Between Planet Stories reprinting omnibus volumes of Robert Silverberg’s short novels and Subterranean Press reprinting all of Silverberg’s science fiction short fiction, this is a great time to be a Robert Silverberg fan! Just released Multiples: The Collected Stories of Robert Silverberg Volume Six (1983-1987) presents some of Silverberg’s best work. “Sailing to Byzantium” won the Nebula in 1985 for Best Novella. As always, Silverberg’s “Introduction” sets the stories in the context of the Eighties and reveals insights into the publishing industry of that time. Subterranean Press deserves praise for continuing this wonderful series.
Table of Contents:
Introduction
Tourist Trade
Multiples
Against Babylon
Symbiont
Sailing to Byzantium
Sunrise on Pluto
Hardware
Hannibal’s Elephants
Blindsight
Gilgamesh in the Outback
The Pardoner’s Tale
The Iron Star
The Secret Sharer
House of Bones
It’s almost as enjoyable to read Silverberg’s introductions to his reissues as it is to read the stories themselves.
You’re right, Deb. Silverberg tells about all the details of a story’s genesis. What a fantastic memory he has! I can’t remember what I had for breakfast yesterday and Silverberg relates conversations with editors that took place 50 years ago!
I’m not sure I read anything by him until VALENTINE’S CASTLE, and never went backwards with his fiction. I could be wrong about that, as there must have been stories in the SF digests I read (Astounding, Galaxy, F&SF) I just don’t remember. A recurring theme these days.
Silverberg wrote under multiple pseudonyms, Rick. His productivity was off the charts! VALENTINE’S CASTLE is one of Silverberg’s later works. I prefer the novels he wrote in the 1960s and the short fiction he wrote in the 1970s.
Yes, Rick, he was under his own name and pseuds helping to fill ASTOUNDING in the ’50s, and definitely under his own name filling GALAXY and IF in the latter ’60s and particularly the early ’70s…
According to both Fred Pohl (the Editor of GALAXY, IF, and WORLDS OF TOMORROW) and Silverberg, Pohl told Silverberg he would publish whatever Silverberg would care to write. Silverberg had taken a hiatus from science fiction and Pohl lured him back with that promise.
And, if anything, Silverberg was even more omnipresent in Jakobsson’s GALAXY and IF (though EJ didn’t run any Silverberg fiction in his shortlived WORLDS OF TOMORROW revival, nor did Lester del Rey get any for the similarly shortlived new WORLDS OF FANTASY). So many serialized novels in the UPD magazines that at least one or two spilled over into Ted White’s AMAZING, and eventually Ben Bova’s ANALOG…
I’m overwhelmed with Silverberg material right now, Todd. I have the Planet Stories omnibus collections and now this Subterranean Press collection. A wealth of riches! Silverberg’s productivity is legendary.