|
The novella ...And Call Me Conrad is one of Roger Zelazny's earlier works. ...And Call Me Conrad tied with Frank Herbert's Dune for the 1966 Hugo Award for Best Novel. Zelazny later expanded the novella into a novel called This Immortal, which was published in 1968. The novella and novel are erroneously referred to as the same work published under different titles; however, novellas were not formally separated from the Hugo novel category until 1968. Zelazny identified Aldous Huxley as one model he kept in mind while writing this novel. Another evident influence is John D. MacDonald; several minor elements in the novel appear to be deliberate homage to the Travis McGee series. After being devastated by a nuclear war, the Earth is a planet with a population of 4 million overrun by a variety of mutated fauna. Worse, the Earth is now owned by a race of blue-skinned aliens called Vegans. Conrad Nomikos is a man with a past that he'd rather not talk about, and he's been given a task that he'd rather refuse: to show an influential Vegan around the old ruins of Earth. But Conrad suddenly finds himself the reluctant protector of this alien visitor when attempts are made on the Vegan's life. Conrad knows that keeping the Vegan alive is important—but now he must find out why. Many of Zelazny's heroes are supermen: not like the Kryptonian Kal El, a.k.a. Superman, but akin to George Bernard Shaw's concept in "Man and Superman" and even Friedrich Nietzsche's Übermensch. Sometimes they are even gods or demigods. Other examples of Zelazny's superman are Corwin, the prince who would be king in the world(s) of Amber series, and especially the man-god Sam -- Mahasamatman (the Great Soul Sam) -- in "Lord of Light." To quote the blurb on the jacket of Lord of Light, "His followers called him Mahasamatman and said he was a god. He preferred to drop the 'Maha' and the 'atman,' however, and called himself Sam. He never claimed to be a god, but then he never claimed not to be a god." It could be said that Conrad Nomikos is the prototype for both Sam and Corwin; a flawed human who is also a flawed superhuman. References: Hugo Awards 1966 Hugo Awards 1968
| ||||||||
|
| |||||||||
 |
|
| |