A selection of read works from my shelves
What pre-1985 science fiction are you reading this week?
I’ve settled on a monthly schedule for this column. Check out the previous installment!
If you’re new and curious about my rationale for the perimeters of my site, check out this recent interview and podcast. And follow me on Mastodon if you don’t already as I no longer post on my Twitter account.
And, most importantly, let me know what pre-1985 SF you’ve been reading!
The Photograph (with links to reviews and brief thoughts)
- Judith Merril’s collection contains one of the feminist visions of the 50s — “Daughters of Earth” (1952). Reworking a standard pulp plot of alien contact, Merril recasts the encounter through multiple generations of women in one family. She adeptly inverts the Old Testament trope of tracing generations through fathers. Simultaneously, the story itself is a metatextual collection of rewritten family documents containing the lessons necessary for future daughters in the family. Brilliant and heady stuff.
- Barry N. Malzberg’s The Men Inside (1973) remains one of his strangest works. A perverse (and Freudian) metafictional (and literary) retelling of Otto Klement and Jerome Bixby’s Fantastic Voyage replete with filmic flashbacks… For Malzberg fans only — if you’ve missed this one, track it down.
- And now for something completely different: Murray Leinster’s S.O.S From Three Worlds (1967). I am unsure why I enjoy Leinster’s Med Service so much. Sometimes positivist stories about spacemen devoted to selfless service solving medical crises–and reigning in rampant unchecked capitalism–with their friendly tormals (think furry mobile petri dishes) bring a bit of warmth to my bitter heart.
- I sneakily consumed Joe Haldeman’s masterpiece The Forever War (1975) while working my first job as an oil change cashier. In-between angry customers and running domestic incidents, I relished every moment of Haldeman’s defiant Vietnam War satire. As I’ve only reviewed Mindbridge (1976) on the site (I’ve read a bunch more), I’ve been meaning to return his work — maybe a resolution for 2024.
What am I writing about?
I recently reviewed Edmond Hamilton’s “Requiem” (1962) and John Anthony West’s “George” (1961) for my media landscapes of the future series. While the West was forgettable, Hamilton spins a delightful rumination on origins and connection to the past that feels like an interlude from a larger pulp epic. Gristled pulp hero must escape the media frenzy to discover his own personal connection to the dying Earth.
Earlier in the month I also reviewed Sarban’s fantastic alternate history The Sound of His Horn (1952).
I still have a Leigh Brackett collection of Mars stories on deck.
What am I reading?
I’m currently devouring a Kate Wilhelm novel that somehow escaped my attention for far too long.
And my current history read: Verna Kreb’s Medieval Ethiopian Kingship, Craft, and Diplomacy with Latin Europe (2021). I was a medieval historian in my earlier life. It’s downright exciting seeing the field evolve and more and more lesser known areas of study getting their due. I can’t wait to read this one!
A Curated List of SF Birthdays from the Last Two Weeks
December 4th: Author Ian Wallace (1912-1998). In the earliest days of my site I reviewed Croyd (1967) and found it lacking. I have not, for good or bad, returned to his work since.
December 6th: Roger Dee (1914-2004). I am not familiar with his work. His short stories filled the magazines of the 50s before the great contraction seems to have slowed down his SF career. Any worthwhile stories I should track down?
December 7th: Leigh Brackett (1915-1978). If you haven’t read The Long Tomorrow (1955), you should!
December 7th: Julia Verlanger (1929-1985). One of a handful of female French SF authors from the decades I cover. Unfortunately, other than one short story “The Bubbles” (1956, trans. 1977) none of it is translated into English.
David Wilhelmsen’s cover for the 1st edition of Frostworld and Dreamfire (1977)
December 8th: John Morressy (1930-2006). I’m a fan of Frostworld and Dreamfire (1977). Under a Calculating Star (1975)? Not as much.
December 9th: Iconic and groundbreaking pulp artist Margaret Brundage (1900-1976). Check out her gallery.
December 10th: Author Syd Logsdon (1947-). He used to stop by the site. Seemed like a kind soul. I hope he’s doing okay!
December 11th: Rachel Cosgrove Payes (1922-1998).
December 11th: David Rome (1938-).
December 11th: Richard Paul Russo (1954-)
December 13th: Alan Barclay (1909-1991). An author of John Carnell’s stable for New Worlds before Moorcock took over.
