Oolite Bulletins

10/15 again? It's a fix! I demand a recount!

I managed 12/15, but harbour grave doubts as to whether Groundhog Day is science fiction (and not just because I didn't guess the date).

I've not seen the movie, but I believe it has a time loop - is that not sci-fi?
I seem to recall a Twilight Zone story which had such a time loop.

Cody wrote:

I've not seen the movie, but I believe it has a time loop - is that not sci-fi?
I seem to recall a Twilight Zone story that had such a time loop.

Genre boundaries can be tricky, but I'd argue that Groundhog Day is solidly in the fantasy bucket. There is a time-loop, but it's unexplained/magical. It's like the difference between travelling to Jupiter in hibernation in 2001: A Space Odyssey, and a princess falling asleep for a hundred years in Sleeping Beauty; or between time dilation caused by prolonged near-light-speed travel, and time dilation caused by visiting fairyland.

Any technology, sufficiently advanced, may be indistinguishable from magic, as the saying goes, but unlike magic we have to suppose that a technology is ultimately grounded somewhere on rational principals; magic, though, is "just because". I have no problem with fantasy and have no objections to Groundhog Day, but SF is its own thing.

To work out this conundrum, think of my clock. It shows the same time at the same time each day. Time loop or fantasy, you decide!

<grins> My body clock tells me I'm hungry at the same time each day. Time loop or fantasy?


I got a bit lost digging into old Twilight Zone stuff - time loops were used a few times.

14/15 - I got no. 7 wrong. And the book was indeed The Daleth Effect, AKA In Our Hands, The Stars.

In that case, we need to know about the following situation:

A hidden valley is home to two lost tribes of Aztecs, who know about each other but don't intermingle - the priests say so, and a goddess patrols after the curfew to make sure no-one gets out of line. And then this one guy is born who realizes everyone he knows is really stupid, and finds out what's really going on.

Disembodied wrote: ↑Sun Feb 12, 2017 3:23 pm

I managed 12/15, but harbour grave doubts as to whether Groundhog Day is science fiction (and not just because I didn't guess the date).

had time between calls today so i had a look in a bookstore..i lament the lack of any "science" in the sci fi/fantasy section. dont get me wrong i have read many fantasy series and enjoyed them but i miss actual sci fi. i think the only sci fi i saw was Peter F. Hamilton ! 99% fantasy.....

In my local library, sci-fi used to easily outnumber fantasy - now it's reversed. There's plenty of vampire and zombie stuff too. <scratches head>


Saw this earlier...

Anglia Ruskin University is also preparing to launch a specialist MA in Science Fiction and Fantasy in 2018.

Harry Harrison again - Captive Universe

ffutures wrote: ↑Mon Feb 13, 2017 6:25 pm

Harry Harrison again - Captive Universe

Yup.

The snakeskin boots are back from the menders - take it (them?) away!

An author's first novel (but published second, in 1999) in which first contact with aliens is complicated by the fact that they look like blobs of amorphous goo and communicate primarily by horrible smells.

ffutures wrote:

An author's first novel (but published second, in 1999) in which first contact with aliens is complicated by the fact that they look like blobs of amorphous goo and communicate primarily by horrible smells.

Would that be Agent to the Stars by John Scalzi?

Disembodied wrote: ↑Tue Feb 14, 2017 9:54 am

ffutures wrote:

An author's first novel (but published second, in 1999) in which first contact with aliens is complicated by the fact that they look like blobs of amorphous goo and communicate primarily by horrible smells.

Would that be Agent to the Stars by John Scalzi?

It is indeed - a lot of fun and available from the author as a free download here: http://scalzi.com/agent/

Your turn!