Dawn Treader bookstore haul part II [part I]! A batch of my favorite authors: Norman Spinrad, Joanna Russ, Barry N. Malzberg, and C. M. Kornbluth. Two novels and two short story collections!
…and some fun covers.
Thoughts?
1. No Direction Home, Norman Spinrad (1975)
(Charles Moll’s cover for the 1975 edition)
From the back cover: “A GHASTLY WORLD… AN ULTIMATE ORGASM… A COSMIC NIGHTMARE… Bone-chilling, mind-shattering science fiction that will take you Continue reading
(William George’s cover for the 1963 edition)
2.75/5 (Vaguely Average)
Margaret St. Clair was one of a handful of prolific women SF authors who started publishing short fiction in the late 40s—her first SF story was “Rocket to Limbo” for the November 1946 issue of Fantastic Adventures. From the late 50s to the early 70s she published eight slim novels, mostly Ace Doubles (paired with authors such as Philip K. Dick and Kenneth Blulmer). Regardless of her earlier publishing prowess—by the publication date of Sign of the Labrys (1963) she had four novels in print and somewhere around 125 short stories—Bantam Books felt the need to include the following back cover:
“WOMEN ARE WRITING SCIENCE-FICTION!
ORIGINAL! BRILLIANT!! DAZZLING!!!
Women are closer to the primitive than men. They are conscious of the moon-pulls, the earth-tides. They possess a buried memory of humankind’s obscure and ancient past which can emerge to uniquely color and flavor a novel. Such a woman is Margaret St. Clair, author of this novel. Such a novel is this, SIGN OF THE LABRYS, the story of a doomed world of the future, saved by recourse to ageless, immemorial rites…
FRESH! IMAGINATIVE!! INVENTIVE!!!”
Unfortunately, Sign of the Labrys is a disappointing read. The post-plague world is dark and creepy and for the first half an uncanny (palpable) tension permeates. But, ultimately the fantastic setting, revisionist stance on the normal pulp gender dynamics, are weakened by a disjointed (verging on amateur) narrative filled with Wiccan “craft” practices and references. As other reviewers have pointed out, one could easily substitute the Wicca magic with the pulp SF staple “psi-power” and I agree Continue reading
Ann Arbor’s Dawn Treader Book Store contains the best used SF collection I have encountered in my perambulations (fortunately, I live far away or else I would empty my bank account). Prepare for its manifold and manifest joys (multiple parts over the next month or so)!
What a haul! I have yet to read a Chelsea Quinn Yarbro novel—this one is her most famous work so I look forward to it despite the creepy wolf/man with blood on the cover. Also, Farmer has somewhat redeemed himself in my eyes with Strange Relations (1960)—thus, the metafictional account of a man who recreates the Burrough’s Tarzan tales sounds like an experimental New Wave SF novel right up my alley.
As does Christopher Priest’s Indoctrinaire (1970)… I think I will read this one before I tackle Inverted World (1974) that I acquired a while back but never felt like reading.
And, I bought FOUR novels by one of my favorite authors, Barry N. Malzberg—the first is On a Planet Alien (1974). Will read this one soon.
Thoughts? Have you read any of the novels?
1. False Dawn, Chelsea Quinn Yarbro (1978) (MY REVIEW)
(Gary Friedman’s cover for the 1978 edition) Continue reading
(Ron Walotsky’s cover for the 1979 edition)
The eighth (!) installment in my Michael Bishop Guest post series comes via my longtime fellow SF blogger/friend (well, multiple years) 2theD (twitter:@SFPotPourri) at PotPourri of Science Fiction Literature. And this is a darn good linked collection of Bishop stories.
I highly recommend you check out 2theD’s blog, follow him on twitter, peruse his large collection of reviews…
All cities are built on voiceless narratives
Collated rating: 5/5
Buying Michael Bishop’s Catacomb Years was a wise investment, albeit an impulse buy at the second-hand bookstore. This is the only Bishop novel, or collection, I own. Originally, it was going to stay stacked in my to-be-read pile for 3-4 years in the future (hey, I have a lot of catching up to do in my library) but the alluring cover proved too much… that and Joachim Boaz manhandled me from 8,700 miles away into reading it for his collection of guest posts on the work of Michael Bishop.
You’d be a dullard if you weren’t initially struck by either the premise or the cover art: As history barrels forward in a the manner of a drunkard, American cities like Atlanta eventually cap themselves in domes under the idea of Preemptive Isolation, only to suffer the pangs of dying from its onset Continue reading
(Ron Walotsky’s cover for the 1982 edition)
The seventh installment of my guest post series on the SF of Michael Bishop comes via Carl V. Anderson (twitter: @SteelDroppings) over at the SF/F site Stainless Steel Droppings. Although he does not often review older SF he was excited to participate in my project. We decided to split Bishop’s first collection of short stories, Blooded on Arachne (1982). Although he found a few of the stories rather hit or miss, he was blown away by “In Chinistrex Fortronza the People are Machines” 5/5 among others. Check out Carl’s worthwhile site (for example, posts on the new Hugo art nominees, Andre Norton reviews etc. etc. etc.)
