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Conference noted::sf

Title:Arcana Caelestia
Notice:Directory listings are in topic 2
Moderator:NETRIX::thomas
Created:Thu Dec 08 1983
Last Modified:Thu Jun 05 1997
Last Successful Update:Fri Jun 06 1997
Number of topics:1300
Total number of notes:18728

561.0. "Crossover Mystery/P.I./SF Works?" by FENNEL::BALS (Atoms fraternize with hurricanes) Fri Jan 15 1988 09:10

    I'm thinking of whipping up an article for a fanzine I sometimes
    write for on crossover mystery/private eye ====> sf stories and
    vice versa. Without having gone into a lot of research about it yet, 
    titles I can think of offhand include:
    
    SF ==> Mystery:
    
    THE DEMOLISHED MAN
    NEEDLE
    Niven's GIL THE ARM stories
    The various Sherlock Holmes sf pastiches
    
    Mystery ===> SF
    
    THE TOMORROW FILE
    MIDNIGHT CITY
    BLADE RUNNER (script/film version)
    
    If you can think of others, I'd be happy to see them. I'm especially
    interested in hearing about basically mystery/p.i. works with a
    sf "twist" to them.
    
    Thanks,
    
    Fred
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561.1GCANYN::MACNEALBig MacFri Jan 15 1988 10:092
    Check out Asimov's Elijiah Bailey stories - Caves of Steel, Robots of
    Dawn, Robots and Empire (I know I'm forgetting a few). 
561.2some stuffERASER::KALLISHas anybody lost a shoggoth?Fri Jan 15 1988 10:3712
    Re .1 (Big Mac):
    
    _The Naked Sun_ is one.  He also did some short stories involving
    Wendell Urth, the armchairiest of armchair detectives.
    
    If you include fantasy (or science-fiction-of-an-alternate-time-con-
    tinuum-where-magic-is-a-science), you can add the Lord D'arcy stories;
    two collections, _Murder and Magic_ and _Lord Darcy Investigates_,
    and the novel _Too Many Magicians_.  The novel is exceptional fun
    for inveterate readers of Doyle and Stout.
    
    Steve Kallis, Jr.
561.3Some obscure additionsTALLIS::SIGELFri Jan 15 1988 12:3927
Some less obvious mystery/sf/fantasy works:

Now You See It/Him/Them by Buck Coulson and Gene DeWeese:  A murder mystery
	that not only takes place at an sf convention, but involves psi
powers as well.

Two other murder mysteries that use sf cons as background, though no
actual science fiction or fantasy elements:
	Sci-fi by William Marshall
	Murdercon by Richard Purtill
(I wasn't very fond of either of them, actually.)

The Curse of the Giant Hogweed by Charlotte MacLeod:  A very strange fantasy
mystery supposedly set in ancient Wales; the book loses much if you haven't
read earlier novels in the series (featuring Professor Peter Shandy of
Balaclava Agricultural College, Balaclava County, Massachusetts (on the
New Hampshire border, no less)), but it is a fun read.

A few of Isaac Asimov's series of Black Widowers short stories have an sf
bent (there are several collections out thus far).

Lee Killough has written a number of sf novels with leos (law enforcement
officers) as protagonists and a general mystery to solve; I recommend
The Deadly Silents, The Doppelganger Gambit, and the latter's sequel, the
title of which escapes me at the moment (pubbed last year by Questar).

				Andrew
561.4A quick gleaning from the list.SNDCSL::SMITHWilliam P.N. (WOOKIE::) SmithFri Jan 15 1988 17:0715
    Asimov's Mysteries		0-449-24011-8	S-F mysteries (Dr. Urth)
    
    Tin Stars	0-451-14395-7	5th Wonderful Worlds of S-F ed by
    					Asimov, Greenberg, Waugh
    
    Jack Chalker	Labyrinth of Dreams  0-812-53306-2  G.O.D. Inc
    								#1
    
    Arthur C. Clarke	Tales From The White Hart	0345-29880-2
    
    
    Well, heck, quite a bit of science fiction invulves solving a mystery
    of one kind or another..... 
    
    Willie
561.5Rocket to the MorgueCSC32::M_BAKERFri Jan 15 1988 19:165
    I have a copy of "Rocket to the Morgue" by Anthony Boucher.  I've heard
    that it takes place at a con but I've never read it.  Maybe someone else
    knows something about it.

    Mike
561.6CRVAX1::ANDREWSHow come nobody told *ME*?Fri Jan 15 1988 23:129
    How about 'Dream Park' by (I think) Larry Niven and someone else.
    
    Takes place in the future where you can actually play frp's in real
    life.  A murder takes place on the grounds and the head of security
    must join a gaming group to try to find out which of them it was.
    
    It is long, but I found it reasonably enjoyable.
    
