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philippmichelreichold · 5 years

Text

#scifi #review this immortal by roger zelazny

Basically

This Immortal, known in an earlier incarnation as Call me Conrad, is one of Zelazny's heroic epics with no less than the fate of humanity at stake. The principal character, Conrad, is typical of most of Zelazny's heros. He is for all practical purposes immortal. Like Bugs Bunny, he does not go out of his way to cause trouble for others, but does not suffer abuse lightly. He plans carefully, trying not to act rashly. And he changes his feelings and views as he grows older and wiser. These traits lead, of course, to conflict. Conrad is retained to give a high caste alien from Vega named Cort Myshtigo a tour of earth for a survey. Because of the relationship between Vegans and humanity, this incites some resentment against the alien and concern for the future of humanity. The smart money has wagered that the way to save humanity is to kill Cort. Conrad makes it plain that he prefers to wait until he has enough information to decide, and spends most of his time shielding Cort from attempts on his life.

Irony

The novel contains a great deal of irony which is used to show mankind returning from the brink of extinction and beginning the process of healing its wounds.. Episodes occur in which the putative destroyer is the instrument of salvation. The first of these occurs in Egypt. Hasan has been hired by the Agency to protect Cort. But as is known or suspected by everyone except Cort, Hasan is also a Radpole agent sent to kill him. In the final ironic twist of this episode, Hasan saves Cort from a boadile while trying to kill him. Other ironies abound. Twice, those thought lost are returned and bring salvation with them. The first returned is Conrad's dog, Bortran. Bortran had gone missing years earlier and has been searching for his master ever since. After Conrad returns to Greece on this tour, Bortran crosses his trail. He catches up with Conrad just in time to rescue him from the Kouretes. Next to return from the presumed dead is Conrad's wife, Cassandra. While burning an old friend, Conrad and his party are set upon by the Beast of Thessaly. In a dramatic sequence worthy of Dickens, they battle the Beast until Cassandra plays Zeus and strikes the Beast dead . In a more prolonged twist, the Radpole is trying to kill the one Vegan who can save earth and set it free. Throughout the story Conrad repeatedly intercedes to stay his execution, opposing the Radpole which he had founded decades before. The final irony is in the very nature of the Kallikanzaros. Rather than being the instrument of the world's destruction as in Greek myth, he is to be its savior.

Symbolism

Symbols of loss, destruction and ultimate redemption strengthen the themes presented through the use of irony. Symbols of the destruction of earth's civilization include the spiderbats, the Kouretes, the Beast of Thessaly and the threatened dismantling of the Pyramids. The beginning of the restoration of civilization is symbolized by the return of Bortran and Cassandra as well as the destruction of the Kouretes, the Beast of Thessaly and the inroads being made against the spiderbats. Conrad symbolizes earth civilization itself. Cort refers to him as a sort of "ghost of place." The restoration of Bortran and Cassandra, essential to Conrad's wholeness as a person, support this symbolism. Also, Conrad's fungal rash, present at the beginning of the story, has been eliminated at the end. He still has his limp, but his healing has begun, and like the earth itself, he endures

Steve Troy calls This Immortal a "lighthearted romp." And it is. This in no way detracts from the seriousness of Zelazny's themes or nor does it reduce the effectiveness of his presentation. It does make the story more enjoyable. The twists and rescues do not merely heighten suspense and grip the reader. They also provide the framework for the irony and symbolism that carry Zelazny's themes of returning from the brink and of recovering from destruction.

QUOTES

My thinking is usually pretty good, but I seem to do it after I do my talking-- by which time I've generally destroyed all basis for further conversaton.

If heaven didn't want me then, I'm not going to ask a second time.

Vocabulary

adytum- "1 the innermost room or shrine in certain old temples, to be entered only by priests 2 a sanctum" (Excerpted from Compton's Reference Collection 1996 copyright (c) 1995 Compton's NewMedia, Inc.)

bouzouki-"a stringed musical instrument of Greece, somewhat like a mandolin, used to accompany folk dances and singers" (Excerpted from Compton's Reference Collection 1996 Copyright (c) 1995 Compton's NewMedia, Inc.)

caique- 1. a light skiff used on the Bosporus 2. a Levantine sailing vessel(Merriam-Webster Dictionary)

Cassandra- Conrad's new wife. According to Bulfinch's Mythology, "Queen Hecuba and her daughter Cassandra were carried captives to Greece. Cassandra had been loved by Apollo, and he gave her the gift of prophecy; but afterwards offended with her, he rendered the gift unavailing by ordaining that her predictions should never be believed." In This Immortal, Conrad disbelieves both Cassandra's accurate warnings of danger and her later prediction that things will go well.

chthonic- "1.designating or of the underworld of the dead and its gods or spirits 2.dark, primitive, and mysterious" (Excerpted from Compton's Reference Collection 1996 Copyright (c) 1995 Compton's NewMedia, Inc.)

