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Dated Science Fiction

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C. Baden

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Oct 17, 1994, 6:06:48 AM10/17/94
to
I'm looking for dated events in science fiction. Example:
"Martians Go Home" , by Fredric Brown
March 26, 1964: Martians arrive.
August 19, 1964: Martians leave.

Can you find anything else from your favorite classic (or otherwise) s.f.?
It doesn't have to be a past-date. For example, the tv show Babylon 5 is
set in some very specific years in the 2250's.

So, if you can remember anything where the author set the story in
such-and-such year, please post a note here or email me.

I'd like to use the bits and pieces we collect in my daily newsletter at
Loscon 21, where the theme this year is "The Changing Face of Science
Fiction."

Thanks!

Chaz Baden

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Krikket

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Oct 17, 1994, 6:45:16 AM10/17/94
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C. Baden (ha...@netcom.com) wrote:
>I'm looking for dated events in science fiction. Example:
>"Martians Go Home" , by Fredric Brown
>March 26, 1964: Martians arrive.
>August 19, 1964: Martians leave.

>Can you find anything else from your favorite classic (or otherwise) s.f.?
>It doesn't have to be a past-date. For example, the tv show Babylon 5 is
>set in some very specific years in the 2250's.

>So, if you can remember anything where the author set the story in
>such-and-such year, please post a note here or email me.

The first thing that comes to my mind is Dr. Who. Only there are so
many dates given there, and the series ran for so many years (not
counting the new books, which continue where the show left off) that you
probably could write a full length paper on that one alone...

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Jim_...@transarc.com

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Oct 18, 1994, 7:49:54 AM10/18/94
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djh...@uclink.berkeley.edu (Dorothy J Heydt) writes:

> In article <hazelCx...@netcom.com>, C. Baden <ha...@netcom.com> wrote:
> >I'm looking for dated events in science fiction. Example:
>
> Well, there's Heinlein's "The Year of the Jackpot," in which
> civilization collapses in 1952. Good luck finding it; it didn't
> get reprinted much (for obvious reasons).
>

It's in one of his collections: either Assignment in Eternity or The
Menace from Earth.

******************************************************************
Jim Mann jm...@transarc.com

Transarc Corporation
The Gulf Tower, 707 Grant Street, Pittsburgh, PA 15219 (412) 338-4442
WWW Homepage:
file://grand.central.org/afs/transarc.com/public/jmann/html/Home.html

Football players, somewhere back in their phylogenic development,
learned how to talk like football coaches. ("Our goals this week were
to contain Dickerson and control the line of scrimmage.") Baseball
players say things like, "This pitcher's so bad that when he comes in,
the grounds crew drags the warning track."
-- Tom Boswell, "99 Reasons Why Baseball Is Better than Football"

Ira K. Blum

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Oct 18, 1994, 2:58:53 PM10/18/94
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In article <atvCxu...@netcom.com>, a...@netcom.com (Phil Satterley) writes:
|> UFO takes place in 1980, Land of the Giants takes place in 1983, and
|> there is always Space 1999.
|>

Uh.... 1984?

|> Phil

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this sig for rent

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nwein...@mac.cc.macalstr.edu

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Oct 18, 1994, 5:12:38 PM10/18/94
to
In article <hazelCx...@netcom.com>, ha...@netcom.com (C. Baden) writes:
> I'm looking for dated events in science fiction. Example:
> "Martians Go Home" , by Fredric Brown
> March 26, 1964: Martians arrive.
> August 19, 1964: Martians leave.
>
> Can you find anything else from your favorite classic (or otherwise) s.f.?
> It doesn't have to be a past-date. For example, the tv show Babylon 5 is

Well, Star Trek TNG has a specific starting date of 2364, but I'm not sure if
that's mentioned in the series itself or just in the chronology book.

"All You Zombies" by Robert Heinlein has a lot of very specific dates in it,
some close to present day. His _The Door Into Summer_ has a character going
into coldsleep in 1970 and waking up in 2000; don't know if exact dates are
given, though. Also, in one of the "Future History" stories there's a specific
date of 1984 for a terrible research accident on the Moon- can't remember which
one it was, but they're all collected in _The Past Through Tomorrow_.

Some of Asimov's _I, Robot_ stories have specific dates; I recall 1982 as the
founding date of US Robots and Mechanical Men, and 2044 as election date of
Stephen Byerley, but I don't have the book with me- you'd better look it up.

