"Bad Books", and the Readers That Love Them

Inexplicably not titled "Why I Own Most of Hal Clement's Novels."

https://reactormag.com/bad-books-and-the-readers-that-love-them/
--
My reviews can be found at http://jamesdavisnicoll.com/
My tor pieces at https://www.tor.com/author/james-davis-nicoll/
My Dreamwidth at https://james-davis-nicoll.dreamwidth.org/
My patreon is at https://www.patreon.com/jamesdnicoll

On 4/15/2024 10:21 AM, James Nicoll wrote:
> "Bad Books", and the Readers That Love Them
>
> Inexplicably not titled "Why I Own Most of Hal Clement's Novels."
>
> https://reactormag.com/bad-books-and-the-readers-that-love-them/

Sometimes the setting is extraordinary enough to grab the attention,
regardless possible presence of plot holes and poor characterization.

examples:

Rendevous with Rama
Ringworld
SeveneveS

pt

On 4/15/2024 9:21 AM, James Nicoll wrote:
> "Bad Books", and the Readers That Love Them
>
> Inexplicably not titled "Why I Own Most of Hal Clement's Novels."
>
> https://reactormag.com/bad-books-and-the-readers-that-love-them/

Your bad book is my exciting young men's adventure story.

Lynn

On 15 Apr 2024 14:21:37 -0000, jdnicoll@panix.com (James Nicoll)
wrote:

>"Bad Books", and the Readers That Love Them
>
>Inexplicably not titled "Why I Own Most of Hal Clement's Novels."
>
>https://reactormag.com/bad-books-and-the-readers-that-love-them/

A great column!

Why do I think this column is great? Clearly it's a bad column; it
advocates wrongthink!

Ah, but it scratches my itch! It defends the right to exist of genre
fiction in general, and golden age pulp SF in particular! In
*addition* to the lesser-quality, much derided, 'bad' science fiction
of today which dares to offend the sensibilities of this more advanced
time by attempting to cater to the same audiences as consumed pulp
science fiction in days of yore.

Despite the much higher price of newsprint these days, as well as the
availability of the Internet, video games, and other distractions,
which are the cause of print fiction being almost wholly conquered by
those left-wing Arts graduates who insist on three-dimensional
characters and all the rest of the ingredients of real literature.

I remember, ages ago, reading a magazine article from a "Sunday
Supplement" (actually came with the Saturday edition, as here in
Canada our newspapers were influenced by old blue laws) titled "A Tree
Grows in Brazil", I think, about how a super-fast growing tree variety
developed to grow in Brazil was going to put the Canadian forestry
industry out of business.

Since the high cost of newsprint has contributed to the decline of
pulp genre fiction including pulp SF, this has given me a
science-fiction story idea. A science fiction fan who wishes to bring
back the good old days decides to go into silvicultural research.

Hilarity, or at least something on the order of kudzu, ensues.

John Savard

On Wed, 17 Apr 2024 15:33:44 -0600, John Savard
<quadibloc@servername.invalid> wrote:

>Since the high cost of newsprint has contributed to the decline of
>pulp genre fiction including pulp SF, this has given me a
>science-fiction story idea. A science fiction fan who wishes to bring
>back the good old days decides to go into silvicultural research.
>
>Hilarity, or at least something on the order of kudzu, ensues.

Of course, the title "The Word for World is Forest" has already been
taken, for a story of quite a different kind...

John Savard

On 2024-04-15, James Nicoll <jdnicoll@panix.com> wrote:

> "Bad Books", and the Readers That Love Them
> Inexplicably not titled "Why I Own Most of Hal Clement's Novels."
>
> https://reactormag.com/bad-books-and-the-readers-that-love-them/

| Sometimes readers simply want ripping adventure stories inspired by
| the unusual behavior of water at 374 C under a pressure of 218
| atmospheres.[3]

_Close to Critical_, I guess? It's been too long, I don't recall
anything about it.

"Unusual", of course, is betraying your biased viewpoint. Everybody
knows that water is... a rock. (_Still River_, where the human is
the very literally hot-blooded one.)

| [3] Yes, yes, eutectic water/ammonia mixes are also cool.

_Star Light_. Possibly others. Clement really had a thing for the
properties of water/ammonia mixes, but I think _Star Light_ was his
only novel basically built around that. And Dondragmer got to be
more than the reliable second-in-command, although you could still
get a paper cut from his character.

--
Christian "naddy" Weisgerber naddy@mips.inka.de

In article <slrnv252ci.17f0.naddy@lorvorc.mips.inka.de>,
Christian Weisgerber <naddy@mips.inka.de> wrote:

> On 2024-04-15, James Nicoll <jdnicoll@panix.com> wrote:
>
> > "Bad Books", and the Readers That Love Them
> > Inexplicably not titled "Why I Own Most of Hal Clement's Novels."
> >
> > https://reactormag.com/bad-books-and-the-readers-that-love-them/
>
> | Sometimes readers simply want ripping adventure stories inspired by
> | the unusual behavior of water at 374 C under a pressure of 218
> | atmospheres.[3]
>
> _Close to Critical_, I guess? It's been too long, I don't recall
> anything about it.
>
> "Unusual", of course, is betraying your biased viewpoint. Everybody
> knows that water is... a rock.
>

Ahem, a gas - see _Ice World_.

--
"We have advanced to new and surprising levels of bafflement."
Imperial Auditor Miles Vorkosigan describes progress in _Komarr_.
�-----------------------------------------------------
Robert Woodward robertaw@drizzle.com

Robert Woodward <robertaw@drizzle.com> wrote:
>In article <slrnv252ci.17f0.naddy@lorvorc.mips.inka.de>,
> Christian Weisgerber <naddy@mips.inka.de> wrote:
>
>> On 2024-04-15, James Nicoll <jdnicoll@panix.com> wrote:
>>
>> > "Bad Books", and the Readers That Love Them
>> > Inexplicably not titled "Why I Own Most of Hal Clement's Novels."
>> >
>> > https://reactormag.com/bad-books-and-the-readers-that-love-them/
>>
>> | Sometimes readers simply want ripping adventure stories inspired by
>> | the unusual behavior of water at 374 C under a pressure of 218
>> | atmospheres.[3]
>>
>> _Close to Critical_, I guess? It's been too long, I don't recall
>> anything about it.
>>
>> "Unusual", of course, is betraying your biased viewpoint. Everybody
>> knows that water is... a rock.
>
>Ahem, a gas - see _Ice World_.

Water is a liquid except under very unusual circumstances. I know there are
places like "Buffalo" and "Michigan" where water can be seen in solid form
but this is not normal and not to be encountered under conditions capable of
supporting human life. Also it is ruins perfectly good whisky. Beware at
all times of solid water.
--scott

--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

On 19 Apr 2024 21:13:23 -0000, kludge@panix.com (Scott Dorsey) wrote:

>I know there are
>places like "Buffalo" and "Michigan" where water can be seen in solid form
>but this is not normal and not to be encountered under conditions capable of
>supporting human life.

Our expedition to the planet Earth has shown that humans are more
capable of adaptation to extreme environments than you give them
credit for. For example, we have observed a place called "Canada".

As another example, the political unit which contains both "Michigan"
and "New York" (in which "Buffalo" is contained) also includes an area
known as "Alaska", which does have numerous human occupants. However,
it is possible that extreme cold has deleterious effects on human
intelligence; we have noted the individual human "Sarah Paliln" who
hails from "Alaska".

They also have a competition called the "Iditarod" which some have
taken to jocularly naming the "Idiot Rod", so this may indicate some
correlation between the effects of extreme cold and risk-taking
behavior, although that is far from being necessarily true;
exaggeration to avail oneself of an opportunity for humor is known
even among our race.

John Savard

On 19/04/2024 16.13, Scott Dorsey wrote:
> Robert Woodward <robertaw@drizzle.com> wrote:
>> In article <slrnv252ci.17f0.naddy@lorvorc.mips.inka.de>,
>> Christian Weisgerber <naddy@mips.inka.de> wrote:

>>> "Unusual", of course, is betraying your biased viewpoint. Everybody
>>> knows that water is... a rock.
>>
>> Ahem, a gas - see _Ice World_.
>
> Water is a liquid except under very unusual circumstances. I know there are
> places like "Buffalo" and "Michigan" where water can be seen in solid form
> but this is not normal and not to be encountered under conditions capable of
> supporting human life. Also it is ruins perfectly good whisky. Beware at
> all times of solid water.

You have it backwards. I lived in Minnesota for 37 years, and know that
0 C is defined as the temperature at which water temporarily goes into
its liquid state.

--
Michael F. Stemper
Always use apostrophe's and "quotation marks" properly.

