Off: Re: HW:Damnation Alley film on BBC tonight

[Andrew Apold]

At 01:15 AM 2/20/01 +0000, Nick Medford wrote:
>In message <qWkn9PAlCck6Ew1A at puddytat.fsnet.co.uk>, Tigger
><Tigger at PUDDYTAT.FSNET.CO.UK> writes
>>It's been a while since I've read the book, but I don't remember him
>>(The character, not the tennis player) ever being called Roscoe - his
>>name was Hell Tanner.
>
>Ah... OK. I'm sure someone said it was Roscoe earlier in this thread. If not,
>then there's no coincidence to explain! Haven't read the book, or anything
>else by Zelazny: what's a good one to start with?

heh.  It depends.  You got me started...

If you read only one book, it must be "Lord of Light".  For starters, it also
has a Hawkwind connection.  It is also one of the finest works, of any genre,
that I have ever read.  A working knowledge of hinduism and buddhism is useful
but not essential.

If you think you might want to read several and get a full effect, it is in
some ways better to start with his short stories (in particular:  Doors of
His Face, Rose for Ecclesiastes, Graveyard Heart, a couple others of that
time period) and then take his early novels in order, "This Immortal" (vt
"And Call Me Conrad") followed by "The Dream Master" (vt "He Who Shapes")
and then go to "Lord of Light".  Because Lord of Light is so good it gets
expectations so high it's hard for anything else to live up to it after
that.  Something which plagued Zelazny throughout the rest of his career.

Aside from all that are his fantasy "Amber" novels, starting with "Nine
Princes in Amber" and going on for another nine books (two groups of 5).
All are classic works of fantasy, amongst the most loved in the field.

But again, I cannot iterate it enough, Zelazny's SF was the ultimate.  It
is hard for me to be objective at all about Lord of Light.

Others of note, all good but not quite up there with the others are:

Doorways in the Sand
Roadmarks
Frost and Fire (short story col, esp "24 views of Mt Fuji, by Hokusai")
Creatures of Light and Darkness
Jack of Shadows (another Hawkwind tie)
Damnation Alley
Eye of Cat
Isle of the Dead

I'm probably omitting a bunch of worthy titles...

Some of his other stuff, especially his non-Amber fantasies (Dilvish
the Damned, the Changeling, etc) are okay, but nothing spectacular.

I'm currently reading "Donnerjack", which was co-written by Jane
Liskold and published after Zelazny's death.  I'm withholding
judgement on that one until I'm done.

=============================
"To dwell within Samsara, however, is to
 be subject to the works of those mighty
 among dreamers."

 - Mahasamatman, in Zelazny's "Lord of Light"

Andrew Apold