Your Happening World (November 26th through December 8th)

Your Happening World (August 26th through September 1st)

Murray Leinster honoured in Virginia

June 27 2009 will be Will F. Jenkins Day in Virginia:

WHEREAS, as Murray Leinster, he was one of the founders of American science fiction with his story “The Runaway Skyscraper,” which was published on February 22, 1919, in Argosy magazine; and he was one of the few pioneers of the genre who continued to publish regularly when the nature of science fiction changed after World War II; and

WHEREAS, “First Contact,” written by Murray Leinster in 1945, is one of the most anthologized stories in the history of science fiction, and “A Logic Named Joe,” written in 1946 by Will F. Jenkins, was the first science fiction story to envision a computer network similar to the Internet; and

WHEREAS, Murray Leinster won the Hugo Award for Best Novelette for “Exploration Team” in 1956; was the guest of honor at the 21st Worldcon in 1963; and was awarded a Retro Hugo Award posthumously in 1996 for Best Novelette for “First Contact,” which was the first science fiction story to present the dramatic scenario of the first meeting between earthlings and aliens; and

[…]

RESOLVED by the House of Delegates, the Senate concurring, That the General Assembly designate June 27, 2009, as Will F. Jenkins Day in Virginia in recognition of the author’s creative genius and his numerous literary achievements; and, be it

RESOLVED FURTHER, That the Clerk of the House of Delegates post the designation of this day on the General Assembly’s website.

As will be clear from the above, Will F. Jenkins was equally well known, if not more so as Murray Leinster. He was writing science fiction before there was a genre called that and kept on writing well into the 1960ties. Much of his writing seems to be out of print these days, but the 1978 Del Rey edition of The Best of Murray Leinster should be easily found secondhand. It contains most of the stories name checked in this resolution.

Found via James Nicoll.

Getting back into science fiction

Reader Chris Y, in comments to this post asks:

Gloriana is not Moorcock at his best, but Riddley Walker (1982) is an all time classic, and Heliconia Spring (1983) is well worth reading. I more or less gave up on SF about that time, with the decline of the New Wave and the resurgence of boring old hardcore. Who should I read to get back into it? I’ve tried Charlie Stross, who seems OK; anybody else?

So we’re looking for recommendations for somebody who likes New Wave science fiction and Charlie Stross, but is less keen on hardcore science fiction. What I immediately think of is the socalled New Weird, a self-conscious literary movement of a few years ago that sort of coalesced around China Miéville and the generation of up and coming authors that got compared to him. Other New Weird authors include Steph Swainson, M. John Harrison and on the more space opera side of things, Alastair Reynolds. Tachyon Publications has put out an Ann and Jeff Vandermeer edited anthology of New Weird stories that looks to be a good starter. Another author that might be of interest is Adam Roberts, whose work I don’t actually like all that much but I do admire, if that makes any sense.

On the Strossian side of things, there’s Ken MacLeod, not to mention Iain M. Banks and Ian McDonald. Two underrated authors I only discovered myself last year are Nicola Griffith, writing feminist science fiction in the best sense of the word, as well as Paul Cornell.

Any other recommendations?