Have you read "Nightfall" by Asimov?

No, I saw that though at the bookstore. Is it good? I just received in the mail, I Robot, and The Caves of Steel. The Foundation Trilogy is also on the way, along with about twenty others I couldn't find in the bookstore. Gonna try Ferlinghetti too. I have like two more pages to read in Machineries of Joy, and I just got The Postman, and couldn't help reading into that about two pages. Course now, I'm hooked, so I may take a little break in R.B. reading. Oh, also have Dandelions book coming soon, so that will be next when that comes. Y'all may hep me to becum smurter, thankee kindlee.

So how come Dandy sent YOU her book and ignored MY request? Hmmpf. I'm going back in the box and shut down for awhile.

Robot Lincoln,
Your discussion of ancient peoples seeing modern times reminded me of the premise of �Nightfall�. What if you lived on a planet with more than one sun so there never was nighttime? What would people do if suddenly night fell?

Another interesting concept; this time by Erick Frank Russell. If a planet�s northern hemisphere is all land and it�s southern hemisphere is all water, is the water a lake or is the land an island?

Happy reading.


[This message has been edited by Chapter 31 (edited 04-07-2006).]

Thanks Chapter, I may have to start relying on the public library for my books, have spent small fortune on books lately. That sounds good though. Our planet is based on a myriad of things to keep it teeming with life. If we didn't have our moon, we'd wobble like a top and have drastic fluctuations in our climate. Or if our nearest star was farther out, it could be purpectual twilight and cold. Is it God or the roll of the dice? Makes you wonder, no, ponder that one. I heard once that the best of priests constantly question His reality. But they always come back to belief in Him, God. Either way is equally astounding, and terrifying at times. The numbers are out there for extra terrestrial life. Hell, the numbers are there to damn near have an exact almost duplicate of you or me. God in His infinate wisdom, set us a little too far from reaching them. Or did He? Maybe when or if we are ready to meet them, we will. What if its us looking back....okay, ahem, I'll get that book and thanks again!

p.s. or a planet that rains forever except one shining day!

[This message has been edited by Robot Lincoln (edited 04-07-2006).]

Braling, dear boy, come forth from your dark box. She obviously adores me much better than you, bells and whistles aside. Just kiddin, man! I seem to recall a conversation between Dandelion and yourself asking about her book and her e-mail. I beleive she thought that by looking at her online profile, that you could glean it from there. As things do happen on here and there, I beleive it got buried and left by the wayside. If you e-mail her a request, she will give that info, gladly I'm sure to ya. Here is her e-mail:cmashieldscapting@hotmail.com

Robot Lincoln,
We�re not ready yet to meet anyone out there. We�re having enough trouble taking care of home base. Speaking of God in Science Fiction; �A Case Of Conscience� by James Blish, or �The Star�, a short story by Arthur C. Clarke, or �A Canticle for Leibowitz� (cool title, hu?) by Walter M. Miller Jr. All big award winners. Time to renew your library card or win the lottery. Maybe someday I�ll make you up a list. Then you�ll really be tapped.

You beat me to it, Robot Lincoln. I like to treat all robots equally, be they illustrious presidents or more ordinary mortals.

C-31,

Was the immortal hermit/wandering jew guy in "CANTICLE" supposed to be Jesus or Saint Leibowitz or what? I never got that part.

I think it's weird that a guy (Miller) who seemed to be SO against suicide as well as passionately promoting the righteousness of suffering, based upon the last pages of "CANTICLE", ends up comitting suicide himself. It's not really weird, it's sad.

It took me three times until I could get past the first page of "CONSCIENCE". If you remember, it begins with Father Ruiz (I think that was his name) trying to figure out this complicated, very involved, multi subject theological quandry regarding which one of the subjects was free from sin. I thought the whole book would be like that and twice gave up on it, putting it back on my shelf. The third time I picked it up I was determined to just trudge through that first page or two. I'm glad I did. Great book. Weird ending. I really liked Egtervechi (sp?) and the part with the bees and Ruiz giving last rites to the rioters would be great to see brought to life on the big screen. About a year ago we had a lengthy discussion on the book at asimovs.com and I'd love to discuss it in depth with you. I think the thread is still up over there under "Books" as "Discussing The Classics (lingering questions)". Give a shout out.

