*A Collection of
Antiquarian Curios & Relics*
"A good
science fiction story should be able to predict not the automobile
but the traffic
jam . . ."
--Frederick Pohl
1) FUTUREWORLD . .
.
Much like Hercules lamented slaying his six sons, I was saddened to learn that
Frederick Pohl passed away on September 2. Most of my teen geeky science
fiction writers have died, and I believe the 93-year-old Mr. Pohl may have been
the final holdout. Like Isaac Asimov, I didn't read Frederick Pohl for
his scintillating prose or well-developed characters, but instead, I read him
for his 'Big Ideas.' His book Gateway (9780345475831) 14.95, which
won the Hugo and Nebula Awards for Best Novel, had me hooked. Mankind has
found a giant hollowed-out asteroid, which was home to hundreds of small
spaceships that had been left behind by a long forgotten race called the
Heechee. The Gateway Corporation runs an operation that leases the ships
out and then rewards the survivors who return with alien artifacts. The
only catch is that sometimes the ships leave on one way trips and the pilot has
no control over the ship's final destination. It's a bit like playing the
lottery. The protagonist relates his story to a Sigmund Freud AI in
therapy, and an Einstein AI would appear in later books of his Heechee Saga.
Dan Simmons would later use this technique effectively with a John Keats AI in
his own Hyperion Cycle. Mr. Pohl was also the only winner of the
ill-fated National Book Award for Sci-Fi with his novel, Jem (9781857987898)
14.95. He also acquired and edited Samuel Delaney's brilliant book, Dhalgren
(9780375706684) 18.00, which should be worth some kind of award in of
itself. Whether as an author, editor, agent, or just as a plain ol' fan,
Frederick Pohl personified science fiction and he will never be replaced.
Finally, I find Pohl's First Law to be as apropos today as it was then: "No
one is ever ready for anything."
2) WESTWORLD . . .
Speaking of sci-fi, I just watched Tom Cruise's Oblivion and it
was good. As my wife stated, "It's not destined to be a classic, but
it was worth a $2.80 rental." So this leads us into another starring
role vehicle for Mr. Cruise with the latest Jack Reacher novel, Never Go
Back (9780385344340) 28.00, which released yesterday. Everybody loved
Tom Cruise in the first Jack Reacher movie (Ha!) that I'm sure there will be
many more to come. This leads us to Pohl's Second Law: "Nothing
is so good that somebody, somewhere will not hate it."
3)
BEYOND WESTWORLD . . . John U. Bacon's last bestselling
book was Three and Out (9781250016973) 17.00, which chronicled The
Champions of the West's football program during the Rich Rodriguez
regime. John's back and this time he's tackling the larger subject of the
college football world in Fourth and Long: The Fight for the Soul of College
Football (9781476706436) 26.99. And don't even get me started on
Johnny Manziel . . .
Odds
& Sods
Oprah's taken a
break from purchasing $38,000 purses in Switzerland to star in her latest
blockbuster, The Butler. We have the book the movie is kinda of based on The
Butler (9781476752990) 18.00 by Wil Haygood back in stock. I
don't know if it's just me, but I find the whole idea that a handbag could even
cost that much repugnant . . .
In further Oprah
news, Ms. Winfrey gifted a copy of Michael Singer's Untethered Soul
(9781572245372) 16.95 to Lindsay Lohan during her interview a few weeks
back. Hopefully, this will prevent Ms. Lohan from becoming a tethered
soul in the future . . .
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