Date: Sun, 24 Mar 2002 15:15:10 -0500
From: Ted White <tedwhite at compusnet.com>
To: WSFA members <WSFAlist at keithlynch.net>
Subject: [WSFA] Re: What I can't read
Reply-To: WSFA members <WSFAlist at keithlynch.net>

Michael Walsh wrote:

> Steve Smith ran this up the flagpole:
>
> >Michael Walsh wrote:
> >>
> >> Luckily there are boatloads of stuff out there. My 10% and your 10% may
> >> have minimal overlap.
> >
> >That's why there's so much out there.
>
> Cart? Horse?
> When I started reading this stuff 9early 60s) , one could read a vast
> percentage of what was published.  There was still stuffto avoid - the US
> reprintsof Fanthorpe come to mind.  But it was doable.
>
> Now, it isn't humanly possible - IMHO - to read such a percentage of
> what's published.  Nor would the Surgeon General recommend trying to such.

Yeah.  I was able to read almost *all* the SF published in the '50s -- while
catching up on the previous half-century's worth at the same time (*and*
reading all the DOC SAVAGE magazines), but by the '60s I was skimming the
cream, and by the '80s I wasn't even *trying* to keep up.   I think I've read a
lifetime's worth of SF already.

> > If everybody's taste was the
> >same, there'd only be one book.  Boringg
> >
> >As to my own prejudices, I find Harlan Ellison to be the literary
> >equivalent of a finger down the throat, only a lot less pleasant.
>
> Oh, I enjoy Harlan, the writer and the persona.  Having had but a few
> personal encounters with him, he can be perfectly pleasant.   I suspect
> that Ted has had his share of "adventures" regarding Mr Ellison, from
> fanboy to pro.

Well, Harlan and I have known each other a Long Time.  We started corresponding
with each other in 1953.  We've shared apartments and (amazingly) suits.
We're still friends.   I wrote up a couple of those "adventures" for MIMOSA
("The Bet" and "The Girl").   I still have one major unwritten "adventure" to
tell -- but I figure it would run a minimum of 20,000 words, since it covers
the time period of 1955-60.

--Ted White