"Mike Resnick - Blonde in Africa, A" - читать интересную книгу автора (Resnick Mike)

Then it became time to make a living. Writing wasn't her
first choice, but when you've got the touch it's hard to ignore
it, and she quickly became a successful romance writer, winning an
award as Best New Series Writer.
Before long she had expanded into science fiction and fantasy
as well, and in August, 1993, while she herself was evading
pachyderms in South Africa's Addo Elephant Park, I accepted the
Campbell Award, science fiction's "Rookie of the Year" award, for
her. This came a month after one of her romance novels won a major
award. (I think she was busy drowning in the Zambezi at that very
moment.)
Laura chose to see Africa not as a hunter (almost impossible
these days, unless you want only to see tiny portions of Botswana,
Zimbabwe, and Tanzania), and not as a luxury tourist. Instead, she
chose to become an Overlander, a hardy and not-all-that-rare breed
of traveler which one constantly encounters in the most out-of-
the-way places in the Third World.
This is the first book in the _Resnick Library of African
Adventure_, either here at Alexander Books or in its previous
incarnation at St. Martin's Press, that does not involve hunting.
I chose to run it because, while there have been many accounts of
people traveling across Africa in less than sumptuous style, there
has yet to be a book that gives you a true picture of an
Overlander's daily life.
Overland vehicles set out to tour obscure lands hundreds of
times each year; they are becoming increasingly popular not only
for students, but for retired men and women living on fixed
incomes who nonetheless have a hunger to see the world. Well,
there's one thing I can promise you: if you're considering
becoming an Overlander, once you finish reading this book you'll
know _exactly_ what to expect.
For instance:
You'll learn just how many diseases you can catch in eight
months, despite your innoculations.
You'll learn what it feels like to have an entire village go
suddenly berserk and attack your party in the middle of the night.
You'll learn why it's a bad idea to pitch your tent where the
previous party had been baiting lions.
You'll learn what it's like to join a pygmy tribe during a
hunt.
You'll learn just how many times you have to bribe border
guards to do precisely what they are paid to do in the first
place.
You'll learn what it's like to be arrested in a Third World
country. In quite a few of them, in fact.
You'll learn Tanzanian economics, and why bread comes from
Arusha on Thursdays.
You'll experience the thrill of having baby gorillas playing
right in front of you.
You'll see an ancient ceremony in which the men of a West