What's your favorite AR fiction *besides* her novels?

[Bold Standard 0]

What is your favorite work of fiction written (or revised) by Ayn Rand, other than her three novels, We the Living, The Fountainhead, and Atlas Shrugged?

It can be a play, movie script (including the screenplay for a movie based on one of her novels, if you want), short story, novellete, or an originally unpublished excerpt from one of her novels if you think it stands on its own.

I think my favorite is Good Copy. I think it is hillarious and clever, and has lots of great dialogue. Also, I think it projects a fantastic sense of life. Ideal comes in 2nd for me. But there is still a lot of stuff I haven't read (one of my reasons for starting this thread is to decide what to read next).

[Walrus 0]

I like Think Twice (though I haven't read Good Copy; is it in The Early Ayn Rand?); it's a great mystery, and the ending... wow.

[Stephen Speicher 0]

Ideal comes in 2nd for me.

Upon seeing the play, it became number one for me. Michael Paxton's Collector's Edition DVD of Ayn Rand: A Sense of Life, has black and white scenes from the play.

[stellavision 0]

I like Think Twice (though I haven't read Good Copy; is it in The Early Ayn Rand?); it's a great mystery, and the ending... wow.

I, too, like Think Twice very much.

[Bold Standard 0]

I like Think Twice (though I haven't read Good Copy; is it in The Early Ayn Rand?); it's a great mystery, and the ending... wow.

Yes, it's in The Early Ayn Rand. Is Think Twice in there? I think that one's going to be next on my list! : )

Upon seeing the play, it became number one for me. Michael Paxton's Collector's Edition DVD of Ayn Rand: A Sense of Life, has black and white scenes from the play.

I think I might get that DVD just to see the play (and the other bonus material on the DVD). Did he cut out a lot of scenes? I wonder why they didn't include the whole thing. The casting looks perfect, from looking at the photos. Was the timing good on the gags? It seems like it has the potential to be really funny in parts, if done right (like the scene with the priest).

[jedymastyr 0]

Night of January 16th is my personal favorite, although I don't think it's objectively the best.

I got used to reading Miss Rand's nonfiction to a point where new essay of hers no longer has the same 'shock value' as the first ones I read. Reading a new fictional story of hers, though--even after studying Objectivism for several years--never ceased to amaze me or far exceed my expectations. It's all so good.

[Stephen Speicher 0]

Upon seeing the play, it became number one for me. Michael Paxton's Collector's Edition DVD of Ayn Rand: A Sense of Life, has black and white scenes from the play.

I think I might get that DVD just to see the play (and the other bonus material on the DVD). Did he cut out a lot of scenes? I wonder why they didn't include the whole thing. The casting looks perfect, from looking at the photos. Was the timing good on the gags? It seems like it has the potential to be really funny in parts, if done right (like the scene with the priest).

I saw the play some fifteen years before seeing the filmed version on the DVD, and I just do not recall what was left out. As to "gags," I am not sure what you mean. Any humor in the play was, to me, rather poignant.

In any case, I heartily recommend Michael Paxton's Collector's Edition DVD.

[bignosedcopperking 0]

I would say, that Ideal is my favorite because it made me ball my eyes out. No other non-published work of fiction had made me feel that. That one famous line of the heroine is priceless, the one about hero-worship.

I more recently read RedPawn, and though it did not impact me like Ideal, it was an exciting experience to read something new of a more mateur Ayn Rand. Again, it was the idea: I don't believe I didn't read this sooner. I pay a tribute to it and Hugo's Hans of Iceland in one my short stories, the feeling that it inspires in me.

But all the other stuff found in The Early Ayn Rand is too easy in the sense that I predicted too early what would happen. In Good Copy, though I love the plot twist and the drama, once I isolate that and appreciate that, I lose the thrill quickly. But it is still a great achievment in terms of the story idea.

Think Twice was a pleasure to read but I knew what would happen way too early, so that the pleasure came from confirming what would happen and thus feeling close to Ayn Rand's psycho-epistemology in my own plot-ability.

Jose Gainza.

[Walrus 0]

Yes, it's in The Early Ayn Rand. Is Think Twice in there? I think that one's going to be next on my list! : )

I think it is in there, but I read it in the collection of Three Plays.

[Bold Standard 0]

I think it is in there, but I read it in the collection of Three Plays.

Yesss.. I'd misplaced my Early Ayn Rand, but I just came across it, and Think Twice is in there. I'm going to start on it now! Thanks for the suggestion.

[Walrus 0]

You're welcome. Oh, I would recommend NOT reading Leonard Peikoff's introduction until you finish the play, as it could easily ruin the ending for you.

[Capitalism Forever 0]

You're welcome. Oh, I would recommend NOT reading Leonard Peikoff's introduction until you finish the play, as it could easily ruin the ending for you.

Hmm, I'm just reading Think Twice, and I've found it immensely exciting, precisely because of Dr. Peikoff's introduction. I need to find the character who:

1. has a motive;

2. does not have an alibi; AND...

3. wasn't guessed by Dr. Peikoff.

There are plenty of suspects who fulfill condition 1. Many of them fulfill condition 2 as well. But the fulfillment of these two conditions automatically disqualifies them from fulfilling condition 3! So, from the large initial pool of suspects, I am left with precisely NO ONE to suspect ... So who could it have been? Be sure not to tell me!

[Bold Standard 0]

You're welcome. Oh, I would recommend NOT reading Leonard Peikoff's introduction until you finish the play, as it could easily ruin the ending for you.

Ahh.. too late.. But maybe I'm dumb enough to still be surprised, if I'm lucky. ; ) I just finished the first Act.

[Bold Standard 0]

BTW, I can't remember exactly what parts of Ideal I would have considered to be "gags," but an example of that in this play would be the hilarious Flash character, who always states the obvious at the (perfectly) wrong moment. Funny stuff.

[Bold Standard 0]

Ahh.. too late.. But maybe I'm dumb enough to still be surprised, if I'm lucky. ; ) I just finished the first Act.

I wasn't dumb enough. But it was still a very good play. That's the last time I read one of Dr. Peikoff's introductions before I read a work of fiction. But, I wonder if I wouldn't have guessed it anyway... There were still a couple of plot twists I didn't completely foresee.

[Bold Standard 0]

I wasn't dumb enough.

I mean this jokingly, of course--not to imply that anyone who doesn't guess it is dumb.

[Walrus 0]

Sorry; I should have warned you earlier.

[Free Capitalist 0]

Does the Anthem count? I haven't read the Early Ayn Rand yet, but I did enjoy Night of January the 16th. But Anthem was just a tour-de-force for me.

[SHerry 0]

I haven't finished all of The Early Ayn Rand yet, but I have to say that Good Copy is my favorite so far from the what I have read in that book. It was really light hearted, and very enjoyable. It reminds me a lot of some of Agatha Christie's style actually, some of her stories she has written.

Also, I cannot remember the name, but the one where the guy is an escort, I enjoyed that one too. You can really see how O. Henry influenced her in that one.

[PhilO 0]

What is your favorite work of fiction written (or revised) by Ayn Rand, other than her three novels, We the Living, The Fountainhead, and Atlas Shrugged?

Anthem. Actually in some ways it's my top favorite of her work even including the novels.