Sixties Science Fiction
Stu Shiffman and Andi Shechter (roscoe@halcyon.com)
Sat, 21 Sep 1996 01:11:50 -0400
More on sixties s.f. -
I remember reading "Stranger" when it was mentioned as something that
Manson was interested in. I remember _trying_ to read _The Hobbit_ and
finding I'm not cut out for high fantasy. I started reading s.f. seriously
in the late sixties because of the flourishing of feminist work during that
period. Writers like Joanna Russ - "When it Changed", and "The Female Man"
and Vonda McIntyre, Elizabeth Lynn, Pamela Sargeant, Marta Randall, John
Varley and James Tiptree, Jr. were using s.f. to posit some of the things
we were hoping or searching for - community, alternative lifestyles and
sexuality, women's rights. It was a helluva time.
Elizabeth mentioned two books -
>One was named Baby Makes Three and I think republished as More Than
>Human.
The author was the gentle and fine man Theodore Sturgeon, Elizabeth and it
was a brilliant look at what we're capable of.
>
>The other was Childhood's End. Very important to us. Sorry I can't
>remember the authors right now - probably one of you will.
That was Arthur C. Clarke - and given the "Independence Day" and "Alien"
stuff that is on tv and in the movies now, it's an interesting perspective.
>Heinlein's Stranger in a Strange Land gave rise to C.A.W., the Church of
>All Worlds, a neo-pagan movement started by Tim Zell who transformed
>into Otter G'Zell, a most influential and wise figure in the pagan
>re-birth movement.
Oh, good grief. Flashback city. I knew Tim and Otter way back when. Even
met Heinlein in the days I was working on s.f. conventions a lot - he
thought I was wonderful because I was involved in blood bank stuff. I have
a copy of "Glory Road" he signed to "Sandy" Shechter, unfortunately.
Charming in person, but his politics were capable of making my blook run
cold.
Andi