Two great tastes that taste bad together...Writers who shouldn't collaborate.
Johnny1A
better as a pair than either alone. Niven and Pournelle are often
mentioned in this category, at least for their earlier collaborations.
There are other such pairings as well.
But does anyone want to submit a case of two _good_ authors who get
together and produce garbage?
Shermanlee
Alan Kellogg
sherm...@hotmail.com (Johnny1A) wrote:
To help this along...
...Piers Anthony and Norman Spinrad, "Xanth Inc."
--
http://www.mythusmage.com
Writing Practice at: http://www.gamingoutpost.com
Luke Webber
news:b3030854.02101...@posting.google.com...
Roger Zelazny and Robert Sheckley, _Bring me the Head of Prince Charming_.
Sheer dreck.
Luke
Tom Scudder
Anyone and Roger Zelazny. Zelazny and Philip K. Dick produced a
moderate-stinker in DEUS IRAE, but the real prize was Zelazny and
Robert Sheckley, who managed between them to produce three straight
ugly-car-crash-with-snipers-picking-off-rubberneckers-bad books.
Jim Cambias
If you're talking about actual books in existence, well: Asimov and
Silverberg are both great writers, but Silverberg's novel based on
"Nightfall" was substandard. Not garbage, but not great.
I've never read any of Gentry Lee's solo work, but his collaborations with
Arthur C. Clarke are hair-raising.
Imaginary team-ups: Ursula K. LeGuin and David Drake's _Earthsea Empire_
(retells the Peloponnesian war in the Earthsea setting).
Clive Barker and J.K. Rowling's unfortunate joint effort _Harry Potter and
the Incubus_ (so far the only Young Adult novel from Scholastic books to
include multiple sadomasochistic pedophilic bondage-and-domination
scenes).
Larry Niven and China Mieville's unfinished collaboration; the manuscript
was unreadable because of all the blood.
Cambias
Daphne Brinkerhoff
> together and produce garbage?
Stephen King & Peter Straub, _Black House_. (Yes, I think Stephen
King is a "good author". Yes, I liked _The Talisman_. It had, you
see, a plot and characters. Can't say the same for _Black House_.)
--
Daphne
Louann Miller
(Jim Cambias) wrote:
>Clive Barker and J.K. Rowling's unfortunate joint effort _Harry Potter and
>the Incubus_ (so far the only Young Adult novel from Scholastic books to
>include multiple sadomasochistic pedophilic bondage-and-domination
>scenes).
Worse than my proposed "Harry Potter and the Spanish Inquisition."
--
Mozilla 1.1 is free and has a built in pop-up killer.
Just uncheck "open unrequested windows" under "advanced" under preferences.
http://www.mozilla.org
Justin Fang
Alan Kellogg <mythu...@cts.com> wrote:
>In article <b3030854.02101...@posting.google.com>,
>sherm...@hotmail.com (Johnny1A) wrote:
>> But does anyone want to submit a case of two _good_ authors who get
>> together and produce garbage?
>To help this along...
>
>...Piers Anthony and Norman Spinrad, "Xanth Inc."
He said two _good_ authors.
--
Justin Fang (jus...@panix.com)
David E. Siegel
Just to be clear -- you are looking for actual collaborations which
have been published, but have not turned out well, correct? i have
often seen lists of imagined collaberations which would work poorly,
but those are usualy of authors most unlikely to get together (frex
Edger Rioce Burroughs and Hal Clement, _A Mission to Mars_).
Most of the real colaberations i know of turn out reasonably well, at
least as good as the work of the authors seperately -- I suspect
because if it isn't going well, it doesn't get finished and published.
-DES
David Eppstein
cam...@SPAHMTRAP.heliograph.com (Jim Cambias) wrote:
> > But does anyone want to submit a case of two _good_ authors who get
> > together and produce garbage?
> >
> If you're talking about actual books in existence, well: Asimov and
> Silverberg are both great writers, but Silverberg's novel based on
> "Nightfall" was substandard. Not garbage, but not great.
>
> I've never read any of Gentry Lee's solo work, but his collaborations with
> Arthur C. Clarke are hair-raising.
The Zelazny-Sheckley collaboration _Bring Me the Head of Prince
Charming_ deserves a place on this list.
--
David Eppstein UC Irvine Dept. of Information & Computer Science
epps...@ics.uci.edu http://www.ics.uci.edu/~eppstein/
Steve Coltrin
> Larry Niven and China [Miéville]'s unfinished collaboration; the manuscript
> was unreadable because of all the blood.
Whose?
--
Steve Coltrin spco...@omcl.org
I like the idea of Jack Valenti being sodomized by a
methamphetamine-crazed rhinoceros. And I vote. - Adam Thornton
Bill Snyder
Brinkerhoff) wrote:
But, Dear Reader, as we drift upon the dark currents of its prose, or
waft on high as one carried by eagles to view the countryside below,
we see that it has cutesy author-intrusiveness; the omniscient
viewpoint;, prose now serviceable, now fustian, and now ultraviolet;
and an attempt to retcon the Territories into the Gunslinger milieu.
Where the fsck's the airsick bag on an eagle, anyhow?
--
Bill Snyder [This space unintentionally left blank.]
David Tate
Roger Zelazny and Robert Sheckley. I still have dents in my walls
from trying to read _Bring Me the Head of Prince Charming_, but I love
both authors' typical works.
David Tate
James Moar
<spco...@omcl.org> wrote:
> cam...@SPAHMTRAP.heliograph.com (Jim Cambias) writes:
>
> > Larry Niven and China [Miéville]'s unfinished collaboration; the manuscript
> > was unreadable because of all the blood.
>
> Whose?
Judging from photos of Mieville, probably Niven's.
--
James Moar
A.C.
news:aomm73$pr4$1...@panix2.panix.com...
Shouldn't _two_ be emphasized?
--
nomadi...@hotmail.com | http://nomadic.simspace.net
"Thus let me live, unheard, unknown/thus unlamented let me dye;/Steal from
the world, and not a stone/Tell where I lye." -- Alexander Pope
John M. Gamble
David E. Siegel <sie...@acm.org> wrote:
>sherm...@hotmail.com (Johnny1A) wrote in message news:<b3030854.02101...@posting.google.com>...
>> We've often seen authorial pairings in which the output seems to be
>> better as a pair than either alone. Niven and Pournelle are often
>> mentioned in this category, at least for their earlier collaborations.
>> There are other such pairings as well.
>>
>> But does anyone want to submit a case of two _good_ authors who get
>> together and produce garbage?
