| January 6 |
Immortality |
CR |
I have just finished
reading
"Shadrach in
the furnace" for the first
immortality, his
protagonist
uses
long life to achieve political ortime, and I thought that it was a most interesting and intriguing book. The theme is immortality, which crops up in a numher of other RS novels, such as "Book of Skulls," the two Gilgamesh novels and perhaps others that don't come to mind immediately. The theme also occurs in stories about androids, such as "The Positronic man" and "Tower of glass" and even in "Valenine Pontifex" in which the old Pontifex Tyeveras is kept alive by artificial means, like the Khan in "Shadrach" This theme of immortality took on special meaning for me, as I celebrated my birthday recently, and I asked myself, "Why would anyone want to live forever?" I was born five days before Elvis Presley, and twelve days before Robert Silverberg - make of that what youy will. In most oF RS's stories about economic power. I have just returne from a trip to Nashville, where I saw performances by Little Jimmy Dickens, whio is 87 years old, and Ray Price, who is 85, and I thought about Bob Hope and George Burns, who were entertaining us well into their nineties. That kind of immortality I can live with. Imagine what the world of the future would be like if Elvis Presley had still been alive in 2020 or 2050. The fathers of the nation were very wise when they limited the length of time that political leaders could serve, which ruled out the benevolent dctatorship that RS writes about in "Shadrach" and "Gilgamesh." RS has conceded on this forum that he believes that certain indivudals are specially chosen to lead us, and if their immortality is required to achieve this, then so be it As a socialist, I believe Winston Churchill's principle that when political leaders have outlived their usefulness, the public should "throw the rascals out." And that's what is so great about nearly eveey one of RS's novels - it raises all sorts of interesting issues that address pretty fundamental concepts. |
| January 10 |
Immortality |
RS |
Speaking of old age, I had
dinner last week with Jack Vance, who
is 91
years old. He no longer has his eyesight but is otherwise vigorous and in full possession of his faculties (he has just written his autobiography) and I like visiting him because I feel like a boy when I do. My own birthday is coming up next week, and it's not a low number, but it's nowhere near 91.In discussing the subject of old age, don't forget my novella "Going." RS |
| March 18 |
Arthur C. Clarke |
CR |
I have just
heard on
the news that a giant of science fiction has died. Arthur Clarke passed away in Sri Lanka today. Amazingly, only a couple of days ago I had finished reading one of his classic works, "The City and the Stars." He sure will be missed |
| March 19 |
Arthur c. Clarke |
Arthur C. Clarke
was the first SF author I ever read. His "2001: A Space Odyssey" got me interested in other authors of the genre. Mr. Silverberg was the next one I tried. I had the privilege of going to Sri Lanka a couple of years ago onbusiness, and all I could think about while there was Sir Arthur. I wish I had met him. I hadn't read his work in 20 years but just recently devoured his beautiful "The Fountains of Paradise." Mr. Silverberg, did you know him? |
|
| March 19 |
Arthur C. Clarke |
RS |
Clarke
and I both
lived in New York in the 1960s and I got to know him then. I
ghost-edited his anthology TIME PROBE and helped him do
updates of two
or three of hisbooks about space exploration, and we had other little professional interactions. I've had relatively little contact with him in the last ten or fifteen years, though. |
| April 1 |
SF Movies |
CR |
Comic books have never done a thing
for me. Maybe I was just born into the wrong generation. I am still waiting for a half-decent movie or television drama of an RS novel or story. I have completely lost count of the number of Philip K. Dick works that have been turned into movies. I saw a new one the other day in which I caught a fleeting glimpse of a PKD credit: "Next" with Nicholas Cage, apparently from the story or novel "The Golden man" about a stage magician who can see two minutes into the future, and who is on the run from the FBI because they want him to tell them where to expect a pending nuclear explosion in LA. It is a bit difficult to follow (as are most movies with a time travel theme) but it is certainly entertaining and worth watching. Why can't some enterpridsing production company mine the rich resources of RS's work? I am not knocking PKD - I love his writing - but give us RS fans (and RS's bank account) a break! |
| April 2 |
RS Movies |
RS | I have movie deals pending all over
the place -- two new offers popped
up in the past two weeks -- but whether they will turn into actual movies is, as always, the big question.I do think the French producers are serious about doing DYING INSIDE but I doubt that the film will ever reach our shores. The others strike me as pie in the sky, but maybe not. Turning my radio scripts into comic books is a puzzling idea to me, but I have just now been discussing having them published in one volume as radio scripts. If it happens, it's because Art Lortie suddenly got me thinking about them after maybe fifty years. |
| April 4 |
Anthology |
CR |
I have found a most
interesting 1974 SF
anthology in a trunk in my attic, with the title: "Introductory psychology through science fiction." It uses SF stories by writers such as Leguin, Bradbury, Heinlein, Sturgeon, etc. to illustrate various concepts in psychology, such as the learning process, sensation and perception, personality, etc. for college students. Robert Silverberg is represented by his story "Going down smooth" about a computer psychotherapist, in the section on abnormal processes and therapy. |
| April 4 |
Anthology |
RS |
I forgot all about this one. (Not
surprising,
after 34 years, I guess.) Is this the edition with the blue cover? That's the one I have. I see that there was a second and expanded edition a few years later, not represented on my shelves. I might try to hunt it up. (Or down.) |
| April 4 |
Anthology |
CR |
Yes, it is the edition
with the blue
cover. Finding this volume brought back memories of the dear friend who gave it to me. He was head of the Psychology Department at a local university, a marathon runner and a health nut. However, he suddenly and unexpectdly dropped dead of a heart attack at the age of 49. This really brought home to me how precious and fragile life is, how one should savor every moment, and how important it is to reach out to others when the opportunity is presented to you. |
| April 5 |
Anthology |
RS |
At
least neither of us is going to die young. (Nor
will Jack Vance, coming up on 92 this summer, with whom I had a long jolly phone conversation yesterday, and with whom I expect to have dinner next Thurs. Neighbor of ours the past 36 years and I see him more and more frequently as his age and mine mount up. You never know how many more chances there are.) And though I try to get plenty of exercise (I was up on the roof half an hour ago, giving our gigantic bougainvillea its spring pruning), I've kept away from jogging ever since James Fixx, the propagandist for health through running, keeled over while engaged in his favorite sport. Running just for the sake of running seems much less useful to me than expending energy pruning the bougainvillea, since it looks better afterward and, I hope, feels better too. |
| April 5 |
Anthology |
CR |
Thanks for your response, Mr.
