@RUTGERS.ARPA:maxson%vaxwrk.DEC@decwrl.ARPA (03/30/85)
From: maxson%vaxwrk.DEC@decwrl.ARPA (VAXworks dtn 223-9408) Re: Brenda @Xerox I retract my callous figure of speech, but I'm afraid that won't make "The Number of the Beast" any better as a story. Gaylene asks about Assimov's heart attack. I know he suffered one in the late 70's, but survived to speak about it at a lecture in '79. You may be hearing about that one, (which was nearly fatal), or a more recent event which I haven't heard about. In any event, best wishes to Dr. Asimov, and may he forgive me for mispelling his name six lines ago. Someone asks about John T. Sladek's other stories - I can think of one: "Mechasm", an outrageous farce about a California Doll company that retools for a Defense contract, and builds a semi-intellegent robot which reproduces itself, endlessly - destroying Civilization As We Know It. A very funny and entertaining spoof on the American Way. Seeing SKZB on the net, I went out and purchased "To Reign in Hell", and began reading it this evening. One question: Just how much did you pay Zelazny for the prologue? Only kidding, only kidding... "I may be a callous, insensitive boob - but I'm good at it." maxson%vaxwrk.DEC@decwrl.ARPA
brust@hyper.UUCP (Steven Brust) (04/04/85)
> > Seeing SKZB on the net, I went out and purchased "To Reign in Hell", > and began reading it this evening. One question: Just how much did > you pay Zelazny for the prologue? Only kidding, only kidding... > > > maxson%vaxwrk.DEC@decwrl.ARPA Not a thing. I may as well tell you what happened though, since you sort of asked and I feel like it. My editor (Terri Windling--one of the finest, maybe THE finest fantasy editors working today) is well aware that, to me, the terms "God" and "Zelazny" are synonamous. She sent him copies of JHEREG and YENDI to see if he would do a cover quote. He did a very nice one, most of which appears on YENDI. As I was about to write and thank him, the publishers of To Reign In Hell (the hardcover-- SteelDragon Press) suggested I ask him if we could use that quote for TRIH--as in, "Roger Zelazny says this about the authors other works." I felt a little nervous about asking him to do this without allowing him to see the book he would sort of endorsing, so I sent him a copy, along with the suggestion that he just throw it away if he wanted. The forward came back in the mail in less than a week--two days before we needed to send the book to the printer. Needless to say, it was months before my feet hit the floor. I'm not sure they have yet.
@RUTGERS.ARPA,@MIT-MC:LS.SRB@MIT-EECS (04/04/85)
From: "Stephen R. Balzac" <LS.SRB%MIT-EECS@MIT-MC.ARPA> I remember hearing somewhere that the Beast's name, Melrooney, was an anagram for L. Ron O'Leemy (or is that used in the book? I haven't read it for some time, and wasn't too thrilled by it anyway), one of Heinlein's pen names way back when.
mike@dolqci.UUCP (Mike Stalnaker) (04/15/85)
Am I the only one who enjoyed TNOTB? I hope not. I can see
what a lot of folks are saying, but one thing that we should all
remember is that the whole book was deliberitly (sp) done in a very
tounge-i-cheek manner. Anyone who has read alot of Heinlien's work
should have recognized 75 or 80 percent of the characters in that zoo of
a last chapter. One character there that I couldn't recognize was the
dragon, Sir Issac Newton. Anybody know where this one came from??
--
Mike Stalnaker UUCP:{decvax!grendel,cbosgd!seismo}!dolqci!mike
AT&T:202-376-2593
USPS:601 D. St. NW, Room 7122, Washington, DC, 20213
"You can have peace, or you can have freedom.
Never count on having both at the same time."
