'Science Fiction and You' discussion (plus surprise)

[des2]

By simply posting on this thread with an explanation of why you enjoy 'science fiction', you will be eligible for a free copy of the acclaimed NEMO BOOK (Nemo 5) -- author details here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nemonymous -- posted free by surface mail!

Following your post here, please contact me at bfitzworth@yahoo.co.uk to claim your reward.

All the best, des

ZENCORE anthology: http://www.nemonymous.com
"this is one of the best anthologies of the year" - Jim Steel

Other Bumps for Books:
http://weirdmonger.mindsay.com/bumps_for_books.mws

EDITED (27/7/07): to change subject heading
EDITED (2/8/07): to change subject heading again
EDITED (16/8/07): to encompass worldwide addresses instead of just UK.

========================
_________________
NULL IMMORTALIS

[Foxie]

My scronging sense is tingling . . .

Before I answer Des, why do you want to know? I mean, I can moider all you want - and would be quite happy to - but I'm sure I can make it far more useful to you if I can try and answer a specific query or some such. I think what I mean is, 'what are you going to use the information for?'. If telling us is going to prejudice the results, then just tell me to hush and answer.

Erm, sorry. I'm very tired today. I'm sure I got the idea across. I'm going to be quiet now. Maybe I'll answer tomorrow. If you answer. Yeah. Erm. Tomatoes!

[des2]

Hi, Foxie
All my bump offers are purely philanthropic with no hidden catches. If there is an ulterior motive it is to make the Zencore anthology more well known as a spin off.
To ask what you enjoy in SF is to make this thread relevant to Interaction.
It need only be a one-liner: like SF's cool!
Or an essay on SF and what it means to you.
Or something in between.
Whatever the case, this is a genuine offer for a delighfully bright spark of a nemo book (2005) sent to you in UK completely free of charge. I hope hundreds can be sent in this way.
des
_________________
NULL IMMORTALIS

[Foxie]

Well, okay, here goes. Here's why I love sci-fi:
(Don't worry, it's not going to be very unique or interesting.)

It's a teaching tool.
Sci-fi helps us to understand the world around us. It helps us to take a good hard look at ourselves and decide if we like what we see. It's kind of like history, only without the guilt. And in showing us what could be, it helps us to avoid it.
I mean, look at our language. The way we understand the dangers of the world around us are expressed in language first found in sci-fi. Typical example: Big Brother. Or Eugenics Wars. And these are messages that reach out and speak to us in a basic, infantile language that we understand without realising it. I mean, take Darth Vader. A man who sacrifices his soul for power, greed and ambition, and the more he sacrifices, the more of his flesh he loses. Or the seed of them all – the Frankenstein complex.
Not only that, but it helps us to talk about and understand the most noble aspects of human nature. Mobil phones happened because someone saw Star Trek and thought that their communicates were a fantastic little gizmo.
The advances of technology aren't directed, aren't produced and they aren't orchestrated. Little things happen here and there, entirely unrelated. Someone comes along, and puts two little things together, to make a slighter bigger thing. And it happens again, and suddenly we're a mile away from where we started and no one noticed. Where is the internet going to take us? What kind of a society is it going to breed? The language to understand it is going to come from sci-fi. It already is. And when we understand it, we can start to be drivers instead of passengers.

I don't like this world very much.
A little escapism is nice. It's healthy. There's nothing wrong with living in a world of possibilities and probabilities. I have to get up and go to work every day. It's a fight to do anything other than wake up, work, waste time, and go to bed again. It's nice not to have to fight for a while. It's nice to experience things that aren't even possible. If we were being ground under the heal of a totalitarian despot, if humanity was being squeezed out the world, if everyone was laying down to die, would I stand up and refuse to give in? Would I fight? Probably not. But I can feel like I did. And if it does happen, I have a few places to start.

Art is good, and needs room to breathe.
You aren't constrained in sci-fi. In films and television especially. Those set designers and special effects guys who got into a craft because they loved it can stretch their wings, take off and see where they go. The writers suddenly are constrained by the social norms. They can sit down and make their own world, with their own rules. They can sit down and define every aspect of the world. So long as they're consistent.

Put them all together, and you have something which is interesting, challenging, innovative, fun, creative and a part of ourselves.

Plus light sabres are cool.

Very cool.

[Journeymouse]

I enjoy science fiction because it is reasoned escapism. Everything that happens in science fiction happens in other worlds, so is never quite as grim and bitter as other thrillers and horrors. And as it is a reflection of our own world and subject to the same basic laws of nature, it's easier to identify with than some fantasy. Both factors mean that to work well it hasd to be very well thought out and executed, to keep it realistic and consistent.

That said, for total escapism, pick up a Mills and Boon
_________________
Jo Thomas
http://www.journeymouse.net/

[des2]

Thanks!
A free Nemo 5 earned so far by Jo and Foxie.
des
_________________
NULL IMMORTALIS

[des2]

This makes it all worthwhile. Just received this comment on another similar thread I'm running elsewhere:

"Des, I just received my copy of Nemo 5. I love it!!! I brought it with me to work today. Hopefully the bosses will take the day off or leave early so I can read it. If not my house will not get cleaned until I have read it. So far I have only read the first story "The Robot & The Octopus". It was brilliant!!! All I want to do is read every story forget work forget everything else. HAHAHA!!! Thank you so much Des!!!"

des
_________________
NULL IMMORTALIS

[Harpal]

Sci Fi is not all escapism its more of the WOW when you first start and later as you get more into it the WOW gets less and less then it becomes more of an entertainment, but I still enjoy it for the fantastic landscapes it shows

[GLP]

I write SF because it is an exploration of all the things we can be... but not necessarily all the things we will be.
_________________
http://www.garethlpowell.com

[Jim Steel]

I just like stories with monsters and big fxxking spaceships. And I fully support the campaign to free the Nemo 5. Or at least get them a retrial.

[iansales]

Spaceships are cool. I wish I had a spaceship. I wish I had a copy of Nemo 5. Does it have spaceships in it?

[Foxie]

A running trend seems to be, 'sci-fi technology is cool'. Which it is, unquestionably. Space ships are, without question, cool. Could this be another example of the human penchant for over-specification? I mean, how many of us that own air-filled Nikes actually run marathons in them? Or those of us with diver's watches actually dive? And why do cars go up to 140 mph when the speed limit is 70?

Because it's cool, that's why. Why do I want a P4 with 1gig of RAM when I only surf the net a bit and type? Because I do. Damnit.

Why have an aeroplane when you can have a spaceship? Why walk when you can teleport?

[Journeymouse]

Oh, how about a spaceship that doubles as a submarine? That could be tricky seeing as one is designed not to expand into the vaccum and the other is designed not to get crushed under great pressures...

Might have problems parking it at work, though.
_________________
Jo Thomas
http://www.journeymouse.net/

[des2]

SF is keeping up with the Joneses, keeping one step ahead of the future in air-filled Nikes
_________________
NULL IMMORTALIS

[Foxie]