Silverberg. Much appreciated. Your comment reminded me of my favourite librarian joke (librarians do on occasion have a sense of humour): Librarian: "Can I help you, sir?" Patron. "Yes. I'm looking for a book, but I can't remember the author or the title. However, it does have a blue cover." |
| April 5 |
Mike Resnick |
CR |
I was intersteed in the reference to
Mike Resnick in the previous discussion, which motivated me to haul out my copy of "Future earths: under African skies" which he edited with Gardner Dozois (1993). As I grew up in South Africa, stories with an African theme are of particular interest to me. This is one of the best collections of themed stories, SF or otherwise, with a political, socially-conscious slant that I have ever encountered. There is a story in it by Vernor Vinge called "Apartness" that really rattled my cage, because it is such a realistic and damning indictment of apartheid. It was first published in 1965, thirty years before "the New South Africa" came into being. There are two stories by Resnick in the anthology. Can anyone tell me if Mike Resnick has any African roots that would account for his interest in this continent? This collection is particularly relevant today, when many countries in Africa are in a state of turmoil (e.g. the "elections" in Zimbabwe, just north of my home town of Pretoria) and attracting world attention. |
| April 5 |
Mike Resnick |
RS |
Mike
Resnick is a Jewish boy from Chicago. Has
traveled widely in East and South Africa, though, which accounts for his interest in writing about those places. I have a lot of aloes and other South African plants in my garden, but I'm just a Jewish boy from New York. (Quite a distance from New York by now!) |
| April 5 |
Aloes |
CR |
Thankyou so much for the
information, Mr. Silverberg. Much appreciated. My father was a well-known collector of aloes and succulents, which adorned our garden in Pretoria. He even had an aloe named after him, which he discovered and identified in the Eastern Transvaal - Aloe Reitzii. It is described in Reynolds' classic work on the aloes of South Africa. |
| April 9 |
Aloes |
RS |
We
rarely get any
temperatures below 35 or
so here in the San Francisco area,
though in
1990 we had three days in the low twenties that did terrible garden damage. Everything was eventually replaced (aloes, palms, bromeliads, proteas) but not everything, even after 18 years, has returned to the pre-freeze size of its predecessor. Last year we had dire warnings of another bad freeze, and Karen and I ran around for three days covering everything with freezecloth, an enormous job; then the cold weather went right around us, doing great damage all the way down the state but giving us a relatively harmless low of 30, and the garden was unharmed. This year's winter was an easy one. (For the aloes, anyway -- not for their owner, who wrote two short stories.) Where do you live now? |
| April 12 |
Aloes |
CR |
I have mailed you copies of
some documents on my father's aloe- collecting activities that I thought might be of interest to you. I have also told my brother in Cape Town of your interest, and I feel sure that he will be as impressed as I was! Pretoria does not get nearly as cold as Johannesburg, which is only 35 miles away, but has a much higher elevation. I knew it was cold when the water froze in our bird bath. I had never seen snow in my life until I came to Canada. We hsve had one of the worst winters on record locally, with temperatures going down to minus 15 deg. C. (5 deg. F.) However, this is nothing compared to Calgary, where the temperature has reached minus 40 deg. I have noted with interest that at that temperature the centigrade and Fahrenheit temperatuires are the same. I wonder if this indicates some kind of physical barrier. All I know is that it is more than flesh and blood can stand, and why it is that I think that anyone who voluntarily lives in Alberta is crazy. It is a great mystery to me why I abandoned the sunny, sandy beaches of Durban and Cape Town for the frozen wastes of Canada. I have lived in Windsor, Ontario, across the border from Detroit, Mich. for the past 42 years (before that I was in Toronto.) I have managed to cultivate a South African bush called an Iboza in a pot indoors - it has a very weird aroma) I also have a sturdy Euphorbia and a Kniphofia (Red Hot Poker) - both native to South Africa - growing in my garden. I notice with interest that Jon Dsvis has photos of each of these in the "SF garden" link on his web site |
| April 12 |
Aloes |
WG |
Well Conrad, that's exactly
where I am and you might be right, but there's still some sanity in me yet because I'm going to get out of this crazy province and back to the USA ASAP! Actually, the weather has been pretty mild here lately, but since Alberta seems to be the only place in North America where the economy is BOOMING, there's now too many people here (i.e. too much traffic) and zero affordable houses. Windsor's nice...I'd stay there. |
| April 12 |
Aloes |
RS |
No --
the Science Fiction Garden on Jon Davis'
Silverberg site is Jon's own. (Since he lives in Seattle, I suppose these plants spend their winters indoors.) I do have some photos of the actual Silverberg garden that Karen took floating around this computer, and though I'm not very skilled at transferring jpegs to messages posted here, in fact have no idea how to go about it, I might try to post some here later in the week. |
