Robert A Heinlein (> Main Page)

Bucolic Ganymede. The panorama features Holsteins, apple trees and even a pristine crystal lake. Comes with genuine spelling primer flavor (the safer kind of time travel). The showcased butterfly will by a Vanessa cardui (painted lady), a well known fellow traveler of claim staking thistles. - Picture postcards invariably show the Red Spot at 4 o'clock. Merely a convention. The landmark is not tidally locked to any particular observation platform. By default: subject to the usual peek-a-boo laws of merry-go-rounds. If you just missed it: the next showing will be in about 5 hours.

A Gaudi inspired Martian skyline. The Smurf colored frog looks introduced (and borderline poisonous). Heinlein rule, Red Planet: autochthonous life forms will sport limbs in multiples of three. (Larry Niven: more than two gullets is preposterous. In fairness, most pc programs are multi-headed. Sub-menu preferences tucked away any which where which purport to do exactly the same thing should count as such. Let the better override win.)

Stranger in a strange body. Not every cantankerous curmudgeon is well prepared for the reorientation entailed by body switch (sex change cum rejuvenation). Unforeseen complication, traces of the old owner still haunt the abode. Cohabitation, the more the merrier. The subject matter is not completely original. Somewhat flippantly, the serialization in telenovela form of the Kinsey Reports. Back-up, Sex-Gates (Darrell Bain) and various lighter treatments (Barkley's Switch). More familiar subject matter: probate court hearings, a semi-private substitution code (extra-marital affaires), no holds barred corporate meetings [just the motions - none of the money making secrets], refined night club conversations [the Don - Uncle Dudley symposium in 'Between Planets']), bullying bureaucrats and how to bulldoze them aside (money talks), Bohemians who talk nearly pure TINSTAAFL, a rather literal honeymoon and, possibly, metempsychosis.

The cover can be attributed to Danny Flynn. Very much his style. The things sticking out of the hovering towers are either brooms (Bruegel), steering oars or ray guns. The motive is unusual. Possibly a hint of soul searching (low tide). Either that or survival training. Sea food week.

What is a crescent? A crescent is a bright manhole in the sky partially obscured by the camelbacked of a cat on a celestial confidence course assignment. (The superimposition trick is lost in the present cover, somewhat of a loss if I understand Borges correctly.)