Yeah, Steppe is much better as history reenactment than as straight SF - I don't think Anthony put a lot of work into working out the interstellar flight details there... but a very enjoyable little story, I think. :)

I remember you mentioned Chabon's other book before... if I happen to find it somewhere, I'll get it.

OK, I didn't remember the dragon. Heh - Zelazny just loves playing with mythologies. He doesn't take these things too seriously though. ;)

<I suppose Elgebra and Elchemy are Hebrew woids too?>

Are NOT. They are Arabic, as you know. :p

The Arabic al- prefix means "the", I'm sure you knew that too... now here's the part you may not know. ;)

It's not the same al/el. They are different phonemes, the Arabic al- prefix (and also the Hebrew "el" meaning "god", and the hebrew "el" meaning "to", and the Hebrew "al" meaning "don't"...) are written with <aleph>, a lighter 'a' sound (what you'd think of as a "normal" a/e), while the "al/el" of up, above usw. is written with <'ayin>, and is a MUCH stronger guttural sound. Uh, completely different? ;)

My best effort at an initial glottal just makes the first syllable croaky or guttural. Not good. Especially as some languages can differentiate between various types of glottal stop. And some English speakers use it without even knowing it exists, just as they aren't aware of the voiced and unvoiced varieties of 'th' cos the alphabet doesn't display 'em.

Somebody needs to make a Philology cartoon for these dim Galactics.

On another score, isn't it fascinating the way characters in 50s/60s/70s SF are just like period Americans? They may live in the 24th century, but they 'smoke cigarettes' after 'getting married'.

Uh... complete coincidence? ;)

OK, I confess, it wasn't, ackshly. Heh. Thing is, I wasn't sure if I wanted to include Baby Is Three or not - I like it for the innaresting concept, but it's also on the disturbing side, sortof. So I skimmed through it again... and noticed the character name, which I hadn't remembered cuz I tend to remember plots and ideas rather than names... and <then> decided to send it. :D

So, you finished Jack and started Baby, finished both, and/or read any others meanwhile/since? =)

But I've realized that *all* this stuff is old-fashioned, even those with 1980s publication dates. Space guys with slide rules?

I'd like to see that article, to be sure. :)

Sorriez, I was too tired when I got home yesterday, so now I'm at work again.

<Dom> I can has progress report, plz? =)

The (human) ethnic stereotypes are unbelievably awful -- the Magyar barbarian, the prudish orthodox Jew, the och-aye-hoots Scot ... and, worst of all, the 'cockney' who actually speaks cartoon-level Strine ('bonzer', etc). Cringe-inducing.

The sexual politics are even worse. The leading female protagonist, Alicia, has gone away to be 'cured' of her aggressive (ie 'male') tendencies. Somebody else remarks that homosexuality can also be 'cured'. Despite her male 'feistiness' - and her surname, Dyckman - Alicia wishes only for true love, marriage, pregnancy, and domestic bliss on a planet far away.

I admit I've read books that were more tedious or more badly written. But this is up there with the worst of the paleo-pulp.

Sprague de Camp seemingly had a reputation for 'introducing sex into science fiction'. I think that's what annoys me ... the undertone of smug satisfaction at his own 'racy' qualities in an ultra-conventional framework.

You know what's the other reason I thought I'd introduce it to you, though? The plotline, as far as the protagonists' emotional lives are concerned, is pretty much identical to that of a certain Chabon book. You didn't notice that? :)

<Samuel Delany *really* introduced sex to science fiction. And SF to porn. It's a two-way thing.>

(Yes, I know, we've all got the queries ... never mind.)

'The Squares of the City' by John Brunner is a science-fiction novel whose plot is explicitly based on a real-life chess game - won by Lasker, I think.

<Hmm. Yes, both have characters who used to be married, currently aren't, and may possibly be again.>

It's more than that, rilly. In both books the ex-spice are still desperately in love with their ex-spouse, and throughout both books, a considerable part of what holds the reader's interest is the curiosity to see whether the hero will get the girl, um, back. :p

<Otherwise ...? I dunno. Chabon's hero is more the messed-up kind of neurotic lead, isn't he? Jewish, of course - while 'Fearless' is some variety of Celtic. Hmmm, again.>

Chabon's hero is detailed with more emotional complexity, as befits a more serious book. ;) But if you don't think Fergus is just as messed-up and near-suicidal, consider this: just what does "Fearless" actually <mean>? :)

<Next thing you'll be telling me that 'Venus on the Half Shell' by Kilgore Trout is parody. Or even 'The Iron Dream' by Schickelgruber?>

The Iron Dream is, of course, the best-known award-winning fantasy novel by Adolf Hitler, a pulp illustrator who emigrated from Germany to the USA after the Great War.

The wiki summary is quite good: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Ir...

I've owned copies twice, but it's one of those books that tends to vanish. I don't have one now. It may also vary between illicit and shocking in certain territories ... certainly the last edition I had, with swastika-encrusted rockets and blond barbarian 'Dominators' (sic) under the legend 'Adolf Hitler's Fantasy Masterwork'...

So I'll go with *some* intent to parody.

Supposed to be Irish, aifinkso, pretty sure. ;p Funny you should mention Farmer - I was just about to remark on how much Fergus's character resembles that of Kickaha, aka Paul Janus Finnegan (note the initials, of course, and you can say 'Mary Sue' too...) in Philip Jose Farmer's World of Tiers series, who was, innarestingly enough, also Irish. ;)