Tor Double #06 Enemy Mine/Another Orphan

I bought this item, thinking it was Barry Longyear's original novelette. This item is NOT the original novelette (a reprint of which is at Enemy Mine). Note the joint authorship on this item between Barry Longyear and David Gerrold. This item is a novelization of the movie "Enemy Mine" (1985). More confusing yet, the "Look Inside" link (as of 21 Apr 2009) takes you (incorrectly) to the original novel as reprinted by IUniverse, not (correctly) to this novelization of the movie as published by Charter Books. The "Just so you know..." message leaves the impression that they're just different editions of the same book. They're not just different editions. They're different stories. A few of the differences between the two: The original novel begins with the confrontation between human and alien on the ground. How they got there is later told in retrospect in a couple of paragraphs. The novelization of the movie begins at the "starbase" and descibes the space battle step by step in 5 chapters/19 pages. The original novel puts them on an island up against frequent tidal waves. The equivalent in the novelization of the movie is repeated meteor showers, and they're on a continent. In the original, they eat snakes to survive. In the novelization, they eat mock turtles. Pretty much all of the details in the stories are different, but the general gist is similar. The original novel is 96 pages long. The novelization of the movie has 218 pages. Between the two, I prefer what I've read of the original novel, but the novelization of the movie is a good story, too, and it's cheap: I bought my like-new used paperback for a penny (plus $3.99 shipping and handling, of course).

This is quite simply one of the best books I've ever read. I believe it was originally published in a magazine as a novella and then reprinted in book form to make money. It is rather short, but every page is worth five in a typical novel. The story is deceptively simple: a human and an alien crashland on an ocean world and most work together to survive. The story has been done before, but never so well as this. The beginning is solid suspense while the middle is a tear jerker. The final third is less intense and moves to more of a cerebral level. It is a fitting conclusion, though not as intense as the first two parts. All in all, Enemy Mine deserves its many accolades. By the way, read the book before you see the movie--the acting is good but they changed too many things for a fan to be satisfied.

[...] The second short story is about a displaced man who finds himself in the novel Moby Dick come to life around him. Both are award winning stories, but "Enemy Mine" in the original form is the prize here:that which is taught here in is worthy.

I'm a huge fan of "Enemy Mine," and have read every version Longyear has published and every Longyear collection it has been in... "Manifest Destiny" and "The Enemy Papers," to be precise. This is one of the greatest stories of breaking racial barriers and living in peace with people of different cultures ever written. It is just as timely now as ever. I am hoping that the full length novel version of Enemy Mine that Longyear and David Gerrold (author of "The Man Who Folded Himself" and Star Trek's "Trouble With Tribbles") will be reprinted soon. Longyear is bringing back all of his other books, why not that one? Does the movie studio own the rights? I'm sure Gerrold would like to see it reprinted. It fleshed out the story more, developed the relationship between Shigan and Davidge, and added more Zammis material. The ending was almost the same as the short story only it was expanded and improved. The only version out there is the one with the movie tie-in cover, which is long out-of-print.

It is wonderful to be able to read the original Enemy MIne. The book is far superior to the movie.