Clarke's 2001, 2010, 2061 are dated, but that's pretty obvious. His _The Hammer
of God_ is also dated (asteroid strikes in 2110, I think).

Bruce Sterling's story "The Beautiful and the Sublime" is dated, if memory
serves. Dammit, why couldn't I have brought more of my library with me to
college?

Kim Stanley Robinson's _Red Mars_ has a start date of 2026.

Jerry Pournelle's CoDominium future history has a very specific and involved
timeline throughout, starting with 1990 for the formation of the CoDominium
alliance (other dates: 2103 for end of CoDo, 2637 for defeat of Sauron Unified
State, 3013 or so for first contact with Moties).

That's about all I can think of off the top of my head.

Nicholas Weininger
"I have sworn upon the altar of God eternal hostility toward every form of
tyranny over the mind of man." -Thomas Jefferson

The Wandering Jew

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Oct 17, 1994, 10:50:09 AM10/17/94
to
C. Baden (ha...@netcom.com) wrote:
> I'm looking for dated events in science fiction. Example:
> "Martians Go Home" , by Fredric Brown
> March 26, 1964: Martians arrive.
> August 19, 1964: Martians leave.

Ed Hamilton's _The Haunted Stars_ (1960). A few dates in 1964 are given, I
think. Check the book for more data (or e-mail me).

--
Ahasuerus
"...and the truth shall make you free"

Dorothy J Heydt

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Oct 17, 1994, 12:23:53 PM10/17/94
to
In article <hazelCx...@netcom.com>, C. Baden <ha...@netcom.com> wrote:
>I'm looking for dated events in science fiction. Example:

Well, there's Heinlein's "The Year of the Jackpot," in which


civilization collapses in 1952. Good luck finding it; it didn't
get reprinted much (for obvious reasons).

Dorothy J. Heydt
djh...@uclink.berkeley.edu
University of California
Berkeley

Abigail Ann Young

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Oct 17, 1994, 6:50:14 PM10/17/94
to
In article <37u8ep$4...@agate.berkeley.edu>,

Dorothy J Heydt <djh...@uclink.berkeley.edu> wrote:
>In article <hazelCx...@netcom.com>, C. Baden <ha...@netcom.com> wrote:
>>I'm looking for dated events in science fiction. Example:
>
>Well, there's Heinlein's "The Year of the Jackpot," in which
>civilization collapses in 1952. Good luck finding it; it didn't
>get reprinted much (for obvious reasons).
>

Gosh, I enjoyed that story, however wierd it may have been: where else
could you find a story with a hero called Potiphar! I think it was
collected in _The Menace from Earth And Other Stories_ collection,
wasn't it?

Abigail


--
Dr Abigail Ann Young, Records of Early English Drama| young@epas.|
Victoria College, University of Toronto | utoronto.ca|

Phillip Mueller [that's two 'l's!]

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Oct 20, 1994, 6:56:40 AM10/20/94
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In article <hazelCx...@netcom.com>, ha...@netcom.com (C. Baden) writes:
> I'm looking for dated events in science fiction. Example:

In RAH's _Moon is a Harsh Mistress_, the date for storming the Warden's
office is May 5, 2076, and the date for Lunar independence is July 4, 2076.

Larry Niven's "The Ethics of Madness," has several dates. In his book
_Tales of Known Space_, he published a chronological chart, and stated
that the dates in "TEoM" must be considered erroneous.


--
Phillip Mueller pamu...@ingr.com

John Hall

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Oct 20, 1994, 4:12:03 PM10/20/94
to
In article <hazelCx...@netcom.com> ha...@netcom.com "C. Baden" writes:

> I'm looking for dated events in science fiction. Example:
> "Martians Go Home" , by Fredric Brown
> March 26, 1964: Martians arrive.
> August 19, 1964: Martians leave.
>
> Can you find anything else from your favorite classic (or otherwise) s.f.?
> It doesn't have to be a past-date. For example, the tv show Babylon 5 is
> set in some very specific years in the 2250's.
>
> So, if you can remember anything where the author set the story in
> such-and-such year, please post a note here or email me.

Well, it's so totally obvious that I had hesitated to mention it, but
after a couple of days I haven't seen anyone else refer to it:

"1984".
--
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| the Information Super-Highway
Cranleigh, Surrey, England |

Brenda Holloway

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Oct 19, 1994, 2:05:46 PM10/19/94
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In article <mirth.107...@mcs.com>, mi...@mcs.com (Gavin S. Patton)
wrote:

> Julian May's books are very specific as to dates, especially Intervention,
> which takes place...well, heck, about NOW!

