Muddle Earth by John Brunner

[james_davis_nicoll]

A sleeper wakes on a madcap Earth.

Muddle Earth by John Brunner

Comments

[bolindbergh]

Apple will sell you a UK edition if you live in the right set of countries.

[chrysostom]

Ah, Craig Shaw Gardner, the poor man's Robert Asprin.

[patrick_morris_miller]

I have somehow managed to completely avoid reading him, and in fact wondered at first what James had against James Alan Gardner.

[james_davis_nicoll]

James Alan Gardner, who I have known since 1980? Nothing.

[chrysostom]

I will say that I think you could still find some more interesting Brunners to review. I remember A Maze of Stars being rather good.

[james_davis_nicoll]

The problem is I read a bunch of Brunner before starting this project.

[chrysostom]

But not The Squares of the City! Or The Stone That Never Came Down!

(makes notes on to be requested list)

[james_davis_nicoll]

I did review Stone!

[beamjockey]

I thought Shockwave Reader was what I had been reading already. Will be interested to see what comes along here in December.

[petrea_mitchell]

I read this approximately when it came out, at a much less discerning time of my life, and it still came across as desperately unfunny. My least favorite Brunner. (My favorite is A Maze of Stars.)

[petrea_mitchell]

It occurs to me that C. J. Cherryh loves that plot, except she presents it as the traumatizing experience it would be.

Chanur's Legacy stays light enough to make many aspects of the plot fairly amusing. Though it's closer to comedy of manners than ha-ha comedy.

[patrick_morris_miller]

I'm not saying Cherryh can't write ha-ha comedy, but if she ever did I doubt I'd be smart enough to get it.

(Though she can be very amusing indeed, like where one of the hani "said a word you're not supposed to use on comms".)

[(Anonymous)]

"Banichi my salad" completely cracked me up.

-- Paul Clarke

[austin_dern]

The premise of ``Sleeper Awakens, but in Theme Park Home Time'' seems workable enough but it does seem to require a different touch. Maybe it has to be done in a cartoon to land.

The arbitrary-Asian-word-name/common-European-last-name construction is a zany naming trope that never fails to make my teeth ache.

[james_davis_nicoll]

In this case, he was announced to be the reincarnation of a Tibetan holy man, news that delighted his parents and made his life a misery.