Yikes! June is almost over and I need to explain why this month’s header is three random paperback Sci-Fi novels!
Forty years ago, a co-worker gave these to my Dad who then gave them to me. I figure the co-worker heard I was a nerd. Being only 14 going on 15, I didn’t have any money so I was grateful while confused by the covers, titles and two authors. Until then, the only Sci-Fi I had read (outside of school) was based upon pop culture, aka Star Trek, Star Wars, etc. I was also getting into the Sci-Fi role-playing game Traveller which so far had been pretty disappointing. What kind of far future was this D&D-like game?
- Laser guns suck!
- It takes a week to travel at least a parsec!
- Why does your character have to be “old”?
The list went on given how an overwhelming majority of Gamers cut their teeth on D&D and Star Wars or Star Trek were what most of my generation loved or understood when it came to Sci-Fi.
It’s a good thing I received this trio by then. We later moved from the Sugar Land area to the Gulf Freeway section of Houston and out of cruelty, my parents decided not get cable to express their hatred for MTV; they claimed we were “poor.” It didn’t matter, we spent all of July in Central IL and these books kept me sane due to Grandma’s house evolving into a boring place thanks to my transformation into a teenager.
I started with The End of the Matter because it was written by Alan Dean Foster. In 1983, you would easily recognize his name. He wrote the novelizations for Star Wars, Splinter of the Mind’s Eye (the Star Wars sequel if it flopped), Star Trek: the Motion Picture, Star Trek: the Animated Adventures, The Black Hole, Alien and Outland. I figure Matter was a safe bet.
What’s it about? I think it’s the fourth novel in Foster’s own Humanx Commonwealth setting focusing on the hero Flinx and his pet mini-dragon Pip. Knowing what happened in the previous three stories would’ve aided me on Flinx’s background alongside his two other friends who came to his rescue. Matter was a big deal for being crossover too. Another character, September Skua, is from a different book in the same setting called Icerigger; he’s a tough, soldier-of-fortune type. Flinx, Pip, September and allies all have to protect some weird creature from the Humanx Commonwealth’s enemies, the lizard-esque AAnn and some space assassins. Foster wrote a solid book as always. The pacing was great, the characters are plausible and it doesn’t drown in technobabble. He remains the go-to guy for novelizations 40 years later!
That’s part one, next up will be The Mercenary. It was my introduction to Larry Niven’s frequent collaborator Jerry Pournelle.