"For a Breath I Tarry" is a 1966 post-apocalyptic novelette by American writer Roger Zelazny, which was nominated for the Hugo Award for Best Novelette in 1967. Taking place long after the self-extinction of Man, it recounts the tale of Frost, a sentient machine. While humans have long ago caused their own extinction the sentient machines they created continue the work of rebuilding a shattered Earth.
Along the way, the story explores the differences between Man and Machine, the former experiencing the world qualitatively, while the latter do so quantitatively. This is illustrated by philosophical conversations between Frost and another machine named Mordel.
Driving the plot and setting its tone are Frost's intention to become a Man and allusions to other literature, most specifically the first chapter of the Book of Job, both in situation and language, as verses are both quoted directly and paraphrased. Additionally, echoes of the first three chapters of the Book of Genesis appear. Finally, Frost and Mordel enter into a Faustian bargain, though with better results than in the original.
The other major character is the Beta Machine, Frost's equal in the southern hemisphere (Frost has control over the northern hemisphere). It is hinted that, while being a machine, Beta has a feminine personality. After finally succeeding in his thousand-year quest to become a human (via recovered DNA), Beta accepts Frost's offer to join him in becoming human - implying the possibility of a rebirth of the human race.
The novelette has appeared in collections of Zelazny's works [1] and in anthologies. [2]
The title is from a phrase in A. E. Housman's collection A Shropshire Lad . [3]
Brian Wilson Aldiss was an English writer, artist and anthology editor, best known for science fiction novels and short stories. His byline reads either Brian W. Aldiss or simply Brian Aldiss, except for occasional pseudonyms during the mid-1960s.
Roger Joseph Zelazny was an American poet and writer of fantasy and science fiction short stories and novels, best known for The Chronicles of Amber. He won the Nebula Award three times and the Hugo Award six times, including two Hugos for novels: the serialized novel ...And Call Me Conrad (1965), subsequently published under the title This Immortal (1966) and then the novel Lord of Light (1967).
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Apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic fiction is a subgenre of science fiction in which the Earth's civilization is collapsing or has collapsed. The apocalypse event may be climatic, such as runaway climate change; astronomical, such as an impact event; destructive, such as nuclear holocaust or resource depletion; medical, such as a pandemic, whether natural or human-caused; end time, such as the Last Judgment, Second Coming or Ragnarök; or any other scenario in which the outcome is apocalyptic, such as a zombie apocalypse, cybernetic revolt, technological singularity, dysgenics or alien invasion.
The Chronicles of Amber is a series of fantasy novels by American writer Roger Zelazny. The main series consists of two story arcs, each five novels in length. Additionally, there are a number of Amber short stories and other works. While Zelazny's will expressly forbade sequels by other authors, four posthumous prequels authorized by Zelazny's family were authored by John Gregory Betancourt.
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Roadmarks is a science fantasy novel by American author Roger Zelazny, written during the late 1970s and published in 1979.
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"The Doors of His Face, the Lamps of His Mouth" is a science fiction novelette by Roger Zelazny. Originally published in the March 1965 issue of The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, it won the 1966 Nebula Award for Best Novelette and was nominated for the 1966 Hugo Award for Best Short Fiction.
Hothouse is a 1962 science fiction novel by British writer Brian Aldiss, composed of five novelettes that were originally serialised in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction in 1961. In the US, an abridged version was published as The Long Afternoon of Earth; the full version was not published in the United States until 1976.
A nuclear holocaust, also known as a nuclear apocalypse, nuclear annihilation, nuclear armageddon, or atomic holocaust, is a theoretical scenario where the mass detonation of nuclear weapons causes widespread destruction and radioactive fallout. Such a scenario envisages large parts of the Earth becoming uninhabitable due to the effects of nuclear warfare, potentially causing the collapse of civilization, the extinction of humanity, and/or termination of most biological life on Earth.
World's Best Science Fiction: 1967 is an anthology of science fiction short stories edited by Donald A. Wollheim and Terry Carr, the third volume in a series of seven. It was first published in paperback by Ace Books in 1967. It was reprinted by the same publisher in 1970 under the alternate title World's Best Science Fiction: Third Series.
This Immortal, serialized as ...And Call Me Conrad, is a science fiction novel by American author Roger Zelazny. In its original publication, it was abridged by the editor and published in two parts in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction in October and November 1965. It tied with Frank Herbert's Dune for the 1966 Hugo Award for Best Novel.
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This is a partial bibliography of American science fiction and fantasy author Roger Zelazny.
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