I don't see how you could have missed it. It really shook up the ol'
psychic aether. That ghostly message ringing in our heads, that told us
about... well, I'm sure you heard it, too.

Brenda

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Sony Software / Monterey, CA / & cooks it up in a pan

Gavin S. Patton

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Oct 18, 1994, 2:55:15 AM10/18/94
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In article <hazelCx...@netcom.com> ha...@netcom.com (C. Baden) writes:
>From: ha...@netcom.com (C. Baden)
>Subject: Dated Science Fiction
>Date: Mon, 17 Oct 1994 10:06:48 GMT

>I'm looking for dated events in science fiction. Example:
>"Martians Go Home" , by Fredric Brown
>March 26, 1964: Martians arrive.
>August 19, 1964: Martians leave.

>Can you find anything else from your favorite classic (or otherwise) s.f.?
>It doesn't have to be a past-date. For example, the tv show Babylon 5 is
>set in some very specific years in the 2250's.

>So, if you can remember anything where the author set the story in
>such-and-such year, please post a note here or email me.

>I'd like to use the bits and pieces we collect in my daily newsletter at
>Loscon 21, where the theme this year is "The Changing Face of Science
>Fiction."

A favorite of mine is Heinlein's "Door into Summer", which jumps between a
1970 with robots and NullGrav and cold-sleep and 2001 with all sorts of
stuff, including buying shirts from a dispenser in a public restroom, of all
things!

Julian May's books are very specific as to dates, especially Intervention,
which takes place...well, heck, about NOW!

------- Gavin

Barry Gold

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Oct 20, 1994, 1:16:23 AM10/20/94
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I checked when I got home, and "The Year of the Jackpot" is in
_The_Menace_from_Earth_.
--
Barry...@SanDiego.NCR.COM

Barry Gold

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Oct 19, 1994, 5:34:36 PM10/19/94
to
In article <hazelCx...@netcom.com>, C. Baden <ha...@netcom.com> wrote:
>I'm looking for dated events in science fiction. ...

In the hardbound edition of Heinlein's Space Cadet(c) 1948, the "USAF Rocket
Ship Kilroy was Here", Terra to Luna and return, crashed in 1955.
[chapter 1].

In the paperback edition, it says "USSF Rocket Ship ..." Terra to Mars
and return, crashed returning from Mars, no date given.

Later on, in chapter two [both editions], "a hand-sketched map of the far
side of the moon [was] found in the wrecked Kilroy." This should probably
have been changed to Mars in the paperback edition, suggesting the
change was made by the publisher rather than by Heinlein, who [we
assume] would have been competent enough to fix the second reference.

A couple of paragraphs later, it mentions Ezra Dahlquist, giving his
death date as 1996. So in a couple of years, that'll be dated, too.


also, Project Hush, a short story by William Tenn, predicted the first
soft landing on the moon and was off by only two weeks!

-------------------------

In article <37u8ep$4...@agate.berkeley.edu> djh...@uclink.berkeley.edu (Dorothy J Heydt) writes:
>Well, there's Heinlein's "The Year of the Jackpot," in which
>civilization collapses in 1952. Good luck finding it; it didn't
>get reprinted much (for obvious reasons).

IIRC, "The Year of the Jackpot" is in one of the standard old
collections of his stories, _The_Green_Hills_of_Earth_ or
_The_Menace_from_Earth_ or _6XH_
(aka _The_Unpleasant_Profession_of_Jonathon_Hoag_).
--
Barry...@SanDiego.NCR.COM

Phil Satterley

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Oct 18, 1994, 12:43:57 AM10/18/94
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UFO takes place in 1980, Land of the Giants takes place in 1983, and
there is always Space 1999.

Phil

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Kimberly Murphy

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Oct 20, 1994, 6:48:00 AM10/20/94
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The Gerry Anderson stuff all has dates. THUNDERBIRDS, for example, has
a date of 2026; STINGRAY, 2065; CAPTAIN SCARLET, 2068.


Kimberly Murphy
Managing Editor, POWER STAR
kamu...@acenet.com
ğACEğ Online ((301) 942-2218)
Official BBS Of POWER STAR Magazine

Bill Stewart +1-510-484-6204

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Oct 20, 1994, 6:49:18 PM10/20/94
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> "Martians Go Home" , by Fredric Brown
> March 26, 1964: Martians arrive.
> August 19, 1964: Martians leave.

