Bob Shaw

AE35Unit

AE35Unit

]==[]===O °
Joined
Dec 8, 2007
Messages
8,792
Location
Somewhere near Jupiter
I've only read 2 of his books, 1984's Fire Pattern about Spontaneous Human Combustion and The Palace of Eternity which is excellent but was wondering what to look for next. I know Anthony G Williams is a reader (and reveiwer) of Shaw's books, but are there many other readers on here? I've heard about his legendary device called slow glass and know that it was used in a short story but what collection is it found in? (Fantastic Fiction only lists 4 collections) and also is the later novellisation of said story worth hunting down?
 
Shaw is one of my personal favourites. :)

I can't remember off-hand which collection the original slo-glass story is in. I'll see if I can find out. The novelisation - Other Days Other Eyes - was not a great success, unfortunately, and is not one of his best, so it's not worth seeking out especially.

You might want to try A Wreath of Stars, Ground Zero Man, Orbitsville, Vertigo (Terminal Velocity), The Two-Timers and Nightwalk - for starters, lol. There are plenty of others - he was prolific. His various collections - Cosmic Kaleidescope, Tomorrow Lies in Ambush etc - all make for great reading.

My favourite story by Shaw is the fairly obscure Pilot Plant. And I think he reached his creative peak with the Fugitive Worlds series in the late 1980's. They delighted me. :)

All in all, Shaw has a fabulous body of work just waiting to be rediscovered...
 
Last edited:
You know, I'm not at all certain that it has been included in any of his collections. I could be wrong about that, but I'm not finding it listed as such. At any rate, the title is "Light of Other Days", and you can find it (along with a bushel of other great sf) in Damon Knight's anthology, A Science Fiction Argosy, a book I highly recommend to anyone enjoying a fairly wide range of sf.

As a side note, in this respect, Shaw reminds me of two other fine writers in the field who seem to have been forgotten: Richard McKenna (who only wrote a relative handful of stories before dying, but they are nearly all gems), and Thomas Burnett Swann, who was rather prolific, but whose work, though sometimes flawed, was always quality, with a wonderful poeticism to it, often blending old-fashioned sf and/or fantasy with myth in a powerful, poignant fashion.

Richard McKenna - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Thomas Burnett Swann - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 
Thanks J.D. I'm sorry to say I have never heard of any 3 of those people and the Science Fiction Argosy sounds like it may be a useful addition to my library.
 
Light of Other Days is available to read online; scifi.com if I'm not mistaken.

I think Shaw is a very fine writer and would recommend all of his books. As for any writer some are more recommended than others. Why not continue with his short story collections? That way you can dip in an out of his writings. Novel wise Ground Zero Man/The Peace Machine is a very competent thriller.

In case anyone's interested I have a Bob Shaw blog at, but aren't allowed to post the link yet.
 
I read a Bob Shaw in the teen section of my library, can't remember the name but it was about 2 people stuck on a volatile planet and the lightning from the clouds was actually described as lasers and weapons like rocket propelled arrows.
 
Check your local used book stores. If you can't locate a copy of Damon Knight's monumental anthology mentioned above, "Light Of Other Days" can also be found in WORLD'S BEST SCIENCE FICTION: 1967 (later re-issued as WORLD'S BEST SCIENCE FICTION THIRD SERIES) edited by Donald A. Wollheim and Terry Carr.
 
I think JD is right - Light of Other Days doesn't appear to be in any of my Shaw collections, which is odd, considering.

One story which deserves a lot more attention is A Full Member of the Club. It seems to me a very effective critique of wealth and class. It has one of those premises - it takes something you always suspected was true and runs with it in a big way. It's in the Cosmic Kaleidescope collection.

I think Shaw's reputation suffered a little in the early 1980's with a succession of not-very-good books - from Dagger of the Mind through to Firetrap - that's a six-novel run of sub-par material. There's also the matter of his Warren Peace books - they read like a comic version of Starship Troopers, but aren't amusing enough to make an impression.

But the Land\Overland trilogy makes up for all that and it's lovely that he found his form again. Twin planets, Land and Overland, joined by an hour-glass atmosphere - only Land is inhabited and they believe their spirits migrate to Overland when they die. But, when it becomes apparent Land will soon be unable to support life, they decide to colonise Overland. On a planet without metals, that's quite a challenge... I'd really recommend these books to everyone. I'd provide the wikipedia link but it contains spoilers. :mad:
 
jpfife said:
In case anyone's interested I have a Bob Shaw blog at, but aren't allowed to post the link yet.
Click to expand...

Nope. And even when you have enough posts to start posting links you can't do that one, since that would be self-promotion which is only permitted to well-established members.

I have, however approved your post with its reference to scifi.com, which the software flagged and moderated as a partial URL.

Welcome to the Chronicles by the way, and feel free to explore some of our other areas.
 
Thanks for the welcome.

Teresa Edgerton said:
Nope. And even when you have enough posts to start posting links you can't do that one, since that would be self-promotion which is only permitted to well-established members.
Click to expand...

No, it's Bob Shaw promotion.

I found this website via a google alert for Bob Shaw. There's not much about him online and he's a very under rated writer, which is why I started blogging about his works.

I wont break any forum rules or anything but this doesn't look like the sort of place that would bring me back again and again.
 
jpfife said:
Thanks for the welcome.



No, it's Bob Shaw promotion.

I found this website via a google alert for Bob Shaw. There's not much about him online and he's a very under rated writer, which is why I started blogging about his works.

I wont break any forum rules or anything but this doesn't look like the sort of place that would bring me back again and again.
Click to expand...
Oh please hang around,give this place a chance to get a hold of you! BTW I'd love to see that Bob Shaw blog of yours-I sent you a private message!
 
jpfife said:
No, it's Bob Shaw promotion.
Click to expand...

If it's your blog (whatever the subject matter) and you are here to interest other people in visiting it ... that would be regarded as self-promotion.

But since you'll have read the rules about that when you signed up, I won't belabor the point.
 
Heh, I know the link limit rule is frustrating, but it's there for good reason - it would be sincerely disappointing for someone to join primarily to post a link to their blog. :)
 
I said:
Heh, I know the link limit rule is frustrating, but it's there for good reason - it would be sincerely disappointing for someone to join primarily to post a link to their blog. :)
Click to expand...
Oh yea Bri,considering the amount of grief this site has had with spammers recently its perfectly understandable!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Thread starter Similar threads Forum Replies Date
Toby Frost A short story collection including Bob Shaw's "Slow Glass" story Book Search 12
B (Found) Looking for book "winter wife, jellybeans, scrimshaw" Book Search 3
J Looking for audiobooks of Bob Shaw Classic SF&F 3
AE35Unit Vertigo by Bob Shaw (1974) Reviews & Interviews 4
AE35Unit Hilarious Bob Shaw piece! Book Discussion 0

Similar threads


Back
Top