Wreckin’ Wednesday - Song of Lya

[dancingdragon3.livejournal.com]

What: Science fantasy short story.

Who: George R.R. Martin, known for Game of Thrones.

When: Humanity’s future.

Why: Excellent story with a heavier influence on philosophy and the meaning of religion, life, death, and existence, than on future tech or super powers. Winner of the 1975 Hugo Award for Best Novella.

Song of Lya on Amazon Kindle

Recc’d for:

Fans of Martin, interested in his early work.

Writing students interesting in seeing the evolution of a writer and their work.

People who have ever wondered what a Star Trek: The Next Generation episode written by Martin would look like. Answer - canon complicit (without even trying) and enjoyable! I would watch a Star Trek series headed by Martin in a heartbeat.

Plot: A telepath and an empath go down to an alien world to investigate why some of their fellow humans are converting to the local, and highly questionable, religion.

Why I liked it: I’m a sucker for sci-fi tales that mix religion in. It’s well written and described - cause Martin.

What could have been done better:

The climax was obvious way in advance.

Martin didn’t turn this into a series.

He used the same names of the leads for characters in Song of Ice and Fire, which is a bit distracting given the prominence and very different relationships of the namesakes between the two stories.