Five Chilly SF Stories to Help Beat the Summer Heat
https://www.tor.com/2021/08/31/five-chilly-sf-stories-to-help-beat-the-summer-heat/
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On 2021-08-31, James Nicoll <jdnicoll@panix.com> wrote:

> Five Chilly SF Stories to Help Beat the Summer Heat
> https://www.tor.com/2021/08/31/five-chilly-sf-stories-to-help-beat-the-summer-heat/

I've seen _Threads_. A year before _Threads_, _The Day After_ had
made a big impression on America with its portrayal of nuclear
holocaust. That was the upbeat Hollywood version. _Threads_ is
the less cheerful British take on the matter.

The list is definitely missing Hal Clement's _Iceworld_. A school
teacher (hah) goes undercover to infiltrate a gang of drug traffickers,
and travels with them to the far-off planet where a most dangerous
drug originates. A world so chilled, the very air they breathe
freezes solid. I guess the cover of every edition spoils the first
chapters, so I might as well: Yes, they breathe gaseous sulfur and
that most frigid planet is Earth.

I guess John W. Campbell's "Who Goes There?" also deserves a mention.

--
Christian "naddy" Weisgerber naddy@mips.inka.de

In article <slrnsistcm.13de.naddy@lorvorc.mips.inka.de>,
Christian Weisgerber <naddy@mips.inka.de> wrote:
>On 2021-08-31, James Nicoll <jdnicoll@panix.com> wrote:
>
>> Five Chilly SF Stories to Help Beat the Summer Heat
>>
>https://www.tor.com/2021/08/31/five-chilly-sf-stories-to-help-beat-the-summer-heat/
>
>I've seen _Threads_. A year before _Threads_, _The Day After_ had
>made a big impression on America with its portrayal of nuclear
>holocaust. That was the upbeat Hollywood version. _Threads_ is
>the less cheerful British take on the matter.
>
>The list is definitely missing Hal Clement's _Iceworld_. A school
>teacher (hah) goes undercover to infiltrate a gang of drug traffickers,
>and travels with them to the far-off planet where a most dangerous
>drug originates. A world so chilled, the very air they breathe
>freezes solid. I guess the cover of every edition spoils the first
>chapters, so I might as well: Yes, they breathe gaseous sulfur and
>that most frigid planet is Earth.
>
>I guess John W. Campbell's "Who Goes There?" also deserves a mention.

And, to a lesser extent, Poul Anderson's _The Winter of the
World_, which doesn't have an iceworld, just a glaciation.

--
Dorothy J. Heydt
Vallejo, California
djheydt at gmail dot com
Www.kithrup.com/~djheydt/

On Tuesday, August 31, 2021 at 1:10:43 PM UTC-4, James Nicoll wrote:
> Five Chilly SF Stories to Help Beat the Summer Heat
> https://www.tor.com/2021/08/31/five-chilly-sf-stories-to-help-beat-the-summer-heat/

Excellent subversion of expectations, James. No Ursula (though on seeing the title I suspected you would so subvert).

Slightly off topic, but then rec.arts.mystery is a corpse - I read John Banville's recent mystery, "Snow" in the hottest days of August.

It is set in an unusually cold Irish winter of the late 1950s. I took the weather as a little ice age reference, given his portrait of Ireland at the time.

Excellent mystery, very depressing. I am just Irish enough to enjoy it. And Canadian enough to scoff a little (what, you call that winter? We call it April(*)).

(Banville also writes excellent mysteries under his pen name "Benjamin Black", I am unaware if he
has a pen name for SF&F though he has engaged to some degree with science in "Dr Copernicus" and its sequels).

(*) Not in Toronto, obviously, which is almost as tropical as Cleveland.

William Hyde

On Wednesday, September 1, 2021 at 3:10:43 AM UTC+10, James Nicoll wrote:
> Five Chilly SF Stories to Help Beat the Summer Heat
> https://www.tor.com/2021/08/31/five-chilly-sf-stories-to-help-beat-the-summer-heat/

Then there's Dan Simmons' "The Terror", which takes place on the Franklin expedition. That book made me feel cold even though I was warm when I started it. And yes, it is SF.

And now I'm remembering Iain M Banks' "Surface Detail". At one point a character descends deep within a frozen ice world. Naturally, the ice's temperature is in the hundreds of degrees, due to the pressure.

-Moriarty

In article <babba429-b39e-4f46-b70e-20d914be8e7bn@googlegroups.com>,
William Hyde <wthyde1953@gmail.com> wrote:
>On Tuesday, August 31, 2021 at 1:10:43 PM UTC-4, James Nicoll wrote:
>> Five Chilly SF Stories to Help Beat the Summer Heat
>> https://www.tor.com/2021/08/31/five-chilly-sf-stories-to-help-beat-the-summer-heat/
>
>Excellent subversion of expectations, James. No Ursula (though on seeing the
>title I suspected you would so subvert).

There was a Sean Stewart I would have included if I could only remember which
one it was.
--
My reviews can be found at http://jamesdavisnicoll.com/
My tor pieces at https://www.tor.com/author/james-davis-nicoll/
My Dreamwidth at https://james-davis-nicoll.dreamwidth.org/
My patreon is at https://www.patreon.com/jamesdnicoll

On 2021-08-31, Dorothy J Heydt <djheydt@kithrup.com> wrote:

> And, to a lesser extent, Poul Anderson's _The Winter of the
> World_, which doesn't have an iceworld, just a glaciation.

As does Robert Silverberg's _Time of the Great Freeze_.

--
Christian "naddy" Weisgerber naddy@mips.inka.de

Christian Weisgerber <naddy@mips.inka.de> writes:
>On 2021-08-31, Dorothy J Heydt <djheydt@kithrup.com> wrote:
>
>> And, to a lesser extent, Poul Anderson's _The Winter of the
>> World_, which doesn't have an iceworld, just a glaciation.
>
>As does Robert Silverberg's _Time of the Great Freeze_.

Foster's _Icerigger_ is set on a frozen world.
Barjavel's _The Ice People_ harks back to Earth's glaciation period.

Scott Lurndal wrote:
> Christian Weisgerber writes:
>>Dorothy J Heydt wrote:
>>
>>> And, to a lesser extent, Poul Anderson's _The Winter of the
>>> World_, which doesn't have an iceworld, just a glaciation.
>>
>>As does Robert Silverberg's _Time of the Great Freeze_.
>
> Foster's _Icerigger_ is set on a frozen world.
> Barjavel's _The Ice People_ harks back to Earth's glaciation period.

Some of Perry Rhodan's people hide out on "Eiswelt" (AKA "Ice Planet"
and later "Snowman" in Ackerman's translation) until a Springer named
Etztak, patriarch of the clan of Etztak, unleashes "an atomic fire that
can never be extinguished" on the planet.

Danke,

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On 8/31/2021 12:10 PM, James Nicoll wrote:
> Five Chilly SF Stories to Help Beat the Summer Heat
> https://www.tor.com/2021/08/31/five-chilly-sf-stories-to-help-beat-the-summer-heat/

I've actually read one of the five, "Icerigger" by Alan Dean Foster.

A good addition to this list would be "The Last Centurion" by John Ringo.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00APA1HKC/

And of course, the aforementioned "Fallen Angels" by Larry Niven,
Michael Flynn, and Jerry Pournelle.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005BJTZ1U/

Lynn