bothner@Shasta.ARPA (02/27/85)
> > Plot: This is a alternate future story, the narrator's present is one in > which cars have been replaced by trolley's. Lots of trolleys. They run > all over the country -- lots of transportation substance without the > ego/ownership thing. The narrator is on one for at least part of the > tale. He slips in and out of (dreams?) the other future (ours) where > gasoline powered machines have ruined the environment. There are some > crazies in his alternate/present that drive (illeggasoline cars. This is R.A. Lafferty's "Interurban Queen". This is another of Lafferty's wonderfully schizoid/nostalgic stories. Anyone who hates LA should love this story ( -:) ). It appears in what I believe is his latest collection, "Ringing Changes". Many of the stories here are about Barnaby Sheen and his weird group of hangers-on. While there are some mediocre stories here, there are also some great ones. ("Been a Long, Long Time" is the ultimate monkeys-typewriters-and-Shakespeare story. It incorporates a device for measuring time (one hesitates to call it a clock) on the \very/ grand scale.) And even a mediocre Lafferty story is usually more unsettling and amusing than most other authors'. You get the impression of a very literate and philosophical mind run wild. (I understand Lafferty only started writing when he was already pretty old, though you can still see him party-hopping at World Conventions.) The classical collection of short stories is "Nine Hundred Grandmothers". There are other collections, and a number of novels, but Lafferty is best in smaller does. --Per Bothner ARPA: Bothner@su-score UUCP: {decwrl,ucbvax}!shasta!bothner