| April 12 |
Joseph Conrad |
CR |
A couple of Robert
Silverberg's novels have been inspired by the work of Joseph Conrad. I am thinking in particular of "Lord of Darkness", my all-time favourite RS novel, which is derived from "Heart of darkness." My mother was reading Joseph Conrad's "Youth" when I was born, which is why she gave me the name "Conrad". The remarkable thing about Joseph Conrad is that, even though he writes so beautifully and eloquently, he only learnt English as an adult, as he grew up in Poland. I have just finished reading RS's "The Secret sharer," inspired by Conrad's story of the same name. Both deal with the arrival of a stowaway on board a ship - one a sailing ship, the other a space ship. They are both quite ahort, and well worth reading. RS's story isn't one of his better known ones, but it is readily available from "Bookfinder.com." In my view, it is the nearest that RS has come to writing poetry, because of his vivid images, romantic ideas and lilting language. |
| April 12 |
Joseph Conrad |
CR |
You
never cease to surprise. First I learn that
you share a surname with one of the aloes in my garden, and for a very good reason, and now I discover that your given name derives from the surname of one of my favorite authors! (Do you have a MIDDLE name?) Your package of aloe memorabilia arrived here about ten minutes ago, and I look forward to prowling through it once I've dealt with the day's other issues. I never did get around to putting photos of our garden on the site after my initial failed attempt to do so, but Karen, who is the family photographer (I know which side of the camera to point at the subject, but that's about it) will try to post some, including some aloe photos, in the next few days. |
| April 12 |
Aloes |
CR |
I absolutely love the
pictures of your garden and your cats. Thankyou so much for sharing them with us. Are you familiar with the work of British writer Beverley Nichols? He wrote a great many books between 1925 and 1970, mainly about world affairs and personalities (no SF, though), but he is best known for his books on gardening and cats. I feel sure that you would enjoy "Down the garden path" and "Green grows the city" which instilled in me a love of gardening and of cats when I was a teenager. There has been a renewed interest in his work lately, particularly in the U.S., and both of these books were re-issued by Timber Press, Portland, Oregon, a couple of years ago. His "Cat's A.B.C." and "Cats X.Y.Z." are available through Bookfinder.com (and I'd like to remind everyone again that Bookfinder.com is a wonderful source for out-of-print and difficult-to-find Robert Silverberg books) |
| April 14 |
Aloes |
RS | The
one thing we didn't post is a photo of Aloe
reitzii, because Karen doesn't know one aloe from the next and there are dozens of them in the garden, whereas I don't know how to use the camera properly. As soon as we both have a chance I'll point her toward the reitzii. (Alas, it's not in bloom.) |
| May 17 |
Limited editions |
CR |
I have recently added two books to
my RS collection that I am looking forward to reading next: "Up the line" which was discussed here recently, and "The mutant season" which Mr. Silverberg co-authored with his wife Karen Haber. However, the jewels in my collection remain two numbered, signed, limited edition titles: "Sailing to Byzantium" (no. 23 of 250 copies) with a beautiful cover ny Ned Dameron, enclosed in an exquisite grey velvet slipcsse, which gives me a thrill when I run my fingers over it; and "The Desert of stolen dreams" (no. 56 of 200 copies) with several unique illustrations by Stephen E. Fabian, which show clearly what aliens on Majipoor like steetmoys, vroons and skandars really looked like. However, at the other end of the spectrum, I have a copy of a 525 copy edition of "Thebes of a hundred gates" which is the worst example of book production that I hsve ever come across. It is held together with the very mis-named "perfect" binding, consisting of glue slapped onto the spine, which is so brittle that it shatters when you open it, and all the pages come loose. Fortunately there is a better-quality hard cover limited edition of this title available (that I don't have) |
| May 17 |
Limited editions |
WG |
There's RS fans and then there's people like Conrad and I who get excited about limited editions! The LE of "Sailing to Byzantium", as Conrad said, is indeed one of the nicest LE's made. My copy says "pc" which I was led to believe means "presentation copy" so I assume those where copies the publisher gave as gifts to insiders. I wrote to Ned Dameron once and he said that a lawyer in Maryland owns the cover painting. After researching who this lawyer was, I found out that he collects quite a bit of SF art but that he never sells, so alas, that beautiful Dameron painting will not be hanging on my wall (for now!). "Desert" (or "Dessert") is quite tasty too! The next LE you should go for Conrad is that of "Homefaring" which is also a beauty with it'sAlex Ebel cover art. "Thebes" and "Lion Time in Timbuctoo" were also available in 75 copy leather editions (Thebes is brown, Lion is blue) but they were pretty ordinary with no cover art. The red leather editions that show up on eBay are kind of cool as they are called "staff" editions and are numbered out of 10. Did anyone here get one of the lettered editions of "Phases of the Moon"? Only 26 made and the book came in its own traycase. Expensive, at $150, but I would have bought one had I known abou them at the time. The current series of "Collected Stories" books are also available as LE's but this time, only out of 125 which I collect and prefer to editions "limited" to 1000 or even 1500(!) like "Phases". Wheredoes Bob get the energy to sign so many copies??? |