Kouretes- "returns this line from the play The Bacchae by Euripides:" 'O secret chamber of the Kouretes and you holy Cretan caves, parents to Zeus, where the Korybantes with triple helmet invented for me in their caves this circle..." That is because the Curetes (the more common spelling) were spirits on the island of Crete who protected the newly born god Zeus when his mother Rhea hid him from his father Cronos, who would otherwise have eaten the baby. The Curetes danced around banging spears on shields to make a clattering din to drown out Zeus's cries.'" (email post from Joel [email protected] 21:11:42 EDT) ouzo- "a colorless Greek liqueur flavored with aniseed" (Excerpted from Compton's Reference Collection 1996 Copyright (c) 1995 Compton's NewMedia, Inc.)

Ozymandias- "Here are two verses from the poem Ozymandias by Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792-1822):

'I met a traveler from an antique land

Who said: "Two vast and trunkless legs of stone

Stand in the desert. Near them on the sand,

Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown,

And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,

Tell that its sculptor well those passions read."

... "My name is Ozymandias, king of kings:

Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!"

Nothing beside remains. Round the decay

Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare,

The lone and level sands stretch far away.'"

(email post from Joel [email protected] 21:11:42 EDT)

Piraeus- "seaport in SE Greece, on the Saronic Gulf: part of Athens' metropolitan area: pop. 184,000: ModGr name PEIRAIEVS" (Excerpted from Compton's Reference Collection 1996 Copyright (c) 1995 Compton's NewMedia, Inc.)

Satyr- "The Satyrs were deities of the woods and fields. They were conceived to be covered with bristly hair, their heads decorated with short, sprouting horns, and their feet like goats' feet." (Bulfinch's Mythology)

Skinner boxes- "an enclosure in which small animals, as rats or pigeons, are conditioned by rewards and punishments to perform certain acts in response to specific stimuli" (Excerpted from Compton's Reference Collection 1996 Copyright (c) 1995 Compton's NewMedia, Inc.)

syrinx- "pipes of Pan", upon which he plays. See:Syrinx; Encyclopedia Mythica for more information.

Characters

Bortran- Conrad's dog

Conrad- hero of the story, "Director of Arts, Monuments, and Archives," Radpol founder, and kallikanzaros

Cort Myshtigo- a wealthy Vegan journalist who wishes to write a book about earth

Dos Santos- hates Vegans, husband of "red wig"

Diane- the girl with the red wig, hates everyone, disfigured by a Vegan disease Radpol member

Dos Santos- hates Vegans, husband of "red wig" Radpol member

Ellen- George's wife, wants to go to Taler, freind of Conrad

George- scientist, entomologist, freind of Conrad wants to poison the spiderbats

Jason- Conrad's son

Hasan- Mercenary hired as Cort's bodyguard

Lorel Sands- earth director appointed by Earth Government onTaler, Conrad's boss and freind

Phil- poet laureate of earth, freind of Conrad

Procrustes- War Chief of the Kouretes (from Procustes in Myth)

My content creative commons attribution required share alike

image from ISFDB under fair use

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tripstations · 5 years

Text

Our guide to Greece’s irresistible island understudies

With its blue-domed churches, turquoise waters and sun-baked skylines, it’s no wonder more than 30 million visitors are set to roll out their beach towels in Greece during 2019.

But how to avoid the crowds? The ferry is the best ally because beyond the flight map lie dozens of lesser-known islands — all within easy reach of the crowded old favourites.

