#samuelrdelany — Public Fediverse posts
Live and recent posts from across the Fediverse tagged #samuelrdelany, aggregated by home.social.
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CW: May (or may not) contain offensive language
Among other sounds inside, somebody was shrieking and gasping and shrieking again, which meant somebody was doing something terrible. Or somebody thought somebody was.
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But what about you?
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Eddy stopped. "What?"
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"Come on." Lanya caught up his hand.
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Fifteen minutes later, when it had set completely, the sky had returned to its ordinary grey.
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Kid moved to see if his sandal was under his shadow. "Maybe it fell over…" He glanced across the bannister. "Look, never mind… put that out, will you." The luminous amoeboid collapsed. The stairwell filled up with darkness, to his eyes, and over. "Can you hear anything?"
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He'd walked three blocks when he saw, in the middle of the fourth, the church.
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It was a white boy, too." The other gestured with his can. "And he gonna come all the way down here to shoot niggers.
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He had short, black hair and wore a brown corduroy
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Just about the same thing… one time. The others? He was pretty normal.
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What are you doing?
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The brick-haired Negress shook her head, a hand before her mouth, hesitant to quiet me, pinch her own lips close, or push me away. "Somebody put a bomb in… Didn't they? Isn't that what they said? Somebody put a—"
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CW: May (or may not) contain offensive language
Your friend Mrs Brown—
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"What's that?" Mrs Richards asked, stepping around more overturned furniture.
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"What you mean?" Tarzan's chin jerked belligerently.
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"You shut up, or I'll pollute you!" a short-haired white woman said.
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"Good idea," Lanya said, "for me to split. I got you." Slipping her hand between blades, she grasped two of his fingers. Even on her thin wrist, turned, the blades pressed, rubbed, creased her skin—
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Oh, fuck you!" She pulled away from me. "You don't understand a lot of things. About me.
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A metal door grated in its frame.
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Someone's chair squeaked.
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He picked up the paper and the notebook and stood beside her. Jack and Tak (he remarked again the juxtaposition of sounds) went ahead. She pressed his arm and whispered, "I'd say I just earned my supper, wouldn't you?"
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Sometime during all this, Madame Brown's high laughter rolled into the hall; and a little on, her voice outside the door; "No! No, you can't go in there, Muriel! Someone's taking a bath."
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Yeah," Kid said. "What about you?
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Yeah, they call him the Kid." Jack continued his explanation. "Kid, this is Frank. Frank was in the army, and he writes poems too. I was telling him all about you, before. Wasn't I?
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If she asks you anything, tell her what you think. Please.
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Come on! You guys got a light and a ladder? And a rope?
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"…yours?" That her smile held less mocking than it might was how I knew she mocked.
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Copied them out (and it was full day) but found I still [wanted?] to go on writing. So turned back to one of the pages with space left near the end. of the notebook (there are very few of them, and I have just started putting entries—like the beginning of this one—in quarter-sized, near illegible scrawl all over the margins) and wrote, this, continuing it on a page I found free here near the beginning.
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"Hey, man, hey—" D-t moves along with them.
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She still listened.
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to wound the autumnal city.
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to wound the autumnal city.
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to wound the autumnal city.
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CW: May (or may not) contain offensive language
to wound the autumnal city.
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What pre-1985 science fiction are you reading? + Update No. XXIX
What pre-1985 science fiction adventures have you started this summer? Any great reads? Disappointing ones? Intriguing discoveries? Here’s the April installment of this column.
- A selection of read volumes from my shelves
In a conversation on Blueksy, someone asked for my history of science fiction recommendations (including a few general surveys). I scoured my shelves and came up with an all-too-large pile (with some notable volumes I wanted to include but could not find) of favorite histories of science fiction. See photo below. I tried to include monographs that were not studies of single authors.
As I am a historian by training and trade who holds on to some of my disciplinary ticks and hangups, I also included works by trained academics with two major exceptions 1) Mike Ashley’s multi-volume study of science fiction magazines (but no other recent works exist and they’re really good for the nuts and bolts of genre magazines) and 2) Alec Nevala-Lee’s approachable and well-researched group biography Astounding: John W. Campbell, Isaac Asimov, Robert A. Heinlein, L. Ron Hubbard, and the Golden Age of Science Fiction (2018). Both should be read.
- A photo of a few of my history of science fiction recommendations
I deliberately avoided works by science fiction authors like Damon Knight, Brian W. Aldiss, and Frederik Pohl. They’re great sources and I own and have read many of them but…. they are not histories by trained scholars. I do not mean for this to come off as elitist. Rather, my personal remit for my list—I needed to winnow down the hundreds and hundreds I own–was deliberately narrow! I read and use sources widely. Remember, these are my favorites — they might not be the best but they got me thinking and reading and writing. And that’s what we all should be doing, reading what makes us happy.
Before we get to the the curated birthdays and brief thoughts on the science fiction volumes above, let me know what pre-1985 SF you’re currently reading or planning to read! You’re also welcome to list your favorite histories of the genre.
The Photograph (with links to reviews and brief thoughts)
- Samuel R. Delany and Howard V. Chaykin’s Empire (1978). I love the art! The story? One of Delany’s weakest outings. It’s a shame.
- Robert Holdstock’s Eye Among the Blind (1976). His anthropologically inclined first novel contains “kerns of his later genius” according to my 2014. Most details have faded. That can’t be said to his far superior Where Time Winds Blow (1981). If you only know Holdstock for Mythago Wood (1984), definitely check out his earlier more overt science fictional works. That said, I really need to read Mythago Wood!
- Kate Wilhelm’s Abyss (1971) is a underrated outing (two novellas) by a master near the top of her game. I particularly enjoyed “The Plastic Abyss” (1971): As the human drama (the entrenched patterns and fritctions of society’s expected social roles) swirls at the forefront, the SF premise generates the unease—in this case an attempt to secure funding for an experimental absorptive material onto which life-like images can be projected.
