This second page of Robert Silverberg material will discuss his single novels, mostly SF (crime pulp fiction is at the very bottom of the page). For his series, including historical fiction series, and his many short stories, see the first Silverberg page (Man In The Maze).
54 books by Silverberg reviewed on this page. See a review of "The Hot Beat", below, added April 1st/24. 3 books by different authors ares also included in the reviews, and some collaborations with Asimov.
NIGHTWINGS
Cover art by Gene Szafran
Volume 21 of the Avon/Equinox SF Series was published in March, 1976. The story was originally published in 1968-69 by Galaxy Publishing. This version is 190 pages long. Silverberg was born in 1935, so he would have been 33 years old when this was written. Silverberg, Philip Jose Farmer, and Edgar Pangborn are the only authors to have two works chosen for this series. This means that each author has two separate pages in this blog. The first Silverberg page is #5 in the Equinox series (Man In The Maze). That is the page I use for all of the author's linked books, or series, and short stories. For example, all of his Majipoor works appear on that page. This current page (#21) will introduce readers to his single works.
Nightwings is a novel of some interest, for in it we can see the author's breaking down and reconstructing Earth and its inhabitants no less than four times. His fascination with planet-wide events gives us a preliminary glimpse into what he would create later with Majipoor. Earth is in its Third Cycle as the story opens, with The Watcher walking towards Rome (Roum) with two companions. One is the very young and beautiful Avluela, a flier who can only soar at night (see cover illustration). She is the result of genetic engineering back in Cycle Two that has created many unusual types of humans and non-humans.
The main characters of the story are these two, Watcher and Flier, though Avluela appears near the beginning only and near the end. The Watcher is an old man, and has a fatherly affection for the girl. However, deeper inside he still lusts for her, but realizes the futility of such thoughts. The Third Cycle of civilization on Earth is the current one, and people are divided into guilds, each with a specific purpose or duty to perform. Watchers must use their special equipment four times each day or night to search the sky for invaders. A distant planet has promised to return someday and claim Earth, over past misdeeds done to their brethren by humans. The Second Cycle saw both the flowering of humankind, and its proud downfall. Two things contributed to the downfall; tampering with the weather and climate on a grand scale, and the tendency to keep people and creatures from distant planets in zoos on Earth. One of these peoples will someday return to avenge their ancestors.
The book is divided into three even sections. In the first are events occurring in and around Roum, including the anticipated invasion that sees humans overthrown in a single night. The second book takes us to Perris, where The Watcher, now without a guild since the invasion he watched for for 40 years has now happened, and his kind of service is no longer needed, takes up as a novice in a new guild. The Remembers are historians who use many means to uncover Earth's past. We are currently about 40,000 years past early river delta civilizations, so there is a lot of history to uncover. Many machines and objects are left from the Second Cycle, but most no longer give up their secrets to even the closest study.
The third and final section takes us on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem (Jorslem), where the old man is reunited with the girl flier. One piece of equipment from Second Cycle that still functions as intended is the Renewer, where a worthy pilgrim can apply to make himself young again, but retaining his knowledge and insight gathered from a long life. Tomis (the Watcher) applies for his chance. The results put humans at the beginning of a fourth cycle, which Silverberg outlines well. His ideas are Buddhist, but in this case might eventually work to bring others into the fold. And it is made clear that humans will never physically overthrow their invaders, but as many civilizations have discovered upon being overrun by enemies, there are other ways of regaining what once was had.
I cannot help but compare Silverberg's novel to those of Edgar Pangborn, a writer who also took a deep interest in civilization after things had fallen completely apart on Earth. All of Pangborn's best works were already published when Nightwings came out, and I'm certain Silverberg knew them all. Pangborn's gentleness is properly absorbed by Silverberg, though the humour of the greater author is missing. Also missing are the deeper insights Pangborn affords the reader, often without specifically telling us anything special. Wisdom is seldom imparted in a direct way; it often seeps into us from learning something, or being close to someone who "teaches." Silverberg spends a lot of time describing things, as he does in the Majipoor series, and his characters seldom have really meaningful discussions. The Watcher is a private man and respects the privacy of others.
Still, Silverberg manages to create a unique and oddly beautiful story. There is so much in the book that does not directly impact the story, but adds depth and layers to understanding the planet. For instance, many of the day to day things, such as carpets, beds, and covers, are actually living organisms that respond to stimuli around them. These encounters are often unsettling, as they are meant to be, leftovers from Cycle Two when humans had reached their zenith in knowledge, and had become gods.
I enjoyed the book, despite the lack of action. It is a gentle journey through a turbulent time in Earth's future history, but it is a journey worth making. I wish I could be as optimistic as the author about the far future, but he does point out that we first have to hit rock bottom before we might finally climb out of our troubles, and deal with them properly next time.
Nightwings won the Hugo Award in 1969.
***1/2 stars. Reviewed May 28th/18
THE 13TH IMMORTAL
Cover design by J. T. Lindroos.
From 1957 comes Silverberg's first Ace Double publication, reissued in 2004 by Cosmos Books. This version runs 205 pages, including an introduction by Silverberg. A man who cannot remember more than four years back enters a nightmare world of adventure, 500 years after the world virtually destroyed itself in a nuclear war. The world is divided up into 12 sections, each with an immortal Duke in charge. We only learn a bit about North America and South America. However, a 13th immortal apparently resides in Antarctica and rules there, though the continent has a barrier in place, and its history and doings are shrouded in mystery.
There is considerable fast adventure and some interesting stops on Dale Kelsey's journey, including the mutant city and an artist's colony (Silverberg did not seem very sympathetic to artists and musicians of his day). Ace Doubles usually guarantee a good time, and no one knew this better than Silverberg, who collected them all before he was accepted as one of their writers. He instantly fits right in with the type of book required by that publisher, one of three in the 1950s publishing SF (Doubleday and Ballantine were the other two).
First edition of Silverberg's entry into Ace territory.
Cover art by Ed Valigursky (left) and Emsh (right).
Even having read hundreds of SF stories over the past few years, I quite enjoyed this one. It is one of those books that could easily have been made into a lengthy series. We can see traces of Majipoor even back then in Silverberg's writing, including the hero with memories missing (Lord Valentine). Of course Silverberg's earliest Ace novel cannot compare to Edgar Pangborn's masterpieces on a similar them. However, if you enjoyed this type of story I suggest you check out Pangborn's Davy and others about a post-holocaust America.
*** stars. Reviewed July 25th/19
MASTER OF LIFE AND DEATH
Cover to my 2016 Kindle edition.
From 1957 comes this quite readable SF novel, lasting for 185 pages. I read it in one day, so it is a very easy read. Roy Walton is second man in charge of a vast population control project on Earth, which sees criminals, elderly people, babies born with defects, etc. given euthanasia. In the meantime masses of people are being taken from crowded cities and countries and moved to places like Patagonia and northern Canada. It's all pretty horrifying, considering that in 1957 people thought that 7 billion people would push us to such tactics. As I write this review in 2018, there are 7.6 billion people on the planet. The population has doubled in my lifetime! Other than this miscalculation by Silverberg, the rest of the book is pretty good. The action takes place in 2232 (what will the real population actually be by then???). A team is on Venus trying to terraform it, and work is being done on a faster than light drive for spaceships, in the hopes of moving people from earth.
Original 1957 publication. Cover art by Emsh.
Roy's evil brother Fred is the other main character of the story, as he and his underground allies are trying to take over the project from Roy and his crew. Without delving into the plot and twists and turns, this book is unusual in many ways. For one thing, there are a few women in high positions. For another, most of the action in the book is the kind of action one might see in a fast moving chess game. Roy is the white team and Fred is black. Roy is often sitting at his desk. As an action figure, he would be tough to sell to kids. However, once he realizes what is at stake (the human race), he is a more than capable leader. When his superior is assassinated and Roy is put in charge, he does a bloodthirsty but pretty decent job of it.
Besides overpopulation and space exploration, other important themes that arise in the story have to do with a top secret formula for extending life indefinitely, along with aliens from Procyon who do not want humans for neighbours. Apparently that star ship really was sent out, and really did find a suitable planet for humans, and did come across some wary aliens. There is also a huge commitment on the part of Silverberg to show how media can easily sway people to one side or another (think Fox "News").
I really enjoyed the book, despite its being almost as old as I am. Other than the bad population prediction, everything else seems to still work quite well.
*** 1/2 stars. Reviewed October 16th/18
STEPSONS OF TERRA
Cover art by Don Ivan Punchatz.
This reprint edition (it was an Ace Double first) contains a forward by the author from 1976. This book, with easy print, is 174 pages long. Despite the author believing that the book still holds up well, it really doesn't, at least from a science perspective. Silverberg once again searches outside our galaxy for bad guys to come hunting colonized planets in our galaxy. Why? Could they not have come from somewhere within our own vast, nearly inexhaustible galaxy? Distances between galaxies are so vast as to stagger the imagination, and without the slightest hint of knowing how anyone can travel from Andromeda to the Milky Way, it sounds more like Buck Rogers and Flash Gordon, rather than good SF writing. The bad guys are out for destruction for the sake of destruction, and they are hardly more than 2-dimensional cardboard characters. We never see or meet one of them.
Original version from 1958. Cover art by Emsh.
And then we have the time travel problem, with no less than five versions of our hero existing at various times during the story. At the end he does not want to return to Earth to help them out, because he wants to stay with his wife and family. Not a noble choice, but an understandable one. However, he goes and makes yet another copy of himself (somehow, again; no science is ever discussed). Not even Dr. Who would tackle this presumption. Talking and meeting up with yourself? Really? Just a bit of a stretch for science.
The story is pulp writing at a pretty low level. The book is easy to read, and can be finished in one longer sitting. It is a page turner, and there are female characters (two). I liked the bit about the more militarily inclined Syrian colonists preparing for a takeover of the somewhat foppish home world (I believe that pink cover art is supposed to get that idea across). It is always fun to read early works by authors. While this one is far from dreadful, I feel that a bit more thought could have produced a much more valid story possibility.
** stars. Reviewed Nov. 20th/18
THE PLANET KILLERS
Cover art by Kieran Yanner.
This volume contains three Silverberg novels originally published as Ace Doubles, with other authors. I already have Ace copies of The Plot Against Earth, and One Of Our Asteroids Is Missing. Planet Killers was originally published in 1959. My version runs to 91 pages, with 16 chapters.
Original publication. Photo courtesy of
http://people.uncw.edu/smithms/ACE.html
The flip side contained a story by Poul Anderson, We Claim These Stars.
http://people.uncw.edu/smithms/ACE.html
The flip side contained a story by Poul Anderson, We Claim These Stars.
Computers on Earth have predicted that the planet Lurion will attack Earth in just over 60 years. There seems nothing left to do but destroy the entire planet, before it can get organized and start a major interplanetary conflict. Roy Gardner heads a team of five humans sent to the alien planet to destroy it completely. The act is so outrageous and ruthless that it is top secret. There are 3 billion inhabitants on the planet, including about 3,000 humans, which are considered expendable.
The planet is violent and socially backwards. Night club entertainment includes men and women dancing and slowly stabbing each other, sometimes to the death (see Ace cover, above). Roy is convinced that the planet is truly evil, and must be destroyed. He soon runs into a young female anthropologist, and they become friends. Roy knows she will die when his mission succeeds, and does not wish to start a relationship with her. However...
The story begins on a sour note, but ends up getting better and better. As evil as the deeds are on Lurion, it appears Earth's wish to destroy the planet and kill everyone on it is much worse. Silverberg takes all this into account, and eventually gets around to dealing with the issues we wonder about in the first few pages. Roy is an agent with a conscience, and his training and intelligence do not overcome his humanity. This turned into a great little story, with enough oddities and unique situations to make it quite memorable.
*** stars. Reviewed June 5th, 2019
COLLISION COURSE
Reprint edition from 1988; cover artist Ron Walotsky.
From 1959 comes this 180 page SF novel, one of the first to use Silverberg's real name on the cover. It concerns humans 800 years in the future, setting out to conquer the universe. Yup, the universe. More on that later. Their one and only faster than light ship, with the only crew to man it, is just back from a planetary system 10,000 light years away. The journey only takes 17 hours, one way, once you get to Pluto. Boy, do they find a surprise out there! There is another humanoid culture just like ours, and they, too, are colonizing systems near their home planet. So far, Earth has managed to colonize only as far as 400 light years distance from Earth. But there are big plans to colonize the universe. Anyway, these other people have a similar idea. Of course this must mean war! But first, a diplomatic mission is sent from Earth to try and make peace, dividing the universe into two equal halves, so each culture doesn't have to overlap or interact. Great idea, right? Except the aliens don't buy into it, and send the human diplomats home with their tails between their legs. Humans are told to stay withing their current boundaries; the rest belong to the blue and green aliens (yup). On the way home, the humans are kidnapped by a very advanced civilization. They are brought together with the aliens, and both cultures are given what for, and told to be happy sharing our own puny little galaxy, with half going to each culture. Or else. So everyone goes home angry. Only half a galaxy? I mean, really? What a burn!
This book angers me on so many fronts. First, there are simply no females present. The Earth is ruled by a council of 13 men. The good news is that only ten of them are white. Two are black and one is Asian. There's the future for you, and it sounds pretty grim to me. The five-person crew of the Earth ship is all male, as is the four-person diplomatic group. So are the aliens. Apparently, women won't really be needed much in the future. The really sad thing about this is that Silverberg wrote an intro to this 1988 edition, and doesn't even mention sexism as one of his faults. The author was more concerned with his use of italics to show when the lead character was thinking to himself. He also mentions how the book was not accepted by John Campbell at Astounding, because in his view Earth people always had to come out on top, and in this book, at least, they came in third. More small minds at work.
However, the thing that really burns me up is the author's total disregard for science facts regarding the size of the galaxy and the universe. Let me quote a passage from the end of the novel, where the Earth leader is shaken to his foundations because Earth is not supreme.
"So all my dreams are over. I thought in my lifetime I'd see Terrans ranging the farthest reaches of the universe--and instead we are hemmed into half a galaxy, by the mercy of our masters. And that's the end, isn't it, Bernard? Once a limit has been set, once someone puts a fence around us--that ends all of dreams of infinity."
It gets much worse, but there is enough here to make my point. Hemmed in?? Put a fence around us? Wow. This is our brilliant world leader speaking, folks. 800 years from now. How many fence posts would it take, really? Imagine if an ant had a planet to live on that was the size of the entire diameter of the solar system. That would be one giant planet for one ant. Would it complain about being fenced in? Half a galaxy would actually give each human being more space than that ant would have. No one really knows how many stars there are in our galaxy, but let's take a low estimate of 100 billion. That's 50 billion for us, and 50 billion for the aliens (good thing there are only the 2 intelligent life forms, or it would get really crowded). Let's say that 10% of those stars have planets, and that 10% of them would be suitable for colonizing. So 5 billion stars have planets we can use. 500 million planets we can use. Whew. I'm feeling pretty fenced in already.
But Bernard, one of the diplomats and the main character of the story, tries to convince his fearless leader (who is sobbing) that this will give humans the incentive they need to rise above everyone else and really take over the universe someday. Even though there are at least 100 billion galaxies in the universe, somehow we were going to take them all over and colonize them. Fearless leader isn't pleased, however, as we can see in this quote.
"Yes, someday perhaps we will....But I won't live to see it, Bernard, nor will you nor any of us nor even our children's children. And I had wanted to see it. To build it, Bernard. To shape tomorrow with my hands. Can you understand that, man? I! Me! I! While I live!"
