lity with its ontological base. Unlike
Narnia, however, Amber is the Yin in the Yang of Chaos the father, with
consequences very far from Christian, for the Universe so defined is
both cyclical and eternally insecure; and Amber itself is dominated
by a cabal of squabbling siblings whose quasi-Olympian feudings generate
vast cat's-cradles and imperfect nestings of Story, out of which the
fabric of lesser realities takes its shape. The Amber books constitute
RZ's most substantial edifice, though not his finest work, which is
sf. Other fantasies have been lesser.

RZ's first published story was "Passion Play" for AMZ in 1962, and for
several years he was prolific in shorter forms, for a time using the
pseudonym Harrison Denmark when stories piled up in AMZ and Fantastic,
and doing his finest work at the novelette/novella length; he assembled
the best of this early work as Four for Tomorrow (coll 1967; vt A Rose
for Ecclesiastes 1969 UK) and The Doors of His Face, the Lamps of His
Mouth, and Other Stories (coll 1971). The magazine titles of his first
2 books were as well known as their book titles, and the awards given
them were attached to the magazine titles. THIS IMMORTAL (1965 FSF as
". . . And Call me Conrad"; exp 1966) won the 1966 HUGO for Best Novel;
THE DREAM MASTER (1965 AMZ as "He Who Shapes"; exp 1966) -- the magazine
version was eventually released as He Who Shapes (1989 dos) -- won the
1966 NEBULA for Best Novella; and in the same year The Doors of His
Face, the Lamps of His Mouth (1965 FSF; 1991 chap) won a Nebula for
Best Novelette. Taken together, the 3 tales make up a portrait of RZ's
central worlds, themes and protagonist, a portrait which would be repeated,
with sometimes lessened force, for decades. The VENUS on which "Doors"
is set, like most of RZ's worlds to come, is fantastical, densely described,
almost entirely "unscientific"; the plot intoxicatingly dashes together
myth and literary assonances -- in this case Herman MELVILLE's Moby-Dick
(1851) -- and sex. THIS IMMORTAL takes place in a baroquely described
post-HOLOCAUST Earth which has become a kind of theme-park for the ALIEN
Vegans; in this shadowy realm of belatedness and human angst, the immortal
Conrad Nomikos serves ostensibly as Arts Commissioner but turns out
to be in a far more telling sense the curator of the human enterprise,
for, despite the US thriller idioms he uses in his personal speech,
he closely resembles Herakles -- whose Labours the plot of the novel
covertly replicates -- but is certainly both the Hero of a Thousand
Faces and the Trickster who mocks the high road of myth, redeemer and
road-runner both. Under various names, this basic figure crops up in
most of RZ's later books: wisecracking, melancholic, romantic, sentimental,
lonely, metamorphosing into higher states whenever necessary to cope
with the plot, and in almost every sense an astonishingly sophisticated
wish-fulfilment.

In THE DREAM MASTER -- for one of the few times in his career -- RZ
presented the counter-myth, the story of the metamorphosis which fails,
the transcendence which collapses back into the mortal world. In THIS
IMMORTAL, RS had already evinced a tendency to side, perhaps a little
too openly, with complexly gifted, vain, dominating, immortal protagonists,
and, as THE DREAM MASTER begins, his treatment of psychiatrist Charles
Render seems no different. Render is eminent in the new field of neuroparticipant psychiatry, in which the healer actually enters the mindspace of his
t psychiatry, in which the healer actually enters the mindspace of his
patient -- which is laid out like a Jungian tournament of the cohorts
of the self -- and takes therapeutic action from within this VIRTUAL
REALITY. But Render becomes hubristic, and when he enters the mind of
a congenitally blind woman, who is both extremely intelligent and insane,
his attempts to cope with her intricate madness from within gradually
expose his own deficiencies as a person, and he becomes subtly and terrifyingly
trapped in a highly plausible psychic cul-de-sac. All the sf apparatus
of the story, and its sometimes overly baroque manner, were integrated
into RZ's once-only unveiling of the nature of a human hero who could
not perform the moult into immortality.

