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  • (Review) Astounding by Alec Nevala-Lee

    From James Nicoll@3:633/280.2 to All on Thu Jul 24 23:06:24 2025

    Astounding: John W. Campbell, Isaac Asimov, Robert A. Heinlein,
    L. Ron Hubbard, and the Golden Age of Science Fiction by Alec
    Nevala-Lee

    A look at four men (and the women in their lives) who shaped American SF.

    https://jamesdavisnicoll.com/review/fab-four
    --
    My reviews can be found at http://jamesdavisnicoll.com/
    My tor pieces at https://www.tor.com/author/james-davis-nicoll/
    My Dreamwidth at https://james-davis-nicoll.dreamwidth.org/
    My patreon is at https://www.patreon.com/jamesdnicoll

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  • From Bobbie Sellers@3:633/280.2 to All on Fri Jul 25 04:51:10 2025
    Reply-To: blissInSanFrancisco@mouse-potato.com



    On 7/24/25 06:06, James Nicoll wrote:
    Astounding: John W. Campbell, Isaac Asimov, Robert A. Heinlein,
    L. Ron Hubbard, and the Golden Age of Science Fiction by Alec
    Nevala-Lee

    A look at four men (and the women in their lives) who shaped American SF.

    https://jamesdavisnicoll.com/review/fab-four

    Hubbard should be excluded as he is/was a fantasist who got gullible people to
    take him seriously. I read his first article on Dianetics in Astounding
    and noticed that
    it sounded like a scam and when he turned it into Scientology I was
    confirmed.
    He just wanted to avoid taxes so he could get rich.

    bliss - wonders who has read "Gladiator" the Philip Wylie book

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  • From William Hyde@3:633/280.2 to All on Fri Jul 25 05:47:12 2025
    Bobbie Sellers wrote:


    On 7/24/25 06:06, James Nicoll wrote:
    Astounding: John W. Campbell, Isaac Asimov, Robert A. Heinlein,
    L. Ron Hubbard, and the Golden Age of Science Fiction by Alec
    Nevala-Lee

    A look at four men (and the women in their lives) who shaped American SF.

    https://jamesdavisnicoll.com/review/fab-four

    Hubbard should be excluded as he is/was a fantasist who got
    gullible people to
    take him seriously.

    I would include A.E. Van Vogt who was very prolific in those years, and
    whose writings were influential even decades later.

    Hubbard was for a while also frequently published in Astounding, but I
    feel that his later notoriety was what got him entry to this book.

    But anybody who takes Patterson seriously is not themselves worth taking seriously.

    William Hyde


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  • From James Nicoll@3:633/280.2 to All on Fri Jul 25 05:49:42 2025
    In article <105tvau$1h16c$2@dont-email.me>,
    Bobbie Sellers <blissInSanFrancisco@mouse-potato.com> wrote:


    On 7/24/25 06:06, James Nicoll wrote:
    Astounding: John W. Campbell, Isaac Asimov, Robert A. Heinlein,
    L. Ron Hubbard, and the Golden Age of Science Fiction by Alec
    Nevala-Lee

    A look at four men (and the women in their lives) who shaped American SF.

    https://jamesdavisnicoll.com/review/fab-four

    Hubbard should be excluded as he is/was a fantasist who got gullible
    people to take him seriously.

    A: Lots of skiffy folk loved diaretics, including JWC. It definitely
    left a mark.

    B: Via the Writers of the Future project, Hubbard (or his successors)
    still influence SF.
    --
    My reviews can be found at http://jamesdavisnicoll.com/
    My tor pieces at https://www.tor.com/author/james-davis-nicoll/
    My Dreamwidth at https://james-davis-nicoll.dreamwidth.org/
    My patreon is at https://www.patreon.com/jamesdnicoll

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    * Origin: Public Access Networks Corp. (3:633/280.2@fidonet)
  • From Scott Dorsey@3:633/280.2 to All on Fri Jul 25 06:04:57 2025
    In article <105tvau$1h16c$2@dont-email.me>,
    Bobbie Sellers <blissInSanFrancisco@mouse-potato.com> wrote:


    On 7/24/25 06:06, James Nicoll wrote:
    Astounding: John W. Campbell, Isaac Asimov, Robert A. Heinlein,
    L. Ron Hubbard, and the Golden Age of Science Fiction by Alec
    Nevala-Lee

    A look at four men (and the women in their lives) who shaped American SF.

    https://jamesdavisnicoll.com/review/fab-four

    Hubbard should be excluded as he is/was a fantasist who got gullible
    people to
    take him seriously. I read his first article on Dianetics in Astounding
    and noticed that
    it sounded like a scam and when he turned it into Scientology I was >confirmed.
    He just wanted to avoid taxes so he could get rich.

    This would seem to be a reason to include him even more strongly. He not
    only shaped American SF, but he managed to create a fraudulent religion
    from it!
    --scott

    --
    "C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

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