- Philip K. Dick’s Our Friends From Frolix 8 (1970). One of many PKD novels that have clumped together into a terrifying indistinguishable distillation of his unease and what makes him great. This is too say, I read a lot of PKD early in my SF reading career and can’t remember which details relate to which books!
What am I writing about?
The merciful appearance of summer break early this month — and a summer with little planned travel — has allowed me to get back into the flow of writing reviews and working on larger projects. Since the April installment of this series, I’ve read reviewed and written about the following: Exploration Log 14: Anti-Racism in Chandler Davis’ “Stereotypes Are Dangerous” (1950), two posts on Clifford D. Simak: “Madness from Mars” (1939) and “Hermit of Mars” (1939) and his collection The Worlds of Clifford Simak (1960), Polly Toynbee’s Leftovers (1966) and Lewis Gibbs’ Late Final (1951), Richard Wilson’s “Strike” (1953), and Knut Faldbakken’s Sweetwater (1976, trans. Joan Tate, 1994), which appeared originally in the first issue of Rachel S. Cordasco’s magazine Small Planet: The SF in Translation Magazine.
The summer has allowed me to return to my article (and accompanying historical research) on Edward A. Johnson’s Light Ahead for the Negro (1904). First major summer step? I finished Richard A. Paschal’s Jim Crow in North Carolina: The Legislative Program from 1865-1920 (2021) to integrate into my article! I will spend as much as the afternoon as possible at my favorite coffee shop trying to eek out a few more pages or to reacquaint myself with my 200+ electronic newspaper clippings I’ve collected.
I’m also working on my review of SF in translation for the second issue of Small Planet: The SF in Translation Magazine. I’ll keep the author and book secret until it appears in the first few weeks of August. As for non fiction for the site, I’m working on a few early Clifford D. Simak fanzine articles for my Exploration Log series.
What am I reading?
This is a rare moment for reasons connected to my before-mentioned article that I do not have a science fiction work already lined up to read. It’s a radically attempt to FINISH writing projects that have acted as anchors to other writing and reading. That said, no worries blog friends — I have plenty of half-finished reviews waiting in the wings. Stay tuned.
- Photo of Steve Batterson’s The Prosecution of Professor Chandler Davis: McCarthyism, Communism, and the Myth of Academic Freedom (2023) on my history shelf with other books
On the non-fiction front: I have been eying Steve Batterson’s The Prosecution of Professor Chandler Davis: McCarthyism, Communism, and the Myth of Academic Freedom (2023) after writing about Chandler Davis’ amazing fanzine article “Stereotypes Are Dangerous” (1950) for my Exploration Log series.
A Curated List of SF Birthdays from the Last Two Weeks [names link to The Internet Speculative Fiction Database for bibliographical info]
June 10th: Artist Don Maitz (1953-).
June 11th: Josephine Saxton (1935-2023). I recommend The Hieros Gamos of Sam and An Smith (1969). She was a unique and underrated voice of the New Wave. I also covered her first three published short stories.
June 12th: Frank K. Kelly (1914-2010). I wrote about an example of his dark 30s pulp here: “Famine on Mars” (1934).
June 12th: Henry Slesar (1927-2002).
June 13th: Artist Ralph McQuarrie (1929-2012). Best known for his Star Wars art. He also created SF covers.
- James Gurney’s cover for William Greenleaf’s The Tartarus Incident (1983)
June 14th: Artist James Gurney (1958-). Best known for Dinotopia (1992) (and the sequels). Another very influential book in my childhood. He also created a SF covers.
June 14th: Stephen Tall (1908-1981).
June 14th: Ruthven Todd (1914-1978). I recently acquired his marginally SF work The Lost Traveller (1943). I’ll feature it in a purchase post eventually.
June 14th: Laurence Yep (1948-). A complete unknown to me. I acquired one of his novels recently: Seademons (1977) .
June 14th: Artist Peter Goodfellow (1950-2022). One of my favorite British SF artists.
- Mitchell Hooks’ cover for the 1962 1st edition
June 15th: J. F. Bone (1916-2006). Best known for his novel The Lani People (1962). One of many novels with humanoid cat women. Blargh.
June 15th: Artist Neal Adams (1941-2022). Best known for his Tarzan covers.
June 15th: Brian Jacques (1939-2011). I’ve mentioned my love his Jacques’ Redwall sequence in previous year installments of the birthday list. If there’s a single author responsible for my adoration for reading and maps, it’s him.
June 17th: Wallace Wood (1927-1981).
June 17th: John Hersey (1914-1993). Best known for his non-fiction work Hiroshima (1946), Hersey also wrote three SFF volumes. I read and enjoyed his overpopulation themed novel My Petition for More Space (1974). I acquired his satire of the National Defense Education Act (1968) novel The Child Buyer (1960).
June 17th: Garen Drussaï (1916-2009). She wrote five science fiction stories in the mid-50s, including her “consumer hell” story “Woman’s Work” (1956) that I must finally get around to reading.
June 17th: Dean Ing (1931-2020).
- The Brothers Quay cover for the 1st edition of Philip K. Dick’s A Scanner Darkly (1977)
June 17th: Tim and Steve Quay (1947-) (The Brothers Quay). Before their brilliant short films, they created a handful of covers early in their career! I found their 1st edition cover of PKD’s A Scanner Darkly (1977) the best.
June 18th: Artist Jody A. Lee (1958-).
June 18th: Roger Ebert (1942-2013). Ebert, a famous film-reviewer, also published two science fiction short stories in 1972.
June 19th: Mark Adlard (1932-). I reviewed the first volume–Interface (1971)–in his Tcity trilogy back in 2015.
June 19th: Brian Ball (1932-2020). A slick pulp-SF author, if that is your thing. I reviewed Singularity Station (1973) in 2013.
- Peter Goodfellow’s cover for the 1977 UK edition of Grimus (1975)
June 19th: Salman Rushdie (1947-). I have my eyes on his first SF novel Grimus (1975) (above).
June 20th: Pamela Zoline (1941-). I love the rightly celebrated “The Heat Death of the Universe” (1967) and wish she wrote more than the handful of short stories.
