a little place to call my own (art and fashion blog)

Today I'll review "A Rose for Ecclesiastes" ,  a short story written by Roger Zelazny.   Originally published in 1963, this short story has been anthologized many times and it has gained a status of a SF classic. Having read it, I can understand why. This elegant vintage science fiction story set on Mars does not lack in character development and world-building. In fact, it is quite amazing in this sense, especially considering the format it is written. It is not often that you find such interesting world building and character development in such a short story. Moreover, its depiction of Mars as a dying but beautiful society is wonderfully melancholic and even poetical. Zelazny managed to really convey a feeling of an alien culture and world. The plot seems simple enough at first, but there is a nice twist towards the end that made me think of classical short story masters such as Maupassant and Chekhov. All in all, it's a fantastic little story that raises interesti...

 Today I shall review Damnation Alley , a science fiction novel by Roger Zelazny. Originally envisioned and published as a novella in 1967, Damnation Alley was republished as a novel in 1969. Now, I haven't read the original novella so I cannot compare the two, but I did a bit of research before I started writing this review. What I found is that Zelazny decided to turn his novella into the novel Damnation Alley only on insistence from his publisher. It seemed Zelazny wasn't completely satisfied with it and preferred the novella.  As I said, I haven't read the original novella so I really cannot compare. Having read Damnation Alley in its novel form, however, I can say that it seemed to lack something. What exactly that would be, I cannot put my finger on with certainly. I can list my subjective opinion upon different aspects of this novel and that is exactly what I shall do in this review. What were my thoughts intentionally? I was a bit surprised going into the novel be...

 Hello! Today I'm back with another vintage reading recommendation. Eye of Cat is a science fiction novel written by Roger Zelazny and published in 1982. I read this novel online, courtesy of a library whose name I forgot but I'm sure you won't have issues finding a library that has a digital copy of Eye of Cat . This novel was on my reading list for a while, together with a few works of this author that I haven't managed to read yet. Like many of Zelazny's work, this novel is closely tied with mythology.  Its protagonist is a man who has somewhat lost his connection to his culture, mythology and tradition, though. Moreover, the protagonist shall struggle to regain his identity throughout the story.  Set in future, Eye of Cat is centered on a Navayo protagonist Billy Singer.  Larger than life protagonists are what Zelazny writes best and Billy is certainly such a character.  A novels also needs a plot. Therefore, the galaxy's most celebrated and skilled hun...