On Jul 16, 2013, at 11:12 AM, [email protected] wrote: > SPOILERS (for ME and Slaughterhouse Five!) > * > * > * > * > * > * > * > * > * > * > * > * > * > * > * > > I just happened to read Slaughterhouse Five for the first time. I was struck > how the way the Tralfamadorians (the "aliens" who "abduct" Billy Pilgrim) > experience time is similar to the Dread. Obviously the two species (?) are > otherwise completely different, although the Tralfamadorians do manage to > destroy the universe in the future! I was wondering if anyone else noticed > the similarity with respect to time. I was also wondering, Ray, whether you > were influenced by Slaughterhouse Five in that narrow respect or if it's just > a coincidence. > > All the best.
No. Actually, Vonnegut was influenced by me, because if you understand how time really works, you realize that time bends so that even if he wrote Slaughterhouse Five years before I did, he added that bit because he read Magician's End next year. . . . No, actually, he's not the first author to think about critters who view time in a non-linier fashion. I'm not sure who might have been, but it's probably one of the old guys from the 1950s or 60s SF era. The difference is that my Dread aren't a "race" in any sense of things, but simply the left over part of the pre-big bang reality that wants to return to the "good ol' days." Best, R.E.F.
