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Conference noted::sf

Title:Arcana Caelestia
Notice:Directory listings are in topic 2
Moderator:NETRIX::thomas
Created:Thu Dec 08 1983
Last Modified:Fri Jun 06 1997
Last Successful Update:Fri Jun 06 1997
Number of topics:1300
Total number of notes:18728

471.0. "Winston SF--anyone else grow up on these?" by ARCANA::CONNELLY (Frodo lives) Fri May 08 1987 04:39

Did anyone else cut their literary teeth on the Winston juvenile
science fictions series?  These were the ones I always spotted right
off at the local library (I think because they had a distinctive rocket
emblem on the cover, plus scary artwork on the inside covers) when I was
9 or 10.

Some titles I remember (sure to be obscure!) include:
	"Star Conquerors"		Ben Bova
	"Stadium Beyond the Stars"	Milton Lessar
	"The Ant Men"			Eric (or was it Andrew?) North
	"Rocket Jockey"			Philip St. John
		(^--- this one was great for reading under the covers
		with a flashlight, since it described a very close transit
		around the Sun--guaranteed to make you sweat!!)
plus others by Donald Wollheim, Lester Del Rey, Isaac Asimov (I think),
Alan E. Nourse, Raymond F. Jones, and other folks.  Seeing a new one of
these at the library was always a special treat for me.
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471.1MYCRFT::PARODIJohn H. ParodiFri May 08 1987 12:5914
  Sure did, though my memory isn't as good as yours.  I remember liking
  "Rocket Jockey."  I even have a copy (with original cover) of Raymond F.
  Jones' "The Year That Stardust Fell" -- pretty good stuff.  There was
  another good one called "Find The Feathered Serpent" about a time-trip
  to the Yucatan of a thousand years ago but I can't remember the author. 

  Lester Del Rey had at least two excellent books in this series, one 
  Saturn (Destination Saturn?) and another about a war between Terra
  and human colonies on Mars and in the Belt.

  Sigh.  Too many brain cells gone, I guess.
 
  JP
471.2I knew they were around, but I was already reading adult stuffERASER::KALLISHallowe'en should be legal holidayFri May 08 1987 13:187
    I didn't grow up on these, but if memory serves, tyhe Isaac Asimov
    pieces were written under the pseudonym of "Paul French."  The
    pseudonym was dropped when Isaac wanted to take credit for having
    100 books published (one of the _two_ "100th books" was called _Opus
    100_ and included selections from his previous 99).
    
    Steve Kallis, Jr.
471.3suddenly I feel oldCREDIT::RANDALLBonnie Randall SchutzmanFri May 22 1987 16:1915
    The Paul French ones! I had forgotten -- how memory strikes.
    
    I recognize practically all the titles . . . all read beneath the
    covers with a flashlight because my mother didn't think that kind of
    stuff was good for a girl my age . . . I snitched them out of the box
    of paperbacks he used to bring home from the drugstore where they threw
    them out. (If a book doesn't sell, the store can return it for a
    refund, only if it's a paperback it's not worth handling so they just
    tear off the covers and send those back and then throw out the rest of
    the book. What a treasure trove -- cheap scifi and Westerns.  God
    only knows what I would have become without his help.) 
    
    Thanks for the memories!
    
    --bonnie
471.4Wanted: Winston SFBOMBE::BORSOMMon Feb 20 1989 00:5213
    A novel from the Winston series, _Five Against Venus_ (about blood-
    sucking, telepathic vampires terrorizing humans shipwrecked on Venus),
    by Philip Latham (he was an astronomer when he wasn't writing lurid
    SF), was my first science fiction read.
    
    I am actively collecting hardcover copies from the Winston Science
    Fiction series.  If anyone out there has copies in good condition
    they are interested in selling, please get in touch.
    
    My (home) phone number is (508) 448-6304.
    
    Doug
    
471.5RICKS::REDFORDAlready worried about the 90sMon Feb 20 1989 22:485
    That was my first taste of SF too!  Was pretty implausible, but 
    colorful enough to hook a nine-year-old.   I found a copy at
    the Avenue Victor Hugo on Newbury St in Boston - you might find other
    Winstons there.
    /jlr