"Thomas de Groot" <t.d### [at] internlnet> wrote:
> "Stefan Viljoen polard.com>" <spamnot@<removethis> schreef in bericht
> news:42f0b2c5@news.povray.org...
> >
> > Victory! Somebody has read Cosmos as well. A sea named Solaris...
> >
>
> err... I mean Solaris by Stanislaw Lem, with its sentient ocean. Is that the
> one you mean? Or is that a different Solaris?
>
> thomas

I knew which Solaris you meant! :) I've only read the novel (many years
ago); I'm yet to see the movie.  Trying to do POV images to illustrate some
of Lem's work could be a real challenge... I've read quite a few of his
short stories & several of his novels. I think I prefer the short stories,
although "The Futurological Congress" was pretty mind-blowing.

I'd like to see a POV render of a pair of Lem's robotic 'constructors'
engaged in one of their philosophical debates.

I read another wonderful SF novel a couple of years ago that had a sentient
ocean as one of its protagonists. The name escapes me ATM, but it was a
humourous, slightly cyberpunk, romp around the galaxy, containing all sorts
of neat goodies.

This novel had another interesting liquid life-form, which could be fun to
render. In its native state it just sits there looking like a beautiful
glowing blue pool, but when a human or other sentient entity touches the
liquid, they begin to have a telepathic experience. If they allow
themselves to go with this experience, the liquid will merge with them
symbiotically, giving the person an extended lifespan, permanent telepathic
& telekinetic ability, as well as the ability to pass the symbiote on to
others. Encountering this liquid life-form caused great change & division
in the human race!

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