Poul Anderson's "Eve Times Four" in NESFA Vol 3:
is yet another Holmesian story ("Time Patrol" and "The Martian Crown Jewels" are in NESFA Vol 1 and "The Queen of Air and Darkness" is the title story of NESFA Vol 2);
makes the interesting point that, on a planet with longer days and nights, organisms active at night and those active by day will be more specialized and differentiated;
presents clues that we, or at least I, did not recognize as such (e.g., why is planetary rotation so slow when there is no large satellite to retard it?);
presents an odd mixture of castaways - one young man, three young women, one older woman, two extraterrestrial quadrupeds of different species - but then explains the oddity;
nevertheless, remains an example of a kind of rather flippant humor that does not appeal to me.
NESFA Vol 1 contains the three Wing Alak stories.
The second Rustum story is in NESFA Vol 2 and the first is in NESFA Vol 3 although these are collected in Orbit Unlimited.
6 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
If you find the humor in "Eve Times Four" too flippant for your taste, what kind of humor would satisfy you more? The biting satire found in Jonathan Swift's GULLIVER'S TRAVELS or Evelyn Waugh's BLACK MISCHIEF?
And how would you rate the humor found in Anderson/Dickson's Hoka stories? Or Anderson's "A Bicycle Built For Brew"?
Sean
Sean,
Waugh can be amusing although I have not read BLACK MISCHIEF. Swift's satire is good but not really humorous? I felt the same way about "A Bicycle Built For Brew" as about "Eve Times Four." Hoka I discussed a lot earlier. Some amusing situations certainly.
Paul.
Kaor, Paul!
Meaning you think the satires Swift wrote were too bitter to be really funny? I can see that. And I think Waugh's BLACK MISCHIEF genuinely funny and well worth reading.
I would like to bring two American satirists to your attention: Tom Wolf and Christopher Buckley. For example, Buckley's LITTLE GREEN MEN, focusing as it does on "UFOology," is both hilariously funny and at least tangentially related to SF.
I fear tastes differ! I did and do like the Hoka stories and "A Bicycle Built For Brew."
Sean
Ave Sean,
Yes, Swift can be quite harrowing.
Paul.
Kaor, Paul!
Such as Swift's notorious "A Modest Proposal."
Sean
Saluton,
Very much so.
Paul.
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