I think that speech pretty much sums up why white males should never be put in charge. They always mess things up. Seriously, though. Really??!! And Silverberg not only wrote this novel in all seriousness, but had the gall to write an intro to it in 1988 and not address the science aspect, nor the missing women characters and other minorities. And where are all these colonists coming from? We are already teeming over planets within 400 light years. How many babies can humans have and want? Do they all want to go to space and live there?
There are some things I liked about the book. Though the main characters are over-dramatized somewhat, and certainly not in the least the best Earth could have sent on such a mission, I did like them and the way they were portrayed. I found it refreshing that much more advanced aliens were watching over us, ready to correct us when we overstepped our boundaries. I would certainly like to learn more about them. Overall, however, the book is quite ridiculous. I hope for better things from Silverberg as his chronology moves along. Stay tuned.
* 1/2 stars. Reviewed July 8th/18
INVADERS FROM EARTH
My Ace Double copy of the early Silverberg novel. The 2nd work is a group of short stories from the 1950s, which will eventually appear under the short stories page on page one of Silverberg. Cover art by Chris Foss.
Invaders From Earth is from 1958, and is 194 pages long. This is a very popular early novel by the author, and has been printed many times, some with very stunning cover art. The cover art to my Ace edition does not correspond with the novel; perhaps it describes one of the short stories, to be reviewed at a later date. Ted Kennedy (?) is a PR man working for the corporation, the largest advertising company in the world. They are so rich and powerful that they have a space program, and are hoping it will pay off for them after the huge expense of getting it going. So far, Venus and Mars have left them disappointed from a profit point of view. But now Ganymede, moon of Jupiter, has been proved to have rich ore deposits.
There is only one problem. There are intelligent natives living on the cold and icy moon. Ted, as a third level employee, is put on a team of PR men to help convince Earth that the natives are hostile and must be eliminated. A series of lies are fed to the Earth people regarding the aliens, and it works (of course it would). Ted is reluctantly sent to Ganymede to see things for himself. What he discovers shocks him and changes his entire values system so drastically that he is willing to give up his life in order for the real truth to be brought forth.
Invaders From Earth is from 1958, and is 194 pages long. This is a very popular early novel by the author, and has been printed many times, some with very stunning cover art. The cover art to my Ace edition does not correspond with the novel; perhaps it describes one of the short stories, to be reviewed at a later date. Ted Kennedy (?) is a PR man working for the corporation, the largest advertising company in the world. They are so rich and powerful that they have a space program, and are hoping it will pay off for them after the huge expense of getting it going. So far, Venus and Mars have left them disappointed from a profit point of view. But now Ganymede, moon of Jupiter, has been proved to have rich ore deposits.
There is only one problem. There are intelligent natives living on the cold and icy moon. Ted, as a third level employee, is put on a team of PR men to help convince Earth that the natives are hostile and must be eliminated. A series of lies are fed to the Earth people regarding the aliens, and it works (of course it would). Ted is reluctantly sent to Ganymede to see things for himself. What he discovers shocks him and changes his entire values system so drastically that he is willing to give up his life in order for the real truth to be brought forth.
Original cover from 1958. Art by Emsh.
The book, though essentially a pulp action novel, also works on many other levels. There are some interesting contemporary parallels to Colonialism and taking valuable land from natives here on Earth. There is a major whistle blower; there is corporate intrigue and lies; there is fear, even among his family, that helping Ted in any way will ruin their own lives. In many ways this is a novel that could have been written much more recently. In the previous book, (Collision Course, above), Silverberg shows us a humbled human empire stopped in its tracks by a vastly superior alien intelligence. In the present novel, humans, especially within corporations, are shown to be as evil and selfish as any from earlier colonial times. It forces us to question how far we have come in the field of ethics. Since we are still exploiting Amazon tribes today (and others, too), there is no reason to believe that we have really come very far.
However, there is one aspect I would have done very differently had I been the writer of this story. I would have had Ted ready to spill the beans on the corporation bosses, but give them one final ultimatum. If Ted could have somehow convinced the company that alien contact would make them far richer than stripping the minerals; if there was some way he could have proved to them that their alien language and poetry and honesty and wisdom would be worth billions in book sales, movie rights, tourism, etc., the book could have ended much differently. Show a corporation how they can profit handsomely by something and they are likely to tag along.
At any rate, I enjoyed the book and have no trouble recommending it to fans of early SF. It is a very easy book to read, and it moves along quickly. Of course there are no women in space; the only woman is Ted's wife, who first despises him when he works for the company, but then comes to love him again when he makes his choice to reveal all.
*** stars. Reviewed August 26th/18
RECALLED TO LIFE
Cover art by Don Punchatz.
From 1958 comes this almost true-to-life novel about the first discovery that can bring a person back from the head up to 24 hours after death. The novel itself is 238 pages, and there is also a 7-page intro by the author. The novel appeared in two instalments in Infinity Magazine, then remained unpublished, despite efforts by Silverberg. he reread and consequently rewrote the manuscript in 1971, when it was finally published by Doubleday. This paperback edition from 1976 is the first of that format.
I have a love/hate relationship with books that are too close to normal reality to be considered escapist. Mostly hate. Silverberg wasn't so much trying to write a SF novel, as perhaps break into more mainstream fiction when he wrote this. Bernard Shaw wrote a play called Too True to be Good, and this sums up my feelings about this book. Silverberg nails down nearly every possible angle as to why such a discovery would not float with the public, especially the public of the late 1950s. However, so many things that happen in this book are just as likely to happen today. One difference is that virtually no one would care what the Church in Rome thought about the discovery, though it would have been somewhat important back then. The title comes from Dickens, and I think much of the plot does, too. Essentially, the hero has to undergo nearly every hardship the author can invent, put him through the ringer, then somehow save him at the very end.
The story takes place in 2033, a year which could easily see such a discovery made public. Silverberg covers all the angles, as to who might be eligible for the procedure and why, and who wouldn't. Instead of the hate mail letters received by the institute in the novel, today we would have something called "social media outrage." Mindless hate is hate, whatever form it takes. So it is a believable story (mostly), though the ending is much too optimistic and simplistic. Today such a novel would have ended differently, I am sure, with a lot more cynicism. I could see the military jumping all over the secret of restoring life, and coveting it for themselves. And where are the spies from other countries who might be interested in such a gift?
I get frustrated reading such novels. I am very familiar with how people would react to such things. We have Climate Change today to show us how many people vehemently reject science and hard facts in favour of their own belief and expertise. If you like your fiction to be almost non-fiction, then you will like this book. It is well-written with a strong central character. The story is more than plausible. But the sudden happy ending somewhat spoiled things for me, too.
** 1/2 stars. Reviewed September 16th/19
THE CHALICE OF DEATH (Formerly "Lest We Forget Thee, Earth")
Cover art by Kieran Yanner.
This volume is a modern reprint of three Silverberg stories that first appeared in Ace Doubles. The other two stories are Starhaven and Stepsons of Terra, which Silverberg retitled here as Shadow On The Stars. This version of Chalice is 91 pages long. All three stories are introduced by Silverberg.
Original printing of Chalice.
Cover art by Ed Valigursky.
Cover art by Ed Valigursky.
This story comes from 1958. Earth people have become rare. A few millions survive, many now serving as advisors to other rulers. Humans had spread themselves too thin when they first began to colonize space, and after 100,000 years of rule, their empire was destroyed. Earth itself was attacked, and virtually destroyed. Nothing remained of the planet except legends.
Hallam Navarre is the Earthman advisor to the ruler of the planet Jorus, and he is soon sent on a fool's errand: to find the Holy Grail, or Chalice of Life. It is a mere legend, as is his home planet. He sets out to find it, however, and finds more than he bargained for. This is pretty decent space opera material, though I have one serious quibble. Silverberg always wanted to become a SF writer, and was well on the way by this time of realizing his dream. And yet he knows virtually nothing about space or astronomy. He always seems to think that space is filled with stars and clusters and galaxies, all mixed up into one big pie. Why he could not contain himself within one galaxy is beyond me, but his stories come out sounding juvenile whenever anything to do with space or space travel enters the picture.
Still, this is a fun read, with intrigue, humour, and even a climactic space battle. The story is said to be a combination of three previously published novelettes, but the stories have been seamlessly united.
*** stars. Reviewed April 20th/19
STARHAVEN
Cover art by Ed Valigursky.
Silverberg was a busy man in the late 1950s, and so was Ace Publishing. Ivar Jorgenson was a house publisher's name, used by different authors. This one is by Silverberg, the only time he used it. From 1958, it is 146 pages long. Johnny Mantell (!) is a beachcomber, selling his shells to tourists on a holiday planet. Before that he worked in weapons defense systems, before heavy drinking sent his career on a downward spiral. He suddenly finds himself falsely accused of killing a tourist, and is forced to steal a space ship and make a run for it. The artificial planet called Starhaven is run by its creator and builder, Ben Thurdan. It is a refuge for criminals, and if you are accepted as a citizen, it can be a rewarding place to live. However, once arrived there is no escape.
This is a good story, and the premise, though a bit idealistic, is acceptable and workable. We see enough of Starhaven and its 20 million inhabitants to know that at least a minimum of thought went into its creation by Silverberg. Again I can see an entire series of novels coming out of this one. An idea this good today would be worth a Netflix series and several large volumes. In those days, authors came up with ideas like this virtually every day. Lucky for us Ace managed to publish a lot of them.
This one has the added level of plot that sees Mantell questioning his own background. He has dizzy spells and memory fade-ins, all leading to the "surprise" revelation at the end of the story. It does come to a reasonable end, too, not like some of the very hurried ones when the writer had realized that his word limit was up. A decent enough story, but leaving a lot to the imagination.
*** stars. Reviewed January 23rd/19
SUNSMASHER
Cover art by Emsh
Original painting by Emsh. Courtesy Ace Doubles Image Library
http://people.uncw.edu/smithms/ACE.html
http://people.uncw.edu/smithms/ACE.html
This short novel (110 pages) is from 1959, and is the flip side of my Ace Double of Starhaven, above. Both stories use the same technique; a man has a new personality and memories placed over top of his true persona, causing the main plot conflict. In this one, Neil Banning thinks he is an Earthman with a small town Nebraska past. However, when he visits his "hometown," he quickly finds out otherwise. However, no matter how much evidence is presented to the contrary, he refuses to believe that he is not from town. Even when an alien breaks him out of prison and takes him aboard a star ship, claiming that he is the Valkar, a hero of the Old Empire, Neil refuses to believe any of it.
This plot technique quickly becomes overdone and tiring. The man seems to be a total idiot. However, ever so slowly, he comes around to the fact that something strange is afoot. The little light bulb begins to burn brighter inside his messed up head, and he is soon immersed in a galaxy-wide adventure of death and derring-do. I like the other main characters, especially Sohmsel, a kind of spidery telepath that looked after and protected the Valkar when he was a child. He still comes in mighty handy these days, too. And the "bad" guys, Tharanya the Empress and Jommor the scientist, are well drawn and allowed to develop.
Unlike the Silverberg story on the flip side, this one seems to come to a full stop at the end. The author seems to grasp the concept of one-shot brief story, and doesn't make us clamour for more. This is a pretty decent minor space opera, worth a read if you bought the Ace Double version for the Silverberg story.
** 1/2 stars. Reviewed January 25th/19
THE PLOT AGAINST EARTH
Cover art by Ed Valigursky.
From 1959 comes this 138 page interplanetary epic by Robert Silverberg. Silverberg used several different names when he wrote in the 1950s. He was so prolific that he was afraid that people would not buy so much material if he always used his real name. Sometimes, the pulp magazine he would be writing for would have 70% Silverberg content in a single monthly issue! Using different names helped him sell material and keep readers interested.
I've often wondered what features need be included to make up the typical Ace Double story. It would be an interesting experience to find seven or eight things that are in all of the works. Donald Wollheim, the editor, had specific things he wanted, and specific things he didn't want. More than anything else, these stories probably reflect the editor's tastes as much, or more, than the writers who contributed. Silverberg wrote 12 novels for the Ace Double series, and these in themselves would make for an interesting blog.
Having read a number of Ace Doubles, I would have to say that this effort by Silverberg seems to crystalize all that the series stood for. This is classic pulp age SF at its most fun and adventuresome. The plot involves a human secret agent trying to discover if there is a plot against Earth by so-called friendly alien races. As the title suggests, there is in fact such a plot. This story has a lot of the best ingredients for a fast-paced, fun-to-read SF adventure. The quality was often surprisingly high for material that was expected to be read once, and quickly.
We get to visit a number of interesting planets with suitably alien features and climates. There is intrigue, double cross, murder, sabotage (see the cover art), and we spend 40 days on an unexplored jungle world searching for a rescue beacon tower. A young human girl runs off with her much older alien music teacher (!), and Earth itself can only be saved by one man. Lloyd Catton is the man for the job. I like how he gets right inside alien worlds. We can already see Silverberg's love of exotic planets, something that will bear further fruit in his incredible Majipoor series.
Like many Ace Double novels, this one ends rather abruptly. I would have been happy with another 2 or 3 chapters at the end. Again we see a story that could have easily led to a series featuring the same characters and locations. For whatever reason, Silverberg was not interested in writing novels that somehow connect to one another at this stage of his career.
I thoroughly enjoyed this fast moving story, none of which takes place on Earth. Though only 138 pages, I still consider the work an epic tale, as so many interesting and unusual things happen in the story. We even get some character depth, and not just in the humans. Whether this novel represents the Ace Double series as a typical entry or not is not for me to say. However, I consider it a worthy effort by a very fast writing novelist, and it will reward the reader many times over. And it's why I still read Ace Doubles more than 50 years after they were published.
*** stars. Reviewed March 2nd/19
RECRUIT FOR ANDROMEDA
Cover art by Emsh.
The flip side of Silverberg's tale is this 117 page novel by Milton Lesser, also writing as Stephen Marlowe. Though he wrote SF novels, he is mostly remembered as a writer of mysteries. Yes, we do go to the Andromeda galaxy. In a really fast ship through folded space. We go there, an American man and a Russian woman, to fight seven space ships of the most advanced race (the old ones) in two galaxies. See those seven red stars in the cover art? Those are the bad guys. The heroes are on a giant artificial satellite, fighting for the Earth.
The plot is rather clunky, and the action somewhat erratic. However, one part of the plot seems to have been stolen/borrowed by Michael Moorcock. People from different civilizations, one per planet (except Earth, which manages two contestants) play mind games against each other to see who will become the beneficiary of the old ones' knowledge. Moorcock greatly expanded the games idea in his novel The Sundered Worlds, but it bears a some obvious similarities to Lesser's games.
I like the fact that a woman and a man had to get along together to complete the final task, and that they were from two different human cultures. This worked well in the end, and I commend any author writing in 1959 who gives women strength and leading roles. The scene where the woman is recruited, must shed her clothes, and is only issued a standard pair of white shorts, is quite humourous. I loved how she won that battle!
It is of minor interest to note that when this story was written, the distance to Andromeda was pegged at 900,000 light years. Today's best estimate puts it closer to 2.5 million light years away. Very few authors are silly enough to take us beyond our own galaxy, at least in space ships. It happens, but rarely. And I always wonder, did the author have to do it? In this case, the answer is no. In James Blish's Cities in Flight series, the answer is yes.
A diverting story, but nowhere near the quality of the Silverberg one in the same volume.
