AB TO ZOGG: A Lexicon for Science Fiction and Fantasy Readers

by Eve Merriam ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 21, 1977

With spoofy entries such as Eldron tablets (""the pre-Hammurabi Code of Ethics . . . adhered to by all citizens, citizanissaries, and citizorians. . .""), hoberry ("". . . blooms on holidays and private happiness days""), and Ogrimony (guess), Merriam proves herself capable of spinning fantasy fabrications with the genre's dippiest. She also takes off on foolish derivations, as in Cheen (from the Cappek ch, complaint or crying out, therefore alive + the suffix een, corruption of ayn, i.e., own or one) and at least once breaks from satire to be just plain funny: ""XIVLCMXXXVILXVM--Reincarnated Roman gladiator whose quarked tunic conceals deadly microwaves and whose name none dare pronounce aloud!"" But Merriam will lose most young readers with WY (""the metamorphic river that winds from Synechdoche to Simile as it leads on and on past the reverberating caves into the analagous springs of Aska"") and the cry of Wishtawee! ("". . . in daemonic dialect can be roughly translated as agitato, pronto, tempus fugit, vite alors""). And that leaves you wondering who might be entertained. A full-blown parody incorporating such terms could be tedious; Merriam spares us that but, at a scant 43 illustrated pages, this is flimsy whimsy indeed--more suited to the New York Times Magazine ""End-papers"" where it first appeared--and too clever by a demixtrk.

Pub Date: Oct. 21, 1977

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Atheneum

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 1977

Categories: NONFICTION