Hello, Roy;

11 Jan 05 20:06, Roy J. Tellason wrote to Robert Bull:

 RB>> Must have been before my time.  Eight to ten years ago, I
 RB>> couldn't even  keep up with the local UK equivalent of this echo,
 RB>> let alone the vast  traffic flow here.  But now, it's -too-
 RB>> quiet...  :-(

 RT> I'm thinking more like 12-14 years ago.  Wow,  I hadn't realized it'd
 RT> been that long!

Yes.  Time flies  :-(

 RB>> You could be right about the field leaving us behind.  I've found

 RT> I think,  too,  that like the visual media,  there's an awful lot of
 RT> *bad* stuff out there.  Case in point,  they aired the "Battlestar

Well, good point.  I try to stick to either "good stuff" or at
least what's 
likely to be good.

 RT> had a canopy just like any other "fighter plane",  and a set of air
 RT> intakes!

Must have been designed dual-purpose, for use in an atmosphere as well  ;-)  
Too bad if the atmosphere didn't include any oxygen, of course...

 RT> I think there's probably more fantasy being written than hard SF.  Or
 RT> at least more of it on the bookstore shelves...

On her Web site, Kate Elliott, who's written both, specifically says that 
fantasy sells better - IIRC - though perhaps she meant it was easier to 
"sell" the books to publishers.

 RB>> on coercion.  She wants to make people do "what they know they
 RB>> really want to do anyway," i.e., do what she wants, but can't see
 RB>> the difference.

 RT> There sure seems to be a lot of that going around.  I'd rather prefer
 RT> something that would show how a society could work without it.

I assume that the next volume shows how she gets foiled, allowing people to 
think their own way.

 RT> Yes,  but I guess it depends on how your tastes run.  I'm much more of
 RT> a technophile than most,  so I tend to prefer the harder stuff.  Of
 RT> the magazines my first choice is Analog,  though for some odd reason I
 RT> seem to have better luck (?) buying F&SF,  or at least I have more of
 RT> them in my collection.  I got a kick out of one reference I saw years
 RT> ago that referred to that magazine as "the one with the
rivets".  :-)

I've never read more than the odd copy of Analog, but that always seems to 
have described it rather well!  I'm surprised at your having F&SF.  I took 
it for a short while a long time ago and found it full of clever, but 
infinitely depressing stories.

     Regards,

              Robert.

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