Dragaera

Zelazny's books

Fri Dec 12 19:24:12 PST 2003

Zelazny had a way with dialogue that few since have matched, turning what 
would have been a minor work into major entertainment (for me):

"So feathers or lead?" I asked him.
"Pardon?"
"It is the riddle of the kallikanzaros. Pick one."
"Feathers?"
"You're wrong."
"If I had said 'lead'...?"
"Uh-uh. You only have one chance. The correct answer is whatever the 
kallikanzaros wants it to be. You lose."
"That sounds a bit arbitrary."


johne (phy) cook
wisconsin, usa

aerie blog: http://aeriepress.blogspot.com/

"A noble spirit embiggens the smallest man."
- Jedediah Springfield

>From: "Steven Brust" <skzb at dreamcafe.com>
>Not sure I can enlighten you, but, for me, when Conrad says,  "Feathers or
>lead?" made my heart drop and set off my Cool Moment Detectors like nothing
>else in literature with the possible exception of M de Beaufort's escape
>from Vincennes.

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