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by Paul van Herck

"Where Were You Last Pluterday?" by Paul Van Herck is a wildly satirical novel, different from any science fiction you have ever read, yet sure to delight every science fiction reader. It's no wonder that it won the Europa Award in 1972 for the best science fiction novel from its part of the world.

Genres: Science Fiction, Humor, Fiction, Fantasy, Belgian

165 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1968

About the author

Paul van Herck was een Vlaamse schrijver.

Paul van Herck in de Nederlandstalige Wikipedia


Paul van Herck was a Flemish writer.

Paul van Herck in the English Wikipedia

Reviews

[Karl · Rating 4 out of 5]

DAW Collectors #51

Cover Artist: Karel Thole

van Herck, Paul, Birthplace: Berchem, Antwerp, Belgium, (19 May 1938 - 19 June 1989.

Paul van Herck was a Flemish Belgian writer of science fiction novels and radio plays.


From the back cover: “THE DAY THEY BANNED SCIENCE FICTION was the day that Sam, sf writer, encountered the enigma of Pluterday. Looking for a new way of making a living, he had met the daughter of a millionaire and made a date with her. She said, ‘Meet me next Pluterday.’

But when was Pluterday? Sam’s efforts to find out became a quest that turned his world upside down several times over. For it took him back and forth in time, it took him through several incarnations, it made him the biggest laughingstock of the little green Martians that infested the Earth."



"WHERE WERE YOU LAST PLUTERDAY?" by Paul Van Herck is a satirical novel, different from any science fiction you have ever read, yet sure to delight every science fiction reader. It’s no wonder that it won the Europa Award in 1972 for the best sf novel from its part of the world.”

Originally printed in Dutch in 1968. Translated from the Dutch original "Sam, of de Pluterdag" by Danny De Laet and Willy Magiels. Also, This novel won the first prize at the 1971 European Science Fiction Convention in the Italian city Trieste for the best Science Fiction novel published in the Dutch language.

[Ármin Scipiades · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a hidden gem. Silly to the extremes, and funny in a way that made me laugh out loud many times (which isn't something I do often). It's delightful.

I discovered this through a story identifiction question on scifi.stackexchange.com, and it looked mildly interesting. So I looked it up on Antikvarium.hu, and since there was one copy for sale, I bought it on a whim. Which I kinda regretted instantly, because, well, it looked like a generic 60s soft scifi (the stackexchange question doesn't do the book justice). But, well, it isn't. I was hooked instantly when I started reading.

So, this is a silly book, surreal to the extremes, with a whimsical, absurdist humour not unlike Monty Python. It doesn't even try being plausible, and doesn't pretend to make sense. Nor it does have an actual plot, it's really just free-form comedy, though there's a weird kind of structure and coherence in there, provided by the repetition of some props and concepts. It's also something of a parody of the scifi of its age.

Have I mentioned it's funny?

Reminds me of Boris Vian. This is what Vian books would be like if Vian preferred scifi over criminal fiction. Sans sex scenes. Though there IS a sex scene in this book, represented by an empty page, heh. The Vian connection makes sense, given that the author is Dutch, and a French language teacher. It's also worth noting that the edition I read is the Hungarian translation of the English edition! I'm pretty sure a lot of language-based humour was lost in the double translation.

Anyhow, <3, I'm glad I found this. 4.5 stars, rounded up because it's so unique and underrated.

[Mauricio Martínez · Rating 4 out of 5]

Where were you last Pluterday??
A satirical SciFi book that uses a pretty weird idea to criticise several problems on our society. Everything done from a very funny and particular way, that will get you hooked as soon as you start reading.
A small gem that a friend of mine lent me so I could read it, and I have to say I am very happy about having heard of it, cause the story and the way it's told is great and people should know about it.
I am not going to go around the story too much. Sufficient it is to say that it's about a guy that falls in love with a girl way above his station. He must go through lots of adventures, time travels and even deaths to win her heart and actually find out what the hell is Pluterday.

If you have some time, give it a chance, it's short and great. It even won the Europa Award on 1972.

[Alien · Rating 2 out of 5]

Nachdem die Science Fiction staatlich verboten wurde, sattelt Autor Sam notgedrungen auf Journalismus um. Doch er vernachlässigt seinen Job, um der ach so attraktiven Ministertochter Julie nachzusteigen. Als sie einen anderen kennenlernt, setzt Sam sogar eine Zeitmaschine ein, um sie zurück zu gewinnen. Das klappt leider auch nicht, woraufhin er es aufgibt und mit Hilfe der Zeitmaschine ein Buch über die Geschichte des jüdischen Volkes schreibt (besser bekannt unter dem Namen "die Bibel"). Das findet Petrus richtig gut, so dass er Sam nach seinem Tod mehrmals auf die Erde zurückkehren lässt.

