tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8259460772864393968.post3469004060141287418..comments2024-03-26T21:58:50.501-04:00Comments on MPorcius Fiction Log: Three stories by Larry Niven: "Inconstant Moon," "The Hole Man," and "The Jigsaw Man"MPorciushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15515742639389937221noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8259460772864393968.post-50236183138072924252023-12-20T01:24:12.926-05:002023-12-20T01:24:12.926-05:00I think you missed the point of The Hole Man. The...I think you missed the point of The Hole Man. The entire story is dedicated to the main character's desperate and dangerous effort to escape from prison, and a graphic step-by-step depiction of the body-disassembly and organ-harvesting procedure. The build-up is deliberate, intended to leave the reader with the strong impression that this guy must have done something REALLY BAD. Only at the very end do we find out the true nature of his offense: the incredibly minor (by our standards) running of a few red lights, and an incident of jaywalking. At the time it was written (and the time I read it as a kid), that was a SHOCK ENDING. "Good Lord, they executed him for something THAT MINOR?" You were properly horrified by the extremes to which the public's desire for access to others' organs as replacements for their own, had driven public policy. If you were any kind of real human being at the time, you'd break out in a bit of a flush of cold sweat, reading that final paragraph, and THAT is what made it worthy of inclusion in an anthology, and of any awards it may have won, about which I do not know.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8259460772864393968.post-4474460052336694242014-04-01T09:23:02.766-04:002014-04-01T09:23:02.766-04:00Ah, makes sense, I recall Gene Wolfe pointing out ...Ah, makes sense, I recall Gene Wolfe pointing out in one of the pieces in <i>Castle of the Otter</i> that Niven was wealthy (independent of his writing.) Thanks!MPorciushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15515742639389937221noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8259460772864393968.post-62510289334712273372014-04-01T05:52:12.210-04:002014-04-01T05:52:12.210-04:00Niven lent Ellison extra funds to help him buy som...Niven lent Ellison extra funds to help him buy some of the last stores in “Dangerous visions” as he’d exceeded his publisher's budget. <br /><br />From Ellison’s intro to “Again, Dangerous Visions”: “To date, I haven't yet hit the black on Dangerous Visions and I'm still repaying author Larry Niven for the loan he gave the book to purchase the last few stories.”<br /><br />- matthew davisukjarryhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12250028389206081742noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8259460772864393968.post-76761678642594290892014-03-31T01:17:21.782-04:002014-03-31T01:17:21.782-04:00As a kid I definitely preferred novels to short st...As a kid I definitely preferred novels to short stories; I think my attitude was, why should I spend time getting to know a world and characters if they are going to be gone in 15 or 20 pages? <br /><br />Now one of the things I admire is economy, and fear that novels are bloated with filler. Also I am more picky and opinionated, and am reluctant to commit to a long novel, which I may find boring or irritating, unless I already like the author or am very curious. MPorciushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15515742639389937221noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8259460772864393968.post-20178809661814233882014-03-30T18:43:28.274-04:002014-03-30T18:43:28.274-04:00In my youth I read quite a bit of Niven -- I think...In my youth I read quite a bit of Niven -- I think his most famous short story, Neutron Star (1966) was the first SF short story I ever read! I definitely preferred the longer form at that age... Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com