June 21st: Cleve Cartmill (1908-1964). Best known for the controversy over “Deadline” (1944) “which described an atomic bomb a year before one was ever dropped, which the government attempted to suppress.” Should I read it? I imagine it is historically important but a poor story. Did he write anything else worth reading?
June 21st: David J. Skal (1952-2024). I’ve only read Skal’s short story “Chains” (1971).
June 22nd: Lima de Freitas (1927-1998). One of my top 5 science fiction artists — I love his line work. For a few examples I gathered, see this thread on Bluesky. I also posted about his work on my site: The Futuristic Cities of Lima de Freitas.
June 22nd: Octavia E. Butler (1947-2006). I’ve reviewed Clay’s Ark (1984), Dawn (1987) and Mind of My Mind (1977). Clay’s Ark (1984) is really really good. Covered it last year.
June 23rd: Michael Shaara (1928-1988). His collection Soldier Boy (1982) judges me from the shelf. I’ve been meaning to read it since 2015!
- Paul Orban’s interior art for A. J. Deutsch’s “A Subway Named Mobius” (1950) in Astounding Science Fiction, ed. John W. Campbell, Jr. (December 1950)
June 23rd: Artist Paul Orban (1896-1974). I enjoy his style of interior art — the variety of lines and shading.
June 23rd: Artist Alan Craddock (1956-). I do not enjoy his style of cover art!
- Alan Craddock’s cover art for the 1985 Orbit edition of David Gerrold’s A Day for Damnation (1984)
For book reviews consult the INDEX
For cover art posts consult the INDEX
For TV and film reviews consult the INDEX
#1930s #1950s #1960s #1970s #1980s #avantGarde #bookReview #bookReviews #books #fiction #HowardVChaykin #KateWilhelm #philipKDick #RobertHoldstock #SamuelRDelany #sciFi #scienceFiction -
What pre-1985 science fiction are you reading? + Update No. XXIX
What pre-1985 science fiction adventures have you started this summer? Any great reads? Disappointing ones? Intriguing discoveries? Here’s the April installment of this column.
- A selection of read volumes from my shelves
In a conversation on Blueksy, someone asked for my history of science fiction recommendations (including a few general surveys). I scoured my shelves and came up with an all-too-large pile (with some notable volumes I wanted to include but could not find) of favorite histories of science fiction. See photo below. I tried to include monographs that were not studies of single authors.
As I am a historian by training and trade who holds on to some of my disciplinary ticks and hangups, I also included works by trained academics with two major exceptions 1) Mike Ashley’s multi-volume study of science fiction magazines (but no other recent works exist and they’re really good for the nuts and bolts of genre magazines) and 2) Alec Nevala-Lee’s approachable and well-researched group biography Astounding: John W. Campbell, Isaac Asimov, Robert A. Heinlein, L. Ron Hubbard, and the Golden Age of Science Fiction (2018). Both should be read.
- A photo of a few of my history of science fiction recommendations
I deliberately avoided works by science fiction authors like Damon Knight, Brian W. Aldiss, and Frederik Pohl. They’re great sources and I own and have read many of them but…. they are not histories by trained scholars. I do not mean for this to come off as elitist. Rather, my personal remit for my list—I needed to winnow down the hundreds and hundreds I own–was deliberately narrow! I read and use sources widely. Remember, these are my favorites — they might not be the best but they got me thinking and reading and writing. And that’s what we all should be doing, reading what makes us happy.
Before we get to the the curated birthdays and brief thoughts on the science fiction volumes above, let me know what pre-1985 SF you’re currently reading or planning to read! You’re also welcome to list your favorite histories of the genre.
The Photograph (with links to reviews and brief thoughts)
- Samuel R. Delany and Howard V. Chaykin’s Empire (1978). I love the art! The story? One of Delany’s weakest outings. It’s a shame.
- Robert Holdstock’s Eye Among the Blind (1976). His anthropologically inclined first novel contains “kerns of his later genius” according to my 2014. Most details have faded. That can’t be said to his far superior Where Time Winds Blow (1981). If you only know Holdstock for Mythago Wood (1984), definitely check out his earlier more overt science fictional works. That said, I really need to read Mythago Wood!
- Kate Wilhelm’s Abyss (1971) is a underrated outing (two novellas) by a master near the top of her game. I particularly enjoyed “The Plastic Abyss” (1971): As the human drama (the entrenched patterns and fritctions of society’s expected social roles) swirls at the forefront, the SF premise generates the unease—in this case an attempt to secure funding for an experimental absorptive material onto which life-like images can be projected.
- Philip K. Dick’s Our Friends From Frolix 8 (1970). One of many PKD novels that have clumped together into a terrifying indistinguishable distillation of his unease and what makes him great. This is too say, I read a lot of PKD early in my SF reading career and can’t remember which details relate to which books!
What am I writing about?
The merciful appearance of summer break early this month — and a summer with little planned travel — has allowed me to get back into the flow of writing reviews and working on larger projects. Since the April installment of this series, I’ve read reviewed and written about the following: Exploration Log 14: Anti-Racism in Chandler Davis’ “Stereotypes Are Dangerous” (1950), two posts on Clifford D. Simak: “Madness from Mars” (1939) and “Hermit of Mars” (1939) and his collection The Worlds of Clifford Simak (1960), Polly Toynbee’s Leftovers (1966) and Lewis Gibbs’ Late Final (1951), Richard Wilson’s “Strike” (1953), and Knut Faldbakken’s Sweetwater (1976, trans. Joan Tate, 1994), which appeared originally in the first issue of Rachel S. Cordasco’s magazine Small Planet: The SF in Translation Magazine.
The summer has allowed me to return to my article (and accompanying historical research) on Edward A. Johnson’s Light Ahead for the Negro (1904). First major summer step? I finished Richard A. Paschal’s Jim Crow in North Carolina: The Legislative Program from 1865-1920 (2021) to integrate into my article! I will spend as much as the afternoon as possible at my favorite coffee shop trying to eek out a few more pages or to reacquaint myself with my 200+ electronic newspaper clippings I’ve collected.
