Space Chantey

by R.A. Lafferty

Rediscover Hugo and Nebula award-nominated author R.A. Lafferty with this rollicking reimagining of Homer's Odyssey! Set in the far future, Space Chantey chronicles the adventures of Space Captain Roadstrum and his crew, on a journey through galaxies resonant with myth and peril as Roadstrum valiantly battles to return across the cosmos to Big Tulsa, the Capital of the World, and to his wife and young son Tele-Max.

Genres: Science Fiction, Fantasy, Fiction, Speculative Fiction, Ebooks, Humor

128 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1968

About the author

Raphael Aloysius Lafferty, published under the name R.A. Lafferty, was an American science fiction and fantasy writer known for his original use of language, metaphor, and narrative structure, as well as for his etymological wit. He also wrote a set of four autobiographical novels, a history book, and a number of novels that could be loosely called historical fiction.

Reviews

[Jack Tripper · Rating 3 out of 5]

Here's the cover of the 1968 Ace Double I have (the other novel included is Pity About Earth by Ernest Hill). The Lafferty portion is 123 pages long, the other is 132.

[Theo Logos · Rating 3 out of 5]

”There are worse places to live than in tall stories. But you are in them yourself, Roadstrum, in all the jokes and stories of the shaggy-people cycles.”

”Will there be a mythology in the future, they used to ask, when all has become science? Will high deeds be told in epic, or only in computer code?”



I once described R.A. Lafferty’s writing as “a cosmic bumper car ride” He blends absurdity and erudition into a shaggy-dog style of tall tale storytelling that is unlike anything else I’ve ever encountered. So, naturally, I was eager to read his retelling of The Odyssey recast as space opera and told in his unique, shaggy-dog style.

Lafferty doesn’t simply transfer the action of this ancient and familiar story to a science fiction space setting. He transforms the story from the remoteness that afflicts it when cast in classical language respectful of the tale’s antiquity by telling it in rude, sometimes crude, and braggadocios speech you would expect from common soldiers. This allows him to load the story with often goofy humor while he turns the fantastic adventures of the original into absurdist scenarios. And while you will recognize the broad outlines of the original tale, Lafferty is not slavishly faithful. He twist adventures into his own shape, even managing to incorporate a fun and ridiculous journey to a planet that turns out to be Valhalla, while still fitting within the broad outlines of the original structure.

Yet, despite all of this, Space Chantey failed to keep me fully engaged. While I enjoyed elements of Lafferty’s transformed tale, it often failed to sustain my interest through entire chapters — the joke would wear out before the chapter ended. So while I appreciated elements of this book, it fell far short of later Lafferty works that amazed and befuddled me. If you are a Lafferty fan, you’ll want to read it, but this shouldn’t be your introduction to his work.