| May 17 |
Limited editions |
RS |
Signing
those limitation sheets is one of my least
favorite activities -- "Robert Silverberg" has a lot of letters in it, and I used to complain to Terry Carr that my surname had more letters in it than his entire name. But I remind myself that it is better to sit there grimly signing limitation sheets than to be lying awake at night hoping, praying, that someone would do one of those fancy limited editions of one of my books some day! The biggest such signing job I had to do was for the Easton Press edition of DYING INSIDE-- 5000 signature sheets! (How very exclusive -- only five thousand copies!) It was dreary work indeed, and felt close to endless, but the sweetener was that they were paying me $3 a signature, which I assure you is very much not the standard procedure in the limited-editions biz, and so I would sit there, teeth clenched, telling myself that I had just earned another $66....another $99....another $333.... |
| May 17 |
Limited editions |
CR |
A great discussion. Thanks
to
everyone, and particularly Mr. Silverberg, for the fascinating and entertaining responses to my post. I read in Wikipedia that Neil Armstrong, who is a very reclusive person, no longer signs autographs, because he found out that his signature was being sold on e-Bay, and some of them were forgeries. I also understand that he sued his barber, who sold a lock of his hair to someone for a large amount of money. I wonder what a lock of Robert Silverberg's hair would fetch on e-Bay? |
| May 23 |
Foreign language eds. |
CR |
I have always wanted to
read at least one of RS's books in my second language, which is Afrikaans. I have been away from home for such a long time that I am beginning to forget how to speak it. Mr. Silverberg, have any of your books been translated into Afrikaans? I haven't been able to locate anything on the Internet. Welshgriffin, most of the titles listed in your link are in French. Am I missing something? |
| May 23 |
Foreign language eds. |
RS |
If the
Boers have been publishing me, they've been doing it on the sly. I have no knowledge of any Afrikaans editions of my work. (I've been published in Farsi, Arabic, Urdu, Korean, and a couple of other unlikely languages, though, and that French site Welshgriffin found for us this morning tells me about a couple of Estonian editions that Ineed to look into. But no Afrikaans.) Do you know of ANY science fiction in that language? |
| May 24 |
Foreign language eds. |
CR |
The only one I know about is not so
much science fiction, but rather what-might-have-been-future-history by Karel Schoeman, published in translation in the U.S. as "The Promised land" (Summit Books, 1978). It has a very similar theme to a South African novel written in English by Nobel writer, Nadine Gordimer, "July's people" (Viking, 1981). Both are about the fall of the ruling class: a warning to those who practice misrule everywhere |
| May 24 |
Aloes |
RS |
Still haven't posted Aloe reitzii in
the photo album. It's been a busy
time here as I finish up all sorts of odd jobs (ASIMOV columns, etc.) and get ready for an upcoming trip to England. But I will. |
| May 24 |
Literary franchises |
CR |
For anyone who is
interested, today would have been
Ian Fleming's 100th birthday, and to commemorate the occasion, someone called Sebastian Faulks, supposedly "writing as Ian Fleming" has published a new James Bond novel. This trend to market literary concepts, characters and story lines (done to death with "Star Trek" and "Star Wars") also seems to have taken hold with some science fiction writers who shall remain nameless. Mr. Silverberg, I do hope that you never let lesser writers get hold of any of your universes, characters or ideas. I am not, of course, referring to the idea of the "shared world" concept that you explained on p. 429-430 of "Phases of the moon" However, I do wonder about an unusual book by Matt Costello, called "Revolt on Majipoor" (1987) It is not a novel, but looks like some sort of gaming manual for a Majipoor game. Not being a gamer, the book is incomprehensible to me, but I wonder who Matt Costello is, and what the story behind this publication is. |
| May 24 |
Literary franchises |
RS |
Ian
Fleming doesn't mind having Sebastian Faulk write Bond novels, and I
won't care much if somebody is writing Majipoor books in 2066. The Matt Costello Majipoor book is what was called an "interactive" book -- the reader is given choices of plot turns every now and then, and that shapes how the rest of the book turns out. I never quite understood it myself. There was quite a fad for them back then. I was offered a fee to license the concepts to Costello, and simply took the money and ran. I have no idea how closely his version of Majipoor resembles mine, I couldn't see any harm in having such a book appear. |
| May 25 |
Literary franchises |
A L |
Nor do I, frankly. Its no
different than a radio drama, film, comic, etc where you aren't
given editorial control.
