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The Butterfly Kid: Difference between revisions
Fixed consistent misspelling of "Laszlo
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''[[The Butterfly Kid]]'' is a [[Science Fiction]] novel written by Chester Anderson and published in 1967; it has been described by one reviewer as "a science-fiction novel, a detective story, and a comedy of manners (or lack thereof) that depicts Greenwich Village undergoing a psychedelic sneak attack of unknown origin". It is most commonly referred to as "psychedelic SF", and as such actually was nominated for the [[Hugo Award]] for Best Novel in 1968 (it lost out to ''[[Lord of Light]]'' by [[Roger Zelazny]]).
It is the first book in the "Greenwich Village Trilogy", followed by ''[[The Unicorn Girl]]'' (1969) by [[Michael Kurland]] and ''[[The Probability Pad]] (1970) by T
It starts when Chester Anderson spots a teenaged boy sitting in Washington Square Park creating psychedelically-designed butterflies out of thin air -- real, living butterflies in the most improbable designs possible. Chester carefully befriends the boy (who is named Sean) and brings him back home to find out just ''how'' he's manifesting butterflies.
It turns out someone is distributing a new drug -- something called "Reality Pills". And as Chester and his friend Michael discover when they sample the drug themselves, it's not only a hallucinogenic, the hallucinations it causes are solid and real and can affect the world around them. The sole source of this new drug is
Chester and Michael decide to investigate the source of the Reality Pills (and find out who in their right minds would choose
Later, once he is rescued by his friends, it becomes a race against time to <s>herd cats</s> assemble a strike team of hippies to chase after the Lobsters and prevent them from dosing the entire city with the Reality Pill as their next step up in "local testing". Chester realizes what the Lobsters don't -- that seven million humans with the ability to physically manifest their every fear, prejudice and hatred will be the ''real'' doomsday scenario. But then he realizes that they have a secret weapon that the Lobsters cannot possibly stand against... a briefcase full of Reality Pills.
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* [[Aliens Speaking English]]: The Lobsters, but they've been studying Earth for a long time and appear to have learned our languages in the process -- mostly (see ''Blunt Metaphors Trauma'', below).
* [[Author Avatar]]: Chester Anderson.
* [[Bad Liar]]:
▲* [[Bad Liar]]: Lazlo. Not so much because of poor imagination, but because he tells so many lies he can't remember who he told ''which'' lie to. Chester calls this his "greatest personal weakness".
* [[Big Applesauce]]: Almost all the action in the novel takes place in Greenwich Village; the climactic battle is fought on the banks of the reservoir in Central Park.
* [[Blunt Metaphors Trauma]]: While Ktch, the leader of the Lobsters, speaks English very well, he don't quite have all the idioms down:
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* [[Contemptible Cover]]: It doesn't look all that impressive, but it hides a fun and funny book.
* [[Deus Ex Machina]]: THE Judge, who ''may'' have been a creation of the Reality Pill, except the Lobsters took him ''very'' seriously.
* [[Dirty Coward]]:
* [[Distracted by the Sexy]]: Sativa, upon meeting Sean. And every few pages afterwards.
{{quote|A slow voice, like a tawny port, breathed, "Who is ''That?''" into my left ear. "He's ''Pretty!''" Sativa always talked like that.}}
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* [[Helpful Hallucination]]: A frequent effect of the Reality Pill.
* [[Hoist by His Own Petard]]: {{spoiler|The Lobsters are ultimately defeated by humans using the Lobsters' own doomsday device against them by combining bloodthirsty human ingenuity with a drug that allows its user to manifest anything they can imagine.}}
** Also
* [[Humongous Mecha]]: Chester creates a battalion of combat robots as part of the final battle against the Lobsters.
* [[Jerkass]]:
{{quote|The trouble was that Laszlo was a skunk, a nerd, a slimy loathsome thing whose major joy was to bring trouble and discomfort to everyone he encountered. For kicks he sold oregano to high-school kids from Queens. He stole from people poorer than himself as a matter of habit. He invented foul stories about innocent people and circulated them for a hobby. He once caught a social disease and spread it broadcast, especially among the naive and virginal, for upward of six weeks, until it got too uncomfortable even for him.<br />
Laszlo was an incurable backstabber. In the Village society, where trust took the place of law, he could not be trusted. He was a wolf in black sheep's clothing, a one-man plague. [[Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking|Even worse, he was a notorious drag.]]}}
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* [[Twenty Minutes Into the Future]]: Well, the future of 1967 -- set in a 1976 where there are videophones, military surplus hovercraft, a Bicentennial exposition, and a Hippie counterculture that is still flourishing instead of having burnt out with the rise of Watergate -- oh, and no disco.
* [[What Measure Is a Non-Human?]]: The creations of the Reality Pill are disturbingly sentient, even some of the ones that shouldn't be. Chester shows some obvious sympathy (in between dealing with first a mystery and then an [[Alien Invasion]]) for those that ''know'' they're temporary and unreal.
* [[Worthy Opponent]]: How Ktch comes to regard Chester and all humans other than
* [[Zeerust]]: Hippie counterculture zeerust instead of the usual, but yeah. In 1984, a reviewer was already calling it "dated".
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