Member: arthurfrayn

Yes!! Thanks for the Rick Geary info!! I'd love to get my hands on some original art by him.

posted by illustrationfan at 10:08 pm (EST) on Apr 11, 2009

Thank you, Arthur. I hope to photograph the rest of the covers in the course of time, I like your range of interests in books. Beyond reading H.G.Wells and Jules Verne and enjoying some of the great sci fi movies, I haven't been much exposed to the genre.

posted by pageboy at 9:29 am (EST) on Mar 14, 2009

Looking through your reviews, I see you are not grading on a curve!

posted by slickdpdx at 12:00 pm (EST) on Jan 20, 2009

Enjoyed reading your review of Terminal Beach. My favorite story was the one about everything turning into crystal. An uneven collection, worth reading, but not especially good. I'd give it three stars too. Wait, I just looked and I did!

posted by slickdpdx at 3:06 pm (EST) on Jan 18, 2009

Happy Christmas to you, your family, and your kitties. :)

Hope it's a wonderful time of year for you.

~hugs~

K

posted by Severn at 4:56 pm (EST) on Dec 22, 2008

You rock!! Thanks for your support and efforts!! Very awesome!! I also went through and invited some comic fans from this site.. This should be fun!!

posted by illustrationfan at 10:40 am (EST) on Dec 22, 2008

I forgot to ask, have you read Tyranopolis by A E van Vogt yet? If you have, what's it like?
He's one of my favorite writers, although I don't own many of his books anymore. War Against the Rull is pretty much my favorite of his.

Thanks again.

posted by battlinjack at 2:34 am (EST) on Dec 22, 2008

Ok! the first illustration and comic group is up and running!!! When you have time stop on by and share your thoughts and comments, suggestions....!!! I will probably set up another group for late 19th and 20th century illustration books and commercial art.. (Franklin Booth, Pogány, Rackham, Dulac, etc....
Stay tuned and thanks again for the suggestion!! I owe you a cold beverage of your choice!!!

~illustrationfan

posted by illustrationfan at 12:22 pm (EST) on Dec 21, 2008

Thanks! I have both Golden books (It's about time) and the DVD about him also.
Now All I need to do is get my hands on some original art of some Micronauts covers.. !!

posted by illustrationfan at 4:40 pm (EST) on Dec 15, 2008

Doing great, thanks for asking!! I hope you are doing well also.. I'm currently adding more Wrightson books n stuff to Librarything.. check it out when you have time...
Get that Booth book when you can!!! It makes a great stocking stuffer also!!!

posted by illustrationfan at 5:13 pm (EST) on Dec 14, 2008

Arthur: I do believe you win the cigar.

I pulled up the Wikipedia synopsis, which I greatly appreciated receiving and it all sounded very familiar, particularly the mid-section of the novella, based I believe on Sturgeon's short story "Baby is Three".

Most likely this is actual piece I read in some compilation in the dim dark past. In any event, its the title story of Book 6 of North Atlantic's "Complete Stories of Theodore Sturgeon" which I've just ordered and hope it doesn't get stuck somewhere in the holiday
package crunch.

With my thanks for your input and best wishes for the holiday,
BHM

posted by bhmerems at 7:18 pm (EST) on Dec 8, 2008

He writes a column monthly in Asimov's magazine. I recall his mentioning this alternate writing interest of his. Thank you for the alert, though frankly it matters little to me. I am sufficiently intrigued that I plan to read the book. I am fascinated by time travel stories generally, so that as long as the writing is up to snuff, I am interested. Add to that themes of tweaking the course of history, playing around with the Crucifixion, and the like, and I feel a need to fill in the gaps in my knowledge base.

Appreciating SF is thus enhanced, as it involves the working and reworking of familiar tropes, referring back to previous standards, somewhat like the call-and-response of jazz. Familiarity with earlier works is vital to put later works in perspective.

I feel similarly about post-apocalyptic fiction. The caveat again is that it must be well-written. I had greater tolerance for good ideas written awkwardly when I was younger. Time is precious now that I am not immortal.

[Oh yes, another sub-genre I will read promiscuously: Books with themes of immortality, eg. Anderson's The Boat of a Million Years, Silverberg's To Live Again, Zelazny's This Immortal, etc.]

[All of these deal with history in some way. Interestingly, David Brin has said that almost all science-fiction authors read history. "Science-fiction was misnamed. It should have been called speculative history."]

Sorry to drone on, but the spirit moved me...

posted by stellarexplorer at 1:04 am (EST) on Oct 15, 2008

ArthurF, good to see you! It's been great seeing folks I've known from other forums pop up here. I hope you enjoy it, I know I have. I've missed the SFFWorld forums!

posted by Archren at 1:52 pm (EST) on Feb 23, 2008

Hey again. :) One positive to this new place (and there are quite a few negatives sadly) is all my lovely bookshelves. I've existed with one ugly one an ex made years ago (it really is ugly, it barely looks like a bookshelf..more like a complicated and uncomfortable bedframe heh). Now, I have these two, new, proper shelves - proper as in they have backs, and nice decoration at the top and things. Oh and varnish. Let's not forget the varnish. I'm enthralled by them. In fact, I'm guilty of just randomly stopping in a room and staring at one. For minutes at a time.

Hm.

Maybe I'm just mad. I'm a bookshelf stalker. The poor things probably tremble when they see me come by. 'What's she going to do next? ~quaver~'

Reading is all right. I've just read a bunch of Hobb (her new ones) and loved them, as I do with all her stuff. I've just finished today an odd little generational story (called 'Away') stretching from Ireland during the potato famine in the 1800's to present day Canada. It had it's moments of truly beautiful story-telling. But, it was one of those stories where the line between the supernatural and reality is blurred. I've figured out I don't like that too much. Instead of going with the flow, and knowing where I stood, I spent the time wondering if the female leads could really talk to birds and fairies, or if they were just stark, raving mad.

At least I don't talk to my bookshelves. Yet.

So, what's slowing your reading down? Time? Life?

posted by Severn at 6:32 am (EST) on Oct 30, 2007

Hello!

Nice library you have there. :)

posted by Severn at 9:45 pm (EST) on Sep 3, 2007

I just wanted to say I liked your review of Cities in Flight -- for my money, you nailed it exactly. I was almost embarrassed to be reading it, which is a shame because as you say, the first and last sections were quite entertaining.

posted by airminded at 11:06 pm (EST) on Jun 9, 2007

Good user name choice. You also have pretty good taste in written sf.

posted by rameau at 5:03 pm (EST) on May 2, 2007