We all seemed
to have glimmerings about the action and ideas in Lord of Light, by
Roger Zelazny! Dennis told us that the book was one of his old favorites and
that he had read it at least 5 times. He has a commendable understanding of the
book, and he helped to dissolve some of the confusion many of us had after our
first reading of the book.
Dennis began
the meeting by telling us that the actual chronology of the story begins with Chapter
2 and that Chapters 2-6 lead up chronologically to Chapter 1; then Chapter 7 is
the end of the story. Chapters 1 and 7 form the structure of the book. Dennis
mentioned that this framing mechanism is similar to that in the book, Frankenstein
(by Mary Shelley). Dennis also summarized the action of the story from
start to finish, thus explaining some of Sam’s and other characters’ deaths, resurrections,
and transfers to new bodies.
We had
interesting discussions of the questions Dennis had provided to us in advance
of our meeting. Several of us thought the book would belong in the Science
Fiction section of the bookstore, and some thought the book belongs in Fantasy.
We will have to visit Barnes & Noble to see where they shelved it! I said
that since the awards the author won for the book were awards chosen among
science-fiction readers, that the book would be sci-fi. Marcia thought there
was a lot of magic in the book, due to the Gods having magical powers, so it
would belong in Fantasy. Perhaps it would be considered a “Crossover,” which is
the term used when a song is a hit in two categories, e.g., Rock ‘n Roll and
Country.
We talked
about Sam’s being an “Accelerationist,” who would teach his skills to allow the
less wealthy citizens to use them.
Then we
talked about whether genetic engineering would a good idea. Carla brought up a
story of twins who were genetically engineered; Joyce said that was done in
China to make the twins resistant to HIV but that this was prohibited in China,
and that someone was fired for doing it. Dennis said people could make designer
cats, and Ken suggested smaller and smaller pet dogs. Marcia brought up the
danger of people creating “designer children,” picking and choosing
characteristics such as IQ. Dennis contributed the idea of creating athletes who
could earn a lot of money, thus showing another pitfall of availability of
genetic engineering. Carla then listed some ways genetic engineering could be
helpful, such as eliminating diseases evident in babies’ genes. Dennis noted
that a lot of us now have had mRNA vaccines.
I said that
engineering survival characteristics to adapt people to life on a variety of
planets could help humans take over the universe. Science fiction starts to
meet reality here! Marcia mentioned the movie, Gattica. Marcia said we could
create monsters, and then Ken remembered that Hitler had tried to create a
ruling class with Aryan characteristics quite a few years ago.
Dennis
brought up the question. “If you had godlike powers, would you hide it, because
it could be misused?” Pam, Carla, and I immediately said we would hide it. I
said I would use the powers for good, like Superman, and that teaching these
abilities could happen. Dennis mentioned a Netflix series, “The Boys,” where
this kind of power is used for evil. Ken said that Lord of Light seemed
to indicate that the author thought that the upper class opening this kind of
knowledge would be the only way the lower classes could learn and use it.
Dennis said that if the rulers can hold everyone else down, the lower classes
can’t do much of anything about it.
This brought
us back to current reality and the plusses and minuses of the combination of
people and power, the stuff much of life and science of fiction are about!
