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Wednesday, February 13, 2008
This club is dedicated to the preservation and celebration of classic science fiction and horror. To spread the word and to help keep the names alive.
We don't want to exclude the usual suspects, but we don't want to focus entirely on them either. Most of us have read Bradbury, Heinlein, Clarke, Sturgeon, Asimov, Ellison.
I expect the club to be small at first, but I sincerely wish that many new members will join. It's nothing official and no one should feel obligated in any way. But I hope that everyone takes the time and occasional expense to discover new talents of old.
I picked the first ten stories and I added books where they can be found. This is in no way an attempt to list all of the publications of the stories. It's just a way to make it easier for potential members to find them.
The way it'll work is like this: Members will choose ten stories. The rest will vote on the story and there will be a two-week period for everyone to locate and read them. Should we choose to read and discuss novels in the future, there will be a month to get them read.
For now well discuss them at the board, but if this venture proves successful, I'll look into getting a chatroom.
And how do we define classic? It's a broad term, but I'm tempted to say that anything published before 1970 qualifies. Of course, I'm open to any and all suggestions.
You might say that The Classic Genre Fiction Appreciation and Discussion Club is in its Beta stage. Nothing is set in stone and as I said above, I'm open to input.
If you're reading this and are on the fence about it, please consider participating. Especially to those that 'don't like science fiction'. I'm tempted to say that most that feel that way are completely clueless about a lot of the wonderful things that have been published in the field.
Not that we'll avoid horror, but I think that most of us are pretty well-read in that particular genre. A lot, or more likely, most are not so knowledgeable about SF. Especially that which was written in the Golden Age of Science Fiction.
Here's the first batch:
Clifford D. Simak, The Big Front Yard Appears in The Hugo Winners, Vol. 1, edited by Isaac Asimov. Also appears in Over the River and Through the Woods, by Clifford D. Simak
Eric Frank Russell, Allamagoosa. Appears in The Hugo Winners, Vol. 1, edited by Isaac Asimov. Also appears in The Best of Eric Frank Russell
Harlan Ellison, Pretty Maggie Moneyeyes. Appears in Deathbird Stories
Richard Matheson, The Test. Appears in Richard Matheson: Collected Stories Volume Two, by Richard Matheson
Robert A. Heinlein, The Year of the Jackpot. Appears in Off the Main Sequence: The Other Science Fiction Stories of Robert A. Heinlein and The Menace from Earth, by Robert A. Heinlein
Cordwainer Smith, The Ballad of Lost C'Mell. Appears in The Best of Cordwainer Smith and The Rediscovery of Man: The Complete Short Science Fiction of Cordwainer Smith
Frederik Pohl, The Merchants of Venus. Appears in The Gateway Trip: Tales and Vignettes of the Heechee, by Frederik Pohl and Platinum Pohl by Frederik Pohl
Shirley Jackson, The Daemon Lover. Appears in The Lottery and Other Stories
Joseph Payne Brennan, Slime. Appears in The Shapes of Midnight, by Joseph Payne Brennan
Anthony Boucher, They Bite. Appears in The Compleat Werewolf, by Anthony Boucher and The Compleat Boucher, by Anthony Boucher
I'm going to give it a bit more than two weeks for this initial program. I'm counting on you guys. Don't be afraid to try something new and I think that most of you will be pleasantly surprised at the gems that are waiting to be mined in the field.
Oh yeah, my first vote goes to The Merchants of Venus, by Frederik Pohl.
In the meantime, please feel free to discuss it in the forum. Thanks and I hope to see you there.
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