July 2022 Reading Thread

[J-Sun]

Spoiler: Gives away the ending

The robot has been programmed to hand his arm to Gladia as she reaches a certain state of fury when arguing with her husband, but (a) regardless of Leebig's clever wording, I can't see how it would know the exact moment when Gladia would simply take the arm and use it without thought and (b) surely a robot would understand that handing something heavy to an angry person might be dangerous, if only to the person herself. OK, I can just about cope with that bearing in mind it's had explicit instructions, Gladia might have been at fever pitch for some time, and it might not realise that humans have a capacity for violence.

But she doesn't kill Delmarre immediately. Either he sees what she's about to do, or he's hit more than once because he says "You're going to kill me." which is what the robot repeats ever afterwards. So what is the robot doing during those seconds while Delmarre is seeing his death coming and speaks? Even allowing for it being momentarily conflicted, its reactions must surely be faster than a human's, so why doesn't it react? It's still in the room, it can see that either she's about to attack a person or has already done so, and it's programmed that it can't, by inaction, allow a human being to come to harm, yet it does nothing to save Delmarre -- it doesn't need to have restrained Gladia, though that would be allowed under the first law, since it could have pushed Delamarre out of the way, or taken the blow on itself. At the end, Baley says it happened before the robot could stop her, and if we didn't have Delmarre's words I'd accept that, but since we do, I just don't buy it.

Anyhow, it then sees Delamarre die, Gladia collapse, and it realises it's been instrumental in a human being hurt, so it loses its mind. Fine.

So who puts the arm back on the robot?

I can think of ways around the problem, but as far as I can see it's never addressed as an issue, only the fact that the arm must have been bloodied.

Spoiler: comments on details of the murder mystery

You bring up some excellent points. Like you, I can think of ways around it: for (a), there could be biometrics the robot could be made aware of, but it is a very fortunate thing (from Leebig's POV) that he got it right the first time. For (b), Solaria had never had a murder in the planet's history and Leebig's clever wording would probably suffice. There are several elements which depend on assumptions due to unprecedented circumstances and robots would be the least able to take leaps of imagination over assumptions. As far as the immediacy, I took it as Rikaine having only time to utter those words which takes only a fraction of a second - which he could have done as she was swinging at him. The robot likely is faster than a human but could still have easily been too far away at the moment to be fast enough and might have already had its "positronic pathways" freezing by then as it realized that it was being used as an instrument in harming a human. As far as the arm, it is really odd that this isn't directly addressed but Leebig could have ordered this through the household robots or they could have done this on their own initiative as part of the cleanup of what they didn't understand was a crime scene. (It's said that they did tidy up, but also that they didn't do anything but dispose of the human body - but yet again, Solarians and robots have odd notions of what would constitute "anything" in that context.) So none of that really bothers me directly but I can certainly see how it bothers you (and so I'm with you indirectly). Still, while it's obviously the central element in the whole "murder mystery" and could be seen as ruinous if you don't choose to allow for its possibility, it's also a small part of the larger social SF story (and the dynamics of the murder mystery still hold true even if the details of the incident are problematic) and the novel does so much so well that I'd hate to throw the baby out with the bathwater. And, as I say, for me, I can envision the situation being as its given (and taken) in the book, so I love it.

Poul Anderson "The Avatar" (1978)
Disappointing. I was bored for lengthy passages. Also, for me, characters that speak an Irish brogue don't read well (usually) in print. Plus (sigh) too much of the book got bogged down in Anderson's wishful thinking on sexual relationships.
However, it's still Poul Anderson....

Yeah, I didn't care for this one at all. Besides everything else, my copy repeated several pages and left out several pages. That made very little difference in the plot, which is a pretty damning indictment of the book.

