Product Description
Three marvelously structured stories trace the intricate interdependencies of memory, experience, and the self. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

The Extended Sam
Delany once again has delivered something new and different with these three tales of different Sams.

The first story, Atlantis: Model 1924 deals with a teenage Sam coming to New York for the first time in 1924 and details his early experiences and impressions of this modern stand-in for Atlantis (note that Delany was born in 1942). Rife with metaphor and allegory, and told using some post-modern literary techniques including multiple story lines on the same page and marginalized notes,the defining point of this story is Sam's first trip across the Brooklyn Bridge,and the poet/writer he meets there (who is possibly an older version of Sam himself?). While not an easy story to read due to its structure, by the end of the story all the various story threads, notes, observations, and characters come together in a defining moment of epiphany.

The second story time shifts us to the early fifties, where a middle-school age Sam is introduced to the world of music and art in what was, for that time, a very progressive school. His portrait of what art really is, how its definition has changed, and its importance to himself and to the world is neatly balanced by this Sam's early introduction into the vagaries of sex. Some fine, if brief, character portraits round out this quiet story.

The last story deals with a Sam in his early twenties in Greece, and is probably the most factually based of the three stories, given that he has mentioned some of the incidents of this story in several of his other works. It is a very dark and depressing story, and details a homosexual rape and the necessity for one of Sam's lady friends to kill her dog. Some very rough material here that may not be to everyone's taste, but delivered with Delany's typical fine sense of language, pacing, and character.

All three tales have much to offer, each in completely different ways, and each presents a different 'side' of Sam. How much is autobiographical, how much is pure fiction is almost impossible to define, but the reader will finish this book with a better understanding of not just Delany but also the entire world and the social interactions that help define what it is to be human.

Recommended by Michael Cunningham
I read this book on the recommendation of Michael Cunningham (The Hours), who said, "If Samual Delany were writing in the same innovative, intelligent way and his books were not science fiction, he'd be know toevery serious reader and not just a relatively small band ofus."

Need I say, "I agree?" ... Read more

Product Description
A novel of myth and literacy about a long-ago land on the brink of civilization. Vol 1 ... Read more

Customer Reviews (13)

The Neveryon books are challenging and good
Samuel Delany's four-book fantasy series, "Tales of Nevèrÿon," is hugely under-read and under-appreciated. Delany primarily writes science fiction. He's won both of science fiction's highest American honors, the Hugo award and the Nebula award, the latter twice in the 1960s. But the Nevèrÿon books stand on their own as excellent fantasy. (Somewhat confusingly, "Tales of Nevèrÿon" seems to be a name for the four-book series but also the title of the first of the four books. I refer to the series as "the Nevèrÿon books.")

In general, Delany's fiction is somewhat experimental and academic, (which is in and of itself remarkable, even inspiring---as is Delany's own authorial and academic success---given that he is highly dyslexic). The Nevèrÿon books may not be prohibitively difficult for young adults; but, they certainly weren't written to be easily approachable by an audience *primarily* of young adults. They are certainly not pot-boiler or formulaic fantasy. In addition to the presence of dragons and barbarian warrior-heroes, which are relatively common fantasy tropes, there are features of the decidedly unromantic Nevèrÿon world and cultures that are highly original creations by Mr. Delany, and the tales themselves are in a naturalistic style at times so gritty you're surprised there isn't a fine layer of dust upon the page. Most of Delany's characters are earthy survivors who interact with their varying cultural, social, economic, and physical environments in a matter-of-fact way interrupted--in the case of some characters anyway--with contemplation, even a sort of philosophizing. There is poignancy throughout, and it's subtle and masterful. The reader can't help but wish the characters well, even if some of them wear the harshness of their lives like old leather garbs, or are simple in their desires and ambitions. The characters of the tales range widely: active and passive, young and old, healthy and ill, famous and obscure, male and female, free and slave.

Amazon has removed the Sales Rankings for this and all LGBT books, academic or not.
Someone or Something at Amazon is removing the sales rankings from all titles with GLBT content, without regard to the explicitness of the content or to the academic worth of the work.

If you wish to complain to Amazon directly the phone number is, 1-866-216-1072.

Beautifully written - but not compelling
A collection of interrelated stories set in a mythical empire beyond time. Gorgik, a slave becomes a leader of armies; Small Sarg, a barbarian prince becomes a slave to set others free; swordmistress Raven lives in a land where the women rule; and Norema, daughter of fisherwoman attains freedom.

