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MCalavera
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04 Mar 2011, 5:05 pm

ToughDiamond wrote:
MCalavera wrote:
Another topic of interest:

With the amount of topics and quality of posts that we can easily have for a potential forum, do you think it's reasonable that men (Aspie men, mind you) don't have their own forum here?

I don't think the idea (to have a men's forum) has been banned.....just that there doesn't seem to be enough interest. If this (sticky, therefore prioritised) thread starts getting really busy, I expect we'll get a forum.

But in my experience, men's groups don't usually take off.


Actually, there was high interest in the previous men's forum. It got removed because Alex claims it was being abused ... whatever that means.



iamnotaparakeet
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04 Mar 2011, 6:40 pm

ToughDiamond wrote:
iamnotaparakeet wrote:
Another topic: What type of science fiction do you like better? The kind that is basically a love story just using space as a background, or the type that is basically a war story using space instead of oceans? Or, for a third kind, Outer Limits variety which gets into philosophical issues primarily while using characters to display their philosophies?


Example answer: I prefer sci-fi novels about wars in space.

Don't know if mine fits those categories - it's a Brian Aldiss story about a guy who notices his whole family seems to be living through a weird, stereotyped existence, where everything they say and do seems somehow wooden and artificial. He eventually discovers the truth - he's an alien who (unknown to himself) has been planted in a family to absorb Earthling culture, for use in an intended invasion. But the Earthling authorities have a way of smoking the aliens out - they allow the aliens to infiltrate "dummy" families made up of actors, who deliberately make their behaviour as featureless as possible, which eventually drives the aliens to break out and get caught, because they can't function or remain sane without features to absorb.

My next best story is "The Cold Equations" which tells of a young girl stowing away on a freight ship in spite of notices that stowaways will be executed. To her, that's just a silly rule that there must be some way round, and the story is the conversation between her and the guard who discovers her......the problem is that there isn't enough fuel to carry her extra weight, and there's no way to avoid the whole ship crashing into the destination planet, unless she is removed, which means she'll die in space. They fail to solve the problem because there is no solution.

I don't think they quite fit into "war" or "love." It's mostly the human interest factor that grabs me, both stories are about somebody discovering some profound and devastating fact, both explore how it feels to be thinking and acting in ignorance of that fact. The science fiction aspect is just an attractive backdrop.

Does anybody know the title of that first story?


I don't know it, but you could do a search on Amazon with the author's name. You might be able to recognize the cover art or title of the book.



Moog
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04 Mar 2011, 6:53 pm

ToughDiamond wrote:
iamnotaparakeet wrote:
Another topic: What type of science fiction do you like better? The kind that is basically a love story just using space as a background, or the type that is basically a war story using space instead of oceans? Or, for a third kind, Outer Limits variety which gets into philosophical issues primarily while using characters to display their philosophies?


Example answer: I prefer sci-fi novels about wars in space.

Don't know if mine fits those categories - it's a Brian Aldiss story about a guy who notices his whole family seems to be living through a weird, stereotyped existence, where everything they say and do seems somehow wooden and artificial. He eventually discovers the truth - he's an alien who (unknown to himself) has been planted in a family to absorb Earthling culture, for use in an intended invasion. But the Earthling authorities have a way of smoking the aliens out - they allow the aliens to infiltrate "dummy" families made up of actors, who deliberately make their behaviour as featureless as possible, which eventually drives the aliens to break out and get caught, because they can't function or remain sane without features to absorb.

Does anybody know the title of that first story?


I don't but I love the idea of it. Thanks for posting.

I'm definitely an outer limits kinda dude. I've not much time for space fantasy or space opera. I like the exploration of ideas.


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iamnotaparakeet
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05 Mar 2011, 4:05 pm

Moog wrote:
I'm definitely an outer limits kinda dude. I've not much time for space fantasy or space opera. I like the exploration of ideas.


Is the exploration of ideas more preferable to the exploration of space? Ideas can't be thought of and examined anywhere, but as long as we are on Earth any thoughts or ideas about space remain within the realm of data analysis from robotic probes, spectroscopy, and thoughts of what might be.



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06 Mar 2011, 12:30 pm

I love working out, mowing the lawn, anything to get me to sweat. I love to sweat.


