This book will grab any reader, whether they like mysteries, romance, science fiction, sci-fi, whatever, into a reading frenzy. Once you pick this book up, you won't be able to put it down. Biggle is definatley a master of his time!

In the style of Aldous Huxley and George Orwell, Lloyd Biggle brings us tales of the future. Biggle focuses mainly on the arts and how, if we continue to go down a certain path this is how they will end up. Biggle wrote these stories in the 50's and as you read them in the 90's you can see that many predictions on how music or television will be are on their way to truth. The Metalic Muse is definatley the most important book you will ever read.

This collection of stories by a master of prose is required reading for any speculative fiction afficionado. Although at times some of the stories are dated they ring very true. Compare in quality to the writing of Clifford D. Simak or Alfred Bestor. Biggle should be recognized as what he is. A master.

Someone is sabotaging the Universal Transmitting Company's new technology--instantaneous transport of objects and people around the world. When Detective Jan Darzek investigates, the mystery seems inexplicable--out of this world.

Biggle has a distinctive light style. He has created a complete universe, as well as an Earth future that is set in the distant 1980s (he wrote in the 60s). Darzek is a classic SF hero--untouched by self-doubt.

Definitely a classic

Cedd Farrari is swept up in a draft of Cultural Survey experts and sent off to Branoff IV--a remote planet famous mostly for its aristocratic culture. Since Farrari and his team are supposed to bring about democracy, the legendary mistreatment of the indigenous people seems rife with possibilities. But is it?

Lloyd Biggle is one of the classic authors of the 1960s and 1970s who moved beyond the standard hero conquers the world to view different cultures and civilizations with an open mind. While democracy is certainly the ideal, it must be imposed from within the context of the culture. By using a protagonist trained in Culture, Biggle is able to bring this sensitivity to the novel.

Of course there is plenty of adventure and Farrari gets into a lot of trouble as he is separated from the more experienced members of his team. Finally, his cultural training pays off--in a surprising way.

This is a companion piece to the also great SMALL THIN VOICE OF TRUMPETS.

I could not recommend this book more. It may be Biggle's greatest.

I pulled this one out because I'd been thinking of it for a friend of mine who's working on becoming an environmental lawyer: environmental-legal-science fiction. I'll have to keep an eye out for a copy for her. It's also a sentimental favorite of mine: a self-educated man teaches the natives of a paradisical planet how to defend themselves against the inevitable developers, and they succeed following his Plan. Look forward to the moment when the lawyer for the natives turns the tables on his opponent in one breathtaking, delightful twist.

Not quite as good as I remembered it being, but entertaining nonetheless.

This is a wonderful, if simple, story of humanity's greed and how one man's plan stimies the galactic power brokers.

A tropical paradise planet has been discovered by civilization. The developers are crowding out the natives. Their one hope is a Plan written by a pilot who crashed on their world before civilization found it. Will the Plan save them?

One of my very favorite books.

This book has the standard time-travel plothole, where the "time" of the plot goes on independently of the time that people are traveling through, resulting in situations like someone in the future having to wait for someone in the past to accomplish something, even though it by definition has already happened. The author never even attempts to explain this.

But as long as you take for granted the way the time-travel works, the book is fresh and entertaining. It's a really fun read.

This book is really well written and entertaining. I found myself really caring for the characters and their struggles, and the reasons for their battles and time travels made sense to me and seemed well thought out. I absolutely loved the ending - talk about coming full circle! I hadn't read anything by Lloyd Biggle Jr. before this, but I will certainly look for more.

I believe I first read this book when I was in the 9th grade. I had checked the book out from the high school library. I eventually read the book atleast 3 times before I returned it. Since then I have not seen the book nor been able to find it. I was not one for reading books at that age, but this book intrigued me. I was truely able to visiualize the events which Orson displayed. The story starts our with a teenage boy who knows he is different. I realizes he can channel energy. This ability is amplified by hightened moments of stress. In moments of anger, if someone were to confront him, was delt a dose of cancer or some other human disfunction. One person angered him so that they died instantly from his surge of energy mangling the person from the inside. With almost an X-men type spin off, he runs from home fearing he would hurt others. Later he is confronted by a very beautiful women in her mid-twenties. He finds that she has the same abilities which he has, but no where near as strong. She teaches him of what he is and how he has recieved this ability. Even if a million people gathered together and channeled there energies, they would mearely give an individual a small tumor of little effect.She informs him that there are more like them. Others with her level of strength that would like to get their hands on him to marry him into their family. By doing so, these families would then be able to breed him for stronger more power inviduals with the ability to channel their energies. Forming a superhuman group. The young female's mission is to get him to safety, away from these other families. This is an amazing book with amazing detail and imagination. As I read I felt like I was watching a movie. It was amazing. I would recommend this book to any science fiction lover.

"Eye For Eye." The other reviewer gives a decent synopsis of "Eye For Eye," which is a Stephen King-esque story of hillbillies, bible-thumpers and telekinetic revenge -- a lot like King's "Firestarter." I suppose what makes this story superior to a King novella is that Card believes that human beings are mostly good, while King does not. Rating: Excellent.

"The Tunesmith." This is the story of a musician who discovers that he can make music far better and more passionately than the current regime allows; he throws convention out the window, makes great music, is punished for it and then eventually recognized for the genius he is. As Card himself admits, this story is thematically identical to his short story "Unaccompanied Sonata," and I encourage everyone to read that short story in Card's collection of short stories entitled "Maps In A Mirror: Volume 2." Rating: Outstanding.