Hello, my dear. Yes we are reading the book. And it is because of you actually. When we talked the other day, and you said the line. It reminded me of the book’s message and I thought, “They need to hear that”.
So to the books. Yes, Dune is nice. I feel as though the only bright moment beyond the first book was Paul losing his sight but gaining sight of all else. Beyond that…well, he has been immortalized for the Litany Against Fear alone.
I have read all the ones you have named. All of them. I was a member of several dime
Novel mail order book clubs. And I also went to and from the library a great deal. I have all the magazines. Most of those authors are pulp, but I am currently re-enjoying This Immortal. I intend to read Demolished Man next.YUS!
Okay…so we can debate this all day long! I am so down with your opinion, but I thought Children of Dune was great! After that the dude just kind of lost his beans
So ok, you can’t go from This Immortal to Demolished Man. You have to go to Lords of Light next.
Ok so follow up and all that. I remember finding a bunch of books in the library that were all from like the sixties and like, all having sword wielding men and nubile ladies on the covers, right? Like obviously trying to echo The. Art Ian Chronicles. But now I am going to quiz you, my dude. There was a book I fucking LOVED that I read like fifty times. All I can remember the specifics of was that the hero’s name was Homer, and he was like, in one of those stasis chambers and was woken up in the 3500’s like a human time capsule. What THE HELL was that book called because OMG I NEED IT.
Firstly, why can I not go to Demolished Man?
Secondly, that would be Lords of Creation, by Eando Binder. And the hero’s name was Homer Ellory. He used his modern 1960’s sensibilities to free the enslaved Stone Age future Americans from the advanced Antarkans. If I recall. Because he could smelt steel.
*runs hands together*
You can do better than that, you witch.
Oh MY FUCKING GOD,,,,
Thank you soooooo much!
I have been looking for that god damn book for literally years. And omg I can find it now thank you!!!
Ok ok…calm down
So, it’s on now…like I may get some of this wrong, but I was like six when I read it.
There was this book where the entire thing is written from a female POV and like you kinda get the feeling that she might be a robot, but then she turns out to be this biomechanical brain thing that is built to copilot ships, and she falls in love with the pilot. And I think he dies?
What was THAT called, huh buster?
The Ship Who Sang, by Anne McCaffrey.
It was a short novel, originally published in 1969, also republished in the eighties as the first chapter of a longer book. I have not read the second publication, but the pilot does not die. The ship sacrifices herself to save him, as I recall. Who knows how she changed it in the newer book.
Try harder.
GASPS
Whoa. Ok…
Let me get my thinking cap on. Okay, there was a book by this guy, who was obsessed with yellow people. It was kind of like Conan, but it had this one description of a bald yellow guy that I will never forget because it is how I learned the word “pate”. Like his pate was as blank as an egg, and he wore gray robes. Anyway, it was a shitty book, but I remember that one bit
*chuckles*
It was “like Conan” because it was written by Lin Carter, the author of Conan. It was one of two books. It was either the first Thongor book “Thongor and the Wizard of Lemuria” or it was one of the Callisto books, because he unfortunately had yellow balding men in gray robes in both. I was not overly fond of the Callisto series, as it seemed a direct thievery of Burroughs. Written nearly 40 years later. But then again, it’s been done a dozen times since. One could even argue that Burroughs stole the device from Mark Twain’s A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court or Alice in Wonderland. More modern adaptations include the Evil Dead franchise and Avatar.
OMG
What the actual fuck.
And I never even thought of that, but I will argue that I feel like Burroughs has more there, because of that overarching idea that he hints at…that John might actually be the god of war. You know? Like he doesn’t age and can’t remember his own name.
But ok…..man this just got super hard.
OMG……….Have you read The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula Leguin? Please say you have…….
Of course I have. I assume you reference it because of the Kemmer? Yes. I can see your point. It might be a good book for certain of my readers to enjoy.
For those reading, the main character is a human sent as an ambassador to a planet on which the dominant species are ambisexual. They go into a mating cycle every so often, and while in this cycle become whatever gender they need to, to procreate. The main character becomes very close with one of them.
I think it took me three tries to get through that book because I thought the cover was so scary. The library’s copy had like this ice sculpture with a male and a female head, and it just reminded me of the giant laser-eyed statues from Neverending Story.
Simon, you have an impressive knowledge of science fiction. I am so blown away
The Brain Squirrel Monologues 