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Riders of the Purple Wage
shvarz:
Well, that proves that I'm not crazy :) Other people like this story too ...
PY, we obviously have very different tastes in sci-fi. I don't like any of the authors that you listed (except for Asimov). I read three books by Greg Bear and could not remember what they were about. Thank god for LJ, I could go back and read my impressions. First I read Eon - that was total crap. Horrible story, long and unnecessary descriptions of some obscure things, flat characters... Well, I thought, maybe I am biased because he describes russians as weirdos who fly to an asteroid in fufaikas (old-style warm coats for poor people).
So, I read Legacy. That was a bit better. I especially liked the science part of that book. But still, all his attempts at describing human emotions fall flat on the ground.
But I gave it one more try - I read "Slant". I was barely able to finish it, it was soooo boring.
Truth is, Bear has almost no literary talent. He has good science in his books, I give him that. But the "fiction" part of "science fiction" is just not coming through...
As for New Wave: read wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Wave_%28science_fiction%29 Funny, but they don't have Farmer listed among the authors, although it is generally agreed that "riders of the purple wage" was one of the most interesting stories in "Dangerous Visions" collection (which they mention).
Numsgil:
Most of the authors I listed in my first post are new Wave.
Poul Anderson is probably the most New Wave of all New Wave authors. Harlin Ellison (I called him Harlequin the first time around :P) is right up there too.
Anything with a title longer than 4 words is almost definately New Wave. "'Repent, Harlequin", cried the Ticktockman" would be an awesome example of this. As is "Do androids dread of electric sleep" (Aka: Bladerunner. Haven't seen the movie though, just read the book).
Poul Anderson's not so much on long titles, but is absolutely fluent in the style of new Wave. His story "Goat Song" won both Hugo and Nebula Awards.
Now, this isn't just some obscure subgenre that took off for a while. Most of these I've named where Hugo award winners at their time. They're also incredibly poetic and steeped in symbolism and subtle social commentary.
Numsgil:
--- Quote ---Well, I thought, maybe I am biased because he describes russians as weirdos who fly to an asteroid in fufaikas (old-style warm coats for poor people).
--- End quote ---
Hmm, you're not? (Revises mental image). :P
Unfortunately, Scifi is so incredibly American dominated that its had to find any POV outside our little corner of the world. Although I did like the recent movie adaptation of (Stanislaw I think his name was. I know he was Russian) Solaris, even if I didn't read the book.
shvarz:
Damn americans... :angry:
Stanislaw Lem is polish! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanis%C5%82aw_Lem
What you could have read are Strugatsky Brothers: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strugatsky_brothers They were probably the best russian sci-fi writers and even though they lived during soviet times they managed to write stuff that was (and still is) very controversial. I'll dig through my files, I may have translations of some of their works.
Numsgil:
But Poland was part of the Soviet Bloc right? (Makes mental note that Russian -> Soviet (or used to be the case) but Soviet does not -> Russian).
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