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Found a broken link? May be the story can still be found.
Lucifer Jones, the conman priest, saves 4 young ladies on a Pacific island from a bad man, & gets some enlightenment of his own in the process...
This story is part of the Lucifer Jones series set in the Pacific.
What if Victor Frankenstein created his "creature"
Yet to be published collection of Lucifer Jones' adventures, set in the Pacific from 1939-? Individual stories are currently appearing online one every quarter - so it could be 3 years or more before it's available in book form. I'll be adding to ToC list below as new stories become available.
As corrected by author, this is really the first story in the new Lucifer Jones series set in the Pacific rather than "Harboring Pearls". It's a variation of "The Lost Continent of Moo", but still a good read.
Lucifer Jones lands in Easter Island, & promptly sets him up as "Makemake", the local god, to counter the threats of the already established (& apparently-Western) local High Priest!
This appears to be the first in a new series featuring the conman priest Lucifer Jones. This story is set in Hawaii in 1939; series, I suppose, will be in the Pacific set over next 3 or 4 years.
Link.
Links an online copy, & recommends another of Resnick's online stories.
I'd began reading it may be a year ago. Some download problem had resulted in partial text, & I never went past first 2 or 3 stories (there are supposed to be 7 separate stories, inside a common frame story). I think I liked one of these - a kind of variation on first story in Arthur Clarke's "2001 A Space Odyssey" (very early human ancestors that have now learned hunting), but other didn't work for me (something about slave traders in Africa).
Related: Stories of Mike Resnick.
Among the better stories of Lucifer Jones in South America series. And for a change, Jones has a sane idea.
This, very likely, will be my last post from forthcoming Hazards collection. There are only two stories I've not read - "The Forgotten Kingdom" & "Mother Scorpion's House of Fallen Flowers" (because I don't have them). Of the 10 I've read from collection, 6 are very good to excellent, & none totally crappy.
Note quite among the better Lucifer Jones stories, but still readable.
In "Last Impressions" at JBU, #18 (April 2009).
Basically, don't lose heart on rejections. Some of the most popular works saw a huge number of rejections - he lists some.
PS: Some well regarded works he mentions that I hadn't heard of yet: Harlan Ellison’s “A Boy and His Dog” and Thomas M. Disch’s “The Brave Little Toaster”.
Related: "For authors" series; Mike Resnick's works.
From forthcoming Hazards collection. Ones not online here are already at Subterranean Online - except for last 2 in ToC which probably are yet to be published.
One of the good collections of non-genre humor. Two stories feature in my "best of the year 2007" list; several others are also pretty good.
[via Free Speculative Fiction Online]
In the year 1937, Lucifer gets himself recruited by a 3 man advanced guard of Hitler in Buenos Aires; 3 Germans are here to conquer South America with a rag tag "army" of 6 locals!
Of course, with his great ingenuity, Lucifer wins Uruguay on behalf of Germany, only there is a local group of Uruguans also out to win their country. So Lucifer will get himself recruited by them to help them win their country back from Germans...
Lucifer Jones falls in eternal love - oops, tries to fall in eternal love - with a millionaire heiress to a cocaine empire in Bolivia, South America. But there are other suitors too, & crooks.
Lucifer Jones in South America series seems to have picked up again recently - two most recent stories have been pretty good, after some forgettable ones.
At SF Signal.
A few that caught my eye & probably apply to other endeavors too:
Robert Silverberg: A story makes quick money, & another gets collected in anthologies. Later is tougher to write & sell, but brings you money rest of your life. Former brings money one time only - when it is sold.
Mike Resnick: Believe in your product. And be flexible about both the channels that will put it in the hands of consumers & the target consumers.
Ben Bova: Go for "clarity and simplicity of style". "you've got to be able to take the most complicated things happening in the world and write it so that they can understand it."
John C Wright: "Talent is mostly sweat". He also has an interesting critique of Heinlein.
Marc Gascoigne: "GET IT DOWN, CHANGE IT LATER." Sacred words for many a programmer too, when used with a bit of brains.
Patricia Briggs: I actually liked it in a context slightly different from her. What does it take to create things? "work" - sweat. "play" - creativity. And use of competitive products to gain insight.
Alan Dean Foster: "be careful never to make your hero/heroine too powerful or too omnipotent" because "no one sympathizes with superman".
Kristine Kathryn Rusch: "going deep into the story, and not being afraid of the topics I brought up."
Matt Hughes:
Mostly familiar names, but I didn't know the chronological order in which they dominated the genre scene.