[Fonch · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was thinking if writing a critique of "The Rook" https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1... & from_search = true or an of "Arcadia" https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2... & from_search = true
But ladies and gentlemen have chosen to opt out of a book that has broken the negative trend that had been suffering, when it seemed that no book loved me. Some I delude, would be unfair to Ana Peris of Elena to the works of Robert Hugh Benson https://www.goodreads.com/author/show... https://www.goodreads.com/author/show... Juan José Peired Llanos https://www.goodreads.com/author/show... Siku https://www.goodreads.com/author/show...
and Amy Welborn https://www.goodreads.com/author/show... https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/4...
However, despite these few exceptions this month of January has been one of the dullest in readings, and was in a negative dynamic, and despite the history of a friendly OGRE in an anthology of fantasy this resurrection didn't start until I went to a library of second hand and bought a "Space Chantey". Not warned so I knew what I would find. That if I wanted to read, like crazy any book by R.A. Lafferty, after reading this wonderful article by Sandra Miesel www.ignatiusinsight.com/features2005/... https://www.goodreads.com/author/show... with all Knights had my doubts, since it scared me a little Miesel definition close to the novels of R.A. Lafferty, as Chinese tales. But I wanted to read. That so clear to me, him, and Anthony Boucher (although Excel more in the publishing world) https://www.goodreads.com/author/show... . In an anthology of Galactic Empires, you had a very funny story about monkeys, and an angel, that, through an oversight, was punished and had to supervise those monkeys in its task of drafting the complete works of Shakespeare, on this subject I suggest reading the article of Manuel Alfonseca https://www.goodreads.com/author/show... divulciencia.blogspot.com/2015/02/mon... populscience.blogspot.com/2015/02/mon...
on this issue (also this subject treated Michael Ende https://www.goodreads.com/author/show...
, & Scott Hahn and Benjamin Wiker https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/5... https://www.goodreads.com/author/show... https://www.goodreads.com/author/show... )
I understand the enormous, this story has caused, and polarization that has critical so enthusiastic, and so negative. He is a writer R.A. Lafferty, who but you empathize with him hate him. Therefore I was too afraid to read it, but thank God I decided to read it, and I found the funniest parody, I've never read "Odyssey" https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1... from then I saw not a so much fun Ulysses, as Roadsturm (the name I think, that makes clear the fate of the character :-)). Since the Simpsons did a parody Homer Simpsons playing the role of the wily Ulysses, which don't laughed me both. I advise against this book purists, who considered that "The Odyssey" is a cult text, although the own Homer https://www.goodreads.com/author/show... made parody have that tale "Batrachomyomachia" https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2... where mice and frogs faced. So I do not think, that had displeased him too the book by R.A. Lafferty. Not going to happen like that movie that Juan Manuel de Prada speaking in his "Treasures from the crypt" https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3... https://www.goodreads.com/author/show... that the author goes out of the Tomb, to protest the monstrosity they have created. There was a series of drawings, which became "The Odyssey" a space adventure called Ulysses 31 https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ulises_31 "who, but only the Japanese could carry out this I saw some of those episodes in my childhood. I don't know if this book could have influenced the series, or vice versa. However, the book by R.A. Lafferty has one thing that I like, and lots of humor. For a long time, that I not laughed so much with a book. The best of the book, are the ironic comments of R.A. Lafferty. Roadsturm returning from a war, that killed 10 million people, and said, as if nothing. The first episode, could almost be a dystopia, or alert, as pleasure corrupts and cause decay (of course, if they are in excess), also has a tribute to the Nordic world, which I do not desvelaré. R.A. Lafferty is also taken other license not to tell the stories of "The Odyssey" following the same order, but, change it, and is very welcome, because I prefer the order of R.A. Lafferty. Sometimes, the caricature stripe the grotesque, when he describes the members of the crew (by the way, adds a rather promiscuous huri, and with very few moral scruples), but in the end just taking care (unless the incurable romantic, which I did), and also has in common with "The Odyssey", which is dying people, sometimes in the stupidest way, that one could imagine, it almost seems like that bad taste of the 1001 ways to program more stupid as dying. Perhaps my favorite episodes of Polyphemus, where the author gives a touch of very similar to the "Utopia" of Tomas Moro, with those eating sheep of men (is certainly very ingenious mechanism, which used to escape from there), are also hilarious the stanzas, which presented the adventures, they are going to run our friends, almost could have them written Pedro Muñoz Seca https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6... https://www.goodreads.com/author/show... in the Circe episode, for example, we can almost feel references to H.G. Wells and his "island of the Dr. Moreau' https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2... . Of course R.A. Lafferty adds some mythological episode, which happened not the crafty Ulysses, but it's hugely entertaining. I laughed much with the gamblers and card players, describing by R.A. Lafferty, bringing him to this paradoxical Space Opera something as American as the western. I believe that after reading this wonderful and funny novel, now I can see "The Odyssey" eye to eye, and already to Tiresias, not what call Tiresias, but Blinky. By the way taking advantage of Blinky, I take this opportunity to recommend this book the father Agustine Wetta, it seems, than R-A. Lafferty wrote that part for it. As for the book of father Wetta my instinct, and my feelings tell me, that "The Eighth Arrow: Odysseus in the Underworld, a Novel" https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/4... https://www.goodreads.com/author/show... has to be a sensational novel. Ignatius Press does not usually go wrong with their https://www.ignatius.com/ releases but I have the feeling, that the work of the father Wetta makes it more than the Homeric world, who makes a tribute to Dante's "Divine Comedy" https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6... However it is interesting to compare the work of Wetta, with this nice prank of the Catholic writer R.A. Lafferty, who was also very present to mystics and saints of the Church, when he wrote his Chinese stories, and their crazy stories. In fact, one of his stories is inspired by "Dwellings" of Santa Teresa, and also Saint Thomas more. I remember reading a very sympathetic of R.A. Lafferty story, when a journalist asked if G.K. Chesterton (Chesty) had influenced him https://www.goodreads.com/author/show... . This was looking at him, as if I had said something horrible, and after an embarrassing silence told him "you learn". Demonstrating, that Yes, that g. k. Chesterton had influenced him, and that was one of his favorite writers. We are approaching the end, I think that it is good to point out the bad book, and because after this waterfall of compliments I have not put this book five stars. Happened as to the bullfighter, who does a good job in the ring, but when it comes to kill failure. That is the weak point of "Space Chantey". You know, and if not it is I say, that I never got to finish the Odyssey, because of endless revenge of Odysseus against the suitors. That part made me hopelessly dragging its feet long. You must also have seemed worse to R.A. Lafferty, because that part not make him the deserving is very elliptical. Although in the end tries to reconcile the classic Ulysses, with the of the medieval Christian writers such as Dante, or Tasso (not tell that you must discover it) https://www.goodreads.com/author/show... https://www.goodreads.com/author/show... also put less Nausica, is not to be given her given the leading role, which gives Robert Graves, making it, according to a theory by Samuel Butler, the author of the Odyssey, but I would have liked it had come out, because for me that huri isn't Nausica. The work of serious is "Daughter of Homer" https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2... Finally, I only hope, that this criticism you liked, and hopefully serve, so the Spanish publishers to edit this great author. It is a shame that only Valdemar, has done so and to tell one story of pre-Columbian cultures. Roadsturm has been with the adorable red dragon Vern, created by writer Karina Fabian https://www.goodreads.com/author/show... . I hope that Michael D. O'Brien https://www.goodreads.com/author/show... make an exception and allow this Dragon get into heaven, but will have to do as a Philp Gaston and stealing the keys to St. Peter. (PS. I am a great admirer of the Canadian writer and agree with what he says).
