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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

1170.0. "Fred Hoyle" by VERGA::KLAES (Quo vadimus?) Tue Sep 21 1993 17:15

Article: 367
From: dani@netcom.com (Dani Zweig)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.reviews
Subject: REPOST: Belated Reviews #28: Fred Hoyle
Organization: Netcom Online Communications Services (408-241-9760 login: guest)
Date: 21 Sep 93 01:45:49 GMT
 
		Belated Reviews #28:  Fred Hoyle
 
Fred Hoyle is better known as an astronomer and cosmologist than as a
writer of science fiction.  On the other hand, his science fiction likely
has more adherents today than his cosmology.  Fair enough, it's more fun
to read.  Not surprisingly, the plot devices that drive his stories
generally turn out to have an interstellar origin.  Aside from that, they
tend to be softer sf than you'd perhaps expect.  Most of Hoyle's sf was
written in the nineteen fifties and early sixties. 
 
"Ossian's Ride" (***+) is placed in an Ireland of the future.  (The cover
of my copy says "Excitement, suspense and sudden death -- in 1970".)  For
several years Ireland has been pulling inexplicably further and further
ahead of the rest of the world, technologically, and the rest of the world
-- including British Intelligence -- would like to know how.  Since regular
spies have been consistently unsuccessful (the lucky ones, anyhow), they
persuade a young scientist to visit Ireland and try his luck.  Most of the
rest of the book has more to do with spies shooting at each other (and at
him) than with the scientific mystery, but it's written in a way more likely 
to appeal to readers of science fiction than to readers of spy novels.
 
(I have a soft spot for this novel because I needed a good quote on software
complexity for my thesis, and here was a 1950s reference stating that a
program's difficulty was proportional to the square of the number of cards
in the deck.  So now, when I analyze a system, I ask the programmers how
many cards it contains. :)
 
"The Black Cloud" (***) is a cloud of astronomical proportions which
enters the solar system and, impossibly, stops.  What with its
gravitational effects and its blockage of the sunlight, it does the Earth
no good whatsoever.  Before too large a fraction of the world's population
dies, however, one scientist leads a successful attempt to *communicate*
with that cloud -- which turns out to be an intelligent entity.  The most
urgent question which arises is whether the cloud can be talked into basking
around some other star.  The one with longer-term implications is whether
it can be persuaded to do some teaching before it leaves.
 
"A For Andromeda" (***) was coauthored with John Elliot, a television writer.
(I'm not sure about this, but I think "A For Andromeda" started life out
as a telefilm script.)  It has a premise which other writers have borrowed
since:  A new radio-telescope picks up what has to be a message coming
(for a long time, obviously) from the direction of Andromeda.  When the
message is finally decoded (it was designed to be decodable) it turns out
to include a very complex computer program, the design information needed
to run the program, and data.  Naturally the computer is built and the
program is run.  It then provides the researchers with instructions for
creating a human being to serve as its interface.
 
All three of these books share a common theme of perilous *information*
coming from space, and carrying a considerable potential for good.  In "A
For Andromeda", the potential for good is well hidden, as the novel follows
the well-beaten track of scientists trying to pull the plug on their
cybernetic Frankenstein before it's too late.  In a sequel to this book,
"Andromeda Breakthrough" (**), the purposes of that computer turn out to
have been better than those scientists understood.  (The cover of my copy
says "Science Fiction at its Fantastic Best", but it exaggerates.)
 
Hoyle's also written other books, which I'd rate as relatively weak.
(There's no 'relatively' in the case of "Fifth Planet", coauthored with
Geoffrey Hoyle.)  For that matter, none of his books read as well today as
they did, but the best of them should appeal to readers who enjoy hard sf
with squishy centers.
 
%A  Hoyle, Fred
%T  Ossian's Ride
%T  The Black Cloud
%T  A For Andromeda
%O  coauthored with John Elliot, as is a sequel, "Andromeda Breakthrough"
 
Standard introduction and disclaimer for Belated Reviews follows.

Belated Reviews cover science fiction and fantasy of earlier decades.
They're for newer readers who have wondered about the older titles on the
shelves, or who are interested in what sf/f was like in its younger days.
The emphasis is on helping interested readers identify books to try first, 
not on discussing the books in depth.
 
A general caveat is in order:  Most of the classics of yesteryear have not
aged well.  If you didn't encounter them back when, or in your early teens,
they will probably not give you the unforced pleasure they gave their
original audiences.  You may find yourself having to make allowances for
writing you consider shallow or politics you consider regressive.  When I
name specific titles, I'll often rate them using the following scale:
 
**** Recommended.
***  An old favorite that hasn't aged well, and wouldn't get a good
	reception if it were written today.  Enjoyable on its own terms.
**   A solid book, worth reading if you like the author's works.
*    Nothing special.
 
Additional disclaimers:  Authors are not chosen for review in any particular
order.  The reviews don't attempt to be comprehensive.  No distinction is 
made between books which are still in print and books which are not.
 
-----
Dani Zweig
dani@netcom.com
 
   If you're going to write, don't pretend to write down.  It's going to be the
   best you can do, and it's the fact that it's the best you can do that kills
   you! -- Dorothy Parker

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1170.1Chicken or egg?WELCLU::EDWARDSFri Dec 31 1993 11:477
    I remember seeing "A for Andromeda" as a 6(?) part serial on TV in
    the UK during the late 50's/early 60s'. Considering the technology
    available to TV at the time (it was LIVE ACTION in the studio) it
    was quite well done.
    
    	Paul.