** stars. Reviewed March 3rd/19
LOST RACE OF MARS
Cover and interior art by Leonard Kessler.
This short and easy to read children's book was published by Scholastic in 1960, and was probably read by a large number of 9-11 year old boys and girls. I never came across it as a child, but wish I had. Scientists knew very little about Mars in 1960, so Silverberg wastes no time in having not only life on Mars, but an ancient and possibly extinct intelligent race as well. By 1960 we knew there were no canals, but the way Mars changed colours with the seasons left open the possibility that there might be plant life, at least. Alas, we know today that there is no such luck, at least on a large scale. But back in 1960, when the space age was just getting underway, it was a safe bet, especially in a children's book, that anything goes.
And so we are treated to a sort of Bobbsey Twins Go To Mars adventure. Only Nan and Bert go with their parents, however; Freddie and Flossie had to stay home, I guess. The two children here are called Jim and Sally, and they are 12 and nearly 11, respectively. Their father is a famous biologist researcher, and the family of four are funded for a one year visit to Mars colony, so dad can study the known desert lifeforms, which include tortoises, rabbits, cats, spiders, lizards, and other wonderful things no one seems to care much about. But dad is after the mysterious Martians themselves, and believes they still exist.
Can Jim and Sally help their dad to find the lost Martians? You bet they can. They are easily equal to the older Bobbsey twins in what they can accomplish in such a short novel. Though I would not give this to a child today to read, other than to show them how little we knew about Mars in 1960, it was fun for me to see what SF was available back then for school kids. For its time, it isn't too bad.
** 1/2 stars. Reviewed October 26th/19
THE SEED OF EARTH
Cover art by Ed Valigursky.
From 1962 comes this 139 page novel, one half of an Ace Double. The flip side is called Next Stop The Stars, and contains 5 Silverberg short stories. It has already been reviewed on my 2nd Silverberg page. I am a huge fan of Ace Doubles and singles, and of pulp fiction in general. I am usually quite happy to read old time SF stories, and am often blown away by the ideas, imagination, and story lines in these old volumes. However, Silverberg has really stretched the limits of anyone's imagination and gullibility this time around.
It is 2116, and humans are heading for the stars in huge numbers, every day of the year. 60 ships leave Earth every day, each one carrying 100 settlers, including 50 men and 50 women. That's six thousand people a day, or 2 million people each year, picked from all over the world. Since the trip we follow in the story lasts 4 weeks aboard a star ship, and is one of the closer trips to Earth (also requiring 4 weeks to travel home), and add in a week's preparation, then that ship can only manage about 5 trips per year, or less. Hmm. In the meantime, 21,900 other ships will have blasted off for space. So a lot of spaceships are needed, and Silverberg quotes a price tag of 100 million dollars per ship. Since those other ships have already blasted off and are travelling, just how many ships are needed to accomplish this feat, exactly? Seems like a rather expensive project.
But here is the kicker--only a very small handful of settlers are volunteers, about 1%. The rest are drafted, pulled from their wives, children, families, professions, etc., and forced to go, forever, and never return. No one from a colony has ever come back, and no other ships ever visit to check up on them. 100 people are sent to a new Earth-like planet (60 of these per day, remember), a planet which has been "surveyed" for about an hour beforehand. The people are just a regular mix of people, though they all seem to be white in our expedition. No doctor, but tons of babies are expected once at the planet.
The premise of this book is so ridiculous, so far-fetched, and so unaware of things like protests (true, this was written before the Vietnam War), mental health of separated families, and the odds of everyone in the world agreeing to such a preposterous scheme, doesn't even allow me time to discuss how many Earth-like planets would be needed (60 brand new ones every single day). I don't know what Robert was smoking in those days, or how badly he needed his one cent per word from Ace, but in the 400 books I have previously read for this blog, this one takes the cake for plot stupidity!
The first half of the novel discusses how all this is accomplished, and we follow the unlucky hundred to Osiris, their very own planet. The second half of the book details their trip, their landing, their initial setup, and a major adventure that happens to four of the settlers on the very first night. This second half of the book is much more fun to read. Why Silverberg had to use such big numbers is beyond me. How about one ship per day leaving? That would be somewhat more believable. And so I pretended as I continued to read.
The first half is the silliest plot attempt I have ever come across in so-called serious SF. The second half is standard Ace Double material, pulp writing at its finest. Go ahead and shake your head as you read the first half, but if you enjoy Ace Doubles, you will enjoy the 2nd half much better.
** stars. Reviewed November 14th/19
THE SILENT INVADERS
Cover art by T. Upshur in the 1973 edition.
Original 1963 Ace Double publication.
Cover art by Emsh.
This novel is an expansion, in 1963, of the short story published in 1958, of the same name. That story was reviewed on my 1st Silverberg page, under the book entitled Hunt The Space Witch. It was not a very impressive short story, and I am not certain why it was ever expanded into a novel. This expanded version is 152 pages long.
An alien comes to Earth disguised as a human. His race is called the Darruu, and they are perpetually at war with the Medlin, who are on Earth (it is believed) to get the Earth people on their side. The assignment given to our hero, disguised as a major, is to assist in killing all 100 Medlin agents on Earth. However, there are only 10 Darruu agents, so a major task is at hand. We follow the Major to his hotel, a meeting with an enemy agent, a meeting with his own boss, and the ridiculous plans formed to bring about their goal.
Well, it turns out that the Medlin are only there to do good, and to assist a new human super race coming into existence. The entire plot is quite ridiculous, and the writing is trite. The plot of Silverberg's expansion is hampered by being overly simple, and the characters (except for the Major) one dimensional. Other than completests, there is no need to read the full version, which at least is quite short. Read the short story instead, and you will have the whole gist in a briefer format.
** stars. Reviewed January 4th/20
ONE OF OUR ASTEROIDS IS MISSING
Cover art by Emsh.
From 1964 comes this 124 page Ace novel about an asteroid minor whose claim is jumped by the world's biggest mining syndicate. Even when offered 5 million dollars to sell his claim, John Storm doesn't give in. First, all of his identity is wiped from the records, along with his claim. After a lot of work back on Earth, he manages to regain his name. He returns to Mars to find out how his claim had vanished from the records, then heads back out to his asteroid, where the mining company is preparing to move its orbit. After more investigation on the asteroid, Storm has his answer as to why all this is happening.
Though just above for a pulp SF story, I read this one just after reading Hal Clement's very fine Still River (see review on the Clement page). And so I could have a busy time dissecting the errors in the Silverberg story. But back in the day, Silverberg wasn't really writing true science fiction. Very few writers were, since there were so few readers for the more serious, scientific material. Still, Silverberg gives a credible hero in John Storm, who, when he finally loses his temper with balking bureaucrats, has our full sympathy and support.
There seems to be an entire sub-genre of SF about mining asteroids, and that includes the two Seetee novels by Jack Williamson. Silverberg's story is pretty good, except once again we learn that space is no place for women. Luckily the aliens have a broader view of things.
*** stars. Reviewed December 17th/19
THE TWISTED MEN
Cover art by Jack Gaughan.
The original painting.
The flip side of the Silverberg story contains 3 novelettes by Van Vogt. The volume is 130 pages long.
The Twisted Men is from 1949, and is 56 pages long. Originally called Rogue Ship, it was expanded later into a full novel. Rogue ship is a much better name for this story, though I am not impressed with the author's ability to tell it. I can easily see why he would wish to rewrite and expand this jumbled tale about the first space ship to attempt a journey to Alpha Centauri. The whole story is clumsily written, as if it was the first draft and written very hastily. If this is supposed to be a polished professional version, then I have serious reservations about Van Vogt's writing ability. There is nothing wrong with his ideas--he uses advanced science to get his characters into the predicament they face, but he only ends up confusing the reader and leaving wondering what exactly is going on. A great idea, but poorly written.
** stars.
The Star Saint is from 1951, and is 30 pages long. Emigrants from Earth on on their way to bolster a colony already settled. However, upon arrival, they find the colony of a thousand people destroyed, and everyone in it killed. The captain of the ship has no choice but to leave them to it, as he does not have enough food or supplies to return them home, and he and his ship are needed for other tasks. The new arrivals are bolstered by a sort of mystic among men, one is able to communicate with aliens. He helps them get to the bottom of the mysterious killings, and eventually to put the new arrivals out of danger. Another excellent idea, but again I found the writing style to be clumsy and uninspiring.
** 1/2 stars
The Earth Killers is from 1949, and is 37 pages long. Again I am left with the feeling that Van Vogt has original ideas, but is not very capable of writing them down coherently. While trying out a new space plane, a test pilot is airborne when all of the big cities of America are nuked. Only America. No other country. Oddly enough, despite the destruction, things carry on. There is still mail. Telephones work fine. And of course the military is in full gear. No radiation sickness. Minor stuff, right? But the weirdest part is that I always feel as if I had missed a page or two, or even a whole chapter, while reading these three stories by Van Vogt. He seems to write without a reader in mind, but only to jot down what he thinks is necessary for his own benefit. I'm not certain I would be that interested in reading one of his novels, at least one from this era.
** stars. Reviewed December 18th/19
TIME OF THE GREAT FREEZE
Cover art by Schaare, depicting a scene from an early chapter.
From 1964 comes this 192 page book for young adult males. A good reader of 13 years could get through this novel easily enough, and it could probably be read to male children as young as nine. The year is around 2650, and most people of the northern hemisphere live in vast underground tunnel cities. Beginning around 2200 AD the glaciers returned, slowly, until everything was frozen by 2300. Over 300 years later, a small expedition of 8 men, one of them 17 years old, leaves the city (actually, they are exiled) and try to make their way to London. They have been able to secretly communicate with them from underground New York. Don't ask me how a radio works nearly a mile beneath the nice, but at least it doesn't work very well.
This is only one flaw among many for this story, which seems to follow an adventure formula that often makes reading kids books so predictable (some kids like that in a story). The main flaw is this: where are all the females? We don't even hear of a female until page 107, and again later when a new crop live below deck on a ship, with the children, while the men do the sailing and hunting. But not individual female emerges, and none have lines to speak, or even the most basic plot involvement. This story is boys and only boys. I know that if I had read this at 15 or 16, I'd be scratching my head about that. Part of the problem lies within Mayflower Books, the publisher. In a short preface, we learn that "Laurel-Leaf Mayflower Books are a new series designed especially to entertain and enlighten young people...." Then we look at who is choosing the books--three male professors, all very educated, I'm sure, but just a tad misogynistic. Was it actually believed that girls would not enjoy such stories? Why not even a single female lead character, anywhere? The city mayors and council are all male, and at the end (spoiler alert), it is a male leader that begins to help the northern countries get back on their feet.
Then we come to the wolves, who are again slandered for the sake of adventure. A large pack of wolves attack the travellers, and a vast battle ensues. Firstly, wolves travel in a family pack, with one alpha male. Secondly, they would never, ever, attack a large party of men. Firstly, the surface is now covered with hunters, roving continually to find animals to kill. The wolves would be a tad wary about suddenly attacking 8 men, who are able to kill them easily enough. More than likely they would have moved on, keeping their distance Why aren't they trying to bring down some of the lone animals? Instances of wolves attacking people are so rare as to be almost non-existent. But never let truth get in the way of fiction.
Silverberg was obviously heavily influenced by John Christopher's 1962 novel, The Long Winter, with a similar scenario, though that earlier novel is much more fully realized and developed. Silverberg's story seems to cover most of the bases, and isn't terrible reading, but now I must return to that troublesome radio, which was assembled illegally by the New York men who wanted to leave that city and travel to London. They tried for a very long time, but were only able to raise London, and poorly and infrequently. Why, then, since the people in Rio were searching for northern people to help lead that civilization out of the dark ages, did they not contact them by radio? Instead, they fly airplanes through blizzards far into the north to actually find them, after allowing them to trudge northeast for months of danger, then save them from freezing to death at the last moment. That whole set up and resolution just doesn't make any sense to this reader.
Though I might still give the book to boys to read, I would be asking them to spot any major flaws in the story, to see how many came up with some good answers. Though John Christopher's own adventure books for children are heavily boy-centric, there are usually some strong female characters in them, too. I don't know what Silverberg was thinking when he wrote this all-male story, and I don't really want to know.
** 1/2 stars. Reviewed February 2nd/20
CONQUERORS FROM THE DARKNESS
Cover art by Tom Kidd.
From 1965 comes this retitled novelization of a previously written novelette by the author, written in 1957. I have reviewed the shorter version on my first Silverberg page. Look for Hunt The Space Witch to read the original review. This version (I read the Tom Doherty 1986 edition) is 213 pages. However, the printing is large and well-spaced, and there is a blank page between nearly every chapter. The original novelette has been tripled at the most.
This is a decent adventure story, but, alarmingly, it is the 2nd Silverberg novel in a row I have read that has not a single female character. One would have thought that the expanded edition could have added a female character somewhere. I find this very strange, and quite unforgiveable. It says a lot about Silverberg at this time.
The story is virtually unchanged. Earth has been flooded by 8-foot alien amphibians who come to lay their eggs every once in a while. The first time they arrived, humans were defenseless, though this is difficult to understand, as in the present battle they are defeated by men with swords. Anyway, the Sea Lords roam the seas on vast ships, exacting tribute from floating cities in order to protect the vital trade routes. A land lubber joins the crew of a Sea Lord ship, and soon finds himself at the top of the heap, just as the aliens return.
Even the expanded version seems rushed, which is a shame, as this could have been a first class tale of humans versus aliens. All of a sudden the entire world is united against the aliens, even though the Sea Lord allies somehow make it to the scene from all over the world. That's pretty fast rowing and sailing! Meanwhile, underwater are the Seaborn Ones, once human but scientifically altered eons ago by scientists, as a further weapon against the alien invaders. Humans and the Seaborn, though closely related, hate each other and try to kill each other. But suddenly they are united against the aliens. Not that these alliances could not happen; they just happen too quickly to make believable sense.
This is a good adventure story, but it could have been so much better.
*** stars. Reviewed February 12th/20
THE MASK OF AKHNATEN
Cover artist unknown.
From 1965 comes this 182 page youth novel geared to boys concerning ancient Egypt and the search for the never-found body of one of the greatest kings of ancient history. There is also a map of the Nile from Alexandria to Khartoum, as well as an afterword by the author.
Part travelogue, part history lesson, part archaeology technique, and part Hardy Boys-type adventure, this is a good read and I would still recommend it for early to mid teens. There are two female scientists, too! (but they are referred to as "girls", while the males are "men")
Tom Lloyd accompanies his uncle Dave to Egypt one summer, and gets the grand tour, beginning in Cairo. Silverberg does a good job of explaining how such a different world might appear to an impressionable young teenager leaving America for the first time. He also has a healthy and accurate view of "tourists," who can often spoil one's visit to an otherwise sacred place.
The story takes place as the major dam at Aswan is just being completed, and the flooding behind it (upriver, towards Sudan) is just beginning. They are going to visit a site in Nubia where archaeologists are currently working to extract information before water covers the area. Even today a young reader can learn a lot from this book about other cultures and attitudes of different people, as well as about the science of archaeology and how it is carried out. Recommended.
