Andrew McDowell wrote:

On Thursday, October 19, 2023 at 7:06:48?PM UTC+1, Michael F. Stemper wrote:

On 18/10/2023 07.37, Jack Bohn wrote:

Ted Nolan <tednolan> wrote:

In article <d2b5be99-2e0e-4160...@googlegroups.com>,

On Tuesday, 17 October 2023 at 17:33:56 UTC+1, Jack Bohn wrote:

What books my library had of The Galaxy Reader and The Best from F&SF

series were shelved in non-fiction, in the area for books about
literature, for some reason. The Campbell series of books just titled >> > >>> Analog and a number were in the sf section.

In our library, SF anthologies were generaly under 803.3. That's where >> > >> I would go first whenever I walked in as it was a pure vein. Individual
authors were all over the place.

Now that you mention it, there were also anthologies of Best or Award-Winning general fiction short stories of bygone years there, too, maybe even volumes of mysteries. Did you not have a dedicated sf section?

In my case, the school libraries had their fiction arranged in alphabetical
order by authors' last names. To find a particular genre, one needed to use
the card catalog.

On the other hand, the public library *did* have an SF section, in which I
spent many happy hours.

I remember going into my Grammar School's library and being pleased to see a large section labelled SF. Alas, it turned out that SF meant Senior Fiction.

Senior fiction? Oh, not 65+, but 18+. The kind your more worldly-wise friend would hand you and say, "Here, read the underlined parts." And you realized he did have respect for book learnin'.

Come to think of it, our school library and the childrens' section of the public library had all fiction in one section. Not that it was too bad reading their non-scientific fiction. (Perhaps something Chesterton wrote about only needing "He opened a

On 20/10/2023 08.29, Jack Bohn wrote:

I was quite taken with a local mom & pop place that ordered them all alphabetically (by title, not by director's last name). Watched "Empire of the Sun" because its box was next to "The Empire Strikes Back,"

What did you think of it? Knowing nothing about it, I bought it for
my son, on the basis of it being a Spielberg flick. We watched it
together, and it blew me away.

I didn't realize until just now that it was based on something by
Ballard, which does make it SF-adjacent as somebody else said.

On 20/10/2023 08.29, Jack Bohn wrote:

I was quite taken with a local mom & pop place that ordered them all alphabetically (by title, not by director's last name). Watched "Empire of the Sun" because its box was next to "The Empire Strikes Back,"

What did you think of it? Knowing nothing about it, I bought it for
my son, on the basis of it being a Spielberg flick. We watched it
together, and it blew me away.

I didn't realize until just now that it was based on something by
Ballard, which does make it SF-adjacent as somebody else said.

On Friday, 20 October 2023 at 14:52:50 UTC+1, Michael F. Stemper wrote:

On 20/10/2023 08.29, Jack Bohn wrote:

I was quite taken with a local mom & pop place that ordered them all alphabetically (by title, not by director's last name). Watched "Empire of the Sun" because its box was next to "The Empire Strikes Back,"

What did you think of it? Knowing nothing about it, I bought it for
my son, on the basis of it being a Spielberg flick. We watched it together, and it blew me away.

I didn't realize until just now that it was based on something by
Ballard, which does make it SF-adjacent as somebody else said.

Wikipedia says "it is essentially fiction but draws
extensively on Ballard's experiences in World War II",
specifically that he was a British teenager in
Shanghai when Japan overran it, and then he
was interned.

On Friday, October 20, 2023 at 6:41:24 PM UTC-4, Robert Carnegie wrote:

On Friday, 20 October 2023 at 14:52:50 UTC+1, Michael F. Stemper wrote:

On 20/10/2023 08.29, Jack Bohn wrote:

I was quite taken with a local mom & pop place that ordered them all alphabetically (by title, not by director's last name). Watched "Empire of the Sun" because its box was next to "The Empire Strikes Back,"

What did you think of it? Knowing nothing about it, I bought it for
my son, on the basis of it being a Spielberg flick. We watched it
together, and it blew me away.

I didn't realize until just now that it was based on something by
Ballard, which does make it SF-adjacent as somebody else said.

Wikipedia says "it is essentially fiction but draws
extensively on Ballard's experiences in World War II",
specifically that he was a British teenager in
Shanghai when Japan overran it, and then he
was interned.

It draws on his novel of the same title.

Which does draw on his experiences but is far from identical (in real life Ballard was
not separated from his parents, for example).

Fine novel. I must see the film some time.

Five Anthologies Based on Classic SF Magazines

Worried that magazines are too ephemeral to hold reader interest?
Anthologies may be the answer.

I once tried to find Moroder's /Metropolis/ on DVD in a store that
sorted by "genre". I checked all the obvious places ("foreign",
"science fiction" perhaps others) but had to ask the clerk to find it
after verifying that it was in there somewhere.

I forget what wierd "genre" we finally found it in. The problem, of
course, was that neither she nor I could imagine what "genre" whoever
shelved it chose to put it in. And the computer that told her it was
in stock did not say what "genre" it was in either.

