Looking at the names and made up words that occur in science fiction, they seem to divide roughly into four types.
First there’s the feeble. These are very common among second rate science fiction writers, particularly pre-1960s. The best example is probably L. Ron Hubbard – even in his most popular fiction, Sciento1ogy, the made-up names are awful.
Then there are the names stolen from myth and legend. I can’t think of any off-hand, but I’ve come across them many times.
Thirdly, there’s the downright weird. I guess H. P. Lovecraft is the master of these with the likes of the Cthulhu Mythos.
Finally there’s the classic – a name or word that sounds so right that it either comes into general use or is endlessly parodied and modified. A good example of the first type is Robert Heinlein ’s grok, while we can go back to Lovecraft for Necronomicon, a word that’s ripe for modification. If there hasn’t been a vampire comics convention called NECROCOMICON, someone has missed a trick.
You’ve got to love ‘em.
According to my sources, Brian Clegg is the pseudonym of CLEBR GOMAR of the planet NATURE.
Brian Aldiss wrote that the names of Lovecraft’s demons sound like anagrams of breakfast cereals. As a colleague of mine once put it
Try crunchy nutritious Nyarlathotep with ice-cold milk.
Sartefar, Prince of Mars? (Edgar Rice Burroughs)
BTW, didn’t Capek coin the term “robot” in his play RUR (Rossum’s universal robots)? If so, does this count as one of your “category 4” monikers?
Yes, Maxine, he did. Another name that’s got into general use is Waldo, a kind of pantograph that magnifies one’s physical strength. It was invented by Heinlein in a story of the same name, about a man with a wasting disease (I think) who alleviated his problems by living in zero-G and using such devices to help him in his daily routine.
That’s definitely a category 4, Maxine, though, strangely the ‘robots’ in RUR are androids, not robots as we now know them.
Incidentally, after a bit of web surfing, yes, there is a Necrocomicon, though I wasn’t able to find a decent link to a dedicated web page, just indirect references. Sadly it’s a horror film convention, where it would be much better if it were a vampire comic convention, but you can’t have everything.
I seem also to remember in the dim depths of my yoof when I liked Toyah (yes, alright, we’ve all got some skeletons in the closet) that one of her many SF-inspired tracks featured the word ‘necronomicon’... in fact thanks to the wonders of the world’s favourite search engine, I can point out the song was Ieya from The Blue Meaning… and for the really brave, here’s a video of her singing it.
My, they knew how to dance back then. Who would have thought my children would know Ms Wilcox as the voice of Brum.
I think there’s another category, where people try to jam English punctuation and spelling to make the name or word look alien – the entire Klingon language is like this.
My fave scifi name is Halrloprillalar from Ringworld.
Yes names do seem to go with the genre. Ian M Banks is keeping up the good work with unpronouncable names in alien races. Although I seem to dimly remember Isaac Asimov and E.E. Smith using standard names. Another trait of bad science fiction writing (and fantasy) is the use of two adjectives where one would do.
Robot comes from Robota in Czech – hard work, slave work, drudgery.
Karel Capek also wrote what must be one of Henry’s favourite novels “War with the Newts”
Karel Capek also wrote what must be one of Henry’s favourite novels “War with the Newts”
But not Ken Livingstone’s.
Maxine – I was refering to Henry’s earlier right wing ravings against KL.
Karel Capek also wrote what must be one of Henry’s favourite novels “War with the Newts”
I’ve never heard of it, but I’m sure I’d disapprove. And as much as I dislike Ken Livingstone’s policies, I think he’s a decent bloke, and even if he weren’t, I don’t thknk the poor old newts should get the blame.
“War with the Newts” is one of my favourite SF novels of all time. I first read it in Serbian as a kid and loved the 1st and 3rd parts for the action. Later, I read it in English and loved the middle portion about biology.
I think there’s another category, where people try to jam English punctuation and spelling to make the name or word look alien – the entire Klingon language is like this.
There’s a strong overlap with this and my ‘downright weird’ category. This certainly seems to be the basis of many of Lovecraft’s names. And, come to think of it, Welsh.
Hmm, Welsh as a science fiction language – discuss. There is a pub in London that has a plaque on the wall saying some group or other got together to re-create the Welsh language there, I think in Victorian times. Perhaps they were science fiction writers. No idea which pub it is, as I only visited once at random many years ago.
Brian – maybe you should view this to see if your suspicions are conirmed:
The first Welsh science fiction film, Ymadawiad Arthur (Marc Evans, 1994), a quirky comedy which featured a time-travelling rugby player.
Welsh as a science fiction language – discuss
Tolkien did, and used its phology to create Sindarin, a real science-fiction language, the source of almost all the Elvish one sees in The Lord of the Rings, and spoken in the Peter Jackson films.
phology? I meant phonology. Please Matt, when can we edit our comments, like we can on LabLit?
Some Kind of Angel
Simple, futuristic, and attracts both groups of male/female readers.