Balls and Walnuts

From Kate:

The Little-Known Favorites Meme. Rules: List and describe three of your favorite books that other people might not be familiar with. Then tag five people. See, easy!

My first thought: It really is easy! I could do a Thirteen on this. Then I took a look at my library and realized how mainstream I really am. Eclectic, perhaps, but mainstream nonetheless.

Below, I’ve selected three books that meet both criteria: little known and well loved (by me). At the very least, you need to see if I tagged ya.

The Computer Connection by Alfred Bester.
Bester was one of those second-stringers from SF’s Golden Age — not a Heinlein or an Asimov, not even a Silverberg. But I’ll take a Bester or a Vance or a Varley over those other dudes any day of the week.

Computer Connection isn’t even one of his better known works (those would be The Demolished Man and The Stars My Destination), but it’s full of spirited, loony ideas. Daniel Curzon is a member of the Group: immortals who hang out, snipe at one another, and sometimes go for blood. Imagine a reality TV show about immortals and you have a tiny glimpse of this book. Members of the Group achieved their status by dying horrible deaths. Curzon, for example, didn’t run fast enough from Krakatoa; and a certain savior named Jacy — well, you can figure out how He made the ranks.

I could sketch out the plot for you, but plot is secondary in this novel. There’s a funky early 70s feel to Computer Connection, and it’s so loaded with coolness, you get the feeling that, rather than one lone author, a bunch of college kids on dope chipped in their favorite ideas — not least of which, a renegade AI (years before Neuromancer).

Kassandra and the Wolf by Margarita Karapanou.

I found Kassandra in the remaindered stacks at the UC Berkeley bookstore, one buck a copy. At a price like that, how could I not buy several? I sent a copy to friends & family, including my old girlfriend, then my current girlfriend and not at all old, who declared it pornography.

Kassandra is a twisted little girl. Here’s all of Chapter 1:

1. The First Day

I was born at dusk, hour of the wolf, under the sign of Cancer.

When they brought me to her, she turned her face to the wall.

And here’s all of Chapter 4:

4. Mother’s Present

One day, my Mother, Kassandra, brought me a lovely doll as a present. She was big, and she had yellow strings instead of hair.

I put her to sleep in her box, but first I cut off her legs and arms so she’d fit.

Later, I cut her head off too, so she wouldn’t be so heavy. Now I love her very much.

I wonder what my old GF objected to? Perhaps Kassandra’s coffee can collection of used condoms. Oh, there’s sex in this book, and murder, and all manner of twisted revelations; as best I can recall, Karapanou’s point is that childhood innocence is a myth.

Not a heck of a lot on Google. Here’s someone who liked the book but really didn’t get it; and this person claims “Margarita Karapanou’s novel Kassandra and the Wolf deconstructs the victor-victim opposition and poses the process of inversion itself as a position from which to write.” Huh?

As much as I hate to plug ‘em, you can get Kassandra used through Amazon.

The Encyclopedia of Witchcraft and Demonology by Rossell Hope Robbins.

When we moved from Texas, I lost an entire box of books. I had grouped my books by subject, so in one fell swoop I lost all my books on the occult — The Witch’s Workbook by Ann Grammary, which had a real honest-to-Lucifer protocol for summoning demons (and advice about what to do next), a poorly bound tract from New Orleans on Vodoun, Graves’ The White Goddess, and The Encyclopedia of Witchcraft and Demonology by Rossell Hope Robbins.

This book isn’t what you think. It’s a serious treatment of the titular subject (truly deserving of the term “encyclopedia”), and it contains an enormous wealth of stories about, among other things, witch trials throughout the Middle Ages. The key word in that last sentence: stories. Think of Robbins not as an Anton LaVey-style practitioner, but as a folklorist, historian, and thorough scholar.

Lots of cool facts and tales about succubi, incubi, demons, and so forth, but the stories about witch persecutions form the lifeblood of this book. If you’re at all interested in the occult, this one’s a must-have.

I bought mine at Pellucidar, a used bookstore in Berkeley. Wonder if it’s still open?

***

Tag time!

Come on, folks, this one is easy. I’d like to tag some of my newer readers: Protected Static, Microsoar, Thorne, Tiggr, and Steve-O. And anyone else who wants to play.

Once you’ve posted, let me know in the comments, and I’ll give you some additional linky lurve.

Microsoar is the first to play

With a crash of metal on metal, Protected Static follows suit

Thorne’s an SF kinda gal. Cool!

Steve-o takes it in an entirely different direction

Cheers!

D.