jrrt@hogpd.UUCP (R.MITCHELL) (10/15/84)
I recently reread one of my favorite humorous SF novels -- THE
FLYING SORCERORS by Gerrold and Niven. One of the fun aspects of
the book is that the pantheon worshipped by the characters consists of
deities whose names and spheres of influence suggest people involved
in SF or fantasy. I enjoyed spotting these references, and identifying the
target writers, but there are a few I don't get. Below is a list of
the gods I spotted, their spheres of influence, and the appropriate
author. Can anyone help me fill in the blanks in the third column?
(Note: I don't think a spoiler warning is needed, since this list
doesn't say anything about the plot, etc.)
Diety: Controls: Author:
Musk-Watz Wind ???
Elcin Thunder Ellison
N'veen Tides Niven
Leeb Magic Leiber
Rotn'bair Sheep Roddenberry (why sheep?)
Nils'n's Mud creatures ??? (The "Nielsen" ratings?)
Filfomar Rivers Farmer
Eccar "The Man" "Ecce"?
Finelein Engineers Heinlein
Brad The past Bradbury
Kronk The future ???
Po Decay Pohl (Decay?)
Klarther Skies and seas Clarke
Fol Distortion ???
Pull'nissin Duels Anderson
Hitch Birds Hitchcock
Blok Violence Bloch
Tis'turzhin Love Sturgeon
Sp'nee Slime Spinrad?
Tucker Names Tucker!
Caff Dragons Guess who...
Yake What-if ???
Furman Fasf ???
Poup Fertility ???
One last question: One of the main characters is a sorceror named
Shoogar. Is there a pun involved with that name that I'm too dense
to see?
Rob Mitchell {allegra,ihnp4}!hogpd!jrrt
"There comes a time when a man must stand up for his rights, or he can't
bear to look at himself in a mirror to shave. I had already shaved,
so I paid." - Oscar Gordon
smw@sjuvax.UUCP (Stewart Wiener) (10/24/84)
You might also notice that the word "yngvi" is used throughout *The Flying Sorcerors* to mean "louse". The origin of this is L. Sprague de Camp and Fletcher Pratt's stories of Harold Shea (five of them, available in paperback as "The Compleat Enchanter" and "Wall of Serpents") -- in one of which a mad prisoner in a dungeon shouts, every hour on the hour, "Yngvi is a louse!!" -- Stewart Wiener / St. Joseph's University / allegra!sjuvax!smw