October the First is Too Late (Fred Hoyle? I think it had a year
attached to it.) And, of course, X-Day will be here Real Soon Now! Yee-hah!
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User Support

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Oct 21, 1994, 12:07:35 AM10/21/94
to
John Hall (Jo...@jhall.demon.co.uk) wrote:

: In article <hazelCx...@netcom.com> ha...@netcom.com "C. Baden" writes:

: > I'm looking for dated events in science fiction. Example:
: > "Martians Go Home" , by Fredric Brown
: > March 26, 1964: Martians arrive.
: > August 19, 1964: Martians leave.
: >
: > Can you find anything else from your favorite classic (or otherwise) s.f.?
: > It doesn't have to be a past-date. For example, the tv show Babylon 5 is
: > set in some very specific years in the 2250's.
: >
: > So, if you can remember anything where the author set the story in
: > such-and-such year, please post a note here or email me.

: Well, it's so totally obvious that I had hesitated to mention it, but
: after a couple of days I haven't seen anyone else refer to it:

: "1984".

Even more obvious, though possibly more obscure:

"October the First is Too Late" (Fred Hoyle)

Loren Macgregor

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Oct 22, 1994, 3:12:36 PM10/22/94
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Jim_...@transarc.com writes:
> ******************************************************************
> Jim Mann jm...@transarc.com
>
> Transarc Corporation
> The Gulf Tower, 707 Grant Street, Pittsburgh, PA 15219 (412) 338-4442
> WWW Homepage:
> file://grand.central.org/afs/transarc.com/public/jmann/html/Home.html
>
> Football players, somewhere back in their phylogenic development,
> learned how to talk like football coaches. ("Our goals this week were
> to contain Dickerson and control the line of scrimmage.") Baseball
> players say things like, "This pitcher's so bad that when he comes in,
> the grounds crew drags the warning track."
> -- Tom Boswell, "99 Reasons Why Baseball Is Better than Football"

Jim, how come your damn sig has to be several lines longer than most of
the messages you post?

Loren MacGregor: lm...@tatertot.com / 73404...@compuserve.com

C. Baden

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Oct 22, 1994, 2:11:43 PM10/22/94
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User Support (r...@netaxs.com) wrote:
: "October the First is Too Late" (Fred Hoyle)

Yes, but what happens when? Dates and events! Please!

Example (do you know this story?):

May 8, 1937: The Lanson Screen, an impenetrable force field, is
demonstrated in a field test outside New York City. An eighteen-inch
railroad gun fires three-hundred-pound bombs at it; they are stopped in
mid-air and slide to the ground, flattened.

May 9, 1937: A Lanson Screen domes Manhattan. Professor Henry Lanson dies
in a tragic accident, taking the secret of the Lanson Screen, including
how to turn it off, with him. Manhattan Island entombed for 62 years.

1999: Howard Cranston invents a machine to create a Lanson Screen from
outside the field, and it becomes a simple matter to uncover Manhattan
again.


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David Librik

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Oct 22, 1994, 6:19:41 PM10/22/94
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ha...@netcom.com (C. Baden) writes:
>User Support (r...@netaxs.com) wrote:
>: "October the First is Too Late" (Fred Hoyle)

Yes, but due to the way things worked out at the end of the book, this very
well could have happened already... you'd never know it. (Being deliberately
vague to avoid spoilage, but if you have the book, check it and see.)

- David Librik
lib...@cs.Berkeley.edu

C. Baden

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Oct 23, 1994, 4:37:02 AM10/23/94
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TandMark (tand...@aol.com) wrote:
: Ackerman, to see if they have any of Elmer Perdue's old (mid-1940s
: vintage) cards with SF predictions for each year from
: Nineteen-forty-something through 2020. He must have run them through

You wouldn't want to type them in, would you? :)

--
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jello. Email me w/ "request margarita" as subject or message for recipe.

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Tom Digby

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Oct 23, 1994, 6:20:59 PM10/23/94
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C. Baden (ha...@netcom.com) wrote:

: User Support (r...@netaxs.com) wrote:
: : "October the First is Too Late" (Fred Hoyle)

: Yes, but what happens when? Dates and events! Please!

: Example (do you know this story?):

: May 8, 1937: The Lanson Screen, an impenetrable force field, is
: demonstrated in a field test outside New York City. An eighteen-inch
: railroad gun fires three-hundred-pound bombs at it; they are stopped in
: mid-air and slide to the ground, flattened.

