"Rog Phillips - The Involuntary Immortals" - читать интересную книгу автора (Phillips Rog)

to science fiction authoress Mari Wolf, who he met through Palmer and who wrote a
rival column of fanzine reviews, тАЬFandoraтАЩs Box,тАЭ for William HamlingтАЩs
Imagination .
Rog PhillipsтАЩ most note-worthy works include the novel The Involuntary
Immortals, which Analog hailed as тАЬA fast-moving chase melodrama тАж Pure
entertainmentтАжтАЭ, plus So Shall Ye Reap, Time Trap, These Are My Children, and
Worlds Within ; along with such inimitable short stories as his poignant Hugo
nominee, тАЬRat in the Skull,тАЭ тАЬThe Yellow Pill,тАЭ тАЬThe Holes in My Head,тАЭ тАЬUnto the
Nth Generation,тАЭ тАЬPariah,тАЭ тАЬLove Me, Love MyтАУ,тАЭ and тАЬExecutioner No. 43.тАЭ (All
of these stories can be found in our new, first-ever collection of Rog PhillipsтАЩ short
stories, The Rat in the Skull & Other Off-Trail Science FictionтАФalso available
from Page-Turner E-Books.) As science fiction historian Forrest J. Ackerman says,
тАЬScience fiction readers who have never been exposed to Roger Phillips GrahamтАЩs
inimitable brand of prose are in for a real treat.тАЭ
 Jean Marie Stine
9/23/02


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CHAPTER I
┬л^┬╗
Helen Ranston smiled sadly to herself, while she sat waiting for her husband to die.
When I met him, he was alive and young, she thought. He was twenty-five, and now
he looks every day of his true ageтАФsixty-sevenтАФwhile I am still the same, the
twenty I was so long, long ago.
What could it mean? Without turning her head she was aware of the presence of
her daughter, Agnes, at her shoulderтАФhating, hating the mother who had borne her,
who remained a vibrant, youthful twenty in every respect except years, while Agnes
was growing old at forty.
YouтАЩre still young because in some secret vampirish way you suck the life of
those around you, mother. That thought, in AgnesтАЩ hate-filled voice, spoke in
HelenтАЩs mind as it had spoken in actuality so many times these past few years. So
much vitriol in that one word, тАЬmotherтАЭ! A word that should mean so much, and
with all the meaning curdled into hate and jealousy. The jealousy of a woman
growing old for a woman who never seemed to grow old at all.
Carl opened his faded eyes and looked up at Helen, loving her even now while
the pains of death tore at his heart and mind. He was speaking. She bent close to
hear his almost inaudible words.
тАЬIтАЩve been a very lucky man,тАЭ he was saying, his lips trembling with effort. тАЬThe
bloom of youth has never left you, Helen. I pray to God that it never will.тАЭ
тАЬItтАЩs your love for me that has kept it so,тАЭ she soothed him. тАЬAnd something
strange that makes me afraid.тАЭ