>>
>> Shermanlee
>
>Just to be clear -- you are looking for actual collaborations which
>have been published, but have not turned out well, correct? i have
>often seen lists of imagined collaberations which would work poorly,
>but those are usualy of authors most unlikely to get together (frex
>Edger Rioce Burroughs and Hal Clement, _A Mission to Mars_).
>
But i've seen Clement reminisce with fondness about some of those
old inaccurate stories. I think he could have fun with it.
--
-john
February 28 1997: Last day libraries could order catalogue cards
from the Library of Congress.
Brenda W. Clough
>Imaginary team-ups: Ursula K. LeGuin and David Drake's _Earthsea Empire_
>(retells the Peloponnesian war in the Earthsea setting).
>
>Clive Barker and J.K. Rowling's unfortunate joint effort _Harry Potter and
>the Incubus_ (so far the only Young Adult novel from Scholastic books to
>include multiple sadomasochistic pedophilic bondage-and-domination
>scenes).
>
>Larry Niven and China Mieville's unfinished collaboration; the manuscript
>was unreadable because of all the blood.
>
It's the imaginary team-ups that are far more enthralling. How about
P.G. Wodehouse's reworking of an H.P. Lovecraft ms, CTHULHU SPRINGTIME?
Brenda
--
---------
Brenda W. Clough
Read my novella "May Be Some Time"
Complete at http://www.analogsf.com/0202/maybesometime.html
My web page is at http://www.sff.net/people/Brenda/
Andrew Plotkin
> Jim Cambias wrote:
>>Imaginary team-ups: Ursula K. LeGuin and David Drake's _Earthsea Empire_
>>(retells the Peloponnesian war in the Earthsea setting).
>>
>>Clive Barker and J.K. Rowling's unfortunate joint effort _Harry Potter and
>>the Incubus_ (so far the only Young Adult novel from Scholastic books to
>>include multiple sadomasochistic pedophilic bondage-and-domination
>>scenes).
>>
>>Larry Niven and China Mieville's unfinished collaboration; the manuscript
>>was unreadable because of all the blood.
>>
> It's the imaginary team-ups that are far more enthralling. How about
> P.G. Wodehouse's reworking of an H.P. Lovecraft ms, CTHULHU SPRINGTIME?
I believe you are referring to _Scream for Jeeves_, by "HPG Wodecraft"
(Peter Cannon).
I haven't read it.
--Z
"And Aholibamah bare Jeush, and Jaalam, and Korah: these were the borogoves..."
*
* Make your vote count. Get your vote counted.
Brenda W. Clough
>Here, Brenda W. Clough <clo...@erols.com> wrote:
>
>>Jim Cambias wrote:
>>
>
>>>Imaginary team-ups: Ursula K. LeGuin and David Drake's _Earthsea Empire_
>>>(retells the Peloponnesian war in the Earthsea setting).
>>>
>>>Clive Barker and J.K. Rowling's unfortunate joint effort _Harry Potter and
>>>the Incubus_ (so far the only Young Adult novel from Scholastic books to
>>>include multiple sadomasochistic pedophilic bondage-and-domination
>>>scenes).
>>>
>>>Larry Niven and China Mieville's unfinished collaboration; the manuscript
>>>was unreadable because of all the blood.
>>>
>
>
>>It's the imaginary team-ups that are far more enthralling. How about
>>P.G. Wodehouse's reworking of an H.P. Lovecraft ms, CTHULHU SPRINGTIME?
>>
>
>I believe you are referring to _Scream for Jeeves_, by "HPG Wodecraft"
>(Peter Cannon).
>
>I haven't read it.
>
Good god, I thought it was but a figment of overheated imagination!
How about that ill-starred collaboration between Joan Slonziewski and John Norman, A DOOR INTO GOR?
Louann Miller
<erky...@eblong.com> wrote:
>Here, Brenda W. Clough <clo...@erols.com> wrote:
>> It's the imaginary team-ups that are far more enthralling. How about
>> P.G. Wodehouse's reworking of an H.P. Lovecraft ms, CTHULHU SPRINGTIME?
>
>I believe you are referring to _Scream for Jeeves_, by "HPG Wodecraft"
>(Peter Cannon).
>
>I haven't read it.
I have. It's funny as hell.
wth...@godzilla3.acpub.duke.edu
> Here, Brenda W. Clough <clo...@erols.com> wrote:
>
> > It's the imaginary team-ups that are far more enthralling. How about
> > P.G. Wodehouse's reworking of an H.P. Lovecraft ms, CTHULHU SPRINGTIME?
>
> I believe you are referring to _Scream for Jeeves_, by "HPG Wodecraft"
> (Peter Cannon).
>
> I haven't read it.
I have.
You should.
Not great,
But good.
William Hyde
EOS Department
Duke University
Patrick C
Clarke and Benford, _Beyond the Fall of Night_.
Andrew Wheeler
>
> sherm...@hotmail.com (Johnny1A) wrote in message news:<b3030854.02101...@posting.google.com>...
> > We've often seen authorial pairings in which the output seems to be
> > better as a pair than either alone. Niven and Pournelle are often
> > mentioned in this category, at least for their earlier collaborations.
> > There are other such pairings as well.
> >
> > But does anyone want to submit a case of two _good_ authors who get
> > together and produce garbage?
>
> moderate-stinker in DEUS IRAE, but the real prize was Zelazny and
> Robert Sheckley, who managed between them to produce three straight
> ugly-car-crash-with-snipers-picking-off-rubberneckers-bad books.
But Zelazny also wrote two at-least-pleasant books with Fred Saberhagen
-- _Coils_ and _The Black Throne_. Maybe Zelazny was only meant to
collaborate with other desert-dwellers?
--
Andrew Wheeler
--
Pack my box with five dozen liquor jugs.
(J.Q. Vandz struck my big fox whelp.)
Keith Morrison
> How about that ill-starred collaboration between Joan Slonziewski and
> John Norman, A DOOR INTO GOR?
No worse than my favourite Weber/Norman trilogy:
_Honor Back_, _Honor Knees_ and _Honor and Off Her_
Or the Straczyneski/Smith collaboration _Children of Delenn's_
Howzabout Rowlings and Stirling? _Harry Potter and the Bisexual
Dominatrix_.
--
Keith
Mike Hommel
news:0056D66DB0B8B527.9830515E...@lp.airnews.net...
