Small Talk: Braaaaaains

[David T. Cole]

The Small Talk topic is for:

 

• Introductions
• Off-topic chatter
• Having virtual tea with forum buddies

 

This is NOT a topic for actual show discussion. When you want to talk about the show:

 

1. Figure out the nature of the topic you want to talk about
2. Look for an existing topic that matches or fits
3. If there is NOT an existing topic that fits, CREATE ONE!

 

Examples of topics that populate show forums include (but by no means are limited to):

 

• Character topics
• Episode topics
• Season topics
• Spoiler topics
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• In the Media topics
• Favourite X topics
• ...you get the idea

 

Happy trails beyond Small Talk!

[Cranberry]

Paging @Kromm -- you had some good thread ideas. Knock yourself out!

[David T. Cole]

I added them :)

[jhlipton]

Not that this has much to do with the topic, but I used to volunteer in an HIV/AIDS support centre, and our boss once told us that while it's possible to get HIV through oral sex, it almost never happens, because "Who the fuck gives head with an open wound in their mouth?!" So, yeah. Life lesson acquired.

 

All it takes is a small tear in the skin.  Granted, it's far less likely to happen in the mouth than other orifices, but there is some risk.  Here's a link to the San Francisco AIDS Foundation: http://sfaf.org/hiv-info/basics/can-i-get-hiv-from-oral.html?referrer=https://www.google.com/

[CinnamonCat]

I actually did know that, and only aimed to share an anecdote, but thank you nevertheless. :)

[jhlipton]

No prob -- I was glad to confirm it for myself.

[Bruinsfan]

From what I've read there are some anecdotal instances of it happening, but so few that the CDC can't accurately estimate transmission chances beyond "less than one in ten thousand exposures." I'd say people who don't work in the sex industry aren't really taking that much of a chance by skipping the condoms for oral. The non-lethal yet icky STDs are a lot more of a risk.

[Anela]

Malcolm Goodwin posted pictures of two kittens that he's rescued in the last two weeks. ♥♥♥ Adorable! 

[jhlipton]

11 hours ago, Affogato said:

No Ellison, LeGuin and Sturgeon?

8 hours ago, Jacks-Son said:

Harlan Ellison, Ursula K., & Theodore Sturgeon are all excellent writers, however they are mostly Fantasy writers. I believe @jhlipton started off by quoting a hard Science Fiction writer, so we kept up the streak.

Mr Lipton cited Isaac, Arthur and Robert as the Big Three of the 50's and 60's -- the first big "wave" of SF.  Le Guin and Sturgeon (two of my faves) as well as Ellison came in the 70s and 80s as part of the second wave (along with Silverburg, Farmer, etc)

I am no great fan of Ellison, but despite his oft-prickly personality, I received a very nice phone message from him when I was the science fiction liaison for the San Diego Comic-Con one year (he was declining to attend).

[Affogato]

10 hours ago, jhlipton said:

Mr Lipton cited Isaac, Arthur and Robert as the Big Three of the 50's and 60's -- the first big "wave" of SF.  Le Guin and Sturgeon (two of my faves) as well as Ellison came in the 70s and 80s as part of the second wave (along with Silverburg, Farmer, etc)

I am no great fan of Ellison, but despite his oft-prickly personality, I received a very nice phone message from him when I was the science fiction liaison for the San Diego Comic-Con one year (he was declining to attend).

I should probably have said "Delaney, Le Guin and Sturgeon", all can be argued to be science fiction writers. Ellison really does fall into something you could call 'speculative fiction', science is not necessarily involved but you are still in the ghetto and like Asimov and Clarke a futurist. Asimov and Clarke were two of the first writers I read but I can't reread them, now, and when I think about their work I remember the nonfiction fondly and only odd bits of the fiction. I tried to reread Tales of the White Hart a while ago and just no. I might reread the End of Eternity again, but I'm not sure why. Maybe, for no reason, the Lucky Starr books. The stuff Clarke wrote about oceans. Heinlein I didn't read until later--probably mid to late teens. He is an incredible story teller, I used to have a rant about Time Enough for Love that involved the number of adventure novel ideas are thrown away in the middle of the large, rambling blowhard book.

I think Ellison is one of the best, possibly the best, story writer of his period and I hope at some point someone pulls him out of the ghetto. Yeah, the Harlan Ellison Show was always something else, too.