It depends on his reasons, I guess. Whether he had always thought about suicide and was trying to talk himself out of it, or really was against it until something happened to him that he couldn't live with. Bradbury was very forgiving about Hemingway's decision that way, stating that he was in chronic pain following surviving two plane crashes in 24 hours and might not have done so otherwise. Bradbury, however, has survived tremendously painful and difficult experiences that might do down many, and manages to maintain a miraculously positive outlook.

At the time I read "Canticle" I did not know that Miller had taken his own life and was really surprised when I found out. I think he was probably trying to talk himself out of it.

The subject of suicide keeps popping up. The other day I dug up an old issue of ASIMOV'S SCIENCE FICTION MAGAZINE which had the first ever interview with James Tiptree Jr. She mentions slitting her wrists as a pre-teen and the interviewer remarks that the scars are still barely visible. Later in the interview she jokingly says something about how she would have just killed herself if not for her writing. Around seven or eight years after the interview she shot and killed her terminally ill husband and then herself. I didn't rember the mention of suicide being in that interview and now upon re-reading it years later it's really chilling.

Last week I bought a collection of stories by H. Beam Piper and in the introduction they actually quote the last thing he ever wrote--his suicide note. He apologized for leaving a mess for someone else to clean up.

I think it helps to look at your life in the long-term, make plans, set goals, see yourself being happy. Whether it's to travel to faraway lands, get a better job, memorize every line of CRIME AND PUNISHMENT, or learn how to make fondue... it seems to help. The day to day disappointments seem to be a little less disappointing when you look past them. We can serve as our own inspiration... and someday make fondue. So gather around, grab a skewer, and take a dip. We'll be OK.

Yes, I agree, fondue has saved me from many a scrape, including myself.


In fact, I'm in need of some this very minute, I'm laughing so hard. May get a quick fix of velveeta and concaso in the micro and stick a birthday candle under it, just for decorum.

Dandelion, sorry if I stepped on your toes with B-Two, it sounded like he needed immediate assistance, I mean he was getting back into the box! I guess sometimes I get a swelled head as well, sometimes my old stovetop hat bareley fits.

grasstains,
Thanks for the invite but it wouldn�t be fair of me to get into a discussion on another forum because I wouldn�t be able to devote enough time to it. I�m lucky to just be here and at the other Bradbury site. However, I�d love to discuss the two books here, if you don�t mind. But please show mercy. It�s been about thirty years since I�ve read them.

Actually I�d like to leave �A Case Of Conscience� for another time and just make a few comments about �A Canticle For Leibowitz�.

Remember the first lines of �The Second Coming� by W.B. Yeats?

�Turning and turning in the widening gyre,/The falcon cannot hear the falconer;/Things fall apart; the center cannot hold;�

Yeats is describing a situation were technology is moving beyond our capability to control it. It could destroy civilization and thereafter the survivors would forget how things worked or what made them work and how to rebuild. Note the grocery list/schematic in �Leibowitz�. Recently, NASA, attempting to build a new robot arm for the space shuttle discovered that they could not interpret the blueprints to the original robot arm. They had to call in retired engineers to do so.

I think Miller�s novel is about how, recovering from the result of this kind of trend, the powers that remain would be unqualified and would be doomed to repeat the mistakes of the past because they �cannot hear the falconer��even if they had the prints they wouldn�t be able to read them properly.

As for characters like Benjamin, the wandering Jew, I think there just �McGuffins�(intriguing enigmas).


[This message has been edited by Chapter 31 (edited 04-08-2006).]

It was also quite a shock for me, years after reading "Gay-Neck: The Story of a Pigeon" to learn the author, Dhan Gopal Mukerji, hanged himself. From what I remember of the sentiments expressed in the book he may also have been trying to talk himself out of it.