The Decline and Fall of SF

[deedle at loop.com]

>From Dexter;
>        I just recently bought Doris Lessing's "Canopus in Argos:
>Archives"...   Has anyone else read this, and if so, does he or she have
>an opinion?
>
>                                        --Dexter Palmer

Loved loved loved the first book in the series, "Shikasta."  Couldn't put
it down the first time I read it.  I think it stands very well on it's own
and, frankly, I found the rest of the books in the series to be fairly
tedious, except "The Marriage of Zones 4, 5 & 6" (if I remember the title
correctly).  I think her perspectives on the metaphysical origins of the
human race are wonderful (but then again, I'm from California and I dig
that kind of loopy stuff).  Another amazing SF writer who hasn't been
mentioned is Ursula LeGuin.  I suppose she might be thought of as a SF
writer the way Brautigan's name has been raised here (I just love that
guy), but "The Dispossesed" and "The Left Hand of Darkness" are excellent
stories, and quite in the realm of SF, IMHO.

-- deedle