HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: steinarb@idt.unit.no (Steinar Bang)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.written
Subject: Re: humorous science fiction
Date: 15 Apr 92 10:47:59 GMT
	<1992Apr5.204028.22356@rice.edu>
Distribution: rec
Organization: Norwegian Institute of Technology, Trondheim, Norway

>>>>> On 5 Apr 92 20:40:28 GMT, khazel@is.rice.edu (Kathleen DeAnn Hazelton) said:

> There's also DeChancie's (?) Castle Perilous series.  4 in all I believe.
> They were light, and fairly funny.

I would like to recommend his (IMHO) much funnier "Starrigger"
trilogy:
 o Starrigger
 o Red Limit Freeway
 o Paradox Alley

- Steinar
From: howie@cfarer.boeing.com (Howard Modell)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.written
Subject: Re: Forthcoming Books
Date: 11 Apr 92 01:08:55 GMT
Reply-To: howie@cfarer.boeing.com (Howard Modell)
Organization: Boeing Defense and Space Group

In article <1992Apr9.221256.26283@pasteur.Berkeley.EDU>, c9e-
al@danube.Berkeley.EDU (Chua Hak Lien) writes:
> In article <9204092039.AA04989@rutgers.edu> ECZ5TAN@MVS.OAC.UCLA.EDU 
(Morgan 
> 54871) writes:
> >I just got the list of mass market paperbacks due this summer. Here's an
> >abbreviated list of June released for those who are interested:
> 
> >Letters From Atlantis. Richard Silverberg (Warner/Questar, $4.99)
> >                       ^^^^^^^
> Any relation to Robert Silverberg? =)
> 
Yes, his evil twin brother.

* ALL OPINIONS ARE MY OWN AND ARE NOT MY EMPLOYERS! **
Howard Modell                  INTERNET: howie@cfarer.boeing.com
P.O.Box 3999, m/s 8H-57
Boeing Defense and Space Group
Seattle, WA 98124-2499
From: mikey%oscar.dnet@GTE.COM (Mike Hatz)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.written
Subject: Tolien Fanzines/Clubs
Date: 6 Apr 92 21:03:23 GMT

Can someone please post a list or mail me a list of Tolien related fanzines/clubs?  
Thanks a lot!

==============================
^^	 Mike Hatz	    ^^
^^Colorado Springs, Colorado^^
^^ mikey%venus.dnet@GTE.COM ^^
==============================
From: ian@cambridge.oracorp.com (Ian Sutherland)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.written
Subject: Re: Critics
Date: 9 Apr 92 23:13:46 GMT
Organization: ORA Corp, 675 Mass Ave, Cambridge, MA 02139

In article <1992Apr7.182930.7890@u.washington.edu> gwangung@milton.u.washington.edu (Just another theatre geek.....) writes:
>In article <ku3krdINN8bf@stanley.cis.Brown.EDU> cgy@cs.brown.edu (Curtis Yarvin) writes:
> there's a fundamental ethical difference
>>between trying to convince a bureaucrat who has (gasp) stolen someone else's
>>money to give it to you, and trying to persuade people that your show's a
>>lot of fun and they should go see it.  Stapling up posters on telephone
>>poles and sending releases to your local newspaper is hardly what I'd call
>>bureacracy.
>
>	To you, perhaps.  Not to us. The same techniques apply in fundraising,
>no matter who you approach.  And the same in marketing.
>
>	The same work has to be done. The object differs.

So, do you feel that receiving stolen property is the same as
receiving property from its owner?  Just curious.
-- 
Ian Sutherland                          ian@cambridge.oracorp.com

Sans peur
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.written,rec.arts.books
From: msb@sq.sq.com (Mark Brader)
Subject: Re: Asimov Dies
Summary: Newsweek obit quoted
Organization: SoftQuad Inc., Toronto, Canada
Date: Thu, 16 Apr 92 09:07:44 GMT

Newsweek (April 20) gave Asimov an obituary several times longer than
most of theirs -- a bit over 1/8 of a page.  Excerpts:

    "He was perhaps the last person who could claim that no field
     of human knowledge was alien to him.  ...  If he had written
     nothing else, he would still be remembered for 'Nightfall',
     a story he wrote when he was 21..."
-- 
Mark Brader			"A hundred billion is *not* infinite
SoftQuad Inc., Toronto		 and it's getting less infinite all the time!"
utzoo!sq!msb, msb@sq.com		-- Isaac Asimov, "The Last Question"
From: fleming@cup.portal.com (Stephen R Fleming)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.written
Subject: Re: Adventures of Miles Vorkosigan
Date: 9 Apr 92 01:24:59 GMT
Organization: The Portal System (TM)

I'm in a hotel room.  From memory:

Shards of Honor
Barrayar
The Warrior's Apprentice
The Vor Game
Borders of Infinity
Brothers in Arms

I may have a couple of them reversed, but that's darn close.

