Erik Holmes <shoby187 at yahoo.com> wrote: >Actually, I'm pretty damn sure that Amorphia is just a rip off of Primal >Chaos from Roger Zelzany's Amber series. Its raw churning chaos that >consumes anything it comes into contact with, pure magical energy, and >can only be summoned by certain members of a special family in the world. Considering that Steve is not only a huge fan of Zelazny, but was also a friend when Zelazny was alive, I'd say that "rip-off" is a rather strong term to use. Homage would be a more appropriate description. Considering that Zelazny wrote a foreword one of Steve's books, I'd say that R.Z. certainly didn't think of it as a "rip-off". Yes, I realize that you were probably just using the first phrase that came to mind but "rip-off" has a pretty strong connotation of theft. In any case, the idea of representing Chaos as raw entropy devouring Order was hardly new when Zelazny used it. It's what you do with the idea that makes it fresh.