On 4/15/05, Scott Schultz <scott at cjhunter.com> wrote: > 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. > > There are almost no new ideas any more. People have been writing for a long time and the only thing that changes the original idea is what was said above. Also, there is the quote at the bottom of my e-mail :o) -- -C "About the most originality that any writer can hope to achieve honestly is to steal with good judgment." -- Josh Billings (1818-85), [Henry Wheeler Shaw] American humorist, essayist