Worst King book ever! However, it's been my unfortunate experience that
no matter how hard I try to give him chances, Peter Straub is a horrendous
author. I blame him entirely for Black House (and presume he simply
proofread The Talisman). Am I missing something with him? He's so highly
regarded, it seems like. I'm just about in the process of giving up on
Floating Dragon (which features similar silliness of narrator/viewpoint as
Black House), despite the seemingly interesting plot. I also read If You
Could See Me Now, and wished I hadn't. Same goes for the Hellfire Club.
What are the ones that make him "the *other* master of horror"? Ghost
Story? Should I really try it? Koko? Or is it all a scam, like how the
record companies force people to listen to N*Sync?
--
Mike Hommel
Hamumu Software
http://www.hamumu.com
Jeff Suzuki
> "Justin Fang" <jus...@panix.com> wrote in message
> >
> > He said two _good_ authors.
>
> Shouldn't _two_ be emphasized?
>
Maybe _authors_ should be...;-)
Johnny1A
> In article <b3030854.02101...@posting.google.com>,
> sherm...@hotmail.com (Johnny1A) wrote:
>
> > We've often seen authorial pairings in which the output seems to be
> > better as a pair than either alone. Niven and Pournelle are often
> > mentioned in this category, at least for their earlier collaborations.
> > There are other such pairings as well.
> >
> > But does anyone want to submit a case of two _good_ authors who get
> > together and produce garbage?
> >
> If you're talking about actual books in existence, well: Asimov and
> Silverberg are both great writers, but Silverberg's novel based on
> "Nightfall" was substandard. Not garbage, but not great.
>
> I've never read any of Gentry Lee's solo work, but his collaborations with
> Arthur C. Clarke are hair-raising.
Has anybody ever posted a definite list of what 'Clarke' stories are
actually Clarke, and what is actually G. Lee? Of course, in many
cases no doubt exists just from a glance at the prose...
> Larry Niven and China Mieville's unfinished collaboration; the manuscript
> was unreadable because of all the blood.
>
> Cambias
China Meiville? I don't believe I'm familiar with this author. Who
is (presumably) she, and what did she write?
Shermanlee
Johnny1A
>
> Imaginary team-ups: Ursula K. LeGuin and David Drake's _Earthsea Empire_
> (retells the Peloponnesian war in the Earthsea setting).
>
> Clive Barker and J.K. Rowling's unfortunate joint effort _Harry Potter and
> the Incubus_ (so far the only Young Adult novel from Scholastic books to
> include multiple sadomasochistic pedophilic bondage-and-domination
> scenes).
>
> Larry Niven and China Mieville's unfinished collaboration; the manuscript
> was unreadable because of all the blood.
>
> Cambias
As long as we're doing imaginary bad combos, what about 'Doc' Smith
and H.P. Lovecraft? Let the xenophile and the xenophobe put their
heads together, and...
OR
'Doc' Smith and Marion Zimmer Bradley?
Shermanlee
Jeff Suzuki
> I've never read any of Gentry Lee's solo work, but his collaborations with
> Arthur C. Clarke are hair-raising.
Did Gentry Lee ever actually write anything before teaming up with Clarke?
(Or after, for that matter?)
And I'm sure Greg Benford would love to forget a novel he wrote with,
um, William Rotsler in the 'way back.
Jeffs
Andrew Plotkin
> Keith Morrison <kei...@polarnet.ca> wrote in <3DAF5889.6000300
> @polarnet.ca>:
>>Howzabout Rowlings and Stirling? _Harry Potter and the Bisexual
>>Dominatrix_.
> I've seen Rowlings/Auel suggestions....
Harry Potter and the Collection of Probably Human Fossils?
Steve Coltrin
> Did Gentry Lee ever actually write anything before teaming up with Clarke?
None in ISFDB.
> (Or after, for that matter?)
_Double Full Moon Night_, _The Tranquility Wars_, _The History of the
Twenty-First Century_.
Michael Kube-McDowell
>Jim Cambias wrote:
>
>> I've never read any of Gentry Lee's solo work, but his collaborations with
>> Arthur C. Clarke are hair-raising.
>
>Did Gentry Lee ever actually write anything before teaming up with Clarke?
He was a JPL scientist--chief engineer on Galileo--when Clarke met him
in 1986. They worked together on a film treatment for producer Peter
Guber; no film materialized, but the project turned into the novel
CRADLE.
--
Michael Kube-McDowell - author of VECTORS, coming October 29
Tom Scudder
I thought COILS was okay, but THE BLACK THRONE was kind of weak.
On the other hand, DONNERJACK was pretty good.
Leif Magnar Kj|nn|y
Johnny1A <sherm...@hotmail.com> wrote:
>cam...@SPAHMTRAP.heliograph.com (Jim Cambias) wrote in message
>news:<cambias-1710...@diakelly.ppp.mtholyoke.edu>...
>
>> was unreadable because of all the blood.
>>
>> Cambias
>
>China Meiville? I don't believe I'm familiar with this author. Who
>is (presumably) she, and what did she write?
Mieville. And he's a guy (less than half Niven's age and pretty
tough looking, so I guess that would mostly be Niven's blood on
the manuscript). Young British author, has received quite a lot
of attention in here over the big fat novels _Perdido Street Station_
and _The Scar_ which can be described as steampunkish grotesque
fantasy with something of a classical marxist slant.
--
Leif Kj{\o}nn{\o}y | "Its habit of getting up late you'll agree
www.pvv.org/~leifmk| That it carries too far, when I say
Math geek and gamer| That it frequently breakfasts at five-o'clock tea,
GURPS, Harn, CORPS | And dines on the following day." (Carroll)
Tom Scudder
I just want to point out that of the twenty-two responses to the
original post so far appearing on Google, four of them mention this
book. (I was the only one to mention the sequels, though).
Worst Collaboration Ever??
Tom Scudder
As an addendum, after reading the Amazon reviews of this book, I will
certainly never ever trust an amazon review again.
http://makeashorterlink.com/?O2D445C22
The only helpful one was:
(one of 5 stars) An informed review of this book..., March 19, 1999
Reviewer: Alt...@aol.com from Up yo Azz Beotch!
ThIs bOOk suX. If U bUy thIs bOOk i'LL beEt yO aZZ beoTcH --This text
refers to the Hardcover edition.
Oddly, no one else found the review helpful.
Kevin Robinson
> Clarke and Benford, _Beyond the Fall of Night_.
From the imaginary pile....
Robert A. Heinlein & Ken MacLeod's tale of space & politics,
"A Stone's Throw From Luna." Chalk & cheese.
