In case it's of interest to anyone...

[Sea Wasp (Ryk E. Spoor)]

_Grand Central Arena_ is now available in the Baen Free Library. So if
there was anyone idly wondering what it was like but not QUITE
interested enough to pay for it, there it is!

--
Sea Wasp
/^\
;;;
Website: http://www.grandcentralarena.com Blog:
http://seawasp.livejournal.com

[Greg Goss]

"Sea Wasp (Ryk E. Spoor)" <sea...@sgeinc.invalid.com> wrote:

>
> _Grand Central Arena_ is now available in the Baen Free Library. So if
>there was anyone idly wondering what it was like but not QUITE
>interested enough to pay for it, there it is!

I liked the bottom-up view of Portal that was in one of the Baen Free
annuals. Was that story ever commercial, or was it written as a
giveaway in the first place?

I'm not sure where the market is for shorter works would be anymroe.
I read Analog for thirty years and bought another twenty or thirty
years of older ones, but don't buy magazines anymore.
--
We are geeks. Resistance is voltage over current.

[Sea Wasp (Ryk E. Spoor)]

On 4/25/17 3:01 AM, Greg Goss wrote:
> "Sea Wasp (Ryk E. Spoor)" <sea...@sgeinc.invalid.com> wrote:
>
>>
>> _Grand Central Arena_ is now available in the Baen Free Library. So if
>> there was anyone idly wondering what it was like but not QUITE
>> interested enough to pay for it, there it is!
>
> I liked the bottom-up view of Portal that was in one of the Baen Free
> annuals. Was that story ever commercial, or was it written as a
> giveaway in the first place?

"Skyspark" is the title. It's both, actually; it was intended as a free
sampler/teaser, but it's also quite commercial as I got paid for it. :)

[Gutless Umbrella Carrying Sissy]

"Sea Wasp (Ryk E. Spoor)" <sea...@sgeinc.invalid.com> wrote in
news:odm3o0$7r5$1...@dont-email.me:

>
> _Grand Central Arena_ is now available in the Baen Free
> Library. So if
> there was anyone idly wondering what it was like but not QUITE
> interested enough to pay for it, there it is!
>

As with The Exapnse books, it wasn't something I would normally be
interested in. But also like The Expanse, that would appear to be not
because I don't like the genre, but because it's usually written
poorly or with a style that doesn't work for me. And like The
Expanse, this one's an exception.

(Note: I might be biased, since I read this book after arranging the
red shirt appearance in the third book of the series. But it's still
as well written as anything Ryk has done, and that's pretty well
written, indeed.)

--
Terry Austin

Vacation photos from Iceland:
https://plus.google.com/u/0/collection/QaXQkB

"Terry Austin: like the polio vaccine, only with more asshole."
-- David Bilek

Jesus forgives sinners, not criminals.

[Gutless Umbrella Carrying Sissy]

Greg Goss <go...@gossg.org> wrote in
news:em8ahv...@mid.individual.net:

> I'm not sure where the market is for shorter works would be
> anymroe. I read Analog for thirty years and bought another
> twenty or thirty years of older ones, but don't buy magazines
> anymore.

I gave up on Analog years ago, when the liberal political bias got
too heavyhanded to tell what the science fiction was supposed to be
about.

I have every issue of Galaxy's Edge, though.

[Dorothy J Heydt]

In article <XnsA762747ED7C...@69.16.179.43>,

Gutless Umbrella Carrying Sissy <taus...@gmail.com> wrote:
>Greg Goss <go...@gossg.org> wrote in
>news:em8ahv...@mid.individual.net:
>
>> I'm not sure where the market is for shorter works would be
>> anymroe. I read Analog for thirty years and bought another
>> twenty or thirty years of older ones, but don't buy magazines
>> anymore.
>
>I gave up on Analog years ago, when the liberal political bias got
>too heavyhanded to tell what the science fiction was supposed to be
>about.

We sometimes call that LeGuin's Disease.

--
Dorothy J. Heydt
Vallejo, California
djheydt at gmail dot com

[Gutless Umbrella Carrying Sissy]

djh...@kithrup.com (Dorothy J Heydt) wrote in
news:oozCn...@kithrup.com:

> In article <XnsA762747ED7C...@69.16.179.43>,
> Gutless Umbrella Carrying Sissy <taus...@gmail.com> wrote:
>>Greg Goss <go...@gossg.org> wrote in
>>news:em8ahv...@mid.individual.net:
>>
>>> I'm not sure where the market is for shorter works would be
>>> anymroe. I read Analog for thirty years and bought another
>>> twenty or thirty years of older ones, but don't buy magazines
>>> anymore.
>>
>>I gave up on Analog years ago, when the liberal political bias
>>got too heavyhanded to tell what the science fiction was
>>supposed to be about.
>
> We sometimes call that LeGuin's Disease.
>

I was under the impression that was always LeGuin's entire point.

