| |
|
| ANOTHER
ROAD SIDE ATTRACTION,
1990,
Tom Robbins What if the Second Coming didn't quite come off as
advertised? What if "the Corpse" on display in that funky
roadside zoo is really who they say it is--what does that portent
for the future of western civilization? And what if a young clairvoyant
named Amanda reestablishes the flea circus as popular entertainment
and fertility worship as the principal religious form of our high-tech
age? Another Roadside Attraction answers those questions and a lot
more. It tells us, for example, what the sixties were truly all about,
not by reporting on the psychedelic decade but by recreating it, from
the inside out. In the process, this stunningly original seriocomic
thriller eating a literary hotdog and eroding the borders of the mind.
(fiction) |
|
| ARACHNE,
1992, Lisa Mason. Carly Nolan, a fast-track
young lawyer conducting trials at lightning speed in telespace, is
suddenly plagued by terrifying "bug" in her telelink. In
her search for a cure, she becomes the protege of a corrupt older
attorney whose own career is spiraling out of control and the patient
of Pr. Spinner, a robot therapist who covets the metaprogram of life.
Fast and fun, ARACHNE explores what it means to be a sentient lifeform.
("The future of the internet?" -- Sybok) (fiction) |
|
| THE
CAT WHO WALKS THROUGH WALLS,
1985, Robert A. Heinlein. Like Heinlein,
Richard Ames is an ex-military man turned writer who fancies himself
a pundit. An assassination attempt precipitates his marriage to Gwen
Novak and sends the newlyweds scurrying to the Moon and then to the
planet Tertius, headquarters of the Time Corps. (fiction) |
|
CYBERWEB,
1996, Lisa Mason. Sequel to ARACHNE: Carly
Nolan once fought warp-speed legal battles with the movers and shakers
in cyberspace. Now she's a fugitive living the outlaw life at the
bottom of the human trash heap on post-quake San Francisco Island.Carly
Nolan wants to ride the fast track back into public telespace. But
a new job sorting through virtually real detritus has made her the
target of a ruthless robotic mercenary; the love obsession of a virile
young urban tribal shaman; and a potential pawn of artificial intelligence
terrorists seeking nothing less than the total annihilation of humankind.
(fiction)
|
|
| THE
DOOR INTO SUMMER,
1957,
Robert A. Heinlein. Electronics engineer Dan Davis has finally
made the invention of a lifetime: a household robot with extraordinary
abilities, destined to dramatically change the landscape of everyday
routine. Then, with wild success just within reach, Dan's greedy partner
and greedier fiancée trick him into taking the long sleep--suspended
animation for thirty years. They never imagine that the future time
in which Dan will awaken has mastered time travel, giving him a way
to get back to them--and at them . . .Time travel, nudism and a precocious
cat make this a fun and thoughtful look into capitalism, past and
future. (This novel got Sybok "hooked" on Heinlein.)
(fiction) |
|
THE
EARTHSEA TRILOGY: A WIZARD OF EARTHSEA
(1968); Ursula LeGuin. Part 1 of a fantasy
series suitable for children and adults, presenting profound truths
about the nature of
magic. (fiction) (Soon to be a miniseries on SciFi Channel) |
|
THE
EARTHSEA TRILOGY: THE TOMBS OF ATUAN;(1968);
Ursula LeGuin. Part 2 of a fantasy series suitable for children
and adults, presenting profound truths about the nature of
magic. (fiction) (Soon to be a miniseries on SciFi Channel) |
|
THE
EARTHSEA TRILOGY: THE FARTHEST SHORE,
(1968); Ursula LeGuin. Part 3 of a fantasy
series suitable for children and adults, presenting profound truths
about the nature of
magic. (fiction) (Soon to be a miniseries on SciFi Channel) |
|
| EVEN
COWGIRLS GET THE BLUES,
1990, Tom Robbins. Starring Sissy Hanshaw--flawlessly beautiful,
almost. A small-town girl with big-time dreams and a quirk to match--hitchhiking
her way into your heart, your hopes, and your sleeping bags...Featuring
Bonanza Jellybean and the smooth-riding cowgirls of Rubber Rose Ranch.
