Platypus of Truth

Wow, it's hard to read anthologies at anything other than a slow crawl.  The change from author to author and style to style is exhausting.  Slowing down is a good thing, though, if it makes time for reflection.  That seems like one good reason to create an anthology: to force readers to slow down and reflect. With that as a preamble, let's move on to today's selections. The Black Ferris by Ray Badbury I didn't expect to see this Sci-Fi heavy hitter in a Fantasy collection, but there you go.  I've tried to get into Bradbury once or twice and failed.  His Martian Chronicles , in particular, resisted all my best efforts.  This short story, however, worked like a charm.  The sense of atmosphere in particular is masterfully done (a sort of Tom Sawyer strays into Edgar Allan Poe).  My only complaint is that there isn't more of it, but apparently Bradbury already fixed that by expanding the story into Something Wicked This Way Comes. This raise...

September is just around the corner and that means that Summer is nearly at an end.  On that note, it's time to announce this year's winners for "The Seven Heavens of Summer Reading." Moon: Lilith by George MacDonald   Constancy and inconstancy form a central motif in this weird tale turned Universalist allegory.  As a symbol of this stand the various moons that govern the nightly changes of MacDonald's imaginary world. Venus: She by H. Rider Haggard  The colonial administrator turned author brings us a vivid picture of Venus Infernal in this seminal work of adventure pulp. Mars: Starship Troopers by Robert Heinlein  One of the great soldier's novelists since Kipling, Heinlein easily captures the slot devoted to the god of war.  On the bounce! Mercury: From Alpha to Omega by Anne H. Groten  I tried to teach myself Greek this summer.  Not the best thing to try during a major move.  Still, what better book could there be for this summe...

Some time ago, I set out to cover the major works of author Robert Heinlein.  Along with Isaac Azmov and Ray Bradbury, Heinlein set the standard for post-war science fiction.  I'm not big on sci-fi, but with a reputation like that, Heinlein's a "must-read."  Previously, I'd taken a look at "The Moon is a Harsh Mistress" and "Podkayne of Mars."  "Stranger in a Strange Land" is still on the list.  I've just finished "Starship Troopers" and so it's prime time for a review. I think I've enjoyed "Starship Troopers" even more than "Podkayne of Mars" and "The Moon is a Harsh Mistress."  The later is pretty hard to beat!  "Starship Troopers," however, seems to present Heinlein at his best: futuristic military fiction with a lot of arm-chair philosophy thrown in.  This, even more than the other works, cemented for me the title he earned during the sixties of "the dean o...

Reading "This Discarded Image" this summer has deepened my respect for the Medieval model of the cosmos. So, to honor the imaginative achievements of my ancestors, I have decided to end off this summer by posting my awards for "The Seven Heavens of Summer Reading." Sun: The heaven of scholars could be monopolized any summer by C.S. Lewis, but as he seemed to prefer the sphere of Jove, how about an author that uses C.S. Lewis for a character? For giving us a thoroughly believable Lewis, the Sphere of the Sun goes to Peter Kreefte for "Between Heaven and Hell." Moon: For all its twists and turns, one book this summer deserves the honor of being paired with the Sphere of Luna; and it even shares her name: "The Moon is a Harsh Mistress," by Robert Heinlein. Mars: Last year's martial book "A Princess of Mars," is a hard act to follow. I think this year's winner is up to the task, however. In the category of glorifying coura...

So I've gotten my hands on a copy of "The Moon is a Harsh Mistress" by Robert A. Heinlein and worked my way through it. This marks the second Heinlein piece that I've read this year (the other being "Podkayne of Mars"). So far, Heinlein passes the sniff test. I enjoy reading him. I can see why he was called "the dean of science fiction" back in the day. Each of the books plays around with all sorts of ideas and "what ifs" that are perfect for dorm room debate; especially during finals. It's not as high-brow as Frank Herbert's "Dune," but it isn't meant to be. Heinlein doesn't seem to ever intend to give us a "magnum opus" that explains life, the universe, and everything. Instead, he throws out ideas and lets his reader chew on them a bit. "Podkayne of Mars" and "The Moon is a Harsh Mistress" are much more thought experiements than manifestos. Some people claim that "St...