December 13th: Drew Mendelson (1945-).
Richard Powers’ cover for the 1963 edition of The Sundial (1958)
December 14th: Shirley Jackson (1916-1965). I need to get around to reading The Sundial (1958).
December 14th: John Baxter (1939-). I’ve only read Baxter’s solid SF horror tale “The Hands” (1965) in which a group of astronauts return from an alien planet with extra limbs and body parts.
Peter Jones’ cover for the 1st edition of Mick Farren’s The Quest of the DNA Cowboys (1976)
December 14th: Artist Peter Jones (1951). Along with Foss, Elson, McKie, Hay, Jones filled up the UK shelves with countless covers. Here’s his gallery.
December 15th: John Sladek (1937-2000). “The Poets of Millgrove, Iowa” (1966) remains one of my favorite 60s short fictions.
December 15th: Robert Charles Wilson (1953-). Most of his novels fall outside of the site’s remit but I couldn’t help but remember my childhood reaction to Darwinia (1998)… I imagine he wrote far better.
December 16th: Arthur C. Clarke (1917-2008).
December 16th: Philip K. Dick (1928-1982). Do I need to say anything about PKD? I’ve reviewed two of his short stories this year: “The Precious Artifact” (1964) and “The Infinites” (1953).
December 16th: Randall Garrett (1927-1987). Silverberg’s roommate and writing partner in New York City. I found lots of interesting tidbits about their modus operandi and the 50s SF scene in Silverberg’s introduction to In the Beginning: Tales from the Pulp Era (2015). You can can borrow it here.
For book reviews consult the INDEX
For cover art posts consult the INDEX
For TV and film reviews consult the INDEX
Science Fiction and Other Suspect Ruminations 
I needed a thickish book voters would not steal in case the by election was quiet (which it was) so I reread Pournelle’s ostensibly non-fiction collection A Step Farther Out. All drawn from Galaxy.
Also reread a King, review to go up in a week, a dire Willis that is just past your cut off, the dreadful The Cross-Time Engineer, and Robert Sheckley’s 1971’s Can You Feel Anything When I Do This? , which I enjoyed.
I’ve never enjoyed Willis’ work much. That said, I’m basing my views off of Doomsday Book (1992) and To Say Nothing of the Dog, or How We Found the Bishop’s Bird Stump at Last (1998). I recently acquired her collection Fire Watch (1985) in order to try some of her earlier short fiction. Maybe that will change my views of her work.
I’ve seen the cover for the Frankowski novel but haven’t read it or anything by him.
You would be better off pouring caustic soda into your eyes than you would be reading any Leo Frankowski novel. He is only not the worst SF author because there is so much competition.
Sounds atrocious. I look forward to your review.
I do like Sheckley… Which is a bit surprising considering my low tolerance for joke SF. At least the Sheckley I’ve read (and his willingness to experiment), hits in the right spots.
As a teen, I found the idiot plots annoying but now I find them grimly realistic.
I didn’t know of him as a teen. Not sure what I would have thought.
I just reviewed a Willis which is… not very good. I also started L. Sprague de Camp’s Lest Darkness Fall and will soon read “Genesis” by H. Beam Piper for review.
I saw. I’ve never been a fan of Willis — that said, as I mentioned to James, my view is based entirely off of her two best-known novels which I could not stomach: Doomsday Book and To Say Nothing of the Dog.
I haven’t read anything by de Camp.
I just finished Fred Saberhagen’s A Century of Progress, a time travel novel in which people from the future travel backwards in time in order to kill Adolf Hitler in alternate timelines. The novel was too vague in its description of the mechanics of time travel and the future from which originated too be interesting, but the reflective tone of the narration managed to create a meditative mood in its depiction of the characters’ fates that I think was the best aspect of the book.
To be honest no scientific explanation of time travel ever makes me thing “believable”! Do you have some example that made you think “yeah, maybe”?
Benford’s* ‘Timescape’ isn’t too bad on that front. Though I have no idea how plausible it is. If memory serves they’re only sending messages rather than people.
others may have played a part as well
(‘Others’ comment related to the asterisk.)
I guess I tend to think that no explanation of time travel is “plausible.” Tangentially, time-travel SF is my favorite subcategory along with military SF. There are exceptions to both that work for sure.
At its best the time travel sub-category can carry a strong melancholic charge – ‘Bring the Jubilee’, or Tucker’s ‘Year of the Quiet Sun’.