Kevin
David Johnston
> As long as we're doing imaginary bad combos, what about 'Doc' Smith
> and H.P. Lovecraft? Let the xenophile and the xenophobe put their
> heads together, and...
Hey, H.P. Lovecraft and Robert E. Howard once worked together. Man,
that was one unpredictable hero. One moment he's fainting in horror
and the next he's grabbing a broadsword and leading a revolution.
>
> OR
>
> 'Doc' Smith and Marion Zimmer Bradley?
I have visions of a separate distaff force of lens wielders alternately
clashing with and cooperating with the macho defenders of the spaceways.
Graham Woodland
>
>As long as we're doing imaginary bad combos, what about 'Doc' Smith
>and H.P. Lovecraft? Let the xenophile and the xenophobe put their
>heads together, and...
>
>OR
>
>'Doc' Smith and Marion Zimmer Bradley?
>
> Shermanlee
Doc Smith and Piers Anthony's all-too-aptly-named _Lensman Cluster_, in
which the venturesome Kinnison sibs' relationships with Worsel,
Tregonsee, Nadreck, and Plurette the alluring Plooran are explored in
contrived and unlikely detail.
E R Eddison and C S Lewis's classic _The Worm That Dieth Not_, in which
Aslan pushes the reset button on Narnia after _The Last Battle_ at the
prayer of His eternal Mistress, so that the whole heptalogy can be
revisited with lustier heroics and improved descriptions of over-
furnished palaces.
Sheri S Tepper and Terry Goodkind's notorious _Wizard's Last Rant_, in
which duelling authorial mouthpieces eventually drive Gaia homicidally
round the bend.
Tanith Lee and J R R Tolkien's _The Lost Books of Minas Ithil_. 'Nuff
said.
C J Cherryh and Terry Pratchett's _Gate of Discworld_, where Morgaine
finds that very thing. With hilarious consequences.
Lois McMaster Bujold and Terrance Dicks's _Dr Who: Miles Away!_, in
which the heroic Time Lord's attempts to overthrow an oppressive star
empire are repeatedly thwarted by an infuriating dwarf.
And, of course, the entire _Grunts of Velgarth_ series by Mercedes
Lackey and Mary Gentle. Pass me another partnership, this one's split!
Cheers,
--
Gray
http://www.quilpole.demon.co.uk
"She does not get eaten by the sharks at this time."
- William Goldman, _The Princess Bride_.
Jens Kilian
> C J Cherryh and Terry Pratchett's _Gate of Discworld_, where Morgaine
> finds that very thing. With hilarious consequences.
I WANT, WANT, WANT that one.
OTOH, I pity the poor young male protagonist of a Cherryh/Stirling novel...
--
mailto:j...@acm.org phone:+49-7031-464-7698 (TELNET 778-7698)
http://www.bawue.de/~jjk/ fax:+49-7031-464-7351
PGP: 06 04 1C 35 7B DC 1F 26 As the air to a bird, or the sea to a fish,
0x555DA8B5 BB A2 F0 66 77 75 E1 08 so is contempt to the contemptible. [Blake]
Jo'Asia
> Jim Cambias wrote:
>
> > I've never read any of Gentry Lee's solo work, but his collaborations with
> > Arthur C. Clarke are hair-raising.
>
> Did Gentry Lee ever actually write anything before teaming up with Clarke?
> (Or after, for that matter?)
Rama #5 (_Bright Messengers_) is credited to Gentry Lee only
Jo'Asia
--
__.-=-. Joanna Slupek http://bujold.fantastyka.net/ .-=-.__
--<()> (Add one 'l' to 'hel' when replying by e-mail) <()>--
.__.'| ..................................................... |'.__.
Fear me, love me, do as I say and I will be your Framling
Luke Webber
news:55923148.02101...@posting.google.com...
> I just want to point out that of the twenty-two responses to the
> original post so far appearing on Google, four of them mention this
> book. (I was the only one to mention the sequels, though).
>
> Worst Collaboration Ever??
You bet. Those of us who've read it should not only get our time and money
back, but a six-figure sum for pain and suffering. Except you. You should be
held up to public ridicule for letting yourself get conned into (presumably)
buying and reading the sequels. ;^)
Luke
Justin Fang
Tom Scudder <tom...@spidernet.com.cy> wrote:
>dt...@ida.org (David Tate) wrote in message news:<9d67e55e.02101...@posting.google.com>...
>> sherm...@hotmail.com (Johnny1A) wrote in message news:<b3030854.02101...@posting.google.com>...
>> > together and produce garbage?
>> Roger Zelazny and Robert Sheckley. I still have dents in my walls
>> from trying to read _Bring Me the Head of Prince Charming_, but I love
>> both authors' typical works.
>I just want to point out that of the twenty-two responses to the
>original post so far appearing on Google, four of them mention this
>book. (I was the only one to mention the sequels, though).
>
>Worst Collaboration Ever??
Surely the Piers Anthony / Mercedes Lackey collaboration _If I Pay Thee
Not In Gold_ deserves an honorable mention here. Yes, it fails the "two
good authors" bit. No, I have not actually read it, since I figured the
title accurately described the sole motivation behind the book.
--
Justin Fang (jus...@panix.com)
Lois Tilton
> (Peter Cannon).
>
> I haven't read it.
It wasn't very good, actually.
LT
Daphne Brinkerhoff
> "Bill Snyder" <bsn...@iadfw.net> wrote in message
> news:0056D66DB0B8B527.9830515E...@lp.airnews.net...
> > On 17 Oct 2002 07:56:18 -0700, cen...@hotmail.com (Daphne
> > Brinkerhoff) wrote:
> >
> > >sherm...@hotmail.com (Johnny1A) wrote in message
> news:<b3030854.02101...@posting.google.com>...
> > >> But does anyone want to submit a case of two _good_ authors who get
> > >> together and produce garbage?
> > >
> > >Stephen King & Peter Straub, _Black House_. (Yes, I think Stephen
> > >King is a "good author". Yes, I liked _The Talisman_. It had, you
> > >see, a plot and characters. Can't say the same for _Black House_.)
> >
> > But, Dear Reader, as we drift upon the dark currents of its prose, or
> > waft on high as one carried by eagles to view the countryside below,
> > we see that it has cutesy author-intrusiveness; the omniscient
> > viewpoint;, prose now serviceable, now fustian, and now ultraviolet;
> > and an attempt to retcon the Territories into the Gunslinger milieu.