[rest of story deleted]

Here's another one:

March 31, 1898: Inventor of "telectroscope" (a sort of videophone)
meets with various bigwigs to discuss uses of invention.

Autumn, 1901: Paris World's Fair exclusive expires, telectroscope
released to public use. Connected to world's telephone systems.

December 29, 1901: Man which whom telectroscope inventor had quarreled
found murdered.

March 31, 1904: Inventor reprieved on the gallows at the last moment when
the supposed murder victim is found alive in China via the telectroscope.

April 22, 1904: Inventor hanged anyway, despite innocence, because of
legal mumbo-jumbo about "A man cannot be pardoned for a crime which he has
not committed" (the author was satirizing an actual court case I know very
little about).

-- "From the London Times of 1904" by Mark Twain.
--
-- Tom
bub...@well.sf.ca.us

Chris Croughton

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Oct 23, 1994, 7:23:56 PM10/23/94
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In article <WCS.94Oc...@anchor.ATT.COM>

w...@anchor.ho.att.com "Bill Stewart +1-510-484-6204" writes:

>October the First is Too Late (Fred Hoyle? I think it had a year
>attached to it.) And, of course, X-Day will be here Real Soon Now! Yee-hah!

Yes, it was Fred Hoyle, but I don't remember the year. I'm pretty sure
it was stated, though.

ISTR that "The Black Cloud" had a date attached as well, sometime in the
60s. I'll have to dig out one of my copies...

***********************************************************************
* ch...@keris.demon.co.uk * *
* chr...@cix.compulink.co.uk * FIAWOL (Filking Is A Way Of Life) *
* 10001...@compuserve.com * *
***********************************************************************

C. Baden

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Oct 23, 1994, 8:19:34 PM10/23/94
to
I'm looking for events in science fiction with specific dates. Example:
"I, Robot" by Isaac Asimov ("Runaround").
2015: Second Mercury Expedition.

(I've resposted this request, to make it clear that it doesn't matter to
me whether the fiction is "dated" in the sense of being obsolete; I just
want specific years and if possible, months and days, for specific events.)

Can you find anything else from your favorite classic (or otherwise) s.f.?
It doesn't have to be a past-date. For example, the tv show Babylon 5 is
set in some very specific years in the 2250's.

So, if you can remember anything where the author set the story in
such-and-such year, please post a note here or email me.

I'd like to use the bits and pieces we collect in my daily newsletter at
Loscon 21, where the theme this year is "The Changing Face of Science
Fiction."

Thanks!
Chaz Baden

--


ha...@netcom.com - Home of Margarita Jell-O, an alcoholic use for lime
jello. Email me w/ "request margarita" as subject or message for recipe.

* L.A.con III * World S.F. Convention * Email bot: lacon...@netcom.com

* Aug29-Sep02 '96, Anaheim CA * Ftp = ftp.netcom.com:/pub/lacon3-info/

D. A. Scocca

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Oct 19, 1994, 6:27:56 PM10/19/94
to
In article <hazelCx...@netcom.com>, C. Baden <ha...@netcom.com> wrote:

>I'm looking for dated events in science fiction. Example:

Here's something interesting:

From Harlan Ellison's "The Sky Is Burning", in my first edition of
Ellison Wonderland:

"We might be going out into space in a few years--farther, that is,
than the Moon, which we had reached in 1963, or Mars, which we had
circumnavigated in 1966...."

From "The Sky Is Burning", in The Essential Ellison:

"We might be going out into space in a few years--farther, that is,
than the Moon, which we had reached in 1969, or Mars, on which we had
landed in 1976...."

Reading in the Essential Ellison, and aware of the date of the story
(1958), I was very impressed until I found the earlier version.

D.
--
* The Minstrel in the Gallery "Heteroskedastic" *
* D. A. Scocca sco...@gibbs.oit.unc.edu *
* "My love does not, cannot _make_ her happy. My love can only *
* release in her the capacity to be happy." --J. Barnes *

Christian Weisgerber

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Oct 19, 1994, 5:24:42 PM10/19/94
to
ha...@netcom.com (C. Baden) writes:

> I'm looking for dated events in science fiction. Example:

> "Martians Go Home" , by Fredric Brown
> March 26, 1964: Martians arrive.
> August 19, 1964: Martians leave.

Most of the Perry Rhodan series is dated, at least to the year, quite
often to the month, occasionally to the day.

