Shadows & Reflections: A Roger Zelazny Tribute Anthology by Trent Zelazny & Warren Lapine

Author:Trent Zelazny & Warren Lapine [Zelazny, Trent & Lapine, Warren]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781515418467
Publisher: Positronic Publishing
Published: 2017-09-17T22:00:00+00:00

Nights in the Gardens of Blue Harbor

by Gerald Hausman

Roger rarely spoke of literary matters. But we always talked about metaphysics, and quite often, martial arts. Once he told me he had done battle with a daemon. When I asked, “Spiritual?” He said, “No, the kind of daemons I’ve written about.”

Another time he told me he’d moved a manuscript of his, metaphysically, from the bottom of a pile to the top. This was early in his career, he said. Usually his hand-written messages ran like this: “We did not know that the guinea pig—Cassiopeia—we’d acquired was pregnant. We walked out to the kitchen 5 nights ago to find she’d had 3 babies. (They’re born with full suits of fur, eyes open, & the ability to whistle & run around—which I guess we already said.) Anyway. . .”

Well, that was Roger. But one day in May 1995, he phoned to say that he’d had a curious dream. It was about a novel I should write. Before I could ask any questions he laid out the story on the phone. There were no specific details as to the events, but he was certain about the place where it had to happen: Jamaica. He then mentioned that James Bond as portrayed by Sean Connery should make several appearances, each of them dream-like. He also asked me to put in some other characters from the oldest Bond films, the ones shot in Jamaica in the 60s.

Roger described the main character: “He should be a writer with a problem, a quest. The quest is finding some kind of treasure.” Literary, sculptural, or perhaps a chest of gold? Roger said it could be any of those. He believed there should be a martial arts scene or two, perhaps something from long-ago. When I said, “How about Jamaican stick fighting?” and told him how it came from the time of Robin Hood, he said, “That’s good.” Then: “Maybe the guy is an older man, maybe a trifle lazy.” I hastened to ask if he should like ganja, and he said, “Sure, they have that in plentiful supply, don’t they?”

Roger’s brief outline was shelved. I guess I was saddened by his death to the point where I didn’t want to deal with that last phone conversation. All in all, I think I was waiting for a sign. I had that sign the other day, and so the story comes forward, and next, a bit later, I hope, the whole novel.

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