These are fascinating stories, very well written, in fact beautifully written. The various characters weave in and out of the different stories. Gorgik and Small Sarg are particularly interesting, as their relationship develops from Master and Slave, through physical intimacy to a voluntary master/slave relationship necessary for the intimacy to function.

However while very pleasurable to read, I found it difficult to engage with the characters, the narrative seemed to put them at a distance, leading me not to care too much about their destinies; and for me that is an essential part of the reading experience. So this is really a book which I can happily pick up and read a few pages, but not one which compels me to keep reading.

Beautifully written - but not compelling
A collection of interrelated stories set in a mythical empire beyond time. Gorgik, a slave becomes a leader of armies; Small Sarg, a barbarian prince becomes a slave to set others free; swordmistress Raven lives in a land where the women rule; and Norema, daughter of fisherwoman attains freedom.

These are fascinating stories, very well written, in fact beautifully written. The various characters weave in and out of the different stories. Gorgik and Small Sarg are particularly interesting, as their relationship develops from Master and Slave, through physical intimacy to a voluntary master/slave relationship necessary for the intimacy to function.

However while very pleasurable to read, I found it difficult to engage with the characters, the narrative seemed to put them at a distance, leading me not to care too much about their destinies; and for me that is an essential part of the reading experience. So this is really a book which I can happily pick up and read a few pages, but not one which compels me to keep reading.

The most lyrically beautiful prose I've ever read.
I read "Tales of Neveryon" on the airplane. I hate flying, I get nauseous, yet reading this book turned it into a delight. I don't remember another time when I savored the words so much (Storm Constantine comes close in "Wraeththu"). I usually like action & plot, scifi, space opera, and epic fantasy, and I don't like stories, so this was a surprise. I don't know how, or what it is about it, but it was simply pleasurable to read. Here's a random paragraph:

"What a glorious and useless thing to know, she thought, yet recognizing that every joy she ever felt before had mere been some fragment of the pattern sensed dim and distant, which now, in plurality, was too great for laughter - it hardly allowed for breath, much less awe! What she had sensed, she realized as the words she could not hold away any longer finally moved in, was that the world in which images occurred was opaque, complete, and closed, though what gave it its weight and meaning was that this was not true of the space of examples, samples, symbols, models, expressions, reasons, representations and the rest - yet that everything and anything could be an image of everything and anything - the true of the false, the imaginary of the real, the useful of the useless, the helpful of the hurtful - was what gave such strength to the particular types of images that went by all those other names; that it was the organized coherence of them all which made distinguishing them possible."

The sentences are long, the paragraphs can go on for several pages, but the language just flows...

Also, make sure to read the Appendix, it's a crucial part of the book. It talks about discovering ancient tablet and deciphering the language, uncovering the story that inspired the collection of these tales. (Edit: This completely passed me by at first, but the Appedix is also written by Delany and also entirely fiction.)

This book is what made me a Delany fan. I wasn't crazy about "Babel-17" or "Nova," it's amazing how different his writing styles are. I'm yet to make another attempt to conquer "Dhalgren." But I loved "The Einstein Intersection" - it has the same musical, magical, haunting quality to it as "Tales of Neveryon."

Just writing this review and quoting the book left me a little breathless, made me want to read it again, and get the rest of Neveryon books! ... Read more

Product Description
Combined edition of two novels and two short stories which won the Nebula Award. Babel - 17 (winner, 1966 Nebula, 1995 James Tiptree, Jr. Award, Classics; nominated, 1967 Hugo Award; 1975 Locus Poll Award, All-Time Best Novel (Place: 36)); A Fabulous, Formless Darkness (original title The Einstein Intersection) (winner, 1967 Nebula Award; nominated, 1968 Hugo Award); Time Considered as a Helix of Semi-Precious Stones (winner, 1969 Nebula Award, 1970 Hugo Award); Aye, and Gomorrah (winner, 1967 Nebula Award; nominated, 1968 Hugo Award). ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

The Motion of Love in Winter
Bread and Wine was my first introduction to the writings of Samuel R. Delany, an introduction made under the auspice of the Alan Moore introduction. I knew OF Delany, the result of a lifetime spent in the warm shadows of literature of all stripes, but had never actually picked up one of his works. Within the first page of the story I was introduced to Dennis, Delany's homeless boyfriend and to the German poet Holderlin, whose piece 'Bread and Wine' is quoted throughout the book. Delany himself doesn't make an appearance until the second page, appearing only a few seconds of reading into the book, and yet somehow the six years of Dennis's life on the street can be felt before the appearance of our author.

