I was walking around lower Sacramento, CA tonight, and I saw a strange brown building lit up with bright yellow lights off in the distance. Was it a church? Maybe an evil cult built it. Maybe it was just a school. It could be a haunted school. Being naturally curious and with too little common sense, I decided to take a look. Anyways, it was just an ordinary grade school. The night was still cool and clear.
Still wanting to explore, I did the next best thing, I wandered into the nearby roads to look at the boring houses. Early 90's things with three car garages. Wait a second, one street's name is Gaiman, like Neal Gaiman, the Hugo winning fantasy author. Well, that's interesting. The next thing, I knew I was walking down Heinlein Way and looking at Pournelle Ct. Curiouser and curiouser.
Had I stumbled into a nether-world of science fiction author streets? Evidently. I explored further wanting to find Card Ct., but I didn't find it. You can see the sci-fi author streets on Google maps. There are 12 sci-fi author names in this neighborhood including Simak and Orwell, which don't show up well on Google Maps.
The only one that I can't figure out is Bester. Walter Koenig plays a character named Bester in Babylon 5, but that isn't an author's name. Free brownie points to anyone who can find a sci-fi author named Bester.
It's official, sci-fi ville is alive and well in Sacramento, CA.
[ April 12, 2011, 04:43 AM: Message edited by: Jacob Porter ]
Posted by ambyr (Member # 7616) on :
quote:The only one that I can't figure out is Bester. Walter Koenig plays a character named Bester in Babylon 5, but that isn't an author's name. Free brownie points to anyone who can find a sci-fi author named Bester.
(Yes, the Babylon 5 character was named after him.)
Posted by mr_porteiro_head (Member # 4644) on :
The telepaths in B5 were lifted straight out of Alfred Bester's The Demolished Man.
Posted by Swampjedi (Member # 7374) on :
Considering I found Koenig's character (and the rest of the Corps) pretty compelling in B5, I'm going to translate that into a desire to read The Demolished Man. Posted by Jake (Member # 206) on :
I'm watching B5 for the first time at the moment (I'm in the middle of the second season, now). When Bester was introduced I chuckled to myself at the tip of the hat.
Posted by Dobbie (Member # 3881) on :
quote:Originally posted by ambyr:
quote:The only one that I can't figure out is Bester. Walter Koenig plays a character named Bester in Babylon 5, but that isn't an author's name. Free brownie points to anyone who can find a sci-fi author named Bester.
(Yes, the Babylon 5 character was named after him.)
I thought he was called that because he was bester than all the other characters.
Posted by Swampjedi (Member # 7374) on :
I think mid-season 2 is about where I started requiring more than one episode at a time. I think I watched season 3 over one three-day weekend.
Posted by Jake (Member # 206) on :
That's encouraging to hear. I've been told that as long as I put in the effort of watching season 1, the payoff would be amazing, and would start in season 2. I didn't find season 1 to be as bad as I was afraid that it might be (don't get me wrong, it isn't good, but it also isn't abysmally bad either), but so far I also having found season 2 to be *that* much better than season 1 was. Glad to know it will soon be ramping up. So far I haven't had any trouble at all limiting myself to an episode a night.
I'm also amazed by what how closely DS9 resembles Babylon 5. I'm surprised that whoever owns the rights to B5 didn't sue the pants off of Paramount.
Posted by Orincoro (Member # 8854) on :
quote:Originally posted by Jacob Porter: Free brownie points to anyone who can find a sci-fi author named Bester.
I almost boycotted DS9 because it was ripping off B5.
Then the writers took over and each went their own ways.
I still think DS9 was the best of the Star Trek series.
Posted by Jake (Member # 206) on :
Oh, I agree--I loved DS9. I'm looking forward to rewatching it this July when Netflix makes it available for streaming.
Posted by Rappin' Ronnie Reagan (Member # 5626) on :
quote:Originally posted by Jake: Oh, I agree--I loved DS9. I'm looking forward to rewatching it this July when Netflix makes it available for streaming.
I didn't know about this. That's awesome! Are they going to make TNG available, too?
Posted by Jake (Member # 206) on :
I think so. My understanding is that all of the series are going to be available. Great news, eh?