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Gilgamesh in the Outback [MultiFormat]
eBook by Robert Silverberg
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eBook Category: Fantasy Nebula Award(R) Nominee, Hugo Award Winner
eBook Description: In Satan's Kingdom, an unhappy Gilgamesh hunts the demonic beasts of Hell alone, without his lifelong friend Enkidu, for they have parted ways following a disagreement. He joins Robert Howard and H.P. Lovecraft, travelling ambassadors for King Henry VIII, to subvert a plot by Queen Elizabeth, who plans to build a fortress at Hell's Exit.
eBook Publisher: Fictionwise.com, Published: Asimov's, 1986
Fictionwise Release Date: January 2001
This eBook is also available in the following bundle(s):
Available eBook Formats [MultiFormat - What's this?]: Adobe Acrobat (PDF) [266 KB], eReader (PDB) [83 KB], Palm Doc (PDB) [73 KB], Rocket/REB1100 (RB) [67 KB], Microsoft Reader (LIT) [73 KB] - PocketPC 1.0+ Compatible, Franklin eBookMan (FUB) [136 KB], hiebook (KML) [185 KB], Sony Reader (LRF) [98 KB], iSilo (PDB) [60 KB], Mobipocket (PRC) [75 KB], Kindle Compatible (MOBI) [103 KB], OEBFF Format (IMP) [103 KB]
Words: 21650
Reading time: 61-86 min.
Microsoft Reader (LIT) Format: Printing DISABLED, Read-Aloud ENABLED
Adobe Acrobat (PDF) Format: Printing DISABLED, Read-Aloud DISABLED
All Other formats: Printing DISABLED, Read-aloud DISABLED
 
My brother and I were once driving down the road in St. Petersburg, Florida and we saw a church sign that said, "It won't be so funny in hell." Well, ain't that the truth? In "Gilgamesh in the Outback," Robert Silverberg explores a Hell that grows and changes along with its inhabitants, a myriad of well-known historical figures. From well-known Authors to Queens and from famous doctors to heroes, Hell has them all. And what do all these people do in Hell? Essentially the same things they did before death. Former rulers fight to rule. Alcoholics drink like fish at the corner bar, and Gilgamesh hunts hell-beasts in the Outback.
With entertaining insight into historical facts and strange twists of events, we see each character living his own version of hell and shudder at how similar to life some versions seem to be. With Silverberg's quick wit and entertaining style, he has created a hell that can't help but be amusing. Whether it's inner turmoil or outward sadness, each character is vividly drawn with humor and realism. With a cast of characters including H.P. Lovecraft, Robert E. Howard, Gilgamesh, and Dr. Schweitzer, to name a few, this is a truly entertaining read that suggests that maybe it just might be so funny in Hell after all. -Amy Poppenga, Fictionwise Recommender
He narrowed his eyes and stared into the distance, searching for this day's prey. His bow of several fine woods, the bow that no man but he was strong enough to draw--no man but he and Enkidu his beloved thrice-lost friend--hung loosely from his hand. His body was poised and ready. Come now, you beasts! Come and be slain! It is Gilgamesh, king of Uruk, who would make his sport with you this day! Other men in this land, when they went about their hunting, made use of guns, those foul machines that the New Dead had brought, which hurled death from a great distance along with much noise and fire and smoke; or they employed the even deadlier laser devices from whose ugly snouts came spurts of blue-white flame. Cowardly things, all those killing machines! Gilgamesh loathed them, as he did most instruments of the New Dead, those slick and bustling Johnny-come-latelies of Hell. He would not touch them if he could help it. In all the thousands of years he had dwelled in this nether world he had never used any weapons but those he had known during his first lifetime: the javelin, the spear, the double-headed axe, the hunting bow, the good bronze sword. It took some skill, hunting with such weapons as those. And there was physical effort; there was more than a little risk. Hunting was a contest, was it not? Then it must make demands. Why, if the idea was merely to slaughter one's prey in the fastest and easiest and safest way, then the sensible thing to do would be to ride high above the hunting grounds in a weapons platform and drop a little nuke, eh, and lay waste five kingdoms' worth of beasts at a single stroke! He knew that there were those who thought him a fool for such ideas. Caesar, for one. Cocksure coldblooded Julius with the gleaming pistols thrust into his belt and the submachine gun slung across his shoulders. "Why don't you admit it?" Caesar had asked him once, riding up in his jeep as ! Gilgamesh was making ready to set forth toward Hell's open wilderness. "It's a pure affectation, Gilgamesh, all this insistence on arrows and javelins and spears. This isn't old Sumer you're living in now."
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