You bet. If you want to ease into Zelazny to see if you like him, check out one
of his books of short stories, such as "The Doors of His Face, The Lamps of His
Mouth". You get the full flavor of his writing style.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Short_story_collections_by_Roger_Zelazny
Or check out the first of the Amber novels to see if you like it. It takes
Amber a while for you to get what's going on, but it's awesome. It's about a
royal family that lives and rules in a reality called Amber, considered the one
"true" reality, of which all other realites, including our Earth are just
reflections--"Shadows". The members of this family have the ability to "Walk in
Shadow", meaning they can move through adjacent parallel realities. Amber is a
land where no science as we know it works, a place of constancy and stability,
and can be thought of as the endpoint and anchor of Order. As a member of the
family moves through Shadow, he/she can in time walk further "away" from Amber,
into realities where things like science (guns, electronics, etc) start
working. As there are an infinite number of alternate realities, a walker can
literally find any universe he/she wants and live there. A family member can
find a reality, for example, where he has a counterpart that rules all of
Earth, then kill that doppelganger and take his place. They can envision an
Earth where giant space fleets have conquered the galaxy, and go
there--whatever they want. The members tend to walk in one direction, then
shift reality around them bit by bit. For example, you might start walking down
the street of your city, and shift things so that it's fall instead of late
summer, then shift it so that it's snowing instead of just cold, then shift to
a city where there are fewer people on the streets, etc. The more subtle the
shifts, the easier it is to move through Shadow. For example, you could start
out in a modern Boston and desire to go to a Boston circa 1766 populated by
purple simians, but the jump from now to then would be tougher than slowly
walking through Shadow to that reality.
In time, if the person so chooses, he/she can walk so far "away" from Amber,
that they start approaching realities where true magic works. They enter realms
where faerie walk the Earth, where the stars literally dance in the heavens,
where everyone in the world uses incantations like we use speech, where trees
talk and water sings, etc. In short, the Order that is Amber is being left
behind toward the other pole of reality, anchored in a place called The Courts
of Chaos. Magic is seen as something wild and unsteady, and as one gets closer
to Chaos, magic and magical creatures become the rule. At the Courts, all laws
as we know them don't really exist, and reality can be bent by one's will.
The first Amber novels deal with Corwin, a scion of the family royal who wants
to rule Amber,and gets involved in murder, battles, and struggles with the
royal family of the Courts of Chaos. See, as cool as it is to be able to rule
any reality you want, since everyone knows Amber is the "real" reality, then
any alternate one is always thought of as a pale imitation. Even if one were to
rule a very close reality with nigh perfect duplicates of Amber itself, it'd be
seen as a poor substitute. It's a fascinating series dealing with magic, war,
internecine battles, the nature of reality, greed and lust for power.
Highly, highly recommend it.
----- Original Message -----
From: "angelababycat" <asrobin...@mindspring.com>
To: scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Wednesday, August 11, 2010 9:14:51 PM
Subject: [scifinoir2] Re: From Ringword to A Pebble in the Sky
Yes, I really appreciate good writing (like so many of us, I have 200 pages of
a novel I'll probably never finish writing shoved in a closet). So I'll check
out Lord of Light. If it's not already in the pile of sci-fi books I got from
the library. Thanks.
--- In scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com , Martin Baxter <martinbaxt...@...> wrote:
>
> (seconding the Wise Man's words)
>
> On Wed, Aug 11, 2010 at 3:48 PM, Keith Johnson <keithbjohn...@...>wrote:
>
> >
> >
> > I think a lot of Niven's stuff is like that. He is still primarily a hard
> > scifi guy, and sometimes characterizations aren't as strong as you may
> > like.
> > at least, that's my memory of him. I haven't read one of his books in at
> > least a decade.
> > Now if you want good characters and prose that flows like poetry, full of
> > sardonic wit and cleverness, try Roger Zelazny's stuff. His Amber
> > chronicles--a kind of scifi/fantasy mix--are great. His book "Lord of
> > Light"
> > is one of the best reads of my life. It deals with a planet settled by
> > humans in which an elite class has given themselves super powers, and rules
> > the populace posing as the Hindi gods. This thing has demons, zombies,
> > existential questions, and action. It is really, really good.
