tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6504598332261057441.post1423481685943691498..comments2024-03-21T19:03:19.133-04:00Comments on Where there had been darkness...: Roger Zelazny Book Review: Eye of CatJugularjoshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03768939120752611597noreply@blogger.comBlogger11125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6504598332261057441.post-39331195132279802202011-02-28T08:34:08.324-05:002011-02-28T08:34:08.324-05:00Wow, I get sick for a weekend and the Chrises take...Wow, I get sick for a weekend and the Chrises take over! <br /><br />There may be something to what you say about my tone in the review. And looking back a couple months later, I do kind of regret it. It comes across a bit nastier than I intended, and I think I would dial back some of the snark if I were redoing it.Jugularjoshhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03768939120752611597noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6504598332261057441.post-35141547567954306382011-02-27T22:09:46.194-05:002011-02-27T22:09:46.194-05:00Like I said, I haven't read the book in 30 yea...Like I said, I haven't read the book in 30 years or somesuch -- I may have cracked it open now and again between moves, but the book spent most of the last three decades in a box. But I remember the first line as:<br /><br />It was beginning to end, after what seemed like most of eternity to me.<br /><br />I remember the scene where Corwin is riding in a car (a passenger, if I remember correctly) as they start to travel through the shadow worlds. And when, as a prisoner, he's supposed to crown the new guy, but he puts the crown on his own head and proclaims himself king. And then he gets his eyes burned out. Blew my teenage mind.<br /><br />--Chris DeVitoAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6504598332261057441.post-5352259808622576372011-02-27T20:29:40.167-05:002011-02-27T20:29:40.167-05:00Nine Princes in Amber has held up for me each time...Nine Princes in Amber has held up for me each time. But I deliberately resist re-reading it more often than every three or four years because I don't want it to get too familiar or memorized. I cheated a couple of years ago by listening to the unabridged recordings of Zelazny reading the first five books.<br /><br />Chris KovacsAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6504598332261057441.post-13762060808805855022011-02-27T19:53:42.549-05:002011-02-27T19:53:42.549-05:00Yeah, it's a Jekyl/Hyde thing -- I have a real...Yeah, it's a Jekyl/Hyde thing -- I have a real love/hate relationship with He Who Shapes/The Dream Master. I can't in good conscience keep it off a list of Zelazny's best works, much as it rankles me. Whereas I give Damnation Alley a bit of a boost because I like it so much. Hey, cut me some slack -- it's all subjective!<br /><br />I've also got a funny thing with Nine Princes in Amber. I first read it in 1975, when I was 14. I loved it -- probably reread it half a dozen times within a few years. But I haven't read it in something like 30 years now (though I still have that paperback I bought in '75). Now I'm kind of afraid to. I'd like to reread the first five Amber novels, then read the second five (I've never read those) -- but I'm sort of afraid that if Nine Princes isn't what I remember, it'll sour me on the whole series. Well, I guess that's a personal problem -- one of these days I'll just suck it up, dive in, and see where it goes.<br /><br />--Chris DeVitoAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6504598332261057441.post-67843775956554155662011-02-27T18:50:04.915-05:002011-02-27T18:50:04.915-05:00I have to add that I'm puzzled that you (Chris...I have to add that I'm puzzled that you (Chris DeVito) put The Dream Master among your favorites, because didn't you describe it earlier as a novel that you hated? You actively dislike it but reread it frequently?<br /><br />Chris KovacsAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6504598332261057441.post-38251679658367042652011-02-27T18:46:11.084-05:002011-02-27T18:46:11.084-05:00I also picked up some of the signed Zelazny books ...I also picked up some of the signed Zelazny books that Dave Hartwell had owned. I was surprised to see him selling them, but I didn't mind because I wanted them. Eventually I'll have to plan for the problem of what to do with the collection after I'm done with it: donate it to a library/archive? sell it? It will be a shame for it to be dispersed after putting it together in the first place, so I'd rather know that it's going to remain intact.<br /><br />I like that list of yours and don't disagree with any of it -- except that I might take Damnation Alley out and put Today We Choose Faces in its place. To me they're about equally enjoyable.<br /><br />Chris KovacsAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6504598332261057441.post-53414718100869466082011-02-27T15:01:17.957-05:002011-02-27T15:01:17.957-05:00My Zelazny collection can't compare with Chris...My Zelazny collection can't compare with Chris Kovacs' (I doubt I'll ever be able to afford a first edition of Lord of Light or Nine Princes in Amber!), but I did recently acquire an autographed first edition of Eye of Cat, thanks to the kindly indulgence of my very understanding wife. It's a "presentation copy" to Zelazny's editor. Zelazny wrote:<br /><br />To Dave Hartwell --<br />-- Roger Zelazny<br />-- Thanks for the righthand <br />margins --<br /><br />I think the style is much of the substance of this book, and the ragged-right typesetting is part of that. JJ, in your review, you seem irritated that the book is so highly regarded -- but though it got some positive reviews when it was published, it didn't actually do very well. It wasn't nominated for any awards. Even many of the positive notices the book got had a backhanded ring to them -- "Zelazny is back," that kind of thing. After Eye of Cat Zelazny seems to have spent the rest of the decade mostly cranking out the second five Amber novels.