![]() ![]() ![]() "Step into My Garden" - Frank Belknap Long "The Hill and the Hole" - Fritz Leiber, Jr. It's hard to know if Bester was really trying to say something profound with this or not I suspect not, but at the same time reading this will give you that same "the world just turned up-side down, holy shit!" feeling that Philip Dick can sometimes engender. The ending didn't knock me on my arse but on the other hand it was slyly appropriate as well. Quite a trip, to say the least, and any attempt to try to explain what happens takes away from its singular charm. Maybe this is all some twisted game being played on the protagonists themselves by a fairly minor deity. Our hateful point of view characters learn some terrible things about the world, things that make a mockery of existence and reveal it all to be, as so many of us have long suspected, one huge, sick joke. I was reminded of Heinlein's Job just a little bit, but this isn't trying so hard to be funny and when the humour does come it is pretty tragic. From here on we go into bizarre theological territory with a heavy twist of satire. Their hideout is turned to rubble, but something really unexpected happens. ![]() ![]() We follow a bunch of unlikeable rich characters playing decadent games in a private bomb shelter during the Blitz. ![]()
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![]() I’m supposed to help him stop his friends from falling for him. Who’s befriended me and wants me to be happy. Charlie, who’s completely clueless yet the most accepting and friendly person I’ve ever met. What I’ve got is planning dates for people who have no clue about romancing someone.īut now I’m somehow Charlie Martin’s anti-romance consultant. All I really want is someone to snuggle with and spoil me. ![]() When it comes to romance, I’ve got it handled. Need a first date planned? A big romantic moment? Gotta beg for forgiveness? I’m your man. When people look at me, romance is the last thing they think of… but I’m still the first person they call. If I want to get through the rest of college knowing who my friends are, I need help from someone who knows all about dating and can tell me what not to do. My trust fund means I can afford to, though, and what’s a meal here and there? Or some clothes? Or textbooks? That doesn’t mean we’re dating, right? ![]() I’m not sure how it happened, but it turns out I’ve unknowingly been dating three people.įriends don’t spoil other friends, apparently. ![]() ![]() By the early Han dynasty the Analects was considered merely a "commentary" on the Five Classics, but the status of the Analects grew to be one of the central texts of Confucianism by the end of that dynasty.ĭuring the late Song dynasty (960–1279 AD) the importance of the Analects as a Chinese philosophy work was raised above that of the older Five Classics, and it was recognized as one of the " Four Books". ![]() It is believed to have been written during the Warring States period (475–221 BCE), and it achieved its final form during the mid- Han dynasty (206 BCE–220 CE). The Analects ( Chinese: 論語 pinyin: Lúnyǔ Old Chinese: u ŋ(r)aʔ meaning "Selected Sayings" ), also known as the Analects of Confucius, the Sayings of Confucius, or the Lun Yu, is an ancient Chinese book composed of a large collection of sayings and ideas attributed to the Chinese philosopher Confucius and his contemporaries, traditionally believed to have been compiled and written by Confucius's followers. "Selected Sayings", or "Edited Conversations" ![]() "Analects" in ancient seal script (top), Traditional (middle), and Simplified (bottom) Chinese characters ![]() |