Lafferty, R. A.
Average customer rating:
- nine-hundred grandmothers
- A Freaking Amazing Collection Of Short Stories
- Each story a diamond
- Believe the Hype
- Lafferty is a genius
|
Nine Hundred Grandmothers
R. A. Lafferty
Manufacturer: Wildside Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
 General
| Science Fiction
| Science Fiction & Fantasy
| Subjects
| Books
Look Inside Science Fiction & Fantasy Books
| Trip
| Specialty Stores
| Books
Similar Items:
- Lud-In-The-Mist
- Jurgen
- Viriconium
- Does Anyone Else Have Something Further to Add
- The Manuscript Found in Saragossa (Penguin Classics)
ASIN: 1880448971 |
Customer Reviews:
nine-hundred grandmothers.......2006-02-01
the first story is the greatest, the rest of the books short stories are very good but some are so enigmatic that I am not sure of what they were trying to tell me. Overall a good read
A Freaking Amazing Collection Of Short Stories.......2005-11-13
This is the only collection of R. A. Lafferty's short stories that I've read (a later addition: well, not anymore), so I can't say how it compares with the rest, but based on how good this one is, I would say every one of them is worth acquiring (a later addition: true: get all of them). I think Lafferty is an obscure genius, and that more people should know his work. Lafferty's publisher once remarked that he has seen Lafferty's work "continually being compared to that of James Joyce by people who do not make such comparisons lightly". And in a better world, as one author pointed out, Lafferty would be as famous as Joyce, and other such renowned writers.
The Wildside Press edition is good. The paper looks and feels like it will last and last, no matter what. The image area leaves plenty of room for your hands to hold the book, while you are reading, without touching the ink. The binding is tough, yet the pages open well.
The font size is on the small side, but that is about the only complain I can think of.
Whether you like this collection or not, do not miss Lafferty's novel, The Devil Is Dead.
Each story a diamond.......2005-08-08
The short stories of R.A.Lafferty are (still?) a treasure known to not many people. Forget about writers filed under "Fantasy" and leading you to another Middle Earth copy. THIS is Fantasy and it will lead you both to the End of Time/Universe AND to your own block where aliens just started a new trade on the other side of the road for "Jupiter only offers freezing cold and you can only do business with insects" (story: "In our block")
I read and re-read this compilation since I was 18 years old. It tickles ALL your senses. And leaves you rolling on the floor sometimes too. Buy it, you will be amazed!
Believe the Hype.......2005-05-03
I'm so glad this book is back in print, as for years I would keep finding used copies in used book stores, only to find myself giving copies away. This is truly the best collection of short storeis I have ever read, even the best by Lafferty (though I also recommend Iron Tears, Strange Doings and Ringing Changes quite highly) - Lafferty is completely unique and original, and his stories are wacky, endlessly inventive, hilarious and will twist your brain in directions you didn't know it could go. There are a LOT of great storeis in this book, but my abolute favorites are Seven Day Terror and Hole on the Corner. Really though, this is a brilliant work that deserves a VERY wide audience...
Lafferty is a genius.......2005-02-03
The "cranky old man from Tulsa" is one the great eccentrics of fantastical literature.His stylish, tumultuous, absurdist and sui generis short stories often blends theological speculations, satire, black humour, conspiracies, cartoonish humour..UUUFFFFFFF.He is a conscious stylist that assaults the reader with torrents of words, invention and craziness not often encountered in any kind of literature.On the surface his short stories seems to be aimed only to entertain ( and they DO entertain !! ) but more often than not they address serious issues. NINE HUNDRED GRANDMOTHERS is a fine introduction to Lafferty and shoudn't be missed .
