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RA Lafferty Death Anniversary: Books by the sci-fi and fantasy author one must read
Raphael Aloysius Lafferty, known for his use of language, metaphor and narrative structure, passed away on March 18, 2002. The youngest of five siblings, he led most of his life in Tulsa with his sister Anna.
Raphael Aloysius Lafferty, known for his use of language, metaphor and narrative structure, passed away on March 18, 2002. The youngest of five siblings, he led most of his life in Tulsa with his sister Anna.
Born on November 7, 1914 in Iowa, he went on to pen more than 32 novels and over 200 short stories in a career spanning over three decades. His first published the story The Wagons in 1959 and his first science fiction work was the story Day of the Glacier, published in 1960. His first novel was Past Master.
Lafferty drew inspiration from traditional storytelling styles of Irish and Native Americans and his writings, though not easy to categorise, have a cult following.
Here are five books by RA Lafferty that one must read:
Past Master: The 1968 novel follows the attempts of a futuristic Utopian Society which tries to bring back Sir Thomas More to the year 2535 to prevent its decline. The novel was nominated for the 1968 Nebula Award and the 1969 Hugo Award. It is often considered to be part of a New Wave in science fiction.
Fourth Mansions: Inspired by Teresa of Avila’s Interior Castle, the novel is about a period of great change, when four forces, in the form of secret societies, fight to control the next phase of human history.
The Devil is Dead: The novel follows a band of adventurers who are in search of the Devil himself. The series of three books shows demons, monsters and mermaids and perfectly highlights the author’s prowess in fantasy.
Serpent’s Egg: Here, the author speaks about a certain Lynn-Randall Experiment sometime in the future, where three children with special powers are raised from infancy together. When they are short of 10 years old, they are merged with other children from three other experiments creating the Magic Dozen. What happens to them next forms the base of the novel.
Land of the Great Horses: The short story of RA Lafferty from the anthology Dangerous Visions takes a look at earth after extraterrestrials return the land they had been experimenting and instead scoop up the city of Los Angeles.
