A Different Light

by Elizabeth A. Lynn

Paperback, 1978

Status

Available

Genres

Publication

Berkley (1978), Edition: First Edition, 183 pages

Description

A man makes the ultimate sacrifice to find the man he loves in this "magical . . . entertaining cross-genre tale" from the World Fantasy Award-winning author (Library Journal). In the future, cancer has been eliminated on Earth. Despite his diagnosis, celebrated artist Jimson Alleca can live peacefully for another twenty years if he stays on the planet to receive his medication. But Jimson does not want peace; he wants love. Even though it will shorten his lifespan, giving him one single year more, Jimson leaves space-normal to enter "the Hype," a shimmering space outside of space. He goes in search of his former lover, the star captain Russell O'Neill. What he finds is enough adventure and freedom to fill a lifetime. With A Different Light, author Elizabeth A. Lynn has changed the face of science fiction by depicting a homosexual relationship not as taboo or fantastical but as a normal aspect of everyday life, around which the fantasy and adventure gets built. Since the novel's first publication in 1978, readers have loved its depth of prose, its clarity of emotion, and its thrilling adventure. It is no wonder Lynn is a multiple World Fantasy Award-winning writer whose work author George R. R. Martin called "lyrical and literate, and a treat from the first page to the last."… (more)

Similar in this library

Sardonyx Net by Elizabeth A. Lynn

Woman Who Loved Moon by Elizabeth A. Lynn

The Dancers Of Arun (Book Two of the Chronicles of Tornor) by Elizabeth A. Lynn

Dreamsnake by Vonda Mcintyre

Motherlines by Charnas Suzy McKee

Rating

(37 ratings; 3.5)

User reviews

LibraryThing member wyvernfriend

Interesting read about a man with cancer who takes a chance to visit the stars knowing that that will shorten his life.

2 more

LibraryThing member iftyzaidi

A fine little science fiction book. Jimson Alleca is a successful artist who dreams of travelling to the stars. However he has been stuck on his home-world due to his cancer, which can be held in check through treatment at home, but may mutate if he chooses to travel through Hyperspace ('The Hype'

as it is called). He finally decides to take his chances and leave. He soon meets up with a young pilot named Leiko who is looking for a job. Drawn by her and a figure from his own past, Alleca signs up with a crew that has been hired by a mysterious, long-lived millionaire to steal a set of legendary crystal masks from primitive civilization located on a distant planet. Even as his cancer spreads and death approaches, Alleca learns that there is more to the masks, and the crew of the ship he is on, than he had been led to believe, and that there may be a way for his artistic talent and genius to live on even after his death.

This was an engaging tale in which the focus was very much on the characters, their relationships and their dealing with death, loss and the possibility of immortality through one's art. Not outstanding but well worth reading.

Show Less

LibraryThing member amberwitch

The worldbuilding is sparse, and lacks an overarching vision to give the plot coherence.

Fewer