Friday Afternoon at the Blurb Factory

[beamjockey]

While browsing books recently I experienced a moment of pathos.

Jerry Corrigan was kind enough to hold up the paperback in question as I snapped a shot.
Return with me now, across space and time, to the DAW Books offices. It is 1981. We move down the corridor to the office of the Blurb Writer. It is littered with manuscripts.

It is Friday afternoon. The Blurb Writer is tired. It has been a rough week.

On the desk is the first novel of one Drew Mendelson, a science fiction story called Pilgrimage.

In the Blurb Writer's typewriter is a blank sheet of paper. The Blurb Writer begins to type.

A future concept you never read before!

The Blurb Writer just does not care any more.

Comments

[purpleranger.livejournal.com]

Oh, I probably have read it before. What is this allegedly unique concept, anyway?

[beamjockey.livejournal.com]

As I understand it, it's a city that is continually dismantled on one edge and reassembled on the opposite edge, so that the city gradually travels across the landscape.

(I did read a similar future concept before. The Inverted World, by Christopher Priest.)

[purpleranger.livejournal.com]

That actually sounds . . . rather silly.

[drzarron.livejournal.com]

Challenge Accepted.

[neowolf2.livejournal.com]

The blurb is an exercise in absurdist humor, since it ceases to be true once you've read the book.

[kevinnickerson.livejournal.com]

It's sitting next to my bed. Probably the next book in my queue.

[beamjockey.livejournal.com]

Let us know how you like it. (And, of course, whether it turns out that you have indeed never read the future concept before.)

[kevinnickerson.livejournal.com]

It was 'ok', for loose definitions of. I finished it, but I did skim parts.

It was indeed a future concept I had never read before. As you say the building is torn down at one end and rebuilt at the other. Having not read "The Inverted World", I just checked the spoilers on Wikipedia, and that city was on tracks.

The story follows three friends who have grown up near the tail of the city, and are getting near time to take the pilgramage to the front so that their section can be torn down. Due to an earthquake, the process starts early, but the friends get separated, and take their own quest learning the history of the city and its ultimate future.

I just looked at Amazon to get the copyright (1981). I would have guessed mid-70s. It's more about the sensawonder of the city than anything else. Having just re-watched Logan's Run last week, it felt similar.

I see it has five stars on Amazon, maybe I should bring it to the next con so you can see for yourself.