Lord Of Light! Best sword fight in fiction. His real world fencing and martial arts expertise really added a lot to his works.

Started reading Zelazny in college in the 60s. Always my personal favorite. Started with Lord of Light, Creatures of Light and Darkness and Jack of Shadows. The first Amber was truly remarkable. Absolutely love his beautiful, unique writing style and his amazing imagination and creativity. 😎

There are people out there that know books by Zelazny but don't know Zelazny. People know "Lord of Light"...but don't remember who wrote it.

I first read it back in the early 80s. I still love the characters and the satellite stories about the Lot. I couldn't help but notice Karl Wagners Night Winds on your shelf. One of my favorite short stories, the Dark Muse, is in it. Kane is such a beast. Great channel, keep up the great work 👏👍

“His followers called him Mahasamatman and said he was a god. He preferred to drop the Maha- and the -atman, however, and called himself Sam. He never claimed to be a god, but then he never claimed not to be a god.” My favorite quote from the book. Great Souled Sam.

I can't imagine anyone that has been to a bookstore, new or used, wouldn't have seen his name just by scanning the shelves for something new.

Another underrated, exceptional author who uses the English language to the fullest extent of its vast vocabulary is Neal Stephenson, each novel of his being a unique, stand-alone tour de force. Anathem, Snow Crash, The Diamond Age (his only award winner - a Hugo for best novel) and Cryptonomicon... As a Filipino, I was profoundly moved and impressed with his insightful, nuanced, in-depth portrayal of Filipino culture and disposition in Cryptonomicon, set in Manila, the city of my birth and childhood, with episodes in Intramuros, the Spanish walled city/old town where I graduated high school in 1974 in the 400 year old Letran College run by Dominican priests and in the iconic Manila Hotel, where I taught myself to swim as a child in the seaside swimming pool also described in the novel. This Immortal may be no match for Dune, as good as Dune is, but LORD OF LIGHT surpasses even Dune for being a virtuosic riff on the Bhagavad Gita and a daring dive into the Hindu pantheon electrified with the god-like technologies propounded by Arthur Clark! I still have my 1966 paperback edition with a torn front cover I traded for with a Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, from a Chinese classmate who recommended it to me enthusiastically. I was in a clique of gifted SF and comics nerds in high school. When we discovered Gene Wolfe's Fifth Head od Cerberus in Damon Knight's Orbit 10 anthology two others and I tried to draw the characters. when my family moved to Germany in 1975, the German Heyne paperback edition of the book version served as an aid to learn German, as the English paperback was not yet available and I was not into German authors.

Why do you think awards matter? I don’t think they do. And I think posthumous awards matter even less than most. Look any award people make a big deal about- The Oscars, the Grammys, even the Nobel Prizes. How often do they go to the most deserving people or songs or books or movies or whatever? Occasionally they do, but not usually. What does matter is the verdict of history. What will people in 50 or 100 or 150 years say about these books, if they remember them at all?

Don't think that it's true that zelazny is less well known than, say, Philip Jose farmer,, and others you mentioned.

When was I reading Dark Tower 5, it became apparent that I needed to read Salem's Lot first, as it's sort of prequal. But I cheated and watched the latest movie version instead, not wanting to pause Wolves of the Calla. All the homages to Dracula stood out.

Sounds interesting enough then I shall be checking it out from my local library. Thanks for the introduction to a new author.

Bookmarked so I can regularly check it for a bargain on Kindle. Sounds intriguing. Certainly the Dutch Explorations and colonies are not something I've studied. I do tend to be, like a lot of people, focused almost exclusively on WW 2 history. I'm sure I've mentioned before my current fascination with the Game of Birds and Wolves, how a disabled Royal Navy officer and some WRENs were able to use wargaming to discover and more importantly counter the tactics used by the Uboat Wolf Packs during the Battle of the Atlantic. There are some highly intriguing KZbin videos easily found about it.

I guess I’m one of those who has been dissing Zelazny. I read Rose for Ecclesiastes in 1972 and loved it. But I seem to remember picking up a couple of his books in the ‘70s and being underwhelmed. I don’t even remember which ones. I didn’t hate them. They just made me lose interest. Maybe the wrong genre or premises. Haven’t really picked him up since. I’d be happy to be wrong, but don’t anticipate getting back to him for a while.

This is a fantastic book! The Dutch history of Manhattan is fascinating. Shorto is a fine writer and his other books are worth reading.

I've noticed that all the sudden, people who don't normally read US history are suddenly doing so. This is interesting. I've been talking about these books for a while. Are you interested in more history books? At the very least, Shorto's other book on the Revolution is even better than this one. I'm working towards making a guide to reading the colonial period.

Sounds quite interesting Grammaticus. I don't read histories myself but I'm happy you found it enjoyable.

"www.youtube.com/@GrammaticusBooks Adriaan van der Donck"? I cannot remember (m)any of the names, but that might be the correct spelling of Stuyvesant's opponent. As to your review itself: From my background as citizen of both the USA & the Netherlands (and brought up in both environments & languages & school systems) AND having read this book, methinks that you are quite fair in your description of the book. THANK YOU!

Lord of Light is his best work. I have been rereading it for over forty years. (I read a lot, so hundreds of books between each, so not obsessively). As a scifi adventure blending mythology/religion into it is fun. Zelazny goes through this myths-as-real multiple times in his writing, and this is his most successful execution of it. also enjoyed Creatures of Light and Darkness, the Amber series (Celtic and norse mythos), Cats-eye, Isle of the Damned. Zelazny's weakness are directly from the Americana macho writing informed by Hemingway; smoking, drinking, physical endurance, and women are not fully realized or respected. He was a writer of his time...

This sounds like a really good one. I'm trying to read some more non-fiction this year, so I'll have to add this to my TBR. Thanks for putting the book on my radar with this review, Grammaticus.

I used to love reading American history. So proud of our ancestors. Then my aunt asked me to read bury my heart at wounded knee. I was 15. Not ready. I was so shocked that all of my school books were lies. After that i looked at our country differently. Columbus day? Statues? You name it. Not even getting into civil war stuff. Not that i believe every word of it. But it makes you think. I am interested in this book. Thanks as always gramaticus.

Most dissed? A. E. Van Vogt's gotta be in the running for that title too.

When lord of light was going to be made into a movie it was stolen by the government and used as that Argo thing. Poor guy

He landed somewhere between the language of Ray Bradbury and the style and imagination of PK Dick. And how could you fail to mention either of them?

I think Zelazny is underrated now as the quality of his work tapered off overall by the mid 70s due his need for sales, which drove him toward more formulaic work, ill conceived collabs and pointless sequels. His strong leaning toward the 'dreaming pole' of Fantasy-tinged tropes -though often rendered in SF manner- also gave him the appearance of a lightweight compared to the other US New Wave writers. Shame, as his early work is often outstanding and super original.

I guess I've just been blessed then. I came across Roger Zelazny's "Lord of Light" in my early teens and that book has thereafter shaped my reading experience. The concept "Dharma bums in space" just simply shouldn't work. Roger Zelazny not only made it work: he made me cry with the heart-crushing ending.

As an average person i hadn't heard of most of those authors. Phil Dick, Gene Wolfe, Heinlein, Herbert, Asimov, Clarke, Bradbury sure but who are those other guys?

So Zelazny is someone who falls into the "He's a writers writer" category. What do I mean by that - well he is hugely influential among professional writers but less well known among the general public. And his influence is honestly huge - from writers like Gaiman, GRR Martin to game writers like Chris Avellone. Some of my favorite (and absolutely brilliantly written games) have been heavily inspired by Zelazny, including the Pillars of Eternity series, Planescape Torment and the Horizon Zero Dawn series. His fingerprints are all over those games. There have also been movies which have copied his work closely but never credited him. I'm thinking of "Six days" a sci fi with Arnold. Or the ":Dragonheart" movie which borrowed heavily from one of his short stories. BTW I am not a hundred percent sure but he might actually be the first sci fi writer to come up with "digital transcendence" the idea of uploading your mind into a digital form. As far as I can make out - Lord of light is the first to mention this. And considering that's one of the central tenets of Cyberpunk... well. Again, not sure, but I can't think of anyone else who came up with the idea first.

