5 ms·

true names the last question a logic named joe the lifecycle of software objects BFF's first adventure

by hyperpallium 7y ago

nl 7y ago
These are good choices. True Names and The Lifecycle of Software Objects are two of my favourite pieces of writing.
- ghaff 7y ago
  True Names doesn't appear on a lot of lists and I'm not sure why.
  - nl 7y ago
    It used to be really really hard to get. It was out of print for years, not available as an ebook and not even widely available second hand. I read it as a badly scanned version from some dodgy download site.
    - ghaff 7y ago
      In general, I find it really annoying I can't find specific short stories/novelettes available for $1-2. Which I guess I consider reasonable for older stories. I have an older edition of True Names and I didn't realize it was hard to get your hands on. IMO it's the author's best work.
      - hyperpallium 7y ago
        I think a fire upon the deep is his best. You can (logically) read the second chapter (introducing the tines) as a self-contained short-story, and it's brilliant: the way it introduces their issues, the characters and the glorious plot.
        ghaff 7y ago
        I agree about Fire Upon the Deep. Something else in a similar vein is the prologue for Hogan's Code of the Lifemaker which I'd argue is significantly more interesting than the book as a whole.
    - emmelaich 7y ago
      It's a short story, too, so not publishable by itself really. I have this book https://www.amazon.com/True-Names-Opening-Cyberspace-Frontier/dp/0312862075 https://www.amazon.com/True-Names-Opening-Cyberspace-Frontie... Which has the story among some essays by some computer science luminaries.
      - ghaff 7y ago
        It's also in True Names and Other Dangers which has a few other (shorter) stories by the author.
carapace 7y ago
Frederik Pohl's "Gateway"; "The Adolescence of P-1" by Thomas Joseph Ryan
ghaff 7y ago
Arguably The Nine Billion Names of God by Arthur C. Clarke. Feeling of Power by Asimov probably also fits in the vein. I fid it interesting that Chiang ends up in so many recent short story lists. It seems as if there are fewer recent short stories that stack up well with all-time lists.
- hyperpallium 7y ago
  Larry Niven said the money's in novels. I feel computers are too incidental to 9E9. Manned missiles is a kinda classic though.
  - ghaff 7y ago
    >Larry Niven said the money's in novels. That's probably always been the case. But I'm certainly willing to believe it's become even more so. Certainly the SF I've found over the past couple of decades has mostly seemed to be less mainstream. Which doesn't make it bad. Just most seems less interesting to me personally.
    - hyperpallium 7y ago
      > probably always been the case Yeah was thinking that. Not sure what's changed. sci-fi authors used to get started in magazines, with limited page count, which the internet is killing/has killed. I have the impression authors now jump straight to novels (with no short-story market, what alternative?) OTOH Andy Weir arguably got his start with The Egg https://highexistence.com/images/view/the-egg-by-andy-weir/ https://highexistence.com/images/view/the-egg-by-andy-weir/ and Ted Chiang here got a short story optioned into a movie.
      - ghaff 7y ago
        Ted Chiang has a number of good short stories. (And a collection of them.) With a few exceptions, I've never really been into reading the SF magazines so I don't have much a first hand perspective. But I assume that, as you say, they're even less lucrative and more marginal than they used to be.

true names the last question a logic named joe the lifecycle of software objects BFF's first adventure

nl 7y ago

These are good choices. True Names and The Lifecycle of Software Objects are two of my favourite pieces of writing.

ghaff 7y ago
True Names doesn't appear on a lot of lists and I'm not sure why.
- nl 7y ago
  It used to be really really hard to get. It was out of print for years, not available as an ebook and not even widely available second hand. I read it as a badly scanned version from some dodgy download site.
  - ghaff 7y ago
    In general, I find it really annoying I can't find specific short stories/novelettes available for $1-2. Which I guess I consider reasonable for older stories. I have an older edition of True Names and I didn't realize it was hard to get your hands on. IMO it's the author's best work.
    - hyperpallium 7y ago
      I think a fire upon the deep is his best. You can (logically) read the second chapter (introducing the tines) as a self-contained short-story, and it's brilliant: the way it introduces their issues, the characters and the glorious plot.
      - ghaff 7y ago
        I agree about Fire Upon the Deep. Something else in a similar vein is the prologue for Hogan's Code of the Lifemaker which I'd argue is significantly more interesting than the book as a whole.
  - emmelaich 7y ago
    It's a short story, too, so not publishable by itself really. I have this book https://www.amazon.com/True-Names-Opening-Cyberspace-Frontier/dp/0312862075 https://www.amazon.com/True-Names-Opening-Cyberspace-Frontie... Which has the story among some essays by some computer science luminaries.
    - ghaff 7y ago
      It's also in True Names and Other Dangers which has a few other (shorter) stories by the author.

carapace 7y ago

Frederik Pohl's "Gateway"; "The Adolescence of P-1" by Thomas Joseph Ryan

ghaff 7y ago

Arguably The Nine Billion Names of God by Arthur C. Clarke. Feeling of Power by Asimov probably also fits in the vein. I fid it interesting that Chiang ends up in so many recent short story lists. It seems as if there are fewer recent short stories that stack up well with all-time lists.

hyperpallium 7y ago
Larry Niven said the money's in novels. I feel computers are too incidental to 9E9. Manned missiles is a kinda classic though.
- ghaff 7y ago
  >Larry Niven said the money's in novels. That's probably always been the case. But I'm certainly willing to believe it's become even more so. Certainly the SF I've found over the past couple of decades has mostly seemed to be less mainstream. Which doesn't make it bad. Just most seems less interesting to me personally.
  - hyperpallium 7y ago
    > probably always been the case Yeah was thinking that. Not sure what's changed. sci-fi authors used to get started in magazines, with limited page count, which the internet is killing/has killed. I have the impression authors now jump straight to novels (with no short-story market, what alternative?) OTOH Andy Weir arguably got his start with The Egg https://highexistence.com/images/view/the-egg-by-andy-weir/ https://highexistence.com/images/view/the-egg-by-andy-weir/ and Ted Chiang here got a short story optioned into a movie.
    - ghaff 7y ago
      Ted Chiang has a number of good short stories. (And a collection of them.) With a few exceptions, I've never really been into reading the SF magazines so I don't have much a first hand perspective. But I assume that, as you say, they're even less lucrative and more marginal than they used to be.