I have to admit that the adaptation that bothered me
the
most
was the idea of turning Jack
Williamson's "Legion of Space" into
a
Wishbone book. [though I
loved the later
idea of him turning up as a
character in
a
Justice Society of America
comic book
for which, hopefully, he was compensated] But then I
realised Jack [or his agent] found a
fresh
avenue
for his ideas and a new
source of income, that allowed him to
reach a
larger audience than any
issue of Amazing or Astounding ever did. Plus
introduced
a whole new generation to
Jack's
novel. One that hopefully will
seek
out
his works in the future. Which won't do Jack
much good now, but it at least
allowed
him to watch a sunset or two
from
his home on the Reservation
snacking on
shrimp cocktails.Good for
him. [Ed
Hamilton's "estate" -- really a
bank, I
believe -- never got anything
for that
Japanese cartoon series
adapting the
Captain Future novels] |
| July 24 |
Starborne |
CR |
I also thought that
"Starborne" was a marvellous
novel, and I would recommend it as well to anyone who hasn't read it. What I find interesting about it is that, for such a prolific writer as RS, writing about practically every SF theme, it seems to be his only novel that addresses issues of travel among the stars. Although he has written several novels about alien life forms, none of them deal with issues of faster-than-light travel in the way that "Starborne" does. I was reminded of this when I read a fascinating recent time travel novel by John Varley called "Mammoth." (He also wrote the very imaginative "Millennium" which was made into a movie starring Kris Kristofferson.) The protagonist in "Mammoth" comes up with a startling concept which has profound implications for philisophy and religion, as well as myth, which are also motifs that RS weaves in and out of his work: "Would there be a universe at all without an aware being to witness it? Would time exist without consciousness to perceive it? Could consciousness be the basis of it all? "Starborne" invites comparison with Poul Anderson's "Tau zero" which brilliantly addresses the nature of the relationship between time, space and consciousness. At one end of the natural spectrum we have cosmology (the universe) and at the other end of the spectrum we have consciousness (the inner mind). Many SF writers focus on cosmology, but RS focusses on the inner mind. However, in "Starborne" he combines both of these concepts. Stylish it may be, but it is not quite as simple as it may appear on a first reading). |
| July 25 |
Starborne |
DE |
This sounds like a great
novel. I loved Tau Zero when it came out so many years ago. I also remember seeing Millennium on cable TV- didn't know Varley had written it. Millennium had some nice themes/ twists which made watching it very attractive. I supposed I'll have to look up Mammoth now, as well! Thanks for the tips!!! |
| Aug. 7 |
Research |
AZ |
Fellow
WORS members, I'm
really excited to share with you a new
critical piece on Robert Silverberg, written by yours truly :-) It's a relatively long and detailed assesment of RS's career during his third phase, or his "post-retirement" phase, just out in the August issue of The Internet Review of Science Fiction. The essay may be accessed for free
online at:
http://www.irosf.com/q/zine/article/10451
|
| Aug. 7 |
Research |
|
Thankyou very
much for
drawing this site and your research paper to our attention. I am looking forward to reading it. I am a retired librarian, and reasonably computer-literate, and a member of the fast- disappearing breed of pre-baby boomers. (I am two weeks older than Mr. Silverberg.) I haven't yet explored the researech potential of the Internet, but I am very interested in literary research, and a few years ago, as a senior citizen, I completed an M.A. in English literature. I shouldn't blow my own trumpet, but I am very proud of the fact that I got three A plus grades and five A minus grades, which is unheard of in graduate studies. I put my success down to a long life spent reading and studying, and an edge of maturity that I had over my younger classmates. Regrettably, in those days I wasn't as enamoured of Robert Silverberg's work as I am now, and I didn't do any research on his writing. Having read practically everything that he has written (and he quipped at one time that even he hadn't read everything that he had written!) I can see the rich layers of material waiting for literary analysis. Unfortuinately, time has passed me by, and so I believe that the younger generation of students owes it to posterity to explore some of his themes. You might want to check out a couple of my research papers which are accessible on my web page, and in particular the one on the Provenance of the Towneley Medieval Manuscript, which is now housed in the Huntington Library in California. http://web2.uwindsor.ca/courses/leddy/creitz/reports.html |
| Sept. 12 |
Favourite titles |
CR |
I find it very
frustrating to get involved in listing favourite
titles, as tastes change over time, and as one gets older. For instance, when I was younger, I was a devoted fan of hardcore sf, and loved "Hawksbill Station". I didn't care at all for fantasy, which is why I avoided reading any of the Majipoor books until long after they had been published. Now they are BY FAR my favourites (all of them) and I have read "Lord Valentine's Castle" at leaast eight times over the past 15 years. They are followed closely by "Winter's End" and "The Queen of Springtime." Years ago, I gave away my copy of "Thorns", because I didn't understand it, and didn't care for it at all. I have now purchased it again and am reading it with renewed understanding. What first attracted me to RS was one of his very first short stories, "Absolutely inflexible" which I thought at the time was the most imaginative time travel story in all of SF. Now I would be hard-pressed to pick a short story (let us NOT forget the short stories!) but if I had to, I would probably settle for "Sailing to Byzantium." Since joining this group about three years ago, my attention has been drawn to a number of his novels that I had never read before, notably "Lord of Darkness," "Dying Inside", "Downward to Earth" and "Book of skulls," all of which had some very profound insights into the petrsonal psyche. And what about "Star of gypsies" and "Tom O'Bedlam? Once you get started on this, there is no end to the titless you could add. I am sorry to have to admit that the only book that I have never been able to finish was "The Mutant Season." It simply wasn't my cup of tea. It appeals to a different kind of reader.I liked "Son of man" and "Tower of glass" but I certainly wouldn't include them on my short list of favourites. |
| Sept. 23 |
Favourite titles |
CR |
Monica: I've just
finished re-reading
"Thorns"
after an interval of many years, and I have to admit that I didn'r care for it much. Maybe I'm too impatient, but it seemed to drag too slowly in parts. I believe it would have had much more impact as a short story. The theme is challenging, as it deals with someone who feeds off other people's emotions. As I have said before, you must read "Lord of Darkness." It is not science fiction, but deals with a not-very-well-known period in history - Angola towards the end of the 16th century. It is in my view a great historical novel. RS captures the vocabulary, flavour and nuance of Elizabethan English in a way that no other writer has done. However, it is not for sensitivr stomachs (but then what great realistic novels are?)
