Today there will probably be a large number of posts as there are a large number of things going on.
First up – the cornucopia of top ten lists. SFSignal and Rick Novy both raised awareness on these. They’re offered by Gwyneth Jones (by women writers), Rob Grant (comic SF), Dick Jude (broad top 10) and Michael Moorcock (also broad top 10).
I’ve read 50% of Jones’ list, 70% of Grant’s, 0% of Jude’s and 70% of Moorcock’s.
My hits and misses clearly illustrate the generational divide of my SF reading selections.
I also find it interesting that maybe two of the works listed would make it onto my own top ten list. Of them all, I’m closest to Grant and Moorcock in my likes and would put Grant’s at the top of my Top 4 List of Top Ten SF Picks, were it not for his completely ignoring Eric Frank Russell. The win therefore goes to Grandmaster Mike.
“Skiffy”. That is so right on these days. I don’t think the skiffy channel even makes skiffy original movies anymore. Aren’t they all some sort of disaster movie or a creature flick featuring a CGI creature that makes me wish they used a guy in a suit instead.
They’ve been way off the mark for a longtime. The last good original series they made that I watched was Battlestar Galactica, and there seems to be some discussion as to whether or not that was even SF. I’ll say it was. Either way, I thought it was fantastic.
To me, its no wonder SF is perceived to be crapping out when the skiffy channel is what most people see. What could be a great outlet to bring the genre to the 21st century masses, is wasted on things like a tornado in NY or a moose that, after being affect by radiation, feels compelled to pursue teenagers to the edges of Yellow Stone National Park and beyond.
Ok, that last one never happened. But I bet it was on proposal at one point.
^JR^