Damien Sullivan <phoenix at ugcs.caltech.edu> writes: > On Sun, May 30, 2004 at 07:22:05PM -0500, David Dyer-Bennet wrote: > >> >> expect new stories to be *better* than old stories. I expect exactly >> >> the reverse; we're living with the cream skimmed off a few thousand >> >> years of literary history, and the best stuff from that much time is > > I'm surprised nobody brought up _Agyar_ as an ObBrust. I was thinking SF, rather than fantasy. >> And when I looked at the 2003 novels and such nominated for the >> retro-hugo, it was *amazing* how much first-rate stuff was published >> in 1953. > > OTOH, if I recall correctly the Hugo nominee lists for 1952 and 1954 weren't > that impressive. I don't know if you can compile Retro- lists for those years > equal to 1953, or if 1953 was a bumper crop. I think 1953 *was* unusually good. > I also remember thinking that Bujold, for example, could write rings around > most of that list. At least in terms of characters, or characters whom I > remember. But Doc Smith, for my favorite example, had far more vivid and memorable characters far earlier. Actually, as I now remember that 1953 crop, it wasn't for characters that it was memorable. > Also, why would _More Than Human_ be science fiction father than fantasy, > apart from the "psionics isn't fantasy though magic is" exemption? I guess > one could argue "postulated evolution of the human race", as with Childhood's > End. Contemporary fantasy hadn't been invented yet, so it had to be SF. And it was, after all, by an SF author. >> > I also wonder - what authors do you (David Dyer-Bennet) recommend, >> > that we might have missed? >> >> Good -- Egan, MacLeod, Vinge. Bujold. I doubt anything's too > > I'd add Iain M. Banks. Ted Chiang (stories.) I assume the question is about > "currently publishing good stuff" authors. I read one Banks book and hated it with a passion. So I wouldn't agree there. I read the recent Chiang collection and thought it was well written, but light on actual content, would be one way to put it. -- David Dyer-Bennet, <mailto:dd-b at dd-b.net>, <http://www.dd-b.net/dd-b/> RKBA: <http://noguns-nomoney.com/> <http://www.dd-b.net/carry/> Pics: <http://dd-b.lighthunters.net/> <http://www.dd-b.net/dd-b/SnapshotAlbum/> Dragaera/Steven Brust: <http://dragaera.info/>