Ready, set, go! (initial thoughts through Chapter 3)

[carol.]

Initial thoughts?

[Bradley]

Just excited to get reading, really. :)

He was such an interesting man. I sat in on his reading of A Night in the Lonesome October and he was so enthusiastic he got up on the table and did all the characters in voices.

He was pretty far with his cancer at the time, he had lost a lot of weight, but he was so damn full of life.

Of course I'm excited to read one of his best novels again. :) Well, I still love Lord of Light best, but his imagination is tops. :)

[carol.]

Oh my goodness, what an experience, Brad. I think watching him perform October would have been amazing.

[Bradley]

I didn't know much about him at the time, unfortunately, but it was very memorable and of course I had to dive into his works soon after. :)

[Karl]

Plot Summary: "Doorways In The Sand"

First Appearance "Analog Science Fiction- Science Fact" June, July, August 1975,

First Published Hardcover 1976 / Harper & Row / 181 pages

--- CAUTION POSSIBLE SPOILERS ---

The will of Fred Cassidy’s cryogenically-frozen uncle provides him with a generous stipend to attend the university until he is awarded an academic degree. By carefully choosing his courses and changing majors, Fred avoids mandatory graduation for thirteen years. (view spoiler)[ He meets with his new academic counselor, Dennis Wexroth, who is infuriated by what he calls Fred’s “dronehood” and threatens to send him off into to the real world by graduating Fred in the coming semester. Fred, however, finds a way to get enough credits in different majors to avoid graduation.

Fred goes to his apartment and finds it ransacked. He examines the apartment, but finds nothing missing. Paul Byler, Fred’s geology teacher comes out of a closet. He slaps Fred around demanding the return of a replica he made of the crystalline star-stone. Byler is a world-renowned expert in crystallography and says he makes copies of the star-stone in order to sell them as novelty items. Fred states that the replica is not in the apartment and maybe his ex-roommate has it. Byler does not believe Fred. After a brief fight Fred escapes through a window to an outside ledge.

Byler visits Hal Sidmore, Fred’s ex-roommate, roughs him up and demands the model of the star-stone. Hal insists he does not have it saying that Fred probably has it in their old apartment. Previously, during a poker game, Byler gives the copy of the star-stone to Hal. However, Hal switches it without Byler's knowledge for what he thinks is a better model, but is in fact the star-stone itself. Arriving home Fred sees a news story on television reporting Byler’s murder and the odd removal of some of his vital organs.

As part of his study plan Fred goes to the desert in Australia to study ancient carvings on a cliff. Zeemeister and Buckler, two professional criminals, arrive and torture Fred for the location of the star-stone. Two alien law officers, Charv and Ragma, disguised as a wombat and a kangaroo respectively save Fred, and they all go into orbit in their spacecraft.
Later, as he comes slowly into consciousness a voice instructs Fred that he should not permit the aliens to take him to another world where they want to telepathically examine his mind for clues to the whereabouts of the star-stone. Fred convinces them that it would be against their alien field regulations to take him without his consent. They return him to Earth.

After being set down on Earth, Fred goes to visit Hal who reports that he receives phone calls from various people trying find Fred. People break into and ransack his apartment several times. And that Ted Nadler, a State Department employee, is looking for him. Finding himself intoxicated Fred stays the night with Hal and hears the voice, now identifying itself as Speicus, that has been talking to him. It tells him to test the inversion program of the alien Rhennius machine and then get intoxicated. It is easier for Speicus to talk to Fred if he is drunk. Fred breaks into the room with the Rhennius machine and, hanging from a rope from the ceiling, puts a penny through the machine three times. The first time Lincoln is looking backwards and the ONE is also backwards. The second time the penny is incised like an intaglio. The third time returns it to normal.

Fred goes bar-crawling to get drunk as Speicus instructs him. He runs into a shady old school adviser named Doctor Mérimée who tells him he is being followed. He joins Mérimée at a party at his apartment, finishes getting drunk, and falls asleep. On waking Fred remembers a communication with Speicus during the night. According to Speicus, reversing himself through the Rhennius machine will put "everything in proper order.”

