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Stars in My Pocket Like Grains of Sand

Stars in My Pocket Like Grains of Sand

List Price: $16.95
Your Price: $16.95
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 1 stars
Summary: long winded einsteaians , A CRUSTY ,POST TOASTIES BLOB
Review: awkward with no meaning nearly unreadable,is rat konga serious, like nearly all his writing a near impossible sophmoric mess, is this book about mad cravings does rat konga escape the rat laboratories or the spca is he castrated so what who cares, is he a metaphor for impotence and ragelike brain cells of stars in the co op three eared errors hula dancers he implores bores the reader like so many mind numbing self congaduatory brain puzzles in shower stalls for fools gold post struccccture projectionst fluff..

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: long winded einsteaians , A CRUSTY ,POST TOASTIES BLOB
Review: awkward with no meaning nearly unreadable,is rat konga serious, like nearly all his writing a near impossible sophmoric mess, is this book about mad cravings does rat konga escape the rat laboratories or the spca is he castrated so what who cares, is he a metaphor for impotence and ragelike brain cells of stars in the co op three eared errors hula dancers he implores bores the reader like so many mind numbing self congaduatory brain puzzles in shower stalls for fools gold post struccccture projectionst fluff..

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Delany has a lot more than 5 stars in his pocket
Review: Delany is one of the greatest writers of any genre. This novel is simply brilliant, and every time I read it I find more reasons to love it. Although I'd love to see a sequel, I've always thought that leaving us all hanging for a book that will never come only strengthens the point of the book in the first place. Go back to it and read it again; everything you need is already there. The writing is alive and every word is packed with beauty and meaning. The passage near the end discussing the many possible meanings of arriving on a new world at dawn is just about one of the most effective---and affective---passages ever written in a science fiction novel. Delany's work is entertaining and important. But be prepared to think and wonder and stretch your mind.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Complicated and Satisfying!
Review: Delany's later works of fiction are not easy to read. You will find yourself reading many pages more than once before you understand. This futuristic novel explores the relationship between Rat Korga and Marq Dyeth. Their story is played against a background of a complex interstellar society. This is a hard book to read but it is worth the struggle. This is a novel that completly leaves one satisfied. Recommended to all serious fans of science fiction literature.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: ANYONE, DID THE SEQUEL EVER COME OUT?
Review: Great book. Its like scratching calloused flesh; both pleasure and pain mixed and indistinguishable. Back in 1990, a bookstore offered to order "The Misery..." in hardback for me but I declined. Since then I have been trying to obtain the sequel to "Stars..." in any form. If you have a copy or know where I can get a copy, do me a favor and put me onto my "Misery...".

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: My God, was Delaney on drugs when he wrote this?!
Review: I cannot understand how anyone could understand this book, let alone claim to love it. It has the unfortunate distinction of being the first book I ever hated so much to give up on it, and before I was even halfway through it too! Allegedly there's a plot in there somewhere, but because it is buried underneath constantly shifting narrative, dialogue so unclear you can't tell who's saying what to whom, the unclear point of view, the shattered grammar and tense and made-up vocabulary, the book is so screwy that I literally had NO IDEA WHAT WAS GOING ON. It was like reading a transcription of someone's fever delirium. If I could give this book ZERO STARS, I would! This book is not a classic, it's a gross mistake!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: This Book Blew My Mind and I Loved It
Review: I had no idea what I was getting into when I first read this book. It was given to me as a gift 15 years ago and I knew nothing of Delany at the time. But I had never before (and have never since) read such a richly complex and beautifully written book in my life. Few sci-fi stories manage to generate a feel deeper than a thinly veiled metaphor for the world around us. This book does. I have waited eagerly for 15 years for the sequel which never came (and as rumor has it never will). If Delany never finishes this story, it will be a terrible loss. I recommend it highly - but beware, the story goes places most of us have never gone and may not wish to go.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Sequels In My Pocket Like Grains of Fairy Dust
Review: I thought about the question for about one year, and I've come to the conclusion that "Stars" is my favorite book of all time. It has tremendous appeal as science fiction, escapism, political and gender theory, satire of modern-day cultural conflicts, and traditional character-driven fiction; and it is a 'novel' in the strict sense. So people looking for any of those things won't be disappointed.

But what I frequently hear from people whom I've persuaded to read this book is that it, somehow, caused them to open their perceptions; to feel that there were more ways of thinking, of feeling, of living than they had previously known. This is Delany's specialty; he did it first in "Dhalgren" but he does it best here, and in this respect no other author can match him. And this is a great talent and a great gift and why Delany will still be read when William Gibson has disappeared down the road that swallowed up Murray Leinster (two of my favorite SF authors, by the bye, and no offense intended.)

Naturally, when something is this good it immediately goes out-of-print. I'd recommend letting Amazon find you a copy - they found me a perfect mint condition first-edition hardcover for $31. I can't recall when I've been so happy about anything.

Oh, and the sequel. Science fiction fans around the world are awaiting it with some annoyance - he did publish the first chapter in 1997 in some academic journal (memory tells me the Journal of Contemporary Fiction, but memory could be way wrong), but it more frustrated and delimited than satiated that desire for closure to the story of Marq Dyeth, Rat Korga, Velm, Nepiy, the Thants, the Xlv, and the mysterious and sinister Web that snares them all. It's anybody's guess if he'll ever finish it, but I certainly hope he does!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Sequels In My Pocket Like Grains of Fairy Dust
Review: I thought about the question for about one year, and I've come to the conclusion that "Stars" is my favorite book of all time. It has tremendous appeal as science fiction, escapism, political and gender theory, satire of modern-day cultural conflicts, and traditional character-driven fiction; and it is a 'novel' in the strict sense. So people looking for any of those things won't be disappointed.

But what I frequently hear from people whom I've persuaded to read this book is that it, somehow, caused them to open their perceptions; to feel that there were more ways of thinking, of feeling, of living than they had previously known. This is Delany's specialty; he did it first in "Dhalgren" but he does it best here, and in this respect no other author can match him. And this is a great talent and a great gift and why Delany will still be read when William Gibson has disappeared down the road that swallowed up Murray Leinster (two of my favorite SF authors, by the bye, and no offense intended.)

Naturally, when something is this good it immediately goes out-of-print. I'd recommend letting Amazon find you a copy - they found me a perfect mint condition first-edition hardcover for $31. I can't recall when I've been so happy about anything.

Oh, and the sequel. Science fiction fans around the world are awaiting it with some annoyance - he did publish the first chapter in 1997 in some academic journal (memory tells me the Journal of Contemporary Fiction, but memory could be way wrong), but it more frustrated and delimited than satiated that desire for closure to the story of Marq Dyeth, Rat Korga, Velm, Nepiy, the Thants, the Xlv, and the mysterious and sinister Web that snares them all. It's anybody's guess if he'll ever finish it, but I certainly hope he does!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A thoughtful work
Review: Stars... to me is a description of the future of humanity. In this work, Delany has taken a (his?) view of moral, literal, technological, sexual, and societal tends and extrapolated them into a mosaic of imagery and context that reminds the reader of a future she has never known, but has experienced nonetheless. He reminds us that science is not just limited to the realms of mathematics and physics, but is integral to the society that we live in. I eagerly await the sequel, which after all of these years I fear will never arrive. Geoffrey John Atkinson


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