Ethan of Athos is tangentially related (Miles appears off-screen).

Falling Free is set in the same universe a couple of centuries
earlier.

Great stuff, aren't they?

fleming@cup.portal.com
From: eric@snark.thyrsus.com (Eric S. Raymond)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.written
Subject: Raymond's Reviews #188: short takes
Date: 9 Apr 92 19:34:10 GMT


This is Raymond's Reviews #188 (short takes)

%T Born to Run
%A Mercedes Lackey
%A Larry Dixon
%I Baen
%D March 1992
%O paperback, US$4.99
%P 317
%G ISBN 0-671-72110-0

   If your idea of a good time combines elves, rock music, muscle cars, and
a socially-conscious subtext about the troubles of teenage runaways, this
is the book for you.  Lackey returns to the world of
_A_Knight_of_Ghosts_and_Shadows_ (RR#77) but with a different locale and
characters.  The viewpoint character is Tannim, a human mage who tools a
souped-up Mustang Mach 1 around the streets of Savannah, Georgia.  He's
involved in the war between the Seleighe and Unseleighe courts of
Elvenkind, and his life gets still more complicated when he befriends a
runaway who's drifting towards a kiddie-porn ring run by the latter.
Action galore ensues.  Lightweight, but a fun read.

%T A Maze of Stars
%A John Brunner
%I DelRey
%D March 1992
%O paperback, US$4.99
%P 326
%G ISBN 0-345-37554-8

   The viewpoint character of this grim think-piece is a gigantic starship,
programmed to wander through space and time monitoring the histories of the
six hundred and seventy worlds it seeded in the Arm of Stars.  As it
ponders the glories and horrors the diverging colonies have created and
interacts with the few outcasts prermitted to know of its existence, it
becomes increasingly obsessed with discovering the source of the peculiar
compulsions under which it labors.  As usual for JKB's work, there's plenty
that's original and thought-provoking in this mix.  But the atmosphere of
the whole is bitter, gray and sad.  The propulsive energy of much of his
earlier work is missing.  Brunner at the top of his form is one of the
field's best writers; I hope he can find it again.

%T Suisan
%A Phyllis Carol Agins
%I Baen
%D March 1992
%O paperback, US$4.99
%P 241
%G ISBN 0-671-72112-7

   This slender tale is a retelling of the "Snow White myth in which the
sexual feelings of the characters -- especially the dwarves -- are openly
but sensitively handled.  Unfortunately, Agins's use of modern (Jungian)
psychology is the only unusual twist in an otherwise unoriginal, clumsily
written novel.  However, the beauty of Agins's imagery, which shines
despite the awkward writing, lifts this work above the rest of the slush
pile and suggests that she may eventually write memorable fantasy.

RECEIVED BUT NOT REVIEWED:
   _The_Druid_Of_Shannara_ by Terry Brooks (DelRey).  Lives down to the
vomitous expectations established by its prequels.
   _The_Faithful_Traitor_ by Robert Don Hughes (DelRey).  YA fantasy sequel
to a prequel I never saw.
   _The_Squares_Of_The_City_ by John Brunner (Collier).  Classy reissue of
a minor classic.
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.written
From: doom@leland.Stanford.EDU (Joseph Brenner)
Subject: SF about science
Organization: DSG, Stanford University, CA 94305, USA
Date: Fri, 10 Apr 92 09:45:02 GMT

I don't know how I forgot about "the Beautitiful and the
Sublime".  It's a great story, and really lives up to the
title.  Not only is it about "Doing Science", it's about the
ways that doing it may change in the future.  A science
fiction story in all possible senses.  Briefly it's about a
future far enough advanced that all the physical aspects of
living are all solved problems.  The general run of humanity
has become something like 19th Century Aesthetes... they
tend to sit around having inspiring discussions about things
like the distinction between "the beautiful and the
sublime".  What scientific research there is has supposedly
become largely automated, and very few people care about it.
The few odd ball scientists have a hard time competing for
funding with the artists and poets.