By subterfuge Fred manages to reverse himself by going through the Rhennius machine. Left is right and vice versa, and letters are read backwards from right to left with the letters turned backwards. He remembers his biochemistry and realizes that this reversal can be dangerous to his health. Meanwhile, Ted Nadler convinces the university to award Fred a Ph.D. in Anthropology. This outrages Fred because he loses his uncle’s stipend and has to get a job.

Fred calls Hal and they agree to meet in a secret place. They begin driving, aimlessly Fred thinks. Hal explains that Zeemeister and Buckler have his wife, Mary, and are demanding the star-stone. He has another replica of the stone from Byler’s lab and is going to trade it for Mary. Fred agrees to go along with the plan against his better judgment. They go to a beach cottage where they find Zeemeister, Buckler, a cat and Mary. Zeemeister declares the stone to be a fake and threatens to pull Mary’s fingernails off until they tell him where the star-stone is. Paul Byler, brought back to life by multiple organ transplants, enters through the back of the cottage with a drawn gun. In the ensuing struggle Buckler shoots Fred in the chest, and he blacks out.
Fred awakens in a hospital. He is alive since his heart was on the right side of his body due to the reversal, and he was shot on the left side where the heart is usually found. Everyone else from the cottage survives with minor injuries. Ted Nadler stops by Fred’s hospital room and offers him a position as alien culture specialist for the U.S. legation to the United Nations. Fred says he’ll think about it.

Nadler explains the history of the star-stone. The United Nations hires Byler as an expert in synthetics and crystals to make a replica for safety purposes. The loan of the British Crown Jewels to the aliens outrages Byler and some of his fanatical Anglophile friends. Byler and an accomplice exchange the real star-stone for a fake one. Byler hires Zeemeister and Buckler in their capacity as professional criminals to assist in the substitution of the stones, but they really want the original for themselves for a ransom, Nadler believes.

While shaving the next morning Fred remembers a smile that remains with him from his night’s dreams. Ted Nadler and Fred travel to New York to meet with a telepath. As Fred enters his hotel room he is seized and raised into the air by the tentacles of an alien telepathic analyst who practices attack therapy. He attempts to reach into Fred’s subconscious for information about the star-stone. He is stunned to discover that the star-stone, Speicus, is inside Fred, having entered his body through a wound while Fred was asleep. Since he was reversed by the Rhennius machine Speicus is now fully functional and should be able to communicate telepathically directly and easily with Fred, but because Fred is now reversed it cannot. On the way to the Rhennius machine to have him reversed back to his original state, Speicus warns Fred about an unknown enemy by saying, “Our Snark is a Boojum.”

In the building housing the Rhennius machine Doctor M’mrm’mlrr, the alien analyst, supervises the removal of the star-stone from Fred’s body. On the wall Fred sees a vision of “massive teeth framed by upward curving lips. . . .Then fading, fading. . . Gone.” Fred looks up and sees a black shape and cries out, “The smile.” Fred chases a telepathic alien disguised as a black cat up to the roof and over girders of the adjacent building. It attacks Fred and falls to its death. During the fight Fred realizes that Zeemeister and Buckler work for the alien agent called a Whillowhim.

Ragma explains that the Whillowhim are one of the oldest, most powerful and entrenched cultures in the galaxy. However, there is an alliance of younger ones that back common policies in conflict with those of the older blocs. The Whillowhim belong to a faction of the galactic coalition that opposes the policies of younger, newer members on major issues. One way to limit the power of the newer, less developed planets is to limit their number. The Whillowhim seeks to steal the star-stone to embarrass Earth and delay its entrance into the coalition of planets thereby weakening the power of the newer planets’ alliance.

Fred’s future is as an alien culture expert for the U.S. legation of the United Nations and as a host for Speicus. Speicus will use Fred’s nervous system as well as his broad knowledge of many subjects to gather information and process it as a kind of sociological computer. It can produce uniquely accurate and useful reports on anything they study together. In the end, Fred sees a beach with doorways leading to unique experiences in exotic places throughout the galaxy. > (hide spoiler)]

[carol.]