Frankly, I never forgave him for grafting RF --> Gunslinger. I
disliked it in _The Wastelands_ a *lot*, but it got downright *wrong*
in the frame story in _Wizard & Glass_.
The whole Gunslinger part in _Insomnia_ was just mildly irritating by
comparison -- but then, the last third of that book had so many things
wrong with it, IMHO. (And the first two-thirds is fabulous. Sigh.)
There's an article I read in _Writer's Digest_, from before _Insomnia_
was published, where he said he was stuck in the middle of it.
"Whatever the sparrows are for this novel, they haven't flown yet."
(a _Dark Half_ reference) I don't think they ever flew.
> > Where the fsck's the airsick bag on an eagle, anyhow?
Why does this make me think of the LOTR thread? :)
<SNIPPED>
> However, it's been my unfortunate experience that
> no matter how hard I try to give him chances, Peter Straub is a horrendous
> author.
<SNIPPED>
> What are the ones that make him "the *other* master of horror"? Ghost
> Story? Should I really try it? Koko? Or is it all a scam, like how the
> record companies force people to listen to N*Sync?
Is _If you could see me now_ the one with the quarry full of water? I
thought it was OK. I think Straub's talents are something like 10%
character, 30% mood, 60% theme, and all of it with distinctly un-messy
prose (which, after someone like King, can come as a relief). Not so
much into the complex plots. If you like that kind of thing, this is
the kind of thing you'll like. I read _Julia_ and _Ghost Story_
because of _Danse Macabre_, and enjoyed them. _Julia_ had some
graphic stuff in there which freaked me a bit. _Ghost Story_ had more
plot in it, but essentially was about guilt from the past and how
that's a kind of "ghost" that haunts you. There's real ghosts too, I
hasten to add. I also read _Shadowland_ (nothing to do with C. S.
Lewis), which had even more plot. A boys' school, a couple of
somewhat-pariahs, and a mysterious powerful uncle...
Still, I feel no need to follow up with his newer work (much of which,
I understand, is about the war experience).
--
Daphne
Beowulf Bolt
Louann Miller wrote:
>
> It's funny as hell.
wth...@godzilla3.acpub.duke.edu wrote:
*
* Not great,
*
* But good.
Lois Tilton wrote:
#
# It wasn't very good, actually.
Now that we've run the gamut of responses, is there anyone else who
wants to chip in whether or not it is worth the effort to track down? ;)
Biff
--
-------------------------------------------------------------------
"Me? Lady, I'm your worst nightmare - a pumpkin with a gun.
[...] Euminides this! " - Mervyn, the Sandman #66
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Mike Schilling
news:YJvr9.28809$334....@news-server.bigpond.net.au...
> "Johnny1A" <sherm...@hotmail.com> wrote in message
> news:b3030854.02101...@posting.google.com...
> > We've often seen authorial pairings in which the output seems to be
> > better as a pair than either alone. Niven and Pournelle are often
> > mentioned in this category, at least for their earlier collaborations.
> > There are other such pairings as well.
> >
> > together and produce garbage?
>
> Sheer dreck.
>
Zelazny and Philip K. Dick _Deus Irae_. Unforutnately, it's only *next to*
unreadable.
Konrad Gaertner
>
> Jeff Suzuki wystukał w wiadomości <3DAF787...@bard.edu>:
>
> > Jim Cambias wrote:
> >
> > > I've never read any of Gentry Lee's solo work, but his collaborations with
> > > Arthur C. Clarke are hair-raising.
> >
> > Did Gentry Lee ever actually write anything before teaming up with Clarke?
> > (Or after, for that matter?)
>
> Rama #5 (_Bright Messengers_) is credited to Gentry Lee only
Oh my, another Rama sequel....
--KG
Mark Blunden
> Jeff Suzuki wystukał w wiadomo?ci <3DAF787...@bard.edu>:
>
>> Jim Cambias wrote:
>>
>>> I've never read any of Gentry Lee's solo work, but his
>>> collaborations with Arthur C. Clarke are hair-raising.
>>
>> Did Gentry Lee ever actually write anything before teaming up with
>> Clarke? (Or after, for that matter?)
>
> Rama #5 (_Bright Messengers_) is credited to Gentry Lee only
Unless it's a great improvement on its Gentry-fied predecessors, surely
'blamed' would be more accurate?
--
Mark.
* These men have taken a supreme vow of celibacy, like their fathers
and their fathers before them
Konrad Gaertner
I read that, and liked it (though I liked both authors at the time).
Lackey is an order of magnitude better writer than Anthony, and
capable of actual worldbuilding, and having to work with him kept
her out of usual rut.
--KG
Brenda W. Clough
>Jo'Asia wrote:
>
>>Jeff Suzuki wystukał w wiadomooeci <3DAF787...@bard.edu>:
>>
>>>Jim Cambias wrote:
>>>
>>>>I've never read any of Gentry Lee's solo work, but his collaborations with
>>>>Arthur C. Clarke are hair-raising.
>>>>
>>>Did Gentry Lee ever actually write anything before teaming up with Clarke?
>>>(Or after, for that matter?)
>>>
>>Rama #5 (_Bright Messengers_) is credited to Gentry Lee only
>>
>
>Oh my, another Rama sequel....
>
Somebody somewhere must be buying these things, otherwise they wouldn't
keep printing them.
Brenda
--
---------
Brenda W. Clough
Read my novella "May Be Some Time"
Complete at http://www.analogsf.com/0202/maybesometime.html
My web page is at http://www.sff.net/people/Brenda/
David E. Siegel
> In article <55923148.02101...@posting.google.com>,
> Tom Scudder <tom...@spidernet.com.cy> wrote:
> >dt...@ida.org (David Tate) wrote in message news:<9d67e55e.02101...@posting.google.com>...
> >> sherm...@hotmail.com (Johnny1A) wrote in message news:<b3030854.02101...@posting.google.com>...
> >> > But does anyone want to submit a case of two _good_ authors who get
> >> > together and produce garbage?
>
<snip>
> Surely the Piers Anthony / Mercedes Lackey collaboration _If I Pay Thee
> Not In Gold_ deserves an honorable mention here. Yes, it fails the "two
> good authors" bit. No, I have not actually read it, since I figured the
> title accurately described the sole motivation behind the book.
Actually if you like the kind of thing that Lackey does on her own,
this is not bad. it is certianly not notably worse than many of her
stand-alones, which is what I think we are looking for here (books
worse than the stand-alone work of the authors). Of course YMMV. I
have read little of PA and so can not comment on how this book relates
to his usual work.
