ONDE DOM QUIXOTE VÊ GIGANTES SANCHO PANÇA VÊ MOINHOS VÊ MOLINOS SUNT MOLINOS VÊ GIANT'S IT'S SIMPLE SUNT GIANT'S ...The Change War clearly affects the combatants, having to deal with the past, present and future simultaneously. Indeed, it is possible that what we are reading here is nothing but an altered memory, ‘a crazy, mixed up dream’. This is an idea that clearly lends itself to the psychedelia of the 1960’s, and also fits entirely with the strangely unreal place between, and beyond, the time streams. Similar things do happen in Michael Moorcock’s Eternal Champion novels, too. (It also explains my 1960’s book cover, too, as shown at the top of this review.) But for me most of all, it is the breath-taking places and events that have changed, often mentioned in one sentence that are memorable. Crete is built up at the expense of Greece, causing the disappearance of Greek culture, Rome collapses a few years after the death of Julius Caesar, the German Nazis occupy Europe after the US and England do not take part in World War Two, “from the salt mines of Siberia to the plantations of Iowa, from Nizhni Novgorod to Kansas City!” All mentioned briefly, in little more than a sentence. Despite the focus on the characters being small, the breadth of the impact of the Change War is stunning: “But I'm forgetting that this is a cosmic war and that the Spiders are conducting operations on billions, trillions of planets and inhabited gas clouds through millions of ages and that we're just one little world—one little solar system… and we can hardly expect our inscrutable masters, with all their pressing preoccupations and far-flung responsibilities, to be especially understanding or tender in their treatment of our pet books and centuries, our favorite prophets and periods, or unduly concerned about preserving any of the trifles that we just happen to hold dear.” The Big Time is also a book about war. It is clear that the constant to-ing and fro-ing is affecting our combatants. Their nerves are shot, their behaviour erratic, with paranoia and weariness often exhibited. War is hell, and constant war across time even more so. The people involved are often killed, and their ‘Resurrection’, to play their part in the War again, is both terrifying and humblingly bleak, although, interestingly, Leiber enigmatically points out towards the end that ‘The Change War isn't the blind destruction it seems.’ War-weary cynicism mixed with deadpan humour, cosmic concepts given over in a sentence, and the relative brevity of the book together gives The Big Time’s narrative a hefty punch. Less is definitely more here. In summary, I’m pleased I went back to this one. It’s not perfect, and definitely not for everyone, but it’s not bad at all. In summary, The Big Time is an underrated attention-grabber of a story, which left me thinking on it long after I’d finished it. And I guess, despite its flaws and despite the strong opposition, that’s why it won a Hugo.A bunch of wooden, unconvincing characters—refugees, in a sense, from the Time War—are stuck in the Place together, a safe space outside of time that’s used for soldiers’ R&R. Except the Place has been sabotaged, and there’s a bomb and possibly a traitor in their midst and blah blah blah…man, this was boring. The characters, as I said, had all the texture and depth of my cardboard Spike stand-up, the plot was rather half-assed, and the whole thing just felt very juvenile,THE BIG TIME. (1958). Fritz Leiber. **. Although this novel was the winner of the Hugo Award in 1959, I found it to be almost impossible to follow. In general, it is the story of a shifting array of warriors from a variety of times who are sent both forward and backward in time to fight battles that will change the course of history. The warriors are divided into two different camps, the Spiders and the Snakes. They were snatched from battles of their times just before they were killed and then recruited into these respective armies. The story is told by Greta Forzane, self-described as “twenty-nine and a party girl...born in Chicago of Scandinavian parents...now operat(ing) chiefly outside space and time.” The dialog is pre-hipster in style and is discontinuous in its flow. I had trouble following the thread of the story, and, after a while stopped caring. According to the publishers, it was several years after the appearence of this novel in two consequetive issues of Galaxy Magazine in 1958 that the book was finally published in hardback. The publisher also makes the comment that the book is not well known today. There are apparently good reasons for that. I’m not sure why this was included in Library of America’s compendium of American Science Fiction.

On the one hand it is a highly intelligent and an impressively weaved story evolving around a unique blend of philosophical ideas & "hip" 1950s/60s sci-fi; on the other it is a soap drama with loads of references to classic literature & drama.......