as it
deals
in graphic detail with subjects such
as cannibalism. Another very effective novel is "Book
of
Skulls" inwhich the genre defies categorization. Where does it fit in - science fiction, fantasy, horror, quest, religion, none of the above? I'd be interested to know what others think. |
| Sept. 23 |
Favourite titles |
TM |
I like your idea that some of
RS's
works transcend genre, because they are
so original and well done. I also agree that LORD OF DARKNESS and BOOK OF SKULLS fit into this category (oh no, I am creating a not-in-genre genre?). Any other books that people would care to nominate? |
| Nov. 2 |
Recent stories |
KH |
Two recently published, "space opera"
short stories from RS have led me to speculate that he may be toying with us, playfully jabbing our sensibilities with his plume. After such a long and prolific career, we can certainly indulge him in this. I refer to "Hanosz Prime Goes to Old Earth" (Asimov's, April/May 2006) and "The Emperor and the Maula" – published in 2007's NEW SPACE OPERA anthology. (As a curious aside, both stories feature a similarly named aristocrat who is the richest man on Earth. In the former his name is Sinon Kreidge, and in the latter Sinon Kreish.) In "Hanosz Prime" (pieces of which, we are told in post 3290, were originally drafted back in 1986), RS practically mocks the reader, interjections in the first- and second-person narrative taunting us, daring us to suspend our disbelief: "I assure you that sex as we understand it is definitely not a custom of the era. There you are. Cope with it any way you can." And can we not be forgiven for concluding that RS now has little patience for going through the SF motions when we read: "Intergalactic messages will move even more quickly – by sub-etheric telephone, let's say, or hyperwave communicator, or some such thing. I know, it all sounds pretty damned improbable." ... ? Impatient? Perhaps. Although the plot is arguably secondary to (or, at the very least, much less jarring than) the manner in which it is told, I suspect that RS is commenting on SF itself here. All the gadgetry and clichés of SF are mere window-dressing. Good storytelling is good storytelling. But RS places SF under the microscope for a much more acute study in "The Emperor and the Maula." The template for the story is clearly 1001 ARABIAN NIGHTS. Both works feature a woman attempting to forestall her execution by relating fantastical stories to her captor/husband who rules a vast empire and has many wives. On the surface, the RS story is SF (and its space opera subgenre) at its purest: the age-old sense of wonder is at the story's core. The protagonist Laylah relates tale after tale of her astounding exploits across the galaxy. Yet I can't help but think there are more layers to the story than that. The anthology's purpose is to present the NEW space opera; the introduction provides a very informative précis of the subgenre's history, including where it currently stands after its recent revival. Silverberg's story, however, seems cynical at times. The many character and planet names are so outlandish and pulpish they could have been the invention of a random mashing on the keyboard (e.g., Liigachi and Vrulvruls and Zmachs and Mikkalthrom and Seppuldidorior and Gimmil-Gib-Huish). Furthermore, each obeisance paid to the Emperor is more cartoonish than the last, like those in a melodramatic fantasy novel (e.g., "O Light of the Cosmos – O Supreme Monarch of the Million Suns"). So why is a story that is ostensibly "new" space opera so backward- looking and perhaps even derisive? I think that RS is not merely poking gentle fun at the much-beleaguered subgenre and its checkered past but looking back further still. By drawing on the centuries-old legend of Scheherazade, he demonstrates that space opera is not a mere flash-in-the-pan offshoot, but rather a colorful and legitimate reworking of a well-established literary tradition: the swashbuckling adventure story. While RS does take some pot shots at the subgenre's clichés, one can also interpret the story as an allegory of the SF writer him/herself. The storyteller protagonist is continuously asked to deliver the goods, the reader/emperor always threatening death if the story is not satisfactory. The writer is only as good as his/her last story: "What have you done for me lately?," indeed! This volatile relationship between storyteller and spectator reminds me of Baudelaire's poem "The Albatross," the final quatrain of which reads: "Le Poëte est semblable au prince des nuées Qui hante la tempête et se rit de l'archer; Exilé sur le sol au milieu des huées, Ses ailes de géant l'empêchent de marcher." The writer is capable of soaring high and mocking us with his skill ("se rit de l'archer"), yet that very skill can be a burden ("Ses ailes de géant l'empêchent de marcher"), in particular once it is silenced (a theme we've also seen in DYING INSIDE). The captive Laylah is the storyteller and the storyteller is a captive RS. (Let us not forget Flaubert's famous quip: "Madame Bovary, c'est moi.") That Laylah was forced into a situation in which she betrays Earth by collaborating with the alien invaders then uses her storytelling skills to gain her (and her planet's) freedom only reinforces the albatross metaphor: a precarious situation is imposed on the storyteller that both invites danger and provides salvation. Interestingly, the story's open ending (the last keystroke is not a period but an em-dash) suggests that space opera; its spirit of pure, joyous storytelling; and the storyteller him/herself will all live on. What conclusions can we therefore draw from these two stories? They both seem to hint at an author tired/frustrated/bored with the clichés of the form, yet still respectful of that form's power. They both display an author contemplating his role in storytelling. Tellingly, he explores the metatextual and allegorical in a form known mostly for being superficial and lacking substance and self- awareness: the "childish" space opera. As he has done time and time again, Silverberg contemplates the barriers then breaks them down. On a personal note, I found "The Emperor and the Maula" to be one of the most satisfying RS stories he's written in some time. More so than "Hanosz Prime," "The Sorcerer's Apprentice" and THE LONGEST WAY HOME. Not just because of his trademark rich descriptions and skillful characterizations, but especially for the multiple layers I outline above. |
