Notable Works of Non-Fiction Written by SFF Authors

Five authors best known for their speculative fiction cover non-fiction
from space travel to cooking.

https://www.tor.com/2023/08/11/notable-works-of-non-fiction-written-by-sff-authors/
--
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 Friday, August 11, 2023 at 3:07:51 PM UTC+1, James Nicoll wrote:
> Notable Works of Non-Fiction Written by SFF Authors
>
> Five authors best known for their speculative fiction cover non-fiction
> from space travel to cooking.
>
> https://www.tor.com/2023/08/11/notable-works-of-non-fiction-written-by-sff-authors/
> --
> 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
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P._J._Plauger is notable, at least to me, for two classic early computer books, "The Elements of Programming Style", and "Software Tools" . I don't recognise any of his SF, but apaprently he did go so far as to get a Hugo nomination, back in the days when that meant something.

In article <3040e1aa-1219-448d-a9ed-90e91b599caan@googlegroups.com>,
Andrew McDowell <mcdowell_ag@sky.com> wrote:
>On Friday, August 11, 2023 at 3:07:51 PM UTC+1, James Nicoll wrote:
>> Notable Works of Non-Fiction Written by SFF Authors
>>
>> Five authors best known for their speculative fiction cover non-fiction
>> from space travel to cooking.
>>
>>
>https://www.tor.com/2023/08/11/notable-works-of-non-fiction-written-by-sff-authors/
>> --
>> 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
>https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P._J._Plauger is notable, at least to me,
>for two classic early computer books, "The Elements of Programming
>Style", and "Software Tools" . I don't recognise any of his SF, but
>apaprently he did go so far as to get a Hugo nomination, back in the
>days when that meant something.

I've read two of his, "Child Of All Ages", and um, the short novel in
the "extra" Analog paperback issue in the early 80s. Both were good.

L. Sprague de Camp wrote, at least, _The Ancient Engineers_, and a kids
book about engines.

--
columbiaclosings.com
What's not in Columbia anymore..

In article <3040e1aa-1219-448d-a9ed-90e91b599caan@googlegroups.com>,
Andrew McDowell <mcdowell_ag@sky.com> wrote:

> On Friday, August 11, 2023 at 3:07:51?PM UTC+1, James Nicoll wrote:
> > Notable Works of Non-Fiction Written by SFF Authors
> >
> > Five authors best known for their speculative fiction cover non-fiction
> > from space travel to cooking.
> >
> > https://www.tor.com/2023/08/11/notable-works-of-non-fiction-written-by-sff-a
> > uthors/
> > --
> > 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
> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P._J._Plauger is notable, at least to me, for
> two classic early computer books, "The Elements of Programming Style", and
> "Software Tools" . I don't recognise any of his SF, but apaprently he did go
> so far as to get a Hugo nomination, back in the days when that meant
> something.

It was far enough ago that stories published in Analog were getting Hugo
nominations. BTW, Plauger would be more correctly part of an essay with
the working title of "Notable Works of SF Written by Non-Fiction
Authors".

--
"We have advanced to new and surprising levels of bafflement."
Imperial Auditor Miles Vorkosigan describes progress in _Komarr_.
—-----------------------------------------------------
Robert Woodward robertaw@drizzle.com

On 8/11/2023 9:07 AM, James Nicoll wrote:
> Notable Works of Non-Fiction Written by SFF Authors
>
> Five authors best known for their speculative fiction cover non-fiction
> from space travel to cooking.
>
> https://www.tor.com/2023/08/11/notable-works-of-non-fiction-written-by-sff-authors/

What, nothing by Isaac Asimov ?

Didn't he publish over 100 science fact books ?

Lynn

On Friday, August 11, 2023 at 2:58:56 PM UTC-4, Lynn McGuire wrote:
> On 8/11/2023 9:07 AM, James Nicoll wrote:
> > Notable Works of Non-Fiction Written by SFF Authors
> >
> > Five authors best known for their speculative fiction cover non-fiction
> > from space travel to cooking.
> >
> > https://www.tor.com/2023/08/11/notable-works-of-non-fiction-written-by-sff-authors/
> What, nothing by Isaac Asimov ?
>
> Didn't he publish over 100 science fact books ?
>
> Lynn

James wrote in the article: "I will begin by observing that Isaac Asimov wrote a lot of non-fiction texts in almost every Dewey Decimal System category. Picking just one to represent them all would be difficult and I am not going to even try."