The first part I must say is so amazing that Leiber's story has left ever-lasting impressions on my mind....I HAVE A DREAM ...NOT A DREAM IN THE CLASSICAL SENSE SONHEI QUE ESTAVA A FAZER UM TESTE SOBRE B.D. E LEMBREI-ME DUM BOOK SOCIO-ILLOGIC SUR DISNEY E A AMERICANIZAÇÃO DAS MENTES 
E DEPOIS AO LER O LIVRO RECORDEI-ME DE TODO O SONHO QUE TINHA UMA CAMBADA DE HUMANOS PELO MEIO E UMA HISTÓRIA ALTERNATIVA QUE SE IA ALTERANDO À MEDIDA QUE A IA LENDO .....UMA HISTÓRIA BANAL EM QUE A AMÉRICA TINHA INVADIDO A POLÓNIA ...E CURIOSAMENTE ISTO FOI EM 1977 ANTES DE EU COMEÇAR A LER ESTE LIVRO ...O SONHO LEMBREI-ME DAS ESTATÍSTICAS PRISIONAIS NOS U.S OF A NA ALTURA CERCA DE 250 MIL PRISIONEIROS E ACHEI POUCO PARA UMA SUB-CIVILIZAÇÃO TÃO VIOLENTA
OS DADOS ERAM DE 1972 OU 1973 ...
And a cleverer plot device using the Einsteinean concept of Time (in philosophical language called "Static Time") is hard to imagine.

Unfortunately it clashes with the "high drama" style. I admire Leiber for doing it--and I am sure it would have been an utterly complete failure from any other writer--but in my opinion it isn't all successful. Standing on its own that's a style Leiber masters to perfection--but I am not too keen on it combined with the story's plot.

That's why it left me feeling oddly "Hooray" as well as "Ugh, c'mon!"... Hmmm...

That's a recommendation of sorts, I guess;

SOLAR HEAT CAN BE STORED IN VARIOUS MEDIA IN WATER IN SOIL IN AIR ...AND IN HUMANS ...ROMANI SUNT NIHIL HUMANI MI ALIENUM PUTO Romanı kaç sene önce okudum, hatırlamıyorum. Romanı kaç kere okuyabilirim, bilmiyorum; ama defalarca okuyabilirim. Başucumda olabilir, Feride'nin mücadelesi, bir erkeğe yenilmeden hayatını ters edecek şekilde kendi ayakları üzerinde durma çabası... İhsan Bey'in onurlu bir şekilde Feride'ye verdiği cevap, Hayrullah Bey'in babacanlığı... Birçok not düşürdü Çalıkuşu romanı kafama, birçok cümle. Filmini yeni izledim. Siyah-beyaz oluşu, yandan gelen "geçmiş" sesi, kıyafetler, konuşmalar vs... Türkân Şoray aşığı birisi olarak romanın uyarlanışına bayıldım, birkaç ayrıntı atlanmış. Mesela Feride'nin Çanakkale'den adı "Gülbeşeker'e" çıkarak ayrılmak zorunda kalışı gibi. Önemli değil, romanın tam tadını vermedi; ama romanın da filmin de tadı bambaşka. Çok seviyorum arkadaşlar, romanını da okuyun filmini de izleyin. Gerçi, büyük ihtimal okumuşsunuzdur, umuyorum en azından.

WATER -SHORT TERM STORAGE

WOOD - A LAREIRA LUTAVA PARA MANTER ALGUNS PREGUIÇOSOS OLHOS

ALARANJADOS DE CARVÃO OU DE BRASAS FEITOS

NAQUELES DIAS OS PECADORES MOVIAM-SE TÃO DEPRESSA

NOS SEUS TRANSPORTES ONDE A ENERGIA SOLAR ARMAZENADA

ERA QUEIMADA DE FORMA FLUIDA

A VELOCIDADE TORNA AS FORMAS INDISTINTAS

ADEUS DISSE O SONHO A DEUS A DIOS DEUS O ACOMPANHE

E O TEMPO SUFOCARÁ TODAS AS PALAVRAS E TODOS OS SONHOS

E NO SONHO AS JANELAS COLAPSARAM E ONDAS DE CALOR

E DE DESESPERO DOBRARAM AS DOBRADIÇAS

E AS JANELAS SONOLENTAMENTE CEDERAM

E O DESESPERO ENTROU E ENCHEU A CASA VAZIA

NUM SONHO DEIXEI AS MALAS FICAREM PARA TRÁS NUMA VIAGEM NA VIRTUALIDADE ESPACIO-TEMPORAL QUE SÃO OS SONHOS E A CAMIONETE NÃO QUERIA PARAR (É NO TEMPO DA RODOVIÁRIA NACIONAL NOSSA NEM NOS SONHOS PARAVAM) SAÍ COM MEDO QUE AS MALAS TIVESSEM SIDO ROUBADAS (OU NACIONALIZADAS A BEM DA NAÇÃO COMO O ESPÍRITO SANTO E O IRMÃO DO BORGES) ENTÃO PORQUE É QUE NÃO AS METI NA CAMIONETE ..A RESPOSTA É CLARA ...SOU PREGUIÇOSO ...ATÉ NOS SONHOS

E POR FALAR NISSO ...SE BEM QUE NÃO ESTEJA FALANDO ACORDEI TARDE

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