These (there are two!) are mood books; if you poke at the scenery or try to make the world-building make sense you're going to wind up covered in paper mache and regret. There are moments in them when the mood works anyway.
The copy I had was the first one on the second row; not peak Whelan, but pretty good as these things go. (I mean, it's not especially convincing tack, but it is at least tack.)
I was using "peak Whelan" as a stand-in for "high end cover"[1], rather than trying to identify the cover as a Whelan, which I am pretty sure it isn't.
[1]Julian May's "The Nonborn King" has a great cover, whatever you think of the book. That kind of "peak Whelan" cover.
I remember this book as a Bad Book (from a literary standpoint) trying to be a Good Book (from an ethical standpoint). I read it at uni.
Now, with Jewish relatives by marriage in Montreal, the lack of Canadian People of David would have stood out much more. Also, as a Jew myself, it's weird that they would have ended up calling themselves or being known as People of David, because religiously, David is not a big deal. He's not one of the Patriarchs, and he's not Moses. He was a great war leader and a symbol of the glory and ethical traps of being king, and of course a great poet/musician, but he seems to me much more important to Christians (because of the tendency to identify Jesus as being of the line of David). Maybe that's the point, that other people call them the People of David.
On covers, if I was the writer then I would like one whose text equated my book with "The Lord of the Rings" best! (Unless I was aiming at Charles Dickens or something.)
The Star/Shield of David ✡ isn't an important religious symbol in itself, but it has, in relatively recent years, come to represent Jews and Judaism. I can sorta see an elision/transference process: "People of the Star of David" => People of [the Star of] David => People of David. Or maybe the reasoning that if David was important enough to name the symbol after, he was important enough to be who the people who used the symbol were from.
but he seems to me much more important to Christians (because of the tendency to identify Jesus as being of the line of David).
But the actual Jewish Messiah/Mashiach (or at least the most important and well-known concept of the Messiah, currently and historically) is indeed supposed to be of the line of David. The whole point of the genealogical retcons in Matthew and Luke was to associate the lineage of David with Jesus, because that's what most Jewish people even of that period knew about.
There's a sculpture of a giant blue termite visible from Rt 95 in Rhode Island. A contest was held a while back to name it, and the winner was 'Nibbles Woodaway'.
The title of this book reminds me of it, in a it-reads-like-a-pun-but-is-it-really-one? kind of way.
a great bad book. or maybe I first read it when I was less critical? I like the sequel as well, and regret that the trilogy was never finished. I kinda lump it with andre norton's _starman's son/2250 a.d._ and steven boyett's _the architech of sleep_.
according to this (tor) review, it was cited by both gygax and ward as an influence on Oed&d and gamma world respectively.
missing spaces in the second para (btwn Metis and and), and in fn.2 (btwn Mars and and)
Out send to be a trope that machinery left unattended for millennia will function better than when regularly used. Witness Norton's "No Night Without Stars", a post-apocalyptic book that also features mutated "large economy size". animals and evil white people.
The TV Tropes web site has articles on "Lost Technology" built by the mysterious science of the Ancients (often to their regret) and "Ragnarok Proofing" when ancient stuff still works, since the Ancients (or the writer), not to mention the military, had no concept of planned obsolescence or limited warranty. They also have cases of "Gasoline Lasts Forever". Obviously gasoline does not last forever.
And obviously stuff regularly used wears out, unless it is "Trigger's Broom".
Science fiction stuff intentionally built to last includes First Footprint City in "Earthsearch", which is on the planet's satellite left behind when the planet was migrated to a different star system due to stellar instability (they took a number of artificial suns). First Footprint City's computer is programmed to welcome alien visitors, but not necessarily as they'd like. However, there are little cars to drive around and see the actual First Footprint of an astronaut.
And it was argued to Superman that Earth civilisation would fall eventually whatever he did, so he invented a sort of robot encyclopedia of civilisation for use by survivors aiming to rebuild. This was designed to be very long lasting, of course. And mass produced.
Meanwhile in real life I think "we" have airliners parked going nowhere but running the engines about once a week anyway because if you don't, they won't.
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james_davis_nicoll) wrote2020-10-11 09:35 am
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That's an impressively terrible cover.
These (there are two!) are mood books; if you poke at the scenery or try to make the world-building make sense you're going to wind up covered in paper mache and regret. There are moments in them when the mood works anyway.
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(Anonymous) 2020-10-11 02:54 pm (UTC)(link)--
Nathan H.
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The copy I had was the first one on the second row; not peak Whelan, but pretty good as these things go. (I mean, it's not especially convincing tack, but it is at least tack.)
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I was using "peak Whelan" as a stand-in for "high end cover"[1], rather than trying to identify the cover as a Whelan, which I am pretty sure it isn't.
[1]Julian May's "The Nonborn King" has a great cover, whatever you think of the book. That kind of "peak Whelan" cover.
no subject
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Now, with Jewish relatives by marriage in Montreal, the lack of Canadian People of David would have stood out much more. Also, as a Jew myself, it's weird that they would have ended up calling themselves or being known as People of David, because religiously, David is not a big deal. He's not one of the Patriarchs, and he's not Moses. He was a great war leader and a symbol of the glory and ethical traps of being king, and of course a great poet/musician, but he seems to me much more important to Christians (because of the tendency to identify Jesus as being of the line of David). Maybe that's the point, that other people call them the People of David.
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(Anonymous) 2020-10-11 07:01 pm (UTC)(link)On covers, if I was the writer then I would like one whose text equated my book with "The Lord of the Rings" best! (Unless I was aiming at Charles Dickens or something.)
Robert Carnegie
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(Anonymous) 2020-10-12 06:12 pm (UTC)(link)But the actual Jewish Messiah/Mashiach (or at least the most important and well-known concept of the Messiah, currently and historically) is indeed supposed to be of the line of David. The whole point of the genealogical retcons in Matthew and Luke was to associate the lineage of David with Jesus, because that's what most Jewish people even of that period knew about.
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Is that _Captain_ Klootz?
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The title of this book reminds me of it, in a it-reads-like-a-pun-but-is-it-really-one? kind of way.
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I doubt I'd even get through it today (so many better books, so little time).
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according to this (tor) review, it was cited by both gygax and ward as an influence on Oed&d and gamma world respectively.
missing spaces in the second para (btwn Metis and and), and in fn.2 (btwn Mars and and)
edited for tyop (twice)
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(Anonymous) 2020-10-12 02:22 pm (UTC)(link)And obviously stuff regularly used wears out, unless it is "Trigger's Broom".
Science fiction stuff intentionally built to last includes First Footprint City in "Earthsearch", which is on the planet's satellite left behind when the planet was migrated to a different star system due to stellar instability (they took a number of artificial suns). First Footprint City's computer is programmed to welcome alien visitors, but not necessarily as they'd like. However, there are little cars to drive around and see the actual First Footprint of an astronaut.
And it was argued to Superman that Earth civilisation would fall eventually whatever he did, so he invented a sort of robot encyclopedia of civilisation for use by survivors aiming to rebuild. This was designed to be very long lasting, of course. And mass produced.
Meanwhile in real life I think "we" have airliners parked going nowhere but running the engines about once a week anyway because if you don't, they won't.
Robert Carnegie
no subject
no subject