Futurism: What does our future look like; Peter Watts, Ray Bradbury, Arthur C. Clarke

Science fiction writers have long been asked their thoughts on what the future will look like. I am currently reading Arthur C, Clarke's Astounding Days where among other things he discusses his appearances on news broadcasts during the Apollo program and his work on the film 2001. At the time of his death Ray Bradbury was remembered by Disney in the following post.

Honoring Ray Bradbury’s Contribution to Epcot

https://disneyparks.disney.go.com/blog/2012/06/honoring-ray-bradburys-contribution-to-epcot/

This morning Helen sent me a post by Canadian science fiction writer Peter Watts about one of his experiences participating in a futurist "think tank". I thought I would include it here because I found it quite interesting. Two things stood out for me. One, there are a lot of really smart inventive people out there with great ideas, and there are also a lot of people out there indulging in fuzzy/wishful thinking. (Probably nothing new) Over all, there was some humour and some food for thought. I could also identify with a number of the concerns, Watts expresses. 

https://www.rifters.com/crawl/?p=8745

My wife and I have been watching panel discussions put out by the World Science Festival, on topics as diverse as research on the human micro biome, dark matter, and the nature of consciousness. The discussion we probably liked the least featured three scientist doing very interesting research and a philosopher whose contribution to the discussion was, let's be nice and say, less clear. So I could share at least a bit of Watts' pain. But then, I like Watts, am a science geek. As an infant I was placed for some months in a facility to be treated for TB, I may not remember but my family does. I do have a photo, (thanks Aunt Vera) that I will decline to share, I look pretty cheerful, maybe they just feed me. I am only slightly older that the Salk polio vaccine and grew up in neighbourhoods where the memories of dead or crippled children were still fresh. 

"An estimated 11,000 people in Canada were left paralyzed by polio between 1949 and 1954. The disease peaked in 1953 with nearly 9,000 cases and 500 deaths -- the most serious national epidemic since the 1918 influenza pandemic. "

https://www.cpha.ca/story-polio

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I underwent cataract surgery in the last two weeks and my vision, in my 60's is literally. the best I have every experienced, they corrected for more than just the cataracts. So the current anti-science rhetoric, stemming it seems from both the left and the right, baffles me. I do still hope for the future utopias some science fiction offers us, but boy are we publishing a lot of dystopian stuff right now, even in the newspapers. I will now dismount from my soap box and take a "Flight to Forever" with Poul Anderson.

Happy Reading

Covers: Future by the great Hannes Bok

Astounding Days by Gavin Harrison

What do you see when you read

Some time ago Emily Asher-Perrin posted an article on Tor.com asking:

"How Do You “See” the Books You Read?"

https://www.tor.com/2019/02/13/how-do-you-see-the-books-you-read/

Based on the fact there were 75 comments, her essay did seem to strike a chord with people. So I am also asking, do you just read the words or do you create visual images of the places and characters the author describes? I was is my late 50's before I realized that other people did (I don't). I attribute some of this to skimming the text, but I have also noticed this inability to form a visual image using my imagination when trying to pick frames for a picture or paint from a sample. (just ask Helen) I need to see the thing complete. 

I wonder if that is part of the reason that science fiction illustration is so important to me. I own multiple copies of the same book because of the covers. I will buy one to read but then be seduced by a "better" possibly more representative cover. They don't need to be representative, I like artists was diverse as Weird Tales alumni like Hannes Bok and Virgil Finlay, the Gernsbeckian Frank R. Paul or the increasingly surreal/abstract stylings of Richard Powers but something just calls to me. That said, traditional SF tropes, space ships and suits, alien landscapes, futuristic cities and powers plants really attract me. I have discussed what conjures up science fiction to me in earlier posts, something I will come back to again and again. 

http://ajaggedorbit.blogspot.com/2018/06/science-fiction-and-me-why-i-read-what.html

Here are a couple of new arrivals that are certainly candidates based on the covers. They also have a bit of a WWII vibe (at least to me) based on the style of the suits and equipment, which reminds me of the b&w films of my youth.

Cover by H. Fox (1962)

Cover by Gordon C. Davies (1957)

Peter Nicholls, Perry Rhodan and some new arrivals

 This summer I went to the cabin with all sorts of books to read and ideas for posts. And as normal the experiences at the cabin, both good and bad, overwhelmed everything else and nothing happened here at Jagged Orbit.

So I wanted to post a bit of an update on some to the things I have read and observed over the last few months. 

First I was very sorry to read of the passing of Peter Nicholls.