Comics do funny things to time. And vice versa.

I'm a sucker for biographies. Always have been. People are fascinating to me, and no matter how dull and mundane anyone may seem, there is that moment when something that drives them, that empassions their soul suddenly comes out. This book is a window into the attraction that comes about between Delany and Dennis, a collage of the moments, celestial and commonplace, that make up the Mandelbrot Fresco of how two people come together.

Mia Wolff's art and layout convey the conversational and ethereal tone in which much of the story is lain out in. Yet there are moments, where without breaking style or tone, everything suddenly becomes so real and so present. One such moment is when almost an entire page is spent focused on the gestures of Dennis's hand, when he makes one of the first truly intimate commitments that occur in the book. Having read through several more of Delany's memoirs at the time of this writing, I know that men's hands, rough and strong, with bitten nails, are a key icon in the libidinal cosmology of Delany's life, and Wolff plays to this at key points. The visuals in this book feel less like photographs and more like sketches from memory. If Delany were telling this tale to you over the phone, this is how you'd see it in your mind.

Of the things I appreciate in Delany's writing, sexual honesty ranks within the top three. There is an unspoken reluctance in much of literture to get into the nuts and bolts of attraction and arousal. There are those who will look at the relation ship between these two, a homeless man selling books off a blanket and a university professor with a slew of published and acclaimed science fiction novels under his belt, and be confused. This is not a movie of the week story wherein the character of the homeless man would be taken in and rehabilitated, nor is this a Good Will Hunting/ With Honors/ Stand and Deliver story of wherein Dennis would be revealed as a closet genius, thereby validating his relationship with a man from a different intellectual class, and thus validating the sneering elitists in the audience belief that attraction and satisfaction can only come from a percieved equality of societally approved intellect. This is the story of two men's lives coming together in the strange world of real life, and it is not meant to be neat and tidy and organized. It is only meant to be true, and that alone makes it all the more fantastic.

Delany's love story isn't like anyone else's.
This is a "graphic novel" put out by Juno Books, which in an earlier incarnation (Re/Search) put out some of the most unusual and interesting large format takes on fringe culture in the last decade.Delany has done a autobiographical account of his romance with a homelessman, but being Delany, he offers quite a bit more than that.The book isas much the artist's, Mia Wolff's, in that her visualization of therelationship establishes much of what the reader/viewer makes of it.Herstyle is not complex, but it has depth and at times surprising jumps offantasy.Throughout the book, Delany reminds us his title is taken from afamous poem by Holderlin (a German Romantic who wrote brilliantly and thenwent mad); by quoting several passages from Holderlin's meditation on theinevitable failure of reconciling the classical past to the present, hegets a postmodern buzz into an otherwise straightforward love story. Anyone bothered by (literally) graphic depictions of sex between men shouldprobably pass on the book, but that should still leave quite a few of us. What finally predominates is a touching depiction of unlikely lovers.Muchof what happens would be cliched if the partners were hetero, but the gayversion puts a spin on the material.Anyone who really likes Delany shouldbe interested, and anyone concerned with the progressive edge of thegraphic novel format will enjoy it.My only quibble is that at times Wolffdepicts Delany like a fond Santa Claus, and that seems a bit muchconsidering the material presented.

What was the goal here ?
I am rather ambivalent about the graphic format, so perhaps I was destined to feel disappointed in this book.But after reading this incredibly short work -- I am left mostly with a feeling of confusion.Who is this workaimed at, what was it trying to convey ?

The blurbs and theintroduction talk about the idea that Delany is presenting a radical oreven revolutionary idea: love with a dirty, homeless man.Yet the ideaspresented are familiar territory to any Delany reader who has read his moreprovocative works.The truth in Bread and Wine is a tame, cleaned-upversion of the harrowing fiction presented in both Hogg and the Mad Man. There is also not much new material introduced for those who have read hisautobiography, and any of his autobiographical short stories.We learnalmost nothing more of Delany the man, or Delany the writer.Although ithas been written in Salon that Delany has become an exhibitionist bysharing so much, he appears to be using exhibitionism in place oftruesharing or self-revelation.This work is much closer to the clam-likeHeavenly Breakfast than it is to the self-revelation found in Motion ofLight and Water.With Delany so closed up, the work suffers from a lack ofemotion regarding Delany as a character, and as the other half of therelationship. If Delany is unwilling to share -- why tell such an intimatetale ?