Actually, his post titled "The Sun Will Come Up Tomorrow" is a rant against naysayers of the genre. And the listing is only incidental - to make a point. But it was this listing (oldest figures first) that I found interesting:
Probably the most interesting story I've seen from Resnick since "Alastair Baffle's Emporium of Wonders" early this year.
Good execution, though the plot idea is not new. It's a cocktail of two well known ideas.
What if a community were to be handed over a virgin world, & asked to build their ideal society? That's what this story is about.
This is really a collection of stories - some very short - that share common background & some characters. I read it in a single sitting, but may be it would feel less draggy if read a chapter at a time. Chapters are fairly independent - so serve as good markers; but must be read in order.
Stories themselves are about various aspects of social organization & citizen issues: women's rights, citizenship, immigration, interacting with other societies, democracy, reinventing a profession in the face of technological change, evolution of social customs, ...
There are few issues & solutions here that haven't been debated to death in most societies. I've a feeling I would have liked it more if I was in my early teens - less exposure & less cynicism.
Also, story addresses familiar issues often in a very simplistic way - mostly well meaning politicians (when did I last hear of one?), generally rational citizens, ... This is obviously done intentionally - or this would have become a good sized & very colorful novel!
Society is exotic - for me at least. Maasai tribe of Kenya, originally from the region of the mountain Kilimanjaro; their virgin world is also called Kilimanjaro.
Narrative is spread over the first decade of this world - a little before mid twenty third century. Story is narrated by David ole Saitoti, a historian.
In this tribute titled "The Greatest Thinker of Them All".
Begin with:
One of the more mundane Lucifer Jones stories, though detective part is somewhat interesting. Humor is ok, but nothing like the hilarious I've come to expect from best of Lucifer Jones series.
This story is set in Bogotá, Colombia, South America.
Among the less interesting Lucifer Jones adventures set in South America. Lucifer gets involved in tribal warfare.
Title comes from a contract from one of the tribes to hunt down a 100 Jaguars whose skins will be used for disguise when the other tribe is attacked!
Lucifer successfully convinces his lady love of the moment that he is an expert tiger slayer! Humor is good enough, but leading lady is a snob. No where near the class of Lucifer stories set in South America, but not bad. Set in Jaipur, India.
Probably the worst Lucifer story I've read yet. Set in Delhi & Khajuraho, both in India. I found the humor in bad taste. Facts are generally right, but interpretation wrong. And a couple of plot elements are utterly incredulous - someone lending an elephant to a stranger, e.g.! I am not sure this is the India western audiences expect or believe, but I cannot identify with it & I've lived here all my life. Title is corruption of "secret sects" as the phrase passes through men speaking different languages.
This post is not new content. When I originally wrote it, I was sick of coming up with only fantasy stories when looking for modern fiction - so I tucked it away in an inconspicuous corner under Brief Posts. Now that it's a Hugo 2008 nominee, already more than one pages on this site reference it; taking it out to its own post makes linking easier.
Download full text or MP3.
-- Text of original brief post.
An old man meets an avatar of his long dead wife's younger self! While their love affair is doomed because of age difference, there is a happy ending awaiting.
First published: Asimov's, April/May 2007.
Rating: A
Nominated for Hugo Awards 2008 in short story category.
List below is based on the results of preliminary ballot, final ballot, & the official winners announcement. Some remarks on peculiar Nebula conventions are in the opening paras of my post of Nebula 2007 short stories.
My rating in brackets (ABC: A = worth your time; C = don't bother). Where I have posted a separate review of the entry, link on story title takes you there.
Here is an author that never disappoints. I've read may be a dozen Resnick stories & some of them are better than others, but there is none I will call bad. This one is pretty good. It's selling hope to the hopeless.
Key idea of the story is very similar to Adam-Troy Castro's "Sunday Night Yams at Minne & Earl's". A being with apparently magical abilities. Looks & behaves like an ordinary human, except when he doesn't! And never answers any question that would really identify him. Is he a god, magician, or an alien?
Full text of the story is available as a download.
OK - these stories are not strictly sf. I am making an exception for them because a lot of them are just too good. I will very likely end up locating & reading all.
Going by my experience with a couple of stories set in India, I'll say the best stories are likely to be those set in locales you're not familiar with. While the treatment is authentic, perspective is of a tourist, & one who has visited places usually of interest to tourists; locals are likely to find the treatment very shallow. But no worry, the series is set all over the world, & there are likely to be ample number of stories set in locales a specific reader is unfamiliar with (hence can enjoy).
All these posts are tagged "Lucifer Jones"; so this query should locate them all.
Table of contents below is based on information provided by Mr Resnick in his comments on "Merry Bunta!" & "The Lost Continent of Moo" posts; thanks Mr Resnick. The series of stories is not yet complete, & will eventually be published by Subterranean Press under the title "Hazards".