On 8/11/2023 2:04 PM, Martin wrote:
> On Friday, August 11, 2023 at 2:58:56 PM UTC-4, Lynn McGuire wrote:
>> On 8/11/2023 9:07 AM, James Nicoll wrote:
>>> Notable Works of Non-Fiction Written by SFF Authors
>>>
>>> Five authors best known for their speculative fiction cover non-fiction
>>> from space travel to cooking.
>>>
>>> https://www.tor.com/2023/08/11/notable-works-of-non-fiction-written-by-sff-authors/
>> What, nothing by Isaac Asimov ?
>>
>> Didn't he publish over 100 science fact books ?
>>
>> Lynn
>
> James wrote in the article: "I will begin by observing that Isaac Asimov wrote a lot of non-fiction texts in almost every Dewey Decimal System category. Picking just one to represent them all would be difficult and I am not going to even try."

Ah, I missed that.

Thanks,
Lynn

ted@loft.tnolan.com (Ted Nolan <tednolan>) writes:

> In article <3040e1aa-1219-448d-a9ed-90e91b599caan@googlegroups.com>,
> Andrew McDowell <mcdowell_ag@sky.com> wrote:
>>On Friday, August 11, 2023 at 3:07:51 PM UTC+1, James Nicoll wrote:
>>> Notable Works of Non-Fiction Written by SFF Authors
>>>
>>> Five authors best known for their speculative fiction cover non-fiction
>>> from space travel to cooking.
>
> L. Sprague de Camp wrote, at least, _The Ancient Engineers_, and a kids
> book about engines.

I have a copy of L. Sprague de Camp's _Great Cities of the Ancient
World_, 1972, a Barnes and edition which lists quite a number of other
non-fiction.

--
Stephen Harker sjharker@netspace.net.au
was: http://sjharker.customer.netspace.net.au/
now: http://members.iinet.net.au/~sjharker@netspace.net.au/
or: http://members.iinet.net.au/~sjharker_nbn/

On 8/11/2023 9:07 AM, James Nicoll wrote:
> Notable Works of Non-Fiction Written by SFF Authors
>
> Five authors best known for their speculative fiction cover non-fiction
> from space travel to cooking.
>
> https://www.tor.com/2023/08/11/notable-works-of-non-fiction-written-by-sff-authors/

"6: Few scriptwriters still use manual typewriters, so it is unlikely
anyone currently writing will accidentally use the wrong pitch size on a
manuscript. Result of such an accident: while the page count is correct,
there are far too many words for the time allotted. This happened to
Gerrold and required extensive tightening of the script."

James Patterson writes his books in longhand on spiral bound notebooks.
By the time he has gotten to the fifth or sixth rewrite, he is ready to
publish the book. He works on 30+ books at a time.

Lynn

In article <kjn6akFs7ndU1@mid.individual.net>,
Ted Nolan <tednolan> <tednolan> wrote:
>In article <3040e1aa-1219-448d-a9ed-90e91b599caan@googlegroups.com>,
>Andrew McDowell <mcdowell_ag@sky.com> wrote:
>>On Friday, August 11, 2023 at 3:07:51 PM UTC+1, James Nicoll wrote:
>>> Notable Works of Non-Fiction Written by SFF Authors
>>>
>>> Five authors best known for their speculative fiction cover non-fiction
>>> from space travel to cooking.
>>>
>>>
>>https://www.tor.com/2023/08/11/notable-works-of-non-fiction-written-by-sff-authors/
>>> --
>>> 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
>>https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P._J._Plauger is notable, at least to me,
>>for two classic early computer books, "The Elements of Programming
>>Style", and "Software Tools" . I don't recognise any of his SF, but
>>apaprently he did go so far as to get a Hugo nomination, back in the
>>days when that meant something.
>
>I've read two of his, "Child Of All Ages", and um, the short novel in
>the "extra" Analog paperback issue in the early 80s. Both were good.
>
>L. Sprague de Camp wrote, at least, _The Ancient Engineers_, and a kids
>book about engines.

(Hal Heydt)
He also wrote a book debunking various "lost continent" claims.
In it he did a particularly thorough job of deconstructing Mu.