-Lazarus Long.crm@duke.UUCP (Charlie Martin) (04/16/85)
In article <299@dolqci.UUCP> you write: > > Am I the only one who enjoyed TNOTB? I hope not. I can see >what a lot of folks are saying, but one thing that we should all >remember is that the whole book was deliberitly (sp) done in a very >tounge-i-cheek manner. Anyone who has read alot of Heinlien's work >should have recognized 75 or 80 percent of the characters in that zoo of >a last chapter. One character there that I couldn't recognize was the >dragon, Sir Issac Newton. Anybody know where this one came from?? Sir Issac was a major character in the book "Between Planets" ; he was a member of the dominant race on Venus. "Between Planets" was a pretty good juvenile (which I still re-read on occasion), and was interesting in that it seemed not to be connected very strongly to the future history. I remember that when I read "Friday" I ran into some internal evidence that connected "Friday" not only with "Gulf" (pretty explicit, that) but with "Starman Jones" and "Between Planets", so it looks like a whole 'nother future history in there.... By the way, I rather liked "Number of the Beast" myself, but then I liked "I Will Fear No Evil" as well. Another by the way: there were not only a lot of Heinlein's other characters in the end of NotB, but a number of real people as well: the "Sir Bela" that was mentioned is Poul Anderson in SCA guise. > > >-- > > Mike Stalnaker UUCP:{decvax!grendel,cbosgd!seismo}!dolqci!mike -- Charlie Martin (...mcnc!duke!crm)
throopw@rtp47.UUCP (Wayne Throop) (04/17/85)
> One character there that I couldn't recognize was the > dragon, Sir Issac Newton. Anybody know where this one came from?? Sir Issac Newton, along with other interesting characters and isituations, was from "Between Planets", a novel normally considered for the juvenile audience. -- Wayne Throop at Data General, RTP, NC <the-known-world>!mcnc!rti-sel!rtp47!throopw
wjr@x.UUCP (Bill Richard) (04/17/85)
[] >Am I the only one who enjoyed TNOTB? I hope not. No, you're not. I liked it too. > One character there that I couldn't recognize was the > dragon, Sir Issac Newton. Anybody know where this one came from?? He is from 'Between Planets' one of RAH's juveniles. > Mike Stalnaker UUCP:{decvax!grendel,cbosgd!seismo}!dolqci!mike -- ---- William J. Richard @ Charles River Data Systems 983 Concord St. Framingham, MA 01701 Tel: (617) 626-1112 uucp: ...!decvax!frog!wjr
ss@wanginst.UUCP (Sid Shapiro) (04/18/85)
> Am I the only one who enjoyed TNOTB? Nope - I did too. > One character there that I couldn't recognize was the > dragon, Sir Issac Newton. Anybody know where this one came from?? Of course I don't have my library with me at the moment and I may get this wrong, but - I believe he was a character in _Between Worlds_ (is that the real title). The story, which I am a lot more sure of, is a boy, Don something, who does some traveling by himself, ends up on Venus during the Venusian revolt against Earth, fights with the rebellian. It turns out that he is carrying s secret message in his rign from his father to scientists on Venus which will enable them to do something which will help stop the war. Sound familiar? Sir Issac was a Venusian scientist. / Sid /
joel@peora.UUCP (Joel Upchurch) (04/18/85)
> > Am I the only one who enjoyed TNOTB? I hope not. I can see > what a lot of folks are saying, but one thing that we should all > remember is that the whole book was deliberitly (sp) done in a very > tounge-i-cheek manner. Anyone who has read alot of Heinlien's work > should have recognized 75 or 80 percent of the characters in that zoo of > a last chapter. One character there that I couldn't recognize was the > dragon, Sir Issac Newton. Anybody know where this one came from?? Sir Issac Newton is from the book 'Between Planets'. He is Venusian native who is a member of the venusian equivalent of the royal family. This is one of Heinlien's 'juvenile' novels, but don't let that stop you from reading it. I enjoyed all of these novels, except for 'Rocket Ship Galileo'. One thing I wondered about the Heinlien novel 'The Moon is a Harsh Mistress' (my favorite RAH novel), is the Hazel Meade Stone in it susposed to be the same one as the Hazel Meade Stone in 'The Rolling Stones'? Actually I didn't think TNOTB was all that bad, though it isn't one of my favorites. If you want to discuss a clinker, how about 'I Will Fear no Evil'. Joel Upchurch
mercury@ut-ngp.UUCP (Larry E. Baker) (04/19/85)
[p] . > One character there that I couldn't recognize was the . > dragon, Sir Issac Newton. Anybody know where this one came from?? > ... I believe he was a character in _Between Worlds_ (is > that the real title). The story, which I am a lot more sure of, is a > boy, Don something, who does some traveling by himself, ends up on > Venus during the Venusian revolt against Earth, fights with the > rebellian. It turns out that he is carrying s secret message in his > rign from his father to scientists on Venus which will enable them to > do something which will help stop the war. Sound familiar? > Sir Issac was a Venusian scientist. The book is "Between Planets," one of his "young-people" oriented books. -- - Larry Baker @ The University of Texas at Austin - ... {seismo!ut-sally | decvax!allegra | tektronix!ihnp4}!ut-ngp!mercury - ... mercury@ut-ngp.ARPA
bsa@ncoast.UUCP (Brandon Allbery) (07/26/85)
Expires:
Admittedly, he does go a bit heavy on the sex; but with *today's* books, I
have learned to ignore it and get to the meat of the story... in this case,
it's a fun romp and nothing else. Are you so insistent on perfect science,
et al., that you ignore everything else? If so, go re-join the anti-1999
crowd; we who don't insist that science FICTION be fact will be happier.
It IS getting a bit obvious that he's going into a contracting spiral into
the vortex of {sexy Competent Woman}, though.
--bsa
--
Brandon Allbery, Unix Consultant -- 6504 Chestnut Road, Independence, OH 44131
decvax!cwruecmp!ncoast!bsa; ncoast!bsa@case.csnet; +1 216 524 1416; 74106,1032
========================> Trekkies have Warped minds. <=======================