> >
> >
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: "angelababycat" <asrobin...@...>
> > To: scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com
> > Sent: Wednesday, August 11, 2010 3:21:21 PM
> > Subject: [scifinoir2] Re: From Ringword to A Pebble in the Sky
> >
> >
> >
> > Not too scifi heavy, but just didn't flow. I also didn't connect with the
> > main characters so I didn't care who decided to get on the space ship or
> > not. By the time they were in the ship and approached by those 5 lights or
> > whatever (around page 60), I was a little confused and disinterested. In
> > contrast, I'm already half way through Pebbles.
> >
> > Did I give up too soon on Ringworld?
> >
> > Angela
> >
> > --- In scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com <scifinoir2%40yahoogroups.com>, Keith
> > Johnson <KeithBJohnson@> wrote:
> > >
> > > Was Ringworld too scifi heavy for you? What didn't you like about it?
> > >
> > > ----- Original Message -----
> > > From: "angelababycat" <asrobinson@>
> > > To: scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com <scifinoir2%40yahoogroups.com>
> > > Sent: Sunday, August 8, 2010 10:17:28 PM
> > > Subject: [scifinoir2] From Ringword to A Pebble in the Sky
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > So Niven's Ringworld really wasn't doing it for me. Moved on to a basic
> > classic: Asimov's first book, "A Pebble in the Sky." I read like the first
> > 60 pages just yesterday. How do folks think it will compare to his late
> > works like Foundation, etc.?
> > >
> > > Angela
> > >
> > > --- In scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com <scifinoir2%40yahoogroups.com> ,
> > "angelababycat" <asrobinson@> wrote:
> > > >
> > > > Just finished reading Le Guin's "The Left Hand of Darkness" -- the
> > first sci-fi novel I've made time to sit down and enjoy in a long time.
> > Felt
> > good. I forgot how much I liked Le Guin's writing too. A great place to
> > start.
> > > >
> > > > Next in the pile is "Ringworld" by Larry Niven. I have the list of
> > suggested reading from the group, but I was at the book store and just
> > pulled a few titles from what was in stock. And a librarian handed me
> > Octavia Butler's "Parable of the Sower" last weekend, but I still haven't
> > recovered from seeing "The Road" on PPV so I don't know about that one...
> > > >
> > > > Anyone read any of these?
> > > >
> > > > Angela
> > > >
> > > > P.S. -- Here's Wikipedia's summary of Left Hand if anyone's curious:
> > > >
> > > > The basic principle of The Left Hand of Darkness is one that started in
> > Ursula K. Le Guin's first novel in 1966 and runs through several of her
> > early works: that of the interplanetary expansion started by the first race
> > of humanity on the planet Hain and expanded across the universe, forming
> > the
> > League of All Worlds, eventually expanding to the eighty-three world
> > collective called the Ekumen. This novel takes place in the year 4870 and
> > concerns an envoy, Genly Ai, who is on a planet called Winter ("Gethen" in
> > the language of its own people) to convince the citizens to join the
> > Ekumen.
> > Winter is, as its name indicates, a planet that is always cold, and its
> > citizens are neither female nor male: they only have gender identities or
> > sexual urges once a month. These conditions have affected the ways that
> > civilizations on Winter have developed, with the most notable effect being
> > that there has never been a war on the planet. There are, however, arcane
> > rules of politics and diplomacy that the envoy must learn in order to
> > survive. His fortune changes quickly, according to what political faction
> > is
> > in power at the time in the country he is residing in: in one country, for
> > instance, the Prime Minister arranges an audience with the king for him,
> > but
> > the next day the Prime Minister is exiled for treason; in another he has
> > trouble determining which factions among the thirty-three Heads of
> > Districts
> > support him and which want to use him to gain political power. The struggle
> > of Genly Ai as he tries to understand the ways of these people and survive
> > on this hostile planet gives Le Guin the chance to explore what life would
> > be like without the dualities, such as summer and winter or male and
> > female,
> > that form our way of thinking: the book's title comes from a Gethen poem,
> > which begins, "Light is The Left Hand of Darkness … "
> > > >
> > >
> >
> >
> >
>
>
>
> --
> "If all the world's a stage and we are merely players, who the bloody hell
> wrote the script?" -- Charles E Grant
>
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fQUxw9aUVik
>