In article <ub60da$utkp$1@dont-email.me>,
Lynn McGuire <lynnmcguire5@gmail.com> wrote:
>On 8/11/2023 9:07 AM, James Nicoll wrote:
>> Notable Works of Non-Fiction Written by SFF Authors
>>
>> Five authors best known for their speculative fiction cover non-fiction
>> from space travel to cooking.
>>
>>
>https://www.tor.com/2023/08/11/notable-works-of-non-fiction-written-by-sff-authors/
>
>What, nothing by Isaac Asimov ?
>
When you read the words

"I will begin by observing that Isaac Asimov wrote a lot of non-fiction
texts in almost every Dewey Decimal System category. Picking just one to
represent them all would be difficult and I am not going to even try."

what do you see?

--
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

In article <kjn6akFs7ndU1@mid.individual.net>,
Ted Nolan <tednolan> <tednolan> wrote:
>In article <3040e1aa-1219-448d-a9ed-90e91b599caan@googlegroups.com>,
>Andrew McDowell <mcdowell_ag@sky.com> wrote:
>>On Friday, August 11, 2023 at 3:07:51 PM UTC+1, James Nicoll wrote:
>>> Notable Works of Non-Fiction Written by SFF Authors
>>>
>>> Five authors best known for their speculative fiction cover non-fiction
>>> from space travel to cooking.
>>>
>>>
>>https://www.tor.com/2023/08/11/notable-works-of-non-fiction-written-by-sff-authors/
>>> --
>>> 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
>>https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P._J._Plauger is notable, at least to me,
>>for two classic early computer books, "The Elements of Programming
>>Style", and "Software Tools" . I don't recognise any of his SF, but
>>apaprently he did go so far as to get a Hugo nomination, back in the
>>days when that meant something.
>
>I've read two of his, "Child Of All Ages", and um, the short novel in
>the "extra" Analog paperback issue in the early 80s. Both were good.
>
>L. Sprague de Camp wrote, at least, _The Ancient Engineers_, and a kids
>book about engines.

I cannot at this time recall: what was the second book I mention
by title?
--
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 Friday, August 11, 2023 at 10:07:51 AM UTC-4, James Nicoll wrote:
> Notable Works of Non-Fiction Written by SFF Authors
>
> Five authors best known for their speculative fiction cover non-fiction
> from space travel to cooking.
>
> https://www.tor.com/2023/08/11/notable-works-of-non-fiction-written-by-sff-authors/

I will leave out all non-fiction that involves SF or autobiography

John R. Pierce wrote nonfiction books on information and signals theory, and also SF stories
as J. J. Coupling. He was also, to my surprise, co-discoverer of an alternate musical
scale: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bohlen%E2%80%93Pierce_scale. I don't know
much musical theory and have no idea how significant that is.

Frederick Pohl wrote a book on Tiberius, using a pen name, and was the author of the
Britannica's article on same.

Alan Nourse wrote quite a few nonfiction works, mostly on medicine or related
topics, some on astronomy.

Brian Aldiss wrote a number of books on art (he was also an artist) and on
his travels, mainly in the former Yugoslavia.

Lester Del Rey wrote a number of popular science books in the
late 1950s and early 1960s.

The author of the fantasy novel "Savrola" went on to write a lot of
history, though an involvement in politics cut down his productivity
somewhat.

William Hyde

On Friday, August 11, 2023 at 10:07:51 AM UTC-4, James Nicoll wrote:
> Notable Works of Non-Fiction Written by SFF Authors
>
> Five authors best known for their speculative fiction cover non-fiction
> from space travel to cooking.
>
> https://www.tor.com/2023/08/11/notable-works-of-non-fiction-written-by-sff-authors/

Poul Anderson published _Thermonuclear Warfare_ in 1963
(https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/title.cgi?638525 ).

In article <23d849ba-ed49-4f7b-bbb3-6a82c1d00c1en@googlegroups.com>,
Ahasuerus <ahasuerus@email.com> wrote:
>On Friday, August 11, 2023 at 10:07:51 AM UTC-4, James Nicoll wrote:
>> Notable Works of Non-Fiction Written by SFF Authors
>>
>> Five authors best known for their speculative fiction cover non-fiction
>> from space travel to cooking.
>>
>>
>https://www.tor.com/2023/08/11/notable-works-of-non-fiction-written-by-sff-authors/
>
>Poul Anderson published _Thermonuclear Warfare_ in 1963
>(https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/title.cgi?638525 ).

I own that.
--
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 Friday, August 11, 2023 at 10:07:51 AM UTC-4, James Nicoll wrote:
> Notable Works of Non-Fiction Written by SFF Authors
>
> Five authors best known for their speculative fiction cover non-fiction
> from space travel to cooking.
>
> https://www.tor.com/2023/08/11/notable-works-of-non-fiction-written-by-sff-authors/
>

Ha! The first two you list are the first two that came to my mind. I've not read
the other three.