As for allowing _The Double Helix_: well it's not the
answer to the question I was asking, but it's probably an
answer to a better one.  And speaking of biographical
accounts of science, there's a really good article by
Benford in the current issue of _Fantasy and Science
Fiction_.  It's a collection of anecdotes actually titled
"Doing Science".  In fact, the whole issue looks pretty
good.  Maybe I'll give it a separate review.  

I've been trying to think of some other examples of my own,
and thus far the only good one I've come up with is Paul
Preuss' _Broken Symmetries_.  It's a little on the slick
side (trying a bit too hard to do a best seller?), but it
isn't a bad story and it is all about the world of big
physics, with theorists, experimentalists, government
defense interests, and popular science journalists all
getting into the picture.
From: CORMACBW%SLSCVA@snycenva.BITNET
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.written
Subject: Irish/Celtic Fantasy
Date: 17 Apr 92 21:40:00 GMT

I recommend also The Grey Horse by R.A. McEvoy.  The Books of Kells was okay, I
thought; a slender plot supported by excellent research.  I find McEvoy's
novels to be extremely uneven.

Also worth reading:  Evangeline Walton's 4 novels based on the Mabinogion: The
Island of the Mighty, The Song of Rhiannon, The Prince of Annywn, and The
Children of Llyr.  I think they're superb.  Susan Cooper's The Dark is Rising
series (5 books, "young adult") are quite good.  Many of Charles deLint's
fantasy novels have celtic elements in them.  Kenneth Flint has written several
Irsish/celtoid fantasies.  I tried to read one and did not care for it but he
seems to be popular.  Morgan Llewellyn has also written a number of celtic
fantasy/historical novels.  I liked Lion of Ireland (about Brian Boru) very
much but found The Horse Goddess (about Epona) disappointing, so I have not
pursued her other books.  All IMHO, of course!

There are lots out there, depending on how Irish or Celtic you want them to be!
From: laura_uerling@QMRELAY.MAIL.CORNELL.EDU ("Laura Uerling")
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.written
Subject: Subject- Moon's "Liar's Oat
Date: 10 Apr 92 04:50:53 GMT


          4/10/92                             12:31 PM
Subject: Moon's "Liar's Oath"
Boy, am I confused.

dani@netcom.com (Dani Zweig) writes:

>"Liar's Oath" is itself a sequel to "Surrender None".  It is in many ways a
>backfill' book, shinforced here by the image of islands, though Australia is a
MUCH bigger
>island than any of these.) One community of 78 humans lives on Sorve
>Island, but when one of the members offends the Gillies, they are all
>evicted.  (This week I've also seen MISSISSIPPI MASALA and COME SEE THE
>PARADISE, so stories of people getting evicted from their homes are getting
>repetitious - I wonder if the 500th anniversary of the expulsion of the
>Moors and Jews from Spain is one reason for this seeming trend.)
>
>Anyway, Valben Lawler, the community's doctor and descendent of one of
>the or roomful of sleeping mages, I expect to see another book
>come along in a year or two, in which Paksenarion *wakes* those mages.

I thought I'd read all of Moon's Paksenarrion/Gird books, but this makes
absolutely
no sense to me. What islands? And who the heck is Valben Lawler?

I do agree that Liar's Oath and Surrender None were mostly interesting as
background
books.  I missed Paks--she appears briefly in LO, not at all in SN.  LO _did_ 
resolve 
some mysteries left over from the Deed series. (which I loved, BTW)

A sequel? No question. And it'll be in Paks and Phelan's time. Yay!

BTW, I am one of those people who DO like maps, and I've not seen a complete
map
of the Eight Kingdoms and Aarenis. Is one available somewhere? If anyone knows
where
I might find one, please post or e-mail directly to me.

