"A Wake for Written SF" Topic

I was counting dead and live SF authors on my shelves and assessing recent TMP polls and--without taking anything away from Lois McMaster Bujold and Jodi Taylor--I'm thinking of holding a wake for written SF now, while I'm still up to it. One night I'll make a speech, survey my bookcases, and overindulge in food and drink while staying up too late. But can anyone suggest suitable music? It doesn't seem quite kosher to draw from films while it's the written form which is disappearing, but I can't think what else to do.

(Next month, a wake for fair play mysteries: give some thought to the matter now.)

The Hugo award having been hi-jacked these many years and the carefully constructed "Top Book Sales" lists, do not help matters.

You could play Slough Feg's 2003 album Ttaveller, I suppose. The band was called The Lord Weird Slough Feg then.

"The Planets" by Holst would be suitable music.

PJ, blowflies and maggots are never a cause of death. If we still had the likes of Brackett, Anderson, Moore and Piper, it wouldn't matter whether we had any awards system. A lot of good SF was written before there were Hugos.

No offense, Oberlindes, but Holst is what I should have thought of, and I have it. Holst it is. Thank you all.

Hi

I uses to work for a large back issue Comic book company. We were opening a new large store, So The boss want a large comic display of every classics Illustrated comics from the 1940's-1960's. it had over 400 great works in it.

I am a fairly well read person, So I was amazed that I hadn't read 1/2 of the books in the series( I have worked hard to read the miss 1/2)

When we opened, I asked a young collector I knew, if he had read any of the books on the wall. He said 1 or 2. I have been able to get him to try many more since then.

Read is unfortunately becoming a lost art. One generations classics is another's footnotes, and then finally it gone.

There is plenty of good SF being written today. Examples- include John Scalzi and Jim Hines.

Can't argue with taste, rmaker. For me, Scalzi is proof the Muse has packed up and left SF. Fifty years ago, he'd have been second or third tier. That he's more or less top of the heap today doesn't speak well for the heap.

I had to look up Hines, but from all I can see he writes fantasy, and seems to have forgotten Goldwyn's Law. ("If you want to send a message, use Western Union." There's a reason my Heinlein collection stops in 1970.) I have proposed no wake for fantasy.

B,V. Larson – The "Undying Mercenary" series is a good action read.

There is still a lot of the old stuff I haven't read yet. Libraries are a wonderful thing.

You can't go wrong with Holst!

Well for mood I always have to go for some bagpipes, or many other requiem classical music.