-DES
Mike Schilling
"David E. Siegel" <sie...@acm.org> wrote in message
news:dbdfe7e0.0210...@posting.google.com...
If it's not slimy, adolescent, and full of bad puns, that would be "barely".
Kate Halleron
> better as a pair than either alone. Niven and Pournelle are often
> mentioned in this category, at least for their earlier collaborations.
> There are other such pairings as well.
>
> together and produce garbage?
>
Well, I really like both Stephen Brust and Megan Lindholm, but I found
their collaboration "The Gypsy" a confusing mess. Not gargage,
exactly, but definitely not a high point for either author.
Your mileage may vary.
Kate
Jerry Friedman
> Tom Scudder wrote:
> >
> > > We've often seen authorial pairings in which the output seems to be
> > > better as a pair than either alone. Niven and Pournelle are often
> > > mentioned in this category, at least for their earlier collaborations.
> > > There are other such pairings as well.
> > >
> > > But does anyone want to submit a case of two _good_ authors who get
> > > together and produce garbage?
> >
> > moderate-stinker in DEUS IRAE, but the real prize was Zelazny and
> > Robert Sheckley, who managed between them to produce three straight
> > ugly-car-crash-with-snipers-picking-off-rubberneckers-bad books.
>
> But Zelazny also wrote two at-least-pleasant books with Fred Saberhagen
> -- _Coils_ and _The Black Throne_. Maybe Zelazny was only meant to
> collaborate with other desert-dwellers?
Speaking of which, Harlan Ellison's collection of his collaborations,
_Partners in Wonder_, is a fertile field for answers to Shermanlee's
question. (Yes, I think Ellison's a good writer.) For instance,
"Come to Me Not in Winter's White", with Zelazny, I remember as
mediocre. As for Sheckley, I'm by no means fond of "I See a Man
Sitting on a Chair, and the Chair is Biting His Leg", but then I don't
think I've ever liked anything by Sheckley. Ellison says in his
introduction that he didn't think the one with Delany, "The Power of
the Nail", really worked, and I agree.
On the other hand, "The Song the Zombie Sang", with Silverberg, is a
triumph of shmaltz, not for the faint of tear ducts. "Up Christopher
Street to Madness" (with Davidson) and HE's intro to it are classics
of their kind. And "The Human Operators", with Van Vogt, won a Hugo.
--
Jerry Friedman
John M. Gamble
Johnny1A <sherm...@hotmail.com> wrote:
>
>As long as we're doing imaginary bad combos, what about 'Doc' Smith
>and H.P. Lovecraft? Let the xenophile and the xenophobe put their
>heads together, and...
>
Hmm, actually, i think we've got the proper territory covered just
using Smiths alone: 'Doc' Smith, Clark Ashton Smith, and George O.
Smith write their science-fantasy trilogy, The Equilateral Terror,
a.k.a. The Vacuum from the Tube.
--
-john
February 28 1997: Last day libraries could order catalogue cards
from the Library of Congress.
John M. Gamble
I liked "Street Scene" with Laumer quite a bit. Short-cuts
silliness that i rather enjoy.
>On the other hand, "The Song the Zombie Sang", with Silverberg, is a
>triumph of shmaltz, not for the faint of tear ducts. "Up Christopher
>Street to Madness" (with Davidson) and HE's intro to it are classics
>of their kind. And "The Human Operators", with Van Vogt, won a Hugo.
No, "The Human Operators" has not even been nominated for Hugo,
Nebula, or World Fantasy Award, according to The Hugo, Nebula
and World Fantasy Awards (by Howard DeVore).
In fact, looking through the index, van Vogt has never been up for
a Hugo at all. He had one Nebula Nomination for the 1965 Nebula for
"Research Station" with James H. Schmitz.
He did get a Grand Master Nebula though, for what it's worth.
Jerry Friedman
> Andrew Plotkin wrote:
>
> >Here, Brenda W. Clough <clo...@erols.com> wrote:
...
> >>It's the imaginary team-ups that are far more enthralling. How about
> >>P.G. Wodehouse's reworking of an H.P. Lovecraft ms, CTHULHU SPRINGTIME?
> >>
> >
> >I believe you are referring to _Scream for Jeeves_, by "HPG Wodecraft"
> >(Peter Cannon).
> >
> >I haven't read it.
> >
>
>
> Good god, I thought it was but a figment of overheated imagination!
Reminds me of "The Jungle Rot Kid on the Nod", by Philip Jose Farmer
in homage to two writers named Burroughs.
> How about that ill-starred collaboration between Joan Slonziewski and John Norman, A DOOR INTO GOR?
Or _Last Refuge_, if John Ringo is old enough to have collaborated
with Isaac Asimov.
I heard that Samuel Delany never finished _The Splendor, the Misery,
of Bodies, of Cities_ because his collaborator, Emma Bull, wanted to
make Marq Dyeth a guitarist and Rat Korga a bass player. And an elf.
On the other hand, _Up the Walls of Ringworld_ succeeded because Larry
Niven didn't notice that James Tiptree's aliens had unintelligent
males, not females. So look for _Her Smoke Ring Rose up Forever_, by
Niven, Joanna Russ (pinch-hitting), and Steven Barnes.
In Robin Hobb's upcoming series, _Fitz Through the Dragon's Gate_, the
scenes in our world will be written by Megan Lindholm.
--
Jerry Friedman
Andrew Wheeler
>
> [Re: _Scream for Jeeves_, by "HPG Wodecraft" (Peter Cannon).]
>
> Louann Miller wrote:
> >
> > It's funny as hell.
>
> wth...@godzilla3.acpub.duke.edu wrote:
> *
> * Not great,
> *
> * But good.
>
> Lois Tilton wrote:
> #
> # It wasn't very good, actually.
>
> Now that we've run the gamut of responses, is there anyone else who
> wants to chip in whether or not it is worth the effort to track down? ;)
I liked it a lot, but you really need to be a Wodehouse fan to
appreciate it (even more than a Lovecraft fan, I think). I thought
Cannon captured Bertie Wooster's voice better than anyone but Wodehouse
(not that anybody else, even Cannon, came all that close), and it made
me giggle and talk like Bertie for a few hours afterward, which I took
as a positive sign in this case.
