Tolkien and Asimov

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Originally Posted by drigel

Makes for less emotional dramatic reading I suppose (esp when comparing to current works of SF), but I just wonder if we will ever make it to that Asimov universe with all that conflict, drama and angst - that stuff usually gets in the way of progress, doesnt it?

Not sure what you mean - having my brain realigned, and so am using a 'loaner' today.

Remember somewhere in the Foundation trilogy there was the girl who had to 'speak' a paper into existence, and just wasn't that the biggest issue? Yikes! Almost as bad as having 200,000 orcs of your doorstep.

Think that it's funny that we (almost) have the speak-write technology today, though I have yet to use it effectively ("I said 'Balrog' not 'ball rug,' not 'bail rock' you insipid machine..."). What might be odd is that Asimov was extrapolating into the future and Tolkien into the past, and I find it easier to 'buy' Tolkien's world than the one that Asimov presumes. I don't think that the reason is the direction of time nor the genre (spaceships vs horses) but due to the inherent abilities of the authors. I can feel Tolkien's world but feel like I'm getting the 'student reader' (Does anyone remember the publication, "Boy's Life?" If so, please substitute.) version of the future from Asimov.

Again he's a great author, yet I think that the king of science fiction is Frank Herbert (though his son's works show that an apple can fall way, WAY far from the tree...).