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THIS IS NOT A SCIENCE FICTION NOVEL
Nov. 9th, 2008 10:50 amITEM [via ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
bedsitter23 ]: Michael Crichton is dead, I see.
I suppose I should say something, since I have a number of Crichton novels on the shelf – ironically, most are the ones that haven’t actually been made into films (yet).
I’ve always found it interesting that Crichton is one of the few authors writing blatant science fiction that you never, ever find in the SF section of any book store. Maybe it's because he sells too well?
Anyway, I’ve had mixed feelings about Crichton. On the one hand, I felt he relied too much on telling stories by taking the absolute worst possible scenario of tech gone horribly wrong. On the other hand, he was bloody good at it. Every book I ever read of his was a page turner. Love or hate him, he knew how to tell a story.
And he knew how to start an argument, which is always a good thing. He probably went a little too far with State Of Fear (reportedly George W Bush’s favorite book of 2004) . But the resulting fracas (and the decision by the American Association of Petroleum Geologists in 2006 to give his novel an award for journalism, which was how weird the global warming debate had gotten by that time) gave me a wonderful plot device for my own novel project (ongoing since 2005): the idea that Congress will one day pass a law requiring all works of fiction to be factually accurate.
If nothing else, I have to respect any fiction author whose books come with bibliographies. Even Sir Arthur C Clarke never did that.
Oh, and he gave us Westworld. Which is awesome.
Just give ‘em whiskey,
This is dF
bedsitter23 ]: Michael Crichton is dead, I see.I suppose I should say something, since I have a number of Crichton novels on the shelf – ironically, most are the ones that haven’t actually been made into films (yet).
I’ve always found it interesting that Crichton is one of the few authors writing blatant science fiction that you never, ever find in the SF section of any book store. Maybe it's because he sells too well?
Anyway, I’ve had mixed feelings about Crichton. On the one hand, I felt he relied too much on telling stories by taking the absolute worst possible scenario of tech gone horribly wrong. On the other hand, he was bloody good at it. Every book I ever read of his was a page turner. Love or hate him, he knew how to tell a story.
And he knew how to start an argument, which is always a good thing. He probably went a little too far with State Of Fear (reportedly George W Bush’s favorite book of 2004) . But the resulting fracas (and the decision by the American Association of Petroleum Geologists in 2006 to give his novel an award for journalism, which was how weird the global warming debate had gotten by that time) gave me a wonderful plot device for my own novel project (ongoing since 2005): the idea that Congress will one day pass a law requiring all works of fiction to be factually accurate.
If nothing else, I have to respect any fiction author whose books come with bibliographies. Even Sir Arthur C Clarke never did that.
Oh, and he gave us Westworld. Which is awesome.
Just give ‘em whiskey,
This is dF