Anyway, judge for yourself. Below is the opening paragraph of the story
"The Rummy Affair of Young Charlie," third of the stories in _Scream for Jeeves_:
"Love is a hideous thingummy. Take the case of Arthur "Pongo" Jermyn,
for instance. Art was not like any other Egg, Bean or Crumpet, for he
was a poet and a dreamer, the sort of chappie who after a few quick ones
would declare that the stars are God's daisy-chain, that every time a
fairy hiccoughs a wee baby is born, and that we humans are not a
separate species. This poetic lunacy fit right in with his outre
personal appearance. It's easy to say just what the poor chimp -- sorry,
chump -- resembled. To swing across the Drones swimming-bath by the
ropes and rings was with him the work of a moment, if you know what I
mean. Even Tuppy Glossops's looping back the last ring did not cause Sir
Arthur to drop into the fluid and ruin his specially tailored
dress-clothes with the fifty-inch sleeves."
That's the way it goes; if you like that, you'll probably enjoy the
whole thing.
--
Andrew Wheeler
--
Pack my box with five dozen liquor jugs.
(J.Q. Vandz struck my big fox whelp.)
Lois Tilton
>
>
> I liked it a lot, but you really need to be a Wodehouse fan to
> appreciate it (even more than a Lovecraft fan, I think). I thought
> Cannon captured Bertie Wooster's voice better than anyone but Wodehouse
> (not that anybody else, even Cannon, came all that close), and it made
> me giggle and talk like Bertie for a few hours afterward, which I took
> as a positive sign in this case.
Ah, but I am a very great fan indeed of Jeeves and Bertie, which was what I didn't like
about this thing -- it rang falsely in my ear.
LT
Johnny1A
> Johnny1A wrote:
>
> > As long as we're doing imaginary bad combos, what about 'Doc' Smith
> > and H.P. Lovecraft? Let the xenophile and the xenophobe put their
> > heads together, and...
> > 'Doc' Smith and Marion Zimmer Bradley?
>
> I have visions of a separate distaff force of lens wielders alternately
> clashing with and cooperating with the macho defenders of the spaceways.
The more I think of that combo, the more the image of a catfight
between the non-self-pitying Clarrisa Kinnison and the very annoying
Morgan le Fay (the Mists of Avalon version) preys on my
thoughts...somehow, I think MZB's Morgan would drive Clarrisa to want
to beat the living crap out of her. Just a hunch.
Shermanlee
Benjamin Adams
news:cambias-1710...@diakelly.ppp.mtholyoke.edu:
> In article <b3030854.02101...@posting.google.com>,
> sherm...@hotmail.com (Johnny1A) wrote:
>
>> But does anyone want to submit a case of two _good_ authors who get
>> together and produce garbage?
>>
>
> Clive Barker and J.K. Rowling's unfortunate joint effort _Harry Potter
> and the Incubus_ (so far the only Young Adult novel from Scholastic
> books to include multiple sadomasochistic pedophilic
> bondage-and-domination scenes).
Now, I see where you're coming from with this, but Barker does know how
to write YA novels. _The Thief of Always_ was pretty good IMO.
-Ben Adams
Steve Taylor
> Roger Zelazny and Robert Sheckley, _Bring me the Head of Prince Charming_.
> Sheer dreck.
Zelazny and Bester, _Psychoshop_, posthumous collaboration. Tired and
sad - they were both good authors in their prime, and worked on this
long afterwards.
> Luke
Steve
Jerry Friedman
Good heavens! One of those things I was so sure of that I didn't look
it up.
It was 12th on the _Locus_ Poll for Best Short Fiction and was
included in Lester Del Rey's _Best Science Fiction Stories of the
Year_ and Robert Silverberg and Martin H. Greenberg's _Arbor House
Treasury of Modern Science Fiction_ and _Great Science Fiction of the
20th Century_.
Anyway, thanks for the correction.
...
--
Jerry Friedman
aRJay
>In Robin Hobb's upcoming series, _Fitz Through the Dragon's Gate_, the
>scenes in our world will be written by Megan Lindholm.
That's not going to happen, those two don't even talk to each other so
there is no chance you could get them to sit down facing each other to
work on a collaborative series.
--
aRJay
"In this great and creatorless universe, where so much beautiful has
come to be out of the chance interactions of the basic properties of
matter, it seems so important that we love one another."
- Lucy Kemnitzer
Mike Schilling
"Lois Tilton" <lti...@enteract.com> wrote in message
news:1103_10...@news.rcn.com...
Me too. It's a fair attempt at Wodehouse 3rd-person narration plus some
Bertieisms thrown in, but that does not a Wooster make.
Steve Taylor
> I just want to point out that of the twenty-two responses to the
> original post so far appearing on Google, four of them mention this
> book. (I was the only one to mention the sequels, though).
>
> Worst Collaboration Ever??
Well, I only read two pages before my brain told me it wasn't having fun
and it wasn't planning to start. It was pretty grim.
It wasn't a collaboration between two good authors though - it was a
collaboration between two authors who'd been very good in their prime.
Steve
Bill Westfield
Trillium something? Icky - read like they started off cooperating and ended
up fighting with each other...
BillW
Tom Scudder
> "Tom Scudder" <tom...@spidernet.com.cy> wrote in message
> news:55923148.02101...@posting.google.com...
<< BRING ME THE HEAD OF PRINCE CHARMING >> et seq.
> > I just want to point out that of the twenty-two responses to the
> > original post so far appearing on Google, four of them mention this
> > book. (I was the only one to mention the sequels, though).
> >
> > Worst Collaboration Ever??
>
> You bet. Those of us who've read it should not only get our time and money
> back, but a six-figure sum for pain and suffering. Except you. You should be
> held up to public ridicule for letting yourself get conned into (presumably)
> buying and reading the sequels. ;^)
>
You misapprehend. I didn't buy or read the sequels - just saw them in
the bookstore, applied the usual sequel-quality-depreciation factor,
and burned out half of my neurons.
-- T
Robert A. Woodward
Bill Westfield <bi...@cypher.cisco.com> wrote:
_Black Trillium_ by Marion Zimmer Bradley, Julian May, and Andre Norton
(the real fighting started when they did their individual sequels which
are almost completely incompatible).
--
Robert Woodward <robe...@drizzle.com>
<http://www.drizzle.com/~robertaw
David Tate
> Tom Scudder wrote:
>
> > I just want to point out that of the twenty-two responses to the
> > Me the Head of Prince Charming_] (I was the only one to mention
> >
> > Worst Collaboration Ever??
>
> Well, I only read two pages before my brain told me it wasn't having fun
> and it wasn't planning to start. It was pretty grim.
>
> It wasn't a collaboration between two good authors though - it was a
> collaboration between two authors who'd been very good in their prime.
