Most readers of this blog are familiar with the collaborations of Barry N. Malzberg and Bill Pronzini especially The Running of the Beasts and Night Screams. But Malzberg. also collaborated on short stories with a number of other writers that editor of Collaborative Capers Robert Friedman selected for this new Stark House volume.
My favorite story in Collaborative Capers is “Approaching Sixty” (with Mike Resnick) where a gambler uses a religious text to help him pick winning horses at a race track. I also enjoyed “Beyond Mao” (with Paul Di Filippo) where a spooky resurrection could save or doom a Mars mission.
In the Introduction, Malzberg says collaboration produces a different dynamic in writing mode. This effect shows up in “Tourist Trap: A Companion Piece to Gene Wolfe’s ‘The Marvelous Brass Chessplaying Automaton'” (with Mike Resnick) where both writers meet the challenge.
Barry N. Malzberg displays his dazzling talents with these brilliant stories that blend the JFK assassination, race tracks, cryptic aliens, dormant Artificial Intelligence, war, and troubled peace. Don’t miss this mind-expanding collection! GRADE: B+
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
INTRODUCTION by Robert Friedman and Barry N. Malzberg — 9
Pater Familias (with Kris Neville) — 14
Human Error (with Kris Neville) — 18
Getting Back (with Jeffrey W. Carpenter) — 21
Calling Collect (with Arthur L. Samuels) — 26
Bringing It Home (with Jack Dann) — 32
Blues and the Abstract Truth (with Jack Dann) — 37
Getting Up (with Jack Dann) — 43
Art Appreciation (with Jack Dann) — 52
Ghosts (with Mike Resnick) — 60
Thus, to the Stars (with Carter Schotz) — 66
1967: Letter stop the Wall (with Batya Swift Yasgur) — 71
Blessing the Last Family (with Batya Swift Yasgur) — 78
Things Primordial (with Batya Swift Yasgur) — 87
Job’s Partner (with Batya Swift Yasgur) — 96
Beyond Mao (with Paul Di Filippo) — 105
Aortic Insubordination (with Batya Swift Yasgur) — 119
The Starry Night (with Jack Dann) — 128
Faulkner’s Seesaw (with Jack Dann) — 138
Approaching Sixty (with Mike Resnick) — 143
The Art of Memory (with Jack Dann) — 148
The Man Who Murdered Mozart (with Robert Walton) –157
The Rapture (with Jack Dann) — 174
Tourist Trap (with Mike Resnick) — 188
Let the Games Begin (with Robert Friedman) — 192
BIBLIOGRAPHY — 204
Barry is a brilliant writer, and so are most if not all his collaborators. He might be among the most collaborator-friendly of living writers, even beyond his most cosistent partner thus, Bill Pronzini.
I belatedly caught on to this book’s existence while checking the Stark House site for details about the Gary Lovisi book I did a gloss-post for today, and am glad your giving it some play here.
Or even consistent. Though he and Mike Resnick did produce a Whole lot of collaborative nonfiction over the years. And Pronzini, for his part, has had no lack of other collaborators, as well.
Todd, I’ve enjoyed Bill Pronzini’s collaborations with Marcia Muller.
Besides the novels you mentioned, I’ve read a lot of Malzberg’s short story collaborations with Pronzini too. Will have to check this one out.
Jeff, collaborative writing brings out something special for Malzberg and his partners. Their stories take some unexpected twists and turns!
Not *all* BM & BP collaborations, but mostly!
Publication: On Account of Darkness
Authors: Barry N. Malzberg, Bill Pronzini
Date: 2004-02-00
9 • Preface (On Account of Darkness) • essay by Barry N. Malzberg and Bill Pronzini
13 • On Account of Darkness • (1977) • short story by Barry N. Malzberg and Bill Pronzini
19 • A Clone at Last • (1978) • short story by Barry N. Malzberg and Bill Pronzini
21 • “Do I Dare to Eat a Peach?” • (1982) • short story by Barry N. Malzberg and Bill Pronzini
29 • On the Nature of Time • (1981) • short story by Barry N. Malzberg and Bill Pronzini
35 • Night Rider • (1977) • short story by Barry N. Malzberg and Bill Pronzini
49 • Opening a Vein • (1980) • short story by Barry N. Malzberg and Bill Pronzini
51 • Reading Day • (1979) • short story by Barry N. Malzberg and Bill Pronzini
55 • Fascination • (1980) • short story by Barry N. Malzberg and Bill Pronzini
65 • The Lyran Case • [Lunar Immigration] • (1980) • short story by Barry N. Malzberg and Bill Pronzini
70 • Whither Thou, Ghost • [Lunar Immigration] • (1981) • short story by Barry N. Malzberg and Bill Pronzini
77 • Vanishing Point • [Lunar Immigration] • (1982) • short story by Barry N. Malzberg and Bill Pronzini
89 • Out of Quarantine • (1978) • short story by Barry N. Malzberg and Bill Pronzini
93 • Shakespeare MCMLXXXV • (1982) • short story by Barry N. Malzberg and Bill Pronzini
100 • In Our Image • (1981) • short story by Barry N. Malzberg and Bill Pronzini
104 • Another Burnt-Out Case • (1978) • short story by Barry N. Malzberg and Bill Pronzini
119 • Inaugural • (1976) • short story by Barry N. Malzberg and Bill Pronzini
122 • The Last One Left • (1980) • short story by Barry N. Malzberg and Bill Pronzini
128 • Coming Again • (1975) • short story by Barry N. Malzberg and Bill Pronzini
130 • Multiples • (1976) • short story by Barry N. Malzberg and Bill Pronzini
136 • Prose Bowl • (1979) • novelette by Barry N. Malzberg and Bill Pronzini
171 • Final War • (1968) • novelette by Barry N. Malzberg [as by K. M. O’Donnell]
211 • Epitaph • (1983) • short story by Bill Pronzini
227 • Toy • (1985) • short story by Bill Pronzini
233 • The Rec Field • (1980) • short story by Bill Pronzini
242 • The Hungarian Cinch • (1976) • novelette by Bill Pronzini
https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/pl.cgi?65302
“Another Burnt-Out Case” is among my favorite examples, along with Shirley Jackson’s “One Ordinary Day, With Peanuts”, of a non-fantasy/non-sf story that was nonetheless odd and funny enough to deserve inclusion in either FANTASTIC (the Pronzini/Malzberg) or F&SF (the Jackson)…I gather it’s a particular favorite of both Malzberg and Pronzini, as well.
Todd, I remember “Prose Bowl” back in 1979 and loving it!