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Hats off to Michael Crichton: 1942 - 2008
shardian:
--- Quote from: Ummon on November 10, 2008, 07:28:59 pm ---Wow, here's a brutal commentary by another author:
Climate crank Michael Crichton dies at 66
Dead of cancer. And a medical doctor, too. I hate to see people felled by this great scourge. I feel sorry for his family.
Still -- the guy missed an awesome chance to be snatched out of his writing-chair and torn to pieces in broad daylight by a freak climate-crisis windstorm. That might have made up for the harm he did. I'd like to say that Dr Crichton's contemptibly paranoid view of climate politics will be missed, but... well... I know that if I myself, as an imaginative novelist, am ever tempted to believe that flying saucers are real or that Sasquatch lives next door, his bracing example will give me the courage to look at myself in the mirror and demand -- "am I pulling some kind of Crichton here?"
Crichton fans are writing in and complaining that I'm cruel to his memory. In a word, no. And in a lot of words, you don't understand yet, but you will. Okay: the guy was a pretty good screenwriter. Also, there have been worse novels than some of his. Especially the novels that aren't paranoid tracts about atmospheric science. But Crichton's one with the ages -- and the judgment of history will be harsh for him. He truly blotted his copybook. His legacy as a writer, thinker and public figure is shameful. Someone needs to say it now, because someday everyone will. Get used to it.
If you can't bring yourself to believe that yet, ask again in ten years.
--- End quote ---
So who is the 'masterful novelist' who wrote that? I suppose he was just upset that such a mainstream writer didn't share his political views.
HaRuMaN:
--- Quote from: shardian on November 11, 2008, 08:21:40 am ---So who is the 'masterful novelist' who wrote that? I suppose he was just upset that such a mainstream writer didn't share his political views.
--- End quote ---
It appears to be Bruce Sterling... who I've never even heard of... lol.
SavannahLion:
--- Quote from: HarumaN on November 11, 2008, 08:35:42 am ---
--- Quote from: shardian on November 11, 2008, 08:21:40 am ---So who is the 'masterful novelist' who wrote that? I suppose he was just upset that such a mainstream writer didn't share his political views.
--- End quote ---
It appears to be Bruce Sterling... who I've never even heard of... lol.
--- End quote ---
I've never heard of him either and I thought myself a pretty decent SciFi fan. According to Wikipedia, his works seem to be primarily in the Cyberpunk vein.
IMHO, he comes off as a desperate ---uvula--- trying to come up with the next viral concept to permanently affix himself into mainstream society. Pretty sad.
SavannahLion:
NVM delete me.
Ummon:
The mainstream writer's audience is the person who buys books at the grocery store book isle. This audience generally doesn't appreciate (even in concept) history, literature, and science from even a quasi-technical perspective. Essentially, fantasy is what this audience enjoys, and hence they generally know very little to nothing of true science fiction (or, more appropriately, SF).
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