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Inspiration, Wibbly-Wobbly Timey-Wimey, Classic SF, & Stuff
12 years ago
Years from now, I'm going to look back at the early part of this decade and refuse to believe I hadn't read Bester's The Stars My Destination before having written Summerhill. And yet, the very reason behind it being hard to believe is what makes it even the more fitting. And that make me smile (and makes my head hurt from twisted logic).
Anyhow, for my next novel, I decided to do some field research in the form of reading some classic, well-regarded SF novels from the 50s through the 70s, and The Stars My Destination was the first on my list, because whenever you see a "Best SF Novels" list, it's always on there somewhere. That, and it had been sitting on my bookshelf for like four years (after I'd bought it because it was one of those books I'd always meant to read).
And I'm definitely glad I read it. It's a fascinating piece of writing, both as a product of its time and to see how it matches up to more modern things, and I can only imagine the papers and essay and analyses people have written about the protagonist in the last half-century. In a lot of ways, it also succeeds better at being cyberpunk than a lot of actual cyberpunk does, despite being written decades before that was even a thing, which again, the reverse order of those things is something that tickles me.
Conceptually, especially toward the end there's a lot going on that meshes with the novel I'm wanting to write, and with the novel I just wrote. I don't want to give spoilers for any (or for a book written in the 50s, because it's worth the read), but the one line that practically jumped off the page and hit me right in the face was this:
"...driven by the miracle of a human mind no longer inhibited by concepts of the impossible."
That's pretty spot-on for what it is I'm trying to accomplish. And I find it ironic that I've spent so long, lacking the faith in myself to write a story where the central theme and message is that you an accomplish anything if you believe in it hard enough.
So yeah, thanks for the bitchslap, Alfred Bester. And for writing something that went on to make Shadowrun possible.
Anyhow, for my next novel, I decided to do some field research in the form of reading some classic, well-regarded SF novels from the 50s through the 70s, and The Stars My Destination was the first on my list, because whenever you see a "Best SF Novels" list, it's always on there somewhere. That, and it had been sitting on my bookshelf for like four years (after I'd bought it because it was one of those books I'd always meant to read).
And I'm definitely glad I read it. It's a fascinating piece of writing, both as a product of its time and to see how it matches up to more modern things, and I can only imagine the papers and essay and analyses people have written about the protagonist in the last half-century. In a lot of ways, it also succeeds better at being cyberpunk than a lot of actual cyberpunk does, despite being written decades before that was even a thing, which again, the reverse order of those things is something that tickles me.
Conceptually, especially toward the end there's a lot going on that meshes with the novel I'm wanting to write, and with the novel I just wrote. I don't want to give spoilers for any (or for a book written in the 50s, because it's worth the read), but the one line that practically jumped off the page and hit me right in the face was this:
"...driven by the miracle of a human mind no longer inhibited by concepts of the impossible."
That's pretty spot-on for what it is I'm trying to accomplish. And I find it ironic that I've spent so long, lacking the faith in myself to write a story where the central theme and message is that you an accomplish anything if you believe in it hard enough.
So yeah, thanks for the bitchslap, Alfred Bester. And for writing something that went on to make Shadowrun possible.
What do you have next on your list in terms of old scifi to read?
Next on my list is Frederik Pohl's award-winning 1977 classic Gateway.
I will be interested to read what you think of Gateway since that is one I have read.
I was thinking the ending themes of one, might lead into the opening themes of the other.
But yeah, it's on my list of Things I Really Should Read.
Dune (at least the first book)
1984
Snow Crash
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
The Mars Trilogy (by Kim Stanley Robinson)
The War of the Worlds
A Wrinkle in Time
That's just kind of off the top of my head. There are plenty of books on the "OMG MUST READ" lists that I haven't ever read, though, so I'd suggest looking at those, too.