Oh, you might want to spoiler that one, Karl. I think most of the people I invited have read it, but some haven't.

Although half the beauty for me in the book are the ideas and the language. I read it for plot the first time, and i didn't enjoy it as much as subsequent reads, when I had more life/reading under my belt and could appreciate references and the like. "Not a cognito or a sum to my name" *giggle*

I'm hoping one of you is better at math than I am--my review mentions some sort of math puzzle I didn't get.

[Karl]

-- I was going for more of a plot summary not to try and analyze or ponder esoteric points. If you want, I can delete it, let me know --

[carol.]

Oh, that was a nice summary--I wouldn't want you to waste all that work--just that the (view spoiler)[star stone (hide spoiler)] is a twist. It might be useful for people that may not have time to re-read but want to share thoughts. I had forgotten how the MC's broad education benefits him.

I'd spoiler it after the first paragraph.

[Karl]

Carol. wrote: "Oh, that was a nice summary--I wouldn't want you to waste all that work--just that the [spoilers removed] is a twist. It might be useful for people that may not have time to re-read but want to sha..."

-- Please be my guest, I am not too familure with the magic tricks of GR --

[Bradley]

spoiler and /spoiler within brackets < >

[Amy (Other Amy)]

Wow, Brad, so great that you got to hear him read. And Karl, I think you said you met him in the other thread. That's really lovely.

If you click on the 'some html is ok' link in the upper right of the comment box, you can copy and paste the spoiler tags if that's easier; they are as Brad described. I don't think mods can edit comments for people; they can only delete.

[carol.]

Amy's right, I can't edit.

Where you want to put a spoiler, type a "<" then the word "spoiler" then the other ">" Just leave out all the quotation marks.

Ah, the days when I tried to figure out the wonky html system.

[Jason]

Wow, Brad. That's very cool that you got to watch Zelazny perform. By all accounts, he was as lively in person as he is in his prose. I haven't read this one yet (and for some reason it was never on my radar), so very much looking forward to it. (I ordered from Abebooks, so it will be arriving at my doorstep shortly...)

[Athena]

If you enjoy brief previews, Jo Walton wrote an essay (aka blog post) on Doorways at Tor.com at Doorways In The Sand. She also did a nice piece on Zelazny-influenced writers, at Something Else Like … Roger Zelazny.
Regards, all!

[carol.]

Athena--thanks! Your first link is broken. The second--fun. I can attest--Steven Brust's Taltos series is definitely "first person smart ass." :)

[Athena]

Aiie, thank you!!! It's better now ... cut & pasted myself into html-crazy land, I did!

[carol.]

Thanks! I wonder if I want the collections Walton references...

[Athena]

Carol. wrote: "Thanks! I wonder if I want the collections Walton references..."
The short stories? Yes Carol, yes you DO want them. You want to read them & review the collection on GR. When you wake up you'll remember you WANT the collection …
html insert hypnotic suggestion end-html
;)

[Bradley]

That sounds oddly good... like I am getting some whispers in my ear or something... :)

[Amy (Other Amy)]

Thanks for those, Athena.

[Karl]

Carol. wrote: "Amy's right, I can't edit.

Where you want to put a spoiler, type a "" Just leave out all the quotation marks.

Ah, the days when I tried to figure out the wonky html system."

-- Thanks for the hint, all taken care of.... --

[carol.]

:D

[carol.]

Well, I'm excited. I'm off work starting wednesday, and looking forward to april 1.

[Bradley]

Me too!

[Amy (Other Amy)]

Me three! (For the looking forward anyway; I still have work but I'll pop in in the evening.)

[Athena]

And me … clearing the reading decks for Zelazny!

[Andreas]

I measure the quality of Zelazny novels by its smoking density. First pipe came after 8 pages, which is a bad sign, alas :)

[[deleted user]]

Are you sure you are not mixing up Roger Zelazny and Robert Jordan? The latter was a real smoking pipe enthusiast.

