7th officer
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Please explain Titanic book to me.
Last night while lying in bed I was thinking of this topic and I remembered a Titanic book I read a few years ago...and I have to admit it was way over my head. A diver on the crew offered me another copy of it recently--and I wouldn't take it (turn down a Titanic book? ?) because it was beyond me. Perhaps the learned folks here could explain the book's premise to me...please?
It is called "The Ghost of Grand Banks" or something like that, by Arthur C. Clarke.
He's a good writer, but this one completely blew by me. I read a review of it recently, but it didn't say much at all.
So could you guys please tell me just what the hell it was about?
Thanks!
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Jun/24/2004, 4:18 pm
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Lights
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Re: Please explain Titanic book to me.
Uh, kinda sorta...I think. It is a novella by Arthur C. Clarke about expeditions down to the TITANIC...I rather enjoyed it, but then I like ACC in general. Just read as entertainment just as you would any other ficitonal Titanic-related work.
--- "What I remember about that night- what I will remember as long as I live- is the people crying out to each other as the stern began to plunge down. I heard people crying, 'I love you.'"
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Jun/24/2004, 6:15 pm
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Teamtunafish
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Re: Please explain Titanic book to me.
What she said. GotGB was originally an idea for a made-for-tv movie, expanded into novella form. A really good review of it was done by SF review at the time - http://www.sfreviews.net/ghostgrand.html
--- Every day an adventure
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Jun/24/2004, 6:45 pm
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7th officer
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Re: Please explain Titanic book to me.
Thanks;
Lights, well I know it's about expeditions to Titanic and all the literal stuff...but what's the point of it? It isn't educational (it's pure fiction), it isn't adventurous (downright boring actually), it isn't artistic or poignant (he doesn't write that way), it isn't entertaining (too full of odd non-germaine stuff, it isn't scary, romantic, inspirational, or anything else I can think of--certainly not satisfying.
It IS confusing, obtuse, slightly pontifical, irrelevant, yes. But then why read it?
Tuna, that review was better than the one I once read, thanks, and the reviewer said it better than I could. What's the point?
Could anyone have made a movie of it? For TV or otherwise? There wasn't enough of a real actual plot...was there?
I was incredibly disappointed. Apparently so was he, what with only 1 1/2 stars.
I think I see a Poseidon award here.
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Jun/24/2004, 7:58 pm
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Lights
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Re: Please explain Titanic book to me.
Maybe the poor guy had a yen to write a TITANIC novel.
I mean I read it and didn't get a whole lot out of it
--- "What I remember about that night- what I will remember as long as I live- is the people crying out to each other as the stern began to plunge down. I heard people crying, 'I love you.'"
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Jun/24/2004, 8:21 pm
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Teamtunafish
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Re: Please explain Titanic book to me.
The point was, he had spent all this time doing plot, scenarios, figuring out the personalities - even for a writer of Clark's prolificality, a not small amount of work, and all of that was going to go btzkp into nothingness. So why not write it up as fiction and see if it would sell - and it did. Please remember that writing is also a business, and that time spent like that is wasted unless turned into something. A lot of writers do it.
--- Every day an adventure
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Jun/25/2004, 4:14 pm
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7th officer
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Re: Please explain Titanic book to me.
Yeah, but couldn't a writer of his skill made a more coherant book out of it? Or maybe at least put some of that other non-relevant stuff (of which there was a lot--too much to be incidental stuff to flesh out a story) into maybe a couple of short stories--or even the Titanic part into a tighter short story.
The whole thing seemed like a bunch of stuff fished out of his waste basket and cobbled together. Like some of those posthumus things that are put together by someone else.
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Jun/25/2004, 8:35 pm
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wills
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Re: Please explain Titanic book to me.
maybe that is exactly what he was going for.
wills
--- Suicide is a permenant solution to a temporay problem........
Whatever obstacles control,
Go on, true heart,
thou'lt reach the goal.
http://com4.runboard.com/bthetitanicshack
wills~~~~~
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Jun/26/2004, 12:41 am
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Lights
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Re: Please explain Titanic book to me.
You never know!
--- "What I remember about that night- what I will remember as long as I live- is the people crying out to each other as the stern began to plunge down. I heard people crying, 'I love you.'"
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Jun/26/2004, 3:53 pm
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Teamtunafish
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Re: Please explain Titanic book to me.
It is totally possible that by the time he birthed this abortion he was heartily sick of it - authors do get tired of things, you know.
--- Every day an adventure
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Jun/26/2004, 4:10 pm
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