Doorways in the Sand / Lord of Light by Roger Zelazny

[King Bob]

I picked these up at the library book sale. Doorways in the Sand was one I had been seeking for a while. It was not bad; about a layabout college student who is involved in the search for a missing alien artifact. Cleverly done, some good action, but on the whole pretty slight.

Lord of Light was a re-read for me, and I had really liked the book the first time around. For those of you who haven't read it, human colonists on a distant planet set themselves up as Hindu gods; one of them decides to oppose the "gods" by introducing Buddhism. Again, it reads quick, with good action, and it's cleverly done. Occasionally in both novels he introduces some psychedelic style stream of consiousness; fortunately usually only for a sentence or two at a time - so it's not as dated and foolish as much late 60s and early 70s Sci Fi (See pretty much anything in Ellison's Dangerous Visions for examples - from "groundbreaking" to garbage in only 30 years.) This is definitely the better of the two, although it was not as good as I remembered, but perhaps that's because I knew the plot outline already.

Ultimately, however, I think his best from that era is Creatures of Light and Darkness; his use of the mythological material there is better done.

If you like that sort of thing, also check out Delany's Nova, where he uses Tarot and Grail quest imagery.

[Dr. Ivor Yeti]

I just reread "Forever War" which I first read about the same time as I was reading "Lord of Light." It holds up very well. I want to read "This Immortal" again. Why wasn't that a movie? There was some real good stuff from that period.

I agree with you about Harlan.

[Greg_phpbb3_import1]

Blasphemers. Harlan is God. At least that's what he told me. Have you read Mephisto in Onyx. Slippage is quite good, too.

[Drunk Monk]

I think Zelazny's Jack of Shadows was the first book I ever had to search for. It was in high school, the D&D years, and I was looking to find out about this RPG character called Shadowjack, but the book was only available in a UK printing back then. I liked the book, probably still have it in my stack of soon-to-be sold paperbacks, and went on to read Doorways and Lord, but niether worked as well for me. Perhaps it was because I didn't know as much about the back stories as I do now. Maybe I'd enjoy them now. Maybe not.

I am of no opinion on Harlan since I've read so little of him. I liked his Star Trek episodes.

[King Bob]

Note that I was referring to his anthology, most of which was written by other people, very few of whom are widely known today. But I didn't really like Repent Harlequin or I have no mouth and I must scream.

However, I remember that there were a couple of good stories in his Deathbird Stories but I can't remember anything about them.

DM - the Zelazny you should read is Creatures of Light and Darkness. Anubis is one of the main characters. Need I say more? Also there is was a short story called The Last Defender of Camelot in a collection of the same name that I really liked at the time. I haven't seen this book in stores for years. Any memories of that one, PPFY?

[cranefly]

So. Uh. There's things I'd like to say. You know, about HE. The problem is, he's such a litiginous soul, bless his little black heart. I mean, big warm throb organ. Lady Cranefly and I actually played host to his lawyer a couple times, longer than we wished, more often, too, and--
Yes, there's things I'd like to say. The problem is, web searches. You know. That's what HE is all about. Tracking down copyright infringement. Not that I'm doing that. But if I speak ill of HE, who knows what might come of it?
Because his lawyer is good. I know how good he is. A google-searching maniac who can reach deep into the domain of DOOM and grab me by the balls and litiginate the sperm out of me.

He has trademarked his name, by the way. When he is mentioned in Locus (the newspaper of the science fiction field), his name is always followed by the trademark symbol.

It pays to be careful around HE.

I liked his earlier work -- even the dog story. But when his movie reviews in F&SF magazine turned into cheap personal vendettas, I swore never to read him again.

I met him once, by the way. A friend introduced me to him. As we shook hands, he said, "Do I know you? You seem awfully familiar." To which I responded, "No, I'm a complete nobody."

--cranefly

[Greg_phpbb3_import1]

At least HE doesn't hold grudges. I saw him at the first San Jose Science Fiction convention. I made the mistake of asking a question from the floor to which let me experience his derision. HE was very against Gremlins that year which premiered from the Festival.

Gee, your little episode sounds an awful lot like a story, when writers ruled the earth . . .

[Drunk Monk]

What the heck did you ask him?

"Hi Mr. E. Did you like Phoebe Cates more in Gremlins or Fast Times??"

[Greg_phpbb3_import1]

Harlan wrote an Episode of the outer Limits and they were screening it. Afterwards, Harlan talked about the "Demon" episode. It starred Robert Culp by the way. The episode was a little odd and I couldn't really tell when the episode was supposed to be set. And I wanted to be part of the discussion, bring my Harlan man-crush to the fore. It turns out it was sent in the present day and it should have been obvious to anyone except a mongoloid. Man crush over.

Later HE sued James Cameron for ripping off Demon and turning it into the Terminator. Just so you know, also set in present day.

[Drunk Monk]

you probably liked her in gremlins more then. mt016

[Greg_phpbb3_import1]

Phoebe had two great parts in Fast Times. Do you know they've redone the Sherman Oaks galleria and the Perry's pizza is no more.
They've paved Paradise and put up a parking lot.

[cranefly]

HE remains very active in the science fiction community (I'm being cynical, catty, snooty, you name it), recently at the World SF Convention down Greg's way. A missed opportunity for Greg to ask another question.

Then again, HE was pretty busy, and not likely to have heard the question.

Caveat: The following thread spirals quickly out of control, so bail out short of the black hole.

http://www.edrants.com/?p=4188

--cranefly

[Dr. Ivor Yeti]

Just reread Lord of Light. Holds up well.

Just reread this thread. HE is still a litigious dwarf who has to sue people because he can't write anymore.