I’m also working on my review of SF in translation for the second issue of Small Planet: The SF in Translation Magazine. I’ll keep the author and book secret until it appears in the first few weeks of August. As for non fiction for the site, I’m working on a few early Clifford D. Simak fanzine articles for my Exploration Log series.
What am I reading?
This is a rare moment for reasons connected to my before-mentioned article that I do not have a science fiction work already lined up to read. It’s a radically attempt to FINISH writing projects that have acted as anchors to other writing and reading. That said, no worries blog friends — I have plenty of half-finished reviews waiting in the wings. Stay tuned.
- Photo of Steve Batterson’s The Prosecution of Professor Chandler Davis: McCarthyism, Communism, and the Myth of Academic Freedom (2023) on my history shelf with other books
On the non-fiction front: I have been eying Steve Batterson’s The Prosecution of Professor Chandler Davis: McCarthyism, Communism, and the Myth of Academic Freedom (2023) after writing about Chandler Davis’ amazing fanzine article “Stereotypes Are Dangerous” (1950) for my Exploration Log series.
A Curated List of SF Birthdays from the Last Two Weeks [names link to The Internet Speculative Fiction Database for bibliographical info]
June 10th: Artist Don Maitz (1953-).
June 11th: Josephine Saxton (1935-2023). I recommend The Hieros Gamos of Sam and An Smith (1969). She was a unique and underrated voice of the New Wave. I also covered her first three published short stories.
June 12th: Frank K. Kelly (1914-2010). I wrote about an example of his dark 30s pulp here: “Famine on Mars” (1934).
June 12th: Henry Slesar (1927-2002).
June 13th: Artist Ralph McQuarrie (1929-2012). Best known for his Star Wars art. He also created SF covers.
- James Gurney’s cover for William Greenleaf’s The Tartarus Incident (1983)
June 14th: Artist James Gurney (1958-). Best known for Dinotopia (1992) (and the sequels). Another very influential book in my childhood. He also created a SF covers.
June 14th: Stephen Tall (1908-1981).
June 14th: Ruthven Todd (1914-1978). I recently acquired his marginally SF work The Lost Traveller (1943). I’ll feature it in a purchase post eventually.
June 14th: Laurence Yep (1948-). A complete unknown to me. I acquired one of his novels recently: Seademons (1977) .
June 14th: Artist Peter Goodfellow (1950-2022). One of my favorite British SF artists.
- Mitchell Hooks’ cover for the 1962 1st edition
June 15th: J. F. Bone (1916-2006). Best known for his novel The Lani People (1962). One of many novels with humanoid cat women. Blargh.
June 15th: Artist Neal Adams (1941-2022). Best known for his Tarzan covers.
June 15th: Brian Jacques (1939-2011). I’ve mentioned my love his Jacques’ Redwall sequence in previous year installments of the birthday list. If there’s a single author responsible for my adoration for reading and maps, it’s him.
June 17th: Wallace Wood (1927-1981).
June 17th: John Hersey (1914-1993). Best known for his non-fiction work Hiroshima (1946), Hersey also wrote three SFF volumes. I read and enjoyed his overpopulation themed novel My Petition for More Space (1974). I acquired his satire of the National Defense Education Act (1968) novel The Child Buyer (1960).
June 17th: Garen Drussaï (1916-2009). She wrote five science fiction stories in the mid-50s, including her “consumer hell” story “Woman’s Work” (1956) that I must finally get around to reading.
June 17th: Dean Ing (1931-2020).
- The Brothers Quay cover for the 1st edition of Philip K. Dick’s A Scanner Darkly (1977)
June 17th: Tim and Steve Quay (1947-) (The Brothers Quay). Before their brilliant short films, they created a handful of covers early in their career! I found their 1st edition cover of PKD’s A Scanner Darkly (1977) the best.
June 18th: Artist Jody A. Lee (1958-).
June 18th: Roger Ebert (1942-2013). Ebert, a famous film-reviewer, also published two science fiction short stories in 1972.
June 19th: Mark Adlard (1932-). I reviewed the first volume–Interface (1971)–in his Tcity trilogy back in 2015.
June 19th: Brian Ball (1932-2020). A slick pulp-SF author, if that is your thing. I reviewed Singularity Station (1973) in 2013.
- Peter Goodfellow’s cover for the 1977 UK edition of Grimus (1975)
June 19th: Salman Rushdie (1947-). I have my eyes on his first SF novel Grimus (1975) (above).
June 20th: Pamela Zoline (1941-). I love the rightly celebrated “The Heat Death of the Universe” (1967) and wish she wrote more than the handful of short stories.
June 21st: Cleve Cartmill (1908-1964). Best known for the controversy over “Deadline” (1944) “which described an atomic bomb a year before one was ever dropped, which the government attempted to suppress.” Should I read it? I imagine it is historically important but a poor story. Did he write anything else worth reading?
June 21st: David J. Skal (1952-2024). I’ve only read Skal’s short story “Chains” (1971).
June 22nd: Lima de Freitas (1927-1998). One of my top 5 science fiction artists — I love his line work. For a few examples I gathered, see this thread on Bluesky. I also posted about his work on my site: The Futuristic Cities of Lima de Freitas.
June 22nd: Octavia E. Butler (1947-2006). I’ve reviewed Clay’s Ark (1984), Dawn (1987) and Mind of My Mind (1977). Clay’s Ark (1984) is really really good. Covered it last year.
June 23rd: Michael Shaara (1928-1988). His collection Soldier Boy (1982) judges me from the shelf. I’ve been meaning to read it since 2015!
- Paul Orban’s interior art for A. J. Deutsch’s “A Subway Named Mobius” (1950) in Astounding Science Fiction, ed. John W. Campbell, Jr. (December 1950)
June 23rd: Artist Paul Orban (1896-1974). I enjoy his style of interior art — the variety of lines and shading.
June 23rd: Artist Alan Craddock (1956-). I do not enjoy his style of cover art!
