avant-garde

Updates: Recent Science Fiction Purchases No. CCCXXX (Tim Powers, Octavia E. Butler, George Alec Effinger, and Tom Purdom)

/ Joachim Boaz / 36 Comments

Which books/covers/authors intrigue you? Which have you read? Disliked? Enjoyed?

1. Dinner at Deviant’s Palace, Tim Powers (1985)

  • Ron Walotsky’s cover for the 1985 edition

From the inside flap: “The civilized world had come to an end more than a century earlier, but in California life and society went on… taking strange, often horrifying forms.

Gregorio Rivas was a survivor–a proud, resourceful man who had, most recently, made his way from the corrupt, crumbling city of Venice to carve out a successful career as a musician within the walls of Ellay. He played his pelican with raw energy and flashy style, and people came from all over to hear him. But Greg’s real claim to fame had nothing to do with music. It was a part of his past he wanted to forget. And it had come back to haunt him…

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Short Story Reviews: Howard Waldrop’s “Mary Margaret Road-Grader” (1976), David J. Skal’s “Chains” (1971), and Tom Purdom’s “Courting Time” (1966)

/ Joachim Boaz / 18 Comments

Howard Waldrop (1946-2024), David J. Skal (1952-2024), and Tom Purdom (1936-2024) all passed away since the beginning of the year. As I’ve only read Howard Waldrop’s “God’s Hooks!” (1982), “My Sweet Lady Jo” (1974), and “The Ugly Chickens” (1980) and Tom Purdom’s “Toys” (1967), I impulsively thought I’d stich together a post featuring a tale by each.

Please note that I have not read enough to identify their best work and a negative review is not intended to be a statement about their entire oeuvre and impact on the genre. If you have any fond memories, recommendations for stories, or other tangents related to the three authors, let me know in the comments.

Terry Bisson (1942-2014) also passed away this year but did not publish any short fiction until the 90s. I’ll make sure to review one of his 80s novels—Wyrldmaker (1981) or Talking Man (1986)–this year instead. I’ve also procured novels by Purdom and Skal to feature later this year.

Now let’s get to the stories!

  • David Plourde’s cover art detail for the 1978 edition of Best Science Fiction Stories of the Year: Sixth Annual Collection, ed. Gardner Dozois (1977)

4.5/5 (Very Good)

Howard Waldrop’s “Mary Margaret Road-Grader” first appeared in Orbit 18, ed. Damon Knight (1976). If you have an Internet Archive account, you can read it online here.

Nominated for the 1977 Nebula Award for Best Short Story. Lost to Charles L. Grant’s “A Crowd of Shadows” (1976).

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Updates: Holiday Purchases! No. CCCXXVIII (Robert Silverberg, S. P. Somtow, Janet Asimov, and a World’s Best Anthology)

/ Joachim Boaz / 21 Comments

Happy holidays. I hope you’ve been able to squeeze in a bit of science fiction reading.

Which books/covers/authors intrigue you? Which have you read? Disliked? Enjoyed?

1. Those Who Watch, Robert Silverberg (1967)

  • Gene Szafran’s cover for the 1971 edition

From the back cover: “CRASH LANDING FROM THE STARS.

Only three humans would ever know that the blinding flash in the sky on that night in 1982 was an exploding flying saucer. Only they would learn the truth about THOSE WHO WATCH–about the alien beings who came into this world in a crash landing from the stars. THOSE WHO WATCH is the strange, seductive novel of three accidental colonists from outer space whose chance encounter with Earth triggers interplanetary conflict. It is also the most unusual love story ever written.”

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What pre-1985 science fiction are you reading? + Update No. VII

/ Joachim Boaz / 48 Comments
  • 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)

  1. 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.
  2. 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.
  3. 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.
  4. 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?

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Updates: Recent Science Fiction Purchases No. CCCXXVII (Thomas M. Disch, Doris Piserchia, Ian Watson, and an anthology)

/ Joachim Boaz / 22 Comments

Which books/covers/authors intrigue you? Which have you read? Disliked? Enjoyed?

1. Under Compulsion (variant title: Fun with Your New Head), Thomas M. Disch (1968)

  • Tony Roberts’ cover for the 1978 edition

From the back cover: “A BLACK BANQUET OF PURE DISCH

A part-human, part-electronic brain going slowly mad in the Venus jungle.

The last man on earth rejecting the last woman.

A Russian astronaut looking for a good reason to die on the moon.

A chilling glimpse of a 21st century America where war is peace, freedom is slavery and ignorance is strength–and they like it like that.

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What pre-1985 science fiction are you reading? + Update No. VI

/ Joachim Boaz / 74 Comments
  • A selection from my shelves

What pre-1985 science fiction are you reading this week?

It’s been over a month since the previous installment. Sorry! While I’d like to keep a schedule, I find myself pathologically unable to do so. As with so much on my site, I’ll post continue to post these updates when I feel the inclination.

As these posts seem to bring in new readers, if you’re 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.

Let me know what pre-1985 SF you’ve been reading!

The Photograph (with links to reviews and brief thoughts)

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What pre-1985 science fiction are you reading? + Bimonthly Update No. V

/ Joachim Boaz / 84 Comments

What pre-1985 science fiction are you reading this week?

I apologize for the break in my update schedule. It’s been a month since the previous installment. Alas. As I say week after week, thank you for all the great conversation. The community that’s emerged over the years is one of the main reasons I keep writing. I’ve included a bit about the books in the photograph, birthdays from the last two weeks, and brief ruminations on what I’ve been reading and writing.

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Updates: Recent Science Fiction Purchases No. CCCXXV (Walter Tevis, Katherine MacLean, Michael Frayn, and Jeffrey A. Carver)

/ Joachim Boaz / 35 Comments

My rough start to the semester proves hard to dispel. I’ll get back to my regular programming soon–I promise. In the meantime, I’ve collected some goodies!

Which books/covers/authors intrigue you? Which have you read? Disliked? Enjoyed?

1. The Man Who Fell to Earth, Walter Tevis (1963)

  • Jim Burns’ cover for the 1982 edition

From inside page: “He was not a man; yet he was very much like a man. He was six and a half feet tall, and some men are even taller than that; his hair was as white as that of an albino, yet his face was a light tan color, and his eyes a pale blue. His frame was improbably slight, his features delicate. There was an elfin quality to his face, a fine, boyish look to the wide intelligent eyes.

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What pre-1985 science fiction are you reading? + Bimonthly Update No. V

/ Joachim Boaz / 61 Comments
  • A selection of SF volumes from my shelves

What pre-1985 science fiction are you reading this week?

Thanks again for all the great conversation. Make sure to check out the previous installment if you haven’t already. As before, I’ve included a bit about the books in the photograph, birthdays from the last two weeks, and brief ruminations on what I’ve been reading and writing.

Let me know what pre-1985 SF you’ve been reading!

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