I celebrate the birth of a new year with the last Hugo winning novel of the 1970's.
Praise be to Heinlein, now I can FINALLY start complaining about the 1980's Hugos!
Sigh. It's true. I have NO idea what they were thinking in the seventies. With three exceptions I don't have a lot of praise for this decade in terms of Hugo awards. And while the eighties has my LEAST favourite winner so far, it's not too awful otherwise.
Nor is 'Dreamsnake' AWFUL. Two stars out of five is something I considered O.K. The COVER is DREADFUL! But the story's o.k.
I REALLY got the impression this was for girls instead of me. But the emphasis on snakes in the story itself means I won't ask my wife to read it and tell me. She HATES SNAKES, Jacque. HATES 'EM!
In a post-nuclear world, a noble desert woman with brains, guts, control over her body's autonomic functions, and a bag full of medicinal pet snakes takes on all comers. Sadly, not sexily.
The whole thing would probably have seemed better if I'd had a medicinal snake to fill with LSD and inject myself. In fact, I think it should be sold with packets of acid and a snake-training manual. Couldn't hoit!
(It would hoit.)
Author Vonda Neel McIntyre, I gotta say, is pretty cool. She wrote some of the first Star Trek novels I ever read (ripping good adaptations of the 2, 3, & 4th movies) as well as an original Star Trek novel which I quite enjoyed:
'Enterprise: The First Adventure', if I may be so bold, was a much better read by far than 'Dreamsnake'. Further fuel for the fire in my belly that Hugos aren't ever handed out to franchised or shared world novels. A pox upon you for trying to be fair and unbiased, Hugo awards!
Grateful I am, beat out a book by C.J. Cherryh, this did.
Yes. Talk like Yoda, I do.
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