Ever come across a book called Sewer, Gas, and Electric: The Public Works Trilogy? Haven't read it since I was a kid, but I recall it so vividly as a more absurdist Hitchhiker's Guide. A resurrected Ayn Rand stored in a lamp features as one of the main characters.
I think I may have read this, but if so, it was like 40 years ago! The names of the characters and plot echo in my memory, but they are distant echoes.
I seem to recall Ruff thoroughly introducing a character in the first chapter only to then have him taken out abruptly by a mutant sewer shark. I'm just gonna order it, I reckon.
I really want to read that, just to see how you could improve on the absurdity of Hitchhiker's Guide, and also the Randlamp. That sounds absolutely hilarious, and I only read Atlas Shrugged once in college.
Hi, I haven't posted every week for Sci-Friday, but I definitely do my best to support it. And great to go beyond the fiction. We have folks like H.G. Wells and Jules Verne to thank for some things, too. And since it's Throwback Thursday, here's my writeup on that and more: https://accargillauthor.substack.com/p/is-the-term-science-fiction-passe
Kip Thorne was both thoroughly rigorous and came up with papers when other people were still thinking in the wrong direction and also impish in his talks.
I became a fan of Thorne like 20 years ago when he was pointing out things about the universe others were not. Very interesting dude. I still hated things about Interstellar.
We do live in a technologically magical world nowadays. I tell my phone what to do and it usually does what I ask. I go to the doctor, they scan your face/head or whatever and they can read your vitals. We are all wizards if you think about it.
Nimoy was in good vocal company for the Transformers flick: Orson Welles, Robert Stack and Eric Idle were also in the cast.
Clarke was clearly a groundbreaking writer in serious science and science fiction writing, but he had a sense of humor as well. His Tales From The White Hart series really is something else.
Surprised you did not mention Asimov, who was my favorite sci-fi author as a kid. A biochemistry Ph. D. professor and latter a full-time writer. Wrote 500 books, mostly non-fiction, but still had enough sci-fi to be considered one of the "Big Three" along with Heinlein and Clark.
Interstellar really was a great film. One of our family favorites. I did not know that Clarke was responsible for streaming. Great man!
Clarke was so good at the things he chose to do, it's kind of mind-blowing.
Ever come across a book called Sewer, Gas, and Electric: The Public Works Trilogy? Haven't read it since I was a kid, but I recall it so vividly as a more absurdist Hitchhiker's Guide. A resurrected Ayn Rand stored in a lamp features as one of the main characters.
I think I may have read this, but if so, it was like 40 years ago! The names of the characters and plot echo in my memory, but they are distant echoes.
I seem to recall Ruff thoroughly introducing a character in the first chapter only to then have him taken out abruptly by a mutant sewer shark. I'm just gonna order it, I reckon.
It's the only solution.
I really want to read that, just to see how you could improve on the absurdity of Hitchhiker's Guide, and also the Randlamp. That sounds absolutely hilarious, and I only read Atlas Shrugged once in college.
A quick Google also tells me it's set in 2023!
Excellent summary! Thanks for putting this together.
Hey, thanks!
Hi, I haven't posted every week for Sci-Friday, but I definitely do my best to support it. And great to go beyond the fiction. We have folks like H.G. Wells and Jules Verne to thank for some things, too. And since it's Throwback Thursday, here's my writeup on that and more: https://accargillauthor.substack.com/p/is-the-term-science-fiction-passe
Kip Thorne was both thoroughly rigorous and came up with papers when other people were still thinking in the wrong direction and also impish in his talks.
I became a fan of Thorne like 20 years ago when he was pointing out things about the universe others were not. Very interesting dude. I still hated things about Interstellar.
Isaac Asimov. The foundation series, I-robot, and other short stories. He created the three laws of robotics.
Absolutely. See my other comments about why I didn't include Asimov here (TL;DR: I've written too much about the dude already!).
love Chistiper Nolan's work. I dont think he's ever made a bad movie. Tenet on Netflix is great!
The way Tenet handled time travel was novel and very, very cool.
My god, I love Arthur C. Clarke. I need to dive into more of his work so terribly bad. I had no idea that he contributed so much to science!
One of a kind!
We do live in a technologically magical world nowadays. I tell my phone what to do and it usually does what I ask. I go to the doctor, they scan your face/head or whatever and they can read your vitals. We are all wizards if you think about it.
If someone from a thousand years ago traveled to today, I would guess that magic would be the only rational explanation from their perspective.
Nimoy was in good vocal company for the Transformers flick: Orson Welles, Robert Stack and Eric Idle were also in the cast.
Clarke was clearly a groundbreaking writer in serious science and science fiction writing, but he had a sense of humor as well. His Tales From The White Hart series really is something else.
He was brilliant! One of a kind, sort of like Asimov (different styles, but both were titans in my young world).
Surprised you did not mention Asimov, who was my favorite sci-fi author as a kid. A biochemistry Ph. D. professor and latter a full-time writer. Wrote 500 books, mostly non-fiction, but still had enough sci-fi to be considered one of the "Big Three" along with Heinlein and Clark.
Asimov is one of a kind, and easily one of my favorite authors of all time. His work has been incredibly influential on my own.
But I've written about him five times now, so I wanted to give the poor man a break! I know he never wanted much of a break in life.
https://goatfury.substack.com/p/sci-friday-five-books - I linked to the other Asimov pieces in here, if you're curious!
2 for this Friday:
1. Serialization Red Zone
2. A bit of Ishtar with needs work.
You have earned it! Did/do you love Connections as much as I did/do?