- Alan Craddock’s cover art for the 1985 Orbit edition of David Gerrold’s A Day for Damnation (1984)
For book reviews consult the INDEX
For cover art posts consult the INDEX
For TV and film reviews consult the INDEX
#1930s #1950s #1960s #1970s #1980s #avantGarde #bookReview #bookReviews #books #fiction #HowardVChaykin #KateWilhelm #philipKDick #RobertHoldstock #SamuelRDelany #sciFi #scienceFiction -
What pre-1985 science fiction are you reading? + Update No. XXIX
What pre-1985 science fiction adventures have you started this summer? Any great reads? Disappointing ones? Intriguing discoveries? Here’s the April installment of this column.
In a conversation on Blueksy (my primary social media after the fall of Twitter/X), someone asked for my history of science fiction recommendations including a few general surveys. I scoured my shelves and came up with an all-too-large pile (with some notable volumes I wanted to include but could not find) of favorite histories of science fiction. See photo above. I tried to include monographs that were not studies of single authors. As I am a historian by training and trade who holds on to some of my disciplinary ticks and hangups, I also included works by trained academics with two major exceptions 1) Mike Ashley’s multi-volume study of science fiction magazines (but no other recent works exist and they’re really good for the nuts and bolts of genre magazines) and 2) Alec Nevala-Lee’s approachable and well-researched group biography Astounding: John W. Campbell, Isaac Asimov, Robert A. Heinlein, L. Ron Hubbard, and the Golden Age of Science Fiction (2018). Both should be read.
I deliberately avoided works by science fiction authors like Damon Knight, Brian W. Aldiss, and Frederik Pohl. They’re great sources and I own and have read many of them but…. they are not histories by trained scholars. I do not mean for this to come off as elitist. Rather, my personal remit for my list—I needed to winnow down the hundreds and hundreds I own–was deliberately narrow! I read and use sources widely. Remember, these are my favorites — they might not be the best but they got me thinking and reading and writing. And that’s what we all should be doing, reading what makes us happy.
Before we get to the the curated birthdays and brief thoughts on the science fiction volumes above, let me know what pre-1985 SF you’re currently reading or planning to read! You’re also welcome to list your favorite histories of the genre.
- A selection of read volumes from my shelves
The Photograph (with links to reviews and brief thoughts)
- Samuel R. Delany and Howard V. Chaykin’s Empire (1978). I love the art! The story? One of Delany’s weakest outings. It’s a shame.
- Robert Holdstock’s Eye Among the Blind (1976). His anthropologically inclined first novel contains “kerns of his later genius” according to my 2014. Most details have faded. That can’t be said to his far superior Where Time Winds Blow (1981). If you only know Holdstock for Mythago Wood (1984), definitely check out his earlier more overt science fictional works. That said, I really need to read Mythago Wood!
- Kate Wilhelm’s Abyss (1971) is a underrated outing (two novellas) by a master near the top of her game. I particularly enjoyed “The Plastic Abyss” (1971): As the human drama (the entrenched patterns and fritctions of society’s expected social roles) swirls at the forefront, the SF premise generates the unease—in this case an attempt to secure funding for an experimental absorptive material onto which life-like images can be projected.
- Philip K. Dick’s Our Friends From Frolix 8 (1970). One of many PKD novels that have clumped together into a terrifying indistinguishable distillation of his unease and what makes him great. This is too say, I read a lot of PKD early in my SF reading career and can’t remember which details relate to which books!
What am I writing about?
The merciful appearance of summer break early this month — and a summer with little planned travel — has allowed me to get back into the flow of writing reviews and working on larger projects. Since the April installment of this series, I’ve read reviewed and written about the following: Exploration Log 14: Anti-Racism in Chandler Davis’ “Stereotypes Are Dangerous” (1950), two posts on Clifford D. Simak: “Madness from Mars” (1939) and “Hermit of Mars” (1939) and his collection The Worlds of Clifford Simak (1960), Polly Toynbee’s Leftovers (1966) and Lewis Gibbs’ Late Final (1951), Richard Wilson’s “Strike” (1953), and Knut Faldbakken’s Sweetwater (1976, trans. Joan Tate, 1994), which appeared originally in the first issue of Rachel S. Cordasco’s magazine Small Planet: The SF in Translation Magazine.
The summer has allowed me to return to my article (and accompanying historical research) on Edward A. Johnson’s Light Ahead for the Negro (1904). First major summer step? I finished Richard A. Paschal’s Jim Crow in North Carolina: The Legislative Program from 1865-1920 (2021) to integrate into my article! I will spend as much as the afternoon as possible at my favorite coffee shop trying to eek out a few more pages or to reacquaint myself with my 200+ electronic newspaper clippings I’ve collected.
I’m also working on my review of SF in translation for the second issue of Small Planet: The SF in Translation Magazine. I’ll keep the author and book secret until it appears in the first few weeks of August. As for non fiction for the site, I’m working on a few early Clifford D. Simak fanzine articles for my Exploration Log series.
What am I reading?
This is a rare moment for reasons connected to my before-mentioned article that I do not have a science fiction work already lined up to read. It’s a radically attempt to FINISH writing projects that have acted as anchors to other writing and reading. That said, no worries blog friends — I have plenty of half-finished reviews waiting in the wings. Stay tuned.
- Photo of Steve Batterson’s The Prosecution of Professor Chandler Davis: McCarthyism, Communism, and the Myth of Academic Freedom (2023) on my history shelf with other books
On the non-fiction front: I have been eying Steve Batterson’s The Prosecution of Professor Chandler Davis: McCarthyism, Communism, and the Myth of Academic Freedom (2023) after writing about Chandler Davis’ amazing fanzine article “Stereotypes Are Dangerous” (1950) for my Exploration Log series.
A Curated List of SF Birthdays from the Last Two Weeks [names link to The Internet Speculative Fiction Database for bibliographical info]
June 10th: Artist Don Maitz (1953-).
June 11th: Josephine Saxton (1935-2023). I recommend The Hieros Gamos of Sam and An Smith (1969). She was a unique and underrated voice of the New Wave. I also covered her first three published short stories.
