James Nicoll Zitate

James Nicoll ist kanadischer Literaturkritiker und Schriftsteller.

✵ 18. März 1961

James Nicoll: 69 Zitate0 Gefällt mir

James Nicoll: Zitate auf Englisch

“At some point when I wasn’t paying attention, comedic genocide just stopped working for me.”

Help us translate this quote

Review of T. Kingfisher's Nine Goblins http://jamesdavisnicoll.com/review/basically-i-have-no-sense-of-humour, 2013 <br class="br">2010s <br class="br">Kontext: At some point when I wasn’t paying attention, comedic genocide just stopped working for me. This is a shame because so much fantasy and SF depends on genocide as positive plot element. This trifling oddity of taste must have robbed me of hours of morally equivocal entertainment.

“No matter how much the space program you actually have has achieved, whether it’s first contact with aliens or trips to nearby stars, it can never have achieved as much as the space programs you can imagine would have achieved in its place, given that imaginary programs aren’t limited by issues of politics, funding, or engineering.”

Help us translate this quote

Review of “Eyes of Amber”, by Joan D. Vinge (as anthologized in New Women of Wonder, edited by Pamela Sargent http://jamesdavisnicoll.com/review/yet-more-sf-about-women-by-women, 2015 <br class="br">2010s <br class="br">Kontext: There’s a rule I used to call The Niven Rule but which I just now have decided to call the Rusting Bridges rule. It came to me after reading Niven’s “All The Bridges Rusting.” In this story, humans have by the early 21st century explored the Solar System and sent not just one but two crewed ships to Alpha Centauri … despite which the characters moan endlessly about the dire state of the space program. “Eyes of Amber” would be another example of the Rusting Bridges [Rule]: No matter how much the space program you actually have has achieved, whether it’s first contact with aliens or trips to nearby stars, it can never have achieved as much as the space programs you can imagine would have achieved in its place, given that imaginary programs aren’t limited by issues of politics, funding, or engineering.

“Never underestimate the persuasive power of somehow.”

Help us translate this quote

2010s
Kontext: Although no credible evidence exists that the speed of light can be exceeded, writers are willing to embrace the possibility that light might be outpaced somehow. Never underestimate the persuasive power of somehow.

“I find this varies considerably from near-death experience to near-death experience. For example, having a wandering loonie break down the door of my game store to look for women was so funny the entire concussion and pools of blood thing was a minor footnote. Being sucked out into the Atlantic by an undertow was deeply irritating. Having a snowba[n]k collapse on me was alarming because of the claustrophobia issue. The car wreck was over almost before I had time to realise what was happening.”

Help us translate this quote

[b38svt$o0u$1@panix1.panix.com, 2003]
To which Ian York replied, in [b38tv9$5eh$1@reader1.panix.com, 2003]:
Don't get the wrong idea here, people. Even for James that was a busy day.
2000s

“Niven made a name for himself as a hard SF author, which is to say, someone whose SF provides enough technical detail that the reader can be certain that various mechanisms and events couldn't work the way the author has them working.”

Help us translate this quote

review of All the Myriad Ways by Larry Niven http://jamesdavisnicoll.com/review/remember-when-niven-was-fun, 2015 <br class="br">2010s

“[F]olks would better off dipping their heads in a bucket of liquid [nitrogen] and battering them against a tree very very hard than reading Baxter's Titan. It would not surprise me if reading that book causes birth defects.”

Help us translate this quote

“Aha! The Alien Planet Canada series, where the planet the characters are marooned on seems to be Manitoba. Bad bad world building.”

