World Famous Comics: The Doors of His Face, The Lamp of His Mouth
The Doors of His Face, The Lamp of His Mouth
By: Roger Zelazny Publisher: IBooks, Inc. Average Rating: Binding: Paperback Label: IBooks, Inc. Number of Items: 1 Number of Pages: 512 Publication Date: December 25, 2005
Product Description: Here are strange, beautiful stories covering the full spectrum of the late Roger Zelazny's remarkable talents. In Doors of His Face, The Lamp of His Mouth, Zelazny's rare ability to mix the dream-like, disturbing imagery of fantasy with the real-life hardware of science fiction is on full display. His vivid imagination and fine prose made him one of the most highly acclaimed writers in his field.
Somewhat Disappointing If you are used to Gene Wolfe you may find this book somewhat disappointing. There is no a lot of exposition, explaining ANR, how Venus came to have oceans, etc. That is true of Wolf also but in his sorties either you can figure it out or it isn't important. All-in-all it is disappointing.
Zelazny's surreal imagery and fanciful ideas shine throughout! At a time when there were a lot of authors with new ideas, Zelazny stood out from the crowd. It is easy to see where how some of his later ideas developed, and it's clear in some of these stories that he was writing from the heart without being the least bit sentimental. And sure, there are any number of fanciful ideas here, but it is clear that Zelazny thinks them through, and often turns them on their head as he tells his stories.
Some of the 17 stories on these pages are dated. But even after 40 years, most of them hold up remarkably well. A must read for anyone who wants to become familiar with Zelazny's early work or who simply wants to read stories that seamlessly blend science and fantasy to create beautiful little stories.
Some really great short stories I bought this book because I remembered liking the short stories in this collection when I first read them many years ago. Some are still terrific. Some are not. Still, it is Zelazny, and the good stories more than make up for the ho-hum ones.
Not Free SF Reader A lengthy as far as collections go book, including some of his famous stories. This collection has wide range from short fantasy jokes to long adventure novellas, and pretty sure to please those that like any particular aspect of Zelazny, in general, although more the fans of his SF work than fantasy I would think, as that is definitely the genre of the majority of stories here.
Door of His Face Lamps of His Mouth : The Doors of His Face the Lamps of His Mouth - Roger Zelazny Door of His Face Lamps of His Mouth : The Keys to December - Roger Zelazny Door of His Face Lamps of His Mouth : Devil Car - Roger Zelazny Door of His Face Lamps of His Mouth : A Rose for Ecclesiastes - Roger Zelazny Door of His Face Lamps of His Mouth : The Monster and the Maiden - Roger Zelazny Door of His Face Lamps of His Mouth : Collector's Fever - Roger Zelazny Door of His Face Lamps of His Mouth : This Mortal Mountain - Roger Zelazny Door of His Face Lamps of His Mouth : This Moment of the Storm - Roger Zelazny Door of His Face Lamps of His Mouth : The Great Slow Kings - Roger Zelazny Door of His Face Lamps of His Mouth : A Museum Piece - Roger Zelazny Door of His Face Lamps of His Mouth : Divine Madness - Roger Zelazny Door of His Face Lamps of His Mouth : Corrida - Roger Zelazny Door of His Face Lamps of His Mouth : Love Is an Imaginary Number - Roger Zelazny Door of His Face Lamps of His Mouth : The Man Who Loved the Faioli - Roger Zelazny Door of His Face Lamps of His Mouth : Lucifer - Roger Zelazny Door of His Face Lamps of His Mouth : The Furies - Roger Zelazny Door of His Face Lamps of His Mouth : The Graveyard Heart - Roger Zelazny
Big fish, or cut bait bloke.
3.5 out of 5
Cold place defense.
3 out of 5
Autokill relations decision
3.5 out of 5
Martian miscegenation mission.
4 out of 5
Sacrificial reversal.
3.5 out of 5
Pet rock?
3 out of 5
40 mile high cryocure supernatural sham defense surprise.
4 out of 5
Weather watcher's sweetheart shooting.
4 out of 5
Population expansion longevity problem.
3 out of 5
Statuary life display.
3 out of 5
Definitely sorry.
2.5 out of 5
Matador meat game.
3.5 out of 5
Change power.
3.5 out of 5
A certain type of alien likes to be with men just before they die. One man survives the experience.
3 out of 5
Lighting futility surrender.
3.5 out of 5
Pirate traitor hunter troika.
3.5 out of 5
In-crowd desire slowdown slaying.
3.5 out of 5
3.5 out of 5
Ideas Galore The story that stays with me is "Love Is An Imaginary Number." It is only 5 or 6 pages long, but it spawned at least a dozen novels!
The germ of the idea for the whole "Amber" series is here, that of the person who suddenly comes to realize his true abilities and "shifts" at will, shaping reality as he goes. The ending encapsulates "Lord Of Light" about the man who wants to give technology to the masses -- Prometheus.
"Lord of Light" has been one of my top-ten SF novels forever. ("Many kilowatts of prayer had he offered, but static kept him from being heard on high.") Yet I never saw Sam as Prometheus until now, probably because the setting is so un-Greek.
I can see it, a 600-level humanities course. "Your assignment this weekend is to read 'Nine Princes in Amber' and 'Lord of Light.'" Then on Monday, give them a 3-page handout of "Love Is An Imaginary Number" and have them compose an essay tracing the similarities and differences.
Anything Goes Trivia
Trevor
Megaton Man