June 12th: Frank K. Kelly (1914-2010). I wrote about an example of his dark 30s pulp here: “Famine on Mars” (1934).
June 12th: Henry Slesar (1927-2002).
June 13th: Artist Ralph McQuarrie (1929-2012). Best known for his Star Wars art. He also created SF covers.
- James Gurney’s cover for William Greenleaf’s The Tartarus Incident (1983)
June 14th: Artist James Gurney (1958-). Best known for Dinotopia (1992) (and the sequels). Another very influential book in my childhood. He also created a SF covers.
June 14th: Stephen Tall (1908-1981).
June 14th: Ruthven Todd (1914-1978). I recently acquired his marginally SF work The Lost Traveller (1943). I’ll feature it in a purchase post eventually.
June 14th: Laurence Yep (1948-). A complete unknown to me. I acquired one of his novels recently: Seademons (1977) .
June 14th: Artist Peter Goodfellow (1950-2022). One of my favorite British SF artists.
- Mitchell Hooks’ cover for the 1962 1st edition
June 15th: J. F. Bone (1916-2006). Best known for his novel The Lani People (1962). One of many novels with humanoid cat women. Blargh.
June 15th: Artist Neal Adams (1941-2022). Best known for his Tarzan covers.
June 15th: Brian Jacques (1939-2011). I’ve mentioned my love his Jacques’ Redwall sequence in previous year installments of the birthday list. If there’s a single author responsible for my adoration for reading and maps, it’s him.
June 17th: Wallace Wood (1927-1981).
June 17th: John Hersey (1914-1993). Best known for his non-fiction work Hiroshima (1946), Hersey also wrote three SFF volumes. I read and enjoyed his overpopulation themed novel My Petition for More Space (1974). I acquired his satire of the National Defense Education Act (1968) novel The Child Buyer (1960).
June 17th: Garen Drussaï (1916-2009). She wrote five science fiction stories in the mid-50s, including her “consumer hell” story “Woman’s Work” (1956) that I must finally get around to reading.
June 17th: Dean Ing (1931-2020).
- The Brothers Quay cover for the 1st edition of Philip K. Dick’s A Scanner Darkly (1977)
June 17th: Tim and Steve Quay (1947-) (The Brothers Quay). Before their brilliant short films, they created a handful of covers early in their career! I found their 1st edition cover of PKD’s A Scanner Darkly (1977) the best.
June 18th: Artist Jody A. Lee (1958-).
June 18th: Roger Ebert (1942-2013). Ebert, a famous film-reviewer, also published two science fiction short stories in 1972.
June 19th: Mark Adlard (1932-). I reviewed the first volume–Interface (1971)–in his Tcity trilogy back in 2015.
June 19th: Brian Ball (1932-2020). A slick pulp-SF author, if that is your thing. I reviewed Singularity Station (1973) in 2013.
- Peter Goodfellow’s cover for the 1977 UK edition of Grimus (1975)
June 19th: Salman Rushdie (1947-). I have my eyes on his first SF novel Grimus (1975) (above).
June 20th: Pamela Zoline (1941-). I love the rightly celebrated “The Heat Death of the Universe” (1967) and wish she wrote more than the handful of short stories.
June 21st: Cleve Cartmill (1908-1964). Best known for the controversy over “Deadline” (1944) “which described an atomic bomb a year before one was ever dropped, which the government attempted to suppress.” Should I read it? I imagine it is historically important but a poor story. Did he write anything else worth reading?
June 21st: David J. Skal (1952-2024). I’ve only read Skal’s short story “Chains” (1971).
June 22nd: Lima de Freitas (1927-1998). One of my top 5 science fiction artists — I love his line work. For a few examples I gathered, see this thread on Bluesky. I also posted about his work on my site: The Futuristic Cities of Lima de Freitas.
June 22nd: Octavia E. Butler (1947-2006). I’ve reviewed Clay’s Ark (1984), Dawn (1987) and Mind of My Mind (1977). Clay’s Ark (1984) is really really good. Covered it last year.
June 23rd: Michael Shaara (1928-1988). His collection Soldier Boy (1982) judges me from the shelf. I’ve been meaning to read it since 2015!
- Paul Orban’s interior art for A. J. Deutsch’s “A Subway Named Mobius” (1950) in Astounding Science Fiction, ed. John W. Campbell, Jr. (December 1950)
June 23rd: Artist Paul Orban (1896-1974). I enjoy his style of interior art — the variety of lines and shading.
June 23rd: Artist Alan Craddock (1956-). I do not enjoy his style of cover art!
- Alan Craddock’s cover art for the 1985 Orbit edition of David Gerrold’s A Day for Damnation (1984)
For book reviews consult the INDEX
For cover art posts consult the INDEX
For TV and film reviews consult the INDEX
#1930s #1950s #1960s #1970s #1980s #avantGarde #bookReview #bookReviews #books #fiction #HowardVChaykin #KateWilhelm #philipKDick #RobertHoldstock #SamuelRDelany #sciFi #scienceFiction -
What pre-1985 science fiction are you reading? + Update No. XXIX
What pre-1985 science fiction adventures have you started this summer? Any great reads? Disappointing ones? Intriguing discoveries? Here’s the April installment of this column.
- A selection of read volumes from my shelves
In a conversation on Blueksy, someone asked for my history of science fiction recommendations (including a few general surveys). I scoured my shelves and came up with an all-too-large pile (with some notable volumes I wanted to include but could not find) of favorite histories of science fiction. See photo below. I tried to include monographs that were not studies of single authors.
As I am a historian by training and trade who holds on to some of my disciplinary ticks and hangups, I also included works by trained academics with two major exceptions 1) Mike Ashley’s multi-volume study of science fiction magazines (but no other recent works exist and they’re really good for the nuts and bolts of genre magazines) and 2) Alec Nevala-Lee’s approachable and well-researched group biography Astounding: John W. Campbell, Isaac Asimov, Robert A. Heinlein, L. Ron Hubbard, and the Golden Age of Science Fiction (2018). Both should be read.