So here’s our pick of Greece’s irresistible island understudies …

IF YOU LOVE: KEFALONIA

SWAP FOR: PAXOS

Paxos stretches just three miles wide and seven miles long and is a ‘serene substitute’ to Kefalonia

Ionian idyll Kefalonia is still Greece’s top draw for many, even a quarter of a century after a certain captain and his mandolin first set tourism figures alight. Divert to Paxos, the archipelago’s tiniest flick of land, and a serene substitute stretching just three miles wide and seven miles long awaits.

DON’T MISS: A jaunt to largely untouched isle Antipaxos — home to just 30 people.

BOOK IT: A week’s self-catering stay in August in a one-bedroom villa in the village of Loggos costs £1,049pp, based on two sharing. Includes flights from Gatwick and ferries, call GIC The Villa Collection on 020 8232 9780, gicthevillacollection.com.

IF YOU LOVE: SANTORINI

SWAP FOR: FOLEGANDROS

Rocky Folegandros delivers on whitewashed houses, sparkling Aegean waters and deep sunsets, writes Joanna Tweedy

Santorini’s sugar-cube coastal villages, fringed by cobalt-blue ocean, have been wooing British tourists for decades.

As numbers swell, though, one might be better to jet in and boat straight out. For an hour of breaking waves puts you on possibly the most charming Greek Island you’ve never heard of. Rocky Folegandros delivers on whitewashed houses, sparkling Aegean waters and deep sunsets.

DON’T MISS: A bowl of matsata — hand-made pasta served with rabbit — in medieval Chora.

BOOK IT: Seven nights in a family-run hotel on Folegandros costs £555 pp including flights, departing September 1. Return ferry crossings from £18. Call Hidden Greece on 020 8004 9095, hidden-greece.co.uk.

IF YOU LOVE: CRETE

SWAP FOR: MANI

No ferry required here; a four-hour drive south from the ancient chaos of Athens lands you on the Mani peninsula, a prong of terrain that does rather a good impression of Crete 40 years ago.

There’s history in spades — with stone villages and Byzantine chapels — plus dramatic gorges, deserted coves and the spectacular Diros caves.

DON’T MISS: An awesome view of the Peloponnese, from the lighthouse at Cape Tenaro, Eastern Europe’s southernmost tip.

BOOK IT: Family rooms at the Petra and Fos spa hotel, at the foot of Mount Taygetos, cost from £249 per night in August, petrafoshotel.com. Ryanair flies to Athens from £182, ryanair.com.

IF YOU LOVE: MYKONOS

SWAP FOR: NAXOS

Once a Grecian playground for avant garde party people, Mykonos’s shimmer has been blunted by the arrival of the masses. Pretender to the throne is Naxos, the largest of the Cyclades, which is ramping up the cool-o-meter with chic bars, an open-air cinema and Venetian mansions. Santorini — two hours away by boat — is the best route in.

DON’T MISS: Sipping Kitron — Naxos’s lemon liqueur — at the Ocean Beach Club in Chora.

BOOK IT: A family can stay at Villa Paradise resort from £2,760 per week, based on four sharing, villa-paradise.gr. Flights to Santorini with British Airways in August cost from £350, ba.com. Return ferries from Santorini from £40.

IF YOU LOVE: ZANTE

SWAP FOR: SAMOS

Samos is located off the Turkish coast in the north-eastern Aegean. It is known for its Muscat – a sweet amber wine

Zante, also known as Zakynthos, has largely gifted its southern coast to the package holiday market. An understudy to delight? Step forward Samos, off the Turkish coast in the north-eastern Aegean.

DON’T MISS: Nursing a sweet amber wine — Samos is known for its delicious Muscat.

BOOK IT: Stay for a week during peak summer on Samos from £907 pp, based on a family of four sharing a two-bedroom apartment at Vigla Apartments in Ormos. Price includes flights from Gatwick and ferry transfer, call Cachet Travel on 020 8847 8700, cachet-travel.co.uk.

IF YOU LOVE: CORFU

SWAP FOR: SKOPELOS

Smitten by Corfu’s Venetian beauty, but turned off by tacky resort towns? Try making eyes at Skopelos, in the northern Sporades. Just a 15-minute pootle from neighbouring Skiathos docks you on a roomy island with genuine big-screen credentials.

Skopelos served up the backdrop to the Mamma Mia! movie. Somehow, it’s survived Hollywood and remains low-key, with islanders genuinely pleased to see you.

DON’T MISS: Armenopetra, a perfect sweep of beach, spliced by a chink of land, in the north-west.