I'm not considering autobiographies. I also don't have a good feel for
which SF authors have written them. (I know Vance did - but others?)

Amongst Clarke's other non=fiction works, I'm partial to
"Greetings Carbon-Based Bipeds!", but that's a (rather large)
collection of non-fictional essays, reviews, critiques, etc.

C.S. Lewis and George Orwell each wrote a lot of non-fiction, but
I'm simply not sure how much would fall under "collections of
essay, reviews, critiques" and how much would be cohesive.

Aldiss wrote a lot of non-fiction, probably most notably
Billion Year Spree & Trillion Year Spree. (One wonders both
if his initial rough draft was "Million ...", and if he ever started
working on "Quadrillion...".)

And I see that Ahasuerus has already mentioned Poul Anderson while
I was typing this up. Paul wrote a few other non-fiction things too.

Sagan and Zubrin seem to be (science/space) non-fiction authors who also
wrote some fiction; but Geoffrey Landis may well fit what you're thinking.

Tony

On 8/11/2023 12:41 PM, Lynn McGuire wrote:
> On 8/11/2023 9:07 AM, James Nicoll wrote:
>> Notable Works of Non-Fiction Written by SFF Authors
>>
>> Five authors best known for their speculative fiction cover non-fiction
>> from space travel to cooking.
>>
>> https://www.tor.com/2023/08/11/notable-works-of-non-fiction-written-by-sff-authors/
>
> "6: Few scriptwriters still use manual typewriters, so it is unlikely
> anyone currently writing will accidentally use the wrong pitch size on a
> manuscript. Result of such an accident: while the page count is correct,
> there are far too many words for the time allotted. This happened to
> Gerrold and required extensive tightening of the script."
>
> James Patterson writes his books in longhand on spiral bound notebooks.
> By the time he has gotten to the fifth or sixth rewrite, he is ready to
> publish the book.  He works on 30+ books at a time.
>
Actually he farms out 30+ books at a time.

--
I've done good in this world. Now I'm tired and just want to be a cranky
dirty old man.

On 2023-08-11, James Nicoll <jdnicoll@panix.com> wrote:

> Notable Works of Non-Fiction Written by SFF Authors
> https://www.tor.com/2023/08/11/notable-works-of-non-fiction-written-by-sff-authors/

Robert A. Heinlein wrote a political handbook, _Take Back Your
Government_. Intriguingly, his novel that overlaps the most with
this is _Double Star_, which is never mentioned when people fight
over Heinlein's purported politicial views.

John Norman of _Gor_ fame wrote the non-fiction _Imaginative Sex_
that "includes a list of male-dominant/female-submissive heterosexual
BDSM-type sexual fantasy scenarios, and suggested guidelines as to
how a couple can act them out in order to improve their sex life"
(Wikipedia). Okay, that doesn't sound all that different from most
of his fiction.

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

On Friday, August 11, 2023 at 7:07:51 AM UTC-7, James Nicoll wrote:
> Notable Works of Non-Fiction Written by SFF Authors
>
> Five authors best known for their speculative fiction cover non-fiction
> from space travel to cooking.
>
> https://www.tor.com/2023/08/11/notable-works-of-non-fiction-written-by-sff-authors/

A lot of SF authors crossed genres to keep the pot boiling. Andrew Offut's output of
'adult' novels was far larger than his SF output.

Pt

In article <bffd3ee8-4ef4-4501-b4fc-cadddf7194f4n@googlegroups.com>,
pete...@gmail.com <petertrei@gmail.com> wrote:
>On Friday, August 11, 2023 at 7:07:51 AM UTC-7, James Nicoll wrote:
>> Notable Works of Non-Fiction Written by SFF Authors
>>
>> Five authors best known for their speculative fiction cover non-fiction
>> from space travel to cooking.
>>
>>
>https://www.tor.com/2023/08/11/notable-works-of-non-fiction-written-by-sff-authors/
>
>A lot of SF authors crossed genres to keep the pot boiling. Andrew
>Offut's output of
>'adult' novels was far larger than his SF output.
>
>Pt

That's what she said.
--
columbiaclosings.com
What's not in Columbia anymore..