Blooded on Arachne (1982)–Michael Bishop
When Joachim Boaz asked me to join a group to guest post about author Michael Bishop, I jumped at the opportunity despite my overwhelming schedule. I had not been doing much short story reading, and the proposition of exploring work from an author I had not read…admittedly don’t recall ever having heard of…excited me. Of course there was more to it than that. Having followed Joachim’s site for several years and knowing his passion Continue reading
(Howard Winters’ cover for the 1969 edition)
3.5/5 (Good)
“Inspecting a few she found that they were about what she had expected: the science-fiction books seemed to be full of nonsense about extraterrestrials or flights into space, the damnedest silliest stuff imaginable, and the sex part was sheer filth. There was no question about it; there was no other way to describe those books” (12).
Science fiction as delusion. More specifically, chapters replete with SF plots with evil aliens with interchangeable names and megalomaniacal claims to power culled straight from the pulps are delusions. Imagined (perhaps?) by an average American man with “metastases” (14) growing in his brain while a concerned, albeit cheating, normal American housewife waits at his bedside. The Empty People (1969) is considered Barry N. Malzberg’s (writing at K. M. O’Donnell) first SF novel. However in the vein of his more famous Herovit’s World (1973), the most convincing interpretation of the novel suggests that the SF elements (purposefully clichéd and vaguely explained) are mere manifestations and torments of a diseased mind.
Originally Malzberg had aspirations to become a playwright and was even awarded multiple university playwright fellowships but was unable to break into the literary market. Thus, he tried his hand at science fiction in the late 60s with some success (his most famous work would be published in the early 70s). I would suggest that Malzberg’s palpable frustration writing SF can be found throughout the novel. In The Empty People pulp science fiction plots, in their most general formulations, serve as instruments of repression Continue reading
(Dean Ellis’ cover for the 1978 edition)
The sixth installment of my The Science Fiction of Michael Bishop guest post series was graciously provided by Heloise over at Heloise Merlin’s Weblog. She is a long time fan of Michael Bishop’s work and we have engaged in numerous (fruitful) discussions of his work—including whether or not the first version of A Funeral for the Eyes of Fire (1975) is superior to his complete rewrite Eyes of Fire (1980).
Heloise purposefully chose one of Bishop’s lesser known novels. But, from the review, A Little Knowledge (1977) has been wrongly ignored: “even though [A Little Knowledge] never leaves this single place on Earth, in the end Bishop’s novel manages to give more of a sense of what it means for humans to live in a vast, largely unexplored universe than most novels that are filled with large spaceships and far-future technologies.”
I plan acquiring a copy ASAP.
Visit Heloise’s site! Enjoy! Comment!
A Little Knowledge (1977)—Michael Bishop
Michael Bishop’s Urban Nucleus sequence (consisting of the novel A Little Knowledge and the stories collected in Catacomb Years) is unusual among his early works in that it is not an anthropological Science Fiction novel; unlike books like A Funeral for the Eyes of Fire or And Strange at Ecteban the Trees, while reading A Little Knowledge, one is not so much reminded of Ursula K. LeGuin but it rather seems influenced by Philip K. Dick – and not by his largely consensual novels like Ubik or The Man in the High Castle, but his Continue reading
Another Wilhelm to add to my growing stack of her novels and collections—I’ve read and reviewed quite a few recently: Margaret and I (1971), The Downstairs Room and Other Speculative Fiction (1968), and Juniper Time (1979)
More Malzberg (Ace Double story collection + discursive SF novel about fandom)—early stuff from his K. M. O’Donnell pseudonym days.
Clarke’s first novel—although my edition does not have the amazing cover I placed in the post (sorry!).
And, the perhaps OK novel, Ice & Iron (1974) by Wilson Tucker. I really should read his more famous time travel novels first, I have at least two on the shelf….
Enjoy!
1. The Infinity Box, Kate Wilhelm (1975)
(Ed Soyka’s cover for the 1977 edition) Continue reading
(David Hardy’s cover for the July 1973 issue of The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, ed. Edward L. Fermin)
The fourth installment in my guest post series on the science fiction of Michael Bishop was provided by Admiral Ironbombs (twitter: @admrl_ironbombs) over at the fantastic blog dedicated to vintage/classic SF and other genres, Battered, Tattered, Yellowed, & Creased. He has magazines, piles of magazines. I asked him to provide a post, he looked in his pile of magazines, and VOILA!
Enjoy + visit his site!
~
Three Michael Bishop Stories
I have to admit, before Joachim asked me to contribute to his guest post series, I’d never read anything by Michael Bishop before. (I realize that was the point, but still.) I’ve read a number of excellent reviews about Bishop’s work (including three right here on this very blog), and have heard nothing but good things. Just wanted to let you know I was going into this blind.
I wouldn’t say my specialty is magazines, but I do own far more of them than any mere mortal needs to own. That’s probably why Joachim suggested I dig through my stacks and see what stories by Bishop I had. Alas, there’s only three – a short and two novellas—but at least the novellas are two of Bishop’s most famous early works, and each earned Hugo Continue reading
Science Fiction and Other Suspect Ruminations 