*** stars. Reviewed March 13th/20
THE GATE OF WORLDS
Cover art by Mike Embdenm
From 1967 comes this 252 page alternate history novel, not exactly aimed at young readers but suitable for them. Silverberg takes his historical turning point in the 13th Century, when the plague was decimating Europe. In his version of history, 80% of the population died, leaving Europe ruined and weak, and ripe for Turkish invasion. The author has worked out many fine details to go along with what might have been, including having the Aztecs ruling Mexico and much of the former SW and SE United States. The Incas are still powerful in Peru, and the Russians haven't made out too badly, either. The year is 1985.
A blue-eyed blonde 18 year old boy leaves England on an Aztec paddle wheel boat in search of riches and adventure. He certainly finds adventure, but this is one story where the blue-eyed caucasian is out of his depth. He writes his story as he journeys to Africa, in search of his girlfriend, who left him behind to fight a war. The author's description of Tenochtitlan at its height, with around 9 million inhabitants, is something else. We get to experience a ball game in all its fierceness, and then a lot of travelling.
It's north to Taos to try and conquer an Aztec garrison up there, then take over the management, living off of tribute for the rest of his days. When that doesn't work out so well, Dan follows a medicine man to his tribe along the northwest coast. Things are pretty grim there, too, with the Russians in full control of the coastal areas. He absconds with the village chief's daughter, an intelligent and strong 17 year old beauty, who reads Shakespeare (in his original Turkish!), and they head east, where he gets involved in another attempt to overturn an Aztec garrison.
The story is quite good, but the best part is how Silverberg has thought out all the differences in history as a result of the increased plague deaths (in reality, about one third of Europeans died in the plague). We are constantly surprised at some of the little things, such as the primitive and very dangerous steam powered cars that are in use, or the absence of airplanes. And Silverberg knows his history, too, especially in the New World. All in all this is a very fun book to read and think about, especially amidst our present day corona virus 19 scare. How many people are dying that could have otherwise changed history, even slightly? That is the meaning of the book's title: each small change accounts for a break in the chain of events, and large changes, such as the plague, account for major shifts in civilization.
The first really major book to be written about this sort of thing was Ward Moore's 1957 Bring The Jubilee; see a review on the Ward Moore page of this blog). Silverberg and others took Moore's theme and ran with it, opening up infinite possibilities. P. J. Farmer used the technique, and later, in his Fireball Trilogy, John Christopher nearly copies much of Silverberg's book in his New Found Land. This book is a good follow up to his previous work, The Mask of Akhnaten, above. Recommended.
**** stars. Reviewed March 29th/20
PLANET OF DEATH
I read the Kindle edition.
This is a truly godawful story. It was likely written when the author was in high school. It was published in 1957 as as short story called Death's Planet. This is a 1967 73-page novella expansion, one which the world could do without.
This is a very badly reworking of Eric Frank Russell's much superior novella called Symbiotica. And it can't hold a candle to Harry Harrison's Deathworld, either. If Silverberg actually rewrote this in 1967, I don't know what he was thinking. Perhaps he had some bills to pay. One of the worst stories I have ever read. I can't even find it in my heart to give it a review. It leaves a very bad taste behind.
* star. Reviewed May 7th/20
THORNS
Cover art by Jim Burns, for my 1983 version.
From 1967 comes this 222 page serious novel by a writer who was hit and miss during the 1960s. Though the novel has its share of problems, overall it is a good one and worth reading. The story concerns two outcast and damaged people, an older man and a young woman, still a teenager. It didn't even have to be a SF story; it would work just as well as a normal romance. However, the SF elements do make a somewhat age-old story more interesting.
There are three main characters. The first is Duncan Chalk, a morbidly obese man who is rich beyond wealth and wields his power and money to satisfy a craving he has to watch people suffer. A man of simple needs, one might say, though he spares no time or expense to fulfill those needs. Next is Minner Burris, a former starman, who, as a member of a three man crew exploring a distant planet, was captured and experimented upon by the alien scientists they encountered. The first men taken died. Burris was third in line, and survived the vivisection.
It is painful to read and imagine what was done to him, but essentially he was taken apart and then put back together, but with so called improvements. Released and able to return to Earth afterwards, he lives a solitary existence, and is always in great physical and emotional pain. He has horrible nightmares about his encounter. He is friendless and unable to cope with the outside world.
The third lead human character is Lona Kelvin, who was taken by Earth scientists for experimentation. They removed some of her fertile eggs, and managed to grow 100 babies from a single sperm donor. She was 17, and is still a virgin, and mother to 100 kids, none of which she is allowed to see or have. She is a simple, uneducated girl who was thrust into the limelight for a brief period of time, then abandoned. While physically unharmed, emotionally she is a wreck, and getting worse day by day.
Duncan Chalk knows that if he can get these two together, after a brief honeymoon they will likely eventually destroy one another, and feed Chalk's sadistic need for a long time. And thus a story is born, as we follow Lona and Minner around, share their pain, and watching them both grow as they come to know one another. And though Chalk gets the basic idea correct, predicting the behaviour of two humans, especially these two, is simply too difficult a task.
Overall a pretty good read, though the ending, to me, makes little sense. And we are never very clear exactly how Chalk benefits from their arguing. Aren't there much easier ways to watch people hurt each other? Recommended reading, with some thoughtful ideas.
*** stars. Reviewed June 18th/20
THOSE WHO WATCH
Cover art by Paul Alexander (uncredited; signed Alexander on cover).
From 1967 comes this 142 page novel about three aliens who crash land in New Mexico. There are from the Dirnan people, one of two alien races that are keeping a close eye on Earth from above. When their ship malfunctions, the three watchers eject, landing in three different places. The entire introduction is quite a good read, but things break down quickly once the aliens have landed. Each is soon discovered by a different human, and all three aliens need care and time to heat from their nearly catastrophic injuries.
Silverberg stretches the imagination a lot here. One of the male aliens is found by a small Pueblo boy, and is looked after secretly in a cave. So far so good. Another crashes near a house north of Albuquerque, and is found by a recent widow. Instead of calling an ambulance or the police, she drags this strange man into her house and looks after him for weeks, without the neighbours or her 3-year old daughter ever catching on. The third alien, a female, is found by an air force colonel, one who has been put in charge of UFO investigations. He is actually out on patrol looking for debris from the reentry when he comes across her in the middle of the desert. He somehow manages to sneak her back to his house in Albuquerque, and look after her for a few weeks. Why didn't he report her? Send her to a hospital?
The author then had to have the aliens, in human form (for some inexplicable reason) be able to heal themselves without medical aid. When members of the two alien races go searching for the stranded ones, they need to rent cars. They can drive cars? Produce a license at the rental desk? Seriously? The most believable of the three separate rescues, and the most entertaining to read, is the Pueblo boy. Though only 11, he wants to learn more about space. But he is trapped in a traditional way of life, and finding it hard to become a modern, educated person. Silverberg has some very interesting things to say about Natives, and offers a perspective worth thinking about. By the end of the story, he seems to have come to some decisions about his future, and how it will unfold.
The other two stories are simple love affairs, and even though it's supposed to be alien/human love-making, it is really two humans, since the aliens are perfect replicas of humans, with fully functioning anatomies. Nothing like the wonderful things P. J. Farmer did with alien/human sex in several of his best stories.
I could have done without the alien cold war between the two races. I would have rather seen one of the aliens brought to a military hospital and discovered, and then rescued by the searchers, followed by the hushing up by the humans of what had really happened at the hospital. The love affair between the colonel and the alien female could have still taken place, somehow, to achieve the ending the author had in mind (which is a really good ending).
It's a good story, but not a great one.
*** stars. Reviewed July 27th/20
THE TIME HOPPERS
Cover art by Don Punchatz.
From 1967 comes this 156 page novel about unemployed men from the overcrowded future travelling back in time to make better lives. I first came across this as a short story, written in 1956. It was called Hopper. I wasn't crazy about the story, and only gave it ** stars. However, I really enjoyed the novelization, and I'm glad that the author took another stab at his original idea.
Quellen is a Level 7 crime fighting bureaucrat, mostly working from his desk and allowing his underlings to make arrests. His main perk to being such a high level of citizen is that he gets his own room in which to live. His sister and her husband are level 14s, and lead a pretty dismal life with their two children, living in one room with no windows. Not satisfied, he breaks several laws to acquire a small cabin in equatorial Africa, from which he can teleport whenever he needs to escape his life back in New York. The time is somewhere in the mid 2400s. He is given an assignment to find a man who is sending unemployed men back in time.
This stirs up all kinds of possibilities. If he stops someone from going back in time, how will that affect the present? Silverberg opens up some interesting questions, and even digs into ancient lore to find a few real case scenarios where animals or people seemed to suddenly appear, without explanation. The Level 1 person in charge of the world is reluctant to have anyone meddling with people who are about to hop, but he wants full control of the machine that sends them there.
Though the future appears suitably dim in Silverberg's distopian vision, the man who actually does send people back in time, Lanoy, likes it here, and enjoys looking out across a totally polluted and dead lake from where he works. He is wily and clever, but Quellen has to outsmart him in the end or face severe demotion. Quellen finally risks everything to confront the Level 1 leader, facing him down and escaping with his life, temporarily.
The ending, which I did not like very much in the short story, is exactly the same one in the novel. But now I like it! With the story fully fleshed out, it seems that it fits together much better, as does the actual story. Still definitely worth a read.
*** 1/2 stars. Reviewed August 27th/20
TO OPEN THE SKY
Cover art by Paul Alexander (uncredited).
From
1967 comes this 208 page novel, which consists of five novelettes on a
theme published in Galaxy Magazine in 1965 and 1966. In addition, there
is a 1977 introduction to this edition by Silverberg, lasting 5 pages.
The stories are linked by following the development of a
pseudo-scientific religious cult from the year 2077 through 2164. A
preface gives a two page The Electromagnetic Litany: The Stations of the
Spectrum.
Book One: Blue Fire 2077:
The first story is 37 pages long. Already there are ten million
believers in the Vorster cult, but with 12 billion people on Earth (and
colonies on Mars and Venus), it is barely being noticed. Reynolds
Kirby, a UN employee, is assigned the delicate job of hosting the
Martian envoy, who is visiting and looking for some R & R, as well
as coming to negotiate a trade deal. The envoy turns out to be a
complete jerk, but Reynolds meets Vanna along the way, and she
eventually gets him to come to a service. These gatherings are centred
around an altar with a small reactor, which gives off harmless electrons
during the service. We learn that the Vorsters are ultimately trying
to get humans to the stars, and they hope to use linked Espers to assist
them. They currently meet in shabby halls, and there are usually a
dozen or so devotees at a worship session. The story is a good one, and
is told with some humour. Reynolds thinks that the cult will soon
disappear, but he seems strangely attracted to it once he has seen it.
The Martian wants to see a service, and becomes very disruptive and
belligerent. We aren't told too much yet, since no one is really paying
much attention to the Vorsters. But we are told just enough to get us
interested. I am anxious to read the second part.
*** 1/2 stars. Reviewed September 28th/20
Book Two: The Warriors of Light 2095:
The second story is 46 pages long. Christopher Mondschein is a
restless 22 year old, who has joined the Vorsters (officially called The
Brotherhood of the Immanent Radiance) in the hopes of being sent to
their experimental and research base in Santa Fe. He hopes to be one of
the few who are chosen to live forever. But his plans are soon
scuppered by administration, so he defects to a smaller, rival group,
and agrees to spy for them in exchange for a high standing in their
organization. When all is said and done, his reward isn't at all what
he was expecting. This story isn't as good as the first one, but the
organization has now grown to 500 million adherents, and their political
clout is great. They are progressing towards their goal of eternal
life for humans, one part of their plan to conquer the stars. Reynolds
Kirby makes a cameo appearance, as one of the ten or so most powerful
members of the Brotherhood.
**1/2 stars. Reviewed September 29th/20
Book Three: Where The Changed Ones Go: 2135:
The third story is 48 pages long. This time we are on Venus, watching
as Nicholas Martell tries to open a Brotherhood worship centre.
Venusian colonists are now virtually alien beings, and they hate people
from Earth. There isn't even an embassy there. However, the Martians
have one, and it run by an older and wiser Martian whom we met in book
1. It's fun to see characters come back in these stories, and
Silverberg doesn't overdo it. The main thing we learn from this story,
which is quite good, is that the Brotherhood on Earth are conquering
eternal life, but the rival Harmonists are leading with their low caste
Venusian teleporters, people who move people and objects through space.
We get a hint of things to come, should the two sects ever pool their
resources, which, this reader suspects, was planned by Vorster all
along.
*** 1/2 stars. Reviewed September 29th/20
Book Four Lazurus Come Forth: 2152:
The fourth book is 40 pages long. Our story plods along, and I am more
convinced then ever that Vorster, founder of the Brotherhood, has been
planning the whole thing all along. Lazurus, leader of the rival
Harmonists, was presumed martyred 90 years ago, but his body, living and
preserved, has been found in a shallow cavern on Mars. The Brotherhood
revives him and sends him back to his followers on Venus. However,
Kirby (again; this story is like an old boys' club, with many characters
from previous stories returning) seems to believe that there never was a
Lazurus, and if there was, then it isn't this being who has been
restored to life. He thinks it is an android, and that Vorster is using
it to get the Harmonists and Brotherhood to join up for interstellar
flight. Just one more story, and readers will know all (though I
promise not to tell).
*** stars. Reviewed September 29th/20
Book Five: To Open The Sky: 2164:
The fifth book is 37 pages long. The final story brings this part of
the saga to a good conclusion, though with the adventure just beginning
one could wish that the author had continued the series a while longer.
Vorster, Kirby, Lazarus, Mondschein, Martel--all the characters that
were introduced earlier all make final appearances. Of course there are
no female lead characters after the first story, which is a shame and
rather hard to fathom. We learn the secret of how Lazarus was buried,
and what the intention of it was. If you have been paying attention as
you read, there will be no surprises. A suitable conclusion to an
overall pretty decent mini-series.
*** stars. Reviewed September 30th/20
THE MASKS OF TIME
The Masks of Time
is one of Silverberg's attempts at aiming for the status of writing
great literature. From 1968, this version is 199 pages of small
printing, 252 pages in the original publication in 1968. The volume contains two novels and three novellas. I have a
separate copy of Born With The Dead (3 novellas), but will return to
this volume for Dying Inside. There is nothing wrong with aiming
high, even if you don't reach your goal. Silverberg does not reach his
goal. I find him to be a very good writer, with a wonderful
imagination, but not the calibre of artist that he would like to be.
Few people are.
This is Silverberg's Messiah book. Farmer wrote one (see his Jesus of Mars), and Spinrad (see his He Walked Among Us)
seems to have taken his story's beginning straight from Silverberg.
Vornan-19 appears on Christmas Day in Rome, dropping out of the sky and
seen by 99 witnesses. It is one year before the 1990s come to an end,
and a huge cult is predicting the end of the world at midnight, January
1st, 2000. Vornan claims to be from the year 2999, thus putting to bed
the belief that the world will end in one year. Is he real or phony?
Most of the novel is taken up with this predicament, as well as the
exploits of the fun-loving man from the future.
The
main problems with the story are that it is quite tame, and very slow
moving. The lead character and storyteller, Professor Leo Garfield, is
pretty much a piece of cardboard in Silverberg's hands. He becomes the
favourite and confident of Vornan, though it is hard to imagine why. He
is a physicist who has been attempting to send molecules and electrons
back in time, and while he has had some success, the material disappears
as soon as it arrives. He cannot figure out how Vornan made it back
and can still be here materially.