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Estaba pensando si escribir una crítica de “The Rook” https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1... o una de “Arcadia” https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2...
Pero damas, y caballeros he preferido optar por un libro que ha roto la tendencia negativa que venía sufriendo, cuando parecía que ningún libro me ilusionaba. Alguno me ilusiono, sería injusto para con los trabajos de Robert Hugh Benson https://www.goodreads.com/author/show... Ana Peris de Elena https://www.goodreads.com/author/show... Juan José Peired Llanos https://www.goodreads.com/author/show... Siku https://www.goodreads.com/author/show... y Amy Welborn https://www.goodreads.com/author/show... https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/4...
Sin embargo, pese a estas honrosas excepciones este mes de enero ha sido uno de los más tediosos en cuanto a lecturas, y estaba en una dinámica negativa, y pese a la historia de un simpático ogro en una antología de fantasía esta resurrección no empezó hasta que fui a una librería de segunda mano y compré “Space Chantey”. Lo avisó no sabía lo que me iba a encontrar. Eso sí deseaba leer, como loco algún libro de R.A. Lafferty, después de leer este maravilloso artículo de Sandra Miesel www.ignatiusinsight.com/features2005/... https://www.goodreads.com/author/show... con todo caballeros tenía mis dudas, puesto que me asustaba un poco la definición de Miesel a cerca de las novelas de R.A. Lafferty, como cuentos chinos. Pero quería leerle. Eso lo tengo claro, a él, y a Anthony Boucher (aunque destacase más en el mundo editorial) https://www.goodreads.com/author/show... . En una antología de imperios galácticas, le había un relato muy divertido sobre unos monos, y un ángel, que por un descuido era castigado, y tenía que supervisar a esos monos en su tarea de redactar las obras completas de Shakespeare, sobre este tema sugiero leer el artículo de Manuel Alfonseca https://www.goodreads.com/author/show... divulciencia.blogspot.com/2015/02/mon... populscience.blogspot.com/2015/02/mon... sobre esta cuestión (también este tema lo trataron Michael Ende https://www.goodreads.com/author/show... , y Scott Hahn & Benjamin Wiker https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/5... https://www.goodreads.com/author/show... https://www.goodreads.com/author/show... )
Comprendo la enorme polarización, que ha causado este relato, y que tenga críticas tan entusiastas, y tan negativas. Es un escritor R.A. Lafferty, que sino empatizas con él lo aborrecerás. Por ello tuve mucho miedo de leerlo, pero gracias a Dios decidí leerlo, y me encontré con la parodia más divertida, que he leído nunca de la “Odisea” https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1... desde luego no vi un Ulises tan divertido, como Roadsturm (el nombre creo, que deja claro el sino del personaje :-)). Desde que los Simpsons hicieron una parodia haciendo Homer Simpsons el papel del astuto Ulises, que no me reía tanto. Yo desaconsejo este libro a los puristas, que consideren que “La Odisea” es un texto de culto, aunque el propio Homero https://www.goodreads.com/author/show... hizo parodia tenemos ese relato la “Batracomiomaquia” https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2... dónde ratones, y ranas se enfrentaban. Por lo que no creo, que le hubiera desagradado en exceso el libro de R.A. Lafferty. No va a ocurrir como esa peli de la que hablaba Juan Manuel de Prada en su “Los tesoros de la cripta” https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3... https://www.goodreads.com/author/show... que el autor va a salir de la tumba, para protestar por el engendro, que han creado. Hubo una serie de dibujos, que convertía “La Odisea” en una aventura espacial llamada Ulises 31” quien sino, sólo los japoneses podrían llevar a cabo ese prodigio https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ulises_31 yo vi algunos de esos episodios en mi niñez.
No sé, si este libro pudo haber influido a la serie, o viceversa. Sin embargo, el libro de R.A. Lafferty tiene una cosa, que me agrada, y es mucho humor. Hacía mucho tiempo, que no me reía tanto con un libro. Lo mejor del libro, son los comentarios irónicos de R.A. Lafferty. Roadsturm vuelve de una guerra, en la que han muerto 10 millones de personas, y lo dice, como si nada. El primer episodio, casi podría ser una distopía, o alertar, como los placeres corrompen y provocan la decadencia (por supuesto, si son en exceso), también tiene un homenaje al mundo nórdico, que no desvelaré. R.A. Lafferty se toma también otra licencia no contar las historias de “La Odisea” siguiendo el mismo orden, sino, que lo cambia, y es muy de agradecer, porque me gusta más el orden de R.A. Lafferty. A veces, la caricatura raya el esperpento, cuando describe a los miembros de la tripulación (por cierto, añade a una hurí bastante promiscua, y con muy pocos escrúpulos morales), pero al final les acabas cogiendo mucho cariño (al menos el romántico incurable, que soy yo lo hizo), y también tiene en común con “La Odisea”, que se va muriendo gente, a veces de la forma más estúpida, que uno se podría imaginar, casi parece como ese programa de mal gusto de las 1001 formas más estúpidas de morirse. Quizá mis episodios favoritos sea el de Polifemo, dónde el autor le da un toque muy similar a la “Utopía” de Tomas Moro, con esas ovejas comedoras de hombres (por cierto, es muy ingenioso el mecanismo, que utilizan, para escapar de ahí), también son descacharrantes las estrofas, con que presentan las aventuras, que van a correr nuestros amigos, casi podría haberlas escrito Pedro Muñoz Seca https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6... https://www.goodreads.com/author/show... En el episodio de Circe, por ejemplo, casi podemos sentir las referencias a H.G. Wells y su “Isla del Dr. Moreau” https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2... . También por supuesto R.A. Lafferty añade algún episodio mitológico, que no le acaeció al astuto Ulises, pero queda enormemente divertido. Yo me reí mucho con los tahúres, y jugadores de cartas, que R.A. Lafferty describe, aportándole a esta paródica Space Opera algo tan américano como el western. Creo, que después de leer esta maravillosa, y divertida novela, ya jamás podré ver “La Odisea” con los mismos ojos, y ya a Tiresias, no lo llamaré Tiresias, sino Blinky. Por cierto aprovechando lo de Blinky, aprovecho para recomendar este libro del Padre Agustine Wetta, parece, que R.-A. Lafferty escribió esa parte para él. En cuanto al libro del Padre Wetta mi instinto, y mis presentimientos me dicen, que ”The Eighth Arrow: Odysseus in the Underworld, a Novel” https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/4... https://www.goodreads.com/author/show... tiene que ser una novela sensacional. Ignatius Press no suele equivocarse con sus lanzamientos https://www.ignatius.com/ Aunque tengo la sensación, de que la obra del Padre Wetta le hace más que al mundo homérico, a quien le hace un homenaje es a la “Divina Comedia” de Dante https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6... sin embargo es interesante comparar la obra de Wetta, con esta simpática gamberrada del también escritor católico R.A. Lafferty, que también tuvo muy presente a los místicos, y santos de la Iglesia, cuando escribía sus cuentos chinos, y sus alocadas historias. De hecho, uno de sus relatos está inspirado en “Las moradas” de Santa Teresa, y también en Santo Tomas Moro. Recuerdo haber leído una anécdota muy simpática de R.A. Lafferty, cuando un periodista le pregunto si G.K. Chesterton (Chesty) https://www.goodreads.com/author/show... le había influido. Este se le quedo mirando, como si hubiera dicho algo horrible, y después de un silencio embarazoso le dijo “vas aprendiendo”. Demostrando, que sí, que G.K. Chesterton le había influido, y que era uno de sus escritores favoritos. Nos estamos acercando al final, y creo que es bueno señalar lo malo del libro, y porque después de esta catarata de elogios no le he puesto a este libro cinco estrellas. Le paso como al torero, que hace una buena faena en el ruedo, pero cuando entra a matar falla. Ese es el punto débil de “Space Chantey”. Ustedes saben, y si no se lo digo yo, que yo jamás conseguí terminar la Odisea, por culpa de interminable venganza de Ulises contra los pretendientes. Esa parte se me hizo insufriblemente larga. También le debió de haber parecido lo peor a R.A. Lafferty, porque esa parte no le saca el partido que merece es muy elíptico. Aunque al final trata de reconciliar al Ulises clásico, con el de los escritores medievales cristianos como Dante, o Tasso (no les diré como eso deberán descubrirlo ustedes) https://www.goodreads.com/author/show... https://www.goodreads.com/author/show...
También eche de menos a Nausica, no es que quiera que se le dé el papel determinante, que le da Robert Graves, haciendo ella, siguiendo una teoría de Samuel Butler la autora de la Odisea, pero me hubiera gustado que hubiera salido, porque para mí esa hurí no es Nausica. La obra de Graves es “La hija de Homero” https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2...