[carol.]

I think in Dan S.'s review of Dodos and extinct things, he mentioned that pipes were covered along with typewriters and VHS tapes. There was a brief resurgence of smoking/pipe shops around here about 5 years ago, but honestly, I haven't seen anyone smoking a pipe in ages. Are they an anachronism now?

[Bradley]

Not among pot smokers. :)

[Amy (Other Amy)]

Very funny. Pipe smoking was one of my dad's hobbies (before he quit, anyway). He's on to old fashioned shaving razors now.

[Andreas]

Evgeny, usually Zelazny's fiction is full of cigarette smoke. But in this special case we saw the tutor smoking a pipe. This in combination with 7 smokeless pages is clearly a bad sign. I hope for the sake of five stars that density will rise.

[Athena]

I was at university in '76 & the nasty tutor & snarky comment "I had had him pegged as a pipe smoker all along" was too funny … pipes (and tweed!) as the 70s badge of 'The Serious Scholar.' Snort!

Really enjoying Fred's acrophilia & dismissing the semi-heard or -seen questions: "Do you see me, red?", "Do you smell me, ded?" etc. Jeepers, do we think these will go somewhere in the plot? ;)

[Andreas]

Zelazny belonged to a group of authors - Chip Delany, Tom Disch, Harlan Ellison, John Sladek - in the 60s who formed a kind of offshoot of the British New Wave.
British New Wave was more exoerimental with authors like Ballard, Aldiss and Moorcock. But those authors helped to bring in other aspects than Science to SF.
For this, I love them :)

[Karl]

-- June 21, 1986. Author Guest of Honor Roger Zelazny reads two of his works. "Loki 7281" and "Blood of Amber" (excerpt). Originally videotaped and aired for Minneapolis Television Network, the local cable access channel, with audio equipment from KFAI-FM.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TRQ4w...

--

[carol.]

Oh, thanks, Karl. I just posted the first sentence on my update and had a couple of thoughts--first, holy crapload of commas! Second, Zelazny love describing sky in liquid metaphors. I have one picked out in a short story anthology where he compares Venus' sunrise to coffee and milk (he called them cloud curdles here). Third, love how he never said Fred is looking at the sky.

[carol.]

Andreas- smoking on page 3 :)

[Andrew✌️]

I've started today and I finished the first two chapters. I like the story, and I'm curious to understand all the background story, in some case only mentioned.
Fred Cassidy is a strange character, a lifetime student, embroiled in a strange story.
This thing of climbing building is strange. I mean, who is this guy? Spiderman. Interesting (view spoiler)[the dialogue between Fred and professor Dobson, on a ledge, while they smoke and drink cognac. (hide spoiler)]
I'm looking forward to read the nex, tomorrow.

[Jason]

That opening chapter is fantastic. The tone is of some high brow university satire, like a novel by Kingsley Amis. It's witty as hell. Also, the first two chapters together - and this is strange - somehow create a world we want to be in. I want to be a student at a university where professors get drunk, climb on cathedrals, and count stars. The setting of the novel, so far, is extremely inviting. An awesome start.

[carol.]

Oh my goodness, Jason, yes--I totally wanted to be Fred Cassidy. Not the climbing part, but the being in school forever and knowing a fair amount about everything. It does rather remind me of younger, more hedonistic time period, although I laughed when administration had to make a climbing rule due to Fred.

I'm thinking about starting a new thread for references--what do you think? So many direct and indirect. On pg 3 the professor "utters a labial consonant" which is what people are always doing to Bertie Wooster in Wodehouse books (which often means they are snorting at him).

The part you mention, Andrew--the end references a Yeats poem (""I spit into the face of Time that has transfigured me." ---reference The Lamentation of the Old Pensioner"), which I had to look up. The "widening gyre" is the opposite of a Yeats poem about death and a "narrowing gyre."
I didn't attack the math poem at all :)

[Mitticus]

Carol. wrote: "Oh my goodness, Jason, yes--I totally wanted to be Fred Cassidy. Not the climbing part, but the being in school forever and knowing a fair amount about everything. It does rather remind me of young..."

