I'm reading "Laugh Lines", a collection of humorous science fiction stories written by Ben Bova, which I bought in paperback at the bookstore last week. They're more wry-grin than laugh-out-loud and they're dated, which adds some tangential interest. The anchors are two full-length novels and there are six short stories; all have introductory notes by Bova. The interesting thing is the subject matter of the two novels.
'The Starcrossed', written in 1975, is a skewering of the television production business, inspired by the troubles Ben's friend Harlan Ellison had when he got involved in an unnamed science fiction series, possibly Star Trek - Ellison wrote at least one episode. The series is to be filmed with a "new and improved" version of the 3-D TV currently available in the slightly dystopian then-near-future, which also features floral-scented, pink-tinted smog blanketing Los Angeles and other absurd touches. The struggling studio ships production off to Canada to save money (not so absurd after all) while borrowing from the Mafia, they have unpaid high school kids write the scripts, and a Canuck hockey player with a thick Quebecois accent is cast as the starship captain. The science fiction author who is consulting on the series and the tech whiz who improved the 3-D system are, of course, saints. Well, the author, accurately modeled on Ellison, according to Bova, is only saint-ish. But it's funny that, here in the real world, just in the last month they've started announcing that 2010 will be the year of 3-D TV.
'Cyberbooks', penned in 1989, is a similar tale set in the publishing world of New York City. A lone inventor has developed an electronic 'book' that's the size of a paperback and can be used to read novels stored on recordable wafers which are slipped into it. The content can even be delivered over the phone! He gets caught up with the failing mid-sized publishing house he's sold on the idea, while a larger publisher that's a subsidiary of Tarantula corporation tries to steal it. The mid-level editors and sales staff are portrayed similarly to the TV people in 'The Starcrossed', with the inventor, a noble (and nubile) editor, and a veteran sales guy portrayed as squeaky-clean. The woman who runs the mid-sized publisher is even cast in a sympathetic light. This one is the more comic of the two, with some slapstick set pieces and swipes at efficiency experts and two-bit underworld types. There's less description of the outside world and it isn't very 'futuristic', but the pink smog gets a mention. Meanwhile, here in 2010, we're seeing the first real round of the e-book battles.
At least somebody at Baen Publishing Enterprises has a sense of humor. Or is it irony?