Contents:
Nine Hundred Grandmothers ========== *****
Land of the Great Horses =========== ****
Ginny Wrapped in the Sun =========== **
The Six Fingers of Time ============ *****
Frog on the Mountain =============== ****
All the People ===================== ****
Primary Education of the Camiroi==== **1/2
Slow Tuesday Night ================= ***1/2
Snuffles =========================== ****
Thus We Frustrate Charlemagne ====== ****
Name of the Snake ================== *****
Narrow Valley ====================== *****
Polity and Custom of the Camiroi === **
In Our Block ======================= ****
Hog-Belly Honey ==================== ****
Seven Day Terror =================== ****
The Hole on the Corner ============= ****
What's the Name of that Town ? ===== ****12
Through Other Eyes ================= *****
One at a Time ====================== ***1/2
Guesting Time ====================== ***1/2
Average customer rating:
|
Half a sky: The Coscuin chronicles, 1849-1854
R. A Lafferty
Manufacturer: Corroboree Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding
United States
| World Literature
| Literature & Fiction
| Subjects
| Books
| 18th Century
| 19th Century
| 20th Century
| African American
| Asian American
| Classics
| Collections & Readers
| Drama
| General
| Hispanic
| History & Criticism
| Humor
| Jewish American
| Letters & Correspondence
| Native American
| Poetry
| Short Stories
| Women Writers
ASIN: 0911169024 |
Average customer rating:
|
The fall of Rome
R. A Lafferty
Manufacturer: Doubleday
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding
Rome
| Ancient
| History
| Subjects
| Books
ASIN: B0006CALC4 |
Average customer rating:
|
In the Wake of Man
R.A. Lafferty , Gene Wolfe , and Walter Moudy
Manufacturer: Bobbs-Merrill Co
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
General
| Psychology & Counseling
| Health, Mind & Body
| Subjects
| Books
ASIN: 0672520907 |
Average customer rating:
|
The Devil is Dead a novel
LAFFERTY (R.A.)
Manufacturer: Avon
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000J5EGVK |
Average customer rating:
- Wonderful, bizarre and unique fantasy and science fiction
|
Lafferty in Orbit
R. A. Lafferty
Manufacturer: Broken Mirrors Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
Science Fiction & Fantasy
| Subjects
| Books
| Authors, A-Z
| Books on CD
| Books on Cassette
| Fantasy
| Gaming
| Large Print
| Media
| Science Fiction
| Writing
United States
| World Literature
| Literature & Fiction
| Subjects
| Books
| 18th Century
| 19th Century
| 20th Century
| African American
| Asian American
| Classics
| Collections & Readers
| Drama
| General
| Hispanic
| History & Criticism
| Humor
| Jewish American
| Letters & Correspondence
| Native American
| Poetry
| Short Stories
| Women Writers
Contemporary
| General
| Literature & Fiction
| Subjects
| Books
Look Inside Science Fiction & Fantasy Books
| Trip
| Specialty Stores
| Books
Similar Items:
- Nine Hundred Grandmothers
- Fourth Mansions
- Does Anyone Else Have Something Further to Add
- The Reefs of Earth
- The Devil is Dead
ASIN: 0962382485 |
Customer Reviews:
Wonderful, bizarre and unique fantasy and science fiction.......1999-06-04
Lafferty in Orbit is an anthology of the Lafferty stories appearing in the famous Orbit series edited by Damon Knight. Playful, outrageous, ridiculous and sublime, Lafferty the magician performs open-heart surgery on reality, and just for kicks removes the lungs, liver and both kidneys, juggles with them, puts them back in random order, sews up the patient and walks away grinning. The operation is always successful, and we wake up feeling hunky-dory. Included in this collection is "Narrow Valley" an often-anthologized fantasy that is one of the funniest stories ever written. What happens when an Oklahoma valley a half-mile wide appears to be no bigger than a drainage ditch to the family of homesteaders who just bought it? "The Hole on the Corner" is tour-de-force science-fiction that will leave you rolling in the aisles. Lafferty the usher leads you back to your seat and mesmerizes you with "Continued on Next Rock," one of the most haunting and transcendent fantasies ever penned. Then comes a story, "Configuration of the North Shore" of a man obsessed by a recurring dream. Lafferty takes you out of normal consciousness and into the dream world where everything is possible, yet you never quite find the thing you are searching for so desperately, if it is a thing at all... Every story is unique and bears the Lafferty watermark, each time held up the light never appearing the same, but forcing you to see in a completely different way. Read this book, but check your reality after every story--or you may find yourself trapped inside.