[a425couple]

"Dorothy J Heydt" <djh...@kithrup.com> wrote in message...

> Gutless Umbrella Carrying Sissy <taus...@gmail.com> wrote:
>>Greg Goss <go...@gossg.org> wrote in

>>> I'm not sure where the market is for shorter works would be
>>> anymroe. I read Analog for thirty years and bought another
>>> twenty or thirty years of older ones, but don't buy magazines
>>> anymore.
>>
>>I gave up on Analog years ago, when the liberal political bias got
>>too heavyhanded to tell what the science fiction was supposed to be
>>about.

If you would care to explain that, I'd read about it.

> We sometimes call that LeGuin's Disease.

> Dorothy J. Heydt

And, I'd read about that also.

[Gutless Umbrella Carrying Sissy]

"a425couple" <a425c...@hotmail.com> wrote in
news:odqjj...@news3.newsguy.com:

> "Dorothy J Heydt" <djh...@kithrup.com> wrote in message...
>> Gutless Umbrella Carrying Sissy <taus...@gmail.com> wrote:
>>>Greg Goss <go...@gossg.org> wrote in
>>>> I'm not sure where the market is for shorter works would be
>>>> anymroe. I read Analog for thirty years and bought another
>>>> twenty or thirty years of older ones, but don't buy magazines
>>>> anymore.
>>>
>>>I gave up on Analog years ago, when the liberal political bias
>>>got too heavyhanded to tell what the science fiction was
>>>supposed to be about.
>
> If you would care to explain that, I'd read about it.

How much explanation does it need? Pretty much every story was
about one or another liberal political ideal, vaguely shoehorned
into a vaguely science fiction settings. Mostly how human beings
are evil, and must be controlled for their own good, and if there
was anyone non-human in the story, they were inherently morally
superior in eveyr conceivable way, and should be controlling human
beings for their own good. That's not much of an exaggeration. The
final straw for me was Sawyer's Hominids serialization, in which
that was pretty much literally the premise. All human beings = bad,
all human males = rapists, all neaderthals = kind, gentles,
benevolent, wise, angelic beings. (I have no idea if it continued
like that throughout, though. I stopped reading Analog entirely
after the first installment. I have better things to do with my
time that read drek like that. Like poke my eyes out with a
titanium spork. Or read Little Tommie Crapman's posts.)

>
>> We sometimes call that LeGuin's Disease.
>> Dorothy J. Heydt
>
> And, I'd read about that also.
>

LeGuin is notable for the political ideology of her work. In her
case, it's respectable, because she's doing it openly and on
purpose.

[mcdow...@sky.com]

I see an obvious difference between the first three books of the Earthsea series and the long-delayed final book. The first three books are solidly rooted in history (or should that be anthropology?) and mythology. Perhaps if I had a lifetime's exposure to nothing else but that way of looking of the world I would find them tired and hackneyed, but I don't, whereas the fourth book seems very PC to me, and in a way that makes the story less entertaining.

"The Lathe of Heaven" is one of my favourite books. In one sense, it's full of Taoist mysticism, but let me note that the villain, Doctor Haber, is motivated by the desire to do good by re-organising society.

I'm not sure why I find a recycled version of some long-dead civilisation's cliches and correctnesses so much more entertaining than our own political correctness? The ability of the author to chose what they find interesting and reshape it to make it more interesting? Being fed up with what we are presented with every day? Can we afford to be more delusional today because technology allows us to support our delusions, and/or makes them less obvious? If the latter, perhaps I shouldn't be as intolerant as I am about the idea of an aristocracy in a technological society (MilSF Captains with hereditary titles, I am thinking of you!).

[Dimensional Traveler]

IMO its not technology that supports delusional beliefs but
wealthy/powerful societies. Wealth/power usually facilitate safety,
which insulates from reality.

--
Some days you just don't have enough middle fingers!

[Gutless Umbrella Carrying Sissy]

Dimensional Traveler <dtr...@sonic.net> wrote in
news:odr9d3$rlk$1...@dont-email.me:

Technology facilitates safety, too. The two aren't mutually
exclusive.

And your theory doesn't explain the extremely delusional state of
so many liberals these days who are hardly wealthy. (Or
conservatives who are outright poor, for that matter.)