Have never read the famous Heinlein ‘Bootstraps’ story.
Yup. And Sarban’s alt-history that I just reviewed: https://sciencefictionruminations.com/2023/12/03/book-review-sarbans-the-sound-of-his-horn-1952/
Currently reading the short-story collection ‘Capricorn Games’ by Silverberg. I know I’m preaching to the converted here re Silverberg.
Nice to see a Malzberg novel listed above – one I haven’t got round to yet. I have a vague urge to read some of his ‘Lone Wolf’ thrillers, which look utterly demented and were written concurrently with his famous SF novels. I read a review of one (Lone Wolf) and there was a comment about ‘strange digressions about secondhand cars’ and I thought hey-up, sounds familiar.
Silverberg, Malzberg – are there any other SF authors whose surname ends in ‘Berg’ I wonder. Or maybe Malzberg is really Silverberg, or vice-versa. Silverberg’s written a thriller or two in his time.
All the best for Xmas. Discovering this blog was a definite online highlight this year.
I read the Silverberg collection last year but never ended up reviewing it. An enjoyable collection.
Malzberg is one of the most reviewed authors on my site: 20 short stories and 14 novels. A favorite of mine! The Gamesman (1975) in particular is an underrated gem: https://sciencefictionruminations.com/2014/07/09/book-review-the-gamesman-barry-n-malzberg-1975/
Thank you for the kind words.
Jacques Sternberg — haha. https://sciencefictionruminations.com/2019/08/24/book-review-future-without-future-jacques-sternberg-1971-trans-1973/
And another — Larry Eisenberg
https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/ea.cgi?1167
All those Bergs…I feel we’re on the verge of something significant. This is taking on the flavour of a new-wave short story.
The Gamesman is an elusive one in the UK and costs a fair bit. Looks right up my street. Other novels like ‘Overlay’ are fairly easy to get cheaply but you need to play the long game with a fair amount of his work.
Or buy a Kindle I suppose, but that seems like cheating.
Yeah, he didn’t receive many UK printings — as you know.
I’m reading Doc Smith’s The Skylark of Space. And not recognizing anything that is happening in the story, so I guess I’d never read it before, though I’d always assumed I had. Or perhaps it just wasn’t memorable, ha.
Are you enjoying it?
Can’t say I’m a huge fan of that series. I tend to enjoy SF that’s a bit more reflective and interior.
Gerlad Vizenor’s “Bearheart: The Heirship Chronicles”, reminds me of Riddley Walker though the setting and style is uniquely Native American. Tried to start seversl of the stories in Ian Watson collection “Slow Birds” but nothing grabbed me.
Thank you for bringing that novel to my attention. I went ahead and bought the original unrevised 1978 version under the title Darkness in Saint Louis: Bearheart. Far less interested in the 90s rewrite.
As for another Native American SF author I highly recommend, check out Craig Strete if you haven’t already. I’ve reviewed two of his collections on my site: The Bleeding Man and Other Science Fiction Stories (1977) and If All Else Fails… (1980).
Strete picked up 4 Nebula Award nominations and is sadly forgotten.
I was unaware of Strete before reading your reviews and have really enjoyed the few books of his I’ve been able to find. Happyto return the favor (so to speak).
Thank you.
I was shocked when I discovered the existence of Walking the Clouds: An Anthology of Indigenous Science Fiction (2012) that it didn’t contain a Strete story.
It apparently contains a Vizenor story from 1978. You can check out the volume on Internet Archive.
https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/pl.cgi?373164
Ooh! Thx – puttin that on the want list
No problem.
Or a Russell Bates story…. It’s as if the editor ignored Native American authors who were working more explicitly in genre publications.
Bates only wrote a handful of stories. I should, I hope, have the final part of my review series on his fiction up before the new year. https://sciencefictionruminations.com/2023/06/09/short-story-reviews-russell-bates-legion-1971-get-with-the-program-1972-and-a-modest-proposal-1973/
Looking forward to that – I havent come across any copies of Bates’ stuff yet myself.
They were rarely anthologized and he only wrote 6 or so. I link the online digitized copies of the magazines for each story in the review.
Final Russell Bates review up yesterday in my mini-series on his SF!
