This is a great book I picked up from the free books box at the library. It has some wonderfull stories. My favorite was "The model of a judge" by William Morrison.
Words I Had To Look Up:
meretricious --pg. 32.:
like or relating to a prostitute; brassy: tastelessly showy; gilded: based on pretense; deceptively pleasing; Found at:
wordnet.princeton.edu/perl/webwn
adiabatic--pg. 142: Changes in temperature caused by the expansion (cooling) or compression (warming) of a body of air as it rises or descends in the atmosphere, with no exchange of heat with the surrounding air.
spieltier--pg. 132: [“The Lady Who Sailed the Soul” by Cordwainer Smith] shapeshifting pet
Quote:
"Hitler had once said that the true victory of the Nazis would be to force its enemies, the United States in particular, to become like the Third Reich - i.e. a totalitarian society - in order to win. Hitler, then, expected to win even in losing. As I watched the American military-industrial complex grow after World War Two I kept remembering Hitler's analysis, and I kept thinking how right the son of a bitch was. We had beaten Germany, but both the U.S. and the U.S.S.R. were getting more and more like the Nazis with their huge police systems every day."
-- Philip K. Dick, Notes on Oh to be a Blobel! (1979)
Stories by Lester Del Rey, Frederik Pohl, Damon Knight, A.E. Van Vogt, and jack Vance. I'd say my favorites were The Miracle Workers by Jack Vance, and Day Million by Frederick Pohl.
Kate Sutton is sent off to live in the odd fortress of Elvenwood Hall when her sister Alicia (the pretty one) innocently sends a critical letter to Queen Mary. Good story! A Weeded Copy.
A high school girl is abducted and left to die in the woods. The story is told alternately by herself and two girls she knew. I really enjoyed reading this, but I wonder who the other girls in the trees were, and why Eve and Nyette (and Ian) went to the island. I guess I'll have to read it again! I read the Uncorrected Proof edition.
Words I Had To Look Up:
fauxhawk (pg. 44) -- A type of hairstyle, a fake mohawk.
Julie acknowledges she has a potty mouth, which I could have done without, but I liked the book rather much. I felt ashamed of myself for judging Julia Child (and others) so superficially on looks and, in Julia's case, her raucous laughter. I hereby acknowledge that I am an ass, and I know it.
"To San Rasario in the fall, the ganja came down from the mountains in two-hundred-poiund bales. Even covered with ripe bananas in the backs of the trucks, it sweetened the dusty air with the autumnal aroma of marijuana."
BONUS QUOTE:
"Ought to learn some Spanish, he thought. No, to hell with that. If he got out of this, he wasn't even going to Taco Bell anymore."
Tiller Galloway is hired to find a nazi submarine.
QUOTE:
"To San Rasario in the fall the ganja came down from the mountains in two-hundred-poiund bales. Even covered with ripe bananas in the backs of the trucks it sweetened the dusty air along the roads with the autumnal aroma of marijuana."
Old timer C.T. Halverson finds corruption in oil-country Pennsylvania.
QUOTE:
"That was the worst part of getting old. You got so goddamned setimental. Nobody cared about the stuff he remembered. It wasn't important, just people who worked and had kids and got old and died. So why did it feel important, precious and irreplaceable, and as if somehow it must mean something?"
Dan Lenson goes into Baghdad during the Gulf War looking for Saddam's ultimate weapon. The Laws Of Patrolling 1. Look cool. 2. Don't get lost. 3. If you get lost, remember to look cool.
Dan Lenson ends up you-know-where on the TAG Bravo team evaluating a joint naval exercise. Then the North Koreans get all cranky.
Words I Had To Look Up:
the tallest, strackest Korean (pg. 131) -- Squared-away, ready, looking-good soldier. Or sailor, in this case. eductor (pg. 256) -- Some sort of fancy device for pumping flooded compartments in a ship, in this case.