I have to disagree here. Zelazny, at least, was still writing
excellent things (e.g. _A Night in the Lonesome October_,
"Permafrost") right up to the end of his life.
David Tate
Htn963
>Graham Woodland <gr...@quilpole.demon.co.uk> writes:
>> C J Cherryh and Terry Pratchett's _Gate of Discworld_, where Morgaine
>> finds that very thing. With hilarious consequences.
>
>I WANT, WANT, WANT that one.
Ditto. Anything for another Morgaine book.
>
>OTOH, I pity the poor young male protagonist of a Cherryh/Stirling novel...
Rather you should pity the hapless guide for _this_ world, and we all know
that would be Rincewind.
--
Ht
|Any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind; and therefore
never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.
--John Donne, "Devotions Upon Emergent Occasions"|
Andrew Wheeler
And they both died before finishing it, too, which I thought should have
been *some* kind of clue...
John Andrew Fairhurst
> Somebody somewhere must be buying these things, otherwise they wouldn't
> keep printing them.
>
Not even looked at the sequels to _Rama_. They have been in the local
libraries but I had read the 2001 sequels, which cured me of that
particular itch :-).
--
John Fairhurst
In Association with Amazon worldwide:
http://www.johnsbooks.co.uk/
Your One-Stop Site for Classic SF!
Updated for December 2002 Publications
A Quarter of a Millennium of healthcare In Manchester:
http://www.mri250.org
Steve Taylor
>> Zelazny and Bester, _Psychoshop_, posthumous collaboration. Tired and
>> sad - they were both good authors in their prime, and worked on this
>> long afterwards.
>
> And they both died before finishing it, too, which I thought should have
> been *some* kind of clue...
Yep. It's the only doubly posthumous collaboration I can think of. If it
had come twenty five years earlier, what a book it could have been...
> Andrew Wheeler
Steve
Jens Kilian
> Jens Kilian wrote:
> >OTOH, I pity the poor young male protagonist of a Cherryh/Stirling novel...
>
> Rather you should pity the hapless guide for _this_ world, and we all know
> that would be Rincewind.
Ah, but Rincewind never agonizes about anything. No guilt, nothing. The only
thing he knows to do, the only thing he needs to do, is to RUN AWAY, NOW, AND
FOR GHU'S SAKE DON'T LOOK BACK!
--
mailto:j...@acm.org phone:+49-7031-464-7698 (TELNET 778-7698)
http://www.bawue.de/~jjk/ fax:+49-7031-464-7351
PGP: 06 04 1C 35 7B DC 1F 26 As the air to a bird, or the sea to a fish,
0x555DA8B5 BB A2 F0 66 77 75 E1 08 so is contempt to the contemptible. [Blake]
aRJay
Fairhurst <jo...@johnsbooks.co.uk> writes
>In article <3DB06B1C...@erols.com>, clo...@erols.com says...
>> Somebody somewhere must be buying these things, otherwise they wouldn't
>> keep printing them.
>>
>
>Not even looked at the sequels to _Rama_. They have been in the local
>libraries but I had read the 2001 sequels, which cured me of that
>particular itch :-).
If you read the Rama sequels they will make the 2001 sequels look
infinitely better.
Actually only 3001 is the only one of the sequels that is seriously bad,
the others might well be considered lesser works than the original but
they are not actively bad.
If only the same could be said of the Rama sequels.
John Andrew Fairhurst
aR...@escore.demon.co.uk says...
> If you read the Rama sequels they will make the 2001 sequels look
> infinitely better.
>
Oh d...ear.
William December Starr
Keith Morrison <kei...@polarnet.ca> said:
>> How about that ill-starred collaboration between Joan Slonziewski
>> and John Norman, A DOOR INTO GOR? [Brenda W. Clough]
>
> No worse than my favourite Weber/Norman trilogy:
>
> _Honor Back_, _Honor Knees_ and _Honor and Off Her_
>
> Or the Straczyneski/Smith collaboration _Children of Delenn's_
>
> Howzabout Rowlings and Stirling? _Harry Potter and the Bisexual
> Dominatrix_.
Katherine Kurtz and David Drake: _Camber's Slammers_.
-- William December Starr <wds...@panix.com>
Jeff Walther
tom...@spidernet.com.cy (Tom Scudder) wrote:
> sherm...@hotmail.com (Johnny1A) wrote in message
news:<b3030854.02101...@posting.google.com>...
> > We've often seen authorial pairings in which the output seems to be
> > better as a pair than either alone. Niven and Pournelle are often
> > mentioned in this category, at least for their earlier collaborations.
> > There are other such pairings as well.
> >
> > But does anyone want to submit a case of two _good_ authors who get
> > together and produce garbage?
> >
> > Shermanlee
>
> Anyone and Roger Zelazny. Zelazny and Philip K. Dick produced a
> moderate-stinker in DEUS IRAE, but the real prize was Zelazny and
> Robert Sheckley, who managed between them to produce three straight
> ugly-car-crash-with-snipers-picking-off-rubberneckers-bad books.
I liked Zelazny and Saberhagen in "Octagon", unless I'm misremembering and
that wasn't Zelazny.
--
A friend will help you move. A real friend will help you move a body.
David E. Siegel
I thought that was saberhagen solo (not counting people from Flying
buffalo inc, who advised him on who their computer game worked.) Not
his best work, but not truly dire, IMO.
-DES
Jeff Walther
Having read the rest of the thread now, I think that I was thinking of
"Coils" but I couldn't swear to it. My copies of both are boxed in my
parent's attic, so I won't be checking it until I get a lot more shelf
space built at my house.
Tom Scudder
> In article <dbdfe7e0.02103...@posting.google.com>,
> sie...@acm.org (David E. Siegel) wrote:
>
> > tr...@io.com (Jeff Walther) wrote in message
> news:<trag-31100...@aus-as2-039.io.com>...
> > > that wasn't Zelazny.
> >
> > I thought that was saberhagen solo (not counting people from Flying
> > buffalo inc, who advised him on who their computer game worked.) Not
> > his best work, but not truly dire, IMO.
>
> Having read the rest of the thread now, I think that I was thinking of
> "Coils" but I couldn't swear to it. My copies of both are boxed in my
> parent's attic, so I won't be checking it until I get a lot more shelf
> space built at my house.
COILS is the one with the main character with the mutant psychic power
that lets him talk to computers. I think he starts off amnesiac, too.
There's also his ex-girfriend who's telepathic, and a former tv
faith-healer with the power to psychically heal or inflict various
diseases on people.