forever, always
Plan C - http://planc.bravepages.com/main.html<i>Edited by: taraswizard at: 3/21/04 1:34 pm
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 Post subject: SF Hall of Fame...Vol 1
PostPosted: Tue Mar 23, 2004 11:45 am 
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I actually have a copy of this, though mine only has the first eleven stories on TW's list.

I'm very tempted to do a big time re-read, but where do you find the time with so much else to get through?

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 Post subject: Re: SF Hall of Fame...Vol 1 review at Strange Horizons
PostPosted: Fri Apr 02, 2004 5:55 pm 
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The book in question SF Hall of Fame, volume 1. There is a review at the Strange Horizons website www.strangehorizons.com. Link to the review www.strangehorizons.com/2...rows.shtml

I do not think I agree with all this reviewers opinions. But YMMV. taraswizard
Allan Rosewarne N9SQT/WDX6HQV
Chicago area
W/T forever, always
Plan C - http://planc.bravepages.com/main.html<i></i>


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