Chink, lascivious guru of yams and yang. Julian, Mohawk by birth;
asthmatic esthete and husband by disposition. Dr. Robbins, preventive
psychiatrist and reality instructor...Follow
Sissy's amazing odyssey from Virginia to chic Manhattan to the Dakota
Badlands, where FBI agents, cowgirls, and ecstatic whooping cranes
explode in a deliciously drawn-out climax... (fiction) |
|
| FIERCE
INVALIDS HOME FROM HOT CLIMATES,
2001, Tom Robbins. Switters is a contradiction for all seasons:
an anarchist who works for the government; a pacifist who carries
a gun; a vegetarian who sops up ham gravy; a cyberwhiz who hates computers;
a man who, though obsessed with the preservation of innocence, is
aching to deflower his high-school-age stepsister (only to become
equally enamored of a nun ten years his senior).Yet
there is nothing remotely wishy-washy about Switters. He doesn't merely
pack a pistol. He is a pistol. And as we dog Switters's strangely
elevated heels across four continents, in and out of love and danger,
discovering in the process the "true" Third Secret of Fatima,
we experience Tom Robbins -- that fearless storyteller, spiritual
renegade, and verbal break dancer -- at the top of his game.
(fiction) |
|
| FRIDAY,
1982, Robert A. Heinlein. In a world wholly
controlled by multi-national corporations, an "artificial (or
manufactured) person" working as a corporate spy encounters bigotry,
hatred, sexism and........" -- Sybok (fiction) |
|
| GLORY
ROAD, 1963,
Robert A. Heinlein.
While resting up on the French riviera, a Viet Nam war veteran answers
a classified ad, leading him to meet th Empress of Twenty Universes,
travel through star gates, and have adventures involving swords, dragons
and magick (yes, with a "k") -- Sybok.
(fiction) |
|
| THE
GOLDEN '90S, 1995.,
Lisa Mason In this companion novel to SUMMER OF LOVE, another time
traveler from the far future is compelled to return to San Francisco
in 1895 to safeguard a Chinese girl sold into slavery. The time traveler
herself becomes trapped in the past and switches her identity with
the girl she is meant to protect with devastating consequences. Another
analysis of American society of the time, THE GOLDEN NINETIES explores
the roles of women during the fin de siecle period and showcases the
delights of San Francisco before the great earthquake and fire of
1906 destroyed the city. (Did you know there was a Bavarian castle
atop Telegraph Hill where the famous Coit Tower now stands?) (fiction) |
|
| HALF
ASLEEP IN FROG PAJAMAS,
1995, Tom Robbins. When the stock market
crashes on the Thursday before Easter, you -- an ambitious, although
ineffectual and not entirely ethical young broker -- are convinced
you're facing the Weekend from Hell. Before the market reopens on
Monday, you're going to have to scramble and scheme to cover your
butt, but there's no way you can anticipate the baffling disappearance
of a 300-pound psychic, the fall from grace of a born-again monkey,
or the intrusion in your life of a tattooed stranger intent on blowing
your mind and most of your fuses. Over these fateful three days, you
will be forced to confront everything from mysterious African rituals
to legendary amphibians, from tarot-card bombshells to street violence,
from your own sexuality to outer space. (fiction) |
|
| THE
HOBBIT, 1936,
J.R.R. Tolkein. |
|
| JITTERBUG
PERFUME, 1990,
Tom Robbins. Jitterbug Perfume is an epic. which is to say, it
begins in the forests of ancient Bohemia and doesn't conclude until
nine o'clock tonight [Paris time]. It is a saga, as well. A saga must
have a hero, and the hero of this one is a janitor with a missing
bottle. The bottle is blue, very, very old, and embossed with the
image of a goat-horned god. If the liquid in the bottle is actually
is the secret essence of the universe, as some folks seem to think,
it had better be discovered soon becaused it is leaking and there
is only a drop of two left. (This is a favorite of Sybok's.) (fiction) |
|
| JOB:
A COMEDY OF JUSTICE,
1984, Robert A. Heinlein. A conservative,
