WEDNESDAY’S SHORT STORIES #104: AMONG STRANGERS By Robert Silverberg

COVER ARTWORK BY DAVID HO

Just in time for that Robert Silverberg fan on your Holiday gift list, Subterranean Press has published a 750-page collection of three novels and a novella.

“In Those Who Watch (1967) three New Mexico humans, an eleven-year-old Hopi boy, a widowed single mother, and a divorced Air Force Colonel, unwittingly become entangled with aliens who have long monitored human civilization. Further complicating affairs, an agent from a rival alien species lands on Earth determined to chase down the three renegade observers.”

“The Man in the Maze (1968) is Dick Muller, an engineered telepath, once a hero but now exiled by an ungrateful humanity to the labyrinth on Lemnos. When administrator Boardman tries to enlist Muller once more for a dangerous mission and Muller refuses, the eponymous maze takes on a mental meaning warped enough to rival any physical construct.”

“An overlooked gem, the near-future, post-apocalyptic Tom O’Bedlam (1985)—presented here for the first time in the author’s definitive version—explores the gossamer boundary between rapture and rupture. The denizens of a frayed world begin experiencing collectively shared dreams just as a space probe light years away sends back images eerily similar to their dreamscapes. Is the titular Tom O’Bedlam humanity’s destined prophet to the stars, or a deranged cult leader fated to push a fragile civilization over the brink?”

“The Way to Spook City” (1992), a fabulous novella, takes us through an unforgettable rite of passage, a life-changing voyage into the alien Occupied Zone.  This story will haunt you long after you finish it.

I support small presses like Subterranean and I urge you to do so, too! GRADE: A

15 thoughts on “WEDNESDAY’S SHORT STORIES #104: AMONG STRANGERS By Robert Silverberg”

  1. Steve A Oerkfitz

    I’m a big Silverberg fan. Haven’t read Spook City. I recently read Tom O’Bedlam and thought it dated poorly. A little too new agey.

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    1. george Post author

      Steve, I’ve read these Silverberg works when they were first published but it’s good to have them all together in this wonderful volume!

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  2. Jeff Meyerson

    I like Subterranean Press and love Silverberg’s short stories and novellas. I think THOSE WHO WATCH appeals to me most of the novels. The novella I read in HOT TIME IN MAGMA CITY (a Subterranean Press collection).

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    1. george Post author

      Jeff, like you I’m a fan of Subterranean Press and their wonderful SF collections. Subterranean always features terrific cover artwork, too!

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  3. Steve A Oerkfitz

    George-I have a lot of Subterranean titles. The Collected Philip K. Dick, Collected Silverbergs and Jack Vances plus a lot of the Best of’s.

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    1. george Post author

      Steve, you have excellent taste as evidenced by your Subterranean titles! Subterranean Press is one of my favorite small presses! They publish wonderful books!

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  4. RICHARD A. MOORE

    Thanks to your review (and my love of Silverberg’s writing for more than 60 years) I just ordered this book. I have several from this publisher, but none recently and must have dropped from their alert list.

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    1. george Post author

      Richard, glad to have you back! It’s easy to re-sign up for the Subterranean Press updates. Just go to their web site and provide your e-mail address. Like you, I’ve been a Robert Silverberg fan since the 1960s. I have another Subterranean massive book to review. You’ll see it on this blog in early 2023!

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