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Post by Calenture on Mar 8, 2009 4:14:15 GMT
Gray Morrow This Immortal by Roger ZelaznyFirst published in Fantasy and SF as Call Me Conrad 1965; Ace first book edition 1966 It's sometime in the future, and Earth has made contact with the superior Vegan race, which finds amusement in studying the Earthmen and touring Earth's ancient cities. Conrad Nimikos is reluctant leader of a group selected to guide the Vegan ambassador across any part of Earth he wishes. Mystery surrounds Conrad; his life-history fades into obscurity and lost records decades back. But he suspects that a member of the group is out to kill him. Could it be Hasan the Assassin? (For him it would be nothing personal.) Or the beautiful Red Wig? There's no shortage of suspects. Meanwhile the tour continues, encountering en route the bizarre Moreby who, like the character in Conrad's Heart of Darkness, has gone native and terrorizes the surrounding radiation-blasted countryside like an evil god. The book hasn't the supreme control of The Dream Master, but its vitality and richness of prose more than make up for it. The funniest moment involves the dismantling of the Great Pyramid of Cheops for building materials, the whole operation filmed so that when played back in reverse the riddle of its construction will finally be revealed. Exciting, funny, poetic; Zelazny at his best. So what more do you want? A shorter version of the story first appeared in Fantasy & SF in 1965 entitled ...And Call Me Conrad.
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Post by Calenture on Mar 8, 2009 4:26:11 GMT
Frank Kelly Freas The Dream Master by Roger ZelaznyFirst published in Amazing Stories as He Who Shapes 1964; Ace first edition 1966. Charles Render is a Shaper--a future-world psychiatrist trained to enter the minds of dreaming subjects and 'shape' their dreams as a form of therapy. (In this, the plot bears comparison with John Brunner's Telepathist, although here Render enters his subjects dreams though an electronic device.) He is approached by Dr Eileen Shallot--and with Zelazny's love of myth and legend, the coincidence of name with Tennyson's heroine is unlikely to be accidental--a congenitally blind psychiatrist, who asks him to train her as a Shaper. At first Render is doubtful. Shallot has no visual memories to call upon for reference, so the chances of her being able to cope with the visual stimuli of another person's dream without going mad seems slim. But eventually he agrees and a curious series of shared 'dreams' is initiated, Render calling up scenes, sounds, tactile and olfactory sensations, to create for Eileen Shallot a compendium of visual references 'seen' only in her mind. This series of encounters is enacted against an interesting setting populated by strong characters--not least of them Sigmund, a laboratory-mutated guide dog able to converse in a limited way with humans, contemptuous of normal dogs with their inferior intelligence, yet sharing with them basic primitive instincts and desperately needing the dependence of his blind mistress. Travel in this future world is by blindspinner--computer-controlled cars with built in bars and sleeping areas, which travel at blinding speeds to destinations determined by coordinates tapped on a keyboard. All governed by one central traffic computer, collisions are impossible, and the cars become much more than just a tacked-on science fiction device, allowing travel by the unlikeliest of drivers when necessary. The book has one or two obscure passages where characters who seem to have no place in the story appear for a page or two, then vanish again. These passages tend to reinforce Zelazny's background picture of his future world (which could be good enough reason for them), but any other significance they have was lost on me. Whatever, the book is never dull. Rich in imagery and characters, this one should be on the shelves of anyone who enjoys science fiction--or, indeed, good literature. Originally published as the shorter, Nebula Award winning He Who Shapes. Kelly Freas contributes another excellent cover painting, and there's the usual Jack Gaughan sketch inside.
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