[Nate D · Rating 3 out of 5]

Raphael Aloysius Lafferty is, naturally, a classicist, so here's his very own Odyssey. Diverging from the rough contours of the original at every turn, this is a romp through various colliding and reimagined mythologies, mostly just concerned with the act of storytelling, the mystifications of the legendary, and the ways in which events become rarefied into story, even at the expensive of narrative consistency. Breezily funny (bordering silliness, mercifully shy of zany) via various jabs at genre forms, wordplay, and clever sentence constructions, and completely unconcerned with fleshing character beyond archetype or the meandering path it takes, to the extent it eschews momentum or climax for another beginning. But it was always about the journey, wasn't it?

Bonus points for letting the sole recurring woman character start a feminist revolt among a race of giants, minus points for making her essentially fickle and self-serving (ambiguously recouping a few for suggesting that she was just written as a cat anyway (and at a point when all the men are also reduced to the simplest of animal archetypes, cats actually have the most nuance...so, I dunno, mostly glad she's there)).

(I'm marking this edition as the more widely indexed, but I actually have the Ace Double edition completely with Vaughn Bode cover and chapter illustrations.)

[Magda Revetllat · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fundamentalmente divertida, mezcla de La Odisea y Los Argonautas, las aventuras de unos navegantes espaciales adentrándose en un universo absurdo e intentado salir de él para volver a casa.

Todo amenizado con rítmicas salomas, esas antiguas canciones marineras.

[Jlawrence · Rating 3 out of 5]

A charming if roughly-hewn science-fiction retelling of The Odyssey. Actually, more of mutated reinterpretation than a retelling, light on the science on heavy on silly, surreal and occasionally badwdy fable-ness. In fact, several times the characters comment on how improbable their adventures are (especially their many escapes from doom).