E.g. Perry Rhodan was the first man to set foot on the Moon in 1971...
(Does anybody remember whether the exact date is given?)

--
Christian 'naddy' Weisgerber, Germany
na...@mips.ruessel.sub.org / na...@mips.lu.pfalz.de

Richard McAllister

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Oct 24, 1994, 7:17:39 PM10/24/94
to
In article <hazelCy...@netcom.com> ha...@netcom.com (C. Baden) writes:

>: > I'm looking for dated events in science fiction. Example:
>

>John Hall (Jo...@jhall.demon.co.uk) wrote:
>: "1984".
>
>Ah, not to nitpick, but I'm looking for dated events.
>So, what day in 1984 was Winston Smith arrested for ...
>And yes, I'm definitely going to have those events; it will take
>rereading the books to look up events like when the war started ...

Which war? I forget the names of the superstates, but part way through the
book everybody changed sides and history was rewritten so it was always that
way. All dates of all events in "1984" -- and even the events themselves --
were subject to retroactive change. The year 1984 itself was only Smith's
best guess based on what he could remember. Writing any "1984" dates on a
calendar rather misses the point (unless you did something really clever
like record the same event with two dates, or issue variant versions of the
calendar with different "1984" dates and events.)
--
Rich McAllister (r...@eng.sun.com)

Janet McKenzie

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Oct 24, 1994, 7:04:09 PM10/24/94
to
In article <hazelCy...@netcom.com>, ha...@netcom.com (C. Baden) writes:
> : > I'm looking for dated events in science fiction. Example:
>
> John Hall (Jo...@jhall.demon.co.uk) wrote:
> : "1984".
>
> Ah, not to nitpick, but I'm looking for dated events.
> So, what day in 1984 was Winston Smith arrested for plusungoodthink?


As a matter of record the 1984 of the title was originally 1948 but the
publisher was unwilling to accept a title where the date was so close in time
to the actual date. Orwell accepted(?) the inversion of the final two digits
and so we have "1984".


Janet

Keith F. Lynch

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Oct 24, 1994, 8:06:00 PM10/24/94
to
In article <WCS.94Oc...@anchor.ATT.COM>,

> October the First is Too Late (Fred Hoyle? I think it had a year
> attached to it.)

Lots of them. Ancient Greece. World War I. The 1960s. The distant
future. All mixed together on one globe. What fun! Of course Murray
Leinster did it first.
--
Keith Lynch, k...@access.digex.com

f p=2,3:2 s q=1 x "f f=3:2 q:f*f>p!'q s q=p#f" w:q p,?$x\8+1*8

Herbert Leong

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Oct 25, 1994, 11:32:04 AM10/25/94
to

Chaz wrote:

:I'm looking for events in science fiction with specific dates. Example:


:"I, Robot" by Isaac Asimov ("Runaround").
:2015: Second Mercury Expedition.

:
:Can you find anything else from your favorite classic (or otherwise) s.f.?
:it doesn't have to be a past-date. For example, the tv show Babylon 5 is


:set in some very specific years in the 2250's.
:
:So, if you can remember anything where the author set the story in
:such-and-such year, please post a note here or email me.
:
:I'd like to use the bits and pieces we collect in my daily newsletter at
:Loscon 21, where the theme this year is "The Changing Face of Science
:Fiction."
:
:Thanks!
:Chaz Baden

Try any of Heinlein's "Future History" based stories and novels.
If you look on the chart, you will see that some of the stories happen
before 2000, between 2000 and 2100 and after 2100. The strike of '76 (1976)
is mentioned (concerning the roads must roll) as well as some other
dates. You may also want to look at some of his commentaries. He made
several predictions. I recall reading grumbles from the grave as passage
that one of Heinlein's friends scoffed at his stories about nuke power
He was in the Army CE and flew over Hiroshima after the blast. He
made an apology to Heinlein, if I am not mistaken.
/herb
--
gr...@futon.sfsu.edu
gr...@wet.com [Paste Standard Disclaimer Here]
Member, X-NeXT Club

Tom Digby

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Oct 25, 1994, 3:02:04 PM10/25/94
to
Janet McKenzie (jan...@matai.vuw.ac.nz) wrote:

: In article <hazelCy...@netcom.com>, ha...@netcom.com (C. Baden) writes:
: > : > I'm looking for dated events in science fiction. Example:
: >
: > John Hall (Jo...@jhall.demon.co.uk) wrote:
: > : "1984".
: >
: > Ah, not to nitpick, but I'm looking for dated events.
: > So, what day in 1984 was Winston Smith arrested for plusungoodthink?