evangelical Christian meets the love of his life, an Asartruian. Together
they keep getting transported into alternative universes (or parellel
dimensions). Ultimately, the Rapture and Ragnorock hit at the same
time. He goes to Heaven, but where does she go? Find out in this wonderful
examination of religion and society. -- Sybok. (fiction). |
|
| THE
LORD OF THE RINGS: THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING,
1948, J.R.R. Tolkein. |
|
| THE
LORD OF THE RINGS: THE TWO TOWERS,
1948, J.R.R. Tolkein. |
|
| THE
LORD OF THE RINGS: THE RETURN OF THE KING,
1948, J.R.R. Tolkein. |
|
| THE
MOON IS A HARSH MISTRESS,
1966, Robert A. Heinlein. This is a tale
of revolution, of the rebellion of the former Lunar penal colony against
the Lunar Authority that controls it from Earth. It is the tale of
the disparate people--a computer technician, a vigorous young female
agitator, and an elderly academic--who become the rebel movement's
leaders. And it is the story of Mike, the supercomputer whose sentience
is known only to this inner circle, and who for reasons of his own
is committed to the revolution's ultimate success. Although anti-socialistic,
the novel does introduce us to micro-forms of socialism in line-marriages,
which are kibbutz like communal group marriages. Mike reminds us of
another "Mike". (fiction) |
|
| THE
NUMBER OF THE BEAST,
1979, Robert A. Heinlein. What if there
are 6 to the sixth power to the sixth power parellel universes? What
if you had a device (or a sentient flying car) that could transport
you to any of those universes? What if the fiction written in our
own universe was the fact happening in another? -- Sybok (fiction) |
|
PANGAIA:
IMPERIUM AFIRE, 2000,
Lisa Mason. Book Two: The
once stable world of Pangaea is coming apart....Mysterious earthshocks
convulse the land, and even the Imperium's caste system begins to
crack. The dreams that have pacified millions are changing, contaminated
by portents of doom.
For Pangaea's
once benevolent tyranny has turned to torture to preserve its authority.
Now the Imperium targets its gravest enemies: the daring erotician
whose talent as an orbcaster empowers her to keep a wealth of secrets;
the "impure" outlaw who finds herself undergoing an inexplicable
transformation; and the gifted aetherist who finally sees the truth
after years shackled by the Imperium sharemind. To succeed in finding
a new life beyond the grip of the Imperium, they must know when to
fight and when to run. But even if they throw off their oppressors,
the destruction of Pangaea has already begun....(fiction) |
|
| PANGAIA:
IMPERIUM WITHOUT END,
1999, Lisa Mason. Book One: For millennia,
the Imperium has held sway over Pangaea. The pure dreams of its great
dreamers are used to elevate and pacify the consciousness of a society
strictly divided by caste. Here eroticism is repressed for a higher
cause, and sex is a shameful remnant of ages past. But when Pangaea's
most beloved dreamer is brutally assassinated, it's clear that a dangerous
group of revolutionaries is dreaming the old dreams of violence, uninhibited
sex...and freedom. For
although Pangaea is the most benevolent of tyrannies, it is a tyranny
nonetheless. Here an elite "pure" scientist and a lowly
birthtank worker share a forbidden passion; a grief-stricken Imperial
officer embarks on a fanatic crusade; a sensual erotician possesses
powers beyond her understanding; and an "impure" terrorist
and his vengeful daughter wreak a path of unspeakable destruction.
As mysterious earthshocks shake Pangaea, they are drawn together by
the outlawed Orb of Eternity--a feared and ancient oracle whose ambivalent
message heralds either redemption...or apocalypse. (fiction) |
|
| REVOLT
IN 2100 & METHUSELAH'S CHILDREN,
1953/1941, Robert A. Heinlein. Two short
story collections in one volume. The important story is "If
This Goes On," the story of the revolution to overthrow
a Christian Fundamentalist theocracy that has overthrown the former
democracy of the United States. A chilling vision of what could be.
