stu1@mhuxh.UUCP (Systems Training Dept) (09/18/84)
I hope someone has mentioned Harry Harrison's books, particularly the Stainless Steel Rat series (earlier ones tend to be better) and "Bill, the Galactic Hero", which is about the escapades of a poor farm boy from a backwater planet who is impressed into the armed forces to go off to other planets and fight the dreadful Chingers.
kreidler@hubie.DEC (09/28/84)
People who enjoy puns and zany humor as well as fantasy would probably enjoy The Lizard of Oz. The description on the back cover reads: "When an elementary class sets out on a quest to save the world from disenchantment, their adventures reveal paradoxes of the human mind and ways of awakening the magic within us." Characters include: Lewis Carroll -- "I don't understand everything. I just stand udner the world. There are others much lower who stand under us. There are many levels of understanding." The empty-headed pothead, who has an empty flowerpot instead of a head -- "Some of these guys will put anything in their head just to have something there; but I'm waiting till I find something worth putting in." Prince Frog, the frog who turned himself into a price to make himself lovable -- "It's so good to be loved, but hen it's so comfortable being a frog. I think I'll go down to the river and croak." Miss Fortune, one of the Mother's of Fact -- "That's be the emperor's new clothes. There's a very special fiber for making it visible. Yes, moral fiber. The emperor has to supply that himself. Some of the other characters: the humdrum Humbug, beating on his humdrum, Humpty Dumpty and the little blue wallflower he fell for, Sir Real, Francis Bacon, the Redcoats, Joan of Noah's Ark, Mr. Charon, the ferryboatman, Mr. Plato, the Witch, the Physicist, King Arthur and the Knights of the Merry-Go-Round Table, Shakespeare, Daniel Boone, Mr. Marx, Crazy Horse, the Weatherman, Mr. Shermin, the fish who was a teacher before he decided he wanted to be a fish and then he knew how to make himself a fish, which not many people, even teachers, know how to do, and many others. A little radio station on Cape Cod (WOMR, Provincetown) has produced a radio play based on it (three 45 minute episodes) that they plan to broadcast soon and hope to distribute nationally over National Public Radio. There's also a children's play version available. The book has been through three printings over the last ten years, but can be found in only very few bookstores. The best way to get it is directly from the publisher: B&R Samizat Express, PO Box 161, West Roxbury, MA 02132. (617) 469-2269. The Lizard of Oz, by Richard Seltzer illustrated by Christin Couture, Paperback, 126 pp., $4.50. You could also order it from me over the net. (I happen to be the author.) Richard Seltzer Digital Equipment, Concord, MA HUBIE::KREIDLER over USENET decvax!decwrl!rhea!hubie!kreidler over ARPANET kreidler%hubie.DEC@decwrl.ARPA .