Oh, yes. I always said that if I had enough money, I 'd like to travel and keep taking all kind of classes :D

[Jason]

Man - lots and lots of references. Primarily, there seems to be, so far, an interest in alluding to Alice in Wonderland. There was something notably Lewis Carrol-ish about the talking wombat and then the kangaroo helpfully offering Fred a sandwich because "peanut butter is rich in protein." A great entrance for those two characters.
In other thoughts, I recognize that Zelazny is going for a sort of witty, jaunty, ironic, hard boiled tone here, what with the whole world and its nephew searching for the Maltese Star-stone, but even given the pastiche, which he is doing well, I still felt the torture scene was just a bit too lighthearted. The man's old friend and roommate has been found in a park without his internal organs, and Fred himself acknowledges that he fears mutilation, and yet Fred's narrative voice, describing their treatment of him, remains defiantly playful. I wonder if we are meant to feel any real threat from these guys, or legitimately care for the stakes, or whether the witty, lighthearted, hard-boiled style is going to be more important throughout the book than tension or suspense. Well, we'll see...

[Amy (Other Amy)]

I would love a reference thread; I'm sure I've missed a lot.

The first three chapters are almost a how-it's-done manual for writers. He just drops us into this lovely world (I like Jason's remark above about drunken professors climbing and counting), where aliens have the Mona Lisa and the Crown Jewels (love the kula chain) and an eternal student with spending money just waltzes off to Austrailia for an unauthorized dig.

The conversation with Professor Dobson is one of my all time favorite moments in SFF. For me, it just skirts the edge of an info dump, giving the reader a lot of information, but framing it in terms of the wonder and philosophy of two committed students of life and living is brilliant and very engaging.

The opening of chapter three is just astoundingly good. I'm not sure I agree that the torture is too light; I get the distinct impression that Fred is deliberately choosing a certain lightheartedness as his own personal take on Stoicism - this is a man who thinks of being gnawed to death by an animal 'could be a small measure of triumph,' presumably because his captors wouldn't get what they wanted. Fred turns out to be tougher than chapter one suggests. I didn't feel any lack of danger; they did cut Paul Byler's innards out, after all. (Not the roommate, Hal's, though. Paul was the geology professor.) YMMV, of course.

And then we get a talking wombat and kangaroo. Love.

[Andreas]

Don't forget the telepathic donkey!

[Amy (Other Amy)]

Was there a telepathic donkey in the first three chapters? Maybe I should read this again...

[Athena]

Amy (Other Amy) wrote: "I would love a reference thread; I'm sure I've missed a lot..." Absolutely, I second!

Instead of my usual gulping reading habit I'm enjoying this as a much-anticipated fine meal. How not? Zelazny's ease with unusual English words married my poetry & myth-reference Joneses in the opening lines of Ch.3, reread over & over:

Sunflash, some splash. Darkle. Stardance.
Phaeton's solid gold Cadillac crashed where there was no ear to hear, lay burning, flickered, went out. Like me.

(I found the Phaeton reference particularly intensified the feeling of danger Fred faced while bound in that terrible AUS desert sun.)

Andreas, I'm curious how these lines worked for you when read in translation? Especially that unusual, almost archaic word 'Darkle' - did it feel poetic at all in the sense of poetry often using the barest bones of words to create a feeling?

[carol.]

I'll start the thread, and please add Phaeton, Athena, so I don't have to look it up. :)

https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

[Bradley]

Hyperlinks, please. It's the lazy reader's guide to mythology. :) (I'm loving this thread.) :)

[Athena]

Brad wrote: "Hyperlinks, please. It's the lazy reader's guide to mythology. :) (I'm loving this thread.) :)"

Gods bless hyperlinks-I'd be at this Mac all day otherwise!
:)

[Jason]

Amy (Other Amy) wrote: "Was there a telepathic donkey in the first three chapters? Maybe I should read this again..."

No, the psychic donkey appears in the brilliant chapter 6. Man, is his entrance funny.