BOOK IT: Ionian and Aegean Island Holidays offer a week at Villa Aetoma from £2,988 for a family of four during the summer break. Price includes flights and car hire, call 020 8459 0777, ionianislandholidays.com. Return ferries from Skiathos from £22.

IF YOU LOVE: LEFKADA

SWAP FOR: MEGANISSI

Sleepy: Meganissi, above, is 20 minutes away by boat from popular Lefkada

Connected to the mainland via road, Lefkada is now a big hitter. Just 20 minutes away by boat, and not yet weary of visitors bearing suitcases, is sleepy Meganissi. Yachters, weaving in to its harbours, discovered it long ago, but tourism on this three-village island remains a fledgling affair.

DON’T MISS: Northerly Spartochori, a beautiful union of terracotta-roofed houses and cerise bougainvillea.

BOOK IT: Simpson Travel offers seven-night August stays in Villa Taphian on Meganissi from £2,841pp, based on six sharing, and including flights and car hire. Call 020 8003 6557, simpsontravel.com. Return ferries from £15.

IF YOU LOVE: RHODES

SWAP FOR: PAROS

Culture vultures who’ve devoured Rhodes’s sights might enjoy the island of Paros, dubbed the ‘quiet heart of the Cyclades’. Two hours from Santorini by boat, many visitors come just to see 4th-century Byzantine church, Panagia Ekatontapiliani. There’s good kite-surfing, diving and sailing, too.

DON’T MISS: A feast of soupia (cuttlefish) with Ballos, the local ouzo.

BOOK IT: Five nights at five-star Minois Village on Paros cost £1,520 for a family of four, based on August 26 departures. Prices include breakfast and port transfers, visit minois-village.gr. Flights to Santorini with easyJet cost from £339, easyjet.com. Return ferries cost from £43.

The post Our guide to Greece’s irresistible island understudies appeared first on Tripstations.

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heritageartifacts · 6 years

Photo

More than eight hours traveled for a forty minute journey. Jostled, shoved, line jumped and coughed on by the entire rainbow of humanity, I was quite done with the whole bloody planet. But I was also hungry. Famished, in fact, with an evening in a city known for food. A long day of stale nuts, shitty coffee and ineffectual edibles meant low blood sugar and a black mood, but a soak and sleep weren’t on the menu. A late reservation at a favorite tapas bar, terminology that dishes a disservice to this spot, found us at a tall table tucked in a corner sweetly knocking knees instead of tiredly trading snark. The sommelier was dispatched with a clear mandate: affordable Rioja with age and old-world funk, more horse’s ass than cherry wood. The server offered to just simply feed us, inquiring about preferences and sparing my oft-embarrassment of being told that, indeed and once again, in my excitement and hunger, I’d ordered too much. - A slow parade of food revived spent spirits: cockles cooked in a wood oven with sherry and onion and mopping up bread; wild mushrooms from the mountainous north dressed in nothing more than oil and chopped parsley and woodsmoke, the fungis’ natural liquor releasing and combining, a Marilyn Monroe wearing only Chanel No. 5; John Dory roasted whole in butter and wine on a bed of mandolined potato, surrounded by spring peas and asparagus and turnips, the fish’s flesh dusted with Mediterranean herb; Iberian pork cooked tender with garlic and smoked pepper and buried under a pile of wilted greens, their vivid color making me feel almost virtuous in their consumption. We ate out of sizzling cast iron and copper, dragging bread crusts and fingers through the last dregs of flavor, the ‘95 Artadi blossoming like a dusky rose, Mrs. Robinson in a glass. Nourished body and nurtured soul allows a fortified return to the land of the living. But not yet. Gawd, not yet. There’s still herbal liqueur to be had, heady and sweet, made by monks in Spain’s arid south; tisane of mint snipped from overgrown pots; and the first of summer’s strawberries perched on porcelain flan, jiggling like a flamenco dancer’s headdress. - #spain #barcelona #tapas (at Bar Mut)

#spain #tapas #barcelona

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philippmichelreichold · 5 years

