Saturday 15 August 2009

WE CAN BUILD YOU

DAW paperback, first printing, 1972. Cover by John Schoenherr.

"They began as manufacturers of electric mood organs and player pianos. Then they improved the line - they started building exact simulacra of famous men. They thought that people would pay a good price to have anyone they wanted made to order - to talk with, befriend and eventually utilize for any purpose they wanted. 
But they ran into trouble. For one thing an exactly programmed reconstruction of a famous man is going to be obstinate and as character complex as the real man was - and nobody's puppet. 
For another, they got involved with a project for settling the moon with their creations. And finally they got tangled up with their own personal identities."

LORD OF LIGHT

Panther SF paperback, 1977. Cover illustration by Peter Goodfellow.

"SAM NEVER CLAIMED TO BE A GOD. BUT THEN, HE NEVER CLAIMED NOT TO BE... 
The time: long after the death of earth. A band of men on a colony planet have gained control of technology. With it, they have given themselves immortality and godlike powers. And they rule their world as the gods of the Hindu pantheon. Kali, goddess of destruction; Yama, lord of death; Krishna, god of lust - all are opposed by he who was Siddartha, and is now Mahasamatman, Binder of Demons, Lord of Light..."