An example adventure: the protaganists land on a planet populated by seemingly Neaderthal giants who travel about on immense floating disks and who kill themselves and their guests every day in the most amusing ways possible, all to be resurrected the next day to do it again. When the heroes leave, the giants rip the heroes' tongues out so they won't tell others what a fun planet their home is. The heroes have their tongues replaced by mechanical ones, which prompts the ship's communicator to say, "Warning: false tongue" after any comment. Another example: the heroes meet Atlas, who is holding up the world (or universe, rather) not physically, but but constantly observing it in its entirety through a series of telescopes - anything he becomes unaware of, ceases to exist. And wait till you meet the Sirens.

Despite being somewhat slapdash (sometimes he doesn't even bother to resolve a particular crisis), Lafferty's odd humor and great imagination make this a fun ride.

[Olethros · Rating 3 out of 5]

-“La Odisea”, perpetrada con humor bizarro y filosofía fantástica.-

Género. Ciencia-Ficción.

Lo que nos cuenta. Tras una guerra que ha durado diez años equivalentes y que ha terminado con diez millones de vidas (pero que económica y ecológicamente ha tenido un efecto saludable), seis grandes Capitanes de Avispas y sus tripulaciones planean la vuelta a casa. Cinco de ellos deciden volver haciendo escala en el mundo Lotophage mientras que el sexto considera imperativo volver a casa con su mujer (cuya fidelidad no quiere seguir poniendo a prueba) y con sus hijos (que seguramente han alcanzado una edad interesante).

¿Quiere saber más de este libro, sin spoilers? Visite:

http://librosdeolethros.blogspot.com....

[Xabi1990 · Rating 2 out of 5]

3/10. Media de los 5 libros leídos del autor : 3/10

Mucha ficción, poca -nada- ciencia y mucha ida de olla los libros e este autor. No es lo mío, no.

[Printable Tire · Rating 5 out of 5]

As straight and narrow a tale as Lafferty can produce, and even so skewed and shaggy. Laugh out loud funny at times, and it has an ending! (though, being an epic, the ending has no ending). Space Chantey is a strange parody of Jocks in Space (Buck Rodgers, Flash Gordon, Star Trek, et al.) and the Odyssey, but whereas a lesser writer would go simply literal with such a conceit (here's the planet of sirens! Here's a planet of cyclops!) Lafferty elevates both source materials and transmigrates and transmogrifies them to his own weird and wonderful language and universe.

Some favorite passages:

"'We'd dream how we would live on an island or planet, and the bananas would fall of the trees beside us. The coconuts would drop with a hole already in them for drinking; and after they were drained they would fall apart for eating. There would be a waterfall that turned a paddle-wheel that worked a music box, and you had only to whistle the key notes and it would take up any tune you wanted to hear. There would be cigarette vines dangling just above you, and you could snap one off and it would already be lit when you snapped it.'" (9)

"Death is for a long time. Those of shallow thought say that it is forever. There is, at least, a long night of it. There is the forgetfulness and the loss of identity. The spirit, even as the body, is unstrung and burst and scattered. One goes down to the death, and it leaves a mark on one forever." (34)

"And crewmen went into the big houses and watched the big gamblers; and they listened to the tall stories about them. There was Johnny Greeneyes, who could see every invisible marking on cards with his odd optics. There was Pyotr Igrokovitch with the hole in his head. Pyotr was the most persistent suicide of them all. Following heavy losses in his youth he had shot himself through the head. It had not killed him, but the shot had carried away great portions of the caution and discretion lobes of his brain. The passage through his head had remained open, with pinkish flaps of flesh covering the holes fore and aft.
"Now, whenever Pyotr suffered heavy losses, he jerked out his pistol and shot himself through the head. It was all for a joke; he always shot himself through the same passage; and the 'brains' which he appeared to spew out the back opening with the shot were in reality only phlegm that had gathered in his head. But it was rather a weird thing when seen by one for the first time, and Pytor very often killed spectators standing behind him." (52)

Lafferty has a way of making what could have been a mundane passage lyrical:
"'We are tone-deaf to the call of help,' said the sour shepherd. 'We are deaf to almost everything. There is only one sound we hear a little. We call it the green whisper.'
Roadstrum gave it to him: the soft sound of an educated thumb ruffled over the edges of high-denomination bills. The shepherd heard it. It is a dangerous double-bladed sound. It has got a lot of people in trouble. But the hornet-men were confident of their ability to handle anything." (77)

A spoof on the prime directive?
"'Remember the hornet-men's code: Never incite a local populace unless there is something in it for you.'" (82)

"They landed on Aeaea. They made a bad landing. They first buried themselves in the soft surface that was like smoke. Then they had to back out and let it solidify. They got out and walked, and it was tricky. Aeaea hadn't made her world very thoroughly. For the place was not charted and not generally believed in. The surface was full of nothing-holes. But it firmed, it firmed, it became a workable theory, it became a fact." (92)

"'...do you not know that the underground lands are shared by many worlds? It is all one underground, a vast place, and it is but a trick on which globe one will surface on coming out. This is the reason that the inside of every world is so much vaster than the outside. You are fooled by the shape of these little balls on which things live and crawl; you see the universe inside-out; you see the orbs are containing and not contained. I will teach you to see it right if you please me.'" (94)