Average customer rating:
- Lafferty's Masterpiece
- "There is also the danger of serpents"
- Fourth Mansions reveals Lafferty at the top of his form.
|
Fourth Mansions
R. A. Lafferty
Manufacturer: Wildside Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
General
| Science Fiction
| Science Fiction & Fantasy
| Subjects
| Books
Look Inside Science Fiction & Fantasy Books
| Trip
| Specialty Stores
| Books
Similar Items:
- The Devil is Dead
- The Reefs of Earth
- Nine Hundred Grandmothers
- Lafferty in Orbit
- Okla Hannali
ASIN: 1880448963 |
Customer Reviews:
Lafferty's Masterpiece.......2007-02-23
R. A. Lafferty writes like Schrodinger theorizes. FOURTH MANSIONS is perhaps the greatest novel-length work by Lafferty. Lafferty gives the impression of a sort of bumbling, provincial rube, but underneath the strategic humility is a steel-trap mind and a terrifying erudition. Lafferty seems to know everything there is to know, and he'll mention it all offhandedly. He also casually and constantly throws off words that have me scrambling for the dictionary-- but they aren't pretentious, five dollar words, they're usually gorgeous, old, almost forgotten slang terms. Lafferty was an electrical engineer who started writing at a rather advanced age. I am convinced that in his technical work he must have been involved in some pretty otherworldly stuff-- maybe he took a couple rides with Otis T. Carr or something. Unbelievably brilliant, but if you don't know what you're looking at, or if you don't have a capacious American-style sense of humor, you might not get it.
"There is also the danger of serpents".......2002-11-23
An incidental remark about allegories reminded me of this little volume by R.A. Lafferty. In many ways, I think it is his finest, although all of his efforts are remarkable. Whatever your preference, 'Fourth Mansions' remains the most unusual of its genre, an allegory that refuses to take itself seriously.
When Freddy Foley, newspaperman and innocent, discovers that certain people seem to reappear at irregular intervals he insists on investigating and soon finds himself hip deep in a metaphysical odyssey. He discovers that there is not one, but four separate subcultures that share the world with humanity. The best of these are the badgers that guard the entrances of the human domain. The worst are the toads, the ones who sleep and are reborn. These are dedicated to keeping the world from evolving to the next level. Every time things get better they make sure they really get worse.
Then there are the snakes whose wild mental energy runs out of control. For them the rest of us are toys to play with, energy to use up. Finally, there are the unfledged falcons. Well intentioned, they are the premature warriors, champions of violent solutions. Best to worst they spell little good for Freddy, whose truth seeking will lead him to the tops of mountains and the cells of asylums. 'Goof gloriously,' the snakes order poor Freddy, and so he does.
Lafferty performs an unexpected deconstruction of the mythology of man's progress, and creates an entirely unique narrative for inner progress. Foley is Everyman (Foley = The Fool) on a journey towards a higher plane of being, impeded by creatures that symbolize his own weaknesses. The tale is told tongue-in-cheek, a burlesque parody of one pilgrim's progress. Filled with more mad characters than all of 'Canterbury Tales,' the reader is often left unsure whether to laugh or take notes.
Of course, this is the great flaw of allegory; it never loses the taint of lecture. Plot serves message unforgivingly. 'Fourth Mansions' is only partly fiction as we progress from lesson to lesson. The good news is that Lafferty refuses to fall into the trap of being tedious, and, instead, allows the allegory to parody itself. Still, this is unusual entertainment, and not meant for everyone. Full of mind games and obscure symbolism made garish, it is a child of the late 60's, although I think it's intent is more valid now then it was then. Nowadays I sometimes wonder if the toads have managed to win after all.