After these triumphs, LORD OF LIGHT (1967), which won a 1968 Hugo, could
have seemed anticlimactic, but it is in fact his most sustained single
tale, richly conceived and plotted, exhilarating throughout its considerable
length. Some of the crew of a human colony ship, which has deposited
its settlers on a livable world, have made use of advanced technology
to ensconce themselves in the role of gods, selecting those of the Hindu
pantheon as models. But where there is Hinduism, the Buddha -- in the
shape of the protagonist Sam -- must follow; and his liberation of the
humans of the planet, who are mortal descendants of the original settlers,
takes on aspects of both Prometheus and Coyote the Trickster. At points,
Sam may seem just another of RZ's stable of slangy, raunchy, over-loved
immortals; but the end effect of the book is liberating, wise, lucid.

None of RZ's subsequent sf quite achieved the metaphorical aptness of
his first 3 novels, but Isle of the Dead (1969) and Creatures of Light
and Darkness (1969) both embody complex plots, mythic resonance and
a fluent intensity of language. Damnation Alley (1969), a darker and
coarser tale, depicts a post-holocaust motor-cycle-trek across a vicious
USA; it was filmed with many changes as DAMNATION ALLEY (1977). Jack
of Shadows (1971), though set on a planet which keeps one face always
to its sun, has all the tonality and dream-like plotting of a fantasy:
a fine one.

From the mid-1970s on, RZ's work maintained a certain consistency, and
always threatened to explode in the mind's eye; but did not quite do
so. Deus Irae (1976), with Philip K. DICK, is uneasy. Doorways in the
Sand (1976) is a delightfully complicated chase tale, involving a MCGUFFIN
and an entire galactic community. My Name is Legion (fixup 1976) --
which included the Hugo- and Nebula-winning Home is the Hangman (1975
ASF; 1990 chap dos) -- puts into definitive form the Chandleresque version
of the RZ HERO. Roadmarks (1979) engrossingly fleshes out the notion
that the turnings off a metaphysical freeway might constitute turnings
in time not space. The Last Defender of Camelot (1980 chap), which became
the title story of The Last Defender of Camelot (coll 1980; with 4 stories
added, exp 1981), Unicorn Variations (coll 1983), which included the
Hugo-winning "Unicorn Variation" (1981), and Frost and Fire (coll 1989)
-- which contained "24 Views of Mount Fuji" (1985) and "Permafrost"
(1986), both Hugo-winners -- represent competent later short stories.
Eye of Cat (1982) is a proficient sf thriller with a striking alien
and some effective Navajo venues. Had it not been for the romantic sublimities
of his first years, RZ's career might have been seen as triumphant.

He is not, however, regarded as a writer whose later works have fulfilled
his promise, and it may be that he has suffered the inevitable price
of writing at the peak of intensity and conviction when young: that
he may already have put into definitive form the heart of what exercises
him as a man and as a writer. The plummets into INNER SPACE, the sensitized
baroque intricacy of his rendering of the immortal longings of men who
all too easily slip into secret-guardian routines, the rush into metamorphosis:
all have had their cost. Though his Amber books and some other fantasies
(see listing below) exhibit a sustained freshness, RZ's sf readership
has been left with the inspired facility of an extremely intelligent
writer who does not desperately need to utter another word. [JC]