"My father, Peter Nicholls, has died aged 78. He was an academic and literary critic, whose 1979 work The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction mapped the landscape of the field and remains the definitive reference work

The encyclopedia quixotically aimed at detailing every film, author and theme in the western tradition of science fiction. The entries were accessible and witty. More than a collation of facts, the encyclopedia passed judgments and advanced an argument: that science fiction was the literature of change, making it the truest literary response to the 20th century. " from

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2018/apr/17/peter-nicholls-obituary

While Peter made a number of contributions to the field, it was indeed, as the editor of the 1979 The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction that I will remember him. I purchased my copy used and, while I rushed to buy the new hardcover editions of The Science Fiction Encyclopedia (1993) and the companion volume, The Encyclopedia of Fantasy (1997) when they were released, I have always kept my tape enhanced copy of the original. Paging through it introduced me not only to new authors, (and unlike the new editions, including the online version that I urge you to use, there were the occasional photos of authors Philip K. Dick, Hugo Gernsback, Ian Watson, Brian Aldiss, Joanne Russ among others, as well as book and magazine covers, movie and tv stills and other eye catching tidbits) I really enjoyed the theme articles. These allowed me to explore Cyborgs, Time Paradoxes, History in SF, History of SF, End of the World etc. leading me to even more stories and authors. It even had an entry for Dante.

So I do want to acknowledge the importance of Peter Nicholls in my experience of SF.

You can also check out Peter's entry at the link below.

http://www.sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/nicholls_peter

Some time ago I joined the Kickstarter campaign for 2001 An Odyssey In Words so I was quite happy when this handsome copy arrived with my name among the supporters.

from the website: 
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/tomhunter/2001-an-odyssey-in-words

"Join the Odyssey

The Arthur C. Clarke Award has joined forces with NewCon Press to publish a new short story anthology that marks Sir Arthur's centenary and showcases new and exclusive work from some of the best science fiction writers in the world today.
A Story in 2001 Words

The Arthur C. Clarke Award is famous for its annual redefinition of that elusive term ‘science fiction,’ and Sir Arthur was always adamant that while the award may be named for him, it shouldn’t be styled on his work.

We wanted to make sure that the scope of the anthology was as broad as the fluid definition of science fiction for which the Clarke Award is renowned, while still retaining a direct acknowledgement of Sir Arthur’s own work.

The solution? A collection where every story has all the scope and freedom to imagine that an author might possibly want, but where the word count had to be precisely 2001 words (and we had rules about authors playing clever games with super-long story titles, just to make sure)."

I have only read a few stories so far, my favourites would be "Childhood's Friend" by Rachel Pollack and "Golgotha" by David Hutchinson. It is obvious that the authors in this collection are familiar with Clarke's body of work and that one can expect the stories to range widely in subject and focus.

I am always looking for new websites and posts where I can see what works and subjects interest other people about SF and perhaps introduce me to topics I will chose to explore in more detail. One such website is at the following link.

http://johnguycollick.com/perry-rhodan/

The first post I read was on Perry Rhodan a series I knew about but had never read. Looking over this website I also found a nice post with an editorial by Hugo Gernsback and entries on a number of SF artists including two of my favourites Bruce Pennington and Peter A. Jones. In a funny (spooky?) coincidence two days after reading the post we were laying in bed with our computers and my wife said "I just got an email from Jan, she wants to know if you are interested in Perry Rhodan because she just saw some at Fair's Fair". And it turns out I was.

Another new arrival was the next/last volume in Jonathan Strahan's Infinity series, Infinity's End. I have quite enjoyed the series, my only quibble would be the various size changes that have occurred over the course of the series. This is not the only series where this has happened but it always ticks me off, I have to shelve these, help me out here people. And really I have never understood the need for the large format paperback period. That said I have dipped in and liked everything I read so far with good stories by Seanan McGuire, Linda Nagata, Peter Watts and especially Foxy and Tiggs by Justina Robson. A fox and velociraptor security team working for an AI managed hotel to solve a murder, come on, I have to stop now and read it again.  

Photo credits

from The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction (1979)

- This marvellous cover by Frank R. Paul Feb 1933 , is the basis for the jacket illustration for the US edition of this Encyclopedia. Adapted by Dave Christensen, typography by Al Nagy.

- 2001cover Fangorn

- Perry Rhodan uncredited

Penguin Books 3 (Pelican Books, the history) The Exploration of Space, Arthur C Clarke, 1958.

 In 1936, Allen Lane, the founder of Penguin, overheard a woman at a bookstall in King’s Cross station asking for ‘one of those Pelican books’. Presumably she meant a Penguin, but Lane, concerned that his competitors might snatch up bird names, decided to launch a new flock of non-fiction books. The Pelican imprint was born."

And thus an imprint for non-fiction books was born."

"In 2014, after nearly three decades in retirement, Pelican was reborn. In its new incarnation Pelican continues the same mission: to publish truly accessible books from authoritative and award-winning writers on a wide range of essential subjects. Pelicans are for those topics you are interested in, but feel you don’t know enough about, whether it’s architecture or the brain, evolution or Islam. You can expect many more Pelicans to take flight in 2015 and beyond."

https://www.pelicanbooks.com/about

To acknowledge the  Pelican re-launch The Guardian published a great overview of the Pelican imprint.

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/apr/25/pelican-books-take-flight-relaunch

"The volumes came thick and fast, and were classy. In the 10 months between August 1958 and May 1959, for instance, Pelican titles included Kenneth Clark's study of Leonardo, Hoggart's The Uses of Literacy, The Exploration of Space by Arthur C. Clarke."