| Nov. 5 |
Recent stories |
RS |
Re: Hanosz Prime & The Emperor &
the Maula & Ted & Alice: some thoughts
This
is a splendid analysis of these stories, one of the most fascinating
posts
I've read inthe history of this site.Both stories use material from an abandoned novel of mine -- the only one I've ever givenup on -- which I began writing around 19867. After 160 pages or so I realized that thestory I had in mind was impossible to manage successfully -- it was a vast unwieldy thinglikely to collapse of its own weight -- but it had some very nice set-pieces in it and I'veused them in various stories since. :"Hanosz Prime" is an outright extract, only slightlyedited, from the abandoned book. "The Emperor and the Maula"'s material is unrelated tothat book, but I used a few descriptive passages from it in the later story. In the case of "Emperor" Gardner
Dozois asked me to write a story for a book
called THENEW SPACE OPERA. I asked him what the new space opera was, because the term meantnothing to me and I didn't want to appear like a fossil of an earlier age amid the newerwriters in the book, and he said it's just like the old space opera, only better written. So Iused the old Scheherazade plot and decorated it with some space-operatic frills andfurbelows, nodding affectionately at the old PLANET STORIES school of writing without inany way trying to imitate it. After nearly sixty years of writing s-f I can't take the oldtropes seriously any more, but I certainly do feel affection for them. There was nothingcynical about either story -- they simply are not totally representational in mode, just asvery few of Picasso's paintings after about 1903 are direct attempts at rendering reality inpaint; I haven't forgotten how to write the standard pulp story but I don't see much reasonfor doing so at this late date.The open ending of "Emperor" recognizes the fact that Laylah is not through telling herstories, and very likely neither am I. (I expect to start a new short story in a week or two,intended for the 60th anniversary issue of F&SF.) (I have been in correspondence with a French publisher about doing these two, and acouple of other recent items, as a small collection.) |
| Dec.1 |
Telepathy |
BHM | I'm afraid I've come late to
discovering Mr. Silverberg's magnum opus, "Dying Inside," which I did so in trying to uncover the author name and title of a short story, published in a paperback some 25 or more year ago, which is somewhat similar in that it deals with a telepath. Gist of the short story, told from the point of view of the protagonist, and written in a stream-of-consciousness: a young boy, from the earlies age, claims to hear voices and perceive feelings not his own; they could not be shut out. He was considered strange, if not paranoid, by those who knew him; and as a result experienced all sorts of problems at school and at home. As he grows older he realizes he has some sort of telepathic ability to evesdrop on those around him, experiencing these thoughts and emotions even though he is unable to shut them out. With this knowledge he is able to deal with this almost maddening infliction, which he believes is uniquely his own. As the story unfolds, he becomes aware, somewhow, that there are others born with this same ability, or disability; ultimately he makes contact with them. From here on, I don't recall how it all ends. The story is gripping and very well written, drawing the reader into the mind and inner-consciousness of what appears to be a psychotic individual,initially unable to endure the fragmented emotions and thoughts that strangely affict him. It is a wonderful, moving story-- but I've not had any success whatever in tracking it down. Can Mr. Silverberg, with his vast knowledge of the genre, or any one else provide me with some information and/or direction? |
| Dec. 2 |
Telepathy |
CR |
The plot you describe
sounds
very similar to John Wyndham's "The Chrysalids" (which in the U.S. was titled "Rebirth." ) This was one of the best post-apocalyptic telepathy novels ever written, in my view, and it portrays telepathic powers as a demonic mutation of radiation, set in Labrador. However, it was not a short story, or written in stream-of-consciousness style, but it is well worth reading. John Wyndham has also written "The Kraken Wakes", "The Day of the Triffds" which has been filmed twice, and "The Midwich Cuckoos" which has also been filmed twice (as "Village of the Damned.") Wyndham's style and subject matter is somewhat reminiscent of a latter-day H.G. Wells. |
| Dec. 3 |
Telepathy |
BHM |
Appreciate the information on
Wyndam, with whom I am familiar. Not the source, however, of the powerful and, apparanly, underpublished short story about the boy disturbed and overpowered by his telepath sensitivity. Been trying to track this one down for many years, after finding I had not kept in my collection the paperback book in which it had appeared. Story deserves to be among the classics of sci- fi/fantasy fiction. |
| Dec. 3 |
Other Spaces |
WG |
What can you tell us Mr
Silverberg about the following book scheduled for publication next May? It looks like your autobiography. The link to its Amazon page is here: http://tinyurl.com/67m5wf |