: As a matter of record the 1984 of the title was originally 1948 but the

[censored]

Also, as I recall the narrative opened with a statement that nobody was
sure if it really WAS 1984, because control of information was so tight
that dates were difficult to pin down (unless, perhaps, you were part of
the ruling elite with access to such info).

On another hand, if you thumb through the last few years of zines like
ANALOG you're likely to find a number of short stories in the form of
correspondence back and forth between characters. Much of that has dates
in it. Problem is, most of the stories have been pretty much forgotten
so such a list of dates would have little meaning.
--
-- Tom
bub...@well.sf.ca.us

Holly Wilper

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Oct 26, 1994, 9:56:40 AM10/26/94
to
HAL (2001) was born on Jan. 12, 1992.......(we had a birthday party for
him in Chicago, even though he was born here in Champaign/Urbana)

holly

C. Baden

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Oct 26, 1994, 6:51:24 AM10/26/94
to
Herbert Leong (gr...@futon.SFSU.EDU) wrote:
: Try any of Heinlein's "Future History" based stories and novels.

: If you look on the chart, you will see that some of the stories happen
: before 2000, between 2000 and 2100 and after 2100. The strike of '76 (1976)
: is mentioned (concerning the roads must roll) as well as some other
: dates. You may also want to look at some of his commentaries. He made
: several predictions.

I suppose I should mention Heinlein, 1984, 2001, 2010, and 2051 when I
post this request...

I've looked at the timeline. (Including an older version, when the
Strike of '66 was still set in '66, not '76.) But there are surprisingly
few specific dates available. We have 1966/1976 [depending which
timeline you believe; it was originally set in '66] for Roads Must Roll,
and '78 for The Man Who Sold the Moon (i.e, First Moon Landing).
We have a couple of specific dates mentioned in Roads Must Roll, for
example, 1955, San Francisco replaces cable cars with solar-powered
escalators.

"Lifeline" is set in 1939.

"Solution Unsatisfactory" (one of his stories that is *not* part of the
"Future History" timeline) has several dates set in it.

But still, I get frustrated when I see a ballpark date range in the
timeline, but no specific year mentioned. It's very hard to use that in
the way I hope to use these events. (Mind you, I've got a bunch stashed
away already, and I'm going to be using different authors' predictions...)

The same thing crops up in Asimov's "I, Robot." Many of the stories are
given specific years by the interview-with-Susan-Calvin intersplicing the
stories. But, it gives a date for the Second Mercury Expedition, and not
the first... and so on.

Forecasting is difficult, especially about the future.

C. Baden

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Oct 26, 1994, 7:05:12 AM10/26/94
to
Tom Digby (tgd...@netcom.com) wrote:

: March 31, 1898: Inventor of "telectroscope" (a sort of videophone)


: meets with various bigwigs to discuss uses of invention.

Any idea if it was invented in 1898 or 1897 or any such specific year?

Michael Stemper

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Oct 26, 1994, 12:48:46 PM10/26/94
to
In article <1994Oct19....@sparc.SanDiegoCA.ncr.com>, bar...@sparc.SanDiegoCA.ncr.com (Barry Gold) writes:
>
>In the hardbound edition of Heinlein's Space Cadet(c) 1948, the "USAF Rocket
>Ship Kilroy was Here", Terra to Luna and return, crashed in 1955.
>[chapter 1].
>
>In the paperback edition, it says "USSF Rocket Ship ..." Terra to Mars
>and return, crashed returning from Mars, no date given.
>
>Later on, in chapter two [both editions], "a hand-sketched map of the far
>side of the moon [was] found in the wrecked Kilroy." This should probably
>have been changed to Mars in the paperback edition, suggesting the
>change was made by the publisher rather than by Heinlein, who [we
>assume] would have been competent enough to fix the second reference.

But, there is no previously unseen "far side" of Mars. It shows us all
of itself.

On the other hand, the crew of the Kilroy would probably be able to see
the back of the moon after the got past its orbit on their way to Mars.

On the gripping hand, by the time there was a flight to Mars, one would
expect that flights past the moon had previously ocurred.

--
Michael F. Stemper | Any true system of justice should not
mste...@empros.com | look simply to averages. True justice
#include <Standard_Disclaimer> | comes from looking and dealing with
| the marginal cases.

