> On Thu, 28 Jan 1999, Thomas Anderson wrote:
> On Thu, 28 Jan 1999, John C wrote:
Infamy? You didn't like the "Red/Green/Blue Mars" trilogy? His
characters are interesting, his science seems accurate (or at least a very
high order of PSB) and the setting was interesting. (but then, I'm a
Mars-colonization and just-Mars story junkie...I own all of ERB's John
Carter of Mars books as well. Great silly space opera...)
'Anno Dracula' and 'Bloody Red Baron' by Newman are also good books, as
someone already mentioned. _Really_ alternate history...
> On Thu, 28 Jan 1999, Brian Burger wrote:
> On Thu, 28 Jan 1999, Thomas Anderson wrote:
i can't really say; i read about half of red mars, but by then it was so
boring i gave up. i know this is a statement of the most unforgivable heresy!
i intend to go back and read it one day, as everyone else in the world says it
is brilliant. they can't all be wrong (although there could be a sequence in
the second half of the book which taps into embedded language patters to
brainwash fnord the reader into thinking he had just read a brilliant book
...).
specifically, arthur clarke did space elevators better in "the fountains of
paradise", criminals in space better in "garden of rama" and terraforming mars
better in "the snows of olympus". but then, i'm just a
clarke fanatic, so we should just call a truce here :-).
> His characters
characters? if i want characters, i read umberto eco. if i want space
elevators and genetic engineering, i read sf. and, yes, i am being facetious
here.
> his science seems accurate (or at least a very high order
well, there's one thing, taking in setting and science: the suggestion that
mars could be made fit for shirtsleeve human habitation makes me foam at the
mouth and reach for my massdriver. that and the fact that once
you've read one terraform-mars story, you've read 'em all ... :-).
still (he wrote, making a token attempt to bring the message back
on-topic), you might be able to put together a scenario involving a
space fleet trying to catch the top end of a collapsing elevator so that they
can avert planetary disaster, whilst another fleet tries to stop them.
Tom
> On Thu, 28 Jan 1999, Brian Burger wrote:
Same here. Gaahhhh.
> i know this is a statement of the most unforgivable
Sure they could. And I intend to leave it right on the shelf where it is.
- Sam
In a message dated 99-01-28 20:42:22 EST, you write:
<< Infamy? You didn't like the "Red/Green/Blue Mars" trilogy? His
characters are interesting, his science seems accurate (or at least a very
high order of PSB) and the setting was interesting. (but then, I'm a
Mars-colonization and just-Mars story junkie...I own all of ERB's John
Carter of Mars books as well. Great silly space opera...)
'Anno Dracula' and 'Bloody Red Baron' by Newman are also good books, as
someone already mentioned. _Really_ alternate history... >>
Check out "the case for Mars" it is very well done (and the idea is cheep to
do!)
-Stephen