Link

#scifi #review this immortal by roger zelazny

Basically This Immortal, known in an earlier incarnation as Call me Conrad, is one of Zelazny’s heroic epics with no less than the fate of humanity at stake. The principal character, Conrad, is typical of most of Zelazny’s heros. He is for all practical purposes immortal. Like Bugs Bunny, he does not go out of his way to cause trouble for others, but does not suffer abuse lightly. He plans carefully, trying not to act rashly. And he changes his feelings and views as he grows older and wiser. These traits lead, of course, to conflict. Conrad is retained to give a high caste alien from Vega named Cort Myshtigo a tour of earth for a survey. Because of the relationship between Vegans and humanity, this incites some resentment against the alien and concern for the future of humanity. The smart money has wagered that the way to save humanity is to kill Cort. Conrad makes it plain that he prefers to wait until he has enough information to decide, and spends most of his time shielding Cort from attempts on his life.

Irony The novel contains a great deal of irony which is used to show mankind returning from the brink of extinction and beginning the process of healing its wounds.. Episodes occur in which the putative destroyer is the instrument of salvation. The first of these occurs in Egypt. Hasan has been hired by the Agency to protect Cort. But as is known or suspected by everyone except Cort, Hasan is also a Radpole agent sent to kill him. In the final ironic twist of this episode, Hasan saves Cort from a boadile while trying to kill him. Other ironies abound. Twice, those thought lost are returned and bring salvation with them. The first returned is Conrad’s dog, Bortran. Bortran had gone missing years earlier and has been searching for his master ever since. After Conrad returns to Greece on this tour, Bortran crosses his trail. He catches up with Conrad just in time to rescue him from the Kouretes. Next to return from the presumed dead is Conrad’s wife, Cassandra. While burning an old friend, Conrad and his party are set upon by the Beast of Thessaly. In a dramatic sequence worthy of Dickens, they battle the Beast until Cassandra plays Zeus and strikes the Beast dead . In a more prolonged twist, the Radpole is trying to kill the one Vegan who can save earth and set it free. Throughout the story Conrad repeatedly intercedes to stay his execution, opposing the Radpole which he had founded decades before. The final irony is in the very nature of the Kallikanzaros. Rather than being the instrument of the world’s destruction as in Greek myth, he is to be its savior.

Symbolism Symbols of loss, destruction and ultimate redemption strengthen the themes presented through the use of irony. Symbols of the destruction of earth’s civilization include the spiderbats, the Kouretes, the Beast of Thessaly and the threatened dismantling of the Pyramids. The beginning of the restoration of civilization is symbolized by the return of Bortran and Cassandra as well as the destruction of the Kouretes, the Beast of Thessaly and the inroads being made against the spiderbats. Conrad symbolizes earth civilization itself. Cort refers to him as a sort of “ghost of place.” The restoration of Bortran and Cassandra, essential to Conrad’s wholeness as a person, support this symbolism. Also, Conrad’s fungal rash, present at the beginning of the story, has been eliminated at the end. He still has his limp, but his healing has begun, and like the earth itself, he endures

Steve Troy calls This Immortal a “lighthearted romp.” And it is. This in no way detracts from the seriousness of Zelazny’s themes or nor does it reduce the effectiveness of his presentation. It does make the story more enjoyable. The twists and rescues do not merely heighten suspense and grip the reader. They also provide the framework for the irony and symbolism that carry Zelazny’s themes of returning from the brink and of recovering from destruction.

QUOTES My thinking is usually pretty good, but I seem to do it after I do my talking– by which time I’ve generally destroyed all basis for further conversaton.

If heaven didn’t want me then, I’m not going to ask a second time.

Vocabulary adytum- “1 the innermost room or shrine in certain old temples, to be entered only by priests 2 a sanctum” (Excerpted from Compton’s Reference Collection 1996 copyright © 1995 Compton’s NewMedia, Inc.)

bouzouki-“a stringed musical instrument of Greece, somewhat like a mandolin, used to accompany folk dances and singers” (Excerpted from Compton’s Reference Collection 1996 Copyright © 1995 Compton’s NewMedia, Inc.)

caique- 1. a light skiff used on the Bosporus 2. a Levantine sailing vessel(Merriam-Webster Dictionary)

Cassandra- Conrad’s new wife. According to Bulfinch’s Mythology, “Queen Hecuba and her daughter Cassandra were carried captives to Greece. Cassandra had been loved by Apollo, and he gave her the gift of prophecy; but afterwards offended with her, he rendered the gift unavailing by ordaining that her predictions should never be believed.” In This Immortal, Conrad disbelieves both Cassandra’s accurate warnings of danger and her later prediction that things will go well.

chthonic- “1.designating or of the underworld of the dead and its gods or spirits 2.dark, primitive, and mysterious” (Excerpted from Compton’s Reference Collection 1996 Copyright © 1995 Compton’s NewMedia, Inc.)

