Who comes up with these questions that are now populating this messageboard? I for one am getting kind of annoyed with the absolute lack of deapth these questions exhibit. I hereby ask that others start asking smart questions or not ask them at all. Please, for the sake of those who are tired or reading endless queries as to whether FH is a good novel or a bad one, stop yourself from typing up brainless things. Please.
Cheers, Translator

Hey buddy. Good to see you're feeling better.

I was trying to respond to all those with 'goose eggs' for replies. I soon realized why they had zero replies.

They seem to be doing just fine working it out amongst themselves.

[This message has been edited by grasstains (edited 09-09-2004).]

Hey Grasstains,
How's life been treating you? It's all ok on this side.
Cheers, Translator

It's been a real bumpy ride this summer, full of ups and downs. It's all leading to a knock-down drag-out custody battle between ex and I, which should culminate in a few October court dates. It's not fun and absolutely the last thing I wanted to put the kids thru, but there's no other way. Ex is a druggy.

Who was the author you were mourning last month?

And...Where's my Lem? Did you get my e-mail?

Hey Grasstains,
I wish you all the best of luck with your court battle. There are pricks out there who like to take advantage of everyone around, even their families, and care not a hoot about their benefit. If they do drugs, they're the worst sort of people. I hope you hang in there and make it through in one piece.

The author was Czeslaw Milosz; he was a Nobel laureate and a great poet. I'm sure you would like him.

SOrry, I never got your email - but since I know you're interested, I'll email you some stuff (hopefully you have an email listed).

Hang in there,
Cheers,
Translator

FRMN451@aol.com

Or do the "click here to e-mail grasstains" thing. Both accounts I check often. Leave something to identify yourself in the 'subject' so I won't think you're spam.

Thanks Translator.
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Oh...I've already received it. You're fast. I printed it because I hate reading off the computer. I'll read it tonite. Thanks Translator



[This message has been edited by grasstains (edited 09-10-2004).]

Translator-

You do read French, right?

Do you read the magazines ON SPEC or PRAIRIE FIRE or any of the other Canadian SF mags or annual anthologies such as TESSERACTS. What do you think of the Quebec SF scene? It's relatively unknown here and I just stumbled onto it myself a couple years ago.

Hey Grasstains,
I do read french, and I hold the quebec literary scene in very high esteem. I am not particularly well versed in quebec Sci Fi, but I just think I might want to take a look around. I do love French Sci Fi, though (can anything beat Verne? (not exaclty sci fi, but close)).
Cheers, Translator

Yeah, I love Jules Verne. 20,000 LEAGUES got off to a very slow start, but once they took to the sea the story really picked up. FROM THE EARTH TO THE MOON, AROUND THE WORLD IN EIGHTY DAYS, MYSTERIOUS ISLAND and ROUND THE MOON are all great ones too.

He and Wells apparently had a little 'thing' going on. Wells didn't like the constant comparisons to Verne or being commonly referred to as "The British Verne". Verne considered Wells a 'popularist' and his work to be of 'shaky' scientific ideas. If I'm not mistaken, Verne even paid for a full page in the top London newspaper blasting Wells' work. Imagine Verne saying, "A time machine, really? And how exactly would such a contraption work? Invisibility, really? And what exactly are the properties of this wonderous "scientific" break-through? Don't get me wrong, I love Wells too. I just see both sides of the coin here. And while we won't ever invent a time machine, create an invisibility potion, or be invaded by martians, THE ISLAND OF DR. MOREAU is quite within the means of science.

Another odd thing about those two is that Wells' stories almost always took place in London, while Verne was all over the globe and often had characters of different nationality than himself.

Has there ever been a better, richer, more complex character than Nemo?

[This message has been edited by grasstains (edited 09-11-2004).]

...and you know what? Nemo was originally a Polish fighter against the Russian rule, until some considerable pressure (by both the publisher and some influential politicians) not to make him Polish. So in the end, Verne had to rewrite some of the parts.

Ever read "the war of the worlds"? Gas warfare, germ warfare, machines - Wells was a master in his own right. Granted, his works were not exactly fully scientific, but who cares? Sci Fi, despite what some may think, never is fully compliant with current science.

Cheers, Translator

[This message has been edited by Translator (edited 09-11-2004).]

If you want something really scary, "War of the Worlds" is scheduled to become a trilogy with Tom Cruise!

I'd read that they were going to remake War of the Worlds......bad mistake, in my opinion! That movie is a classic! Hollywood's run out of ideas, that they're now remaking movies, turning TV shows into movies, and putting out endless (and mostly bad) sequels!

WAR OF THE WORLDS is probably the scariest story I've ever read. I haven't read very many scary stories other than those of Bradbury and King, so I don't know how it stacks up to the scariest stories ever, but it probably tops my list.

It's a good story, no question about it. I hope Cruise doesn't mess it up. But then again, he was great in Magnolia and Vanilla Sky. So maybe it'll be ok....
Cheers, Translator

Anne Rice said Tom Cruise could never be her vampire, and he made a believer out of her. I just wonder, will they mess the story up too much by padding it into three so-so movies instead of one really good movie? Perhaps they are trying to make it into Lord of the Rings when it isn't!