A little while ago I finally finished the Foundation series by Isaac Asimov. It took me a while. Do you know why? Because, frankly, they weren't that good. It was a struggle to get through them.
And I think I know why.
Also some time ago my girlfriend and I watched a couple Marx Brothers movies. She thought they were ok, but didn't enjoy them the way I did. The reason is because she doesn't have a comprehensive knowledge of classic cinema and therefore wasn't able to play them within the context of the larger cinematic whole. As movies themselves sometimes they aren't very funny. But when you compare them to other comedies of the time, they are fucking hysterical.
I don't have a comprehensive knowledge of sci fi literature. I don't. I haven't read all the science fiction that other people that read this blog might. This was my first Asimov experience. To others, they might be great books, with extreme historical significance to the world of sci fiction literature. To me, they were books filled with decent but underdeveloped ideas, hokey names, and utterly atrocious dialog. Oh yes, his dialog was terrible.
It seemed to me that Asimov would get an idea for something, and often the idea was pretty good, and he'd run with it for a while, then he'd get bored and just drop it. So many of his stories ended abruptly. "Well, I have spent a hundred pages developing this terrorist organization, but I'm bored so I'm just going to spend five pages telling the reader how they were caught and killed". There is a reason that Foundations Edge was the best book in the series. It was the only one where Asimov actually stayed on the same plotline for the length of the book.
My girlfriend tells me that Asimov has some really great 1-2 page short stories. I can believe it. Clearly the novel format is not his strong suit.
So yeah, thoroughly unimpressed. I realize this might make me something of a pariah around here, but it's the truth.
Now, after I'm done with the Castle book (which is meh), I think I'll hit some Cthulhu stuff. Probably be disappointed again.
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1 comment:
Blasphemy.
With that out of the way, I find that most people don't seem to like hard sf very much unless it's more Star Wars (which is a fantasy series in actuality but that's another topic) like Asimov or Niven or, my favorite, Clarke. Of course Asimov in general and Foundation in particular are massively important to sf. Foundation was voted best sf series of all time. Not so far but ALL time as in there never was and never will be a better sf series. Ever.
Anyhoo, hard sf is an acquired taste so, yeah.
Lovecraft is another story. His importance to modern writing actually far outstrips Asimov's. His impact can not be overstated. However he is an even bigger acquired taste it seems but in context there is no one better or more important to modern horror, dark fantasy, urban fantasy, etc etc etc. I'm going to make the assumption you won't care for him and think absolutely awful things about you for the next 2 and a half minutes.
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