Kouretes- “returns this line from the play The Bacchae by Euripides:” ‘O secret chamber of the Kouretes and you holy Cretan caves, parents to Zeus, where the Korybantes with triple helmet invented for me in their caves this circle…“ That is because the Curetes (the more common spelling) were spirits on the island of Crete who protected the newly born god Zeus when his mother Rhea hid him from his father Cronos, who would otherwise have eaten the baby. The Curetes danced around banging spears on shields to make a clattering din to drown out Zeus’s cries.’” (email post from Joel [email protected] 21:11:42 EDT) ouzo- “a colorless Greek liqueur flavored with aniseed” (Excerpted from Compton’s Reference Collection 1996 Copyright © 1995 Compton’s NewMedia, Inc.)

Ozymandias- “Here are two verses from the poem Ozymandias by Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792-1822):

'I met a traveler from an antique land Who said: "Two vast and trunkless legs of stone Stand in the desert. Near them on the sand, Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown, And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command, Tell that its sculptor well those passions read.” … “My name is Ozymandias, king of kings: Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!” Nothing beside remains. Round the decay Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare, The lone and level sands stretch far away.’“

(email post from Joel [email protected] 21:11:42 EDT)

Piraeus- "seaport in SE Greece, on the Saronic Gulf: part of Athens’ metropolitan area: pop. 184,000: ModGr name PEIRAIEVS” (Excerpted from Compton’s Reference Collection 1996 Copyright © 1995 Compton’s NewMedia, Inc.)

Satyr- “The Satyrs were deities of the woods and fields. They were conceived to be covered with bristly hair, their heads decorated with short, sprouting horns, and their feet like goats’ feet.” (Bulfinch’s Mythology)

Skinner boxes- “an enclosure in which small animals, as rats or pigeons, are conditioned by rewards and punishments to perform certain acts in response to specific stimuli” (Excerpted from Compton’s Reference Collection 1996 Copyright © 1995 Compton’s NewMedia, Inc.)

syrinx- “pipes of Pan”, upon which he plays. See:Syrinx; Encyclopedia Mythica for more information.

Characters Bortran- Conrad’s dog

Conrad- hero of the story, “Director of Arts, Monuments, and Archives,” Radpol founder, and kallikanzaros

Cort Myshtigo- a wealthy Vegan journalist who wishes to write a book about earth

Dos Santos- hates Vegans, husband of “red wig”

Diane- the girl with the red wig, hates everyone, disfigured by a Vegan disease Radpol member

Dos Santos- hates Vegans, husband of “red wig” Radpol member

Ellen- George’s wife, wants to go to Taler, freind of Conrad

George- scientist, entomologist, freind of Conrad wants to poison the spiderbats

Jason- Conrad’s son

Hasan- Mercenary hired as Cort’s bodyguard

Lorel Sands- earth director appointed by Earth Government onTaler, Conrad’s boss and freind

Phil- poet laureate of earth, freind of Conrad

Procrustes- War Chief of the Kouretes (from Procustes in Myth)

All my content is creative commons attribution required. sources as cited. image used under fair use from isfdb

0 notes

philippmichelreichold · 5 years

Text

#scifi #review this immortal by roger zelazny

Basically This Immortal, known in an earlier incarnation as Call me Conrad, is one of Zelazny's heroic epics with no less than the fate of humanity at stake. The principal character, Conrad, is typical of most of Zelazny's heros. He is for all practical purposes immortal. Like Bugs Bunny, he does not go out of his way to cause trouble for others, but does not suffer abuse lightly. He plans carefully, trying not to act rashly. And he changes his feelings and views as he grows older and wiser. These traits lead, of course, to conflict. Conrad is retained to give a high caste alien from Vega named Cort Myshtigo a tour of earth for a survey. Because of the relationship between Vegans and humanity, this incites some resentment against the alien and concern for the future of humanity. The smart money has wagered that the way to save humanity is to kill Cort. Conrad makes it plain that he prefers to wait until he has enough information to decide, and spends most of his time shielding Cort from attempts on his life.

