ODD REVIEWS BY ODDCUBE
Opinions on the Obscure, Off-Beat, and Outdated
HUNTERS OF THE RED MOON
Well hi there! Good to see ya! Glad ya dropped by! You don’t wanna miss this! You know why? Because it’s time for me to say: Everybody’s buddy, Oddcube here, saying Hello and welcome to the column!
First off, just in case you’re new, I’d better tell ya what’s what around here. What it’s all about. Well, it’s like this: I seek out really cool stuff from the past, the present, and the future (cuz I’m that good! …and humble, too!), and tell ya all about it, cuz I’d hate to think that you were missing out on something cool. See that? It’s sort of a public service! Anyhow, sometimes I talk about movies, or books, or music, or games, or whatever else manages to catch my interest. Basically, I talk about everything and anything, and I do so with easily-obtained information, an entertaining attitude, over-inflated opinions, occasional honesty, and often with annoying alliteration!
This time I’m gonna tell you about a book, in a meager attempt to look like the intellectual type! That’s right; I read a novel, a short novel, perhaps, but a novel just the same! It’s called “Hunters of the Red Moon” and was written by Marion Zimmer Bradley.
Now, you’ve probably heard of Marion Zimmer Bradley. After all, she’s a BIG name in literary circles of fantasy and science fiction, and not just cuz it takes seventeen letters to spell it! Nope, it’s because she’s got a list of credits as long as your arm! However, she’s apparently best known as the creator of the Darkover series, and for the novel The Mists of Avalon, and the editor of the long-running Sword and Sorceress anthology series. But you probably didn’t know that she wrote some gay and lesbian pornographic novels in the Sixties (under pen names, of course). You also might not know that she was a co-founder of the Society for Creative Anachronism, and is credited with coming up with the name. Sadly, she died in September of ’99, after years of declining health.
But we’re here to talk about Hunters of the Red Moon. Well, let’s see, it was published in 1973. I found mine in a local second-hand bookstore, attracted first by the author’s name, then by the spiffy cover (credited to a fellow named George Barr). So, I read the back cover, which tells you that these Hunter dudes kidnap intelligent beings from all over the galaxy, give them their choice of weapons and plenty of time to train with them, then dump them on some moon and hunt them down. For sport or something. It sorta sounded like a nifty sci-fi version of “The Most Dangerous Game”, so I decided to check it out.
So, it starts off on Earth, cuz that’s the way these things are supposed to start. There’s this guy, Dane Marsh, a hotshot American adventurer-type. He’s done all sorts of adventuresome things, and is in the process of sailing around the world alone while moping about the modern lack of adventure opportunities.
That’s when the flying saucer comes down and KO’s him with a beam of light.
He wakes up on an operating table with these two lion-faced cat-people standing over him. They just put some sort of translation device in his neck so he can communicate, and refuse to give him any answers. They dope him up to shut him up, and he later wakes up in a cell.
He meets some other prisoners, all kidnapped from various worlds. A human-like lady archaeologist named Rianna, a different human-like empath named Dallith, and a ten-foot tall lizard man named Aratak, among others. From them he learns that the cat-men are Mekhars who have kidnapped them all to sell as slaves.
Of course, Dane and his fellow prisoners observe the sloppy security and organize a break-out. It fails, mostly because it was all a test laid out by the Mekhars! Dane and the other prisoners behind the escape plan were spared from the slave market, and instead sold to the mysterious Hunters for their ritualistic Hunt! They are joined by a Mekhar guard who is disgraced because they overpowered him during the break-out. His name is Cliff-Climber, and he volunteered for the Hunt in the hopes of regaining his honor.
So, on the planet of the Hunters, they are cared for and guarded by a population of robots with a collective consciousness, who all respond to the name Server. They are fed, clothed, and given free-range of the prison they are in, including baths and an armory as big as a football field! They are told that they may use whatever weapons they can carry during the Hunt, and are given plenty of time to train with them so as to use them affectively. There are no guns in this arsenal. They are all swords and axes and slings and other medieval-type weaponry, some of it alien, but mostly recognizable.