On 4/30/2024 7:40 AM, Michael F. Stemper wrote:
> On 19/04/2024 16.13, Scott Dorsey wrote:
>> Robert Woodward  <robertaw@drizzle.com> wrote:
>>> In article <slrnv252ci.17f0.naddy@lorvorc.mips.inka.de>,
>>> Christian Weisgerber <naddy@mips.inka.de> wrote:
>
>
>>>> "Unusual", of course, is betraying your biased viewpoint.  Everybody
>>>> knows that water is... a rock.
>>>
>>> Ahem, a gas - see _Ice World_.
>>
>> Water is a liquid except under very unusual circumstances.  I know
>> there are
>> places like "Buffalo" and "Michigan" where water can be seen in solid
>> form
>> but this is not normal and not to be encountered under conditions
>> capable of
>> supporting human life.  Also it is ruins perfectly good whisky.
>> Beware at
>> all times of solid water.
>
> You have it backwards. I lived in Minnesota for 37 years, and know that
> 0 C is defined as the temperature at which water temporarily goes into
> its liquid state.

My Minnesota engineer programmer agrees with you.

Lynn

Michael F. Stemper wrote:
> On 19/04/2024 16.13, Scott Dorsey wrote:
>> Robert Woodward  <robertaw@drizzle.com> wrote:
>>> In article <slrnv252ci.17f0.naddy@lorvorc.mips.inka.de>,
>>> Christian Weisgerber <naddy@mips.inka.de> wrote:
>
>
>>>> "Unusual", of course, is betraying your biased viewpoint.  Everybody
>>>> knows that water is... a rock.
>>>
>>> Ahem, a gas - see _Ice World_.
>>
>> Water is a liquid except under very unusual circumstances.  I know
>> there are
>> places like "Buffalo" and "Michigan" where water can be seen in solid
>> form
>> but this is not normal and not to be encountered under conditions
>> capable of
>> supporting human life.  Also it is ruins perfectly good whisky.
>> Beware at
>> all times of solid water.
>
> You have it backwards. I lived in Minnesota for 37 years, and know that
> 0 C is defined as the temperature at which water temporarily goes into
> its liquid state.

Molten ice has been falling from the sky hereabouts of late. The only
reasonable conclusion is that there's a volcano in the area.

William Hyde

On Tue, 30 Apr 2024 14:48:51 -0500, Lynn McGuire
<lynnmcguire5@gmail.com> wrote:

>> You have it backwards. I lived in Minnesota for 37 years, and know that
>> 0 C is defined as the temperature at which water temporarily goes into
>> its liquid state.
>
>My Minnesota engineer programmer agrees with you.

And having gone through 4 Winnipeg winters are amazed water ever goes
non-solid...especially in downtown Winnipeg where the arctic winds
blow through the towers of the downtown...

In article <96f63j1g1clhp6nn1vr6b80men3ddo829d@4ax.com>,
The Horny Goat <lcraver@home.ca> wrote:
>On Tue, 30 Apr 2024 14:48:51 -0500, Lynn McGuire
><lynnmcguire5@gmail.com> wrote:
>
>>> You have it backwards. I lived in Minnesota for 37 years, and know that
>>> 0 C is defined as the temperature at which water temporarily goes into
>>> its liquid state.
>>
>>My Minnesota engineer programmer agrees with you.
>
>And having gone through 4 Winnipeg winters are amazed water ever goes
>non-solid...especially in downtown Winnipeg where the arctic winds
>blow through the towers of the downtown...

Waterloo Region's transit system gives every sign of being designed
by people who don't ever plan on using it. One glaring example is
the bus stop at King and Victoria, which is a narrow island between
the ION tracks and King Street. The buildings around the intersection
focus wind down past the bus stop and because the island is so narrow,
the pathetic shelter is completely ineffective. Rain is unpleasant,
snow is also bad (1) but neither is as awful as freezing rain.

That was the stop where I had to fend off some guy trying to strangle
me. It posed an interesting tactical challenge, as I didn't want to
be forced back onto the tracks and I didn't want to push the guy into
heavy King Street traffic [2]. Happily, it turned out I am much better at
blocking than he was at grabbing.

The way the crowd came to my assistance after he ran off was very
heartening.

1: Especially last year, when the private contracter just didn't
bother to remove the icy bank blocking the access end of the island.

2: I had somewhere to be and at the least there would have been
paperwork. Before anyone asks, I couldn't hit him with my cane
without risking charges, as he was unarmed.
--
My reviews can be found at http://jamesdavisnicoll.com/
My tor pieces at https://www.tor.com/author/james-davis-nicoll/
My Dreamwidth at https://james-davis-nicoll.dreamwidth.org/
My patreon is at https://www.patreon.com/jamesdnicoll