| Dec. 4 |
Other Spaces |
RS |
It's
a collection of previously published
autobiographical essays. The only new
material is avery brief introduction, but there are a lot of interesting photographs and one page of thefirst s-f story I ever wrote, THE LAST DAYS OF SATURN. |
| Dec. 4 |
Other Spaces |
LO |
To add to Bob's comments, since
he has not seen galleys yet, this is a fully illustrated book collecting a good deal of Silverberg's autobiographical writings from various sources, including a lot of photos and ephemera (rejection slips, ledger pages, story notes, fanzines, family photos, etc) from RS's personal archives - much of it never published before or long unseen. The book will also showcase original art from many of his books. Luis Ortiz Nonstop Press |
| Dec. 5 |
Other Spaces |
TM |
The books sounds and looks very
interesting. I can't imagine why everyone in this group would not want a copy! I hope it includes materials from your various introductions over the years,since so many of those were autobiographical in nature. . |
| Dec. 6 |
Other Spaces |
AS |
Very
interesting indeed. Great
cover and title. Hoping maybe to see at least one of those envelopes or postcards upon which a story outline is first scribbled down. |
| Dec. 6 |
Other Spaces |
RS |
It's going to be a very
interesting book, of course. Much credit is due to Luis Ortiz, who has done most of the work of compiling it. I think the original scribbled LORD VALENTINE outline is included. But I have to give credit to Steve Jobs as well. about a year ago we switchedfrom a PC to a Mac, one of the best decisions I have ever made, and along with the new computer I acquired, for the first time, a scanner. (And even learned how to use it!) So I have been able to send Luis scans of old family photos, rejection slips, early manuscripts, and other odds and ends that would have been a lot of trouble to provide without the aid of that nice new gizmo under my desk. |
| Dec. 6 |
Trips |
WG |
TRIPS
is the title of the fourth collection of RS stories to be published by Subterranean Press next May, and it is now available for preorder. The limited edition, for those of us who are subscribing to it, has been increased to 150 copies from 125. If you were quick, they had a (very brief) 50% off sale too;) |
| Dec. 6 |
Trips |
CR |
Thanks for the heads--up
concerning vol. 4. I have been expecting an announcement about this. I am not interested in the limited edition, but I am curious to know what it costs. I am currently reading vol. 2, which I recently managed to purchase belatedly and with some difficulty for $50.00 (it is not the limited edition). I noted that vols. 1 and 2 ar listed as out of print. However, vol. 2 has been very difficult to find on e-bay or bookfinder.com, and has usually been scarcer and more expensive than vols. 1 and 3. It is usually listed in the three figures range. Do you have any idea why this is? Perhaps fewer copies of vol. 2 were printed? |
| Dec. 6 |
Trips |
RS |
I think Vol II may have had a smaller
print run. When I got a royalty settlement from Subterranean a few months ago for Vols I II III, all three books were listed as sold out, butthe payment for II was somewhat \ smaller than for the other two. |
| Dec. 8 |
Trips | WG |
Subterranean
Press have removed the preorder
information for TRIPS from
their homepage and therefore one has to go and search for it under "Silverberg". To make it easier, here's a link directly to it: http://tinyurl.com/5pkxs9 |
| Dec. 9 |
New story |
RS |
Bibliographers, take notice: I have
sold a Majipoor story called THE WAY THEY WOVE THE SPELLS IN SIPPULGAR to Fantasy & Science Fiction for its 60th anniversary issue, which will appear next September. I had stories in the 30th, 40th, and 50th anniversary issues, so I felt it behooved me to do one for the 60th. (I did one for the 20th, too, but it got crowded out and appeared a month later.) I doubt that anyone else has had stories in four consecutive decade-marking anniversary issues of the magazine, and I do like establishing little longevity records of that sort. Gordon and I are taking aim now on the 70th anniversary issue in 2019. And, no, this doesn't mean I'm going to start writing novels again. But the occasional short story, sure. |
| Dec. 29 |
Hawksbill Station |
MF |
I started reading this one,
and it seems to be one of the best. > Maybe my list of favorites will change :) |
| Dec. 29 |
Hawksbill Station |
CR |
"Hawksbill Station" was the
first RS book that I ever read, when it was first published as a noveel forty years ago, and I became a fan for life. I recently re-read the short story in Vol. 2 of his "Collected Stories" and I was curious about the difference between the two. The short story is 45 pages long, and the first edition of the novel is 156 pages long. In most respects the text is identical, but the novel seems to have some extra stuff added. I haven't made a close comparison yet. Usually, when a story is expanded into a novel, there is a lot more flesh on the bones. RS has on a number of occasions come up with the germ of an idea in a short story, and later on expanded it into a fully-realized novel, but "Hawksbill Station' seems to be diffrent in this respect. Compare, for instance, the three Asimov stories that he expanded into novels. Can anyone offer any ideas concerning the basic difference between the two versions of "Hawksbilll Station"? I have always been puzzled by the terms "novel," "novella," "novelet" and "short story" - terms which only seem to be used in science fiction magazines. Dictionary definitions of these terms are no help whatever. Is there a standard word count for each of these forms, and what is the point of making these distinctions? |