On Fri, 11 Aug 2023 09:50:22 -0700, Robert Woodward
<robertaw@drizzle.com> wrote:

>It was far enough ago that stories published in Analog were getting Hugo
>nominations. BTW, Plauger would be more correctly part of an essay with
>the working title of "Notable Works of SF Written by Non-Fiction
>Authors".
>
With all due respect though 30 years apart both Foundation (the
novella that launched Foundation the book) and Enders' Game were both
published in Analog way back when and neither were in any way second
rate.

(Of course Asimov probably wrote more NON-science fiction than science
fiction but no one considers him a writer in any other genre besides
SF)

On Monday, August 14, 2023 at 3:16:55 PM UTC+10, The Horny Goat wrote:
> On Fri, 11 Aug 2023 09:50:22 -0700, Robert Woodward
> <robe...@drizzle.com> wrote:
>
> >It was far enough ago that stories published in Analog were getting Hugo
> >nominations. BTW, Plauger would be more correctly part of an essay with
> >the working title of "Notable Works of SF Written by Non-Fiction
> >Authors".
> >
> With all due respect though 30 years apart both Foundation (the
> novella that launched Foundation the book) and Enders' Game were both
> published in Analog way back when and neither were in any way second
> rate.
>
> (Of course Asimov probably wrote more NON-science fiction than science
> fiction but no one considers him a writer in any other genre besides
> SF)

Didn't he do a few mysteries?

In article <b495fbfa-39bd-4fc6-b1a7-80dc887538b8n@googlegroups.com>,
Hamish Laws <hamish.laws@gmail.com> wrote:
>On Monday, August 14, 2023 at 3:16:55 PM UTC+10, The Horny Goat wrote:

>> (Of course Asimov probably wrote more NON-science fiction than science
>> fiction but no one considers him a writer in any other genre besides
>> SF)
>
>Didn't he do a few mysteries?

A substantial number of mystery shorts, in several distinct series, as
well as the novel MURDER AT THE ABA.

He wrote enough books to have published multiple books about all the
books he published.

He wrote one textbook (BIOCHEMISTRY) during his academic career, a few
dozen nearly annual collections of his F&SF science essays, three
editions of his single-volume science encyclopedia, "Asimov's Guide
to" divers topics such as Shakespeare and the Bible, three volumes of
autobiography, and numerous one-off projects for various trade
publishers.

-GAWollman

--
Garrett A. Wollman | "Act to avoid constraining the future; if you can,
wollman@bimajority.org| act to remove constraint from the future. This is
Opinions not shared by| a thing you can do, are able to do, to do together."
my employers. | - Graydon Saunders, _A Succession of Bad Days_ (2015)

On 8/11/2023 3:16 PM, James Nicoll wrote:
> In article <ub60da$utkp$1@dont-email.me>,
> Lynn McGuire <lynnmcguire5@gmail.com> wrote:
>> On 8/11/2023 9:07 AM, James Nicoll wrote:
>>> Notable Works of Non-Fiction Written by SFF Authors
>>>
>>> Five authors best known for their speculative fiction cover non-fiction
>>> from space travel to cooking.
>>>
>>>
>> https://www.tor.com/2023/08/11/notable-works-of-non-fiction-written-by-sff-authors/
>>
>> What, nothing by Isaac Asimov ?
>>
> When you read the words
>
> "I will begin by observing that Isaac Asimov wrote a lot of non-fiction
> texts in almost every Dewey Decimal System category. Picking just one to
> represent them all would be difficult and I am not going to even try."
>
> what do you see?

Sorry, I missed that.

Lynn

On 8/11/2023 6:18 PM, Dimensional Traveler wrote:
> On 8/11/2023 12:41 PM, Lynn McGuire wrote:
>> On 8/11/2023 9:07 AM, James Nicoll wrote:
>>> Notable Works of Non-Fiction Written by SFF Authors
>>>
>>> Five authors best known for their speculative fiction cover non-fiction
>>> from space travel to cooking.
>>>
>>> https://www.tor.com/2023/08/11/notable-works-of-non-fiction-written-by-sff-authors/
>>
>> "6: Few scriptwriters still use manual typewriters, so it is unlikely
>> anyone currently writing will accidentally use the wrong pitch size on
>> a manuscript. Result of such an accident: while the page count is
>> correct, there are far too many words for the time allotted. This
>> happened to Gerrold and required extensive tightening of the script."
>>
>> James Patterson writes his books in longhand on spiral bound
>> notebooks. By the time he has gotten to the fifth or sixth rewrite, he
>> is ready to publish the book.  He works on 30+ books at a time.
>>
> Actually he farms out 30+ books at a time.

Ah, jealous much ?

Lynn