To pile on, I read this many years ago and recall intensely disliking it but forgot exactly why, so when I saw another copy (years later but still years ago) for a quarter (I think), I picked it up again. There have been a couple of Andersons that didn't thrill me but he usually ranges from serviceable to brilliant whereas this seems to be my very least favorite so, paradoxically, I may end up reading it twice.

Not a book, but a novella, but otherwise Danny gets a gold sticker.
It was the Kelly Freas cover to Sept '54 Astounding.

View attachment 91630

Actually, you're both right - there is a book version of it which adapts the original cover art. ISFDB is down for me at the moment, so I can't link to it, but Black Gate has an article that shows the edition I'm talking about: Vintage Treasures: Martians, Go Home by Fredric Brown – Black Gate

 

[The Judge]

Still, while it's obviously the central element in the whole "murder mystery" and could be seen as ruinous if you don't choose to allow for its possibility, it's also a small part of the larger social SF story (and the dynamics of the murder mystery still hold true even if the details of the incident are problematic) and the novel does so much so well that I'd hate to throw the baby out with the bathwater. And, as I say, for me, I can envision the situation being as its given (and taken) in the book, so I love it.

Oh, yes, I can understand that. I actually quickly re-read it before replying to check I hadn't missed something, and I enjoyed it again, especially Daneel's own theories about who was guilty, and how Baley extracts the confession, but it just niggles me that no one noticed the problems -- or no one cared enough to make the few tweaks needed to make the plot watertight!

 

[Hugh]

To pile on, I read this many years ago and recall intensely disliking it but forgot exactly why, so when I saw another copy (years later but still years ago) for a quarter (I think), I picked it up again. There have been a couple of Andersons that didn't thrill me but he usually ranges from serviceable to brilliant whereas this seems to be my very least favorite so, paradoxically, I may end up reading it twice.

I hope it finds you in better mood than I.
I do think the basic plot is good.

 

[J-Sun]

Oh, yes, I can understand that. I actually quickly re-read it before replying to check I hadn't missed something, and I enjoyed it again, especially Daneel's own theories about who was guilty, and how Baley extracts the confession, but it just niggles me that no one noticed the problems -- or no one cared enough to make the few tweaks needed to make the plot watertight!

Wow, that's above and beyond. I read through the ending and some key parts earlier on to make sure, too, but not the whole thing (though I was again delighted with what I was reading and was tempted). And I agree with you about wanting it watertight - I think it's "noticed" though, because I'd think young Asimov and his early Doubleday editors would have wanted to make it as perfect as they could.

I hope it finds you in better mood than I.
I do think the basic plot is good.

Yeah, I hope younger me was wrong or just off that day and I enjoy it after all. But at least I'll be able to refresh my memory about it.

 

[Dave]

I've just read the Stephen King book, Billy Summers. It was good, not scifi or fantasy. Not sure what you'd call it really - Assassination thriller? War story? Portrait of small-town America? - those are the suggestions given on the cover. It even has tips for writers and writing. It has a weird haunted Rocky Mountains hotel plot that never goes anywhere too. There is a lot of ground covered in those pages, maybe too much. It isn't quite The Stand in length, but I didn't really need the two alternative endings, which turned the final pages into a kind of Hustle deconstruction.

 

[HareBrain]

I feel in the mood for Tolkien's The Silmarillion (possibly because I've been playing some 80s Marillion albums on YouTube). Since this doesn't happen often, I'd better take advantage of it. Hopefully it'll last until I reach the end.

 

[hitmouse]

Malgudi Days (1982) by RK Narayan. A collection of very short stories set in the fictional Indian town of Malgudi. I have just read the first story An Astrologer’s Day which is 4 pages long and absolutely brilliant.

 

[Elentarri]

I feel in the mood for Tolkien's The Silmarillion (possibly because I've been playing some 80s Marillion albums on YouTube). Since this doesn't happen often, I'd better take advantage of it. Hopefully it'll last until I reach the end.

You could always pick out appropriate sounds tracks for each chapter/section and have that playing in the background while you read.