Over at The Guardian‘s book blog David Barnett is talking about the effect of misplaced consonants on classic literature. This leads him to discuss such famous texts as Onan the Barbarian, Madame Ovary, Huckleberry Inn, and Three Men in a Boa.
It was good to see him use a classic fantasy text as one of his first examples, but I’m wondering if we can expand on this. There is, for example, Frank Herbert’s classic tale of debt collection, Due. Or Joan Vinge’s tale of resurgent royalty, The Now Queen. Daniel Keyes’ Lowers for Algernon is presumably about cattle ranching.
If you happen to be in need of something to occupy your time, feel free to add your own suggestions.
Doc Smith’s 2 brief forays into slash, “Gay Lensman” and “Fist Lensman”?
I’ll get my coat.
“Fellowship of the Rig”, a fantasy quest among the truckers of the 1970s American Interstate highway systems.
“Dragula” – A hypnotic account of one transvestite’s struggle in the vast, and dangerous underworld of goth.
Le Guin’s hastily-suppressed alternate-universe horror about the late Princess of Wales, “The Di Possessed”…
In the spirit of Onan, John Jakes’ wry comment on the latent sexual ambiguity in the heroic fantasy genre, “Bra the Barbarian”…
Richard Cowper’s searing exploration of road rage, “Cone”…
And, of course, J G Ballard’s exegesis of the raison d’etre of his artistic vision–but perhaps I’d better leave it there. 🙂
Okay mine was a bit more of a replacement instead of a misplacement. The only thing I can offer is that my blood sugar is low.
🙂
Cormac McCarthy’s The Rod (a father’s struggle not to spoil his child by sparing the rod)
John Scalzi’s Zoe’s Ale (adventures in microbrewing)
Robert Charles Wilson’s Pin (the earth is now part of a gigantic bowling alley)
Paul MacAuley’s tale of the old and feeble pirate, ‘The Quiet Ar’
Ekaterina Sedia writes about the magic of music in ‘The Alchemy of Tone’
After having to wait so many years some fans were rather disappointed in the direction George R R Martin had taken his series with A Feast For Cows