Robert Silverberg

[Foxbat]

Not much about him here so I thought I’d remedy that. He seems to be one of those writers that manages to straddle SF and Fantasy. Valentine Pontifex and The Majipoor Chronicles are (to me) much closer to Fantasy than Science Fiction so I wasn’t sure where to stick this post. However, other works of his like Recalled To Life and The Seeds Of Earth are more straight down the line Sci-Fi – which is why I decided on posting in the Classic Sci-Fi section.

One book that I read many years ago was Across A Billion Years. Memory tends to make things much more rosy than they actually are but I’ve been hunting for this one for a while now. From what I remember, it was the first book I read that explored the concept of a Dyson’s Sphere(although I don’t know if that was what it was actually called back then). Well, the good news is that I’ve finally located a second-hand copy and, right now, is winging its way across the pond from the USA and should be with me in a couple of days. Will it be as good as I remember? Time will tell.

Any other fans of Silverberg here or am I all on my lonesome?

 

[finvarre]

I haven't read much by Silverberg, alas, though I really liked the Majipoor series, especially Lord Valentine's Castle which I reread 2 times at least. Besides that, I've only read one of his latest novels, written ca. 2002, The longest way home, about a 15-or so- year-old boy, Joseph, one of the lords, trapped on the northern continent of the planet right in the middle of a bloody revolt protagonised by a class of 'servants'. This book appealed to me through its simplicity, essentially all it told about was Joseph's troublesome journey across the northern continent to reach his home and found out what happened with his family on the southern one. Yet it was a superb story about reaching the age of manhood &responsibility .
As for his sci fi books, I don't even know where to start, he's written too much!
Recommendations, please?

 

[Foxbat]

Here's a link to a Silverberg bibliography that you may find helpful

http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/authors/Robert_Silverberg.htm

 

[Leto]

Any other fans of Silverberg here or am I all on my lonesome?

count me in. Did you know there's a Yahoo group where you can discuss with Robert Silverberg himself ? http://groups.yahoo.com/group/theworldsofrobertsilverberg/

 

[littlemissattitude]

The Book of Skulls was a really good book, not too long, but an interesting premise, which he handled well. But it's been several years since I've read it. I got it out of the library, and now I can't seem to track down a copy.

Other than that, I've mostly read Silverberg's short stories rather than his longer work.

 

[Jayaprakash Satyamurthy]

Dying Inside is one of my favourite novels ever. It tells about a telepath who is loosing his mind-reading powers. It's a powerful human story, and serves as an intriguing metaphor for the aging process, I think. Nightwings is a great far-future SF tale. Silverberg's short stories are legion, and they're all worth reading. His fantasy books haven't made such an impact on me though.

 

[Princess Ivy]

i've just picked up the feast of st dyanysus (and other short stories) and 'to live again. i've not been able to get into majipoor, although i think that is because i started at the end

 

[Leto]

Books of Skull, The World inside and Dying inside are among my favorite novels from him. But his short stories are also brilliants. Just picked another book collecting some of them.

 

[Jayaprakash Satyamurthy]

I think that's what happend to me too, with Majipoor. To Live Again is a pretty neat SF novel - the immortality-related science in it may seem dubious, the plot is exciting and well-paced, there are lots of neat ideas, and it does make you think about identity and immortality. I wonder if the book may possibly be a reference to Jack Vance's To Live Forever, since there are similar ideas.

 

[Princess Ivy]

I've not read the Jack Vance, although i may have a copy. I've got a fantastic selection for my shop. All with Lurid covers i've sorted out my reading ones. darn it, looks like i'm gonna have to take out some more... sigh.
But I do love that morality issues raised there. And of course the possiblity of the copy personality taking over the body, especially with all the stuff about cloning the body around, the ikdea of cloning the mind is far more scarry. Just checked my 'to read pile' (which is assuming terrifying proportions right now) and also have Up The Line, although i've not read this one at all.
And with Uni starting in less than a month, i'm just not getting any more time....

 

[Foxbat]

To Live Again is a pretty neat SF novel

I once wrote a song about that (a longggggg time ago )


The Majipoor Chronicles I didn't feel was up to much but Lord Valentine's Castle is worth a read.

I've just been hunting through my collection and find most of my Silverberg is gone. I think my ex got most so I'm busy on a repurchasing spree. Just received my copy of Across A Billion Years (less than a week from the USA...not bad) so, hopefully, when I get around to reading it I'll stick a review up

 

[Princess Ivy]

ah, foxbat, i feel for you. my ex has taken some of mine, but without appreciating it! which is terrible!
just thinking about to live again is giving me the hebies. the thought that the brain can live on independant of the body with no concept of soul. its cold. is it true though? the more i think about this book the more i have to bump it to the top of the reading pile.

 

[Leto]

True that brain can survive up to 3 minutes without body and life support.

And True you should read it again as it's a good one. Me ? I'm looking around for my Tom O'Bedlam copy.

 

[Jayaprakash Satyamurthy]

What's Tom O' Bedlam about?

I once wrote a song about that

See, now I'm intrigued. You simply have to embaras s yourself and tell us more.

 

[Leto]

It is 2103 and Tom O'Bedlam, madman, prophet, and visionary, wanders through California, dwelling place of the last humans on a continent decimated by radioactive dust. Tom, caught up in a living vision of distant worlds ruled by godlike beings, is the herald of a new age, a herald no one wants to hear until others begin to dream of salvation beyond the stars. Yet while many dream, only Tom has the power to make the wondrous visions real, to give people the ultimate escape they desire. Across the universe they must go... if Tom is humanity's last hope-- and not its final destroyer.

A really interesting novel written just before the Majipoor serie IIRC.

 

[Princess Ivy]

sounds interesting. i'll keep an eye out

 

[Foxbat]

See, now I'm intrigued. You simply have to embaras s yourself and tell us more.

As I said it was a long time ago. It was kind of in the style of Rush with lots of triplets (with echo) played over a descending chord sequence (the standard Em D C Bm sort of thing). The problem was it wasn't very good and we had a habit of varying the speed (without meaning to). One night it all fell apart and we never played it live again

 

[Mark Robson]

Just reading 'Recalled to Life'. I'm about three quarters of the way through, and I'm finding it a fascinating read. It's particularly interesting given when it was written, as the space race was still very much on at the time and his projection for 2034 was most intesting. I'm looking forward to see what the sting in the tail of this story is, as I can sense it coming...

 

[Foxbat]

It's particularly interesting given when it was written, as the space race was still very much on at the time and his projection for 2034 was most intesting

It's utterly fascinating going back and reading these books and their projections today. I've just been reading about fiber telescopes (fibre optics - used to search the rock and soil of a hillside) in Across A Billion Years.

It was written in 1969 so it will be interesting to find out when these were first used in real-life.

 

[Mark Robson]

Recalled to Life had a rather abrupt, but satisfying ending. I sort of anticipated the twist at the end, but it was good nonetheless. Hats off to Robert, this was a good read with a lot of well made points, as well as some interesting scientific postulation.