Help us translate this quote

ibid.: About Genellan: Planetfall by Scott Gier:
2000s

“The sharp side of the knife goes away from you. Pure reason does not trump brute force but suprisingly few people know what hot peppers look like when the teacher asks if you have enough to share with everyone. Never take the lid of a pressure cooker 'to see if it's done yet'. Even if you are careful with the picric acid that won't matter if you are careless with other items next to it. Move *away* from mysterious burglar alarms. Do not append 'you moron' to exposition directed at people who have just broken into your building. 'We need to talk' is overwhelmingly unlikely to precede good news. A rough brick wall may be used to sort socks or as a backdrop for sock-art (The Neglected Art). A silent cat is Up to Something. Lungs are unsuited for many possible atmospheres, including that of London, and anything with a high content of industrial cleaners. Youth will not save you from Newton's Laws. Or Darwin's.”

Help us translate this quote

Facebook post (2014) https://www.facebook.com/james.nicoll.927/posts/10152710405547985 <br class="br">2010s

“I think once you start eating people you should stop claiming to be a vegetarian, even if you only eat bad people.”

Help us translate this quote

[bc663m$ira$1@panix1.panix.com, 2003]
2000s

“Someday I'd like to read a story about competent people on Mars.”

Help us translate this quote

[c3i93p$iu$1@panix3.panix.com, 2004]: About First Landing by Robert Zubrin:
2000s

“A common issue with SF settings is that causally disconnected civilizations nevertheless are close enough in technological development that conflict is possible, rather than it being a matter of laser cannons against a thin film of single celled organisms.”

Help us translate this quote

[loquls$32v$1@reader1.panix.com, 2014]
2010s

“You may have trouble getting permission to aero or lithobrake asteroids on Earth.”

Help us translate this quote

[8k830g$f20$1@watserv3.uwaterloo.ca, 2000]
2000s

“Until recently baby production was largely dependent on slave labour; as soon as women are allowed to answer the question "Would you like to squeeze as many objects the size of a watermelon out of your body as it takes to kill you?" they generally answer "No, thank you." This leads to falling birthrates everywhere women are not kept enslaved and ignorant of the alternatives.”

Help us translate this quote

2000s

“It would let me protect the Earth from asteroids. In fact, for a small fee I would protect the Earth on a monthly basis, locating rocks that could be steered into the Earth and then not doing it if the cheque didn't bounce.
We could finally commodify sunlight. A large solar collector at the Earth Sun L1 would block all the light that otherwise falls on the unworthy and could be sold to those that deserve it (Litmus test is the same as with Operation Nice Planet You Have, Shame If Anything Were To Happen To It).”

Help us translate this quote

Livejournal comment http://james-nicoll.livejournal.com/226271.html?thread=2139359#t2139359 <br class="br">2000s

“I don't mind hidden depths but I insist that there be a surface.”

Help us translate this quote

Livejournal post http://james-nicoll.livejournal.com/176181.html (2005) <br class="br">2000s

“All gone. Zelazny was one of the first times I looked at something I had had familiarity with to find the spot where the memory should have been empty, replaced by a scrawled "Moved South for the Fishing" sign. Calculus was another loss. It was quite upsetting to reach for a skill and find nothing.”

Help us translate this quote

[c2nsoc$aqk$1@panix3.panix.com, 2004]
2000s

“After enough concussions the head injuries blur together.”

Help us translate this quote

aqrko2$8hi$1@panix1.panix.com, 2002
2000s

“Deadly nightshade is the only plant I have ever been able to get to grow for me.”

Help us translate this quote

[ddvioe$rao$1@reader2.panix.com, 2005]
2000s

“I can't help but notice that everytime I fly somewhere, other people's planes fall out of the sky.”

Help us translate this quote

[7vq0fu$mob$1@watserv3.uwaterloo.ca, 1999]
1990s

“Romeo and Juliet *died*. I always liked that in a teen romance story.”

Help us translate this quote

[Dn5px1.6Fs@novice.uwaterloo.ca, 1996]
1990s

“Creating stars in laboratories on the very planets you inhabit turns out to be a bad idea.”

