The Absurd 2nd Century Space Opera You'll Never Read [Lucian of Samosata's "A True History"]

YouTube ^ | February 25, 2022 | AustinMcConnell

[SunkenCiv]

The Absurd 2nd Century Space Opera You'll Never Read | February 25, 2022 | AustinMcConnell

[SunkenCiv]

• This one has too much clutter: The Surprising Origins of Sci-Fi – Wisecrack Edition
• First artificial intelligence robot in literature: Talus in The Faerie Queene

[SunkenCiv]

Here's the official Digest ping for the week, think of the earlier one as an extra extra.

The other GGG topics added since the last digest ping:

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• Endurance: Shackleton's lost ship is found in Antarctic [03/09/2022]
• Shackleton’s Endurance Discovered in the Icy Waters of Antarctica [03/08/2022]
• Ancient Japanese 'killing stone' said to contain evil demon has cracked open [03/08/2022]
• We’re all human: Scientists create world’s biggest family tree linking 27 million people [03/08/2022]
• "Syllipsimopodi BIDENI" [03/08/2022]
• Two beers a day damages human brains as much as 10 years of aging [03/08/2022]
• Does This Amazon Rock Art Depict Extinct Ice Age Mammals? [03/07/2022]
• Hundreds of looted ancient relics found in Jerusalem apartment [03/07/2022]
• Venomous spider, noble false widow found feeding on bats in UK attic [03/03/2022]
• Across Antarctica in Ernest Shackleton's tyre tracks [04/21/2017]
• Prince William's friend Henry Worsley dies trying to recreate Shackleton's Antarctic crossing [01/25/2016]
• Vintage PHOTO: "Pupsicle" ... A World-Weary Puppy In Antarctica, Circa 1912 [02/22/2015]
• Polar Explorer vs. Reality TV Crew: Tim Jarvis in the Footsteps of Shackleton [01/15/2014]
• Explorer's rare Scotch returned to Antarctic stash [01/19/2013]
• New Zealand museum thaws 100-year-old whisky [07/24/2010]
• Scientists Update New Madrid Earthquake Forecasts [01/22/2003]

[Hootowl99]

I believe Issac Asimov would approve this OP. His robot would as well.

[gnarledmaw]

I see no reason to disbelieve any of his tale, it was at least as factual as the stories on CNN.

[Cronos]

I love lucian the Assyrian writing. Weird and strangely modern

[zeugma]

The title of the work in the comment would have been useful. If it has been translated to english, it would likely be on Project Gutenberg.

Mark Twain also wrote some ‘Science Fiction’ ‘The Mysterious Stranger’ comes to mind.

[zeugma]

Never mind my last post. I’m grumpy as I haven’t finished my coffee yet.
Here’s PG’s link to books they have by Lucian https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/1997

Link to Lucian’s “True History”
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/45858

Trips to the Moon by Samosata Lucian
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/10430

If you go to the author link above, they have volumes 1-4 of his works.

[SunkenCiv]

The title of the work in the comment would have been useful.

[snip] Lucian of Samosata's "A True History" [/snip], right in the title of the topic. It's also called "A True History".

A True History is a novel written in the second century AD by Lucian of Samosata, a Greek-speaking author of Assyrian descent.

• Amazon

• PDF [Google scan]

[zeugma]

Yeah. See post 7. I’m still working on coffeeing up.

[SunkenCiv]

No harm done, sorry I missed the followup.

Since sci-fi (at least in movies and TV) is really part of the horror genre, some of Poe’s stuff shakes out as sci-fi.

https://www.eapoe.org/works/stedwood/sw0112.htm

[SunkenCiv]

He was blessed to live in the Roman world, which produced satirists like Juvenal. Quite a bio for being so sparse — Assyrian ancestry, grew up speaking Aramaic, wound up living here and there all over the Empire, looks like he relied on patronage throughout his life and career(s).

https://www.britannica.com/biography/Lucian

[zeugma]

# No harm done, sorry I missed the followup.

HA! If I’d addressed it to you rather than talking to myself that would help!

I’d agree about Poe. He seems kind of quirky

[SunkenCiv]

https://www.forumancientcoins.com/catalog/roman-and-greek-coins.asp?vpar=2641

[Grimmy]

That was fun.

Same channel, same guy, has one on I, Libertine that is also hilarious.

This Best-Selling Novel Was A Total Hoax!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W7H5kFGEyUw

[SunkenCiv]

At least one of the “Badass of the Week” pages (not vids) is a real pleasure (and not work safe, due to blue language).

https://www.badassoftheweek.com/basil

[Grimmy]

That was a fun read.

Thanks :)

[SunkenCiv]

I really like that part about the Fatimids. :^)