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show even though it only appears in the film for a few scant minutes.

Ming the Merciless we can all envision the face with the Fu Manchu mustache, the sinister eyes, the bone chilling cruelty. And of course, most of us will remember his arch nemesis Flash Gordon. But can you picture Flash's face, or remember any real details about the character?

Now to the novelized characters of science fiction, famous to readers, but relatively unknown to the rest of the world.

One of the most famous, and enduring, characters ever created is Lazarus Long, the nigh-immortal central character in many of Robert Heinlein's work. Featured in over a half-dozen novels, from his youth, to his near-death, Lazarus Long was Heinlein's way of speaking for himself in his novels. Lazarus was a curmudgeon from the start, and remained so throughout.

R. Daneel Olivaw created by Isaac Asimov. The "R" stands for Robot, and this robot managed to survive for 30,000 years, guiding the future of mankind and helping to ensure the survival of the species while working in the shadows throughout Asimov's Robot Series of stories and novels, and his Foundation Series. See the film "I, Robot" Sonny is the original version of Daneel.

Rather than go through a formal discussion of the rest of the famous characters from novels, this is my short list of novelized famous science fiction characters:

Ender Wiggin "Ender's Game" and the rest of that famous series of novels.

Paul Atreides from "Dune" and "Dune Messiah" by Frank Herbert.

Molly Millions featured in several of William Gibson's short stories and novels, and one film, "Johnny Mnemonic."

Bleys Ahrens, the antagonist in several of Gordon R. Dickson's Childe Cycle of novels and stories.

Learn more about this author, W Thomas Payne.
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