The moon that circles the planet falls into the planet’s shadow on a regular basis, like every eleven days or something like that. The “Sacred Prey” are shuttled to the moon and the Hunt begins when the eclipse is over, and ends at the next eclipse. There are some other rules, like the daily hunt ends at sundown every day and is not resumed until midnight. There are certain “safety zones” both for the Prey and also for the Hunters. Any member of the Sacred Prey who is still alive at the end of the Hunt is given an incredible reward, great respect from the Hunters, and a free ride to anywhere in the galaxy in a hundred light-year radius…or something like that.
The tricky part is that no one knows what the Hunters look like. Most races in the galaxy aren’t even sure they really exist. Ha! They’re like an urban legend or something!
Now, I don’t really want to give too much away, cuz it was really cool and you should read it. But they did have some nifty discussions about Universal Sapience, and what each character’s culture considered “Sapience” to be. I also thought that the weird secret of the Hunters was especially clever!
Anyway, it was a really cool book, a stand-alone adventure ringing in at 176 pages. However, a sequel was written called The Survivors which was published in ’79; so I guess I just told you that somebody lives. Both books are available at Amazon and, no doubt, other places.
Well, I can’t just say “if you like nifty outer space, sword-n-planet adventure, then this book is for you!” cuz I claim to be a review column. And to keep up that flimsy premise, I have to give you a rock-solid rating!
To do that, I employ my nifty D&D percentage dice! These are two ten-sided dice that give you any number between 01 (the pits, avoid at all costs) and double-0, which actually means 100 (you have not lived until you’ve seen this). So I shall hastily calculate for wind resistance and give my handy-dandy dice a roll just like that…
Opinions on the Obscure, Off-Beat, and Outdated
HUNTERS OF THE RED MOON
Well hi there! Good to see ya! Glad ya dropped by! You don’t wanna miss this! You know why? Because it’s time for me to say: Everybody’s buddy, Oddcube here, saying Hello and welcome to the column!
First off, just in case you’re new, I’d better tell ya what’s what around here. What it’s all about. Well, it’s like this: I seek out really cool stuff from the past, the present, and the future (cuz I’m that good! …and humble, too!), and tell ya all about it, cuz I’d hate to think that you were missing out on something cool. See that? It’s sort of a public service! Anyhow, sometimes I talk about movies, or books, or music, or games, or whatever else manages to catch my interest. Basically, I talk about everything and anything, and I do so with easily-obtained information, an entertaining attitude, over-inflated opinions, occasional honesty, and often with annoying alliteration!
This time I’m gonna tell you about a book, in a meager attempt to look like the intellectual type! That’s right; I read a novel, a short novel, perhaps, but a novel just the same! It’s called “Hunters of the Red Moon” and was written by Marion Zimmer Bradley.
Now, you’ve probably heard of Marion Zimmer Bradley. After all, she’s a BIG name in literary circles of fantasy and science fiction, and not just cuz it takes seventeen letters to spell it! Nope, it’s because she’s got a list of credits as long as your arm! However, she’s apparently best known as the creator of the Darkover series, and for the novel The Mists of Avalon, and the editor of the long-running Sword and Sorceress anthology series. But you probably didn’t know that she wrote some gay and lesbian pornographic novels in the Sixties (under pen names, of course). You also might not know that she was a co-founder of the Society for Creative Anachronism, and is credited with coming up with the name. Sadly, she died in September of ’99, after years of declining health.
But we’re here to talk about Hunters of the Red Moon. Well, let’s see, it was published in 1973. I found mine in a local second-hand bookstore, attracted first by the author’s name, then by the spiffy cover (credited to a fellow named George Barr). So, I read the back cover, which tells you that these Hunter dudes kidnap intelligent beings from all over the galaxy, give them their choice of weapons and plenty of time to train with them, then dump them on some moon and hunt them down. For sport or something. It sorta sounded like a nifty sci-fi version of “The Most Dangerous Game”, so I decided to check it out.