If you are new to Delany as a writer, a critic, a gay man,there is very little meat or detail about him presented at all. In fact welearn more about Dennis the homeless lover, than we do about Delany.Mostimportantly we never learn what keeps Delany with this homeless man.Themale objects of desire running through many of Delany's works have beendown and out, working class, and decidedly grubby, so Delany's initialinterest is understandable.But what common ground can they occupy yearslater that allows such a relationship to endure ? Perhaps it is love, butthat too seemed missing from this book.There seemed to be companionship,and lust -- but little else other than watching Delany rescue a homelssman. Dennis got a home and a life, and Delany got -- what ?It was left tothe illustrator in the written comments to mention that they act like theyare in love.I felt that whole aspect was missing from the graphic portionof the book.

The shortcomings of the graphic portion of the book wereso obvious that a written dialog was included where the various characterschime in and try to flesh this work out -- but it falls flat.Why use thegraphic format if it didn't work.If a written text was to be added, whynot some of the writing that Delany is famous for.

The result is thatthis book seems like somethingthat was put together by committee, duringa rainy day at summer camp, or during a pajama party when the popcorn ranout, and the card games paled. In the end it lacks purpose, voice andpresence.

Bread & Wine Not Good Eats For Everyone
To be frank, I can't recommend Samuel Delany's newest graphic novel effort 'Bread and Wine" to the casual fan of either comics or science fiction. I am unhappy because Delany is a personal hero of mine. To becandid, before Octavia Butler, Steven Barnes and I presume Jamil Nasser,his was the only face of color that I had ever seen in science fictioncircles. In fact, until the cover of "Heavenly Breakfast" Ididn't know he was an African American. And the thing I really liked aboutDelany is that he's not a token, but that he's really really good. He isone of the consummate stylists of our time (within science fiction and out)and his speculation is top notch and imaginative. I suppose, when you thinkabout it, the graphic novel takes away from his two strengths because itdoesn't lend itself to descriptive passages and this particular topicmatter is not science fiction. Don't get me wrong, there was some finewriting. Here's one example of what a spectacular writer Delany can be evenin this graphic novel: "The sad and almost weekly reiterated truth is That I am not happy here. Walking in the snow-blanketed morning, andwander- Ing across the great orange rug (My mother's) inThe study, togaze out on the snow blurred dawn,Wrapped around with fog, I'm confrontedwith The fundamental peacefulness and serenity ofThe town as a physicalplace. But the moment The fog burns off, I'm confronted with its equallyFundamental impoverishment-financial, cultural and social." Not bad.But there really isn't anything else that reaches his usual level ofpoetry. He seems to have lapsed into a conversational narrative, whichmight actually be better in a comic form, but takes away from his greatstrengths. What it is about: Delany's strange, olfactory shatteringrelationship with what sounds to be a partially deranged homeless man. Bythe way, this is a true story. For the record, Delany is a twofer. He isnot only the most prominent black science fiction writer on Earth, he isprobably the most prominent gay science fiction writer on Earth. But thatdoesn't mean he doesn't like women. He was once married to poet MarilynHacker and has a daughter, who makes a shy appearance or two in the book. Look, I say live and let live and there's nothing wrong with Delany'slifestyle choice. But, at the risk of sounding like the stereotyped Jewishmother, couldn't he have found a nicer boy? Surely, that nice horror poetClive Barker would be a better catch and there must be thousands ofeffeminate male english majors who would love to jump into bed and betutored by such a "Legend". This book, by the way, is full ofmostly gay graphic sex. Not my cup of tea. I guess this is the way womenmight feel whenever they see pornography, slightly unsettled.It ishonest. Wrenchingly so I might add. In fact, I now know more about Delanythat I ever wanted to know to paraphrase Neil Gaimen's sarcastic praise inthe back of the book.Bread also sets a record for a series of grislypungent descriptions. Other critics have pointed this out as well.Apparently, his homeless seductee was so dirty that he turned two tubs ofwater jetblack, before finally giving into a shower. Delany also describesthis guy's scent as "shit-and-vinegar sourness". Yeech.I alsodon't know what to make of the ending. Apparently, he lives happily everafter with his cleaned up formerly homeless lover, his daughter and a fewfriends. Everything about this story suggests to me that his lover is notall there. Tomorrow, if I read Dennis stabbed Delany and his daughter inthe head it wouldn't surprise me. Really wouldn't. The other thing is Ican't figure out is why Delany would have a relationship with someone whowasn't his intellectual equal. I mean, in all probability, Delany beatsDennis' IQ by about a 100 points. And I'm not kidding about that. Thatwould not be unlike me marrying a cat and calling it a relationship. Andwhy would your basic crazed homeless guy turn down a relationship withanyone, let alone a guy with a house? I mean, I don't like rejection--butwhat were the homeless guy's options? Chip probably looked like Cleopatrato this guy, or at least a pudgy male middle aged bespectacled version ofCleopatra who lived in a nice warm house. Smart guy that he is Chipprobably knew it to. Artwise I would say artist Mia Wolff does a decentjob. It feels a little sketchy at times, but it works. She does a number ofinteresting things with her art. As grungy as the sex scenes get, she'salways tasteful. I suppose she gets the work done.This is truly a uniquework. There just is not a lot ofinterracial-gay-relationshipbetween-noted-writer-and-crazed-homeless-personcomic book fiction out there. I mean I've looked at the row between the XMen and Green Lantern, but I just didn't see it. Bottom line, if you're aDelany groupie, for example you've read "Hogg" over and overagain and comprehend all his crit lit pieces (good luck) then run out tothe store and grab this up. If you've never heard of Delany, then I wouldfirst suggest his novels "Triton" and the aforementioned"Stars like Grains..." And if you're the kind of person whoconsiders books like Gravity's Rainbow and Ulysses light reads, then Iwholeheartedly recommend that you pick up Delany's massive work:"Dhalgren". ... Read more

