Roger Zelazny

Pen-names: Harrison Denmark ------------------------------------ "Alien Speedway 1: Clypsis" (nv) (with Jeffrey A. Carver) © Spectra, 1987 --/ cool space sf novel --/ wonder award "Angel, Dark Angel" © Galaxy, Aug 1967 Unicorn Variations, 1983 --/ cool f story "Auto-da-Fé" © Dangerous Visions, ed. H. Ellison, 1967 The Last Defender of Camelot, 1980 --/ cool sf story --/ idea award "Collector's Fever" © Galaxy, Jun 1964 The Doors of His Face, the Lamps of His Mouth, 1971 --/ cool sf story "Coils" (nv) (with Fred Saberhagen) © 1980, Ace Books --sf novel : 1983 Locus /20 --/ cool sf novel --/ wonder award --/ style award "Come to Me Not in Winter's White" (with Harlan Ellison) © F&SF, Oct 1969 Partners in Wonder, Walker, 1971 --/ cool sf story --/ style award "Comes Now The Power" © Magazine Of Horror, Win 1966 The Last Defender of Camelot, 1980 --short story : 1967 Hugo --/ cool sf story "The Courts Of Chaos" (nv) (Amber Novel # 5) © Galaxy, Mar 1977 book: 1978, Doubleday --/ fourth place f novel --/ wonder award --/ adventure award "Damnation Alley" © Galaxy, Oct 1967 The Last Defender of Camelot, 1980 --novella : 1968 Hugo --/ third place apocalyptic sf novella --/ adventure award --/ wonder award --/ shock value ---------------------------------------------- "Deus Irae" (nv) (with Philip K. Dick) (based on story "The Great C") © Cosmos # 1, Sep 1953 also in - SF Monthly, Jul 1953 (Austr.) book: Doubleday, 1976 --/ fourth place apocalyptic sf novel --/ wonder award --/ style award When I read this book in my youth, I was bewildered by many passages. There is a lot of angst there, there are no answers, and a general depressing feeling. Sulky automatic car repair robots, and a general post-apocalyptic inventiveness are fine, but a lot of times too much is said about too litlle. Harder to read in general, but worth it for the moments of beauty among the dystopia. The dis-illusioned man quest to paint the picture of a higher being in a post-nuclear-war world. Some call it "the flip-side to "Canticle for Leibowitz". review: 04-Jul-06 (read in 1986) ---------------------------------------------- "Devil Car" (Sam Nurdock series) © Galaxy, Jun 1965 The Doors of His Face, the Lamps of His Mouth, 1971 --/ fourth place car sf story --/ wonder award --/ adventure award: chase --/ idea: car evil A. I.s --/ style award ---------------------------------------------- "Divine Madness" © Magazine Of Horror, Sum 1966 The Doors of His Face, the Lamps of His Mouth, 1971 --/ cool f story An interesting tale about a man suffering from a condition in which time seems to be moving backwards. review: 10-Jul-06 (read in 2001) ---------------------------------------------- "The Doors of His Face, the Lamps of His Mouth" © F&SF, Mar 1965 Four for Tomorrow, 1967 The Doors of His Face, the Lamps of His Mouth, 1971 --short fiction : 1966 Hugo --novelette : 1966 Nebula W --novelette : 1999 Locus All-Time Poll /52 --/ fourth place space sf story --/ wonder award --/ style award ---------------------------------------------- "The Dream Master" (nv) (exp. from "He Who Shapes") © Amazing, Jan 1965 book: 1966, Ace Books --novella : 1966 Nebula W (tie) --novella : 1999 Locus All-Time Poll /14 --/ third place sf novel --/ wonder award --/ style award --/ idea award --/ emotion award A very important novel, a triumph for the new imaginative style, one of the most readable examples of the "New Wave" and a great testament to the psychedelic era. The dream-like quality of Zelazny's writing envelopes the reader and satisfies in itself, not much concerned with action, plot, or even with characterization. How can that be, you may ask? Because this novel is one step short of poetry, one bite short of a spaced-out mushroom experience, one chord short of Hendrix' guitar solo - take any number of other authentic sixties art experiences and translate it into writing. But it is not to be analyzed for plot and structure. It's loosely about a psychoanalyst, and a mechanic (Shaper) of dreams. In a warm womb of metal, his patients dream their neuroses, while Render, intricately connected to their brains, dreams with them, makes delicate adjustments, and ultimately explains and heals. Things go wrong in the human mind, and Zelazny plots the doomed rollercoaster of imagery without any point, or destination - "art for the sake of art only". review: 10-Sep-06 (read in 1989) ---------------------------------------------- "The Engine at Heartspring's Center" © Analog, Jul 1974 The Last Defender of Camelot, 1980 --short story : 1975 Nebula --short story : 1975 Locus /5 --short story : 1975 Jupiter --/ fourth place sf story --/ wonder award --/ emotion award --/ idea award "The Eve of RUMOKO" (Nemo series) © Three for Tomorrow, ed. R. Silverberg, 1969 My Name Is Legion, 1976 --/ cool sf story ---------------------------------------------- "For a Breath I Tarry" © New Worlds, Mar 1966 also in - Fantastic Stories, Sep 1966 The Last Defender of Camelot, 1980 --novelette : 1967 Hugo --short fiction : 1971 Astounding/Analog All-Time Poll /21 (tie) --novelette : 1999 Locus All-Time Poll /11 (tie) --/ fourth place sf story --/ wonder award --/ style award A classic story about artificial intelligence (Machine) becoming, or dreaming to become natural intelligence (Human). This theme was worked and re-worked many times, and by the end of Sixties could’ve become passe, but Zelazny wraps it in his patented word-magic, gives it philosophical (and even theological) depth – pitching the arguments of Job against the temptings of Faust - and ends up with a mature, imaginative story, a veritable masterpiece. A computer with a hobby to become man is perhaps an ultimate delusion. Something created cannot become the creator, no matter how it tries. An interesting analogy here: born again christians (being themselves created) CAN become one with Creator, spiritually speaking. It does not come from themselves, but is given from above. In other words, if a machine wants to become human, it has to break into the spiritual dimension first and ask the utmost authority, clear it with God Himself (as humans are not masters of themselves either, and do not have an authority to create a soul). And somehow we all know which answer it might get. review: 27-Aug-06 (read in 2004) ---------------------------------------------- "The Force that Through the Circuit Drives the Current" © Science Fiction Discoveries, 1976 Unicorn Variations, 1983 --/ cool sf story --/ wonder award --/ style award "Four For Tomorrow" (coll) (also as "A Rose For Ecclesiates") © Ace Books, 1967 --/ fourth place sf collection --/ wonder award --/ adventure award "The Furies" © Amazing Stories, Jun 1965 Four For Tomorrow, 1967 --/ fourth place sf story --/ wonder award --/ adventure award "Go Starless In The Night" © Destinies, Oct 1979 Unicorn Variations, 1983 --/ cool sf story --/ wonder award "The Graveyard Heart" © Fantastic, Mar 1964 Four for Tomorrow, 1967 --/ cool sf story "The Great Slow Kings" © Worlds Of Tomorrow, Dec 1963 The Doors Of His Face, 1971 --/ fourth place sf story --/ wonder award --/ idea award "The Guns Of Avalon" (nv) (Amber Series # 2) © Doubleday, 1972 --/ fourth place f novel --/ wonder award --/ adventure award ---------------------------------------------- "He Who Shapes" (exp. into "The Dream Master") © Amazing, Jan 1965 The Last Defender of Camelot, 1980 --novella : 1966 Nebula W (tie) --novella : 1999 Locus All-Time Poll /14 --/ fourth place sf novella --/ wonder award --/ style award --/ idea award --/ emotion award A very important novella, a triumph for the new imaginative style, one of the most readable examples of the "New Wave" and a great testament to the psychedelic era. The dream-like quality of Zelazny's writing envelopes the reader and satisfies in itself, not much concerned with action, plot, or even with characterization. How can that be, you may ask? Because this novella is one step short of poetry, one bite short of a spaced-out mushroom experience, one chord short of Hendrix' guitar solo - take any number of other authentic sixties art experiences and translate it into writing. But it is not to be analyzed for plot and structure. It's loosely about a psychoanalyst, and a mechanic (Shaper) of dreams. In a warm womb of metal, his patients dream their neuroses, while Render, intricately connected to their brains, dreams with them, makes delicate adjustments, and ultimately explains and heals. Things go wrong in the human mind, and Zelazny plots the doomed rollercoaster of imagery without any point, or destination - "art for the sake of art only". review: 10-Sep-06 (read in 1989) ---------------------------------------------- "Home Is the Hangman" (Nemo series) © Analog, Nov 1975 My Name Is Legion, 1976 Unicorn Variations, 1983 --novella : 1976 Hugo W --novella : 1976 Nebula W --novella : 1976 Locus /2 --novella : 1999 Locus All-Time Poll /16 (tie) --/ fourth place sf novella --/ wonder award --/ style award "Isle Of The Dead" (nv) (Frances Sandow series) © 1969, Ace Books --/ cool f novel --/ wonder award "Jack of Shadows" (nv) © F&SF, Jul 1971 book: 1979, NAL / Signet --novel : 1972 Hugo --novel : 1972 Locus /4 --/ cool f novel --/ wonder award "Kjwalll'kje'k'koothailll'kje'k" (Nemo series) © An Exaltation of Stars, ed. T. Carr, 1973 My Name Is Legion, 1976 --novella : 1974 Locus /13 --/ cool sf novella ---------------------------------------------- "The Keys to December" © New Worlds, Aug 1966 The Doors of His Face, the Lamps of His Mouth, 1971 --novelette : 1968 Nebula --/ fourth place sf story --/ wonder award --/ style award Wonderfully stylish and smoothly told novella, with many poetic elements, generating images that stay with a reader for a long time. Here is what happens: "some aliens terraforming a planet to make it cold enough for them to inhabit (and simultaneously freezing the monkey-people natives to death)" But Zelazny adds emotion, and you can almost touch the ice of that planet. review: 21-Jul-06 (read in 1987) ---------------------------------------------- "The Last Defender of Camelot" © Asimov's SF Adventure Magazine, Sum 1979 The Last Defender of Camelot, 1980 --short fiction : 1980 Balrog W --/ cool f story --/ wonder award "Lord Of Light" (nv) © 1967, Doubleday Books --novel : 1968 Hugo W --novel : 1968 Nebula --all time novel : 1975 Locus All-Time Poll /10 --all time sf novel : 1987 Locus All-Time Poll /11 --sf novel (before 1990) : 1998 Locus All-Time Poll /14 --/ cool sf novel --/ idea award "The Man Who Loved the Faioli" © Galaxy, Jun 1967 The Doors of His Face, the Lamps of His Mouth, 1971 --/ FIRST place space sf story --/ wonder award --/ romance award --/ emotion award --/ idea award "The Misfit" © Amazing, Oct 1963 "The Monster And The Maiden" © Galaxy, Dec 1964 The Doors of His Face, the Lamps of His Mouth, 1971 --/cool f story "A Museum Piece" © Fantastic, Jun 1963 The Doors of His Face, the Lamps of His Mouth, 1971 --/ cool sf story "Permafrost" © OMNI, Apr 1986 Frost and Fire, 1989 --novelette : 1987 Hugo W --novelette : 1987 Nebula --novelette : 1987 Locus /5 --/ cool sf story --/ wonder award "The Places Of Aache" (Dilvish) © Other Worlds # 2, ed. R. Torgeson, 1980 Dilvish The Damned, 1982 --/ cool f story --/ wonder award "Roadmarks" (nv) © 1979, Blallantine Del Rey --/ style award --/ wonder award "A Rose for Ecclesiastes" © F&SF, Nov 1963 Four for Tomorrow, 1967 The Doors of His Face, the Lamps of His Mouth, 1971 --short fiction : 1964 Hugo --short fiction : 1971 Astounding/Analog All-Time Poll /5 --novelette : 1999 Locus All-Time Poll /3 --/ third place space sf story --/ wonder award --/ style award --/ emotion award "A Rose For Ecclesiates" (coll) (also as "Four For Tomorrow") © Ace Books, 1967 --/ fourth place sf collection --/ wonder award --/ adventure award "Sign Of The Unicorn" (nv) (Amber Series # 3) © Galaxy, Jan 1975 book: Doubleday, 1976 --/ fourth place f novel --/ wonder award --/ idea award --/ adventure award "Song of the Blue Baboon" © IF, Aug 1968 "Stand Pat, Ruby Stone" © Destinies, Nov 1978 The Last Defender of Camelot, 1993 --/ cool aliens sf story --/ wonder award --/ style award --/ rare find "This Mortal Mountain" © IF, Mar 1967 The Doors of His Face, the Lamps of His Mouth, 1971 --novelette : 1968 Nebula --/ cool sf story --/ wonder award "The Three Descents of Jeremy Baker" © F&SF, Jul 1995 --short story : 1996 Locus /5 "Trumps of Doom" (nv) (Amber Series # 6) © 1985, Underwood-Miller / Arbor House --fantasy novel : 1986 Locus W --/ third place f novel --/ idea award --/ wonder award --/ adventure award "Unicorn Variations" © IASFM, Apr 1981 Unicorn Variations, 1983 --novelette : 1982 Hugo W --novelette : 1982 Locus /2 --foreign short fiction : 1984 Seiun W --novelette : 1999 Locus All-Time Poll /34 (tie) --/ cool sf story --/ wonder award "Walpurgisnacht" © 1981, A Rhapsody In Amber ----------------------------------------------

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