<br /><br />I guess I shouldn't read too much into it, but comparing my own "best of Zelazny" list with those published in the last volume of the collected stories, the consensus seems to be that the early 1980s to ca. '90 was a very uninspired period for Zelazny -- a handful of good short pieces, the Amber novels (ka-ching), and some dubious collaborations.<br /><br />Anyway I'm rambling here and I don't want to emphasize a fallow period in Zelazny's career -- artists should be judged by their best work, and Zelazny left us a lot of that. But I most certainly put Eye of Cat with his best work.<br /><br />What the heck, since I already posted my favorite short fiction, here's a baker's dozen of my favorite Zelazny novels:<br /><br />• This Immortal (Ace, July 1966 [pb])<br />• The Dream Master (Ace, 1966 [pb])<br />• Lord of Light (Doubleday, 1967 [hc])<br />• Damnation Alley (Putman, 1969 [hc])<br />• Creatures of Light and Darkness (Doubleday, 1969 [hc])<br />• Isle of the Dead (Ace, 1969 [pb])<br />• Nine Princes in Amber (Doubleday, 1970 [hc])<br />• Jack of Shadows (Walker & Co., 1971 [hc])<br />• Doorways in the Sand (Harper & Row, Mar. 1976 [hc])<br />• Roadmarks (Ballantine Books/Del Rey, Oct. 1979 [hc])<br />• Eye of Cat (Underwood/Miller, 1982 [hc]; Timescape, 1982 [hc])<br />• A Night in the Lonesome October (William Morrow/Avon Books [AvoNova], Aug. 1993 [hc]) with illustrations by Gahan Wilson<br />• Wilderness (Forge, 1994 [hc, pb]) with Gerald Hausman (Zelazny wrote Chs. 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14, 16, and 18 [“Glass”]; and Ch. 15)<br /><br /><br />--Chris DeVitoAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6504598332261057441.post-36569328848877948852011-02-26T20:07:53.609-05:002011-02-26T20:07:53.609-05:00I'm also not the person who wrote the first co...I'm also not the person who wrote the first comment (though I can understand why he was peeved -- I think parts of this review border on the snotty, which is uncharacteristic of your commentaries, JJ).<br /><br />One of these days I'll write lots more about Eye of Cat, but for now I'll address Chris Kovacs' question about the ending: Is Billy dead or alive?<br /><br />My feelings are exactly the same as yours, CK -- uncertainty: sometimes I lean toward life, other times death. And I think it's pretty clear that that's exactly how Zelazny wanted it. Singer had won the war with himself in that he was whole, at peace, and happy -- happy enough to draw a smiley face on the wall using his own blood (I love that image). Ironbear's reaction tells us all we need to know:<br /><br />... And then [Ironbear] saw him, propped against a wall near a corner of the ruin. At first Ironbear could not tell whether he was breathing, though his eyes were open and directed to his right. <br /> Moving nearer, he saw the pictograph Singer himself had drawn on the wall with his own blood. It was a large circle, containing a pair of dots, side by side, about a third of the way down its diameter. Lower, beneath these, was an upward-curving arc. <br /> Inhaling the moment, Ironbear shook his head at what was rare, at what was powerful. Like the buffalo, it probably would not last. A life's gamble. But just now, just this instant, before he advanced and broke the feeling's spell, there was something. Like the buffalo. [end excerpt]<br /><br />I think that's a powerful enough ending that anything further would detract from it. I guess you can look for clues, especially in the poem that closes the book -- for example, "I have followed the trail of my life and met myself at its end" always pushes me toward the death hypothesis -- but again my mood at the moment influences my interpretation -- "I have eaten myself and grown strong ... My only enemy, my self, reborn" pushes me back toward life. I think I like it both ways.<br /><br />--Chris DeVitoAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6504598332261057441.post-44888864137331572662011-02-09T19:17:31.525-05:002011-02-09T19:17:31.525-05:00I'm not the person who posted the comment abov...I'm not the person who posted the comment above. Like you, I have mixed feelings about this book. <br /><br />I found Eye of Cat to be too short. And each time I read it, I wonder why we're being introduced to the set of telepaths whose role seems so superfluous to the novel and are practically forgotten about. And I'm always surprised by how quickly the first task is completed such that Cat is already chasing Billy before the novel is really underway. But having said that, the book does contain some of Zelazny's characteristic great writing and a very interesting set of main characters. So I can't disagree with people who love the book as one of his best, nor can I disagree with people who hate the book as one of his worst. It has its brilliant aspects and its flaws, and I still look forward to re-reading it yet again.<br /><br />But what do you think about the ending? Is Billy dead or alive? I change my mind each time I read it. It's a sort of Schrodinger's Cat moment and your perception on the outcome may depend upon your mood when you reach that point in the book.<br /><br />Chris KovacsAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6504598332261057441.post-37779869174237560922010-12-20T08:41:29.067-05:002010-12-20T08:41:29.067-05:00Can you expand on that and lay out what you liked ...Can you expand on that and lay out what you liked about either Firefly or Eye of Cat? <br /><br />I think with Firefly, Whedon realized what he set out to do, but which resulted in a creation that had little appeal for me. Conversely, for Eye of Cat, I don't think Zelazny managed to accomplish what he set out to do.Jugularjoshhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03768939120752611597noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6504598332261057441.post-64356757071069155632010-12-19T18:09:50.393-05:002010-12-19T18:09:50.393-05:00Gotta flat out disagree with you. Eye of Cat was ...Gotta flat out disagree with you. Eye of Cat was as good as anything Zelazny ever wrote, short of Lord of Light. Also, Firefly was every bit as good as the hype. I shudder to think what you consider good science fiction, if Firefly is "middle of the road" in your estimation. Please, for the love of sanity, don't say Stargate.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com