But that's always the problem: so many ways to sort things, and all of
them has a context in which it makes sense.

On Friday, October 20, 2023 at 6:41:24 PM UTC-4, Robert Carnegie wrote:

On Friday, 20 October 2023 at 14:52:50 UTC+1, Michael F. Stemper wrote:

On 20/10/2023 08.29, Jack Bohn wrote:

I was quite taken with a local mom & pop place that ordered them all alphabetically (by title, not by director's last name). Watched "Empire of the Sun" because its box was next to "The Empire Strikes Back,"

What did you think of it? Knowing nothing about it, I bought it for
my son, on the basis of it being a Spielberg flick. We watched it together, and it blew me away.

I didn't realize until just now that it was based on something by Ballard, which does make it SF-adjacent as somebody else said.

Wikipedia says "it is essentially fiction but draws
extensively on Ballard's experiences in World War II",
specifically that he was a British teenager in
Shanghai when Japan overran it, and then he
was interned.

It draws on his novel of the same title.

Which does draw on his experiences but is far from identical (in real life Ballard was
not separated from his parents, for example).

Fine novel. I must see the film some time.

On Fri, 20 Oct 2023 06:29:14 -0700 (PDT), Jack Bohn
<jack....@gmail.com> wrote:

I guess I got so used to being genred off that in my adulthood when video rentals became a thing I was quite taken with a local mom & pop place that ordered them all alphabetically (by title, not by director's last name). Watched "Empire of the Sun"

I once tried to find Moroder's /Metropolis/ on DVD in a store that
sorted by "genre". I checked all the obvious places ("foreign",
"science fiction" perhaps others) but had to ask the clerk to find it
after verifying that it was in there somewhere.

I forget what wierd "genre" we finally found it in. The problem, of
course, was that neither she nor I could imagine what "genre" whoever shelved it chose to put it in. And the computer that told her it was
in stock did not say what "genre" it was in either.

But that's always the problem: so many ways to sort things, and all of
them has a context in which it makes sense.

On Friday, October 20, 2023 at 8:42:21?PM UTC-4, William Hyde wrote:

On Friday, October 20, 2023 at 6:41:24?PM UTC-4, Robert Carnegie wrote:

On Friday, 20 October 2023 at 14:52:50 UTC+1, Michael F. Stemper wrote: >> > > On 20/10/2023 08.29, Jack Bohn wrote:

I was quite taken with a local mom & pop place that ordered them all alphabetically (by title, not by director's last name). Watched "Empire of the Sun" because its box was next to "The Empire Strikes Back,"

What did you think of it? Knowing nothing about it, I bought it for
my son, on the basis of it being a Spielberg flick. We watched it
together, and it blew me away.

I didn't realize until just now that it was based on something by
Ballard, which does make it SF-adjacent as somebody else said.

Wikipedia says "it is essentially fiction but draws
extensively on Ballard's experiences in World War II",
specifically that he was a British teenager in
Shanghai when Japan overran it, and then he
was interned.

It draws on his novel of the same title.

Which does draw on his experiences but is far from identical (in real life Ballard was
not separated from his parents, for example).

Fine novel. I must see the film some time.

Another film with child's-eye view of the War, but on the (British) homefront was Hope and Glory, written and directed by sf-adjacent John Boorman (writer and director of Zardoz and Excalibur) based on his experiences.

On Friday, October 20, 2023 at 11:16:49?AM UTC-4, Paul S Person wrote:

On Fri, 20 Oct 2023 06:29:14 -0700 (PDT), Jack Bohn
<jack....@gmail.com> wrote:

[deep into thread drift]

I guess I got so used to being genred off that in my adulthood when video rentals became a thing I was quite taken with a local mom & pop place that ordered them all alphabetically (by title, not by director's last name). Watched "Empire of the Sun"

I once tried to find Moroder's /Metropolis/ on DVD in a store that
sorted by "genre". I checked all the obvious places ("foreign",
"science fiction" perhaps others) but had to ask the clerk to find it
after verifying that it was in there somewhere.

I wonder if they had a section for "Classic Films" -- that is old, particularly black & white. Or even a section for silents. But Moroder colorized it as well as adding a soundtrack, so, the section on Music Videos, Concert Films,,, Musicals? Last

I forget what wierd "genre" we finally found it in. The problem, of
course, was that neither she nor I could imagine what "genre" whoever
shelved it chose to put it in. And the computer that told her it was
in stock did not say what "genre" it was in either.

But that's always the problem: so many ways to sort things, and all of
them has a context in which it makes sense.

It's said genre is marketing categories, so the clerk faces a dilemma: in the eyes of the customer, is Star Wars more like Grease than like Blade Runner? After watching Blade Runner, is the customer more likely to look for Harrison Ford in The Mosquito

Advice some 35 years late, but, be like Usenet, only split up if there is very little crossover interest between the two new groupings, and if there is enough traffic to support the new group and to have been a hindrance in the old group: someone will

After that I went to the public library to look for more Asimov. I
ended up getting Best from F&SF anthologies. Things developed from
there.