“Star” 18 results. “Stars” 35 results. Stars, as in the hot balls of gas (crudely put) seemingly fixated millions and some billions miles away, appear just around 50 times in this novel. Stars, as in celebrities and popular figures in society, appear just handful of times. What’s interesting isn’t so much the shifting meaning/symbol of… Continue reading “Star(s)”
Category: Reflections
The “Chunk(s)” of Degradation
A chunk, of something, chunky peanut butter, a chunky person; the word chunk can be used in many a’ context. Comfortably, the word “chunky” in Lucifer’s Hammer is usually referenced in terms to the comet, Hamner-Brown, or some damage that has occurred in the storyline due to this comet hitting the earth. Comets are massive… Continue reading The “Chunk(s)” of Degradation
shades of gray
I had a hard time deciding what word to write about in my blog this week. I finally decided to do a search on the terms “black”, which appeared 88 times; “white”, which appeared 85 times; and then, finally, “gray”, which only appeared 24 times. I found this interesting because so much of the book… Continue reading shades of gray
You Betta’ Recognize.
Memory and senses alert you to the familiar. You “recognize” something when you have had previous experience of knowledge with a thing or a situation. In an unfamiliar situation, you know, such as a comet destroying half of the world, recognizing familiar people and situations could be a key to survival. The word “recognize” appears… Continue reading You Betta’ Recognize.
“urgency” in Lucifer’s Hammer
The word I choose in the book was the word “urgent.” Seemed like a pretty good choice, considering it’s a novel about disaster, but the word “urgent” only appears 9 times in the novel. While 9 does not appear to be a signficant number, the meaning of the word changes as it is carried through … Continue reading “urgency” in Lucifer’s Hammer
Where are all the “leaders”?
So, I have to admit, I was expecting to see the word “leader” in Lucifer’s Hammer many more times than 14. For a novel that, at its heart, seems to be talking about human society and bootstrapping ourselves out of disaster it seems as though there should be more instances of it. What’s telling, however,… Continue reading Where are all the “leaders”?
static, a. and n.
Google Books: 14 results. *Atmospherics; radio noise. *Fixed or held in place, on the ground, etc., freq. in contrast to something that can move; stationary, not mobile. *Pertaining to forces in equilibrium, or to bodies at rest: opposed to dynamic. (OED Online) The word “static” is defined in Lucifer’s Hammer as interference during radio communication.… Continue reading static, a. and n.
Meat
The word “meat” appears fifteen times in Lucifer’s Hammer. With only one exception all uses of the word meat are literal. The exception is the word’s first use in the book, on page 35 when Harvey Randall is in the shower and, “he imagined himself as meat being massaged by hydraulic pressure.” This is a… Continue reading Meat
“Red”
Since reading this novel I have noticed a significant amount of words being repeated, but one word that stood out to me is “red”. It is used 49 times throughout the novel to describe many different objects or situations. One of the ways that “red” is used is to convey warning signs, both before and… Continue reading “Red”
“Neither eternal nor safe”
One of the topics repeated prior to Hammerfall that helps represent the novel’s themes of social chaos as well as to foreshadow events to come is that of Charles Manson. Although Manson is mentioned only twice within the novel, the invocation of his name in this context seems hardly a coincidence. The first time the… Continue reading “Neither eternal nor safe”
“Laugh” in Lucifer’s Hammer
“Laugh” is a word that is used in everyday life to- more often than not- describe the audible, outward reaction to happiness or being tickled physically or by jokes. Something like that. However, interestingly but not unexpectedly, “laugh” begins to appear much more frequently in Lucifer’s Hammer after the comet hits. 26 results, 22 of… Continue reading “Laugh” in Lucifer’s Hammer
Paper!
I began by searching for what I thought were interesting words, but google books continuously gave me insignificant results. So then I decided to search for something simple. Paper. A rather ordinary object in our lives, paper’s key role in our day to day lives seems to go unnoticed. After plugging in the word paper and… Continue reading Paper!
“Blood” In Lucifer’s Hammer
The word “blood” appears in the novel 28 times. While the meaning of the word does not change as the novel progresses, it does mean different things depending on the character we are focusing on. For example, when we are reading the scenes involving Alim Nassar, blood is associated with brotherhood (it also seems to… Continue reading “Blood” In Lucifer’s Hammer
Classifieds: Tim Hamner
Before: Single white male looking for someone to help continue the legacy. Have just made sugnificant scientific discovery. Am horrendously wealthy, looking for someone to dote on and share my new fame with. After: Single white male with no marketable skills looking to find a partner to make it through this mess together. Good looking… Continue reading Classifieds: Tim Hamner
“Murder” In Lucifer’s Hammer
A word that appears 17 times throughout the book, its use and context changes once the Hammer hits. Its first appearance, on page 29, is a casual conversation between Harvey and Mark. Harvey mentions something quickly about how he feels like killing somebody, Mark replies that he could have that arranged. A remark made in… Continue reading “Murder” In Lucifer’s Hammer