Michael Bishop

Short SF Book Reviews: Michaelmas, Algis Budrys (1976), The Machine in Shaft Ten, M. John Harrison (1975), and Catacomb Years, Michael Bishop (1979)

/ Joachim Boaz / 20 Comments

[The second of four review catch up posts.  The first — > here]

1. Catacomb Years, Michael Bishop (1979)

(Ron Walotsky’s cover for the 1979 edition)

5/5 (collated rating: Masterpiece)

Michael Bishop’s Catacomb Years (1979) takes the form of a complex and multi-layered future history of a single city, the Urban Nucleus of Atlanta, Georgia—entombed/reborn under a vast dome where even the sky is obscured.  Over the course of seven short SF works linked by recurring characters (and character references), theme, and chronology Bishop weaves one of the more spectacular future history canvases.  This is a future history of a profoundly human scope focusing on transformative junctures in the life of the city from the point of view of a range of the inhabitants—from the old to the young, from technicians to recluses obsessed with bonsai, from teachers to human caregivers of the alien visitors…  And most intriguing is Bishop’s willingness to Continue reading →

Updates: Recent Science Fiction Acquisitions No. CXXX (Anthologies 2x + Bishop + Green)

/ Joachim Boaz / 9 Comments

I’m continuing my anthology kick (my review of one of them is already up)—a fascinating way to explore the work of lesser known authors who might have produced some quality SF but never had solo collections or novels published.  Also, an unknown quantity in Joseph Green…  Has anyone read his work?  I do think that the Josh Kirby cover is quite evocative although the premise seems ridiculously silly.

Joachim Boaz trembles with excitement as he picked up another work by one of my all time favorite SF authors, Michael Bishop!  If only I could convince myself to finally review Catacomb Years (1979) which was downright fantastic…

Thoughts?

1. The Mind Behind the Eye (variant title: Gold the Man), Joseph Green (1972)

MNDBHND1972

(Josh Kirby’s cover for the 1972 edition) Continue reading →

Adventures in Science Fiction Art: Tentacles and Other Strange Appendages

/ Joachim Boaz / 25 Comments

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(John Schoenherr’s cover for the 1964 edition of Alien Worlds (1964), ed. Roger Elwood)

Michael Whelan’s cover for the 1979 Dutch edition of Greybeard (1964) by Brian W. Aldiss appeared in a collection of SF art Space Wars, Worlds & Weapons (1977).  I remember encountering the collection at a used bookstore, perhaps in Philadelphia when I went to visit my grandparents…  It terrified me for years.  The bizarre metal construct looming over the destroyed world—and most of all, the strange tentacled hands…

…hence, today’s themed art post!

Tentacles and Other Strange Appendages.

 I have a confession:  I am warming to the art of Charles Moll—1974 edition of New Dimensions 3 ed. Continue reading →

Book Review: Transfigurations, Michael Bishop (1979)

/ Joachim Boaz / 10 Comments

(Mike Hinge’s cover for the 1979 edition)

4.25/5 (Good)

Note: A slightly shorter version of this review will appear in Big Sky, # 4 (a fanzine put together by Pete Young).

On the surface, Michael Bishop’s anthropologically inclined science fiction appears deceptively simple. In his first novel and unacknowledged masterpiece A Funeral for the Eyes of Fire (1975), the premise (moving an alien people from a planet) evolves into a vast and complex anthropological tapestry filled with stories within stories creating an almost claustrophobic doubling of characters. In Stolen Faces (1977) the biological mystery of a virulent disease grows, tumor-like, into a brilliantly nightmarish exploration of bodily and societal decay and the gravimetric forces of memory.

Bishop’s Hugo- and Nebula-nominated novella, “Death and Designation Among the Asadi” ( Continue reading →

Updates: Recent Science Fiction Acquisitions No. CVIII (Malzberg + Bishop + Sheckley + White)

/ Joachim Boaz / 18 Comments

What a haul!  Three are from numerous previous expeditions to choice used book havens….  And I caved in and bought Malzberg’s The Destruction of the Temple (1974) on abebooks because his seldom reprinted works are hard to find.

Sheckley’s Journey Beyond Tomorrow (1962) is near the top of my reading list.  Supposedly one of his best.

And, who can resist Michael Bishop’s magnum opus, No Enemy But Time (1982)?!?

And James White is always solid…

Thoughts?  Anything particularly worth reading?

1. The Destruction of the Temple, Barry N. Malzberg (1974)

(Uncredited cover for the 1974 edition) Continue reading →

Guest Post: “Allegiances,” Michael Bishop (1975)

/ Joachim Boaz / 8 Comments

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(Jack Guaghan’s cover for the February 1975 issue of Galaxy, where “Allegiances” was first published)

The tenth and final (at least for now) installment in my guest post series on the science fiction of Michael Bishop comes via Peter S. a longtime commentator on my site.  He should start his own SF review site….  His comments (and this review) are greatly appreciated!

He selected the novella “Allegiances” (1975) from the anthology The 1976 Annual World’s Best SF (1976), ed. Donald A. Wollheim he owned (image below)–DOMED CITIES!

The novella was included in Catacomb Years (1979) reviewed by 2thD recently.

Thanks everyone for a successful series.  All the comments and contributions are greatly appreciated.  I have more plans along these lines for the future!

~

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“Allegiances” (1975) — Michael Bishop

Jack Gaughan’s cover for the 1976 edition of The 1976 Annual World’s Best SF (1976), ed. Donald A. Wollheim

When I come across a Science Fiction anthology, I first check the contents to see if there is anything unusual such as a story by a favorite author that I have not seen before, or maybe a lost gem from an author I was not previously aware of. I also check to see who the editor is, since each editor has their own distinctive way of putting together a collection.

My impression of the many anthologies that Donald Wollheim (1914 – 1990) worked on is that they are always of interest. I expect the majority of the stories in any given collection to be very good, most will be mainstream Hard Science Fiction Continue reading →

Guest Post: “The Quickening,” Michael Bishop (1981)

/ Joachim Boaz / 3 Comments

(Roger Zimmerman’s cover for Universe 11 (1981), first place of publication for “The Quickening”)

My ninth installment of my guest post series on The Science Fiction of Michael Bishop comes via Max (twitter: @MaxCarnduff) at the fiction (and occasionally SF/F) review site Pechorin’s Journal.  His incredibly erudite review of  Anna Kavan’s Ice (1967) is the reason I have not tried to review the work myself….  Follow him on twitter and check out his site!

For this series he selected the novelette “The Quickening” (1981) which won the Nebula for Best Novelette (1982) (one of the two Nebula wins Bishop has under his belt) and was nominated for the Hugo for best novelette that same year.  The novelette appears in Bishop’s most recent retrospective collection put out by Subterranean Press, The Door Gunner and Other Flights of Fancy (2012) that desperately needs an eBook/Kindle version!

Enjoy!

~

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“The Quickening” (1981)

When Joachim approached me about participating in his series of guest reviews of works by Michael Bishop I was delighted, but worried I wouldn’t be able to get a review to him on time (work, life, that sort of thing).

Well, I was right on both counts. I was right to be delighted because Michael Bishop’s a writer with real talent Continue reading →

Guest Post: Catacomb Years, Michael Bishop (1979)

/ Joachim Boaz / 3 Comments

CTCMBYRS5E1979

(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…

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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 →

Guest Post: Blooded on Arachne (selections), Michael Bishop (1982)

/ Joachim Boaz / 5 Comments

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(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.)

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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 →