Other works: Today We Choose Faces (1973); To Die in Italbar (1973),
featuring Francis Sandow, the protagonist of Isle of the Dead; Poems
(coll 1974 chap); Bridge of Ashes (1976); The Illustrated Zelazny (graph
coll 1978; rev vt The Authorized Illustrated Book of Roger Zelazny 1979);
the Changing Land sequence, comprising The Bells of Shoredan (1966 Fantastic;
1979 chap), The Changing Land (1981) and Dilvish, the Damned (coll of
linked stories 1982); For a Breath I Tarry (1966 NW; 1980 chap); When
Pussywillows Last in the Catyard Bloomed (coll 1980 chap), poetry; the
Wizard World sequence, comprising Changeling (1980) and Madwand (1981),
both assembled as Wizard World (omni 1989); Today We Choose Faces/Bridge
of Ashes (omni 1981); To Spin is Miracle Cat (coll 1981), poems; Coils
(1982) with Fred SABERHAGEN; A Dark Traveling (1987), a juvenile; The
Black Throne (1990) with Saberhagen, a RECURSIVE fantasy starring Edgar
Allan POE; The Mask of Loki (1990) with Thomas T. THOMAS; The Graveyard
Heart (1964 AMZ; 1990 chap dos); Bring Me the Head of Prince Charming
(1991) with Robert SHECKLEY; Gone to Earth (coll dated 1991 but 1992);
Flare (1992) with Thomas, describing a deadly solar flare; Way Up High
(1992 chap); Here There be Dragons (1992 chap); A Night in the Lonesome
October (1993); If at Faust You Don't Succeed (1993) with Robert Sheckley;
Wilderness (1994) with Gerald Hausman, associational.As Editor: Nebula
Award Stories Three (anth 1968).About the author: "Faust & Archimedes"
in The Jewel-Hinged Jaw: Notes on the Language of Science Fiction (coll
1977) by Samuel R. DELANY; Introduction by Ormond Seavey to the 1976
GREGG PRESS printing of THE DREAM MASTER; Roger Zelazny (1980) by Carl
B. YOKE; Roger Zelazny: A Primary and Secondary Bibliography (1980)
by Joseph L. Sanders; A Checklist of Roger Zelazny (1990 chap) by Christopher
P. STEPHENS.See also: ACE BOOKS; AMAZING STORIES; ASTOUNDING SCIENCE-FICTION;
COMICS; CRIME AND PUNISHMENT; CYBERNETICS; ESCHATOLOGY; ESP; FANTASY;
GALAXY SCIENCE FICTION; GAMES AND SPORTS; GODS AND DEMONS; GOTHIC SF;
IMMORTALITY; ISAAC ASIMOV'S SCIENCE FICTION MAGAZINE; TheMAGAZINE OF
FANTASY AND SCIENCE FICTION ; MARS; MATTER TRANSMISSION; MESSIAHS; MUSIC;
OMNI; PARALLEL WORLDS; PARANOIA; PARASITISM AND SYMBIOSIS; PSI POWERS;
REINCARNATION; RELIGION; ROBOTS; SCIENCE FANTASY; SUPERMAN; SUPERNATURAL
CREATURES; TERRAFORMING; UNDER THE SEA




4. РАЗМЫШЛЕHИЯ
њњњњњњњњњњњњњњњњњњњњњњњњњњњњњњњњњњњњњњњњњњњњњњњњњњњњњњњњњњњњњњњњњњњњњњњњњњњњњњњњ
                 N o m i n e   R e q u i u m
                            или
                     РАЗМЫШЛЕHИЯ ВСЛУХ


      At the door to the House of Darkness
         lies a pair of red coyotes with heads reversed.
      Nayenezgani parts them with his dark staff
         and comes in search of me.
      With lightning behin him,
         with lightning before him,
         he comes in search of me,
      with a rock crystal and a talking _ketahn_.

      Beyond, at the corners of the door
         of the House of Darkness,
      lie two red bluejeys with heads reversed.
      With lighning behind him,
         with lightning before him,
      He parts them with his dark staff
         and comes in search of me.

      Farther, at the fire-pit of the Dark House,
         lie two red hoot-owls with heads reversed.
      He parts these with his staff
         and comes in search of me,
         with rock crystal and the talking _ketahn_.

      At the center of the Darkness House
         where two red screech-owls lie with heads reversed,
      Nayenezgani casts them aside
         coming in search of me,
         lightning behind him,
         lightning before him.
      Bearing a rock crystal and talking _ketahn_,
         he comes for me.
      From the center of the earth he comes.

      Farther...
                                        Evil-Chasing Prayer.


