This is not a genre that has high regard in literary circles but I doubt that I would fit in with those posturing Booker Prize lot. SciFi is regarded by many as a province of the geeks. And very often, they are right - but not always.
I read a bit in my late teens and early 20's. It's not all gung-ho and blast the aliens, I still think some of it is quite profound. Asimov writes a nice yarn in his 'Foundation' series but I don't think his three laws of robotics (in the Robot series) have ever been disputed.
'A Canticle for Leibowitz' by Walter Miller is a story of a post nuclear holocaust age. Graphic and plausible, it is still available 50 years on.
Then you have Arthur C. Clarke of '2001-A Space Odyssey' fame - a conceptually beautiful movie let down by stilted acting. But he forecast the idea of geostationary satellites before others thought of them. Then there is 'The Star', the tale of the pain suffered by a Jesuit astronaut who comes upon a burnt out solar system and a destroyed civilisation. He realises that God had put the whole lot to the torch to create the star of Bethlehem. My favourite is 'Childhood's End'. If ever I believed in a God, then the 'Overmind' would be it.
And finally, cus I am writing all this from memory, there is Heinlein, Robert A. Heinlein to be precise. Some fine yarns here but you get some profound observations as well. Try this:
'Love is that condition when the happiness of another is essential to your own.'
There are zillions of definitions of love but I think this is one of the best. Look up Heinlein and you won't be disappointed. And anyway, he had a lot of time for cats.
1 comment:
A fine quote and one that I well remember. The one that I like, and have on my Facebook page, is "I am free because I know that I alone am morally responsible for everything I do"
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