They were sliding down Green River in the slanting darkness, and they found it pleasant. Earth has a beauty even for the Pucas—at night, with the dog-elm and the crooked-neck cedar trees giving their smell to the setting and leaning out over the water, with the moon coming up over the shaggy little river, and the night cicadas talking—it is especially beautiful when seen through green eyes. — The Reefs of Earth, 142. A friend and I were recently discussing The Reefs of Earth,

The four experimental groups were thrown together, on the North Shore of the growing Inneall’s Ocean, at a beautiful place named Heart’s Desire Cove. Inneall’s Ocean was now growing mostly to the South and East. It was capturing the valleys of the Verdigris, Grand, Illinois, Arkansas, and Middle and Lower Mississippi Rivers, and it seemed as if it would fill the whole area that had been filled by the Mid-American Ocean thrice in geological times. Yes, of course Inneall was ma

The first offense was the taking of the forbidden fruit. The second offense (which I believe is more grievous than the first) is the refusing of the bidden fruit. It is even the hacking down of the tree of the fruit. Advanced Lafferty today, and undoubtedly too brief. I’ve been rereading Serpent’s Egg, trying to understand how the Kangaroo connects to Inneall’s ocean, and throughout that novel one fact kept coming up. Once again, Lafferty is thinking about original sin, maybe