FRIDAY’S FORGOTTEN BOOKS #755: LIVING IN THE FUTURE By Robert Silverberg

Thanks to Todd Mason alerting me to the publishing of this book by the North East Science Fiction Association (NESFA) Press. I ordered Living in the Future immediately and read it as soon as it arrived.

I’m a huge fan of Robert Silverberg’s work and have read most of his fiction. However, this new volume collects much of Silverberg’s non-fiction: essays, interviews, book reviews, and book Introductions. Just check out the Table of Contents to see all the topics Silverberg covers!

I enjoyed Silverberg’s writings on his colleagues. And who knew Silverberg had thoughts about Tarzan at the Earth’s Core? If you’re a Robert Silverberg fan, Living in the Future is a must-buy! If you’re interested in Science Fiction, here are some wonderful writings by one of the genre’s best writers. Highly recommended! Are you a fan of Robert Silverberg? GRADE: A

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

Foreward — 11

ONE: BEGINNINGS

fanmag (1953) — 23

Twin Prophets of Doom (1953) — 31

Cosmic Configuration (1954) — 35

Some Book Reviews (1958-1964) — 43

SF and Escape Literature (1962) — 52

Diversity in Science Fiction (1969) — 59

TWO: WHAT IS SCIENCE FICTION?

Heidelberg Convention Gaues of Honor Speech (1970) — 65

Science Fiction 101: Two Selections (1987) — 81

Complications, with Elegance (1987) — 82

Flowing from Right to Ring (1987) — 89

“Reflections” (House Names) (1992) — 103

The Best is Yet To Be…Right? (1999) — 107

The War of the Worlds (2005) — 112

The Way it Was (2006) — 125

Rereading Stapledon I (2008) — 135

Rereading Stapledon II (2008) — 140

Rereading Van Vogt (2009) — 145

In the Bush of Ghosts (2009) — 150

Science Fiction as Prophecy (2010) — 155

Rereading Kornbluth (2010) — 163

A Relic of Antiquity (2011) — 168

The Ruin (2011) — T173

Anthologies (2012) — 177

Decline and Fall (2012) — 182

Translations (2013) — 187

Translations II (2013) — 192

The Year’s Best Science Fiction (2013) — 192

Was Jules Vern a Science-Fiction Writer? (2014) — 203

Robert A. Heinlein, Author of The Martian Chronicles (2014) — 208

One-Hit Wonders (2015) — 213

Star (Psi Cassiopeia ) (2015) — 217

Leechdoms, Wortcunning, and Starcraft (2016) — 222

The Software of Magic (2016) — 227

THREE: INTERVIEWS

The Alien Quack, May 1976, Interviewer Sara Marks — 235

Vector, Feb. 1976. Interviewer: Malcolm Edwards — 239

Vector, Aug. 1975. Interviewer. Chris Fowler — 246

SF & F, Winter 1978. Interviewer: Nancy Mangini — 259

Future Life, Aug. 1979. Interviewer: Jeffrey Elliot — 275

Dream Makers, 1980. Interviewer: Charles Platt — 282

Fantasy Newsletter, Jun-Jul 1983. Interviewer: Melissa Mia Hall — 289

Strange Horizons, Dec. 2000. Interviewer: David Horwich — 297

Locus, Mar. 2004. Interviewer: Charles N. Brown — 303

FOUR: SCIENCE AND SOCIETY

The Cleve Cartmill Affair (2003) — 319

The Cleve Cartmill Affair II (2003) — 324

The Kraken (2006) — 329

The Thumb on the Dinosaur’s Nose (2006) — 334

The Thumb on the Dinosaur’s Nose II (2006) — 339

Calling Dr. Asimov! (2010) — 344

The Search for Other Earths (2010) — 349

The Strange Case of the Patagonian Giants (2011) — 354

Looking for Atlantis (2013) — 359

Not Even Wrong (2013) — 364

The Plurality of Worlds (2014) — 369

The Plurality of Worlds: A Contrarian View (2014) — 374

Borges, Leinster, Google (2014) — 379

Reunite Gondwanaland (2015) — 384

Non-Asimovian Robots (2015) — 389

World to End Last Month (2015) — 394

Dead as a Dodo (2016) — 399

The Richard Hakluyt of Space (2016) — 404

Two Cheers for Piltdown Man (2017) — 409

FIVE: THE WORLD WE LIVE IN

The Future of Urban Living (1980) — 417

…And Then There Were Six (1995) — 423

Tarzan at the Earth’s Core (1997) — 428

Theme-Parking the Past (2003) — 433

Doomsday (2009) — 438

Nothing New Under the Sun (2011) — 443

Earth is the Strangest Planet (2011) — 448

My Voyage to Atlantis (2012) — 453

John Frum, He Come (2013) — 458

Fimbulwinter (2016) — 463

SIX: BEING A WRITER

The Radish of All Evil (2001) — 471

The Plot Genie (2011) — 475