I was a librarian in Santa Fe, NM in the early 80's. He had evidently just moved to town and came to the library with his baby in a stroller. I had no idea who he was. When I was making out his new library card, I commented that he had a famous name - there was a science fiction author with that name. He very shyly said that he was that writer. I felt a little embarrassed, and he was very sweet.

One of the greats, for sure, truly brilliant, creative, and entertaining. I grieved at his passing. Jack Vance deserves more recognition as well.

Zelazny, Herbert, Heinlein, my 3 favorite authors...

I read Zelazny's novella "Damnation Alley" back in the 70s. I was just a kid then so it was a heavy, adultish read. But probably one of the best post-apocalyptic stories ever written. They made it into a sanitized movie that would have been a hit but it came out the same summer as Star Wars so you can guess what happened. The movie is now so-well known but nothing like the original novella (and later full novel that Zelazny wrote). Had the movie been a little truer to the novella/novel and released a year earlier, he likely would have become a much more well-known author... possibly with opportunities for more of his books becoming films. Alas, it was not meant to be...

You hit on one of the key reasons I love this book: no exposition. And you are right there with Corwin as he is trying to figure out what the heck is going on. It is also great how Corwin is forced to fake it until he can make it, and how his siblings take his reticence as him being coy. A masterpiece.

You make an interesting case, but I have to disagree that Zelazny has been forgotten. Of all the authors you mentioned, Zelazny is the only one whose books I still see in bookstores. L. Sprague de Camp, on the other hand does seem to be largely forgotten, even by those who grew up in your vintage age range. As for the SFWA Grand Masters, look at the age the authors were when they were given the award. All of them were well past middle age. Roger Zelazny was probably passed by because he was young and there was still time. Then he had the bad taste to die relatively young and the chance was missed.

My favorite author of all time. I actually read his Amber series as the books came out and it was torture waiting a year or two between releases. His writing concept of "doorways in the sand" has always stuck with me. Most writing gurus tell you not to write in first person, but Zelazny showed me it was the way to go.

i have the zelazny sf masterworks best of short stories i am poking along thru now, but this book always intrigued me because of the tie with dune history. maybe i’ll get to it. 🎉

The first 5 Amber chronicles are brilliant. His relatively unknown book, 'A Night In The Lonesome October' is not only an exceptional book, it has a unique storytelling mechanic - I've read it many times. Jack of Shadows is another awesome book in its imagination. His best books are just so well written and so compellingly readable.. I don't love everything he wrote, BUT, he has more books I love than any other author.

The Grandmaster Award was also not received by some other great authors like P. K. Dick, Octavia Butler, Frank Herbert and others. Therefore they created the Infinity Award two years ago. Hopefully RZ will be nominated for it soon.

L.E. Modesitt Jr is one of my favorite authors. Piers Anthony, Mercedes Lackey, Elizabeth Moon, Erickson and Esslemont of Malazan fame. And the Black Company My mom has Le Guin, Andre Norton, Marion Zimmer Bradley. Told her its time to eBay her collection 😊

I found 5 of the Amber Novels as audiobooks when my husband and I were driving across the continent on a military move. I liked the novels, so I grabbed the CDs. He totally loved them! And he is a Lious Lamore fan. I tried real hard to name my son Corwin, but it was still a no-go. 😆

Yeah. Died way too young. But I think the number of Hugos and Nebulas more than make up for missing out on a GM. Me, I first read “Rose for Ecclesiastes” in an issue of F&SF scrounged from a used bookstore in 1968 and I still recite the Agnostic’s Prayer from “Creatures of Light and Darkness” at odd moments to this day.

