Book Review: Beyond Apollo, Barry N. Malzberg (1972)

July 29, 2012August 3, 2019 / Joachim Boaz / 37 Comments

(Roger Hane’s cover for the 1972 edition)

5/5 (Masterpiece — but please consider the caveats below before procuring a copy)

(This review is a product of lengthy dialogues with my girlfriend, a graduate student in English, who devoured the work with great relish and enthusiasm. Her remarkable eye peeled away levels I didn’t even know existed and heightened my appreciation for this underread classic. I owe large portions of this review to her.)

Barry N. Malzberg’s Beyond Apollo (1972), the third of his novels I’ve read (Conversations, In the Enclosure, Guernica Night), is generally considered his best work (he won the inaugural John Campbell Award for best Novel). In a genre infrequently blessed with literary experimentation — of course, there are a few exceptions, Ballard’s The Atrocity Exhibition (1970), Joanna Russ’ The Female Man (1975), Russ’ And Chaos Died (1970), and John Brunner’s Stand on Zanzibar (1968) among others — I’m always more predisposed to works which are structurally/stylistically inventive and thought-provoking. Barry N. Malzberg’s Beyond Apollo more than fulfills Continue reading →

Updates: Recent Science Fiction Acquisitions No. XXXIV (Brunner + Tucker + Brackett + et al.)

July 26, 2012July 26, 2012 / Joachim Boaz / 6 Comments

A mixture of a few clearance section novels from Austin bookstores (Chandler and Siodmak) and three recent purchases from a nice used bookstore (for science fiction) in my current town… I can’t wait to read another Leigh Brackett novel (one of the most renowned pulp sci-fi writers of the 50s) — I’ve only read her novels, The Big Jump (1955) and was pleasantly surprised.

One can never have too many Brunner novels (I have 21 at the moment and I’ve read a majority of them) — even average works from the early 80s….

And Wilson Tucker’s The Year of the Quiet Sun (1970) — yes, I generally dislike time travel, but I’ve yet to read one of his works so I might as well start with what is generally considered his best novel.

(*note: I include images of what I consider the best cover for the novel if it has multiple editions because I enjoy good examples of sci-fi art. I own perhaps half of the exact editions shown. A few readers have expressed confusion.)

1. The Long Tomorrow, Leigh Brackett (1955)

(Ed Emshwiller’s cover for Continue reading →

Adventures in Science Fiction Cover Art: Crashed Spaceships

July 25, 2012July 25, 2012 / Joachim Boaz / 10 Comments

(Gaylord Welker’s cover for the December 1952 issue of Astounding Science Fiction)

Gaylord Welker’s cover for the December 1952 issue of Astounding Science Fiction appeared in my best sci-fi cover post a while back. Although I rarely recycle images, whenever I see his masterful cover I’m impressed with the sheer desolation and desperation of the scene. Inspired by the image I set off to find more covers depicting crashed spaceships (alien or human on Earth, the moon, distant planets….).

Hannes Bok’s cover for Campbell’s The Moon is Hell (1951), Hubert Roger’s cover for the February 1939 issue of Astounding, Earle Bergey’s cover for the November 1952 issue of Fantastic Story, and Walker Brook’s cover for the 1953 edition of Simak’s First He Died (variant title: Time and Again) are thematically similar but less successful. The others include one of my personal favorites (not one of the best by a long shot) — Earle Bergey’s cover the June 1952 issue of Startling Stories — where a man and a woman rescue two green tentacled Continue reading →

Book Review: Wyst: Alastor 1716, Jack Vance (1978)

July 21, 2012July 21, 2012 / Joachim Boaz / 10 Comments

(Eric Ladd’s cover for the 1978 edition)

4.25/5 (Good)

Wyst: Alastor 1716 (1978), the second book of the Alastor Trilogy I’ve read, is more involving, satirical, and thought-provoking than Marune: Alastor 933 (1975). Each book takes place in the same star cluster so there’s no need to read them in order. As with every Vance book I’ve had the pleasure to read, the world is vibrant, detailed, and believable. And also with every Vance book I’ve had the pleasure to read, an unoriginal political intrigue-driven plot is grafted with varying degrees of success onto the world.