More About the Plot Genie (2011) — 480

The Raft of the Medusa (2013) — 485

Praising or Banning (2014) — 490

The Sixth Palace (2015) — 495

Writing Under the Influence (2016) — 500

Person from Porlock (2016) — 505

“‘Darn,’ he smiled.” (2016) — 510

SEVEN: COLLEAGUES

About Robert Sheckley (1980) — 517

Six Degrees of Robert Silverberg (2000) — 519

Prodigies (2003) — 523

Jack Williamson (2010) — 528

Fred (2011) — 535

Clifford D. Simak (2013) — 539

Rog Phillips (2014) — 544

Philip Jose Farmer (2016) — 553

EIGHT: INTRODUCTIONS

The Shadow Out of Time, H. P. Lovecraft (1995) — 559

Killdeer! (Volume Three, Collected Short Stories), Theodore Sturgeon (1996) — 563

Antarctica, Kim Stanley Robinson (1997) — 569

Nightwings, Robert Silverberg (2001) — 575

Shardik, Richard Adams (2001) — 581

The Disappearance, Philip Wylie (2004) — 585

Emphyrio, Jack Vance (2007) — 591

When the Great Days Come, Gardner Dozois (2011) — 597

Clarges, Jack Vance (2016) — 603

NINE: A FEW PERSONAL ITEMS

The Dinosaur in the Living Room (1996) — 611

The Realm of Prester John (1996) — 615

The Ablative Absolute (1996) — 620

Memories of a Curious Childhood (1997) — 625

Voyage to the Far Side of the Moon I (1998) — 629

Voyage to the Far Side of the Moon II (1998) — 633

Crimes of My Youth (1998) — 638

Fragments Out of Time I (2004) — 643

Fragments Out of Time II (2004) — 648

Aladdin’s Cave (2008) — 652

It Wasn’t All That Easy (2009) — 657

Libraries (2012) — 662

My Desk (2013) — 667

Flashing Before My Eyes (2014) — 672

My Trip to the Future (2016) — 677

19 thoughts on “FRIDAY’S FORGOTTEN BOOKS #755: LIVING IN THE FUTURE By Robert Silverberg

  1. Wolf

    Wow! Almost 700 pages.
    I remember Silverberg’s comments in one of the SF magazines – but forgot whether it was Astounding or F&SF even? They usually were quite interesting.
    Im in Hungary and my books are in Germany so no easy access …
    Of course I’m also a fan though some of his later books had too man military overtones imho …

    Reply
    1. Todd Mason

      Young Silverberg was both a prolific letter-writer to the various sf and fantasy magazines…and rather quickly a published pro himself…and wrote for fanzines beyond his own, as well, as see, for an early and deft parody of Ray Bradbury, this (which has a link to the story text online): https://socialistjazz.blogspot.com/2023/06/short-story-wednesday-and-moon-be-still.html

      Older Silverberg has been a long-running columnist in AMAZING, ASIMOV’S and a few others…that column has been the primary source for several books, so far.

      Reply
  2. Jeff Meyerson

    You know I am a big fan, especially his short stories and non fictyion writing. But I can’t find this on either Amazon or ABE. Hmm.

    Reply
    1. george Post author

      Jeff, I couldn’t find LIVING IN THE FUTURE on AMAZON or elsewhere. I had to order it directly from the NESFA Press directly for $29. A bargain!

      Reply
  3. Todd Mason

    His next upcoming item I’m aware of is a volume containing both the original novella version, from GALAXY, of “Hawksbill Station” and the novel that he expanded from that. HS was the first adult sf novel by a living writer I read, as a kid, having found Asimov’s FOUNDATION a dull slog when first attempting it as a younger kid, and contenting myself with the likes of Gordon Dickson’s SECRET UNDER THE SEA and other younger-reader’s sf novels for a brief while, while digging into shorter fiction aimed at adults, some of that as anthologized by Silverberg in such volumes as BEYOND CONTROL…

    Reply
      1. george Post author

        Todd, I only had rumors about LIVING IN THE FUTURE being available until you clued me in! Thanks again for the heads up!

  4. Cap'n Bob

    I see that there was an entry on The Plot Genie! I have had one of these for years, for mystery plots, and gave a presentation to a small but enthusiastic audience at a mystery convention years ago! It mainly creates Agatha Christie-style plots but it’s fun to play with!

    Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *