Sign in with Facebook
Unicorn Variations
Loading...
Unicorn Variations (Francis Sandow)
Book club edition (3555).
Paperback
Published
(first published October 1983)
Friend Reviews
To see what your friends thought of this book,
please sign up.
This book is not yet featured on Listopia.
Add this book to your favorite list »
Community Reviews
(showing
1-30
of
1,255)
Got this one on a whim--was in the mood for short stories and figured I couldn't go wrong with a Hugo winner. He has a classic style--similar to Asimov as far as feel goes (well, Mr. Zelazny was writing in the 40's and 50's), but you know what? Even though he doesn't have (to me) the same star power as Asimov, he has his own point of view in what he writes that I really enjoy.
UNICORN VARIATION is a lot of fun. DISMAL LIGHT is amazing and I think reading the novel it is a spinoff from would just...more
UNICORN VARIATION is a lot of fun. DISMAL LIGHT is amazing and I think reading the novel it is a spinoff from would just...more
Feb 25, 2008
John Wiswell
rated it
5 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
Fantasy readers, science fiction readers, humor readers, short story readers, scifi/fantasy WRITERS
What an amazing collection of science fiction and fantasy. The first two stories (about a chess game against a unicorn and a man hunting wild sentient cars) are vividly imaginative, creative, a little funny, a little bit dramatic and a little bit poignant. A later essay on the use of minor details to give the sense of characters having lives outside their roles in a story is also great advice; I've thought about such things, but never wrote or read about it before. By his fiction and reflection...more
Aug 16, 2007
Lasairfiona Smith
rated it
4 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
Anyone!
This is a book full of short stories from Zelazny's career. This book is worth finding just for the title story. The story that Zelazny tells about this little gem is very amusing. Unicorns want to take over the world and a chess game might stop them. The chess game itself isn't glossed over. Each move is detailed. The story grew from three requests Zelazny got. Three different people wanted a story that had 1) a bar, 2) a chess game, and 3) unicorns. By putting all three together, Zelazny sold...more
An eclectic collection of Zelazny shorts, with insight and commentary from the author. Not, in my opinion, Zelazny's most readable or accessible collection, comprised largely of experimental pieces. If you're already a Zelazny fan, I recommend picking this up for its insights into the author's methodology and a glimpse at some of his fringe work.
There's so much more to Zelazny than Amber, Lord of Light and Rose for Ecclesiastes. He's a hard working writer, always challenging himself, always expe...more
There's so much more to Zelazny than Amber, Lord of Light and Rose for Ecclesiastes. He's a hard working writer, always challenging himself, always expe...more
May 22, 2010
Charles Spitzig
rated it
4 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
read-and-gone
Series of fantasy stories by Zelazny. Hilarious. In the title story, he had a unicorn and a bigfoot playing chess with the fate of mankind the winnings.
Aug 07, 2011
Katherine
rated it
3 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommended to Katherine by:
on Dad's bookshelf
Shelves:
science-fiction-and-fantasy
The title story is fantastic. A few other really good reads. Unfortunately, there were several stories I wish I'd been warned to skip. And a couple I regret skipping, but I just didn't have the energy (pregnancy does that).
Of my life-time 3 favorite short stories, Roger Zelazny is responsible for two. What a great writer!
Jun 12, 2009
Charles
rated it
5 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
fantasy,
science-fiction
A collection of Zelazny's short stories. Excellent. Some of my favorite stories are found in here.
Just picked it up, after years and years in a box. i forgot how much I like Zelazny,
Zelazny is really, really good at short stories. I preferred his shortest stories to the longest stories in here, I think, but all of them are good, with the perfect little twist or sting in the tail. Well, not all of them: I suppose there were some that made little impression on me, but mostly my impression is of a strong collection.
I liked Dismal Light a lot, and The George Business made me smile; Recital was powerful and sort-of sad but not quite, a nice mix of feelings... There are so many...more
I liked Dismal Light a lot, and The George Business made me smile; Recital was powerful and sort-of sad but not quite, a nice mix of feelings... There are so many...more
view 2 comments
I am ashamed to say that this is my first Zelazney.
The introductory paragraph to the titular story "Unicorn Variation" had me hooked. The precision of Zelazny's word choices, combined with his wit and subtle humor has me adding his other works to my "To Read" list.
The introductory paragraph to the titular story "Unicorn Variation" had me hooked. The precision of Zelazny's word choices, combined with his wit and subtle humor has me adding his other works to my "To Read" list.
SF & Fantasy short stories, several of which won awards. As always, he's a great read. His stories take fantasy into SF & vice versa in strange ways with a deft touch. He's one of the few authors that was a master of both the novel & short story.
As a writer, I loved this collection. It covers a wide variety of types of stories, narrative approaches, etc., each with an introduction by Zelazny, which all adds up to a wonderful glimpse into his writer's mind.
My favorite story from the collection of stories and essays was The George Business which reminds me of the movie Dragonheart starring Sean Connery as Draco and Dennis Quaid as Bowen.
The title story was excellent, but can not remember the others.
Jun 07, 2011
Sarah Sammis
rated it
5 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
pc,
read-in-1999
Heard it first as an audio book. Went back later and read the book.
Unicorn Variation and Dismal Light are wonderful..
There are no discussion topics on this book yet.
Be the first to start one »
Roger Zelazny made his name with a group of novellas which demonstrated just how intense an emotional charge could be generated by the stock imagery of sf; the most famous of these is 'A Rose for Ecclesiastes' in which a poet struggles to convince dying and sterile Martians that life is worth continuing. Zelazny continued to write excellent short stories throughout his career, which share the inve...more
More about Roger Zelazny...
Share This Book
No trivia or quizzes yet. Add some now »
