.
I have been advised by Tom Purdom that Gardner Dozois has advised him that today is National Science Fiction Day. January 2 was chosen for this august celebration because it's Isaac Asimov's official birthday. Asimov was born in Russia in 1920 (his parents brought him to America at age 3) and since there are no official records of his birth, it's not absolutely certain that this was his birthday. But right or wrong, the honor remains.
In honor of the event, I'm going to give a copy of the brand-new trade paperback of my own Dancing With Bears to whoever can come up with the best limerick honoring either Asimov or Science Fiction Day.
Here are the rules: The limerick must be clean, formally correct, and witty. The judgment of the Blue Ribbon and Not at All Nepotistic Jury of Family will be final. You can post your entry here or in response to any other blog entry for the rest of the month. And I'll announce the winner on February 1.
And speaking of the paperback release of my novel . . .
Andrew Wheeler gave Dancing With Bears a splendid review on his blog, The Antick Musings of G.B.H. Hornswoggler, Gent. Where he wrote (among other things):
Dancing With Bears is a splendid romp, a tour through a strange future, and an enthralling adventure -- I won't recommend it to any readers looking for morals in their novels, but for all of the rest of us, it's a great way to spend a few hours. (And reading about them is the only way I'd recommend spending time with Darger and Surplus!)
So that was very pleasant for me. Those of you who are curious can find the whole thing here.
*
Oh, you're dragging the Blue Ribbon and Not at All Nepotistic Jury of Family into this, are you!?
ReplyDeleteWell, piffle.
Marianne
Sorry. There must an authority above question or reproach -- and who better?
ReplyDeleteWhen Gardner stood up to suggest
ReplyDeleteJanuary Second we should all rest,
I thought, Mazel Tov!
The birth of Asimov
Is the foundation of SF Day!
There once was a written a man
ReplyDeletewhose agoraphobia matched
Isaac Asimov's.
Elijah Bailey--what a man!
In the absence of Psychohistory
ReplyDeleteIt shall always remain a mystery
Why our beloved genre
(Science Fiction, so fun-re!)
Ain't been made bleedin' compulsory.
Isaac Asimov felt no compunction/Against letting his robots malfunction/But despite all their flaws/He gave them three laws/To minimize human defunction.
ReplyDeleteTo be or not to be
ReplyDeleteasked the Bard
To fall or not to fall
pondered Isaac Newton
under the apple tree
To think or not to think
of positronic balance
mused Isaac Asimov
before mixing the chemical soup
of robots and human's brains
To be or not to be
ReplyDeleteasked the Bard
To fall or not to fall
pondered Isaac Newton
under the apple tree
To think or not to think
of positronic balance
mused Isaac Asimov
before mixing the chemical soup
of robots and human's brains
It's my past that seems unreal to me now. Here's my limerick:
ReplyDeleteSF fans know the real race for space
was to keep all your books in their place.
Now, when bookshelf space dwindles
we fill up our kindles -
(I still keep my books - just in case)
Asimov, Heinlein and Pohl
ReplyDeleteBova, Bear, Gibson & Clough
Zelazny and Swanwick
Williams and Phil Dick
Gaiman, LeGuin, Doctorow
The man wrote on subjects concurrent:
ReplyDeleteRobotics, tectonics, detergent.
That last one's not true
But he never outgrew
His desire to know things divergent.
----
'Twas so long ago fate beckoned
To this man who was born on Jan. second
Ninety-two years
And the whole world reveres
This author with which to be reckoned.
---
Asimov wrote many things fictional
Some of them quite jurisdictional.
"There's no place like spome,
Not room for an ohm,"
Wrote the author whose piece was nonfictional.
There are those who attempt Science Fiction
ReplyDeleteThough they suff'r intellectual constriction;
Dr. Isaac instead
Had a marvelous head
For numbers, and notions, and diction.
This writing assignment is pretty rough
ReplyDeleteFor all but the typical science-toff
Only those with mentalities
That defy all realities
Can hope to be writers like Asimov
Some writers who like science fiction
ReplyDeleteFormed a new and exciting tradition
Doctor Asimov's heirs
And his fans and his peers
Yell hooray and continue his mission
Dr. Asimov said with a sniffy,
ReplyDelete"Gardner and Sheila have made my mag spiffy,
But I find appalling,
And really quite galling,
Those who call it sci-fi and not skiffy!"
The man was a wonderful boss
ReplyDeleteNo mean word, not angry nor cross
His mind could just stun
He would not be outdone -
His lim'ricks left most at a loss.
The film was a long time en route
But the end product just did not compute.
I, Robot was trash
But it made them all cash.
Too bad they gave Harlan the boot.
From Harlan: The easiest person to like,
ReplyDeleteNo better man in front of a mike,
Those of us that are left,
From the Golden Age of SF,
Sure miss our old pal, Doctor Ike!
"Plutonium-186 is neat,"
ReplyDeleteRobert Silverberg said with deceit.
"I'll show you, my boy,"
Isaac said to annoy,
And wrote up a novel tout suite.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteOf vegetables, animals, minerals,
ReplyDeletePsychohistory, chemistry, integrals,
I know everything written
Now my typewriter's spittin
It all out in books science fictional