Re: Death Symbols was: Dystopian Fearmongers Strike Again

From: Damien Broderick (d.broderick@english.unimelb.edu.au)
Date: Tue Aug 29 2000 - 00:21:30 MDT


At 09:22 PM 29/08/00 -0700, MMB wrote:

>How about the G[rim]. R[reaper]. behind bars?

Vinge, as usual, was there ahead of us:

"They were famous pictures: Death on a Bicycle, Death Visits the Amusement
Park.... They'd been a fad in the 2050s, at the time of the longevity
breakthrough, when people realized that but for accidents and violence,
they could live forever. Death was suddenly a pleasant old man, freed from
his longtime burden. He rolled awkwardly along on his first bicycle ride,
his scythe sticking up like a flag. Children ran beside him, smiling and
laughing."
        (Vernor Vinge, Marooned in Realtime, 1986)

Damien Broderick



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