> A True Story is a novel written in the second century AD by Lucian of Samosata. [...] It is the earliest known work of fiction to include travel to outer space, alien lifeforms, and interplanetary warfare. As such, A True Story has been described as "the first known text that could be called science fiction".
Re:One of the earliest science fiction books was written by ...
by lapetitejort on Tuesday July 21, 2020 @04:13PM
(#23910500)
Yet another reference from The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (first referenced in Black Dossier) that passed me by. Alan Moore certainly knows how to dig deep into literature.
Re:One of the earliest science fiction books was written by ...
by WalterBright on Tuesday July 21, 2020 @05:36PM
(#23911260)
More accurately, the turbo-jet engine was invented in the 1930's (independently by Ohain and Whittle). The turbo-jet has a compressor stage driven by a turbine in the exhaust stream.
Prior jet engines were rocket engines, which go back to the ancient Chinese.
A ram-jet eliminates the turbine entirely, relying on aerodynamic forces to provide the compression. Of course, the engine needs to be moving very fast for this to work.
Fun fact: Caltech's Jet Propulsion Laboratory was named "jet" instead of "rocket" out of concern that the neighbors would be afraid of rockets. Of course, rocket engines were what they were developing, not turbo-jets.
Re:One of the earliest science fiction books was written by ...
by stormdennis on Tuesday July 21, 2020 @03:08PM
(#23909854)
She kind of described what people do when they blow on something to make it move. Big breath in though a wide open mouth followed by a directed blow out through pursed lips.
Re:One of the earliest science fiction books was written by ...
by simplertms on Monday July 20, 2020 @08:55AM
(#23897298)
For the uninitiated to fanfiction terminology Mary Sue refers to a character who is so perfect and competent that it becomes absurd. I believe the name was given to a parody fiction written for the Trekkie universe -- ah and wikipedia confirms (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Sue)
Also this gem, an excerpt from the fanfiction:
"Gee, golly, gosh, gloriosky," thought Mary Sue as she stepped on the bridge of the Enterprise. "Here I am, the youngest lieutenant in the fleet - only fifteen and a half years old." Captain Kirk came up to her.
"Oh, Lieutenant, I love you madly. Will you come to bed with me?" "Captain! I am not that kind of girl!" "You're right, and I respect you for it. Here, take over the ship for a minute while I go get some coffee for us." Mr. Spock came onto the bridge. "What are you doing in the command seat, Lieutenant?" "The Captain told me to." "Flawlessly logical. I admire your mind."
Re:One of the earliest science fiction books was written by ...
by nilram on Wednesday July 22, 2020 @01:29AM
(#23914198)
I was very interested when I learned my high school English teacher was writing a novel and I expressed my admiration. “Oh, everyone’s writing a novel,“ he replied. I asked him how it was going and he said he’d had this character who was just too good and was taking over the book. “So,” he said, “I killed him.”
Re:One of the earliest science fiction books was written by ...
by dragontamer on Tuesday July 21, 2020 @04:06PM
(#23910430)
I'd assume Mary Sue characters existed from the dawn of human existence. We just don't remember them because it's relatively bad storytelling. Even if people enjoy it, stories with Mary Sue characters rarely stand the test of time. Ready player one, Twilight, etc etc.
Early epics are noted for their flawed characters. Gilgamesh's bloodlust, Odysseus's disdain of the gods. Iccarus's hubris. King Authurs infidelity.
We better remember characters who were flawed. 'Perfection' is strangely boring.
Re:One of the earliest science fiction books was written by ...
by User23 on Wednesday July 22, 2020 @12:54AM
(#23914046)
Odysseus got raped by goddesses a lot, so you could call his posture disdainful I'd say. As the story is related he really did just want to get home to his superlatively excellent wife.
On a tangent, I do like how the phrase "holy moly" is a direct allusion to the Odyssey.
Re:One of the earliest science fiction books was written by ...
by watwut on Wednesday July 22, 2020 @02:17AM
(#23914417)
Whether he is disdainful should be judged by what Odysseus says and do. Not by what goddess do.
In the story Odysseus is not behaving in disdainful way to gods at all. He is not disrespectful, he is not treating gods as unworthy. It quite the opposite the whole time.