"Crewman Septimus was now a rabbit. With that cleft upper lip and those pink eyes he could not say anything else. Crewman Swinnert was a hog, a good solid hog, the kind you'd like to be if you had to be one." (96)

A great example of Lafferty brushing past cliches and messing up their hair as he runs by, in snappy Groucho Marx fashion (they are in "Hell" in this scene):
"'Do you want a lawyer?' the lieutenant asked. 'There are plenty of them to be had here.'
'We'll be wanting no lawyers,' said big Roadstrum. 'We've made our pan, so we'll fry in it. Is that the way the saying goes? Let's just take a look at the accommodations here, fellows.'" (113)

"'You have become a legend; but that was several years ago; you're pretty much on the shelf now. There is nothing older than yesterday's legends.'" (117)

[Ivan Stoner · Rating 4 out of 5]

Space Chantey is a space opera pastiche of the Odyssey, and it contains the ur-description of my ability to engage with Lafferty:

"It's a thing too tall for my reason," Roadstrum slung out, "but I get the high excitement myself. We are pulled along at a great rate on our new course, but we will not let the doggie go! Onto it! Kill it! Skin it! Break it down! Devour it!"

The context makes the quote even better. Roadstrum is a spaceforce captain returning home from a long campaign through a series of quasi-magical escapades. The "doggies" are a belt of asteroids that oneirically shift into a herd of spacecattle. Roadstrum and his crew wrangle them cowboy style as they weather something between a stampede and a meteor shower. So it's a "git along little doggie" doggie, not a "how much is that doggie in the window" doggie.

Lafferty's characteristic, freeflowing tall-tale style prevents the "Homer in a different setting!" aspect from being tired and trite as it would be in the hands of a lesser writer. The content is pure imagination. Does Lafferty take the sirens episode and give you singing space-babes? Hell no! The "sirens" are tentacle palps of a planet-sized, inside-out spider beast. The torture and seduction of the siren song is that it reaches a final note and never sounds it; only in death is it capable of hitting the final note and reaching culmination and satisfaction.

As always, Lafferty's genius particularly shines in the setting's implicit attacks on rationalism. He is able to present a fiction that convincingly portrays brutality, bloodshed, fear, confusion and mayhem as essential ingredients to a world that contains love, beauty, security, thoughtfulness and sanctity. And he does so without sterilizing them, or shying away from ugliness.

Interesting book.

[Eric Tanafon · Rating 3 out of 5]

Space Chantey would be a great book for most authors, but for Lafferty, it's only so-so. His love of the grotesque spins out of control in this very odd Odyssey retelling. And there are some things about the plot that bothered me because they clashed so much with Homer (note to self or any other future readers: the time to enjoy Space Chantey is NOT just after you've listened to Ian McKellan narrating the full Odyssey). Odysseus and his men weren't wandering around because they liked exploring. They were exiles, and Odysseus himself turned down the offer of immortality to return home. So when Lafferty has them immediately ship out again, after being disappointed with Earth, it doesn't ring true. Also, why did the Circe character have to be killed? In Homer, Odysseus wins her over and she keeps them on her island feasting for a year, then shows them the safest route through the seas to the land of the dead. And last, the bit about taking over Atlas' burden isn't even in the Odyssey, it's taken from one of the labors of Hercules. I guess Lafferty had an idea about a science-fantasy version of Atlas and just had to fit that in somehow. Of course, the gods know that Lafferty's is far from the only treatment that ignores 75% of the original story. And it's still Lafferty, which means there are good things here as well--tall tales, off-the-wall humor, salty dialogue, and some of the best worst poetry ever. Just not up to the standard of Annals of Klepsis or The Devil is Dead.

[Joseph Andros]

WRONG PRONG? BONG GONG

[Sam Kates · Rating 2 out of 5]

I doubt this was the best way to introduce myself to Lafferty's work, but I received for Christmas a 3-novel omnibus and this was the first one up. Though there are aspects of this madcap retelling of The Odyssey I enjoyed, much of it was a bit of a slog to get through and I'm expecting, or at least hoping, to enjoy the next two novels more.

[Richard · Rating 2 out of 5]

Some originality but this is a poor man's Rabelais, as we follow the crazy random voyages to various world of a band of soldiers and their hornet ships. Lafferty's prose style requires an incredibly high level of intensity, and while his other works were able to achieve it, this book just seem rambling.

[Bruce · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lafferty begins his absurd and humorous parody of the Odyssey with a bit of verse:

The Lay of Road-Storm from the ancient Chronicles
We give you here, Good Spheres and Cool-Boy Conicals,

And perils pinnacled and parts impossible
And every word of it the sworn-on Gosipel.

Lend ear while things incredible we bring about
And Spacemen dead and deathless yet we sing about:—

And some were weak and wan, and some were strong enough,
And some got home, but damn it took them long enough!

Then the author switches to prose with the rhetorical questions “Will there be a mythology in the future, they used to ask, after all has become science? Will high deeds be told in epic, or only in computer code?”