[jhlipton]

4 hours ago, Affogato said:

I should probably have said "Delaney, Le Guin and Sturgeon", all can be argued to be science fiction writers. Ellison really does fall into something you could call 'speculative fiction', science is not necessarily involved but you are still in the ghetto and like Asimov and Clarke a futurist. Asimov and Clarke were two of the first writers I read but I can't reread them, now, and when I think about their work I remember the nonfiction fondly and only odd bits of the fiction.

I think Ellison is one of the best, possibly the best, story writer of his period and I hope at some point someone pulls him out of the ghetto. Yeah, the Harlan Ellison Show was always something else, too.

Most "sf" these days is "speculative fiction" -- that was the whole point of the Dangerous Visions books: to break free from "science" fiction.  Le Guin writes what I call "anthropological sf" -- she starts with a culture -- hermaphrodites, magic users, Native fishers, etc and works what their actions would be based on that.  Sturgeon's motto was "Ask the next question", and many of his works are designed to do just that: "Why is incest wrong?  Is vampirism always a bad thing?" etc.

After the Big Three, the field exploded.  Yes, Silverburg, Farmer, Del Rey, Niven.. all the authors in the Dangerous Visions books were confined to the ghetto (to the point that Atwood claimed that The Handmaid's Tale wasn't science fiction -- she's come around since), but it was a much larger ghetto.

The Dangerous Visions books are a good touchstone -- the author list is a virtual Who's Who in "speculative fiction".  So kudos to Ellison for that, if nothing else.

--------------------------------------------

I haven't reread much Asimov or Clarke recently (and was never a big fan of Heinlein), but I did read one of Asimov's short stories recently and liked it as much as when I read it originally.

[kieyra]

Have to ask, and I'm not involved in any SF communities so I have NO idea:

Am the only one who read Heinlein obsessively growing up, and then only realized in adulthood how creepy the prevalent incest theme in his later books was? Especially the daddy/daughter stuff?

(Corollary: something about Orson Scott Card's extreme homophobia/hatred *and* tendency to write about little boys also bothers me. Seriously, read Songmaster and tell me that guy isn't working through some personal pathology. But I stopped giving him money a long time ago.)

I'll toss another name into the ring, though: Hugo winner CJ Cherryh. She's my absolute favorite of the bunch, especially her space opera/political stuff. She was finally able to marry her longtime partner a few years back, and it made me tear up to read about it.

Edited July 11, 2017 by kieyra

[jhlipton]

On 7/10/2017 at 11:23 PM, kieyra said:

1) Am the only one who read Heinlein obsessively growing up, and then only realized in adulthood how creepy the prevalent incest theme in his later books was? Especially the daddy/daughter stuff?

2) I'll toss another name into the ring, though: Hugo winner CJ Cherryh. She's my absolute favorite of the bunch, especially her space opera/political stuff. She was finally able to marry her longtime partner a few years back, and it made me tear up to read about it.

 

1) Not at all.  Most SF fans I know, even the ones who like Heinlein are put off by his later books because of the incest and pedophilia (Ted Sturgeon, in his short story/essay about incest If All Men Were Brothers Would You Let One Marry Your Sister has his characters be adults, and very explicitly states that sex with children is a non-starter).

2) I got to meet Cherryh at a WorldCon (the largest yearly SF convention) in Kansas City.  It was so cool to see a group of a dozen or so people cosplaying (although we didn't call it that back then) as a retinue from the Faded Sun books.  Love her and her books.

[MisterGlass]

Seems I shouldn't venture into later Heinlein, then.

I always feel like putting in a word for Ray Bradbury, who was my teen reading obsession.  He's not the best of them, but he could paint an atmosphere like no other.  Truly a great short story author, and I can't wait to see what happens with the upcoming Michael B Jordan adaptation of Fahrenheit 451.

[Affogato]

On 7/30/2017 at 8:27 PM, MisterGlass said:

Seems I shouldn't venture into later Heinlein, then.

I always feel like putting in a word for Ray Bradbury, who was my teen reading obsession.  He's not the best of them, but he could paint an atmosphere like no other.  Truly a great short story author, and I can't wait to see what happens with the upcoming Michael B Jordan adaptation of Fahrenheit 451.

I think Bradbury was the best, a truly great short story writer! Less with the novels, I think. In some ways, like in F. 451, a better futurist, or at least as good as the others. He got a lot right, he just didn't like it. 

[marketdoctor]

If you want a 21st century sort of Heinein writer, John Scalzi has some work that I really like.  (Some of it is a series, but some, like Redshirts, is designed to stand alone.)