Message-ID: <3437@Shasta.ARPA>
Date: Tue, 26-Feb-85 17:51:40 EST
Article-I.D.: Shasta.3437
Posted: Tue Feb 26 17:51:40 1985
Date-Received: Wed, 27-Feb-85 10:56:31 EST
References: <3981@ucla-cs.ARPA>
Organization: Stanford University
Lines: 30

>
> Plot:  This is a alternate future story, the narrator's present is one in
> which cars have been replaced by trolley's.  Lots of trolleys.  They run
> all over the country -- lots of transportation substance without the
> ego/ownership thing.  The narrator is on one for at least part of the
> tale.  He slips in and out of (dreams?) the other future (ours) where
> gasoline powered machines have ruined the environment.  There are some
> crazies in his alternate/present that drive (illeggasoline cars.

This is R.A. Lafferty's "Interurban Queen". This is another of
Lafferty's wonderfully schizoid/nostalgic stories. Anyone who hates
LA should love this story ( -:) ).

It appears in what I believe is his latest collection, "Ringing Changes".
Many of the stories here are about Barnaby Sheen and his weird group
of hangers-on. While there are some mediocre stories here, there are
also some great ones. ("Been a Long, Long Time" is the ultimate
monkeys-typewriters-and-Shakespeare story. It incorporates a device for
measuring time (one hesitates to call it a clock) on the \very/ grand scale.)
And even a mediocre Lafferty story is usually more unsettling and
amusing than most other authors'. You get the impression of a very
literate and philosophical mind run wild. (I understand Lafferty
only started writing when he was already pretty old, though you can
still see him party-hopping at World Conventions.)

The classical collection of short stories is "Nine Hundred Grandmothers".
There are other collections, and a number of novels, but Lafferty is
best in smaller does.
	--Per Bothner
ARPA: Bothner@su-score	UUCP: {decwrl,ucbvax}!shasta!bothner