The survivors of a Pyrrhic victory following an epic battle for galactic supremacy are the six crews of the military spacecraft known as hornets. The alpha male of these left-overs, Captain Roadstrum declares that it’s time to go home, but not right away, first let’s take a break and get some R&R. Their first stop is a barroom on the planet Lotophage. On ultra comfortable Lotophage where everyone gets very relaxed, Roadstrom encounters the houri Margaret and Deep John the Vagabond who will continue with the remaining few of the crew on the two ships who escape Lotophage and its additive bar snacks called ecstasy chips (think Soylent Green) as they meander about impossible stops from subjective imaginary planets to high stakes casinos and from Valhalla to Hell before a few survivors return to the place of their birth to encounter domestic chaos.

The best description of this book: It’s Monty Python in Space. LOL if you like this sort of thing, filled with word play and absolutely ridiculous situations, a dada fest of fun. I loved it! This British edition is accompanied by droll illustrations by Vaughn Bode.

[Perry Whitford · Rating 4 out of 5]

"We should go home, but I could be talked into something else."
Captain Roadstrum.

Those are the words of our alternative Odysseus from the future, just after the completion of his own ten-year war. So this is Homer, Lafferty style - that old sea-song updated as a new space-song, with additional briny currents of Norse mythology swirled into the stew, topped off with a sprinkling of spicy Texan seasoning.

First stop is Lotophage, the land of the Lotus Eaters, where 'it is always afternoon' and the ground is so comfortable you sink down into it. Then onto Lamos to meet the Laesrtgonians, who turn out to be the giants of Valhalla, who love nothing better than a gut-busting feast and a blood-thirsty dustup everyday before dark.

Scylla and Charybdis are an asteroid belt and a vortex, Aeaea becomes a whole planet of illusions rather than just an island, while these particular sheep of 'Polyphemia' won't be much use to this particular Odysseus and his crew, nor will any wax in the ears aid them on Siren-Zo. When they reach hell, Roadstrum addresses old Tiresias by his nick-name, 'Blinky'.

So, it's hardly a faithful retelling in either content or chronology, topology or tone. A novella rather than as epic, rough and ready in places and slap-dash in others, but it's a hell of a journey for all that. And who better than Lafferty to re-tell it? After all, isn't the Odyssey above all else the tallest tall tale of them all!

The verses that head all the chapters are great too. Here's a sample:

'One needs for picture of the Laesrtgonians
All hump-backed cuss words and vile polyphonians.
"We'll cry a warning here though we be hung for it!"
The fact is, not a crewman had the tongue for it.'

[Dee · Rating 3 out of 5]

Funny! Very literate. It's the Odyssey but in space, and funny. Will write more later. How did I never hear about Lafferty before???

[John Ryan · Rating 3 out of 5]

I did Lafferty a grave disservice by reading this after a load of Jean-Patrick Manchette. There is a load of messing here: bloodless, dry wordplay and referential language games, the polar opposite of Manchette's "Streets of Paris, Streets of Murder" cycle. This is a moderately entertaining space opera riff on the Odyssey, an idea so bad that it makes me think it's post modern in a way that I am not fully getting. Discovering that this was the core conceit of the first of 2 books I'd brought for. 2.5 hour bus ride to Galway made me groan out loud, though there was enough hit rate of horrific/comic turns of phrase to drive me to finish this.

Disch or Delaney have similar language/stylistic riffs that can be a lot to digest (Delaney less often), but both are tempered with a crystal clear point of view and visceral directness of approach that makes their novels gripping on the sentence level. Potentially this is too close to golden age SF swashbuckling for me, a moron edgelord who needs blood, guts and despair to get through an SF novel.

[Thomas · Rating 4 out of 5]

RA lafferty takes on the odyssey, which mostly means that he uses the structure of the voyage with its various perils as a way of containing fun little 'sci fi' tall stories that are loosely related to the original story(e.g. the laestrygonians here are a planet of inexplicably norse themed giants who honour their guests by fighting with them to the death atop levitating stone slabs and then do it all again the next day because everyone on the planet is restored to life each morning). the odysseus stand in here is notably less smart and cunning than the mythological one, which is probably related to the theme repeatedly emphasised of the voyages being fictionalised and improved in the telling, by both the voyagers themselves and most of the other inhabitants of the universe. at one point a character who had been eaten a few chapters earlier reappears, and lafferty puts in a little parenthesis saying that while you may remember him being eaten, he actually escaped, but we can't tell you just how he did it. when our odysseus finally gets home, after putting a hold on the bank account that his wife has nearly run into overdraft, he discovers that peaceful life on earth isn't all its cracked up to be, and gathers another ship and crew to set out on another voyage. fun stuff all around although i don't think i want my lafferty to be any more comic than this one.

[Carl · Rating 2 out of 5]

Early at this b/c have not finished the book yet. But, ..... I read several of his short stories lately, having never read him before except his nonfiction book The Fall of Rome, which I enjoyed greatly. His Science Fiction really surprised me with its odd, off beat nature. He reminded me of another author I enjoy, Tom Holt (YouSpace series). Make me feel that Tom must be a fan of Lafferty. Honestly, Lafferty is really enjoyable, but at the same time, I make no sense out of some of what he says (same with Holt) I just let it generate a feeling rather than information and go on reading. Ends up being an enjoyable experience. If you like scifi, fantasy, tall tales, etc give him a try.

[Astragen · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you're into stuff like this, you can read the full review.