Update 25 February 2009: This Subterranean note says the collection is due out summer 2009.
Update 23 March 2009: Full ToC of the collection's ARC at Webscription is now reflected below. Webscription also includes an introduction to the cast of characters (not necessary to read even randomly picked up stories).
I list the stories not in the order of their publication date, but in order that I liked them - best first. The ones I've not read come last, in publication order. My rating is in brackets. Some stories are available for download.
Table of contents below will get commentary as I go through the stories:
Table of contents below will get commentary as I go through the stories:
Table of contents below will get commentary as I go through the stories:
This hilarious non-genre story is part of Resnick's Lucifer Jones in South America series. Fantastic prose, dialogs, & storyline.
Full text of this story is available for download.
This story is from Resnick's Lucifer Jones in South America series. Great humor, but non-genre.
Full text of this story is available for download.
This is a very readable story, though the plot is a well used one. And there is nothing sf about it. One of the Lucifer Jones on South America series.
Apart from easy language, there was some education for me - some details of Rio Carnival in Brazil. Sounds a lot like India's Holi - if you replace fancy costumes with colored powder & colored water. And, in its Bombay avatar, replace Samba with much louder but equally tuneless drums.
Download full story text here.
Story summary.
Lucifer Jones, the conman hero of the story & also the narrator, is posing as a priest - "Reverend Doctor Lucifer Jones". He has just been kicked out of some city, & is looking around for a place where his skills are unknown. That is how he lands in Rio, & during the Carnival.
On entry, he learns of a heist in the city. Some expensive diamonds called "Pebbles of God" have been stolen - something he was banking on stealing himself. No matter, at least there will be girls during Carnival. And he is quickly being chased by Conchita's brothers, first willing girl he found & rather well known one around the city.
While on run, he will meet his old friend & nemesis, Erich von Horst. They have been involved in several con jobs together - Lucifer always turning up the poorer. Erich tells Lucifer he is the one who stole the diamonds, & cops are behind him; he gets Lucifer to agree to smuggle diamonds out of city in return for a 50% share.
There is a very filmy set up to smuggle them. A fancy costume, a chariot, some stinking fish to keep nosy cops at bay, & a crown Lucifer will wear that actually is studded with stolen diamonds. He will become part of a Carnival group while in city; then get out while still dressed up, & the two will meet at "a tavern named Carlita’s two miles south of the city limits".
Lucifer doesn't believe crown is diamonds. Erich is too smart an operator. So he looks through the stuff, & finds that rotting fish contain the diamonds. He hides them in the city, replaces the fish by buying new one, & heads out at rendezvous point.
The two meet. Erich's contact that will buy diamonds is due soon. Lucifer hands out the costume & other stuff to Erich, & slips off.
In city, Lucifer will recovers the diamonds & go find a cheap hotel while he figures out what to do with them. Only, when he is about to pay for the stay, he finds the note from Erich - who had already foreseen this behavior. Diamonds were indeed studded in the crown.
Great fantasy. There are coincidental & occasionally illogical events, but they can be brushed aside.
Heart of the story is a very lovable species of aliens that essentially do the work of Red Cross at galactic scale, & end up having some unfortunate consequences for the beneficiaries - for no fault of the benefactors.
Full text of this story is available online.
Story summary.
Gregory Donovan, the narrator, is a member of security team at OceanPort, a spaceport 8 km off Miami coast. When following up on an incident at OceanPort, he gets into the details of the curious deaths of two rather ordinary men - Myron Seymour & Daniel Daniels.
Both had acted suicidally brave - battling armed thugs unarmed - on more than one occasions, & finally died. In a discussion with his boss, Captain Symmes, he learns of a third very similar case of Creighton Mortenson Jr.
Investigation reveals a common thread - Kobernykov II aka Nikita - a planet a 1000 light years from earth. There was a war some years back where earth was on the side opposing Patruka Alliance (Patrukans are some kind of aliens). These three were soldiers that were part of a sneaker team sent to Nikita to blow up an enemy ammunition dump. All three had had a medical discharge from space service - apparently the fighting unit.
Some more investigations, & things get even more curious. Of the human sneaker teem of 30, only 5 survived the battle. Tracking other two made mystery deeper - each of them too had courted death several times till it caught up with them!
Queries with Patrukans revealed that their 4 survivors of battle are also dead - 2 of natural cause, & two of especially brave behavior!
Obviously, something happened on Nikita.
Rest of the story is of Gregory's visit to Nikita to learn its secrets, & a very charming adventure there. And he comes back ready to put himself in suicidal situations!
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