Footfall: Who's Who?
Ray Ciscon
Hello!
I just picked up Footfall by the ubiquitous messrs. Niven and Pournelle
for the first time in years and have started reading it again.
One question I have, does anyone have the official list of who the SF
authors on the 'Threat Team' are supposed to be? A few are really easy,
but I'm not sure of the others.....
Here are my guesses, please correct me and/or fill in the blanks.
Sherry Atkinson = ?
Robert & Virginia Anson = Robert & Virginia Heinlein
Nat Reynolds = Larry Niven???
Joe Ransom = ?
Wade & Jane Curtis = Jerry & Roberta Pournelle
Bob Burnham = ?
Thanks for your help in advance!
Ray Ciscon
Michael Driscoll
In article <5g2qaa$f...@fox.almaden.ibm.com>, John Tomlin wrote:
>>Sherry Atkinson = ?
>
>Could it be Ursula K. LeGuin (sp?) ? Doesn't seem quite right somehow,
>but what other female hard SF writer might they have chosen?
This is what I was thinking, because I seem to remember Niven saying
in N-Space that UKLG is rather tall, but now I can't find the reference.
Is UKLG very tall? It was mentioned that Sherry Atkinson was, and that
she was an optimist, so those would seem to be our biggest clues.
Mike
John Tomlin
In article <rciscon-0403...@ara-il1-23.ix.netcom.com>,
Ray Ciscon <rci...@ix.netcom.com> wrote:
[snip]
>One question I have, does anyone have the official list of who the SF
>authors on the 'Threat Team' are supposed to be? A few are really easy,
>but I'm not sure of the others.....
>Here are my guesses, please correct me and/or fill in the blanks.
>Sherry Atkinson = ?
Could it be Ursula K. LeGuin (sp?) ? Doesn't seem quite right somehow,
but what other female hard SF writer might they have chosen?
>Robert & Virginia Anson = Robert & Virginia Heinlein
Certainly.
>Wade & Jane Curtis = Jerry & Roberta Pournelle
I know this one for sure. When I went to a book-signing of "Footfall",
I said to Jerry Pournelle - "Dr. Curtis, I presume?", and he
autographed it with his own name and as "Wade Curtis".
(But LN just autographed it as "Larry Niven". I don't know whether to
draw any conclusion from that).
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* "Husbands were made to be talked to. It helps them to concentrate *
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Erich Schwarz
John Tomlin wrote:
> Ray Ciscon wrote:
> >One question I have, does anyone have the official list of who the SF
> >authors on the 'Threat Team' are supposed to be? A few are really easy,
> >but I'm not sure of the others.....
> Could it be Ursula K. LeGuin (sp?) ? Doesn't seem quite right somehow,
> but what other female hard SF writer might they have chosen?
I have a profoundly difficult time believing that LeGuin
would voluntarily work with Heinlein and Pournelle! To the
extent that she has a political program that's discernable
from her fiction, it seems to be, "Hopi are good; white guys
doing high technology are snot-nosed creeps; but that's OK because
after the U.S. kills itself the only survivors will be
neo-Hopis."
> >Robert & Virginia Anson = Robert & Virginia Heinlein
>
> Certainly.
It helps if you know that "Anson" is the "A." in "Robert
A. Heinlein"... :)
> >Wade & Jane Curtis = Jerry & Roberta Pournelle
>
> I know this one for sure.
Here, it helps to have seen his first two non-science-fiction
novels, both with the psuedonym "Wade Curtis."
--Erich Schwarz
John Tomlin
In article <schwarz-1603...@chalfie-mac.bio.columbia.edu>,
Erich Schwarz <sch...@cubsps.bio.columbia.edu> wrote:
>John Tomlin wrote:
[snip]
>> Could it be Ursula K. LeGuin (sp?) ? Doesn't seem quite right somehow,
>> but what other female hard SF writer might they have chosen?
>
> I have a profoundly difficult time believing that LeGuin
As I said - it doesn't seem quite right. On the other hand, emminent
female SF authors are pretty thin on the ground and emminent female
hard SF authors even thinner. Who would you suggest?
Dave
In article <5gkf72$e...@fox.almaden.ibm.com>, John Tomlin
<tomlin@almaden*ibm*com> writes
>In article <schwarz-1603...@chalfie-mac.bio.columbia.edu>,
>Erich Schwarz <sch...@cubsps.bio.columbia.edu> wrote:
>>John Tomlin wrote:
> [snip]
>>> Could it be Ursula K. LeGuin (sp?) ? Doesn't seem quite right somehow,
>>> but what other female hard SF writer might they have chosen?
>>
>> I have a profoundly difficult time believing that LeGuin
>>would voluntarily work with Heinlein and Pournelle! ....
>
>As I said - it doesn't seem quite right. On the other hand, emminent
>female SF authors are pretty thin on the ground and emminent female
>hard SF authors even thinner. Who would you suggest?
>
similar to:
SA: But what am I doing here?
RA: You're the only one of us who isn't paranoid. We needed one trusting
person to balance the team.
FOOTFALL - LvCN and JEP 1985
On a general note: I used to have a fairly complete list drawn up by a
knowledgable friend, but - alas - over the years... I am currently
trying to recompile it, but it may take a few days.
--
Da...@pclapham.demon.co.uk
If Bey was Louis' stepfather, as implied in Grendel and
Borderland of Sol, why does Louis - in Ringworld - not know
about the Long Shot or the fact that Bey took it to The Core?
cha...@gmail.com
> Sherry Atkinson = ?
> Bob Burnham = ?
I'll guess that Sherry Atkinson is C.J. Cherryh (noted hard-SF authoress). The only names I can think of for the other two don't really fit. Greg Bear? David Brin? Greg Benford? Joe Haldeman?
Robert Woodward
Greg Benford and Robert Forward (the one with flashy ties is Forward,
IIRC).
--
"We have advanced to new and surprising levels of bafflement."
Imperial Auditor Miles Vorkosigan describes progress in _Komarr_.
—-----------------------------------------------------
Robert Woodward robe...@drizzle.com