Space Captain Roadstrum: "Space Chantey" by R. A. Lafferty




(Original Review, 1980-11-26)


Another old Ace double that's a favourite is "Space Chantey" by R. A. Lafferty. It's sort of a retelling of "The Odyssey" in sf terms, but in typically crazed Lafferty fashion. Odysseus becomes Space Captain Roadstrum, the land of the lotus eaters becomes a planet where (shades of Tennyson) it is always afternoon, the clashing rocks become an asteroid belt and so on.

[Rob Frampton · Rating 4 out of 5]

This surreal, psychedelic version of 'The Odyssey', with quasi-SF trappings, must have been a strange read even in the experimental world of the late 60s; today it's an oddity at best, and R.A. Lafferty a peripheral figure in science fiction history. But for all that it's got 'something': joyously absurd, fiddling at the edeges of language and meaning, often more poem than novel. You might only read it once, but you'll never forget it!

[Günter · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ich wundere mich, dass es nicht mehr Rezensionen gibt, in denen dieses Kallauer aneinanerreihende Werk mit dem Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy verglichen wird. (Die Odyssee ist selbstverständlich das ältere Werk.)

[Rif A. Saurous · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'd never read any Lafferty before. This was basically delightful. A 130ish page novella, basically a mix of the Odyssey but in space with a collection of bizarre tall tales. Frequently hilarious. I'm eager to read more Lafferty.

[Ben Brackett · Rating 2 out of 5]

Questioning now if I'm going to enjoy his novels anywhere near as much as his short stories.

[John Trupiano · Rating 4 out of 5]

Madly entertaining. What a fun ride. As whimsical of a book as I've read in awhile.

[Francisco Madrigal · Rating 4 out of 5]

Una obra clásica de la ciencia ficción. De fácil lectura y buen sabor de boca. Llevar los clásicos griegos a la ciencia ficción nunca es fácil y Lafferty lo sabe hacer ameno e interesante.

[Rjyan · Rating 4 out of 5]

OK now that's how you adapt the damn Odyssey.

[يوسف عبداللطيف · Rating 4 out of 5]

Honestly, Space Chantey is a book for the night shift, the long commute, the sleepless weekend. R.A. Lafferty keeps the tone low and the tension steady, no fluff, no show-off moves. It hits different when the house is dark. Good for late-night readers, skip if you like sunny, upbeat stories.

[Jonny Spinasanto · Rating 2 out of 5]

This review is from my blog, Under Your Windows.

Reading Space Chantey (1968) was my second time with R.A. Lafferty. The first was about a year ago: I read Annals of Klepsis. My memory of Klepsis is a bit hazy, as I read the entire thing very quickly. It's mainly a jumble of laughably long names, ghost stories, and lots and lots of dialogue. It was written in such an odd, vague way that there are no really concrete memories of the story left in my mind. That must sound like a negative, but I really don't mean it as such. I only mean that I couldn't latch onto it.

Now, for Space Chantey - I actually liked it a little less than Klepsis. I know I just explained how I have only vague memories of the latter, but I did enjoy it, overall. Space Chantey, however, I found harder to get through.

It tells the story of Space Captain Roadstrum and his crew as they travel home from the recent war, visiting many planets and places in space along the way, getting into trouble and getting out of it. It's a weird, crazy, science-fiction-y retelling of Homer's Odyssey.

As I said, I'm not a fan of the novel. First of all, I didn't like the structure. The story is a series of wild and goofy, loosely-connected events across a multitude planets. Of course, there is nothing wrong with this one-story-after-another approach. Personally, I don't like it.

The events themselves I found too nonsensical to be properly engaged by. Lafferty is known for being weird, out there, unexpected, shocking, funny, fantastic, and confusing. But I think this complete absurdity prevented me from caring about anything. I understand the appeal of writing like this, but I myself am not particularly attracted to it.

I also thought the prose switched between the typical matter-of-fact style Lafferty usually employs and this strange, informal, conversational voice, which can be very jarring. Occasionally sentences would start with, "Ah well," and end in a load of exclamation points(!!!!). Perhaps these sections were meant to be jarring; I don't know.

What did I like about Space Chantey? Nothing specifically. I thought it was okay as a whole, but there are really no exact stories, places, characters, words, or phrases that I can pick out as really enjoying.

I do not want anyone to think that I would ever wish Lafferty wrote differently or told different stories. He is distinctly Lafferty, and I wouldn't change anything about him. (He did write in a style similar to Robert Sheckley and Douglas Adams, but his style is very much separate from theirs. Lafferty gives off a very distinct feeling, while Sheckley and Adams blend together a bit in my mind. I should mention that I haven't read much of the latter two, and so I probably do not have the most informed opinion on them...)

I may eventually try some of his short stories, as I've heard he really shines in short form. I can definitely see his stories being more effective in small doses. Perhaps that's one of the problems I had with this book: there was just too much of it, despite its small size (my copy was about 120 pages).

In the end, maybe I'm missing Lafferty's main point. Maybe I'm missing his genius. Maybe I completely missed all of his depth, all of his well-hidden meaning. Or perhaps I got everything right, and Lafferty simply doesn't interest me enough. In either case, he's a good writer if you enjoy tall tales, wild stories, goofy adventures, crazy characters, and fun mythology. If I venture forth into his short stories, I'll post about it here.