“Tentacled Martians are a pure Wellsian fictional boogeyman construction, based on a 19th-century Victorian squeamishness about octopi and other tentacled creatures. (Well, I shouldn’t talk—I’ve rarely been able to stomach calamari myself.)”
Well, you’ll have to pry my collection of Weird Tales outta my cold dead hands. As far as squid or octopi goes, you either have to cook it fast under high heat or cook it slow for hours. Anything in between is like eating rubber bands. Beer will help with that.
“For a more up-to-date and believable description of Martian (or, as the natives call it, Malacandrian) life, check out the slightly fictionalized account of Professor E. Ransom’s adventures on Mars, in C. S. Lewis’ Out of the Silent Planet. It’s a real eye-opener. Be sure not to miss the last chapter, where Ransom corrects (and adds to) Lewis’ account of the Martian adventures.”
It’s where I took my FR handle from. That Hideous Strength could have been written yesterday. My other favorite Christain sci-fi/speculative fiction guy is Gene Wolfe:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gene_Wolfe
He has a good take on good aliens too. Plus, he’s a Korean War vet and helped invent the machine that makes pringles.
Freegards
Well duh on me! A bit slow on the uptake from time to time. Should have been obvious.
That Hideous Strength could have been written yesterday.
Shoot, it could have been written tomorrow! Or "could be going to have been written tomorrow." The Latin quotation on my FR home page (click the name below) is from the book.
My other favorite Christain sci-fi/speculative fiction guy is Gene Wolfe:
I seem to recall reading some of Mr Wolfe's work some years ago, but cannot now recall much of anything about it--this says more for my advancing age than it does about the quality of his writing.
Plus, he’s a Korean War vet and helped invent the machine that makes pringles.
May his name be honored above that of, well, some other guys!