    					Rob
561.7A sort of crossover in ST:TNG's "The Big Goodbye"DICKNS::KLAESAll the galaxy's a stage...Sun Jan 17 1988 11:479
    	I know this is not exactly what the base Note is looking for,
    but I found the comparison/coincidence amusing:  The latest new
    episode of STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION, "The Big Goodbye", dealt
    with Captain Picard using the starship ENTERPRISE's holodeck to
    recreate 1941 San Francisco so he could enjoy some recreation playing
    out the part of the fictional detective Dixon Hill.
                             
    	Larry
                        
561.8closer crossoverERASER::KALLISHas anybody lost a shoggoth?Mon Jan 18 1988 11:1617
    Re .5 (Mike):
    
    It's been _years_ since I read _Rocket to the Morgue_.  It has
    virtually no SF in it (even though Tony Boucher was excellent in
    both genres); the closest thing to it was the mention of the "Doctor
    Derringer" stories (Boucher's suggested analog to the "Professor
    Challenger" stories of Conan Doyle: Doyle only wrote a few Challenger
    stories; Boucher supposed a raft of books to have been written about
    an equivalent character, for purposes of his yarn).
    
    For one closer, I'd suggest Mack Reynolds' _The Case of the Little
    Green Men_, which, while still a conventional mystery, had strong
    SFish (and particularly con-ish) elemewnts in it.  Regrettably,
    since it was written in the mid-50's, a but of the fannish talk
    is quite dated, but it's still entertaining.
    
    Steve Kallis, Jr.
561.9ThanksFENNEL::BALSAtoms fraternize with hurricanesTue Jan 19 1988 12:3712
    Thanks for all the good recommendations! Keep `em coming ...
    
    RE: .5. .8 (Rocket to the Morgue):
    
    While Steve is right in noting that RttM contains little or no sf
    (except for the method of murder :-)), it does contain some
    thinly-disguised sf authors, most notably Robert Heinlein. You should
    read your copy sometime. I think you'd enjoy it (and, if you have
    a 1st edition of the book, it's worth some money to Heinlein
    completists). 
    
    Fred
561.10RTTM in pbCSC32::M_BAKERTue Jan 19 1988 14:147
    re: .9
    All my sf books are packed up right now but I believe I have two copies
    of the book in paperback.  One of them was published under a pen name.  
    I have a friend who has a hardbound copy which I believe is a first
    edition.  He is a big Heinlein fan.

    Mike
561.11ASIC::EDECKTue Jan 19 1988 15:526
    
    A couple of P.I. types that come to mind:
    
    _Outlands_
    
    _A Fall of Moondust_ by Clarke 
561.12?IND::BOWERSCount Zero InterruptTue Jan 19 1988 15:535
    Recently noticed something called "Bimbos of the Death Star" on
    a friend's bookshelf.  He said it was a comedy/mystery about a murder
    at a con.  If I can track down the author's name I'll pass it along.
    
    -dave
561.13G.O.D. Inc. #2TFH::MARSHALLhunting the snarkTue Jan 19 1988 17:3313
    re .4:
    
    >Jack Chalker Labyrinth of Dreams  0-812-53306-2  G.O.D. Inc #1
                                                                 
    and
    
    Jack Chalker  Dream Dancers        ?-???-?????-?  G.O.D. Inc. #2
                                                   
                  /
                 (  ___
                  ) ///
                 /
    
561.14AKOV11::BOYAJIANLyra RA 18h 28m 37s D 31d 49mWed Jan 20 1988 08:3011
    re:.9
    
    I don't have a first (hc) edition, but I have the *exceedingly*
    rare paperback edition that was the first (and only) book under
    the Phantom Mystery imprint.
    
    re:.10
    
    The book was originally published under the by-line "H.H. Holmes".
    
    --- jerry
561.15SNDCSL::SMITHWilliam P.N. (WOOKIE::) SmithWed Jan 20 1988 18:5312
    re: .-2
    
    >Jack Chalker  Dream Dancers        ?-???-?????-?  G.O.D. Inc. #2
    
    Jack Chalker  Dream Dancers        0-812-53308-9  G.O.D. Inc. #2 
                                                    
    Sorry I didn't have it on file the first time around, but I bought
    it between now and then.  Some one of these years I may even get
    around to reading it....
    
    Willie
    
561.16Radioactive DreamsPIGGY::GEORGEThu Jan 21 1988 16:5311
    If you have a warped sense of humor and want to see a movie that
    crosses the Maltese Falcon with Bladerunner with the Blues Brothers,
    try Radioactive Dreams. The main characters are Phillip and Marlowe,
    they come out of a bomb shelter having grown to adulthood alone
    with only pulp detective stories for reading material. They leave
    the bomb shelter in what looks like a 60's Oldsmobile convertible
    into a postholocaust America with a goal of getting clients and/or
    dames.                                                           
    
    Not for serious SF fans or serious PI fans, but if you'd like a
    comedic mix of the two, this could be up your alley.