Nothing
is said about how someone from the future could entirely rewrite
history if they returned to an earlier time, but it is understood that
he did cause a great upheaval in society, which eventually leads to
better times for most people. Silverberg does make one huge gaffe,
however, on page 46 of my edition. He has Leo leave LAX at 10:10 am
local time, and arrive in Washington at 10 am local time. Which is
impossible, since at 10 am LA time, it is already 1 pm in Washington.
Weird, but true. Why this mistake was never caught is beyond me, but it
does not give a reader confidence in the author's ability to talk about
time travel.
Of
course Vornan happens to know nothing about his future time, giving
only occasional and very broad statements about life in the future. How
he got to be chosen for the journey is never discussed. In his time,
he seems to be an even blander character than Leo is in his time.
After
reading Silverberg's introduction to this volume I admit I had high
hopes of reading something quite profound and fascinating. Nope. Not
this time. Not really recommended. Read the Farmer book instead; it's a
gem.
** stars. Reviewed October 30th/20
ACROSS A BILLION YEARS
Cover art by Dell Harris.
From
1969 comes this 249 page novel about a group of archaeologists tracking
down a site of the Old Ones, a civilization that existed almost one
billion years ago. Several authors have dealt with a similar theme,
namely Piers Anthony in his Cluster and Tarot series', and Michael
Moorcock, notably in his Martian trilogy. However, authors tend to shy
away from actually telling us much about such Old Ones, instead leading
on a merry chase to find their artifacts, and then not being able to do
much with them. How did Silverberg fare with such a theme for the main
focus of his novel?
The
story is told by having the hero, a 22 year old college graduate
getting his big break by accompanying a group of big wig archaeologists
to a promising site. He is relating his activities in a form of verbal
diary, ostensibly to give his twin sister when he returns. She is a
telepath, but bed ridden. The group consists of a young female, a
female android (shown on the cover, with Tom Rice, the hero), a human
boss, and several aliens. The group is reminiscent of something Hal
Clement would have used in such a novel. It's nice to see aliens
included in scientific research.
After
arriving at the dig site, they soon begin to unearth precious artifacts
dating to around 950,000,000 years ago. At first they uncover mostly
the usual kind of artifacts, of which they have many examples but have
no clue as to what they are. Then comes a big discovery (see cover art
again). This sphere is filled with visual information about the Old
Ones, and proves to be the most important discovery yet. After
realizing that the object contains clues to the actual whereabouts of an
Old Ones site (a cave with a robot embedded in it), the group sets out
for an asteroid after having help from back home to track down the star
and solar system depicted in the sphere.
Once
there, they have to unearth the robot and learn to communicate with
it. From here the story continues the chase to track down the actual
people. We encounter a planet where they used to live, run completely
by robots now. But an important fact is learned: instead of dying out a
billion years ago, there is evidence that contact was lost by the
robots a mere 13 million years ago. Are the Old Ones still alive? Can
our intrepid space travellers track them down. The story builds nicely
to the climax, but as I feared, the climax is quite a let down. do we
meet a real live Old One? I'm not telling. Read it to find out. It is
a good story, but I wish Silverberg hadn't been so lazy at the end, and
had really thought up a better ending. Of course it's difficult to
talk about someone or something so far advanced over humans (even in the
year 2375-76, when all this takes place), which is why so many authors
don't get too involved with such things (namely Piers Anthony and
Michael Moorcock). But I hope somebody tries real hard someday.
This
would make an amazing TV series, as the Old Ones are approached in
stages. There is love interest between Tom and Jan, there is racism
against aliens and androids on the part of humans, and there is a giant
robot. What more could you ask for?
I first came across Silverberg in a book called Lost Cities and Vanished Civilizations,
a book which instantly kindled within me a love of learning about
ancient cultures. He also wrote one on the mound builders of America,
and several others. So he is quite knowledgeable about the subject, and
writes convincingly here. Definitely worth reading.
*** stars. Reviewed December 1st/20
THREE SURVIVED
From 1969
comes this 78 page novella, rewritten from a short story from 1956 of
the same name. The story is aimed at teenage poor readers, and was
published as part of the Pacemaker Series for such readers. Tom Rand
(or, as I call him, Bob Bland) is aboard a spaceship as a passenger
heading home to Earth when the ship's engines suddenly explode. He
escapes with only two other passengers. Anthony Leswick is at
Metaphysical Synthesist (wonder how poor readers handled that one), and
Bill Dombey is a big strong man, once part of the ship's crew.
At
first Tom scorns the other two men with him, thinking they are of no
use to him in his attempt to reach an emergency beacon on a nearby
planet. Tom has the skills to pilot the small lifeboat ship, and
manages to land it safely. He is a long time coming to the realization
that the others have important skills to offer once they are on the
planet.
While
the story is pretty good (I have read something very close to it
before, perhaps by Harrison)), it is this realization of Tom's that
other people have useful traits and should not be scorned, that I hope
some of these poor readers took to bed with them at night. Too bad a
female character could not have been involved, taking the place of
Leswick. But that seems to be asking too much of the author, who often
excludes women from his earlier novels.
** 1/2 stars. Reviewed December 30th/20
DOWNWARD TO THE EARTH
From
1969 (my edition 1971) comes this 176 page SF novel, dealing head on
with mankind's policy of manifest destiny. The story and setting are
both excellent, as Edmund Gunderson returns to a strange planet some
years after having worked there for The Company. The native creatures,
somewhat like elephants, had been put to work helping set up human bases
and industry, before it was noted that they were an intelligent
species. Abruptly, the planet had to be abandoned and left to the
natives.
Gunderson
returns, though he doesn't yet know why. Part of it is a nagging guilt
complex over how he treated the nildoror when he worked there. On board
the shuttle with him are eight tourists, encountered from time to time
on the planet, who give a pretty good indication of how most humans
still think of the intelligent but lumbering creatures. Gunderson
spends a night at the run down hotel before heading off into the jungle,
in search of what he does not yet know.
On
his journey he is accompanied by several nildoror, and is allowed to
ride upon one. He encounters previous Company buildings, some still
inhabited by humans who stayed behind to live out their lives on the
planet. The encounters are grizzly, and piece by piece we begin to
learn what is really gnawing at Gunderson. He encounters an old flame
who remained behind, marrying one of the men he would have least
expected her to. We meet the husband, or what is left of him, after his
encounter with the ultimate religious experience of the nildoror. The
title baffled me for a time, but it will make sense by the end, as
Gunderson decides to return and help others along the path. Wish I was
one of them!
The
novel is first rate from start to finish, and often reminded me of the
author's best writing from his vast Majipoor series. There is even a
giant mountain in the centre of everything. Descriptions of the planet
are continually fascinating, and we get a very good sense of this alien
world, with its many different geographical areas, climates, and
inhabitants. The buildup to the story's climax is measured and always
fascinating. The novel also reminded me of P J Farmer's best SF
writing, from his earlier days. Gunderson is on the ultimate journey
and adventure, namely to find himself and his place in the grand scheme
of things. Silverberg does not disappoint us as we journey along with
him. A remarkable story.
**** stars. Reviewed February 1st/21
TO LIVE AGAIN
From 1969 comes this 212 page novel (including an intro by the author) that once again seems to fulfill J G Ballard's wish of having SF look inward rather than outward. Silverberg looks inward in a very unique way: in the future it is possible to have your mind and personality preserved on tape. Only the very rich can afford such a thing, and updates are suggested every six months. Once you die, your memories etc. can then be purchased by another rich person. Impressed into the single mind comes a complementary personality, making inner dialogues possible between the person and their acquired persona, and the person gains the life experiences of their intimate companion. Not only this, but more than one persona can be added if desired.
Of course there are some some severe complications that can arise, such as the newly acquired persona being stronger than the original, and taking over that person's mind. And once a person's personality is backed up who already has multiple minds within his own, then when he submits to his six-month backup procedure, whoever inherits that person's memories when they die inherits the full load with the original.
In this story we watch two major businessmen battle for control of the dead Paul Kaufmann's mind, each one wanting the experience and acumen that Paul had. 16 year old daughter Risa Kaufmann is in the midst of things, too, acquiring her first persona and growing up fast. The story is like some giant chess game, but there are more than two people playing the game. Silverberg does a commendable job of keeping things from getting too complicated or distracting, and his well-thought out complications and strategies add to the originality of the idea. This is very good story telling, and likely a different type of SF then most people are used to reading. Recommended.
*** 1/2 stars. Reviewed March 2nd/21
UP THE LINE
From 1969 comes this 250 page sleazy novel, for some reason dedicated to Anne McCaffrey. I wonder how horrified she was when she read this novel. If you want to see sexism at its 1960s worst, just take a peek into this novel, where women seem to be good for one thing, and one thing only. Silverberg wrote a lot of sex novels to pay the rent in his earlier days, and he seems the right man to do it, if you like your women hot and ready. There is nothing wrong with mixing a little sex with a good SF story. However, the sex here is mostly unemotional coupling, except for one instance when Jud Elliot bonks his great-great-multi-great grandmother, and falls madly in love with her. She lives in Constantinople, is seventeen, and you just wouldn't believe the great body she has.
I won't say this is the worst book I have read within the Avon/Equinox project, but it's in the bottom ten, easily. The tragedy is that it could have been a half decent novel. On the one hand, we have a fat, older male pedophile chasing after young girls, which is pretty bad, I admit. But then we have a 14 year boy on vacation with his family having sex with a holidaying female teacher, and even the boy's parents approve. His name is Bilbo, for whatever reason. I mean, wow. And Ballantine printed this, too.
How could it have been a half decent novel? It wouldn't have be easy. Firstly, lay off most of the casual sex. We get it. Women want it from us men all the time, at least in Silverberg's universe. The main story deals with time travel, and it deals with it very poorly. So poorly, in fact, that I don't see how this story got past a SF editor at all. It is so full of loopholes and bad science that it makes the worst episode of Dr. Who seem like the best plot for TV ever written. Jud is a Time Courier, who transports tourists back into days of old to witness things like assassinations, wars, burning, pillaging, looting, and the downfall of civilization after civilization. Jud's area of expertise is the Byzantine era, and once he qualifies, he takes small groups on a tour through history.
Back in the day I first came across Silverberg as an author of popular history books. It was only later that I came across his Sf novels. The man knows his history, and in this story we get some of New Orleans, some of the plague years in England, and we get a lot of Byzantine history based in Constantinople. From the standpoint of witnessing a lot of important historical events, the book is first rate. But Silverberg dilutes his history here with a very bad story, a main character that I care nothing about, and an attitude to life that does not include anything really meaningful. However, the novel could still be saved with a lot of work. I wish it had been rewritten. But most of all I wish it hadn't been published. It's not just embarrassing, it's plain bad. However, I did learn some history.
* 1/2 stars. Reviewed April 3rd/21
From 1968 comes the novelization of a shorter work published a year earlier in Galaxy Magazine (see my other Silverberg page for the shorter fiction reviews--I gave it 4 stars). Turning shorter works into longer ones is not new for Silverberg, who did it many times. This version is 185 pages, including a 5 page intro by the author, explaining its history. I always enjoy reading things by the author about the current story, and this one is no exception.
What has Silverberg added to the story to lengthen it? He has added a second story, the back story explaining how the men at the station arrived there. It deals mostly with Barrett's story, how he became interested in revolutionary politics at a young age, and climbed the ladder to become leader of the New York branch trying to overthrow the present fascist government. Then comes his eventual arrest, and his transportation to the prison for political prisoners like himself. The prison can only be reached via a one way time machine, one billion years earlier.
Though it's a strange location for a prison, it is a very effective one. The original novella only deals with the prisoners back in their earlier time, when trilobites ruled the oceans, and no life had yet emerged on land. This is by far still the better half of the story. By giving the backstory, I feel that the overall effect is lessened rather than enhanced. We can already pretty much picture how Barrett ended up where he is without specific details. So while a good effort was put forth to turn a wonderful story into a wonderful novel, some of the wonder is missing from the longer version, toned down by the grey shadings of the back story. Of the two versions I recommend the shorter original one, though Silverberg fans will want to read both.
In the original version there are no women, since they are sent to another time era. But by adding the back story, Silverberg manages to once again wow us with his great knowledge of women (I am being heavily sarcastic here). They are there to provide sex for men, and not much else. Another reason to read the novella instead.
*** stars. Reviewed May 1st/21
TOWER OF GLASS
From 1970 comes this 184 page highly readable SF novel. Krug is a multi-billionaire with a huge ego, something whom which we can all identify today. They are several of those around us today. When a signal from deep space comes from an apparently intelligent source, he wants to communicate with it. Construction on a 1500 meter communications tower is undertaken, the project largely built by Krug's nearly human androids. These androids, which come in three classes of intelligence (alphas, betas, and gammas) are what made Krug rich beyond wealth.
Even better, they have built a secret religion around their maker, in the hopes that someday he will speak for them and grant them the same rights and privileges given to humans. and so there are at least two tales being skillfully woven here, that of building the tower and communicating with aliens,and that of the androids fighting for their rights. The last novel I read was a 536 page epic by Joan Vinge, which left me kind of cold and disappointed. This book seems much more epic, though it is only about 1/3 its length. and there are way more surprises around each and every corner, too.
The ending is not only shocking, but after thinking about it for awhile, it will seem to be a perfect conclusion to the open minded reader. Religious fanaticism in its many manifestations has been the downfall of humans since religion was invented, and will no doubt be instrumental in the ultimate downfall of our species. Imagine talking the most fundamentalist Christian or Moslem and providing irrefutable proof that god does not exist, even proof so that they actually believe it. That is exactly what happens to the androids. Their reaction could not be more perfect, even though their built in logic tells them otherwise. Which proves how wrong Krug was in the end, and how close to being human the androids really were.Though a down beat book, it seems still strangely relevant, and should be read by lots of people.
*** 1/2 stars. Reviewed June 4th/21
THE SECOND TRIP
From 1970 comes this 192 page SF novel, first published in two parts in Amazing Magazine. The title refers to the same body having a 2nd chance at life, after the mind that first occupied was deemed by a court of law unfit to live. So Nat Hamlin, world renowned artist and convicted serial rapist, is expunged from the body, and a new personality, that of Paul Macy, is inserted. Only things don't do well. The criminal mind reemerges after an encounter with a person with ESP,and Paul Macy finds himself fighting for his life against a deadly psychopathic opponent inside his own head.
For the second time recently I am reminded of A Clockwork Orange, and the attempted rehab of a criminal which badly backfires. Why doesn't Paul Macy just return to the lab and have Nat extinguished again? Because Nat has control of his inner workings, and can kill him if he so wishes. So Paul has to solve this problem without professional help. The woman that he bumps into, the one with ESP, was the former model and girlfriend of Nat, and the two of them end up sharing adventures and battles. But she isn't much help at first, dealing with her own demons on voices in her head, voices that seem to come out of the walls around her.
Unfortunately there is much that is predictable in this novel, and the level of writing sometimes degenerates into pornographic smut (which Silverberg wrote under different names). I guess his name was so big now that Amazing would publish anything he wrote, but much of the references to women and their bodies could certainly have been a bit more restrained. Though not a great SF novel by any means, it was a decent read, and did have an ending I can accept and live with. The main flaw of the novel is that Nat Hamelin, who everyone in the world knew as a great artist and then a really perverted rapist, has the same face and body as Paul Macy. So what job does the institute give the new Paul Macy? A world wide television news reporter. Brilliant. Not.
