Nine Hundred Grandmothers: A Review of Exisiting Literature

Sometimes you find a book.


If you've read my previous posts, you'll no doubt know I have no talent for writing, but that doesn't mean I don't know a good book when I read one.

Nine Hundred Grandmothers by R.A Lafferty is extraordinary. 
It's a collection of sci-fi shorts from 1970 and I'm just amazed where his imagination takes us, extrapolated from another era.

His worlds are surreal but we see ourselves clearly in his characters, their motivations and ambitions. Through eons and light-years, the human condition is familiar.

I cannot tell you coherently enough why you should read this, but only that I know this is a most exciting find for me and would highly recommend it.

Some of my favourites from this collection:

Nine hundred grandmothers, in which an ordinary man quests for the origin of all life, to understand the "joke"

The Land of Horses, where he weaves familiar mythologies and lore into this tale of a nation's heritage.

  "They came and took our country away from us." the people had always said. But nobody understood them"

Frog on the mountain, a species' life cycle and ascension, and the struggle to reclaim their legacy.


  "Get up, Chavo. What is the name of the fourth prey again?"
  "It is you, the crag-ape, Papa Garamask, for World men do look funny to us and we call you so. Or it is myself, the frog-man..."

It's like he was tripping. 

This is what you should be reading while high, if you can still read while high.

There's even a story of a petty God-bear who kills explorers because they made fun of his design of the world and the whole incident was blamed on the explorers getting high when future teams investigated their deaths.
I think it's out of print now, but lucky for us there's always kindle and you can get a e-copy from amazon here. It's selling for 2 USD, really no reason why you shouldn't get it.


Since we're talking about Sci-fi, I would like to also take this opportunity to introduce to whoever chances upon this blog, my other favourite sci-fi authors and their works.

I love the short story format, like a flavour punch, just densely packed ideas presented with economy of words

These stories are mirrors.

I do not have the grace of words to coherently tell you why they are worthy of your time and can only say they were magical.

2 of the 3 books belong to my dad, I'm not returning them.

Asimov, Isaac
The Complete Robot
I grew up with this book. This was how my father introduced me to Sci-fi. 

I was thus introduced to the three laws of robotics.

1. A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.
2. A robot must obey orders given it by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.
3. A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law.

Deceptively simple, but they perfectly sum up the tension between Man and Machine.

You can get a copy here.

Chiang, Ted

Story Of Your Life, and Others

Again, an introduction by my father. 

Ted writes beautifully about the human condition and frequently visits the themes of free will and fatalism; Story of Your Life, What's Expected of Us, The Merchant and the Alchemist's Gate. (links to his stories available freely online)

Exhalation, looks at an immortal faced with his mortality and his journey to his horrifying enlightenment.

I read this years before Arrival, and I must say Arrival did a very good job bringing out the human aspect of the discovery of the implications of the alien language. I admit I did not grasp the human element as much when I read it.

You can get a copy here.

Cordwainer, Smith

The Rediscovery of Man

Of the authors mentioned, I think he is the most bizarre.

His works are akin to Dali's, surrealist.

He does not follow the usual tropes of sci-fi nor does his science make sense, everything is so outlandish and popping with colour.

My favourites from him were:

Golden the Ship Was... Oh... Oh... Oh...,  in a few short pages he tells the coming of war and its quick deceit and resolution.

The Crime and the Glory of Commander Suzdal, about initial contact with a hostile alien species and the extremes taken to extricate onself.

You can get a copy here

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