      Вот так же,  сиянием голубой молнии осветил меня своим творчест-
вом Роджер,  подарив миры красоты и грации,  силы и воли, разума и на-
дежды. Hоша творца миров тяжела, но только благодаря этой тяжести воз-
можно из черного слоистого угля получить блестящий кристалл света, ал-
маз мечтаний.  Что же, ему этот подвиг был по силам. Я совсем не осве-
домлен о событиях его жизни,  что-ж,  возможно это и к лучшему, ведь у
меня есть возможность посмотреть на автора,  опираясь  только  на  его
творения,  то,  что вышло из под его пера,  а скорее всего не пера,  а
клавиш машинки, и с таким опозданием дошло до нас.
      Я не  хочу  оценивать  ни сюжеты его произведений,  ни стараться
сравнить его книги... одну с другой. Много можно сказать о его многог-
ранном мире в фантастике, и о особенностях именно его стиля, манеры. Я
хотел бы сказать лишь одно - Роджер никогда не халтурил, не выжимал из
себя стальною десницей воли капли живой воды. Ведь это невозможно. Так
добывается лишь вода мертвая.
      Возможно, и даже более чем вероятно, что он не смог сделать все,
как он хотел,  выполняя договоры с редакциями своих издателей,  но  он
всегда был честен, оригинален и неподражаем. Посмотрите на его книги -
они все не похожи друг на друга, каждая из них - искрометно своеобраз-
на.  Да-да,  сразу скажу, что цикл открываемый 'Nine Princes in Amber'
это все-таки одна книга, по-моему, разумеется.
      И именно самого автора можно назвать 'He who shapes',  ведь он к
каждой книге "свой",  новый. Можно говорить, что сэр Желязны (если ко-
му-то нравится другая транскрипция,  так пожайлуста... замените) осно-
вывается в основном на мифах,  которые не похожи друг на друга, но это
не совсем так.  Миф для Желязны не догма, не цель, а средство, которое
трепещет здесь и сейчас,  в мире,  оживленном волшебством автора. Вол-
шебством творца миров. А может быть Повелителя снов... кто знает...
      Повелителем света воссел он в своей пурпурной роще, и каждый мо-
жет  прийти к нему и послушать его слова.  Кто,  конечно,  не брезгует
немного пропылится на солнце и ветре дороги. Многие, кто знал его, ве-
личали его пышными титулами, но сам он звал себя просто... Его считали
величайшим лжепророком и пройдохой,  иные же почитали мессией...  А он
не был не тем, и не другим.
      И многие будут еще очарованы обаятельностью его  героев,  филиг-
ранностью  отточенных интиг,  простотой и нерушимостью дружбы и залих-
ватским поворотом сюжета на поворотах дорог его персонажей. Hо за все-
ми ними,  если вглядеться, всегда стоит первоисточник, тот, кто отбра-
сывает эти многочисленные тени по всем отражениям вокруг себя. Hаделяя
их творческой силой в той мере,  что тень не является жалкой карикату-
рой на своего создателя, а живет сама, своей полнокровной жизнью.
      Практически каджый  читатель  найдет "свое" в творчестве Роджера
Желязны. От детиктива, до мистики... Его творения многоплановы, и пра-
во  же,  достойны  называться  "литературными  произведениями" во всех
смыслах. Или по крайней мере я так считаю. Пересказывать их содержание
так же бесполезно и бессмысленно, как и желание выпить море.
      Кто хочет,  тот прочтет.  И поймет что-то, что нужно ему. Мнений
же уществует столько же,  сколько читаетлей, поэтому я не хочу навязы-
вать кому-то свое, а предлагаю самому читателю решить за самих _себя_.

      А завершить я хотел бы стихами из последней книжки автора, кото-
рую я смог прочитать.  Ими она и заканчивается,  как и начинается теми
же стихами,  что служат предисловием к этому  маленькому  мнению.  Это
стихи из "Кошачьего глаза"...  Eye of Cat.  Как реквием звучат они те-
перь для меня...

      High in the Mountains of fire
      in the lost place of the Old Ones,
      fire falling to the right of me,
      to the left of me,
      before, behind, above, below,
      I met my self's _chindi_,
      _chindi_'s self.
      Shall I name me a name now,
      to have eaten him?