** 1/2 stars. Reviewed July 3rd/21
SON OF MAN
From 1971, this is easily one of the worst books I have ever read. It is beyond tedious, and very difficult to read without wandering off mentally into someplace better. Trying to be a cross between The Nightland by Hodgson, Alice In Wonderland, and paintings by Bosch, the book is a total mess. For one thing, there is no story. None at all. In The Nightland we have a journey and an attempt at rescue. In Alice, we have wit and humour. In Bosch, we have fantasy art at its finest. Here we have dryness and no humour whatsoever. Clay, the main character in Son of Man, wanders all across a future Earth, encountering all manner of landscape, flora, fauna, and other versions of humans. And we get extremely long descriptions of everything, sometimes in a single paragraph that goes on for pages. This might have worked as a taut novelette, possibly as long as a novella, but it is nothing but sheer torture to read 212 pages of nothing but descriptions. And what, in the end, does it all mean? Absolutely nothing.
It sounds to me as if Silverberg was trying to get his novel into the famous Ballantine Adult Fantasy series, edited at the time by Lin Carter, as it is pure fantasy, nothing less. No SF here at all, folks. Fortunately, Carter did not include it, but somehow Ballantine agreed to publish it. Did anyone there actually read it, or was it published based on the author's reputation and reader following? My eyes were glazing over by page 25, and the going was relentless and merciless. I don't know how the author could have managed to even write this without going mad. If there ever was a more useless excuse for a novel, I do not want to know about it. Listen to this quote, quite representative of much of the book:
"He sees a clear light. He feels the symptoms of each sinking into water. He experiences a glimpse of the Pure Truth, subtle, sparkling, bright, dazzling, glorious, and radiantly awesome, in appearance like a mirage moving across a landscape in one continuous stream of vibrations. He sees a divine blue light. He sees a dazzling white light. He sees a dull, smoke-coloured light from Hell. He sees a dazzling yellow light. He sees a dull bluish-yellow light from the human world. He sees a red light. He sees a halo of rainbow light. He sees a dull red light. He sees a dazzling red light."
Extend that passage by 212 pages and I wish you much luck. What the hell does it mean? You have been warned. Note the four dazzlings in that paragraph, and three dulls. Very poor writing.
Obviously experimental writing was being published in those days, and much of it was very bad and happily forgotten. But I am shocked to see this novel being republished right into 2011. Seriously? I'll bet I'm the only person to have read every word of this, and I have the mental scars to prove it. I have never counted pages so closely before in my life. The only way to actually read this and remain reasonably sane is perhaps to read one chapter per month, and extend the pain over several years. I read it in four days, and I regret that I will never get those days back again. This story is stuff and nonsense, nothing more.
* star. Reviewed August 3rd/21
A TIME OF CHANGES
From 1971 comes this 214 page novel about a man trying to reestablish normal contact between humans, in a society where heart to heart contact is strongly discouraged, and using the terms I or Me is considered obscene. Though it's a pretty good story, how it ever won the Hugo award for that year is a pretty big mystery. It must have been a slack year of story telling in the SF genre. There is a 4 page introduction by Silverberg in my 1979 Berkley edition, but it sheds little light on why he created the story in the first place. I am happy for his success, but bewildered by the Hugo win.
In order to break strict taboos within his society, Kinnall Darival is talked into taking a drug that will cause him to bond with another person in a way that he never has before. It goes against all his beliefs and all his training, yet for whatever reason he takes the drug and suffers the results. At first, and even after, he is disgusted with himself with what he has done, and confesses to his "drainer" everything that has happened. Later, these continuing confessions will come back to bite him.
With a good supply of the drug in hand, he now coaxes various citizens to take the drug with him, and bare their souls to each other. He eventually influences about fifty people, including some influential and important ones. But the law eventually comes down upon him, hard, and he is forced to flee to the desert, where he is eventually caught and brought to justice.
My main problem with the book, other than the fact that a powerful drug is needed to alter mainstream thinking, is that Silverberg's definition of love has really nothing to do with what love really is. His definition seems to be that to really love someone you have to completely bare your soul to them and they to you. Really? If this happened between people on a regular basis, I daresay there wouldn't be much love going around. Lawsuits, perhaps, and much anger and distrust. Imagine if someone close to you knew absolutely everything about you; your strengths, weaknesses, and tendencies, along with every single thing you have done in your past. Good grief. If this were true, there would be no close relationships, except perhaps among criminals.
And try to imagine going to a Christian fundamentalist, or Islamic fundamentalist, and telling them that they must try this drug and they will really come to love everyone. Good luck with that. A decent story, but certainly nothing earth shattering here.
*** stars. Reviewed September 3rd/21
BOOK OF SKULLS
From 1971 comes this non-SF novel, lasting 200 pages. In addition, there is a 4-page intro by the author. Despite being nominated in 1973 for a Hugo and a Nebula award, this is in no way, shape, or form SF, despite the author accepting it as one. It is barely even fantasy, since by the end of the novel we are still unsure of exactly by what means eternal life can be bestowed upon people. It is certainly not science, however. Even Silverberg fails to give a half decent definition of what SF is or isn't. He should have read Blish's essay.
What readers have here is a sex-filled, gay-friendly (for those times) novel about four college boys heading to Arizona. Based on what one of the discovered in a university library, they believe they are heading for eternal life. A cult of priests appear to now reside in the desert north of Phoenix., and that is where they head. The first half of the book is a very weird road trip, while the 2nd half deals more with the monastic life the boys assume upon arrival. There is little to no action, and the story takes place as much in flashback memories as it does in live events.
Silverberg tells the story from the 1st person of each of the young men, taking turns with first one, then the other, etc. It's confusing at first, since the boys seem so much the same. However, we eventually begin to separate them, despite not really caring much about them. They are all white, all have strengths and weaknesses, and two of them are gay. The only females in the novel are there to have sex with the college boys. Silverberg may be the most sexist writer of them all in the Avon/Equinox pantheon of writers. I think the fact that he wrote cheap porn novels at the time to make money doesn't help his outlook very much. I can't even imagine a female reader getting through this novel, even for a college paper on sexism in early 70s writing by SF authors.
Silverberg continues to strive towards writing the great American novel, and I for one can't blame him for trying. It wasn't his fault that his book was called SF at the time, despite there being no science involved at all. However, he still has a lot of striving to do. Give this one a miss if you are new to Silverberg; it really isn't worth your time. I found it mostly boring.
** stars. Reviewed November 3rd/21
DYING INSIDE
This is the last of five stories crammed into this volume, with very small printing. From 1972, it was 245 pages in earlier editions; here it is 174 pages. Silverberg has a few problems, and they are the usual ones for this time period for him. His lead character(s) are quite awful in construction, and we simply cannot feel much sympathy towards them. They are morally suspect, unimaginative, and quite boring. His second problem is his treatment of women. He either ignores them completely, or treats them as sexual objects, present in the story only to please men. Though he does stretch himself a bit with the character of Judith, his sister, the lead character refers to her as a slut at one point, pretty much summing up what I mentioned above.
The novel is about a man born with the gift, or curse, of being able to read other people's minds, even those of animals. What does he do with this power? He becomes a voyeur, addicted to probing deep into other's secrets. In middle age he begins to lose his powers, going through a mid-life crisis. We are, I suppose, to feel sorry for him in his loss, and sympathize with what he is going through. That is quite impossible, given the character's faults and weaknesses. Not only this, but it seems that the author himself can think of no better use for his powers as the subject of a story.
How does David Selig, the main character, earn his living? He writes university essays for students who won't write their own, charging $3.50 per page. So we get to read some of Silverberg's (no doubt) university literature essays as a bonus. The novel doesn't really get more exciting than that, except once when David gets beaten up by several black basketball players. the character is weak, the climax is weak, the story is weak; this is a good theme that seems to have been virtually wasted by the author, who was still trying to write his literary masterpiece for all time. I will be kind and simply call it a failed experiment. Many people have lost much more than David ever will, and manage to go on, though often severely wounded, physically, emotionally, and spiritually. I wonder why I should care much about David Selig and his loss.
** 1/2 stars. Reviewed January 4th/22
THE STOCHASTIC MAN
From 1975 comes this pretty decent story, lasting for 240 pages. The word stochastic is well defined in the story, so I won't bother with it here, except to say that the man begins as a stochastic, but ends up as something quite different. The plot is tied up with politics, and trying to make a certain man into a presidential candidate. Lew Nichols is hired as part of the team, first getting a Mr. Quinn elected as NYC major, and then leaping forward from there to make him a president. Nichol's job is to study trends and try to make educated guesses as to what moves would benefit Quinn in the long run.
The story intensifies when Nichol's meets Carvajal, a strange older man who has seen into the future, and advises Nichols on several things that will certainly happen. Nichols writes him off as a scary quack at first, but when the predictions come true, Nichols investigates further. He forms a friendship with Carvajal, and is led down a twisting path that eventually sees Nichols divorce his wife, whom he still loves, and get fired as advisor to Quinn, who looks at him with fear as some kind of seer witch. Though Nichols cannot truly see the future yet, he decides that he wants to.
Silverberg is still badly stuck writing about a male universe, though in this case he at least allows his main character to allow his wife to get into a strange religion without interfering with her destiny. But the only lead female character goes nowhere in the main plot; for the rest of it, it's a man's world. Not even a good SF author in 1975 could foresee a female president, for instance, or a female big city mayor. The worst bit comes at the very end, when Nichols forms a sort of off- line institute for seers such as himself; of course they all male.
The action takes place in 1999-2001, so the novel dates itself badly. But it's fun seeing what has happened to NYC by that time, especially on a certain New Year's Eve. A good read, bringing up some interesting ideas about past, present, and future.
*** stars. Reviewed March 1st/22
SHADRACH IN THE FURNACE
Silverberg claims he was burning out at this time (mid 70s), and indeed published nothing until 1980. He had two book commitments to fulfill, and this was the last one, from 1976. It is 286 pages of small print and without page breaks for chapters. And while the book lacks a certain something (as do many of the author's novels), it is a fairly good read considering his state of being at the time. It belongs to the very large family of post apocalypse stories, where 3 billion people of 5 billion have died. Most of the others are suffering from "organ rot", thanks to a virus war. One of the main faults of the book is the timeline; instead of making the present situation many years later, it is only about 12 years since the major catastrophic war. First came a massive volcanic eruption, which devastated the climate in 1991. Next came "the terrors", then the uprisings, then the virus wars, the organ rot, and finally, some stability for a select minority.
Shadrach Mordeci is an odd name for non Jewish black American doctor, but don't worry, Silverberg does explain everything well later on. He is physician to the current world leader, Genghis II Mao IV. He is hooked into his elderly patient's vital signs, and keeps tabs on him 24/7. When not having organ transplant surgery, Genghis II rules the world with an iron hand. There is an antidote to the disease plaguing the planet, but Genghis is not sharing it except for his small circle of government employees.
I won't go into much of the plot here, but except for the implausible dating of events, there are some fascinating moments. These include places where one can be hypnotized into a death like state, with dreaming as a result. Another place allows one to visit and witness past events. Shadrach gets to witness the eruption of Colopaxi in 1991 from Quito, which was wiped out by the event. In addition, there is a lot of medical knowledge to be gleaned from reading this book, and a Star Trek like authenticity to some things that have already happened to keep people alive longer.
The main seat of government is in the capital of Mongolia, a city called (then) Ulan Bator (now called Ulaan Baatar). Obviously with no Google Maps to help him out, Silverberg doesn't go into much detail as to what the city is like, but it provides an exotic location well out of mainstream SF settings. We also get to visit Nairobi, Jerusalem, Istanbul, Rome, and San Francisco, as the doctor takes a world tour to get away from his patient for a time. There are two lead female characters, and both are quite well done, considering the author's history of writing parts for females. All in all it isn't a bad read, though a bit far fetched as well as how normal the world is (besides the disease) after what has happened so recently.
*** stars. Reviewed April 3rd/22
LORD OF DARKNESS
From 1983 comes Silverberg's epic historical fantasy tale of darkest Africa, during the Portuguese colonization of Angola in the late 1500s. My paperback version is 612 pages of very tiny printing, an undertaking of which I always tackle with great hesitation and reservation. To make matters worse, the printing goes right to the edge, which means that the extreme right side of left hand page curves around the spine, and vice versa for the right hand page. Very annoying. There is no Kindle version of this novel. But Silverberg divides this very long tale into five books, much as he does for his first Majipoor book, written around the same time. This helps break down the extreme length of the book, and I will discuss each book accordingly.
Book One--Voyager: This first book is 116 pages, and introduces the main character, an historical British sailor by the name of Andrew Battell, from Leigh (On Sea), Essex. We follow him from his imagined childhood through to his capture by the Portuguese in this first book, and his fateful meeting with one Dona Teresa, a woman of mixed blood, including some African native. The fascinating story is told in first person narrative, and while the adventure might be a bit slow to get started (like any good adventure), once they begin the reader quickly becomes enthralled with what happens to this luckless sailor, abandoned on the coast of Brazil in hostile Indian territory by his captain. Eventually transferred to west Africa, he becomes a miserable prisoner in a small, nearly forgotten colony. Freed for a time, he gets to pilot a ship up a river to a small fort. On the return journey, just when things are beginning to go much better for him, he falls ill with the fever. He eventually awakens, a prisoner again, and being tended back to health by Dona Teresa. As book one concludes, he has regained his status as the pilot of a Portuguese ship, and has been promised safe passage to Europe within the year if he works well.
The writing is top notch, much better than how the author often writes his SF novels. He seems to be a born history story teller, and I can only wish he had written more such novels as this one. There is humour, there is honesty, and there is a main character that we really care about after a short time. Writing his memoirs, Andrew Battell always seems to hint at the bad things that are to come for him, so we are not taken unawares by some new misfortune. He seems to be born under an unlucky cloud, but he is not the type of man to dwell on past misery. Rather, he would get on with his life, and enjoy the moments given to him of freedom, and in piloting a ship. A very promising opening, and I look forward to the rest of the novel.
**** stars. Reviewed May 31st/22
Book 2-- Pilot: The second book is 178 pages, and details Andrew Battell's life as a prisoner of the Portuguese in Angola. He pilots ships up and down the coast, and inland, too. He fights a terrible battle with them inland against a large group of natives, revolting against European rule. Ultimately, he is betrayed by a jealous lover and thrown back into prison at the end, just as he was about to be taken back to England by a Dutch trader. He expresses, on the night he was supposed to take secret leave of Angola, his regret at knowing so little about Africa, and his wish to explore it further. Instead, he goes through misery after misery, and we know that he hasn't even yet come to the highlights of his misery. The writing sometimes becomes tedious. This section should have been cut way back, considering how little Battell himself actually wrote. And many of the dates he gives in his memoir don't jive with historical fact, such as who was governor when.
Another thing that is bothersome is the focus on a tribe of cannibals that is so vast and widespread that they seem to be everywhere. The Jaqqa is where the story is leading us. Apparently they prefer eating other humans above all other food. At this point readers should question what is history and what is bunk. If this is true history, then I now know why I prefer fiction.
