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From: duntemann.wbst@XEROX.ARPA
Newsgroups: net.sf-lovers
Subject: Constructed Worlds
Message-ID: <1872@sri-arpa.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 11-Jul-84 14:33:07 EDT
Article-I.D.: sri-arpa.1872
Posted: Wed Jul 11 14:33:07 1984
Date-Received: Sun, 15-Jul-84 02:36:51 EDT
Lines: 32

Lordy, it was such an awful book I had plum forgotten it...

Patra-Bannk was the hollow planet from THE WORLD IS ROUND by (I think;
book's at home) Tony Rothman, who is the son of another Rothman
who occasionally writes SF.  (First name escapes me right now.)

THE WORLD IS ROUND was a sad example of a book containing a well-worked
out technological concept and entirely too much filler.  Patra-Bannk
was a titanic shell surrounding a black hole, rotating very slowly as
it revolved about its star.  The combination of slow rotation and period
of revolution made for some very bizarre seasons, alternately hideously
cold and killingly hot.  End of interesting stuff.

What remains is silliness overlaid upon silliness, loose ends galore,
and an ending which left one most thoroughly disappointed.  This might
have been something as novel as Ringworld, had the author taken the
time to concoct something clever to happen on or inside the planet.
Instead there is a stupid war among stupid humanoids and no identifiable
motivation for any of it.

The best parts of this book were the cover painting, the essay on the
seasonal dynamics of Patra-Bannk, and the name of one (minor) character:
Paddleack.  The rest, after a year or two, has simply faded into
the mud.  Skip it.

PS:  Do remind me of any other Constructed World stories you are
familiar with...


--Jeff Duntemann
  The Carbon Filament Rat
  duntemann.wbst@xerox