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In order to do this I've had to look at the individual components. In "The Deadly Radio" (the "definitive" syzygy story; its original title was "It Wasn't Syzygy") I had two lovers, only one of whom was real. In "Bianca's Hands" only one of them was human. In "Rule of Three'' and "Synthesis" I had (in reverse order) a quasi-sexual relationship among three people, and one among six so it could break down into three couples and be normal. In "The Stars Are the Styx" I set up several (four, as I remember) different kinds of love motivations for mutual comparisons. In "Two Percent Inspiration" it was hero worship, a kid and a great scientist. In "Until Death Do Us Join" it was the murderous jealousy between two personalities in a schizophrenic, both in love with the same girl. In "Cactus Dance" (upcoming in Zane Grey's Western) it is non-physical, perhaps even non-substitute physical love, as represented in several symbiotic relationships between humans and yucca plants. In "Killdozer" it was a choked-up worship for the majesty of a machine. By this time you get the idea. |
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"Bianca's Hands" and "The World Well Lost" cause the violently extreme reactions they do because of the simple fact that the protagonist was happy with the situation. No one was churned up (in these areas) by "Until Death Do Us Join" because the crazy mixed-up little guy was killed in the end. "Killdozer" didn't bother anyone, because love for a machine (as expressed) is too remote for most readers' ability to identify. But write a story well enough to force identification, and have the protagonist indulging in something weird, and let the guy be happy about it, and people explode all over the place. It is fashionable to overlook the fact that the old-shoe lover loves loving old shoes. Write that, and all the old-shoe lovers will love the story; all the deviates who equate their specialty with old-shoe loving will love the story; all the aberrates who so specialize or so equate but feel guilty about it will hate the story and you too. |
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Theodore Sturgeon, "Why So Much Syzygy?" (1953), Turning Points: Essays on the Art of Science Fiction, ed. Damon Knight (New York: Harper & Row, 1977), pp. 27172 |
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Theodore Sturgeon, as distinctively talented a writer as any in the science-fantasy field today, has long been preoccupied with the theme of human symbiosisnot merely the no-manis-an-island concept of the need of human beings for each other, but the |
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