re: sci fi

[Alan Olsen <alan@ctrl-alt-del.com>]

At 06:48 PM 11/22/96 +0100, Asgaard wrote:
>On Thu, 21 Nov 1996, Alan Olsen wrote:
>
>> For absolute brain candy, I recommend "Star Smashers of the Galaxy
>> Rangers".  EE.Doc Smith meets the Hardy Boys.  The ending I had to read
>> twice...
>
>A rather odd book that I found immensely stimulating is
>'Venus on a halfshell' by a Nym (allegedly for Kurt Vonnegut,
>who in most of his books under his own name now and then
>refers to some hilarious non-existing SF story by this 'author').

Philip Jose Farmer claimed to have written that one.

It also brings up an interesting point...

Nyms are fairly commonplace amongst the writing community.  (Even Steven
King wrote under a nym (or two).)  In fact there are books listing "nyms of
the famous" for book collectors.  Payment schemes for authors under nyms
are already in place.  (For example, I do a monthly column under a nym and
they have no qualms about paying me.)  DBAs also cover nyms in some respects.

Nyms do not have to have a "sinister purpose" (as the feds would like us to
believe).  I think that they are far more ingraned into the culture than
people realize.  (Where would this world be without Mark Twain (a nym for
Samuel Clemmens), Maxwell Grant (the nym for Walter B. Gibson and others
for the Shadow pulps), and the thousands of other nyms that appear in the
publishing field?)  Just because they are published under a nym does not
mean anyone takes their books less seriously or enjoy them less.  (In fact,
there are many authors that are nyms unbeknownst to the readers.  I would
say that most nyms in the publishing world are...)

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