On 2008-03-18 06:00:34 -0700, Keith Wetzel AKA Space Cadet
<kaw211@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> said:
> On Mar 17, 6:40 pm, Kurt Busiek <k...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
>> On 2008-03-16 10:57:07 -0700, jdnic...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
(James Nicoll) said:
>>
>>> Variations on a theme
>>
>>> Question for any readers, fans, reviewers or writers who might be
reading this
>>> but not editors, agents, booksellers or publishers , unless they also
fall
>>> into one or more of the first three groups:
>>
>>> What kinds of books that you would snap up on sight aren't being
written
>>> and/or published anymore?
>>
>>> For the purposes of this discussion, we'll assume "more books by a
particular
>>> dead author" falls outside my question. I'm curious about currently
>>> unfilled market niches.
>>
>> We're assuming the books are good, yes? There are books I've snapped
>> up because I like the category, only to find out that I coulda waited
>> longer, if it meant I got a good one instead.
>>
>> I tend to look for Heinleinesques, which do still get published now and
>> then, but not on a consistent basis.
>>
>> I like "empty America" stories a lot.
>>
>> I don't know if I'd snap them up on sight, but I'd love to run across
>> some good new sword-and-planet novels.
>>
>> kdb
>
> What author's have you found as Heinleinesques and to what degree?
Here's the list we cobbled up on this group a while back:
The Heinleinesque List (not all strictly Heinlein inspired, but that
was the entry point):
Barnes, John - CANDLE, THE DUKE OF URANIUM, IN THE HALL OF THE MARTIAN
KING, KALEIDOSCOPE CENTURY, ORBITAL RESONANCE, A PRINCESS OF THE AERIE,
THE SKY SO BIG AND BLACK
Blish, James - STAR DWELLERS?, MISSION TO THE HEART STARS?, WELCOME TO
MARS?
Bujold, Lois McMaster - FALLING FREE
Busby, F.M. - "Alien Debt/Rissa Kerguellen/Bran Tregare series"
Clarke, Arthur C. - ISLANDS IN THE SKY
Correy, Lee - STAR****P THROUGH SPACE
Ford, John M. - GROWING UP WEIGHTLESS
Gerrold, David - BOUNCING OFF THE MOON, JUMPING OFF THE PLANET, LEAPING
TO THE STARS, A MATTER FOR MEN
Gould, Steven - BLIND WAVES, HELM, JUMPER, REFLEX, WILDSIDE
Hoffman, Nina Kiriki - A FISTFUL OF SKY
Hogan, James P. - OUTWARD BOUND
Lake, Jay - ROCKET SCIENCE
Niven, Larry and Jerry Pournelle - THE MOTE IN GOD'S EYE
Oppel, Kenneth - AIRBORN, SKYBREAKER
Palmer, David R. - EMERGENCE
Pan****n, Alexei - RITE OF PASSAGE &c.
Pournelle, Jerry - STARSWARM
Resnick, Mike - "Birthright Universe" stories
Scalzi, John, AGENT TO THE STARS, GHOST BRIGADES, OLD MAN'S WAR
Schulman, J. Neil - ALONGSIDE NIGHT
Sheffield, Charles - THE BILLION DOLLAR BOY, THE CYBORG FROM EARTH,
PUTTING UP ROOTS
Sheffield, Charles and Jerry Pournelle - HIGHER EDUCATION
Steele, Allen - ORBITAL DECAY &c.
Varley, John - THE GOLDEN GLOBE, RED THUNDER, RED LIGHTNING
Vinge, Vernor - THE PEACE WAR
Willis, Connie and Cynthia Felice - LIGHT RAID
Wilson, F. Paul - HEALER
Zahn, Timothy - DRAGON AND SLAVE, DRAGON AND SOLDIER, DRAGON AND THIEF
Maybes:
Alan Dean Foster - WITH FRIENDS LIKE THESE
John Varley - MAMMOTH, Seventies stuff, The Persistence of Vision, The
Barbie Murders (Picnic on Nearside), Blue Champagne, The John Varley
Reader
***
I have not read all of these, and they certainly vary in degree. Tor's
Jupiter novels, Varley's "Red" novels, the Pan****n, EMERGENCE, ORBITAL
RESONANCE and the Gerrolds are probably the most overt, though.
> Also what do you mean by "empty America" stories?
What I think of as "empty America" stories are stories where America
has been rendered empty or near empty, but the materials of
civilization are still lying around to be picked up, or are able to be
im****ted. THE STAND is the big mama of empty America stories, along
with its postapocalyptic brethren. But Steven Gould's WILDSIDE is a
different kind of empty America story (an unspoiled, uninhabited
America, into which the protagonists bring modern technology to
explore). David R. Paul's EMERGENCE makes both lists. In comics, THE
WALKING DEAD has attributes of an empty America story, and the new
series, RESURRECTION, may be doing so as well. I AM LEGEND is an
empty-New-York story -- in many cases, "empty" means "devoid of people
to use the stuff of civilization, but not necessarily devoid of
people-like things.
I don't know why it is I like them so much, but I do. Part of it is
the aspect of being a kind of Robinson Crusoe in a world where you can
simply commandeer cool equipment, part of it is the sense of loss in an
abandoned civilization, but I think there's more to it than that. When
I've figured out more about it, I'll write one (or more) -- I have a
few ideas already on how to approach it.
kdb
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