SF ideas

[Burgess, John]

For what it worth -- your decision, here -- it may be worth checking out 
some of the books of Olaf Stapledon, a British writer of the 1930s and a 
friend and peer of JRR Tolkein.  Three books in particular (First and 
Last Men, Last Men in London, and the lollapalooza Starmaker) are as 
packed full of ideas as it's possible for any book, short of an 
encyclopedia) to be.

The first book starts out in 1911 or so, the last finishes at the end of 
all time.  In the earlier books, each chapter gives a setting and theme 
for an entire SF novel. By the time Starmaker rolls around, the novels 
are encapsulated within paragraphs.

Not only does his writing provide the subject material for a lifetime's 
writing career, I'd suggest that more than a few writers (PJ Farmer, 
among them) have done just about that.

Not much plot, zip when it comes to characters, but enough ideas to 
satisfy even the elect of this ListServ.

What does this have to do with TRP?  I dunno... I can't prove that he 
ever read Stapledon; the ideas are very different, but they tend to 
complement each other, at least in my diseased brain.

BTW:  two of Stapledon's more "mainstream" novels (Sirius and Odd John) 
are interesting curiosities, but not worth hunting down.  The others 
should be available in Dover Book editions.