- A photo of a few of my history of science fiction recommendations
I deliberately avoided works by science fiction authors like Damon Knight, Brian W. Aldiss, and Frederik Pohl. They’re great sources and I own and have read many of them but…. they are not histories by trained scholars. I do not mean for this to come off as elitist. Rather, my personal remit for my list—I needed to winnow down the hundreds and hundreds I own–was deliberately narrow! I read and use sources widely. Remember, these are my favorites — they might not be the best but they got me thinking and reading and writing. And that’s what we all should be doing, reading what makes us happy.
Before we get to the the curated birthdays and brief thoughts on the science fiction volumes above, let me know what pre-1985 SF you’re currently reading or planning to read! You’re also welcome to list your favorite histories of the genre.
The Photograph (with links to reviews and brief thoughts)
- Samuel R. Delany and Howard V. Chaykin’s Empire (1978). I love the art! The story? One of Delany’s weakest outings. It’s a shame.
- Robert Holdstock’s Eye Among the Blind (1976). His anthropologically inclined first novel contains “kerns of his later genius” according to my 2014. Most details have faded. That can’t be said to his far superior Where Time Winds Blow (1981). If you only know Holdstock for Mythago Wood (1984), definitely check out his earlier more overt science fictional works. That said, I really need to read Mythago Wood!
- Kate Wilhelm’s Abyss (1971) is a underrated outing (two novellas) by a master near the top of her game. I particularly enjoyed “The Plastic Abyss” (1971): As the human drama (the entrenched patterns and fritctions of society’s expected social roles) swirls at the forefront, the SF premise generates the unease—in this case an attempt to secure funding for an experimental absorptive material onto which life-like images can be projected.
- Philip K. Dick’s Our Friends From Frolix 8 (1970). One of many PKD novels that have clumped together into a terrifying indistinguishable distillation of his unease and what makes him great. This is too say, I read a lot of PKD early in my SF reading career and can’t remember which details relate to which books!
What am I writing about?
The merciful appearance of summer break early this month — and a summer with little planned travel — has allowed me to get back into the flow of writing reviews and working on larger projects. Since the April installment of this series, I’ve read reviewed and written about the following: Exploration Log 14: Anti-Racism in Chandler Davis’ “Stereotypes Are Dangerous” (1950), two posts on Clifford D. Simak: “Madness from Mars” (1939) and “Hermit of Mars” (1939) and his collection The Worlds of Clifford Simak (1960), Polly Toynbee’s Leftovers (1966) and Lewis Gibbs’ Late Final (1951), Richard Wilson’s “Strike” (1953), and Knut Faldbakken’s Sweetwater (1976, trans. Joan Tate, 1994), which appeared originally in the first issue of Rachel S. Cordasco’s magazine Small Planet: The SF in Translation Magazine.
The summer has allowed me to return to my article (and accompanying historical research) on Edward A. Johnson’s Light Ahead for the Negro (1904). First major summer step? I finished Richard A. Paschal’s Jim Crow in North Carolina: The Legislative Program from 1865-1920 (2021) to integrate into my article! I will spend as much as the afternoon as possible at my favorite coffee shop trying to eek out a few more pages or to reacquaint myself with my 200+ electronic newspaper clippings I’ve collected.
I’m also working on my review of SF in translation for the second issue of Small Planet: The SF in Translation Magazine. I’ll keep the author and book secret until it appears in the first few weeks of August. As for non fiction for the site, I’m working on a few early Clifford D. Simak fanzine articles for my Exploration Log series.
What am I reading?
This is a rare moment for reasons connected to my before-mentioned article that I do not have a science fiction work already lined up to read. It’s a radically attempt to FINISH writing projects that have acted as anchors to other writing and reading. That said, no worries blog friends — I have plenty of half-finished reviews waiting in the wings. Stay tuned.
- Photo of Steve Batterson’s The Prosecution of Professor Chandler Davis: McCarthyism, Communism, and the Myth of Academic Freedom (2023) on my history shelf with other books
On the non-fiction front: I have been eying Steve Batterson’s The Prosecution of Professor Chandler Davis: McCarthyism, Communism, and the Myth of Academic Freedom (2023) after writing about Chandler Davis’ amazing fanzine article “Stereotypes Are Dangerous” (1950) for my Exploration Log series.
A Curated List of SF Birthdays from the Last Two Weeks [names link to The Internet Speculative Fiction Database for bibliographical info]
June 10th: Artist Don Maitz (1953-).
June 11th: Josephine Saxton (1935-2023). I recommend The Hieros Gamos of Sam and An Smith (1969). She was a unique and underrated voice of the New Wave. I also covered her first three published short stories.
June 12th: Frank K. Kelly (1914-2010). I wrote about an example of his dark 30s pulp here: “Famine on Mars” (1934).
June 12th: Henry Slesar (1927-2002).
June 13th: Artist Ralph McQuarrie (1929-2012). Best known for his Star Wars art. He also created SF covers.
- James Gurney’s cover for William Greenleaf’s The Tartarus Incident (1983)
June 14th: Artist James Gurney (1958-). Best known for Dinotopia (1992) (and the sequels). Another very influential book in my childhood. He also created a SF covers.
June 14th: Stephen Tall (1908-1981).
June 14th: Ruthven Todd (1914-1978). I recently acquired his marginally SF work The Lost Traveller (1943). I’ll feature it in a purchase post eventually.
June 14th: Laurence Yep (1948-). A complete unknown to me. I acquired one of his novels recently: Seademons (1977) .
June 14th: Artist Peter Goodfellow (1950-2022). One of my favorite British SF artists.
- Mitchell Hooks’ cover for the 1962 1st edition
June 15th: J. F. Bone (1916-2006). Best known for his novel The Lani People (1962). One of many novels with humanoid cat women. Blargh.
June 15th: Artist Neal Adams (1941-2022). Best known for his Tarzan covers.
