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Nov 03

This Immortal

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...read too many comics?Click for full image

Muttley Comments: … doesn’t need to eat… ?
Published 1985

Actually, that cover IS a classical work of art!I would touch it without protective gloves.I've seen worse. Far, far, worse.Interesting, but I would still read it in public.Middlng: Neither awful nor awfully goodWould not like to be seen reading that!Awful... just awful...That belongs in a gold-lame picture frame!Gah... my eyes are burning! Feels so good!Good Show Sir! (Average: 6.68 out of 10)
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20 Responses to “This Immortal”

  1. THX 1138 Says:
    November 3rd, 2011 at 10:17 am

    “I’ve left the house this morning painted blue! I’m so embarrassed, is my face red?”

  2. Tom Noir Says:
    November 3rd, 2011 at 10:45 am

    Dr. Manhattan is back – and he’s a blonde! WATCHMEN 2: ELECTRIC BOOGALOO.

  3. Dead Stuff With Big Teeth Says:
    November 3rd, 2011 at 12:46 pm

    Anyone else know of the Power Lord toy from the 80s?

  4. SI Says:
    November 3rd, 2011 at 12:53 pm

    This is exactly what I thought should happen after eating readybreak in the morning.

  5. fred Says:
    November 3rd, 2011 at 2:18 pm

    Is that supposed to be a see through effect in the big bold Zelazny or is it just cover wear?

  6. Tom Noir Says:
    November 3rd, 2011 at 2:35 pm

    “Which immortal?”

    “THIS immortal!”

  7. SI Says:
    November 3rd, 2011 at 3:09 pm

    No… that immortal!

  8. Alessandra Says:
    November 3rd, 2011 at 5:50 pm

    The good news is you’ll be immortal. The bad news is you’ll look like a rubber Marvelman doll left too near the fireplace.

    Seriously, this is not the sort of art you would expect on a Hugo-award-winning novel.

  9. A.R.Yngve Says:
    November 3rd, 2011 at 6:48 pm

    Is that a horse’s head in the background on the right… or just an art fart?

  10. Muttley Says:
    November 3rd, 2011 at 6:48 pm

    @fred: I went and looked closely at the cover. There is a very faint see-through effect in the letters of “Zelazny” and not in the yellow band that carries them. The flash has brought it out, I’d not noticed it before.

    The stain on “Immortal” is the remains of a price ticket.

    @moderator: this is a Methuen Paperback, not a Methuen Teen Book, whatever one of those is.

    The story was first published as a two-parter in F+SF in 1965, and as a novel by Ace in 1966. Won the Hugo in ’66, joint award with Dune! Herbert got a Nebula that year as well, though, so he gets the edge.

  11. Muttley Says:
    November 3rd, 2011 at 7:39 pm

    This Immortal is one of – the first of – Zelazny’s pantheon-themed novels (cf Creatures of Light and Darkness (very very good) and Lord of Light (pretty good)). this one is Greek Mythology, and the titular Immortal is not a muscular hunk. It helps if you know a bit of Greek myth beforehand, and apparantly if you are very well-versed then a lot of deeper meanings are revealed.

    There are centaurs.

    And the aliens are blue, but not humanoid.

  12. Silkenfire Says:
    November 3rd, 2011 at 11:24 pm

    …has no mouth, and he must scream. (sorry, couldn’t resist)

  13. Phil Says:
    November 4th, 2011 at 8:37 am

    Muttley, there are CENTAURS in there? Yet the cover artist didn’t depict them? Shame on him! This cover needs a good centaur. Better still, a bad centaur.

  14. Muttley Says:
    November 4th, 2011 at 12:07 pm

    Rowena Morrill’s cover is a lot better,

    http://www.isfdb.org/wiki/images/5/54/THSMMRTLPB1981.jpg

    and has a centaur, though Conrad is still too much of a pretty-boy.

    @fred, I’ve had a very close look at the cover and I think the “see-through” effect is a scuff on the cover after all.

  15. Anti-Sceptic Says:
    November 7th, 2011 at 5:53 pm

    I think originally, the author (Roger) wanted the book to be called “Zelazny, This Immortal Blue Guy Who Liked To Intimidate People By Flexing His Muscles” but the editors told him to cut it short….

  16. Jaouad Says:
    November 22nd, 2012 at 4:49 pm

    #12: … has no mouth, and he must scream: “Font problems! Font problems! Font problems!”

  17. A.R.Yngve Says:
    December 13th, 2015 at 8:12 pm

    He had the power to summon the words “Hugo Award Winning Novel” with his hands!

  18. Tom Noir Says:
    December 13th, 2015 at 8:35 pm

    Somebody call the contractor, this paint job was really quite sloppy.

  19. DaveM Says:
    December 14th, 2015 at 3:27 am

    @Muttley, the cover shown on the wikipedia page is even worse, it makes Conrad a skinny elderly guy in a dress.

    Why does no one put Conrad’s dog Bortan on the cover? (Bortan is the last dog alive, mainly because he is also immortal, the size of a small horse, has armour plating on his back and is pretty much unstoppable).

  20. anon Says:
    December 14th, 2015 at 5:11 pm

    The sign covering his private parts is embarrassingly small.
    Perhaps that’s the reason he seems so angry?

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