In Memoriam: Arthur C. Clarke

In article ,
"Lawrence" wrote:

"Steve Hix" wrote in message
...
What happens is that most of the dreck gets forgotten, certainly rarely
reprinted, and we eventually forget about it, remembering only the
better remainder. The same thing happens with antique furniture,
machines, etc etc etc. Once the cheap junk crumbles away, the best
remains, along with an unwarranted impression that "they did things
better back then, none of this cheap modern stuff, by jingo!"

No doubt that's true, but I had in mind many of the modern prolific authors.
Current "big" names. There are only two I can think of that create true
worlds of the imagination, and I think often not as well.

That's no different at all from the early years.

There were big names back then who were quite popular, with lots of
output who just didn't turn out to have any staying power. Can't recall
offhand any particularly sterling examples, and with my books stored
right now, I'm not about to go digging for them...

Once in a while you'll come across some of their work and wonder why in
the world they ever got a sale, what with turgid prose, leaden
characters, and all the other things you don't want to read.

Then you get some writers who seem to keep working for decades, like
Jack Vance, for example, who manage to not keep writing the same things
over and over. (Mind, I've never been all that enamored with his work,
but he seems to have made a living at it, and garnered enough prizes and
critical acclaim to indicate that someone liked him over a long period.
Maybe just critics, but I suppose they need some diversion, too.)

You see similar effects in music, art, and just about anything else one
might spend money for.

It seems like they all think they are writing for another medium. But as
you point out, this is not a book club.

Goodbye Mr Clarke. I hope I knew the best part of you, through your books.

"Steve Hix" wrote in message news:sehix-

That's no different at all from the early years.

There were big names back then who were quite popular, with lots of
output who just didn't turn out to have any staying power. Can't recall
offhand any particularly sterling examples, and with my books stored
right now, I'm not about to go digging for them...


Well, that's fineI wouldn't expect you to. I disagree for many reasons,
that's the thing about opinions, isn't it.

In article ,
"Lawrence" wrote:

"Steve Hix" wrote in message news:sehix-

That's no different at all from the early years.

There were big names back then who were quite popular, with lots of
output who just didn't turn out to have any staying power. Can't recall
offhand any particularly sterling examples, and with my books stored
right now, I'm not about to go digging for them...

Well, that's fineI wouldn't expect you to.

?

I disagree for many reasons,

What, that there were very popular published writers decades ago that
nobody much reads any more, and if you do get to read some of their
work, you can't understand why they were popular?

There are tides in fashion in all sorts of things. And some items seem
to ignore fashion quite happily.

that's the thing about opinions, isn't it.

The thing is that I wasn't disagreeing with you, just pointing out that
a state where most of the writers active at any given time weren't all
that interesting is nothing new. It's pretty much the way things have
always been, and likely always will be.

The problem is that we don't remember the bottom strata from that time,
and it seems that it was a Golden Age(tm).

OK, I found one that wasn't packed. "The Golden Age of Science Fiction",
edited by Groff Conklin. Just under 800 pages of stuff published before
1946, when it was originally published as "The Best of Science Fiction".

Along with the Heinlein, Asimov, Boucher, Leinster, Sturgeon, and Simak
you've got the other greats: Frank Stockton, Cleve Cartmill, Ray Gallun,
Dave Keller, Ralph Milne Farley, Calvin Peregoy, Malcolm Jameson, Art
Zagot, Warner van Lorne, Nelson Bond, Cecil White, C.W. Diffin, Ross
Rocklynne, ...

Mind, it's also got contributions from Poe, Arthur Conan Doyle, H.G.
Wells and Julian Huxley.