June 15th: Brian Jacques (1939-2011). I’ve mentioned my love his Jacques’ Redwall sequence in previous year installments of the birthday list. If there’s a single author responsible for my adoration for reading and maps, it’s him.
June 17th: Wallace Wood (1927-1981).
June 17th: John Hersey (1914-1993). Best known for his non-fiction work Hiroshima (1946), Hersey also wrote three SFF volumes. I read and enjoyed his overpopulation themed novel My Petition for More Space (1974). I acquired his satire of the National Defense Education Act (1968) novel The Child Buyer (1960).
June 17th: Garen Drussaï (1916-2009). She wrote five science fiction stories in the mid-50s, including her “consumer hell” story “Woman’s Work” (1956) that I must finally get around to reading.
June 17th: Dean Ing (1931-2020).
- The Brothers Quay cover for the 1st edition of Philip K. Dick’s A Scanner Darkly (1977)
June 17th: Tim and Steve Quay (1947-) (The Brothers Quay). Before their brilliant short films, they created a handful of covers early in their career! I found their 1st edition cover of PKD’s A Scanner Darkly (1977) the best.
June 18th: Artist Jody A. Lee (1958-).
June 18th: Roger Ebert (1942-2013). Ebert, a famous film-reviewer, also published two science fiction short stories in 1972.
June 19th: Mark Adlard (1932-). I reviewed the first volume–Interface (1971)–in his Tcity trilogy back in 2015.
June 19th: Brian Ball (1932-2020). A slick pulp-SF author, if that is your thing. I reviewed Singularity Station (1973) in 2013.
- Peter Goodfellow’s cover for the 1977 UK edition of Grimus (1975)
June 19th: Salman Rushdie (1947-). I have my eyes on his first SF novel Grimus (1975) (above).
June 20th: Pamela Zoline (1941-). I love the rightly celebrated “The Heat Death of the Universe” (1967) and wish she wrote more than the handful of short stories.
June 21st: Cleve Cartmill (1908-1964). Best known for the controversy over “Deadline” (1944) “which described an atomic bomb a year before one was ever dropped, which the government attempted to suppress.” Should I read it? I imagine it is historically important but a poor story. Did he write anything else worth reading?
June 21st: David J. Skal (1952-2024). I’ve only read Skal’s short story “Chains” (1971).
June 22nd: Lima de Freitas (1927-1998). One of my top 5 science fiction artists — I love his line work. For a few examples I gathered, see this thread on Bluesky. I also posted about his work on my site: The Futuristic Cities of Lima de Freitas.
June 22nd: Octavia E. Butler (1947-2006). I’ve reviewed Clay’s Ark (1984), Dawn (1987) and Mind of My Mind (1977). Clay’s Ark (1984) is really really good. Covered it last year.
June 23rd: Michael Shaara (1928-1988). His collection Soldier Boy (1982) judges me from the shelf. I’ve been meaning to read it since 2015!
- Paul Orban’s interior art for A. J. Deutsch’s “A Subway Named Mobius” (1950) in Astounding Science Fiction, ed. John W. Campbell, Jr. (December 1950)
June 23rd: Artist Paul Orban (1896-1974). I enjoy his style of interior art — the variety of lines and shading.
June 23rd: Artist Alan Craddock (1956-). I do not enjoy his style of cover art!
- Alan Craddock’s cover art for the 1985 Orbit edition of David Gerrold’s A Day for Damnation (1984)
For book reviews consult the INDEX
For cover art posts consult the INDEX
For TV and film reviews consult the INDEX
#1930s #1950s #1960s #1970s #1980s #avantGarde #bookReview #bookReviews #books #fiction #HowardVChaykin #KateWilhelm #philipKDick #RobertHoldstock #SamuelRDelany #sciFi #scienceFiction -
CW: May (or may not) contain offensive language
Hey!" Jack the Ripper punched at Glass' shoulder. "Who's a fuckin' ape, nigger?
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Gee," Denny said. "On the tape, it sounds just like you playing.
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"She's walking," I said.
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They passed around. The other extension of the L-shaped sign said:
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June came in: "Oh, hey, I'll take some of those…" They divided the stack, left.
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The others laughed.
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Are you a student? It's terrible, people attacking people right out in the open like this. Terrible!
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Madame Brown, dubious, set out glasses and picked the gallon jug up from the floor. "Well, it will be interesting." She twisted at the cap, her face lining with effort. "It's in three Sundays, isn't it?" The cap seemed stuck. "Mary will never forgive me if I go. She's invited me for dinner. But I wouldn't miss it for the world."
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She looked back, confusion working through her face toward some other expression.
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People are very funny," Nightmare pronounced, recovering, nodding over another mouthful. "The ladies had their problems." He thumped his thumb against his sternum among rattling links. "I had mine too—some of the brothers just weren't interested in having no white people involved no how.
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The terrace was enclosed in a glass dome. In the center was a six-foot in diameter celestial globe of clear plastic. Light from the garden below struggled in the smoke above, glowing like dilute milk.
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I want my old room!
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The other expression was understanding.
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No. I spent all my time around Vancouver and B.C.
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Oh. No…" he said, and decided "Elegy" was the title. "Look, you've got everything up here. Maybe I should just go on and leave.
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A sharp drop stopped him.
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Hey, Kid!" The smile was a pit of flickering rot and silver. "You really doing nice here, huh? Beautiful, yeah. Beautiful.
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Up a lot of dark stairs with Glass saying, "Man, I didn't know you were this close. You're just around the God-damn corner," and Thirteen saying: "I told you I was just around the God-damn corner; why ain't you guys never come over to see us?" and I looked up:
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She raised a brow and came, intently curious.
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Mainly cleaning up, or cleaning out I suppose. You are interested, aren't you? They'll pay five dollars an hour, and those aren't the sort of wages you can sneeze at in Bellona right through here.
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He got up with me," Lanya explained. "We were going to come out and surprise you while you were wandering around looking preoccupied. I told him we couldn't do it if you were anywhere near a pencil and paper. But then, when we got to the porch, we saw you talking to her.
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Naw. Didn't you ever fuck a woman?