Fourth Mansions reveals Lafferty at the top of his form........1999-09-28
One of the quirkiest science fiction novels ever written, Fourth Mansions reveals Lafferty's story-telling prowess in novel-length form. This is the timeless tale of reporter Freddy Foley, in a way a strange sort of Everyman, on the trail of things that ought not to be known. And they will not be known if a shadowy group called the Returnees have their way. Foley's misadventures lead him to a tangled web of bored suburbanites who concoct a mindweave to snare unsupecting souls. When the weave takes on a life of its own, demanding ever bloodier sacrifice, Foley is drawn toward a meeting with destiny that will take him into the secret world of the Returnees. Along with Past Master, Arrive at Easterwine, and Annals of Klepsis, I rate this book among Lafferty's best, and reread it often to remind myself that no matter how odd the world gets, it doesn't get odder than Lafferty.
Average customer rating:
- A Piece of a Huge Saga
- Is reality too bad to be true? & the missing Chapter
- Strange Wonder
- Exquisite prose-poetry fantasy explores the devil within.
|
The Devil is Dead
R. A. Lafferty
Manufacturer: Borgo Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
General
| Science Fiction
| Science Fiction & Fantasy
| Subjects
| Books
Look Inside Science Fiction & Fantasy Books
| Trip
| Specialty Stores
| Books
Similar Items:
- Fourth Mansions
- The Reefs of Earth
- Nine Hundred Grandmothers
- Serpent's Egg
- Okla Hannali
ASIN: 1880448955 |
Customer Reviews:
A Piece of a Huge Saga.......2007-05-14
To fully appreciate this literally wonderful book, one must realize that it is only one part of a sprawling saga, the "Argo Mythos", revolving around that legendary ship and those who have sailed on it. Within that saga lies the "Devil Is Dead" trilogy, of which this book (confusingly, of the same name) is but the middle part, its predecessor being "Archipelago" and its successor being "More Than Melchisedech" (which, to further complicate score-keeping, was published in three volumes, named "Tales of Chicago", "Tales of Midnight", and "Argo"). Also part of the Argo Mythos is the novel "Dotty", and--arguably--the "Coscuin" tetralogy (of which the final two books are yet unpublished, though the manuscripts exist).
Finnegan, the chief protagonist, is adapted from the character Finn McCool of Irish legend, and parts of the saga derive from that legendarium; he also, however, partakes to some extent of the nature of Jason, the hero we normally associate with the Argo. Further--though one can read the saga without needing to know this--Lafferty has adopted the Argo itself as symbolic of the Roman Catholic Church, of which Lafferty was--to put it mildly--an ardent adherent.
This novel, the saga, the entirety of Lafferty's work: it is all literary genius of a high order, something the casual reader may miss owing to Lafferty's very down-to-earth writing style, which in many ways is almost conversational in tone. But then, the definition of a professional is someone who makes it all look easy.
Is reality too bad to be true? & the missing Chapter.......2005-12-12
In the beginning, after a two page introduction (to this day, the most innovative and striking introduction or prologue I've read), we find the main character, Finnegan, sitting on a sidewalk with a man, a millionaire. Neither character remembers how they came to be there, nor what their names are. The reader is being pulled in through fascinating, occasionally funny dialog, and an economy of description, no doubt inspired by the literary work of James Joyce himself, like the name of the main character, Finnegan. At the same time, Lafferty works succesfully and ever so subtly at creating a certain mood, a feeling of something being wrong. Soon, Finnegan ends up on a voyage around the seas of the earth.
Raphael Aloysius Lafferty, one of the few writers whose books have made Arthur C. Clarke laugh out loud (according to Clarke himself), invites the reader onto the voyage as Finnegan. The destination: reality, or a better dream? And yes, there's humor, too, the zany, Laffertian kind you never get tired of, and the kind that prevents the voyage from becoming too dark to enjoy.
Lafferty writes in the prologue: "Put the nightmare together. If you do not wake up screaming, you have not put it together well." The advice is useful enough for the reader stumbling along the whirlwinds of metaphor Lafferty conjures up to shake Finnegan, him, awake. In addition, it hints at Lafferty's view of reading and interpretation: you either get it, or you don't. To Lafferty, there's no "fruitful misunderstanding"; nor is there to Lafferty, as there is to no logical thinker, "purposive accident", which, as Lafferty writes in one of his short stories, is the logical continuation of the former.
The Devil Is Dead is R. A. Lafferty's sixth novel, as far as the order of publication goes. It was first published in 1971, and remains underappreciated, as well as unique in literature.
The Wildside Press edition (paperback or hardcover) is, as always, worth the price, and infinitely superior to decades old pocket book editions (unlike those old paperbacks, the Wildside Press paperbacks, although of varying sizes, are always pretty big, there's always lots of space around the image area, the pages are of superior quality and open well, the backs simply won't wrinkle, and so on).
PS. For some reason, in all editions of The Devil Is Dead there is a two-page Interglossia missing from between the chapters 10 and 11 ("--Absalom Stein, Notes on the Finnegan Cycle"... Absalom Stein was one of the main characters in Archipelago (as was Finnegan), a book which Lafferty wrote before The Devil Is Dead, but which was published years later), also missing is the final chapter. These were later published in "How Many Miles to Babylon?" and in "Episodes of the Argo", both books now unavailable even used. If you e-mail me, I will send you the Interglossia and the last chapter through e-mail.
Strange Wonder.......2000-07-20
For genres that pride themselves on "sense of wonder" and "weirdness," science fiction and fantasy have a depressing habit of presenting the same views of the future over and over or using a generic "fantasyland" that is a kind of idiot step-child of Tolkien's Middle Earth.
R. A. Lafferty, however, is breathtakingly different. I can guarantee that you haven't seen the world the way Lafferty does--and you'll enjoy the experience.
THE DEVIL IS DEAD is some of his best writing and most inventive strangeness. Sure, the plot doesn't really (I think) go anywhere, but recursive endings and silly loops are welcome any time they come packaged in this delightful and enlightening a read, with such a motely crew of Lafferty outlaws, drunks, monsters and sailors. The Promantia alone is worth the price of admission. If you want a book that's hilarious, deep, wise, frightening and beautiful, look no further. If you want a conventional plot or tidy resolution, look elsewhere.
Exquisite prose-poetry fantasy explores the devil within........1998-02-18
I've read several of Lafferty's books - this is easily the best. Lafferty is an odd genius who went right up to the edge, took a look, a long look, and may have done his writing from the other side. The language is an unpredictable delight. The protagonist ( Finnegan ) wakes up from a mind-blanking drunk and soon finds himself a hand on a mysterious yacht. The people on board are not what they seem, some of them are perhaps not people, and evil erupts soon after they leave each port. And may you too not have the mark just below your left wrist? The mark just barely visible, but waiting to break through the skin? The mark of a older race who were usurped, but hid in a very clever way. Perhaps you should check your wrist again. His introduction alone is worth the price of most books. A good drunk.
Average customer rating:
- Lafferty's "Utopia"
- Future Tense
- Skip it.
- Read _Utopia_ first
- Lafferty discusses the meaning of existence, with jokes
|
Past Master
R. A. Lafferty
Manufacturer: Wildside Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
General
| Science Fiction
| Science Fiction & Fantasy
| Subjects
| Books
Look Inside Science Fiction & Fantasy Books
| Trip
| Specialty Stores
| Books
Similar Items:
- The Devil is Dead
- Fourth Mansions
- The Reefs of Earth
- Nine Hundred Grandmothers
- Ammonite
ASIN: 1880448998 |
Customer Reviews:
Lafferty's "Utopia".......2006-06-24
Lafferty employs the same device as Thomas More did (and he employs Thomas More himself, or, well, his character, at any rate), and attempts to demonstrate the vapidness of what he saw our civilization turning into in the 60s, when he wrote Past Master.