*** stars. Reviewed June 2nd/22
Book 3--Warrior: This book is 110 pages long. Battell spends more time in jail, and then more time in service to the Portuguese. He pilots another ship, and becomes a foot soldier, marching into the interior. The Jaqqa tribe now begin to feature more prominently, and Battell's first meeting with the chief goes well. It's difficult to say how much of Silverberg's book is based on accounts from the time, and how much is pure speculation. Certainly the Jaqqa tribe are mainly fictitious, though many of the things described, such as rituals, beliefs, and fetishes, seem to have the scent of truth to them. Silverberg wrote many books on history, and can be considered a well informed amateur historian. I wish he had written a longer afterward, where he explains in no detail what he has done with the original material. We do know that Andrew Battell was a real person, who had 21 years of adventures in South America and Africa after leaving England by ship (ages 30-51). So no doubt some of this stuff actually happened. His exploits can be found on-line at Project Gutenberg. This book takes us up to the moment when Battell is about to be accepted into the Jaqqa tribe. This part of the story is much more engaging than book 2, and is easy to read, even though at times it might seem that we are going in circles. I wonder what a modern Portuguese reader would make of this novel? The 16th Portuguese in this story do not come off very well at all. Nor does the Catholic Church.
*** 1/2 stars. Reviewed June 3rd/22
Book 4--Jaqqa: This book is 108 pages long. It seems longer. This is where a reader begins to seriously question the veracity of Battell's account, as filled out and imagined by Silverberg. Did he really live among such a tribe? Or did he live amongst a friendlier tribe who told him of such things? We will never know, but if even half of Battell's accounts are true in some form or other, than Africa indeed hid some marvelous and fantastical doings in its interior. Battell was the first person to experience interior tropical Africa and write about it. By the end of this section we (and Battell) have had quite enough of the Jaqqa. So what now? More Portuguese, and more papal Christianity. No one comes out smelling very good in this entire novel, including Battell, who is the first to admit how far along he fell into a hellish world of decadent paganism and primitive rites of passage among the natives. Whether or not one believes the accounts, this is still amazing story telling.
*** 1/2 stars. Reviewed June 5th/22
Book 5--Ulysses: The final book is 106 pages long, and tells of the long and winding road that eventually leads Battell back to merry old England. Silverberg does a great job of tying things up. Battell stays longer in Africa, but now leads a quieter life. He makes money, then loses it again. Eventually a new governor does finally send him on his way to England, and he makes it back home to Leigh. There, a few pleasant surprises await him. We can thank Silverberg for a happier ending than one might expect, though the weary traveler still has deep thoughts and visions of the Jaqqa and its great leader, who befriended Battell.
It's difficult to find much about interior Africa in the years that Battell was there. History has little to say on the matter. We know much more about later exploration and exploitation of the continent. But Silverberg does engage our imagination, at the very least, about this time of first conquests and the early slave trade. While facts may be hard to come by, we can imagine what it must have been like for an Englishman to spend that many years under the thumb of the Portuguese. As historical fantasy, it's a great read. As history, not so much.
*** 1/2 stars. Reviewed June 5th/22
Overall rating *** 1/2 stars. Reading completed June 5th/22
TOM O'BEDLAM
From 1985 comes this 374 page novel of a post-apocalyptic time in California. The year is 2103, and it is autumn, just before the rainy season is to begin. There are at least 4 main stories at the beginning, and they all gradually come together by the end. The story is mostly tied to Tom, a wandering man who is considered crazy by those who meet him. Tom has visions, or dreams, even when wide awake, and these involve clear images of alien worlds and suns, and the aliens that inhabit them. He is predicting that soon a time will come when people will leave their Earthly bodies behind, travel through the stars to other worlds, and live happily ever after.
Written in 8 sections, each one is preceded by a stanza of the poem Tom O'Bedlam, written in the 1700s (?) by anonymous .The world itself has been torn apart by the dust wars, where radioactive dust has been dropped in the heartland of the USA and elsewhere, permanently dividing the country, as well as killing around 80% of the inhabitants, and devastating the farms and fields forever. The people who remain are existing, not thriving, but not a lot is going on. A type of religious revival based on Tom's visions has been taking place in San Diego, as multiple people begin experiencing exactly the same dreams all over the state. Soon the religious movement begins a pilgrimage, and they head north, in the tens of thousands, hoping to witness the appearance of their god.
Meanwhile in the north, at a clinic for people undergoing treatment for various antisocial behaviours, those afflicted begin having the dreams, and even some members of the staff. The main focal point of the story is at this clinic east of Mendocino, especially when Tom arrives there by chance. Silverberg has written a humdinger of a book, and manages to tie in all the threads of a complex plot with many different kinds of characters. The ending will disappoint some readers, and thrill others. And readers won't find out the ending until the final page, so no peeking. What did I think of the ending? I fully expected it, and so it came as little surprise. Again, it would not be my first choice, for reasons of keeping something back. But everything is laid out and explained, so that will likely please most readers. It is a really fascinating book, and mostly fun to read.
**** stars. Reviewed July 3rd/22
STAR OF GYPSIES
Silverberg has taken an interesting premise and run with it. Not that a lot of people have a huge interest in Gypsies, or Rom as they are often called. Silverberg's epic novel (447 pages) from 1986 will soon have readers all caught up with who gypsies are, where they came from, and where they are going. Well, they came from a different solar system, and when their sun when nova on them 16 ships managed to depart with survivors. They landed on Earth (where else?), and founded Atlantis (what else could they do?). When Atlantis met its doom at the hands of a powerful volcano, their high civilization was lost and scattered across the Mediterranean Sea.
Well, folks, they survived, along with the human population. We are now in the mid 3000s, and humans and Rom have scattered to the stars. The Rom, still a people apart and hoping one day to return to their home planet, have certain talents that allow them almost equal footing with us humans. For one thing, they are able to pilot star ships. For another, they can ghost themselves, temporarily leaving their body and travelling through time and space. The story focuses on Yakoub, dubbed the Gypsy King. But he has abdicated, rebelling against what he sees his people becoming (more like the humans). When the novel opens we find him alone on an arctic planet, where he has been for five years.
Despite the vast length of the novel, nothing much happens. He doesn't really do anything until around page 160. It could be argued that the entire opening is quite boring, unless you find Gypsies the most fascinating topic ever. When all is said and done, he leaves the planet, returns to claim his throne, but finds his son there instead. He is imprisoned, and spends a lot of time there until rescued. The humans fight one another when the Emperor dies,destroying their royal city. In the end, Yakoub is named Emperor. End of story.
So with such a simple story, how does Silverberg fill his pages? Memories, flashbacks, and ghosting. There is no doubt that Yakoub has led an interesting life, and we get to hear all about it. Some of the best planet descriptions in SF are to found in these pages, as well as some fun adventures. But after a while it gets to be a bit much, and we just want the main story to progress. But it barely creeps along. Just when he finally leaves his self imposed arctic prison, he is put into a real one. So we get more stories and more flashbacks.
There are some pretty large holes in the plot, mostly due to this ability to ghost oneself. I won't go into it here, but if you read the book, think about it. Why does he not know what is going on while he is prison, for example, when he can (and does) go ghosting all the time he is in there? And Silverberg's misogyny is yet again on full display, as if by taking Gypsies as his excuse he can focus on men, and their having sons, and so on. Women have very minor roles in this story,and there are very few of them. It's sad to believe that 1500 years from now Gypsies will still be such a misogynistic race, at least in Silverberg's universe.
Though the story had several very interesting moments, overall it was a challenge to get through it. It simply relies too much on recalled memories and out of sequence recollections. I do like the premise, however. It was a good idea.
** 1/2 stars. Reviewed August 4th/22
** 1/2 stars. Reviewed August 4th/22
PROJECT PENDULUM
From 1987 comes this short novel about twin brothers who undertake an experiment in time travel. Like most time travel stories, a lot must be taken on faith rather than science. Obviously inspired by the books of Olaf Stapeldon, and the famous film called Powers of Ten, this is a quick read novel (210 pages, but with many nearly blank pages at each of 28 very short chapters). It begins with one brother going ahead five minutes in time, while the other on goes back five minutes. Then the one that jumped ahead goes back 50 minutes, and the one that went back goes ahead by the same amount. They keep switching directions, and increasing their times by the power of ten. The next jump is 500 minutes, then 5,000, and so on until 5 x 10 to the power 12, taking them separately to 950 millions years into the future and the past.
It's a fun concept, and would make an equally fun movie. It might seem a little slow and difficult at the beginning, but once the time jumps expand the book becomes more and more interesting. Of course there are many more mysteries in our future that we cannot even begin to fathom, and Silverberg does a nice job on touching on them here. Only a few pages are spent in each time, so there is little room for much in the way of exploration and discovery. I liked the book, though, and wold love to see it made into a TV series.
*** 1/2 stars. Reviewed October 1st/22
LETTER FROM ATLANTIS
From 1990 comes this 136 page youth novel, in epistle format. All the letters are written by a man to a woman, both whom have been sent back in time 18,000 years. Their minds are sent, not their bodies, and so they must occupy a host. Roy, the man, is in the head of the prince regent of Atlantis, while the woman, whom we never meet, is in a far off trading post, deep in the frigid north.
For the most part this book is quite tedious, as we learn about day to day life, including religion, in Atlantis. There is very little to this story, until the very end, when the prince, now 18, receives initiation into his upcoming leadership role. It involves learning about his people's past, and their certain destruction when their island will be destroyed.
Without saying too much, except for the mention of the Romany Star (see Star of Gypsies, above), Silverberg links the history of the future Atlantean peoples to that of the Eastern European Gypsies. So this book could be conceived as the origin story for the earlier full adult novel. Unless a young person is really into the legend of Atlantis, this would be a difficult book to get through for a teenager (though it reads better than a lot of books on the reading list for that age from schools).
** stars. Reviewed December 2nd/22
NIGHTFALL
Beginning in 1990, Silverberg and Asimov collaborated on three novels, this being the first of them. There is an story of Asimov's from the 1940s with the same name, but this story has little to do with that one. Essentially, this is the story of a post-holocaust society, much like the ones written by nearly every other SF author, including Algis Budrys, John Christopher (his specialty), Edgar Pangborn, and so on. The differences here are worth noting, however. This is an alien society, much like humans on Earth, but they are not humans on earth. They live on a planet with six suns, and dark skies are unknown here. Except once every 2049 years.
The book is divided into three large sections. The first section deals with the lead up to the disaster. It is intelligently written, believable, and makes a fascinating account of a society in denial at its upcoming doom (sound familiar?). My only concern is that there is only one lead female character, and way too many males (sound familiar?). The second section deals with the lead up to the event, and the event itself, a rare but predictable eclipse of the lone sun shining at that time by a foreign body previously unknown to science. This section begins to have holes in it, but it still hangs together pretty well. The character of the reporter is a bit overblown, and the fact that he is presented with fact after fact as to what will happen, he denies it completely and makes fun of the scientists predicting doom. Wouldn't it be wiser (he is supposed to be intelligent) to err on the side of caution? The final section deals with the aftermath. This is the part where most other authors spend their time in such tales, as the society collapses and must be rebuilt. But this one has a core of the people who were driven mad by the appearance not only of darkness, which is feared, but by thousands of stars in the sky, which kind of blows their concept of themselves and their planet to smithereens.
Interestingly, Jack Williamson seems to have ripped off the concept for his book Demon Moon, though he treats it completely differently. Both books focus on the religious influence of the people as the disaster approaches. Still, after the Mad Max movies, and so many previous tales of the mayhem that will ensue when society collapses, I am surprised that the book was written. Of course without those big names on the cover, it is doubtful if it ever would have been published.
*** stars. Reviewed February 3rd/23
THE FACE IN THE WATER
From 1991 comes this truly classic SF novel, lasting for 436 pages. Frontispiece quotes are from Genesis 1:2, and Joseph Conrad's "The Mirror of the Sea." Along with the haunting cover, this should tell the reader a lot of what awaits inside this volume.
Valben Lawler is a doctor to 76 people living on a small island on an ocean world far from Earth, and sharing it with the Gillies. The Gillies are native to Hydros; the humans aren't. Humans are tolerated, barely. Until one of them ends up killing three sea creatures put to work over the objections of the Gillies. Now the humans are banned from this island, and must put out to sea.
The book is in three parts, and the first part deals with life on the island before exile. Hydros is a one-way world; colonizers are not allowed spaceports, so once on planet they can never leave again. Humans are spread out over several islands, all shared with the fearsome and mysterious Gillies, who are private and keep to themselves. Doc Lawler knows everyone on the island, and has their respect, but he is essentially a loner. When the time comes to depart, he wants everyone sticking together, not split among other human colonies. The six ships leave their home, and Book 2 commences.
The second book details their journey in search of a new home What that new home will be is not revealed until near the end of the story, but readers are aware that they have gone in search of a legendary mainland, called The Face of the Water. A story was brought back by an old fisherman who went there and returned. It is supposed to be a land of milk and honey, and sights are soon set on reaching it. The journey is a harsh one; just how harsh I won't reveal, but if you have read Conrad you will know about harsh sea voyages. This sea is particularly harsh to humans.
The third book deals with the encounter with The Face, and how it affects the different humans who make it there. Throughout the novel, Silverberg refers to passages from The Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner, another sea reference somewhat crucial to the story. But to me, the main influence on Silverberg here is the novel (and film) Solaris. In Lem's novel, a sentient ocean reeks havoc with human emotions, causing them to see what they want and expect to see. Silverberg chooses a different path, and it is also a good one. Here, the ocean is not only sentient, but.... I will not spoil the ending, but it is very satisfying to this reader. So many pulp stories are all about the lone human struggling against all odds, and eventually overcoming them (A Dickensian story, in other words). But this one is very different in the way it ends. Yes, these wanderers do struggle against all odds, and they eventually overcome them. But not in any way a reader could imagine. Silverberg has pulled off a very wonderful thing here; he gives us an ending which we don't expect, and yet do expect, and he gives it to us in a way that makes us think about the relationship we have with our own planet. It explains why so many people are unhappy living on Earth, and why others seem to manage just fine.
This is very good SF writing, and I recommend the book highly. It has flaws; the leader of the expedition is a wife beater, and yet Lawler is surprised and shocked when the leader kills a man. Really? Surprised? What's more, there is every indication in the story that man against man violence has long passed into distant memory. Yet no one says anything about him beating his wife. Oh well, no novel is perfect. But this one nearly is.
**** stars. Reviewed April 7th/23
THEBES OF THE HUNDRED GATES
From 1992 comes this very short (115 pages) novel about time travel to ancient Egypt. A man is sent back in time to rescue two time travellers who were mistakenly sent to the wrong time and location. However, when he finds them, they do not want rescuing. Silverberg has a vast knowledge of archaeology, and enjoys putting that knowledge to use in his fiction as well as non fiction. Here he gets to act out a fantasy of what it might have been like when the city of Thebes was at its height.
The story of the rescue attempt is slight in comparison to the sights and sounds going on around us as we get to see some of the life of this once great city. But the city distractions are not over the top, and we do get a good feel for the time and place. The three main characters are the time travellers, with a few minor ones giving good support roles (the doctor, the slave girl). Silverberg keeps things uncomplicated, which is a good thing in a short novel.
This is a quick and easy read, and worthwhile, especially for lovers of all things from ancient Egypt.
*** stars. Reviewed May 2nd/23
THE POSITRONIC MAN
Silverberg expands Asimov's short story into a novel in this 1992 effort, lasting for 223 pages. I always have misgivings about such transformations. Short stories usually have one main idea that gets developed, whereas a novel can have several, depending on its length and the skill of its writer. As a novel, this story of a robot that wants to become human is very single minded, never once deviating from its set course. In fact, it often becomes monotonous. Stretching it to novella length might work well, but extending it to a medium sized novel seems to be pushing things too far.
If there is one thing that the novel can do better in this case is evoke a sense of time passing, in this case 200 years, then it can be called successful in that direction. I have never read Asimov's earlier version, called "The Bicentennial Man." At this point, I hardly need to. I will say that I did become somewhat attached to Andrew in his eternal quest to make himself more and more human. Silverberg has undoubted skill when it comes to telling human stories, and in a sense Andrew's story is the most human of all.
It must be said, however, that within the Avon/Equinox series I have read much better and more profound stories about robots seeking humanity. Top honours would have to go to John Sladek for his robot novels: 2 Roderick novels; and Tik-Tok, and of Jack Williamson's brilliant pair of robot novels The Humanoids, and the Humanoid Touch. All of these put Silverberg's novel into perspective very quickly.
Not required Silverberg reading, but probably required if you are into robot and AI novels.
** 1/2 stars. Reviewed July 2nd/23
THE UGLY LITTLE BOY
From 1992 comes Silverberg's 290 page rewrite of Asimov's novella of the same name. The main difference here is the addition of "Timmie's" tribe to the story, before, during, and following his captivity in present day Earth. In Asimov's original tale, everything happens in modern time, as a little Neanderthal boy is plucked from time and brought to a scientific company for study. Looked after my a hired nurse, they develop a strong bond over the three years the boy is held. In addition to adding well written parts about what the boy's tribe is undergoing, Silverberg has also added considerable new material to the original novella. I had read the original version quite recently. As much as I enjoyed reading it, I much prefer this version. The ending is still somewhat open ended, but a lot more optimistic than the original could have allowed. We get a tiny peek into Timmie's return to his people, with his new ally. A good tale, well told and updated.
*** 1/2 stars. Reviewed August 2nd/23
KINGDOMS OF THE WALL
A journey by foot. A very long journey. This novel, from 1992 and lasting for 370 pages, has more than a bit of The Hobbit in it. It also has some Gormenghast elements to it, especially at the beginning, and quite a bit of Well at The World's End, too. Then come memories of the two volume set of The Night Land, not to mention Dante's Inferno. Which brings to mind the paintings of Bosch. The voyages of Gulliver are here, and David Lindsay's A Voyage To Arcturus, and, of course, Ulysses. In short, Silverberg's novel is an epic in every sense of the word, a quest akin to searching for the Holy Grail. So I guess Arthurian tales should also be mentioned here. It is a vast fantasy novel wrapped in thin science fiction paper. It is a tale of people on a strange planet, searching ever for their gods.
They live beneath the largest mountain anyone has ever conceived. The largest mountain we know of is on Mars, and is called Olympus Mons (Mt. Olympus). That mountain would be a minor spur of the mountain Silverberg has created. In fact, the only mountain with which to compare it would be Silverberg's mountain on Majipoor. But it's even bigger and higher than that one. Our story is all about the journey that 40 pilgrims make from its base, where their village lies, to its very summit. They believe that their gods dwell there, and that if they can make the summit, they will receive gifts that will help them and their fellow villagers in their daily lives. The first successful climber returned with such gifts, and everyone has since believed in the gods.
And so every year 40 chosen ones set out to climb the mountain. At most, one or two return every few years or so. But they will say nothing of their journey. So only superstitious knowledge is handed down through the generations. This is of little help to those who must climb. We travel as Poilar Crookleg, leader of the most recent expedition of 40. Two things can happen when one goes in search of one's gods. They can either be found, or not. And so it is with this expedition, who undergo the harrowing journey day by day, against all odds climbing higher and higher. The only other similar search I have recently undergone in fiction was Silverberg's The Face of the Waters, above. But there the journey was by water, and it was involuntary. Here we have committed and fervent seekers of the truth. Will they find what they seek? Read and find out.
Another true masterpiece of fiction, easily able to stand up against any of the titles mentioned at the start of this review. This is a don't miss read.
**** stars. Reviewed September 3rd/23
HOT SKY AT MIDNIGHT
Like the late writings of Jack Williamson, the late writings of Robert Silverberg are not to be missed. The man is on a roll, big time. From 1994 comes Hot Sky At Midnight, at 388 pages. At its heart it is an ecological story about humans destroying the Earth (can that really happen?). But the novel has more than one heart. It is also a futuristic retelling of Lord Jim, one of Conrad's finest novels. Paul Carpenter goes through many iterations in this, his story. We meet him as a Level 11 salary weatherman in Spokane (Level 20 being the lowest on the grid). He gets a unique offer to be captain of a boat out of San Francisco. He is sick of Spokane, and accepts the reprogramming involved with the job transfer.
He messes up terribly on his first voyage, and is actually fired by his corporation, something that is virtually unheard of at his rank. He ends up driving to Chicago and visiting an old girlfriend, before heading back to San Fran to face his futureless future. He is brought in last minute on a scheme to overthrow a satellite community above the Earth, which again turns into the ultimate disaster.
It's difficult to say what exactly makes this book worth reading, but I would have to say it is the very accurate picture of what Earth will resemble in not too many years. The only other SF novel that rivals it for potential accuracy is Norman Spinrad's unforgettable Greenhouse Summer, an even more cynical look at our chosen future. SF often gets it wrong when it comes to future predictions. However, when an author gets it right, the reader can feel the truth emerging in every single page. Perhaps not the masterpiece that compares with Conrad, but this is a damn fine book that should scare the hell out of every person alive today. Especially if you are young.
*** 1/2 stars. Reviewed Oct. 8th/23
STARBORNE
From 1995 comes this novelization of a short story from 1973, and found in Vol. 4 of the Collected Stories (see my first Silverberg page). But here is my full review of it from that page.
"Ship-Sister, Star-Sister is from 1973, and is 27 pages long. A
very good story about a starship, the first to leave Earth to colonize
the great outback. On board is a young female telepath. Her sister
remains on Earth. They can communicate with each other, keeping the
ship in contact with Earth. At some point there is interference, and
contact is lost. What causes the interference is the subject of a very
good ending. However, I'm not sure what so much playing of the game Go
has to do with the story. At least Silverberg scores another hit with a
lead female character."
I have mixed feelings about good short stories being turned into novels (this one is 227 pages). The short story worked so well on its own, and the above review can still stand for the expanded version. What we end up with is a very slow moving novel, actually boring at times. The two planetary excursions liven things up considerably, but we don't get off the star ship at all in the first half on the book. The characters are not interesting enough to sustain a mostly actionless story. And I am still pondering the significance of all that Go playing. I would recommend the short story over the novel.
** 1/2 stars. Reviewed November 4th/23
THE ALIEN YEARS
First published in 1998, this epic 488 page SF novel has undergone many reprints since. The Alien Years takes two effective short stories and transforms them into a fairly wonderful novel, all things considered. I have already voiced my opinion on writers who expand short stories into full length novels, so I was admittedly biased going into this read. However, I emerged at the end convinced that for this time, Silverberg had scored a big win. "The Pardoner's Tale" is a short story from 1987 that pits a human computer hacker against the might of alien invaders who have taken over the Earth, erected enormous walls around major cities (LA in this case), and are receiving a lot of help from humans who have accepted the aliens as their masters and work for them. The second story comes first chronologically in the novel, as well as being written first. "Against Babylon" from 1986 tells of the invasion day in California, and how tremendous fires are accidentally ignited from the engines as the aliens land their huge ships.
Silverberg links the two stories in 9 epic chapters that tell what is happening over the course of a 50 years plus invasion and occupation timeline. He focuses on one family, the Carmichaels, who have a sprawling ranch in the mountains above Santa Barbara, north of LA. We follow the family from the first patriarch, Anse the Elder through several generations of caretakers. All are part of a worldwide resistance movement, though, as it turns, out, there is very little resistance that can ever be accomplished. The aliens are like gods in many ways: no one can communicate with them; no one knows what they want or why they are here; they are 15 feet tall and purple, with tentacles; they are telepathic; they treat humans the way we treat sheep.
After a while the reader begins to realize how scary such a scenario would be, especially with all electricity cut off on the first day. Military units are powerless, as nothing electronic works, including cars, generators, and so on. Think of the movie Day The Earth Stood Still. While Silverberg's characters are mostly thinly developed, a few, like Khalid, are quite interesting, as is Cindy, the first of the family to encounter the aliens. She thinks at first that they are benevolent. and will take her to their planet and show her wonders unimagined. She eventually gives up on that idea.
As usual I quibble with Silverberg's treatment of women. It wouldn't have been too radical to make a female one of the top hackers; alas, they are all male. And there is no such things as a matriarch in this family, either; it is always men of the new generation that lead. So I could understand female readers turning away from the book, or reading it and not liking it. In a way it harkens back to early SF writing, which was aimed only at boys and had plenty of strong male characters. I don't think Silverberg ever cast off those sexist chains, even if he unconsciously wrote women out of big roles in his books. It's just the way he grew up and it's just the way he writes. Take it or leave it. But it can be tough on readers.
All in all it's quite a splendid book, and should make us think seriously about not attracting attention to ourselves from out there. Let's face it--if aliens have technology to get here, they are going to be rather superior to us in many ways. And maybe their intentions will clash with ours. Silverberg seals the door nicely in this novel, making resistance more a thought game that a real life killing game. What if we can't resist? Human ingenuity did not save us in this book, at least. Could it ever happen? You bet it could.
*** 1/2 stars. Reviewed December 4th/23
THE LONGEST WAY HOME
First published in 2001 as a three part story in Asimov SF Magazine, The Longest Way Home is the story of a young teenage boy growing up the hard way. Joseph is the 15 year old eldest son of a Master, on a planet where two waves of humans have usurped the planet from the native inhabitants. The first wave was mostly simple farmers, and they were struggling when the ruling class came and took over, making things work. But Joseph, visiting a distant House in the far north, gets caught up in a serious rebellion. He makes his escape with the help of a servant, and is basically on his own, marching south to his home at least ten thousand miles away. On his journey, several times in which he nearly dies of starvation, he encounters allies where least expected. His journey is a harrowing one, to say the least. Brought up with a pampered existence, as the eldest son it will be his job to take over his father's great House someday, and manage it.
Essentially aimed at high school aged boys (sorry, girls, yet again), the story is very simple and never very deep. Boy walks and walks, encounters obstacles, and somehow gets through them. At least the story is relatively short, and seldom challenges the reader's credulity. From what Joseph learns along the way, by the end of the story we expect him to be a far better Master than he would have without his journey. Quite a good story, but far from exceptional. It almost sounds as if Silverberg took a very old idea from his pulp days and did his best to update it for modern readers.
*** stars. Reviewed January 2nd/23
ROMA ETERNA
First published as a whole in 2003, the 449 page Roma Eterna is historical fantasy fiction, though it can't really be called a novel. At least not in the traditional sense of that term. Silverberg postulates that the Roman Empire managed to survive, rather than fall apart as it did. Each chapter carefully explains how it managed to overcome some of its biggest obstacles, such as the rise of Christianity, the northern barbarian invasions, and the rise of Islam.
Each chapter tells of a different historical period, beginning in the year 453 C.E., when Christianity was subverted and bypassed as a major world force. The next chapter is in 505 C.E., and takes great pains to explain how the northern hordes were finally defeated. The third chapter takes us to 605. We are now in Mecca, and we meet Mohammad himself, ready to burst forth with his revelation from Allah, and to deal the final blow to Pantheism in Arabia. But in Silverberg's version of altered history, the Prophet is murdered before he has a chance to really get started. Thus Rome avoids another potential catastrophe. The next chapter is dated 1099, the time of the Crusades. However, since there is no Christianity, there are no Crusades. If that doesn't make the world a better place, then nothing will. However, at that time the Mayans and Incas were thriving, not to mention the North American Indians. So Rome sends an expedition to conquer these people. When the first one fails miserably, a second and larger one is sent. No luck. Then a third....It would seem that Rome will not be conquering the New World after all. However, in a somewhat racist solution, Silverberg has the Mayans of Yucatan united and ruled by a Dane. Still, it makes sense in many ways, since he is far more cunning, ruthless, and aware of Rome's strengths and weaknesses than any native leader would have been.
Next, in 1189 another crisis arises. The Eastern (Byzantine) half of the Empire is now preparing to overrun the Western half, which contains Rome. The Greeks are ready to reclaim their historical rights, and Rome, led now by a rather weak Caesar, seems ready to fall. And it does fall, for a few centuries anyway, before the rule of Rome is restored. The final chapter takes us to 1969 (moon landing, anyone?), the only chapter that I had read elsewhere. These were all published separately elsewhere before being collected here. Each chapter is a separate story, with new characters, 90% or more of whom are male (this is Silverberg, after all). Two women doe appear in stories, but their main job is to "entertain" important men. One chapter co-stars a nine year old girl.
Though the chapters are separated by time, often many years, Silverberg manages to link back to the previous chapter in various clever ways. In addition, we do get out of Rome a good deal. In one chapter we are in Venice, another takes us to Naples, and yet another to Vienna. All part of the Empire. What Silverberg doesn't do is talk at all about art, music, and science. While the final chapter deals with a moon rocket, we have no idea how this came to be. He does admit by the end that the Empire is quite dead, with new ideas simply missing in action. To date it was the Egyptians who had the longest rule on Earth, and by the end they weren't coming up with many new ideas, either. In fact, like Silverberg's Roman fantasy, their best work was done in the earliest years. Later followers imply did more of the same.
So what is the point of this novel? I would say it's mostly an exercise in imagination for the author. If you or I had written this, it would never have seen publication. Large parts of the book are quite boring to read, though some parts are quite fun. There is no decadent sex, even though it went on everywhere. For the Saturnalia chapter Silverberg chooses a British prude for his hero, and the Saturnalia gets cancelled due to cataclysmic political events in Rome. All in all I would not recommend this book. Much better historical fantasy is out there (see Harry Harrison's northern trilogy for the very best of it), and there is no SF elements here at all. Reading actual Roman history is much for fascinating, in my opinion. Not a terrible book by any means, but it is long and often tiring to read.
*** stars. Reviewed February 5th/24
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PULP CRIME FICTION
THE HOT BEAT
Cover art by Claudia Caranfa.
From 1960 and republished in 2022, even more of Silverberg's early output is now making its way into mainstream publishing. I have the Kindle edition. The story is short, though there are 25 chapters. A news reporter and a former girlfriend of a suspected killer try to prove his innocence. The police don't care; they have a suspect in custody and he looks guilty to them. Though not up to top notch crime writing standards set by Hammett and Chandler, the book gets to the nitty gritty aspects of sordid lifestyles. The girl, Terry, gets pawed by creeps, and we get a queasy enough feeling when it happens. The suspect is a former popular big band leader who hits the skids via alcoholism. Two people put him at the scene of the crime. The novel is preceded by a short intro by Silverberg, who seems as amazed as this reader regarding the republication of his crime stories. In addition, there are three short stories included.
*** stars. Reviewed April 1st/24
Jailbait Girl is from 1959. Sorry readers, but the girl is 23. She has a scam going with her boyfriend. After finding a guy to seduce her, the two crooks return later, she dressed as a high school girl, to extort money. They score four times, but the fifth time turns out quite different.
** 1/2 stars. Reviewed April 2nd/24
The Drunken Sailor is from 1958. A young sailor looking for his first time with a woman is sold out by a buddy, who has a scam going with the girl who does the trick.
** stars. Reviewed April 2nd/24
Naked In The Lake is from 1958. A murder story with an ironic twist at the end, like most of these tales. A man kills his pregnant lover, but his wife manages to outdo him without violence.
*** stars. Reviewed April 2nd/24
Mapman Mike