(fiction) |
|
| THE
SILMARILLION,
1977, J.R.R. Tolkein. The Silmarillion tells a tale of the Elder
Days, when Elves and Men became estranged by the Dark Lord Morgoth's
lust for the Silmarils, pure and powerful magic jewels. Even the love
between a human warrior and the daughter of the Elven king cannot
defeat Morgoth, but the War of Wrath finally brings down the Dark
Lord. Pre-quil to The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. (fiction) |
|
SKINNY
LEGS AND ALL , 1995,
Tom Robbins. An Arab and a Jew open a restaurant together across
the street from the United Nations....
It
sounds like the beginning of an ethnic joke, but it's the axis around
which spins this gutsy, fun-loving, and alarmingly provocative novel,
in which a bean can philosophizes, a dessert spoon mystifies, a young
waitress takes on the New York art world, and a rowdy redneck welder
discovers the lost god of Palestine--while the illusions that obscure
humanity's view of the true universe fall away, one by one, like Salome's
veils. Skinny Legs and All deals with today's most sensitive issues:
race, politics, marriage, art, religion, money, and lust. It weaves
lyrically through what some call the "end days" of our planet.
Refusing to avert its gaze from the horrors of the apocalypse, it
also refuses to let the alleged end of the world spoil its mood. And
its mood is defiantly upbeat. (fiction) |
|
| STILL
LIFE WITH WOODPECKER,
1990,
Tom Robbins. Sort of a love story that takes place inside a pack
of Camel cigarettes. It reveals the purpose of the moon, explains
the difference between criminals and outlaws, examines the conflict
between social activism and romantic individualism, and paints a portrait
of contemporary society that includes powerful Arabs, exiled royalty,
and pregnant cheerleaders. It also deals with the problem of redheads.
(fiction) |
|
| STRANGER
IN A STRANGE LAND,
1961, Robert A. Heinlein. Winner of the
1962 Hugo Award, this is the story of Valentine Michael Smith, born
during, and the only survivor of, the first manned mission to Mars.
Michael is raised by Martians, and he arrives on Earth as a true innocent:
he has never seen a woman and has no knowledge of Earth's cultures
or religions. But he brings turmoil with him, as he is the legal heir
to an enormous financial empire, not to mention de facto owner of
the planet Mars. With the irascible popular author Jubal Harshaw to
protect him, Michael explores human morality and the meanings of love.
He founds his own church, preaching free love and disseminating the
psychic talents taught him by the Martians. Ultimately, he confronts
the fate reserved for all messiahs. The impact of Stranger in a Strange
Land was considerable, leading many children of the 60's to set up
households based on Michael's water-brother nests, as well as two
well known Pagan religions: Church of All Worlds, and Order
of the Mithril Star. (fiction) |
|
| SUMMER
OF LOVE,
1995, Lisa Mason.
A time traveler from 500 years in the future must return to San
Francisco, the summer of 1967, to find and protect the life of a teenaged
runaway whose own life will have vast impact on the future. Meticulously
researched and full of fun, but also a serious examination of the
strengths and flaws of both the "counterculture" and America
in the sixties. (fiction) |
|
| TIME
ENOUGH FOR LOVE,
1973, Robert A.Heinlein. The story of Lazarus
Long, a human being who was born in the early twentieth century but
simply doesn't die. By the 42nd century, however, Lazarus has had
enough. Having been 'rescued' from an attempted suicide Lazarus tells
his story to one of his many decendants and finally embarks upon a
quest of staggering dimensions all to keep from simply being bored.
Throughout this novel the voice of the author is heard. From his sage
wisdom to matters of simple common sense, Heinlein speaks through
his creation with honesty, sentiment, and of course his trademark
wit. The many other characters that populate this work are no less
interesting. From a spaceship that longs to be human to Lazarus' own
geneticly cloned sisters, these are characters in the rich Heinlein
tradition. (fiction) |
|
VILLA
INCOGNITO, 2003,
Tom Robbins Imagine that there are American
MIAs who chose to remain missing after the Vietnam War.Imagine
that there is a family in which four generations of strong, alluring
women have shared a mysterious connection to an outlandish figure
from Japanese folklore.Imagine
just those things (don’t even try to imagine the love story)
and you’ll have a foretaste of Tom Robbins’s eighth and
perhaps most beautifully crafted novel--a work as timeless as myth
yet as topical as the latest international threat. (fiction)
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