The SFWA has become political, nearly like Hollywood's Academy (AMPAS) where people are expected to lobby and kowtow for awards, making whole competitive campaigns out of receiving accolades. The award stops being meaningful once that happens, except as a branding stamp for sales and marketing. Even the Hugo and Nebula are heading more completely that way. Book culture isnt the same since literacy lost so much mindshare. It now seems much like they say about academia, Academics fight so hard politically, over so very little, because there's only very little to fight over. Market share has to be a fierce competition today or the publishing houses won't stay in business, because there isn't enough business to go around. And then who would be the arbitors and gatekeepers of good literature? All the award committees know where their bread is buttered and they don't want to lose their influence over fueds with publishers. It's how people work. Reading isn't popular today, nor particularly a wealth generator, and marginalized communities have increased injustice overall. Likely new awards will arise as these lose credibility, but in the meantime, overall sf as a genre will increasingly lose cred popularly.

100% agree with you that The Thing in the Crypt passes for a real REH creation. Very good short story.

I discovered Zelazny in the mid-1970s. He became (and still is) my favorite SF/Fantasy author. I've read all his solo works. I think the technology is finally here to launch a well done movie franchise of his Amber series, if the right people could be talked into doing it.

How the hell the author of Lord Of Light He Who Shapes A Rose For Ecclasiiastes The Dream Master and so much more NEVER won the Grand Master award is a true crime.I agree Lord Of Light was a new type of s.f. work.We would not of had Stargate and the work of Gaiman Delany and so much science fantasy without him.Rogor we love you and you and Brian Aldiss.Christopher Priest and all of you are sorely missed but it really was a missed opportunity with Zelazney alas.I agree about Tanith Lee also.What about Saberhagen also.But Zelazney -a crime a crime a crime.Thank you for wonder. "It is our blasphemy which has .made us great ...and which the gods secretly admire in us".❤

Okay. You made your case.

Far prefer Zelazny to Herbert, who wrote some dreadful stuff.

I've never thought of Zelazny as disrespected and I've been reading him for sixty years. And strongly disagree about "average" reader knowing deCamp, Farmer and Harrison. Don't think so.

I had joined a scifi fantasy book club (!) and that is how in junior high I learned of Zelazny. Chronicles of Amber made such an impact on me, with the magic as threads, the trump cards, Corwin, the various characters- I so wanted to be a part of that world, it was very vivid. Those images remain with me forty years later. My junior high d&d friends and I loved his work, as well as JRR Tolkien, Lloyd Alexander, Stephen Donaldson, and Isaac Asimov and Frank Herbert. High school friends had been more into Piers Anthony. we all read Stranger In A Strange Land. I do remember my disappointment many years later the seventh book - third chronicle? - of Thomas Covenant. There was a cliffhanger / end of chapter image that was a total repeat of one in the earlier works, and I never need to read tge word puissant again. It really shocked me as I’d held those first two series in such high esteem way back when - made me afraid to look to see if I’d just been oblivious or if they too had weak writing. As for other forgotten or disrespected authors - I’ve been out of the loop for very long but one book I was encouraged to read back then was David Lindsay, A Voyage to Arcturus. It was billed as being pathbreaking in its day and being an “existential science fiction novel.” I can’t remember the story now but I remember the writing being rather spare. None of my friends had ever heard of it. Good luck with the series, it’s a great idea for one.

I love Amber.

If you look at the early history of the Grand Master award, you’ll see that it was given infrequently, and generally (if not exclusively) to writers of the previous generation. Zelazny’s time hadn’t come. Farmer and Harrison became Grand Masters after his death. The Infinity Award was created in 2023, to honor people who were not recognized during their lifetimes. “Some died tragically early. Others were not recognized for their work during their lifetimes because of cultural prejudices and blind spots. Others were simply ahead of their time.” It’s been awarded twice. Give it time.