----- Original Message -----
From: "David Marjanovic" <david.marjanovic@gmx.at>
To: "DML" <dinosaur@usc.edu>
Sent: Wednesday, December 28, 2005 5:05 PM
Subject: Re: Kong 2005 -
A Big......Disappointment....why?...let me count
the ways...
Obviously if one is going to enjoy SF and
sci-fi (and most readers of this message presumably know the
difference)
Although I sit on a board that owns some of Robert A. Heinlein's copyrights,
and his widow was my close friend for many years -- I'm afraid that I don't
know the difference between SF and sci-fi. I'm old enough that the term
sci-fi came after my time, so I don't know what it means. To me, SF is and
always will be science fiction, and science fantasy was actually spelled
out, as was fantasy
(durn it, I hate it when I let my age show for all the world to see......).
What is the difference between the two terms, in modern jargon? To me, the
best examples of Hard SF were Heinlein's "The Rolling Stones" and "The
Menace From Earth", Hal Clement's "Mission of Gravity", and Poul
Anderson's "The Man Who Counts" (War of the Wingmen). "The Menace From
Earth" is the reason I'm interested in flapping flight today (with maybe a
bit of a boost from "The Man Who Counts"). Robert's movie "Destination
Moon" (made in 1949) got an Oscar for special effects. I watched it again a
few months ago, and even after 56 years, those effects hold up well.
JimC