Robert Charles Wilson did indeed write better than DARWINIA. I’d suggest JULIAN COMSTOCK, a post-apocalypse novel that is in the same general ballpark as Pangborn’s but would never be mistaken for his work.
De Camp’s LEST DARKNESS FALL is worth seeking out because (although it first appeared in Campbell’s fantasy magazine UNKNOWN and took place a millennium and a half earlier) it laid out a lot of the desiderata of subsequent Campbellian SF. Panshin says that Campbell thought de Camp was the ideal SF writer, though presumably he changed his mind when Heinlein appeared a couple of years later.
I think I also read Spin. I read both before I started my site and before I narrowed my focus. I was a voracious and wide-ranging SF reader until my early 20s.
But yes, I’ve heard good things about Julian Comstock.
I am reading Kate Wilhelm’s, Where Late the Sweet Birds Sang, only a few pages in.
A great book! I enjoyed it in my late teens/early 20s. As I was reading the Hugo novel list, it was the first of hers I encountered. I’ve reviewed two wonderful Wilhelm short fictions this year. Have you seen the reviews?
“Ladies and Gentlemen, This Is Your Crisis” (1976)
“Planet Story” (1975)
The reviews were what led me to this book. That and some crazy notion to pick up the SF Masterworks versions of books when I come across them rooting around used bookstores.
Ah, nice. Yeah, she’s a favorite of mine. I conducted a substantial guest post series on her fiction back in 2015. https://sciencefictionruminations.com/2015/04/05/update-kate-wilhelm-guest-post-series/
I am rereading Jack Vance’s Demon Princes series. I have just finished the second book, The Killing Machine, and hugely enjoyed it.
I have soured on his fiction over the years. I wish I had read more of his work in my late teens.
Really? The older I get and the more I revisit his work, the better it gets for me. I didn’t appreciate him enough as a teenager.
I don’t–with few exceptions– at this point in my life revisit work. All the Vance I’ve read, other than The Dying Earth that I waited too long to review, is reviewed on the site. I read all of it as an adult. My early reviewed are far more effuse than my more recent ones.
Way past 1985, but I’m reading Stations of The Tide (published 1990) by Michael Swanwick. Imagine The Master and Margarita but set on a mostly-ocean planet and the antagonist is an evil scientist-wizard instead of Satan. Swanwick is an underappreciated writer of 90s SF, especially in an era marked by a lot of cyberpunk alternatives.
I own the first two books in that series. But yes, the third one is a bit out of my area of interest. I really should read In the Drift (1985) in 2024!
I’ve read through a few short story collections recently including Under Compulsion by Disch which you mentioned a couple of weeks ago. Overall I found it a strong collection and have enjoyed the novels of his I have read too, especially 334 and The Genocides. I found Under Compulsion in my local charity shop alongside Earth is Room Enough by Asimov so felt that was a profitable morning.
In terms of novels the two I’ve read most recently which have stuck with me are Galactic Pot Healer by Dick and The Inferno by Fred and Geoffrey Hoyle. The Inferno perhaps felt a little close to The Black Cloud in premise/build up with it’s tale of government bureaucracy failing to act sufficiently promptly to a threat from space and the subsequent breakdown of society into small clusters across the Highlands of Scotland follows similar tropes from elsewhere but I found it an engaging enough read, maybe because I know the areas where the action is set well. I also enjoyed Galactic Pot Healer as an easy read (which I needed to escape from work at this time of year) but am not sure I picked up the subtleties of the plot around personality and beliefs/religion. It did make me feel I do need to pick up some more Philip K Dick (I have enjoyed most of what I have read of his so far, which is about 11 of his novels), especially Do Androids Dream which I have yet to read.
Next up I have the first of the Berserker books by Fred Saberhagen (the penguin edition with a lovely Grigani cover) and The Forever War by Joe Haldeman which I sourced recently and have been keeping until work finishes for the holidays and I will have some time to spend with it.
Hello Stephen, sorry for the delayed response — holiday responsibilities have prevented me from reading, writing much for the site, or responding to comments. Alas!
Glad you enjoyed The Genocides. It’ll be near the top of my best reads of 2023 list. I’m debating whether to include it or Davy as my best read of the year. I plan on reading 334 in 2023.
I remember thinking, back in my PKD obsessive pre-site years, that Galactic Pot Healer was middling Dick but interesting regardless. I don’t have strong memories of specifics other than the games they played in the beginning of the book.