Re:One of the earliest science fiction books was written by ...
by watwut on Wednesday July 22, 2020 @05:03AM
(#23915212)
I will add that his respect towards gods is something Athena brings up at one point as argument towards other gods and argument works. Odysseus gets help. For that matter, Odysseus gets a lot of godly help.
There is one god that is angry with him trying to kill him (cause Odysseus killed his son without knowing it is gods son) and one that keeps him trapped on island cause she likes his presence. Odysseus never express disdain toward her through nor toward gods in general.
Re:One of the earliest science fiction books was written by ...
by watwut on Wednesday July 22, 2020 @05:00PM
(#23921525)
Imo, his situation was considerably better then the one of slaves. He was kept not allowed to leave and yes he had sex he did not wanted aka rape.
But not every prisoner is slave. The slaves are present in the books.
Slaves are also killed by Odysseus himself if they had sex with suitors, no regard is made to whether sex was voluntary and odysseus himself claims that sex was rape before (but he just guesses that).
It is not like that story took much regards with regards of rape.
Re:One of the earliest science fiction books was written by ...
by watwut on Wednesday July 22, 2020 @05:07AM
(#23915229)
He did not knew cyclop was Poseidons son. At that point, Odysseus was pirate during pirate things - stealing from random island. Cyclop being Poseidons son is Odysseus being unlucky (or just karma). There was no intention to attack Poseidons family.
Odysseus did not killed Helios cattle, he told his men not to do so. His men did killed them after they disobeyed Odysseus.
Athena argues that Odysseus did sacrificed a lot more then usual towards gods at one point.
I dont know what Odysseus claimed after he beat Troy, sorry.
> A True Story is a novel written in the second century AD by Lucian of Samosata. [...] It is the earliest known work of fiction to include travel to outer space, alien lifeforms, and interplanetary warfare. As such, A True Story has been described as "the first known text that could be called science fiction".
[0] http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/51783
Prior jet engines were rocket engines, which go back to the ancient Chinese.
A ram-jet eliminates the turbine entirely, relying on aerodynamic forces to provide the compression. Of course, the engine needs to be moving very fast for this to work.
Fun fact: Caltech's Jet Propulsion Laboratory was named "jet" instead of "rocket" out of concern that the neighbors would be afraid of rockets. Of course, rocket engines were what they were developing, not turbo-jets.
Not only early SF but also an early Mary Sue?
Also this gem, an excerpt from the fanfiction: "Gee, golly, gosh, gloriosky," thought Mary Sue as she stepped on the bridge of the Enterprise. "Here I am, the youngest lieutenant in the fleet - only fifteen and a half years old." Captain Kirk came up to her.
"Oh, Lieutenant, I love you madly. Will you come to bed with me?" "Captain! I am not that kind of girl!" "You're right, and I respect you for it. Here, take over the ship for a minute while I go get some coffee for us." Mr. Spock came onto the bridge. "What are you doing in the command seat, Lieutenant?" "The Captain told me to." "Flawlessly logical. I admire your mind."
Early epics are noted for their flawed characters. Gilgamesh's bloodlust, Odysseus's disdain of the gods. Iccarus's hubris. King Authurs infidelity.
We better remember characters who were flawed. 'Perfection' is strangely boring.
On a tangent, I do like how the phrase "holy moly" is a direct allusion to the Odyssey.
In the story Odysseus is not behaving in disdainful way to gods at all. He is not disrespectful, he is not treating gods as unworthy. It quite the opposite the whole time.
There is one god that is angry with him trying to kill him (cause Odysseus killed his son without knowing it is gods son) and one that keeps him trapped on island cause she likes his presence. Odysseus never express disdain toward her through nor toward gods in general.
But not every prisoner is slave. The slaves are present in the books.
Slaves are also killed by Odysseus himself if they had sex with suitors, no regard is made to whether sex was voluntary and odysseus himself claims that sex was rape before (but he just guesses that).
It is not like that story took much regards with regards of rape.
I know the blinding and taunting of the cyclops was when he pissed off Poseidon. But I seem to recall that other gods were mad at him too.
Edit: killing Helios cattle was also a bad move.
Odysseus had the favor of Athena though, and I don't think he ever lost it.
Odysseus did not killed Helios cattle, he told his men not to do so. His men did killed them after they disobeyed Odysseus.
Athena argues that Odysseus did sacrificed a lot more then usual towards gods at one point.
I dont know what Odysseus claimed after he beat Troy, sorry.