Post by GRWelsh on Apr 14, 2018 14:39:35 GMT -5
One day in late 1980 I was with my sister and mom at Kmart and I was bored so I checked out the book rack. I was twelve, and although I'd been reading comic books for years, I was just beginning to read full length novels that weren't children's books on my own. I picked this book off the rack on the strength of the cover illustration by Darrell K. Sweet, which I still find evocative today. Farmer is much better known for his RIVERWORLD and WORLD OF TIERS series -- which received better reviews than this book -- but DARK IS THE SUN has a special place in my memory because it was one of the first sf books I picked out and read on my own, which began a long tradition of browsing at every book rack I came across, as well as B. Dalton's, Waldenbooks, Borders, Barnes & Noble, countless used book stores, until the present day, which, sadly in some ways, is mostly online along with most everybody else. Anyway, when I first saw the GAMMA WORLD game within the next year, DARK IS THE SUN was the book I immediately identified the genre with! Well, this book, and the THUNDARR THE BARBARIAN cartoon!
The other day, I saw that it was available as an audible book on Audible.com, so on a whim I bought it. Revisiting this book is like being reminded of a time when sf and fantasy were all new to me, and the potential for imagination seemed infinite. In a way, it is a standard quest-style fantasy, with human and non-human creatures going on a long journey across a bizarre landscape, which often feels like an excuse for the author to just let his imagination run wild... But I love it, it's just bursting at the seams with creativity. It is set 15 billion years in the future, which by itself is mind-blowing, and there are primitive tribal humans who have forgotten their former greatness, mutant animals, mutant plants, a form of mineral-robot life, technology of the ancients and even aliens in the mix! It's all very much in the tradition of STARMAN'S SON, 2250 AD (AKA DAYBREAK, 2250 AD) by Andre Norton, A CANTICLE FOR LEiBOWITZ by Walter M. Miller Jr., THE LONG AFTERNOON OF EARTH (AKA HOTHOUSE) by Brian Aldiss, HIERO'S JOURNEY by Sterling Lanier, and THE DYING EARTH by Jack Vance.
The other day, I saw that it was available as an audible book on Audible.com, so on a whim I bought it. Revisiting this book is like being reminded of a time when sf and fantasy were all new to me, and the potential for imagination seemed infinite. In a way, it is a standard quest-style fantasy, with human and non-human creatures going on a long journey across a bizarre landscape, which often feels like an excuse for the author to just let his imagination run wild... But I love it, it's just bursting at the seams with creativity. It is set 15 billion years in the future, which by itself is mind-blowing, and there are primitive tribal humans who have forgotten their former greatness, mutant animals, mutant plants, a form of mineral-robot life, technology of the ancients and even aliens in the mix! It's all very much in the tradition of STARMAN'S SON, 2250 AD (AKA DAYBREAK, 2250 AD) by Andre Norton, A CANTICLE FOR LEiBOWITZ by Walter M. Miller Jr., THE LONG AFTERNOON OF EARTH (AKA HOTHOUSE) by Brian Aldiss, HIERO'S JOURNEY by Sterling Lanier, and THE DYING EARTH by Jack Vance.