Thanks,
Laura
lju@cornellc.cit.cornell.edu
From: ELLISWR@SPLAVA.CC.PLATTSBURGH.EDU (Raney Ellis)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.written
Subject: A little help, please
Date: 9 Apr 92 18:29:00 GMT

Date sent:  9-APR-1992 13:28:01 

Hello, sflovers...

HELP!  For some time now, I have been trying to find a story which I first
read about 30+ years ago.  The story line deals with problems of
information explosion, information storage, and indexing of information.  A
future civilization takes the sum of knowledge and stores it with
increasingly dense techniques, even down to impressions on electrons, or
some such.  Their problem is one of retrieval, as the indexes and indexes
to indexes,  ..... , become larger and larger.  They build a planet to
contain everything, and the civilization collapses when the original drawer
of information is lost.

Does anyone know of the title, or the author, or both?  I believe it to
have been written in the mid- to late-'50's.  Thank you.

In memoriam:  Isaac Asimov (1920-1992).

Raney Ellis                                             ______
Director of Computing Services                         /     *| Plattsburgh
SUNY College at Plattsburgh                           / ^ ^ ^ |
Plattsburgh, NY   12901                              |   ^ ^  |
(518)564-3013                               _________/        |
                                           |                  |
ELLISWR@SNYPLAVA.BITNET                   /                   |     
elliswr@splava.cc.plattsburgh.edu        |_______________     |
    "My employer is not responsible for                  |_   |
        what I say, and vice versa."                       \__| _____
                                                               |_____| 
Remember:  ALWAYS cut the cards!
From: steinarb@idt.unit.no (Steinar Bang)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.written
Subject: Re: Use of Weapons by Banks
Date: 9 Apr 92 13:14:12 GMT
	<1992Apr7.225230.9746@maths.tcd.ie>
Distribution: rec
Organization: Norwegian Institute of Technology, Trondheim, Norway

>>>>> On 7 Apr 92 22:52:30 GMT, pmoloney@maths.tcd.ie (Paul Moloney) said:

> And don't let genre boundaries cause you to overlook his
> "mainstream" stuff - which is weird enough to satisfy any SF fan;
> "The Bridge" and "Espedair Street" being my favourites.

Yez, I read that "Wasp Factory", certainly weird enough for me, as
well as being loaded with bizarre, black humor.

Not that he writes under the name "Iain Banks" when he writes
"mainstream" and "Iain M. Banks" when he writes sf.

That aside, I have to say that of his sf books _Use_of_Weapons_ was
*definitely* the one that moved me the most. The ending left me kinda
stunned (no spoilers in saying this, I hope...;-).

- Steinar
From: skitchen@pica.army.mil (D. Scott Kitchen (CCAC) <skitchen>)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.written
Subject: Re: Robert Jordan: when will the next come out???
Date: 7 Apr 92 18:17:18 GMT
Organization: U.S. Army ARDEC, Dover NJ

In article <1992Apr2.233954.8880@colorado.edu> worlds@dogstar.Colorado.edu (Mud Admin) writes:
>skitchen@pica.army.mil (D. Scott Kitchen (CCAC) <skitchen>) writes:
>>darknite@camelot.bradley.edu (John S. Novak III) writes:
>
>>>According to her, Time of Change should be out sometime during
>>>the summer.  I can't be more specific, because I didn't feel like
>>>making her check the computers.
>>
>>Well, knowing when _Time of Change_ comes out is all well and good,
>>but when are we going to see _The Dragon Reborn_ in paperback?  It's
>>got to come out soon...right?
>
>Well, after it was overdue at my local library for 2 weeks, I finally
>broke down and bought the hardback.  Of course that was the same day
>the book was finally returned...sigh...
>
>My oh-so-important question is -- how long is this thing going to go on?
>Is _Time_of_Change_ the last book in the series?
>
>Please say yes.  I like the series as much as the next fool, but waiting
>months for the next book is getting me tense...

