Barry N. Malzberg died December 19, 2024 after a fall. He was 85. During his long writing career, Malzberg wrote in a number of genres, principally Science Fiction, and remained a critic of SF publishers for much of that time.
Malzberg was also a very good editor. Neglected Visions (1979) celebrates mostly forgotten Science Fiction writers. Malzberg’s detailed Introductions to these stories puts the writers into context and suggests reasons why their careers lacked growth and recognition.
Malzberg quotes H. L. Gold (editor of Galaxy) who admired Wyman Guin: “Wyman Guin has the intellect of a Heinlein, the sensitivity of a C. L. Moore, the guts of Philip Jose Farmer…combined with ideas so profoundly original they are decades ahead of the field.” (p. 153) And, after reading “My Darling Hecate” I suspect you would agree with Gold as I do.
Some of these writers, as Malzberg points out, simply stopped writing. Kris Neville for example. Others are complete unknowns like Peter Phillips and Norman Kagan. The prolific Christopher Anvil (aka, Harry C. Crosby), Malzberg writes: “has only himself to blame for his relative anonymity, for he is a maddeningly uneven writer.” (p. 35) But with “Mind Partner,” Anvil hits it out of the park!
My favorite story in this collection is F. L. Wallace’s “Delay in Transit,” a story where interstellar communications is a key factor. If you’re in the mood for forgotten writers who deserve a Second Chance, give Neglected Visions a try. GRADE: A
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
- vii • Introduction (Neglected Visions) • essay by Barry N. Malzberg
- 1 • Clerical Error • (1956) • novelette by Mark Clifton
- 35 • Mind Partner • (1960) • novelette by Christopher Anvil
- 65 • Ballenger’s People • (1967) • short story by Kris Neville
- 77 • The Hunting Lodge • (1954) • novelette by Randall Garrett
- 109 • Lost Memory • (1952) • short story by Peter Phillips
- 122 • Junior • (1956) • short story by Robert Abernathy
- 130 • Laugh Along with Franz • (1965) • novelette by Norman Kagan
- 153 • My Darling Hecate • (1953) • short story by Wyman Guin
- 171 • Delay in Transit • (1952) • novelette by F. L. Wallace [as by Floyd L. Wallace]
Well, I think you’re still feeling Dylan…these folks aren’t Complete Unknowns if one is aware of the history sf (and related literature…I first read Peter Phillips in Ramsey Campbell’s similar horror-fiction volume FINE FRIGHTS: STORIES THAT SCARED ME, which I FFB’d along with two Malzberg & Co. anthos, UNCOLLECTED STARS and UNCOLLECTED CRIMES)…but many of them are underappreciated. The way, say, Richard McKenna and even Howard Fast might also be (WP doesn’t believe McKenna exists except as a typo). But digging in is left to some of us who are still at it…
Here’s my old NEGLECTED VISIONS review, if one likes to dig further things out https://socialistjazz.blogspot.com/2011/11/ffb-neglected-visions-edited-by-barry-n.html
Thanks for some more good words about Barry.