      I walk the rainbow trail.
      In a time of ice and fire
      in the lost place of the Old Ones
      I met my self's _chindi_,
      became my _chindi_'s self.
      I have traveled through the worlds.
      I am a hunter in all places.
      My heart was divided into four parts
      and eaten by the winds.
      I have recovered them.

      I sit at the center of the entire world
      sending forth my song.
      I am everywhere at home,
      and all things have been given back to me.
      I have followed the trail of my life
      and met myself at its end.
      There is beauty all around me.

      Nayenezgani came for me
      into the Darkness House,
      putting aside with his staff
      the twisted things, the things reversed.
      The Dark Hunter remembers me,
      Coyote remembers me,
      the Sky People remember me,
      this land remembers me,
      I have remember myself
      coming up into the world.
      I sit on the great sand-pattern
      of Dinetah, here at its center.
      Its power remembers me.

      Coyote call across the darkness bar ...
      I have eaten myself and grown strong.
      There is beauty all around me.
      Before me, behind me, to the right
      and to the left of me,
      corn pollen and rainbow.
      The white medicine lifts me in his hand.

      The dancer at the heart of all things
      turns like a dust-devil before me.
      My lightning-bead is shattered.
      I have spoken my own laws.

      My only enemy, my self, reborn,
      is also the dancer.
      My trail, my mind, is filled with stars
      in the great wheel of their turning
      toward springtime. Stars.
      I come like the rain with the wind
      and all growing things.
      The white medicine lifts me in his hand.
      Here at lost Lukachukai I say this:
      The hunting never ends.
      The way is beauty.
      The medicine is strong.
      The ghost train doesn't stop here
      anymore. I am the hunter
      in the eye of the hunted. If I call
      they will come to me
      out of the Darkness Mountain.


                                 Данила КОВАЛЕВ (С.Петербург)



5. ЭССЕ
њњњњњњњњњњњњњњњњњњњњњњњњњњњњњњњњњњњњњњњњњњњњњњњњњњњњњњњњњњњњњњњњњњњњњњњњњњњњњњњњ

                   Роджер Желязны

      ФЭHТЕЗИ И HАУЧАЯ ФАТАСТИКА: ВЗГЛЯД ПИСАТЕЛЯ
         (статья из сборника "Мороз и огонь")

Еще одно эссе,  возможно, не перенапряжет  усилия читателей,
хотя я спешу добавить, что у меня есть договор с  опекающими
меня   персонами   предоставить   мне   возможность  сделать
заключительное высказывание  с попыткой  подвести итог.  Это
просто небольшое интервью,  которое я дал,  руководя Седьмой
ежегодной  Итоновской  Конференцией  аучной  Фантастики   и
Фэнтези в Калифорнийском  университете в Риверсайде,  в 1985
году;  я  думаю,  что  это  может быть достойным завершением
книги.
                      ------0------

Я  часто  пытался  понять,   кем  я  являюсь  -   писателем,
пишущим научную  фантастику, которому  снится, что  он пишет
фэнтези,      или      наоборот.      Большинство       моих
научно-фантастических  вещей  содержат  некоторые   элементы
фэнтези  и  наоборот.  Я  полагаю,  это  должно   раздражать
ревнителей обоих  направлений, которые  думают, что  я порчу
научно-фантастические рассказы включением необъяснимого, или
я насилую чистоту фэнтези объяснением ее чудес.

екоторая  правда  есть  и  в  том,  и  в  другом,  так  что
единственное,  что  я  могу  сделать,  так  это   попытаться
рассказать,   почему   я   так   действую,   что   кажущаяся
разнородность моих работ  означает для меня  и каким я  вижу
это  значение  для  всей   области  в  целом.   Мое   первое
самостоятельное чтение  в школе   включало мифологию   -   в
громадных  количествах.  Это  было  до  тех  пор,  пока я не
открыл  для   себя  народные   сказки,  чудесные    истории,
фантастические  путешествия.  И  это  продолжалось  довольно
долго   -    до  одиннадцати   лет   -   пока я не  прочитал
свою первую научно-фантасти