Not even close to Pynchon; BUT is Harold Bloom. Misc.

[Mark Kohut]

has anyone ever read Dan Simmons? All those books, in the déclassé
genres, horror, sci-fi. I have wanted to since someone I respected wrote
about him as the neglected chronicler, sea-changed, of our violent era.

But I never have read him and can't see that I will now. Except a very
little.
The free books shelves in my town had a copy of Olympos by him on it.
A sequel to Ilium, and therefore Iliad Trojan War-related. So, those themes.

Reading just a couple pages, which are Helen of Troy reflecting on her
nine-days
dead husband Paris, after her current lover Hockenberry leaves her bed
feeling shameful again,
all set within a world where the enemy now uses bombs to try to penetrate
the force shield and
..."Helen catches a glimpse of that retreating chariot --a brief gleaming
as bright as the morning star,
pursued now by the exhaust trails from the Greek rockets."

Wait until my next 'across the sky' post, it's everywhere.

And this line: "Helen of Troy does not give a fig about machines".

But I have sent this for this: the dedication. Which is "This novel is for
Harold Bloom, who---in his refusal
to collaborate in this Age of Resentment--has given me great pleasure."

Opinions welcome.