A Description of Wyst

The Alastor trilogy takes place in the Alastor cluster, a dense collection of stars ruled by the Connatic (who makes a brief appearance in this novel) from his palace on Numenes. Wyst, Alastor 1716, is comprised of the urban center Uncibal in Arrabus where the egalist utopian society resides, large rural regions with small Continue reading →

Adventures in Science Fiction Cover Art: Imprisoned in Glass Vials (of the metaphoric + medical + experimental variety)

July 20, 2012December 13, 2012 / Joachim Boaz / 32 Comments

(Uncredited cover for the 1969 edition of The Fortec Conspiracy (1968), Richard M. Garvin and Edmond G. Addeo)

Humans and aliens in glass vials of all shapes and sizes waiting to be measured, matured, tested, analyzed, exposed to a variety of chemicals and emulsions. The artists often combine the iconic laboratory scene filled with the tools of the trade with sci-fi speculation on human experimentation (queue babies grown in containers in Brave New World). The result, humans in tubes. The effect is downright terrifying and one suspects, evokes a certain moribund fascination. As with the famous introductory sequence in Brave New World, the reader is horrified by birth entirety regulated by machines. Or, we are simultaneously titillated Continue reading →

Book Review: Space Skimmer, David Gerrold (1972)

July 19, 2012September 19, 2016 / Joachim Boaz / 9 Comments

(Dean Ellis’ cover for the 1972 edition)

3/5 (Average)

I’ve found that the science fiction trope reconstructing a fallen empire/meandering in the wreckage of an empire one of the most seductive of the genre. The idea of a disconnected landscape filled with the ruins of empire — giant edifice ever more consumed by vegetation, technology unable to be used, spaceships empty in space — is so transfixing that I pick up every example published before 1980 that I find. Unfortunately, works like David Gerrold’s Space Skimmer (1972) and John Brunner’s collection Interstellar Empire (1976) are evidence that seductive trope or not, the delivery is often less than delectable.

I must confess that I picked up the novel because of the cover blurb: “The ultimate spaceship in the hands of a barbarian…” And the intriguing Dean Ellis cover… Little did I know the blurb should read “the ultimate spaceship in the hands of a barbarian who spouts endless streams of bad poetry, an annoying little prince, Continue reading →

Book Review: Time of the Great Freeze, Robert Silverberg (1964)

July 17, 2012August 10, 2019 / Joachim Boaz / 13 Comments

(Harry Schaare’s cover for the 1966 edition)

3/5 (Average)

Silverberg’s young adult (juvenile) science fiction novel Time of the Great Freeze (1964) is a by the numbers with few extra frills pulp adventure with a time-worn but still seductive premise: underground cities! Unlike Heinlein’s best juvenile sci-fi works (Starman Jones, Citizen of the Galaxy, etc), Silverberg’s work fails to conjure the same wonder. Silverberg’s portrayal of his youthful hero is dull even by 50s/60s juvenile standards — he fails to exude the biggest character trait of the genre, vibrant youthful vigor. Yes he’s smart, does some judo moves, gets over friends’ deaths in a heartbeat, and is mentally tough but unfortunately is completely interchangeable with the other characters. Continue reading →

Book Review: Ossian’s Ride, Fred Hoyle (1959)

July 15, 2012August 10, 2019 / Joachim Boaz / 8 Comments

(Hoffman’s cover for the 1959 edition)

2.5/5 (Bad)

Fred Hoyle’s Ossian’s Ride (1959) is a disappointing sci-fi thriller which fails to live up to its intriguing premise: why is unusual technology flowing from unknown sources from far Western Ireland (a handy map is provided) beyond the Erin Curtain? Get it, Ireland’s IRON CURTAIN… This wobbly little thriller conjures but little thrill, the grand mystery is all too obvious/abrupt/giggle-inducing, and, most damaging, intended or not the political message is an endorsement of a police state as long as it encourages technological advancement.

The first edition cover proclaims Ossian’s Ride Continue reading →

Updates: Recent Science Fiction Acquisitions XXXIII (Delany + Wyndham + Sturgeon + Knight + Ellison)

July 14, 2012June 25, 2014 / Joachim Boaz / 13 Comments

My last batch of the summer from Austin, TX — as always a nice haul. Unfortunately, I’m back home in a rather lackluster state for acquiring sci-fi. Henceforth, amazon/abebooks it shall be!

Still haven’t tackled a Sturgeon collection yet — now I have three unread ones sitting in my to read stack. I also added Delany’s first published novel, The Jewels of Aptor (1962), to my collection. And some Ellison stories… And three short novels (in one collection) by Damon Knight of whom I have a rather dubious opinion (see Beyond the Barrier).

Most importantly, another Wyndham novel (still haven’t read The Day of the Triffids which I’ve had for years and years and years).

1. A Way Home, Theodore Sturgeon (1956) (MY REVIEW)