Well, Sulam, I think the answer is no.  From the rumors I've heard about the
series, I think there are supposed to be _7_ Wheel of Time books.  Goodness
only knows how he'll do it with the 800 page monsters he's been putting out,
but I haven't been disappointed with the two I've read, so it ought to be
good all the way through and well worth the wait. *crosses fingers*

-- 
Scott Kitchen           | GM, Kitchen Sinkers       | ICBM: 40.88 N|
skitchen@pilot.njin.net | GM, Picatinny Mad Bombers |       74.56 W|
--------------------------------------------------------------------     
Not a shred of evidence exists in favor of the idea that life is serious.
From: ecl@cbnewsj.cb.att.com (Evelyn C. Leeper)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.written
Subject: Re: THE MISSING MATTER by Thomas R. McDonough
Date: 10 Apr 92 18:08:12 GMT
Organization: AT&T

In article <1992Apr9.203703.21235@raven.alaska.edu> ecl@mtgzy.att.com (Evelyn C Leeper +1 908 957 2070) writes:
>    on some hard science concept, prefaced by a short science article on the
>    subject by Isaac Asimov (though his recently-announced retirement may change
>    that), and followed by a somewhat longer science essay by a "real"
>    scientist.

Just in case it isn't obvious, this was written before Asimov's death,
and is not an attempt at ironical understatement.  At any rate, I
wonder what they will do now.  I suspect the next book (Roger MacBride
Allen's THE MODULAR MAN) will have an Asimov essay, since it must have
already been in production.  After that, I don't know.  The series
seems to be faltering--books come out several months after their
initially scheduled dates.

Evelyn C. Leeper  |  +1 908 957 2070  |  att!mtgzy!ecl or  ecl@mtgzy.att.com
--
The most exciting phrase to hear in science, the one that heralds new
discoveries, is not "Eureka!" (I found it!) but "That's funny ..."
					 -- Isaac Asimov (1920-1992)
From: eric@snark.thyrsus.com (Eric S. Raymond)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.written
Subject: Raymond's Reviews #191: short takes
Date: 9 Apr 92 19:46:46 GMT


This is Raymond's Reviews #191 (short takes)

%T Rehearsal for a Renaissance
%A Douglas W. Clark
%I Avon
%D March 1992
%O paperback, US$4.50
%P 339
%G ISBN 0--380-76310-9

I described Douglas W. Clark's first fantasy, _Alchemy_Unlimited_ (RR#80) as
"Bizarre. But interesting."  I wish I could say as much for this one, but
it's a sequel that should have stayed unwritten.  The cuteness is cloying
this time around, the characters' foibles irritating rather than funny, and
the whole so mushy and boring that I couldn't make myself finish it.

%T Lords of Creation
%A Tim Sullivan
%I Avon
%D April 1992
%O paperback, US$3.99
%P 242
%G ISBN 0-380-76284

I didn't really like Tim Sullivan's previous novel _A_Martian_Viking_,
but it had some moments of warped originality that were hard to
forget.  This novel has the opposite problem; it's likeable enough but
predictable straight through.  From the moment amateur paleontologist
David Albee finds a clutch of live dinosaur eggs inside an alien
stasis box buried in Montana's Cretaceous shales, most of the the rest
of the novel proceeds with disappointing obviousness, clear up to the
point where people start getting munched on and the aliens finally
land (thank Ghod it wasn't the other way around, that would've been
even *more* cliched).  Hah.  Pass on this one.

%T California Voodoo Game
%A Larry Niven
%A Steve Barnes
%I Del Rey
%D February 1992
%O clothbound, US$20.00
%P 354
%G ISBN 0-345-36598-4

This may be the best Dream Park novel yet.  Several of the characters from
_Dream_Park_ and _The_Barsoom_Project_ reappear together with a bunch of new
and equally interesting ones.  They're assembled at a ruined ecology in the
Nevada Desert to play and/or run the biggest, most spectacular simulation yet;
the California Voodoo Game.  And one of them is a murderer...Niven and Barnes
are in top form here together.  Enjoy!

%T Darktraders
%S Hellflower
%V #2
%A Eluki besShahar
%I DAW
%D March 1992
%O paperback, US$4.50
%P 254
%G ISBN 0--88677-507-8

A very tasty sequel to _Hellflower_ (RR#128).  Everything St. Cyr does seems
to get her in deeper trouble as she and Valijon Starbringer race to head off
a galaxy-destroying war.  Recommended.
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.written
Subject: Death of Issac Asimov
From: arang@desire.wright.edu
Date: 6 Apr 92 13:28:30 EST
Organization: Wright State University 

For those of you who haven't heard,  Issac Asimov died this morning-Monday,
April 6-in a New York hospital.  So far that's all I have heard.