Naja, nicht meine Art von Humor. Es wird immer "verrückter". Allerdings liest es sich recht leicht und flott. Trotzdem habe ich abgebrochen.

[Stijn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Eens je de grappige chaos van het boek wat gewoon bent, is er niet zo bijster veel meer aan, maar het blijft een te lang verborgen pareltje van dé scifi-pionier van de Lage Landen.

[Mike (the Paladin) · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this a long time ago..and it's one of the really wierd reads of all time, but good wierd. I think (if you can find it) you'll find a fun read (but wierd, really really wierd.)

[Raul Robles · Rating 5 out of 5]

I found this book on my grandfathers library, it caught my attention because it stated that won the Europe Science Fiction Price, so I started to read it out of curiosity.

I just loved this novel, It mixes a love story with a futuristic unreal world, full of comedy, satire and an epic journey driven by a science fiction writer in a time where science fiction gets prohibited and who falls in love with the daughter of a rich man.

I got to admit that this is a weird novel, with some epic random moments and very unlikely scenarios, but I just loved it, I imagine my grandfather reading this and laughing out loud, I wish I could discuss it with him. He was a very funny and lovely man.

[Víctor Hugo Magallón · Rating 4 out of 5]

Considerando que es una reliquia este libro, solo tengo que decir que si tienes oportunidad de leerlo no dudes en hacerlo.

Si no eres fanático de la ciencia ficción no importa, porque tiene de todo: religión, esoterismo, historia del pueblo judío, movimientos sociales de liberación, viajes en el tiempo, romanticismo y sobre todo cafeteras que hablan.

RECOMENDABLE SI...
- Quieres leer algo algo relajado, despreocupado y absurdo.

- Te gusta y te asusta la ciencia ficción.

[Stephen Rowland · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really cannot tolerate wacky, comic science fiction (Douglas Adams, Robert Sheckley, et al) but I guess they do wacky different in Belgium because this obscure Belgian novel is a fucking riot, to the point that I *nearly* had fun reading it. I love DAW for chancing on so many odd foreign science fiction titles in the 1970s, getting them translated and put out. Nothing else of Van Herck's is in English, so our love affair has to be lamentably brief.

[Matt Shaw · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'd give this a 3.5 if possible; it is a funny, chaotic romp, but it is just a trifle. If Kurt Vonnegut and Douglas Adams had gotten smashed together and dictated a manuscript, this could be it. It does mock religion and societal convention pretty well, and I've never laughed so hard at rice pudding with raisins before, but it's awfully lightweight.

[Magnus · Rating 3 out of 5]

http://lashart.podbean.com/e/paul-van...

[Zachary Littrell · Rating 3 out of 5]

Much more bonkers than I thought it would be, Where Were You Last Pluterday? is a peculiar little European book with an author clearly having fun. It's hardly even about the mysterious 8th day of the week, Pluterday. It has time travel, the afterlife, magic, the origins of the Bible, and a peculiar dystopia where science fiction has been banned (despite martians literally living among people).

It often made me smile, even if I kept hoping it'd be a little bit...more. Sam's even-handed attitude towards the lunatic nonsense world, and single-minded focus on winning over Julie, is the anchor that keeps it from tipping over into a literary canal and drowning. The ending in particular, though, was exceptionally cute and shot this up from 3 to 3.5.

[Ulises Sauri · Rating 5 out of 5]

A pesar de ser una traducción descuidada con "typos" es difícil encontrar libros que tengan tantas referencias al modo en que nos comportamos en nuestros días. A pesar de ser un libro de más de cuarenta años, mantiene una frescura que en su tiempo no pudo lograr a comprenderse: el uso de la tecnología que influye en la vida de Sam y sus aventuras son eventos más que contemporáneos.

Una lectura obligada para relajarse y ponerse a pensar en los reflejos de los hábitos y sentimientos que tenemos como sociedad. Habrá que conseguir una edición en físico.

[Justin Partridge · Rating 3 out of 5]

“You’re exaggerating,” Saint Peter said, “and I can assure you, young man, this time you won’t return that easily to Earth.”

Sam looked defeated. So defeated Saint Peter felt sorry for him.

“Don’t let it go to your heart, man,” he said. “After all, it is really a mess down there.”

It’s nice to realize that the Weird Little Guys subgenre was alive and well even in the 60s.