Help us translate this quote

Almost-Classics: SF Concepts and Settings That Deserve Better Execution https://www.tor.com/2018/01/29/almost-classics-sf-concepts-and-settings-that-deserve-better-execution/ on Tor.com, January 29, 2018 <br class="br">2010s

“I didn't skip the smut. The author went to the trouble of writing it, after all. I did not feel to make notes for possible application later on but I also never wondered if the author was a virgin raised in an abandoned hentai warehouse, which is always a possibility for modern pornographers and erotica writers.”

Help us translate this quote

LiveJournal post (review of 'The Russians Came Knocking' by K.B. Spangler), 2014) http://james-nicoll.livejournal.com/5086498.html?thread=95347746#t95347746 <br class="br">2010s

“Goodkind is noted for subtle allegories the same way Mt Kilimanjaro is known for floating weightlessly.”

Help us translate this quote

[d1kr2s$m90$1@reader1.panix.com, 2005]
2000s

“Tor is the hard one. They employ a lot of editors, whose tastes vary. They don't always indicate who has edited what (on the choice of the editor, I think) so editor stalking can be more difficult with Tor. Ear-tagging works but is rather surprisingly illegal.”

Help us translate this quote

[ddd4ej$hiv$1@reader2.panix.com, 2005]
2000s

“If there's a stack [of novels to review], the unpromising stuff goes at the top and the promising stuff goes at the bottom. That way, I am eager to finish Overwrought Romantic Mary Sue Fantasy because I know that will let me read Niche Product That Only the Author, James and Some Guy at JPL Likes.”

Help us translate this quote

[dh3na8$a1u$1@reader1.panix.com, 2005]
2000s

“Let's step back and think about the likely outcome of a scenario that involves the words "James Nicoll", "a box of sharp needles" and "possibly without ever having achieved full consciousness" for a moment, shall we?”

Help us translate this quote

LiveJournal comment http://james-nicoll.livejournal.com/228255.html?thread=2188959#t2188959 <br class="br">2000s

“Call me an extremist but killing a few hundred million people seems like the sort of method that might have unintended consequences.”

Help us translate this quote

[d45qug$pc5$1@reader1.panix.com, 2005]
2000s

“Yes, I was suprised how easy it was to cut the door off my cat.”

Help us translate this quote

[cbav4b$qqa$1@panix2.panix.com, 2004]
2000s

“In point of fact, the meteor was something like 30 km when it exploded. It was over north Waterloo and I was north of St Agatha. Two spherical clouds, and two explosions. Unfortunately, I was dealing with a goat that was trying to eat an oil truck's fuel line, goats having this optimistic 'Well, maybe it has become edible since they last time I tried this' worldview, and I missed seeing the explosions.”

Help us translate this quote

[cbp39u$gbq$1@panix1.panix.com, 2004]
2000s

“It's bad to wake up and see a large cat in mid-leap from the rough vicinity of the ceiling.”

Help us translate this quote

[b2jl1a$e39$1@panix2.panix.com, 2003]
2000s

Ähnliche Autoren

Keanu Reeves Foto

Keanu Reeves14

kanadischer Schauspieler None

Jim Carrey Foto

Jim Carrey1

kanadischer Komiker und Schauspieler None

Carlos Ruiz Zafón Foto

Carlos Ruiz Zafón118

spanischer Schriftsteller None

Nicholas Sparks Foto

Nicholas Sparks28

US-amerikanischer Schriftsteller None

Patrick Rothfuss Foto

Patrick Rothfuss12

US-amerikanischer Fantasy-Schriftsteller None

Markus Zusak Foto

Markus Zusak13

deutsch-australischer Schriftsteller None

John Green Foto

John Green47

US-amerikanischer Schriftsteller und Videoblogger None

Rick Riordan Foto

Rick Riordan5

US-amerikanischer Schriftsteller None

Dan Brown2

US-amerikanischer Schriftsteller None

Chuck Palahniuk Foto

Chuck Palahniuk56

US-amerikanischer Autor None