Mindwebs:The Liberators & The Night He Cried & The Vertical Ladder

[james_davis_nicoll]

The Liberators by Scott W. Carter

Cities run by giant mechanical brains are bad, even when they try to be good. Happily the technology exists to regrow limbs so the rescued people of the city will be able to walk around when they are sent to the extrasolar colonies for which they seem pretty badly suited.

This city and ones from Strength of Stones should compare notes.


The Night He Cried by Fritz Leiber

My guess is Leiber had read one tough guy PI story too many when he sat down to write this tale of very special first contact. I am compelled to wonder if there's ever been a manga of this.


The Vertical Ladder by William A. Samson

This went on for a bit, just like the ladder. Does not appear to be fantasy or SF.

Comments

[dsgood]

My impression: "The Night He Cried" is specifically a reaction to the works of Mickey Spillane.

Tangent: If I read too many of Chesterton's Father Brown stories in a row, I find myself yearning for a series about a Satanist cleric.

[coyotegoth.livejournal.com]

Now that I think of it, this story always reminded me of Larry Niven's "The Meddler" (which it predates).

[ffutures.livejournal.com]

Yes - I sold an SF detective story in the eighties, looking back at it now I find it hard to identify anything that wasn't suggested by The Night He Cried or The Meddler.

[tceisele.livejournal.com]

It's probably just me, but whenever I see a note that one thing "predates" another, the first thought in my mind is that it eats it. Because predators predate their prey.

[mcbadger.livejournal.com]

You're not alone in that.

[(Anonymous)]

Giant mechanical brains always get a bad rap.

Bruce