-Amy Rang
Wright State University
Organization: Penn State University
Date: Monday, 13 Apr 1992 13:58:38 EDT
From: Rick Walsh <RKW1@psuvm.psu.edu>
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.written
Subject: Eddings-Seeress of Kell on paperback

   Yes! I finally found it in my local bookstore. The end of the series was a
 bit of a let down. Something like "Sure Dave, string me along for 10 years and
 then make all the important people unimportant and make me not care about the
 end." Any comments?

                                          Rick
From: dplatt@ntg.com (Dave Platt)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.written
Subject: Re: Donaldson complaint (was Re: SF about doing science ?)
Date: 17 Apr 92 18:42:17 GMT
Organization: New Technologies Group, Inc.  Palo Alto CA

In article <8231@sun13.scri.fsu.edu> pepke@ds1.scri.fsu.edu (Eric Pepke) writes:

> Donaldson writes in purple crayon.

Please... he'd say "aureate" or "bombastic" or "magniloquent" or
"orotund" or "tumid".  Nothing so declasse as "purple"!

Obviously, when his mother was several months pregnant, she was badly
frightened by an attacking Thesaurus (with dangling participles and a
pronounced gazetteer).

> My favorite Donaldsonism is the krill that Covenant carried around.  I
> couldn't get out of my mind the image of a bucket of small shrimp-like
> creatures.  It improved the scenes immeasurably.

Well, it was a small, shrimpy sword!
-- 
Dave Platt                                                VOICE: (415) 813-8917
              Domain: dplatt@ntg.com      UUCP: ...netcomsv!ntg!dplatt
 USNAIL: New Technologies Group Inc. 2468 Embarcardero Way, Palo Alto CA 94303
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.written
From: ckd@eff.org (Christopher Davis)
Subject: Re: Steven Brust
Organization: Electronic Frontier Foundation Tech Central
	<ru5acINNi6d@agate.berkeley.edu>
Date: Sat, 11 Apr 1992 01:31:34 GMT

 David> == David Goldfarb <goldfarb@ocf.berkeley.edu> 

 ckd> I'm also not talking about _Brokedown Palace_, which is, strictly
 ckd> speaking, not set in Dragaera ;-)

 David> 	Eh? Care to expand on this? Not set in the Dragaeran
 David> empire, yes.  Set on the same planet, most certainly.

As I said, "strictly speaking," it's not set in Dragaera [the Empire].
Hence the smiley, as I know durn well it's on the same planet.

Thanks for the note on _Athyra_; I'll be on the lookout, of course (how
could I not be?).
--
Christopher Davis <ckd@eff.org> |    ECONOMIC OBSERVATIONS DEPARTMENT
System Manager & Postmaster     |  "There's always something going out of
Electronic Frontier Foundation  |      business in Central Square."
+1 617 864 0665  NIC: [CKD1]    |   -Rita Marie Rouvalis <rita@eff.org>
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.written
From: puckett@lambda.msfc.nasa.gov (Jim Puckett)
Subject: Re: humorous science fiction
Organization: NASA/MSFC
Date: Wed, 15 Apr 1992 21:17:31 GMT

gsarff@meph.UUCP (Gary Sarff) writes:

>In article <3pmjgt_@lynx.unm.edu>, ee5391aa@triton.unm.edu (Duke McMullan n5gax) writes:
>>Hmmmm . . . I entered this thread rather late, but has no one mentioned Arthur
>>Clarke's delightful "Tales from the White Hart"?
>>
>>P.S.: It's not exactly SF . . . let me rephrase that; it's NOT SF, but Trevan-
>>ian's "Shibumi" is one of the most chuckle-filled action-adventure books I've
>>_ever_ read.

>chuckle-filled?  Shibumi?  We must have amazingly different senses of humor.
>It seemed rather dark to me.


Why not SF? Fat Boy is not like any database product that _I've_ heard 
of!8-)


and I have read it both ways, meself. It _is_ rather dark, and it is
chuckle filled - entirely dependent on my mood. But either way, it is 
in my 'Top Ten' list - and a certain reread.

jim p.

-- 
Jim Puckett    NTI    puckett@freedom.msfc.nasa.gov     
Huntsville,AL (205)544-8457

*****!Practice random kindness and senseless acts of beauty!*****
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.written