So, it starts off on Earth, cuz that’s the way these things are supposed to start. There’s this guy, Dane Marsh, a hotshot American adventurer-type. He’s done all sorts of adventuresome things, and is in the process of sailing around the world alone while moping about the modern lack of adventure opportunities.
That’s when the flying saucer comes down and KO’s him with a beam of light.
He wakes up on an operating table with these two lion-faced cat-people standing over him. They just put some sort of translation device in his neck so he can communicate, and refuse to give him any answers. They dope him up to shut him up, and he later wakes up in a cell.
He meets some other prisoners, all kidnapped from various worlds. A human-like lady archaeologist named Rianna, a different human-like empath named Dallith, and a ten-foot tall lizard man named Aratak, among others. From them he learns that the cat-men are Mekhars who have kidnapped them all to sell as slaves.
Of course, Dane and his fellow prisoners observe the sloppy security and organize a break-out. It fails, mostly because it was all a test laid out by the Mekhars! Dane and the other prisoners behind the escape plan were spared from the slave market, and instead sold to the mysterious Hunters for their ritualistic Hunt! They are joined by a Mekhar guard who is disgraced because they overpowered him during the break-out. His name is Cliff-Climber, and he volunteered for the Hunt in the hopes of regaining his honor.
So, on the planet of the Hunters, they are cared for and guarded by a population of robots with a collective consciousness, who all respond to the name Server. They are fed, clothed, and given free-range of the prison they are in, including baths and an armory as big as a football field! They are told that they may use whatever weapons they can carry during the Hunt, and are given plenty of time to train with them so as to use them affectively. There are no guns in this arsenal. They are all swords and axes and slings and other medieval-type weaponry, some of it alien, but mostly recognizable.
The moon that circles the planet falls into the planet’s shadow on a regular basis, like every eleven days or something like that. The “Sacred Prey” are shuttled to the moon and the Hunt begins when the eclipse is over, and ends at the next eclipse. There are some other rules, like the daily hunt ends at sundown every day and is not resumed until midnight. There are certain “safety zones” both for the Prey and also for the Hunters. Any member of the Sacred Prey who is still alive at the end of the Hunt is given an incredible reward, great respect from the Hunters, and a free ride to anywhere in the galaxy in a hundred light-year radius…or something like that.
The tricky part is that no one knows what the Hunters look like. Most races in the galaxy aren’t even sure they really exist. Ha! They’re like an urban legend or something!
Now, I don’t really want to give too much away, cuz it was really cool and you should read it. But they did have some nifty discussions about Universal Sapience, and what each character’s culture considered “Sapience” to be. I also thought that the weird secret of the Hunters was especially clever!
Anyway, it was a really cool book, a stand-alone adventure ringing in at 176 pages. However, a sequel was written called The Survivors which was published in ’79; so I guess I just told you that somebody lives. Both books are available at Amazon and, no doubt, other places.
Well, I can’t just say “if you like nifty outer space, sword-n-planet adventure, then this book is for you!” cuz I claim to be a review column. And to keep up that flimsy premise, I have to give you a rock-solid rating!
To do that, I employ my nifty D&D percentage dice! These are two ten-sided dice that give you any number between 01 (the pits, avoid at all costs) and double-0, which actually means 100 (you have not lived until you’ve seen this). So I shall hastily calculate for wind resistance and give my handy-dandy dice a roll just like that…
...and end up with nice respectable 90! See that? Numbers don’t lie, you should read this book!
Well friends, I guess that’s all I got for now. But don’t be sad, I’ll be right back here again next month ready, willing, and able to instruct and inform you on…uh…well on some other subject that has yet to be decided upon! See ya then, folks, be there and be square!
-----Your Buddy, Oddcube
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