tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8259460772864393968.post4066523085039737612..comments2024-03-26T21:58:50.501-04:00Comments on MPorcius Fiction Log: Past Master by R. A. LaffertyMPorciushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15515742639389937221noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8259460772864393968.post-8714178373786750252015-06-01T17:29:58.617-04:002015-06-01T17:29:58.617-04:00Hi again, I am the editor of a semiannual Lafferty...Hi again, I am the editor of a semiannual Lafferty Fanzine, <i>Feast of Laughter</i>. We publish twice a year in November and March. Our focus is Lafferty scholarship and essays, reviews, original works inspired by Lafferty, and when when we can obtain reprint rights, a Lafferty story in each issue. In our first two issues, we have had stories and essays by Howard Waldrop, Michael Bishop, Michael Swanwick, Darrell Schweitzer, Stephen Case, and many many others. <br /><br />I would love to include your reviews of <i>Utopia</i> and <i>Past Master</i> in our upcoming issue in November, 2015. May we have permission to reprint them? I would also love it if you would like to write something original for the magazine. <br /><br />You can see the magazine at <a href="http://www.feastoflaughter.org/" rel="nofollow">www.feastoflaughter.org</a>. My email is on the contact page. You can also find the magazine on Amazon:<br /> - <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Feast-Laughter-Issue-Ktistec-Press/dp/0692324100/" rel="nofollow"><i>Feast of Laughter, Issue 1</i></a><br /> - <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Feast-Laughter-2-Ktistec-Press/dp/0692397469/" rel="nofollow"><i>Feast of Laughter, Issue 2</i></a><br /><br />Thank you very much,<br /><br />Kevin<br />Kevin Cheekhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17615258563790520320noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8259460772864393968.post-78509208491860572862014-04-21T01:54:00.951-04:002014-04-21T01:54:00.951-04:00Thanks for the kind words. I'm glad you like ...Thanks for the kind words. I'm glad you like the blog!MPorciushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15515742639389937221noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8259460772864393968.post-15133734373944416402014-04-20T18:06:29.116-04:002014-04-20T18:06:29.116-04:00Excellent review. I'm now an enthusiastic fol...Excellent review. I'm now an enthusiastic follower of your blog.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00736646523990103303noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8259460772864393968.post-3460603558774721202014-01-14T23:57:58.441-05:002014-01-14T23:57:58.441-05:00I think Past Master would be a good first Lafferty...I think <i>Past Master</i> would be a good first Lafferty, as it is not quite so far out there as the others I have read.MPorciushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15515742639389937221noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8259460772864393968.post-28072039596540830022014-01-14T16:01:22.167-05:002014-01-14T16:01:22.167-05:00Sounds like I better start reading Lafferty. This ...Sounds like I better start reading Lafferty. This in particular sounds interesting.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8259460772864393968.post-85676874748292082302014-01-13T14:24:55.003-05:002014-01-13T14:24:55.003-05:00Excellent review of Past Master! Thank you for pos...Excellent review of <i>Past Master</i>! Thank you for posting this. When you drew the analogy between people in Astrobean (Utopian) society and the cells of a body, you reminded me of one of the key concepts in another of my favorite books, <i>The Dispossessed</i> by Ursula K. LeGuin. <i>The Dispossessed</i> is also about an attempt to create a collectivist Utopian society. One of the key concepts of this imagined society is to compare the individual to a cell in a body and examine the individual's drive to discover one's "cellular function"--that function in society for which you are best suited or most specialized. By embracing one's individual traits and proclivities, one can do the work that most fits one as an individual, and society will function organically. Lafferty takes a similar concept and views it from the exact opposite function--saying (effectively, because he doesn't use the same metaphor) that for people to function as nothing more than cells in a body, they have to be controlled by an overarching consciousness and thereby forfeit their own individuality and consciousness. Where LeGuin sees a positive outcome of the cellular metaphor, Lafferty sees it as the death of individuality. <br />I have always though a great comparison could be made of those two books. They both look at a Utopian ideal for a fictional society, examine the benefits and flaws, and arrive at opposite conclusions. And Lafferty has a whole lot of fun on the way. <br />Thank you again!Kevinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04415345283350861149noreply@blogger.com