"Chalker, Jack L - G.O.D. Inc 3 - The Maze in the Mirror" - читать интересную книгу автора (Chalker Jack L)

Development has no connection (that I know of) with Guaranteed Overnight
Delivery, Inc., a firm of which I was ignorant until recently when I was passed
on the highway by a G.O.D., Inc. tractor trailer truck to my enormous shock. I
understand that some of my readers who are truckers have been giving drivers for
that real company a really uncomfortable time.
It might also be noted that this series is the first set of my books to be
banned anywhere in the U.S. A few distributors, primarily in some southern
states, have refused to take it because the overtitle appears to be sacrilegious
to them or they fear reader reaction for that reason. If something this minor
elicits that reaction, one worries about the fate of poor truckers for
Guaranteed Overnight Delivery who roll through those states and areas with the
big black G.O.D. letters on their sides. . . .
Also, in the course of this book, many readers, particularly Americans and
Canadians, will find a lot of more or less familiar names and products, some but
not all valiantly spelled, here and there. These are used in good fun and for
internal logic and are not intended to cast aspersions on (nor endorse) products
or possibly popular musicians or anyone or anything else. I hope the companies
involved just consider them free commercials and take them in the spirit in
which they're used.
It is impossible to say if this is the last G.O.D., Inc. book at this point.
Certainly if I come up with another plot I think good or better than the first
three, or if I get to missing these characters, it's a possibility, although not
very soon. Perhaps your own reactions and the number of these books sold will be
the final answer. That's not to say that I write any book on the basis of
potential popularity, but certainly, having done these, whether I give in to any
inclination to do more or use the same limited time to create something new and
different will to some extent be influenced by whether or not there are
sufficient numbers of you out there who want to read more.
Jack L. Chalker
Uniontown, Maryland
October, 1987

1.
A Visitor in the Night

The sky was dark and overcast as it usually was in the central Pennsylvania
mountains in winter, where the locals would refer to good days as "between
snows." There was certainly enough snow on the ground-about two feet had yet to
be given the chance to melt, and in January's still dark days it wasn't likely
to improve for quite a while.
Most of the nation, particularly the west, thinks of the eastern United States
as one vast paved-over region full of contiguous city stretching at least from
Boston to Richmond and perhaps all the way down.
None of the country is ancient to human beings, particularly those whose
ancestors came from Europe, but in comparative terms the east coast of the U.S.
is "old," with a history of settlement ranging from nearly five hundred years in
Florida to going on four hundred years in the original Thirteen. It seems
inconceivable to both westerners and Europeans, and even many eastern city
dwellers, that anything could remain relatively unspoiled after so long.
Yet, in fact, much of even such states as New York and Pennsylvania are actually