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MCalavera
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06 Mar 2011, 8:00 pm

Sweating is manly. 8)



ToughDiamond
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07 Mar 2011, 9:09 am

iamnotaparakeet wrote:
I don't know it, but you could do a search on Amazon with the author's name. You might be able to recognize the cover art or title of the book.

Thanks.......I tried, but no luck so far. :( I believe it was an audiobook, which could have been a compilation of short stories by different authors. The official website has a forum, but it's currently closed due to spammers. I'm not even certain it was Aldiss, though that's the way I remember it, and it's the only story I know that I seem to recall as being by Aldiss, and he's in the "perceptive authors" category in my memory banks. I remember only one phrase from the story - "they hardly went out at all" or something similar.



iamnotaparakeet
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07 Mar 2011, 10:09 am

ToughDiamond wrote:
iamnotaparakeet wrote:
I don't know it, but you could do a search on Amazon with the author's name. You might be able to recognize the cover art or title of the book.

Thanks.......I tried, but no luck so far. :( I believe it was an audiobook, which could have been a compilation of short stories by different authors. The official website has a forum, but it's currently closed due to spammers. I'm not even certain it was Aldiss, though that's the way I remember it, and it's the only story I know that I seem to recall as being by Aldiss, and he's in the "perceptive authors" category in my memory banks. I remember only one phrase from the story - "they hardly went out at all" or something similar.


There have been quite a few sci-fi compilation media recently... I think there's a specific name for that type of work... something like "compendium" or something like that.. I wish I remembered the term, as it might help to narrow the search. There are a few compilation works that have titles like "the best sci-fi of [decade]" or "the best space opera works of [era]", but I think there is a term for such a compilation although I don't remember it.



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07 Mar 2011, 2:42 pm

Anthology?



ToughDiamond
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08 Mar 2011, 5:50 am

ikorack wrote:
Anthology?

Probably......still haven't found the tale though. :(



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08 Mar 2011, 7:51 am

ToughDiamond wrote:
ikorack wrote:
Anthology?

Probably......still haven't found the tale though. :(

Omnibus?



ToughDiamond
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08 Mar 2011, 9:20 am

iamnotaparakeet wrote:
ToughDiamond wrote:
ikorack wrote:
Anthology?

Probably......still haven't found the tale though. :(

Omnibus?

He edited a science fiction omnibus, but there's only 2 of his stories in there. I seem to remember it was an audiobook, though of course it's got to be in print somewhere as well.

Why is there an internet movie database, but no internet story database?



iamnotaparakeet
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08 Mar 2011, 11:21 am

ToughDiamond wrote:
iamnotaparakeet wrote:
ToughDiamond wrote:
ikorack wrote:
Anthology?

Probably......still haven't found the tale though. :(

Omnibus?

He edited a science fiction omnibus, but there's only 2 of his stories in there. I seem to remember it was an audiobook, though of course it's got to be in print somewhere as well.

Why is there an internet movie database, but no internet story database?


There's no comprehensive internet story database, but there are websites like Memory Beta which catalog all of the star trek novels. Perhaps there's a Brian Aldiss wiki or other webpage with comparable data parameters?



MCalavera
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11 Mar 2011, 6:13 am

Ok, I think everyone can see now there's an interest from many of us here in having a forum for men.

Now we'll see if Alex and his staff are taking our request seriously or if they're just mocking us.



iamnotaparakeet
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11 Mar 2011, 8:31 am

MCalavera wrote:
Ok, I think everyone can see now there's an interest from many of us here in having a forum for men.

Now we'll see if Alex and his staff are taking our request seriously or if they're just mocking us.


His staff can't do anything about making a subforum, only Alex can since he's an administrator. Making this discussion sticky is about the most the mods can do.



MidlifeAspie
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11 Mar 2011, 10:12 am

iamnotaparakeet wrote:
MCalavera wrote:
Ok, I think everyone can see now there's an interest from many of us here in having a forum for men.

Now we'll see if Alex and his staff are taking our request seriously or if they're just mocking us.


His staff can't do anything about making a subforum, only Alex can since he's an administrator. Making this discussion sticky is about the most the mods can do.


Yup. I also wouldn't say this sticky has taken off. There have been two subjects raised, and I raised the first one just to start conversation. A forum would not last long with 2 threads in it.


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