Erik Olson

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Oct 26, 1994, 2:17:47 PM10/26/94
to
>HAL (2001) was born on Jan. 12, 1992.......(we had a birthday party for
>him in Chicago, even though he was born here in Champaign/Urbana)

Look carefully at some of the eairlest print edition of 2001-I saw HAL
undergoing Big Red Switch Inversion in 1986, 1988, 1992 and 1997. There may
be more. Of course, setting a clock on a computer is easy..

* Erik V. Olson * This is not a clever message *
* er...@bix.com * All .sigs have a clever message *
* Just this guy, ya know * Therefore, this is not a .sig *

Joseph Ross

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Oct 27, 1994, 11:13:50 PM10/27/94
to
I have several episodes of the early-50s TV series SPACE PATROL. In one
episode, two characters argue over whether the first manned space ship
was sent up in 1956 or 1966 (This show was aired in late 1954.). They go
back in time to 1956 and find that was the year.

I also have a story based on the TV series TOM CORBETT, SPACE CADET
(which in turn was loosely based on Heinlein's novel) in which, in the
year 2350, they use a computer to help them find a needle in a haystack
in the asteroid belt. The computer they use has 100,000 tubes and takes
up an entire floor of the Mars Institute. And it obviously isn't as
powerful as the first IBM PC.


--
======================================================================
A. Joseph Ross, J.D. law...@world.std.com
15 Court Square 617/367-0468
Boston, MA 02108-2573

Joseph Ross

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Oct 27, 1994, 11:23:59 PM10/27/94
to
In article <hazelCy...@netcom.com>,
C. Baden <hazel...@netcom.com> wrote:

>I'm looking for events in science fiction with specific dates. Example:
> "I, Robot" by Isaac Asimov ("Runaround").

Wasn't Susan Calvin born sometime in the 1980s?

It probably doesn't qualify as SF, but in the best-seller SEVEN DAYS IN
MAY, a novel of a military junta trying to seize the US Presidency, the
President in the story is Jordan Lyman, who, it is stated, was elected in
1972. It is further specified that he defeated Edgar Frasier, the
Republican who was elected in 1968 to succeed JFK (who reportedly read the
book with interest). A number of other novels by Fletcher Knebel had
similarly specific dates which are now obsolete.

Incidentally, I've heard that Leonard Nimoy had a small role in the movie
version, though I don't remember seeing him.

Steve Brinich

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Oct 29, 1994, 2:50:53 PM10/29/94
to
>nwein...@mac.cc.macalstr.edu (Nicholas Weininger) wrote:

> Well, Star Trek TNG has a specific starting date of 2364, but I'm not sure
>if that's mentioned in the series itself or just in the chronology book.

It's mentioned in the episode "The Neutral Zone".


--
Steve Brinich <ste...@access.digex.net> | If the government wants us
GEnie: S.BRINICH CI$: 74157,2226 | to respect the law
PGPrint 89B992BBE67F7B2F64FDF2EA14374C65 | it should set a better example

Nicholas Charles Alcock

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Nov 2, 1994, 1:50:03 PM11/2/94
to
Joseph Ross (law...@world.std.com) wrote:
: In article <hazelCy...@netcom.com>,
: C. Baden <hazel...@netcom.com> wrote:

: >I'm looking for events in science fiction with specific dates. Example:
: > "I, Robot" by Isaac Asimov ("Runaround").

: Wasn't Susan Calvin born sometime in the 1980s?

1982 I think. It may be '88.
(I wonder if there *is* a Susan Calvin anywhere? Oh no no good; where's
Robertson?)

: It probably doesn't qualify as SF, but in the best-seller SEVEN DAYS IN


: MAY, a novel of a military junta trying to seize the US Presidency, the
: President in the story is Jordan Lyman, who, it is stated, was elected in
: 1972. It is further specified that he defeated Edgar Frasier, the
: Republican who was elected in 1968 to succeed JFK (who reportedly read the
: book with interest). A number of other novels by Fletcher Knebel had
: similarly specific dates which are now obsolete.

: Incidentally, I've heard that Leonard Nimoy had a small role in the movie
: version, though I don't remember seeing him.


: --
: ======================================================================
: A. Joseph Ross, J.D. law...@world.std.com
: 15 Court Square 617/367-0468
: Boston, MA 02108-2573

--
---------------------------------------------------
Statesmen are dead politicians. We need more statesmen.

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