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Sunshine's tale attracts the attention of an author who convinces her to go find Pater Pan, so that the story will have an ending. Sunshine finds Pater Pan addicted to the Charge, a kind of electronic drug. As he is dying, she experiences his entire life story in a kind of ecstatic vision. Sunshine
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The story begins when Wendi (known by her childhood name Moussa) leaves her home planet, Glade, with only a return ticket home, a small amount of spending money, and a sex-enhancing ring. She travels to the planet-sized city of Edoku, where she quickly burns through all her money and becomes a
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After the abrupt disappearance of Pater Pan, Sunshine leaves Edoku with a wealthy Child of
Fortune named Guy Vlad Boca. They sample the hedonistic life of the Honored Passengers aboard the interstellar Void Ships and eventually arrive on the planet Belshazaar.
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The book reviewer H. Kirchhoff felt that "or all its invention and flash, the book is irretrievably marred by
Spinrad's arch, self-consciously ornate language." A common criticism was that the book was too long and "overblown". A short review in the
182:, a rite of passage that all adolescents in the Second Starfaring Age are expected to undertake before they become adults. Critical reaction to the book was mixed, with some critics dissatisfied with Spinrad's long ornate
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duties, and many
Children of Fortune are trapped by the forest ecosystem. Through her force of will, Sunshine is able to lead a group back to reality. This becomes the basis for her first original composition as a
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was guardedly positive: "Entertaining if you read it in long stretches, but picking up the rhythm of the in-house jargon, a pastiche of German, French, Spanish and Hindu (I believe) takes some getting used to."
202:, "the eternal journey from childhood to maturity through the wondrous and terrible chaos of the region between." The wanderers are known as "Children of Fortune", and their culture contains elements of the
284:, I call it. I hasten to say, these books are at least 80% in English! But in Void Captain's Tale, the starship captain speaks a more Germanic form, and in Child of Fortune it's more latinate and Italian."
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by Wendi Shasta
Leonardo, and it includes an introduction written by the fictional narrator. Adolescents in the Second Starfaring Age are expected to embark on a journey of self-discovery called a
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On
Belshazzar, there is a large forest known as the Bloomenwald, which is the source of a plethora of naturally occurring psychedelic drugs. The trees use intoxicants to induce mammals to perform
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that takes place in three stages: separation, margin, and reintegration. Traditional "stagnant" utopias are based on oppressive social controls, but the freedom or the "margin" phase of the
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mendicant. She is adopted by a group of
Children of Fortune known as the Gypsy Jokers. Moussa falls in love with the leader of the Gypsy Jokers, Pater Pan, who teaches her the art of
218:) and chooses her life's work. Some never complete this rite of passage, and remain Children of Fortune their whole lives. The novel is the story of Wendi Shasta Leonardo's
276:: "In these books, people speak this kind of mélange language of human languages, to the point where everybody speaks their own dialect of this common language – their own
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Erisman, Wendy E. (Winter 1995). "Inverting the ideal world: carnival and the carnivalesque in contemporary utopian science fiction".
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307:"becomes an impetus for creativity and social change" that allows young people to take their place in a constantly evolving utopia.
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Earley, George (September 18, 1985). "Journey Into
Childhood Of the Future Is Tiring: Child of Fortune--By Norman Spinrad".
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takes place three or four thousand years in the future in an era called the Second
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is typically a fairly long journey that only ends when the wanderer adopts her adult name (her
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Kirchhoff, H J (August 24, 1985). "Troubles in zesty and bawdy worlds: CHILD OF FORTUNE".
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In a 1999 interview, Spinrad spoke about his use of language in his "far-future" novels,
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was also mostly positive, stating that the difficult language was "worth the effort".
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Spinrad has called the book "an
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The book is presented as an autobiographical tale, CHILD OF FORTUNE,
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Jonas, Gerald (September 8, 1985). "Science
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466:Martin, Sue (October 27, 1985).
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75:Bantam Books
50:Yee Chea Lin
367:January 24,
239:pollination
228:ruespieling
525:Categories
444:(4): 333.
336:References
305:wanderjahr
297:wanderjahr
252:wanderjahr
244:ruespieler
220:wanderjahr
212:wanderjahr
206:and 1960s
200:wanderjahr
179:wanderjahr
154:is a 1985
314:Criticism
250:ends her
108:paperback
104:hardcover
71:Publisher
184:polyglot
55:Language
293:utopian
258:Wendi.
256:freenom
216:freenom
102:Print (
58:English
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278:sprach
210:. The
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37:Author
282:lingo
115:Pages
63:Genre
412:ISBN
369:2012
270:and
190:Plot
124:ISBN
86:1985
446:doi
280:of
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