But this was insane. And occasionally pretty funny in a super European and broad way.

[Vanda Jensen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I first read this book in the late 1970s. It was a favourite of my husband's and he loaned it to me when we started dating. Up to that time I had not read any humourous science fiction and I enjoyed it. I think that it translated into English quite well.
I have reread it a few times in the last four decades and one day I will read it again.

[WesY2K · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ein SciFi Roman bei dem ich nicht stoppen konnte. Herrlich schwungvoll geschrieben und Sam stirbt gefühlt öfters als Kenny bei South Park :-)

[Robert J. · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this a long time ago and it has stuck with me ever since. Great humor and skewering of many aspects of capitalist society and religion

[Omne62 · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absurd komisch, immer wieder finde ich neue Details.

[Guadalupe Rodríguez · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fabulosa historia, muy divertida

[Denmicke · Rating 1 out of 5]

Varför köpte jag den här boken på 70-talet?

[Steven Pennebaker · Rating 5 out of 5]

Silly fun.

[Heather · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good concept. But why the Martians?

[Stein Solø · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hilarious and totally absurd. Be warned that reading this book will skew your world view for the rest of your life. But in a good way! Maybe I'll see you around one fine Pluterday?

[León Martínez · Rating 5 out of 5]

Este libro narra la historia de Sam, un joven aspirante a escritor que deberá enfrascarse en un improbable viaje a través del tiempo, varias vidas, y un día imposible, para llegar a una cita con la chica que lo ha cautivado.

Esoterismo, crítica a las clases sociales, interacciones con la muerte, negocios sin escrúpulos, y referencias a la más grande historia jamás contada (según algunos de sus fans), son apenas el telón de fondo para una historia que exuda sátira en cada renglón.

Explicaciones a nuestra historia como solo la mente más creativa ingeniaría, un extraño futuro donde se vive y aprende a toda velocidad, un autor que trascendió límites impensables solo para tener una oportunidad en el amor.

Un acierto en toda regla de la ciencia ficción al más puro estilo de los 70s, donde el asombro y la risa saltan entre páginas con un descaro pocas veces leído. Encontrar una copia impresa de esta rareza literaria puede ser un calvario dantesco, pero en el formato que puedan conseguirlo, no duden en echar una mirada a esta obra maestra desapercibida, sean amantes del género o no. Les aseguro que no se arrepentirán.

[Dirk · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book by Belgian writer Paul van Herck won in its original 1968 Dutch version "Sam, of de Pluterdag" the 1972 price for the Best Belgian Science Fiction novel at the EuroCon in Triëst, Italy. It has been translated into English (1973); Spanish (1975); Swedish (1976); French (1977); German (1981) and Hungarian (1991), so becoming the best translated Science Fiction novel out of Dutch speaking countries. You can read about it on wikipedia or find out about its published versions on isfdb

[Dustin Reade · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book when I was really into sci-fi.
Let me just say, this book is hardly sc-fi. It is something else. Something wonderful.
Like Vonnegut, Herk pokes fun at the very genre within which he writes. THe future scenarios are completely unbelievable. The "science" is anything but scientific.
THough none of that matters as it is clear that this is the author's intent. And he succeeds in creating a funny and thoughtful world where anything can happen, including clandestine meetings of rich people who save all of their free time for use at the end of the week.
You heard me.

[Raul Duarte · Rating 3 out of 5]

Para empezar, si usted encuentra este libro léalo, no deje pasar la oportunidad porque es muy difícil de conseguir.

La historia va de un escritor que queda de verse con una chica y ella le dice que se vean el próximo “Pluterday”, el pobre protagonista tiene que pasar por un sinfín de situaciones de lo más ridículas al más puro estilo de Douglas Adams en su Adams “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy” y descifrar el oscuro secreto que esconde el día “Pluterday”.

Es un libro que se lee rápido y es de lo más entretenido y original.

[Jack · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sam, a social climber, meets Julie, a hot little scion of a wealthy family. "When will I see you again?" he asks her. "What about next Pluterday?"

Pluterday? It seems that the wealthy are able to bank the time they've "saved." When they have enough, they get an extra day... a "Pluterday."

Sam wants to know how they do it. And more than that, he wants to see (and impress) Julie.

It took Sam five lives, a used time machine and all his science fiction writer's ingenuity to keep his date with Julie!

[Rigoberto · Rating 3 out of 5]

Really fun to read.

[Timday · Rating 3 out of 5]

bit of fun though i do think that i may have issues with too much humour in sci fi