Irony The novel contains a great deal of irony which is used to show mankind returning from the brink of extinction and beginning the process of healing its wounds.. Episodes occur in which the putative destroyer is the instrument of salvation. The first of these occurs in Egypt. Hasan has been hired by the Agency to protect Cort. But as is known or suspected by everyone except Cort, Hasan is also a Radpole agent sent to kill him. In the final ironic twist of this episode, Hasan saves Cort from a boadile while trying to kill him. Other ironies abound. Twice, those thought lost are returned and bring salvation with them. The first returned is Conrad's dog, Bortran. Bortran had gone missing years earlier and has been searching for his master ever since. After Conrad returns to Greece on this tour, Bortran crosses his trail. He catches up with Conrad just in time to rescue him from the Kouretes. Next to return from the presumed dead is Conrad's wife, Cassandra. While burning an old friend, Conrad and his party are set upon by the Beast of Thessaly. In a dramatic sequence worthy of Dickens, they battle the Beast until Cassandra plays Zeus and strikes the Beast dead . In a more prolonged twist, the Radpole is trying to kill the one Vegan who can save earth and set it free. Throughout the story Conrad repeatedly intercedes to stay his execution, opposing the Radpole which he had founded decades before. The final irony is in the very nature of the Kallikanzaros. Rather than being the instrument of the world's destruction as in Greek myth, he is to be its savior.

Symbolism Symbols of loss, destruction and ultimate redemption strengthen the themes presented through the use of irony. Symbols of the destruction of earth's civilization include the spiderbats, the Kouretes, the Beast of Thessaly and the threatened dismantling of the Pyramids. The beginning of the restoration of civilization is symbolized by the return of Bortran and Cassandra as well as the destruction of the Kouretes, the Beast of Thessaly and the inroads being made against the spiderbats. Conrad symbolizes earth civilization itself. Cort refers to him as a sort of "ghost of place." The restoration of Bortran and Cassandra, essential to Conrad's wholeness as a person, support this symbolism. Also, Conrad's fungal rash, present at the beginning of the story, has been eliminated at the end. He still has his limp, but his healing has begun, and like the earth itself, he endures

QUOTES My thinking is usually pretty good, but I seem to do it after I do my talking-- by which time I've generally destroyed all basis for further conversaton.

If heaven didn't want me then, I'm not going to ask a second time.

Vocabulary adytum- "1 the innermost room or shrine in certain old temples, to be entered only by priests 2 a sanctum" (Excerpted from Compton's Reference Collection 1996 copyright (c) 1995 Compton's NewMedia, Inc.)

caique- 1. a light skiff used on the Bosporus 2. a Levantine sailing vessel(Merriam-Webster Dictionary)

Ozymandias- "Here are two verses from the poem Ozymandias by Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792-1822):

'I met a traveler from an antique land Who said: "Two vast and trunkless legs of stone Stand in the desert. Near them on the sand, Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown, And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command, Tell that its sculptor well those passions read." ... "My name is Ozymandias, king of kings: Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!" Nothing beside remains. Round the decay Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare, The lone and level sands stretch far away.'"

(email post from Joel [email protected] 21:11:42 EDT)

syrinx- "pipes of Pan", upon which he plays. See:Syrinx; Encyclopedia Mythica for more information.

Characters Bortran- Conrad's dog

Conrad- hero of the story, "Director of Arts, Monuments, and Archives," Radpol founder, and kallikanzaros

Cort Myshtigo- a wealthy Vegan journalist who wishes to write a book about earth

Dos Santos- hates Vegans, husband of "red wig"

Diane- the girl with the red wig, hates everyone, disfigured by a Vegan disease Radpol member

Dos Santos- hates Vegans, husband of "red wig" Radpol member

Ellen- George's wife, wants to go to Taler, freind of Conrad

George- scientist, entomologist, freind of Conrad wants to poison the spiderbats

Jason- Conrad's son

Hasan- Mercenary hired as Cort's bodyguard

Lorel Sands- earth director appointed by Earth Government onTaler, Conrad's boss and freind

Phil- poet laureate of earth, freind of Conrad

Procrustes- War Chief of the Kouretes (from Procustes in Myth)

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