silver

See, all I've heard of Zelazny was that he's a sizable name in sf (which is why I'm reading him) and that his Creatures of Light and Darkness was peculiar. So I'm starting to understand why.

I've never thought of Tolkien as switching at all, though admittedly it's been awhile; I think it's probably a sign of skill if you can switch language 'levels' without bludgeoning your reader with it.

Huh, yeah, maybe you're right about the merging of worlds. It's really disconcerting as it switches back and forth, fantasy to suddenly 1950's perspective on things (no De Beers mining company in this world, no Ernest Oppenheimer to have controlled it, etc). I'm not sure I really like it.

Thanks for the tip about The Guns of Navarone! There's this Circle (darkness) which is creeping over the land (sort of??) and for most, virtually unassailable, so that sounds like it might be a connection.