SFL Archives Vol 13
5.9 mb raw text file
30% completion, 59 bookmarks
-1988 technology level: An SFLer is theory-crafting a electronic time capsule with a variable lifespan of 50-200 years, but can't figure out the KISS timing method used to "activate" slash open the time capsule, or the long term power solution for it. A few SFLer's respond with "use radioactively decaying elements for the timer/power elements"....after all the request was for KISS methods not easy or cheap methods
(2020 note: In this case, KISS stands for "Keep It Simple, Stupid", not the 1970's/80's band.)
-BOSKONE 25 happens and it is a massive karmic letdown. The BOSKONE 25 convention was kicked out of Boston after the hijinks of BOSKONE 24, and took place in downtown Springfield MA in two separate locations. The 2 SFLer's who bothered mentioning BOSKONE 25 noted the anemic attendance, lackluster scheduled convention panels, lack of costumes/cosplayers, and a utter lack of enthusiasm everywhere.
(2020 note: There was a staggering amount of drama about what happened at BOSKONE 24 & the revised convention format for BOSKONE 25 in SFL Vol 12a & 12b.)
-Flying car debate lead to discussion of STOL/VTOL aircraft and what take-off and landing requirements they require vs commercial jet aircraft & military planes.
-One of the first mentions of Ted Nelson and their masterwork COMPUTER LIB/DREAM MACHINES
(2020 note: Ted Nelson basically predicted everything about the Internet back in 1974. Yes, seriously.)
-A weird 1960's movie called THE MONITORS, brief discussion of Dean Ing's mormon-assassin survivalist series, THE JUPITER THEFT as the answer to the identify-this-story request that involved planets moving due to relativistic spacecraft speeds, 1988 book publishers doing 2020 style price rip-offs when releasing Samuel Beckett's THE LOST ONES, now long forgotten TV series PROBE and THE HIGHWAYMEN.
-SFLer's comment on various republished/newly revised editions of Philip K Dick's work, with explanations as to why two conflicting versions of THE UNTELEPORTED MAN exist.
-Belated SFL Archives death notices for Randall Garrett and C.L. Moore.
-First SFL Archives mention of Tim Powers ON STRANGER TIDES, which most people know vis osmosis of Disney Park rides and the PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN movies.
-RED DWARF the tv-series premieres, and most SFLer's do not like it, but seem interested enough in the premise and the episodes to keep watching it.
-1988 SFLer's comment on the fascination scifi & mil-fiction authors having with writing Nazi regime alternate history stories/book series, with various Nazi leaders in the "good-guy" roles.
(2020 note: this trend would note stop for a while, arguably it's still going on.)
-Chuq Von Rospach, SFWA crusader, highly recommends a David Gerrold YA book. And I'm just going to wholesale quote Rospach's recommendation because it goes places.
The third book is Gerrold's, and it's LOTS of fun. Imagine a YA book with
cussing, cannibalism, orgies, rape, torture, etc. etc. etc. Better, that
stuff is all written in so that kids probably will never see it -- and it's
one of the most fun books I've ever read from Gerrold. Probably a little
too intense for some kids, frankly, but for adults, I'd call this the
sleeper of the year (good, but generally overlooked). It's a Walker &
Company hardback, by the way, ISBN 0-8027-6688-9 (data from otherrealms
#19).
-Including ISBN codes in SFL Archives book reviews/SFL Archives book recommendations suddenly becomes a thing.
(2020 note: One of the SFLer's half-doxxed themselves as a research librarian back in January 1988, offering their help if other SLFer's needed assistance looking up books/stories/authors. Suspect the ISBN codes are SFLer's using them as a look-up source or realizing the beautiful of ISBN code lookups independently.)
-First SFL Archives mention of Richard Kadrey and their cyberpunk story METROPHAGE
(2020 note: This was fun, for various reasons. Circa 2020, Kadrey has been on the SANDMAN SLIM kick for a while, and finding out Kadrey was once able to write characters that didn't revolve around remembering old monster films/old italian grindhouse movies was amusing and informative.)
-C.S. Lewis & NARNIA discussion does the impossible, and drowns out attempts at reviving Robert Heinlein chat, JRR Tolkien chat, AND Stephen Donaldson chat. Narnia and CS Lewis discussion brings up various things, with the christianity ting and JRR Tolkien maybe converting CS Lewis to Christianity coming up.
-The Vonda McIntyre Internet mentioned in SFL Vol 12 readthrough update 01 happens, and some of Vonda McIntyre's more pertinent replies get requoted. McIntyre wrote a STAR TREK novel that focused on the well-known TOS crew as they gradually moved towards serving together on the NCC-1701 Enterprise. SFL & Star Trek fan reaction to that novel was rough to extremely angry when it came out and got reviewed.
(2020 note: McIntyre revealing in the inteview that she relied exclusively on material from Gene Roddenberry and George Takei when coming up with character backgrounds and character names was very very amusing given the very angry reactions from SFLer's about not using fan-canon first names for TOS cast members.)
-ARTHURIAN MYTHOS chat comes up, without any outside influence such as a recent Arthurian mythos movie, or book. Heavy discussion of Arthurian Mythos characters, modern authors takes on Arthurian Mythos, and lots of sources and reading list recommendations for Arthurian Mythos connected works.
(2020 note: Most of these posts are probably old news for Arthurian Mythos devotees, however some of the posts might contain new material or now-forgotten source material.)
-A SFLer wants to know how fact-based David Drake's HAMMERS SLAMMERS stories are, especially regarding Iridium as being used as armor/construction material in the Slammers hover-tanks. Various SFLer's response, citing Iridium as plausible, but also taking note of the various IRL issues with the Hammer's Slammers company, and the stacked writing David Drake used in the Hammers Slammers stories.
-APRIL FOOLS DAY 1988, and the SFL Archives April Fools Day jokes/fake news/posts. A slight "no that was a joke" backlash occurs when the SF-LOVERS mailing list maintainer joins in the fun with a "LAST ISSUE/we're getting shutdown due to the U.S. Government" post.
-An SFLer requests U.S. Civil War science-fiction stories. And gets some feedback, including another SFLer giving U.S. Civil War stories recommendations in a Southern American accent for their entire post, including their name.
(2020 note: Harry Turtledove would go on to fulfill this request for U.S. Civil War science-fiction stories for at least 2 decades.)
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