As all Lafferty books, the novel is rich in symbol, metaphor, zany humor, and originality of one or another sort. Gene Wolfe wrote in Castle of Days (mainly a collection of short stories and essays):
"No true reader who has read as much as a single story by Raphael Aloysius Lafferty needs to be told that he is our most original writer. (...) Just about everything Lafferty writes is fun, is witty, is entertaining and playful. But it is not easy, for it is a mingling of allegory with myth, and of both with something more."
I don't think you need any preparatory reading for this book (though I read the Wikipedia articles on Thomas More and Utopia, before starting to read Past Master), just be open to symbols.
The Wildside Press edition (paperback or hardcover) is, as always, worth the price, and infinitely superior to decades old pocket book editions (unlike those old paperbacks, the Wildside Press paperbacks, although of varying sizes, are always pretty big, there's always lots of space around the image area, the pages are of superior quality and open well, the backs simply won't wrinkle, and so on).
Future Tense.......2006-04-11
My favorite Lafferty novel is Fourth Mansions, but this is a close second. Indelible images and ideas from these two books have forever penetrated my brain. I didn't have any good idea of who Thomas More was when I first read Past Master, other than that he had written Utopia and had perhaps meant it to be ironic. Since then, every bright idea for the future is tagged "utopian" (dark visions like Blade Runner are called dystopias).
After seeing the film of the play of A Man for All Seasons, about Sir Thomas More VS King Henry VIII, I'd think of that character when reading Past Master. But not much background is necessary to get the story, such as it is. A future utopia is falling apart, and its leaders ask a computer to find the perfect ruler. With Laffertarian irony, it turns out to be the man who coined the term "utopia" (or popularized it), the mediaeval scholar Thomas More.
Astrobe, the utopia, however, is only sustained so long as people believe in it. Or at any rate, mechanical wolf-like killers are dispatched to eliminate those who lose their belief in the Astrobe dream. The tone, however, is rollicking, with black (noir) humor, and much of the book would be at home on Futurama. Lafferty trumps himself by relating the story through the eyes of Thomas More, a stranger in this strange land. "Lafferty has the power to ignite fire behind your eyeballs," Roger Zelazny noted (or something like that). Laffertarians who've only sampled the short stories, get ready for the full-length ride of Past Master.
Skip it........2004-01-26
Even though this book stands on its own, if one has not read Thomas Moore's Utopia, I suspect they would be lost. The book is interesting, but not very entertaining. There is no character development, no story development, just a hodgepodge of ideas.
I can't believe this was nominated for a Hugo.
Read _Utopia_ first.......2000-05-14
To understand this novel, you pretty much have to read Thomas More's _Utopia_ first. Still, the book does make sense on its own --it's essentially what would happen in a "perfect" world; a Heaven on Earth. Not surprisingly, people can't stand it and go live in Hell. At least they feel alive there. It probably would have been better as less than a novel; I don't think the length can be justified. Lafferty is a very literate writer, full of interesting ideas and intriguing imagery.
Lafferty discusses the meaning of existence, with jokes.......1999-02-10
Past Master takes a rejuvenated Thomas More and places him in a future community which corresponds to his own Utopia. This is a novel full of heavy ideas; perhaps more than it can support; but there is a huge amount here to reward somebody who gives the book the attention it demands.
Authors:
- Pär Lagerkvist
- Lagerkvist, Pär
- Selma Lagerlöf
- Lagerlöf, Selma
- Lahiri, Jhumpa
- Lamb, Charles
- Lamb, Wally
- Lamming, George
- Lamott, Anne
- L'amour, Louis
Authors
Authors