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Study 099 - The Barbarian (Patreon)

Published:
2024-07-18 14:00:11
Imported:
2024-07
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Thewly goes Sci-Fi with The Barbarian by Joanna Russ!

Special thanks to our reader: Maeve Sawyer!

Next up: Hellsgarde by C.L. Moore

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Comments

Sean McGivern

This reminded me a lot of the setting for the Steerswoman series by Rosemary Kirstein. That is a fantasy world but the titular Steerswomen are polymaths who use logic and experimentation to figure out the rules of the world they live in. If you ask a Steerswoman a question, they must answer truthfully; but if you refuse to answer their questions, no Steerswoman will answer any more of your questions ever again.

Cole Caron

Sometimes I forget that other people assume pipeweed is fantasy tobacco. Hobbits and wizards don’t exactly strike me as tobacco smokers…

Jim Cannon

This story brings to mind the old adage: "beware the wrath of a patient man." Alyx sounds like a very patient person, with her crab experiments and slowly breaking a man's back. Yeah, along with Saunders, I think you need to put Russ in the "return to sooner than later" column.

Rob Gillie

Chad, if you want to read all of the Alyx stories, you might want to pick up the recent Library of America of Joanna Russ' work. All the stories are there, plus the short novel Picnic on Paradise, where Alyx is an agent of the Trans-Temporal Military Authority. That volume also has three of her novels and some non-Alyx stories, including the awesome "When It Changed". Definitely worth the price.

Prince Prawn

A tale to regale. I was in Jacksonville last year for a Jags game. In my down time I went to a massive second hand bookstore "The Book Mine" and was looking for some anthologies to bone up my "I just got fired, but at least I have plenty of free entertainment" insurance when I stumbled upon a 'sword and sorcery' anthology. I opened it and a piece of paper fell out. Turns out someone had stuffed the anthology with a bit of poetry. I wrote it down and replaced it, not wanting to be guilty of meddling with some dead drop between star crossed mongrel poets. Here is the poem: Born a Barbarian in a Civilized World Born a barbarian in a civilized world, Destined and bound to fail. Found bourbon and mead, When I lost my better. Too bad weakness, Cant be brushed aside, Like dust on a mirror. That would be almost easy, Probably not the path the maker wants, Not to envoke the creator to my mind. But I will, Because I’m a barbarian, Born in a civilized world, Bound to fail. Why must we work so hard, When nature takes the path of least resistance? And why were we given the curse, Of reflection, To see that which we are, To see that which we are not? Squirrels were wrought of instinct, Built to scramble for nuts. Yet, I am a barbarian, Waking up, In a civilized world, Born and bound to fail. A love letter from Conan to Alyx? Who knows? But I like to think that the pulps have dreams and feelings too. Happy Thewly!

Allison Albright

Alyx seems fun, I liked her and the story overall, even though it sounded like it had some flaws. Don't they all One thing I enjoyed was when she comes back to her husband after killing the Comic Book Guy from the Simpsons, and she's admiring him (her husband) sleeping in the sun. It seems so rare that men are described that way, but it's how all humans see those we love. Also, a fun part was when the villain explained all the ways he couldn't be killed and the reader immediately starts thinking of all the other ways there are to kill him. I'm sure that's the totally normal reaction that we all had to that part. Just some universal human nature there, right? Right guys?

Eric - Speaker in Digressions

The "condescending god" thing made me think at first of Star Trek's Q, but by the end, with his machines and Alyx's description of him as a child, the fat man had serious "Squire of Gothos" vibes.

Ethan Cordray

A quick note on the part about killing the baby-future-evil-queen: this and all similar time-travel-assassination scenarios (usually baby Hitler of course) all presuppose that the future can be changed. So why not just change the future without having to kill the baby? Surely you could stop the future evil ruler in some less drastic manner - just abduct the kid and raise her as your own, or send her off to live with some kindly old folks in the forest fairy-tale style, or give the kid a Tickle Me Elmo doll programmed to say, "Be nice to people!" But no, everybody always thinks of murder first.

Robby H.

About the time traveler not having the courage to kill the baby: I would imagine it would be difficult to kill a baby. The whole "go back in time to kill baby Hitler" thing is a common time travel thought experiment. But if you are looking a baby in the eye, even knowing that it would go on to kill X amount of people, anyone with a conscious would have reservations (even if they know about the future). So I didn't find it surprising that he tried to outsource it (also, he could have tried something else - like making this evil queen get into art school first)

Eldritch Scerry

Marvel’s Red Sonja fights DC’s Booster Gold over the need to kill Baby Hitler. Yup, strange story.

It's a Ghost.

I really enjoyed this story. Also, since Alyx first encountered the fat man when she was a child, and at that time he wasn’t as fat, my guess is that he’s just a guy that came upon some powerful technology somehow and is now talking a big game about who he is and how powerful he is.

It's a Ghost.

I liked how when Alyx and the fat man broke into the governor’s villa there was a cat that just ignored them. I liked it in general, because I like cats, but also because it reminded me of the lively debate that Lovecraft and Robert E. Howard had about whether cats or dogs are better. Here is the part featuring the cat: “Alyx, her teeth on edge, began to creep forward, passing a cat that sat outlined in the vague light from a window, perfectly unconcerned with them and rubbing its face, past a door whose cracks shone yellow, past ghostly staircases that opened up in vast wells of darkness, breathing a faint, far updraft, their steps rustling and creaking.”

Prince Prawn

Chamblin's! Going back again in Dec, for the Jets game and a laundry list of authors to look for.