Product Description
Samuel R. Delany is one of today's most interesting writers. African-American and gay, Delany crosses boundaries--generic (science fiction, memoir, theory, pornography) and academic (literary studies, cultural studies, African-American studies, gay and lesbian studies). Critics both black and white have read Delany as a writer who downplays his racial identity in order to aspire to universal values. In contrast, A Sense of Wonder shows how Delany's works participate in African-American cultural traditions.

The book begins with an analysis of Delany's Dhalgren, using the novel's links to black cultural traditions as the key to unlocking its puzzling content. Jeffrey Allen Tucker's reading of the four-volume Return to Neveryeon series places Delany's explorations of semiotics in dialogue with Frederick Douglass's 1845 Narrative and social histories on slavery in America. From there, Tucker moves to Delany's groundbreaking autobiography, The Motion of Light in Water, his experimental novella Atlantis: Model, 1925, and to his pornographic novel, The Mad Man. Tucker's aim is to advance a reading of identity that acknowledges its multiplicity and permeability without emptying it of socio-political efficacy and meaning. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Extensively researched and meticulously written
A Sense Of Wonder: Samuel R. Delany, Race, Identity And Difference is an in-depth study and criticism of the works of Samuel R. Delany, one of the the modern era's most amazing cross-genre writers. Influenced by African-American cultural traditions, even though both black and white critics have interpreted Delany as a writer who downplays racial identity, his works range the gamut from science fiction to autobiography to even pornography. Extensively researched and meticulously written, A Sense Of Wonder is a superb scholarly contribution to academic and literature shelves.
... Read more

Customer Reviews (7)

Black and White and the Color of the Cat at Night
Samuel Delany has, through the years, greatly enriched the field of science fiction through his spectacular novels such as Nova and Babel-17 and short stories such as "Time Considered as a Helix of Semi-Precious Stones".He has also done a great deal to bring the world of science fiction back into the field of recognized literature through essays and articles that have shown its richness, its ingenuity, its relationships with other forms of literature, and its ability to, at its best, illuminate the human condition in a fashion impossible in other forms.

This is an autobiographical rendering of his life from about age 14 to age 22. As might be supposed from his fictional writings, Delany is revealed to be both brilliant and highly unconventional. From his inter-racial marriage to Marilyn Hacker (who would later win a National Book Award for her poetry) at a time when such marriages where practically unheard of, to his awakening sexual predilections, this book is fascinating in its straight-forward directness, never avoiding describing events in detail regardless of how much the events were taboo or not mentioned in polite company.

Set with Delany's inimitable style, his ability to evoke pictures with words and seasoned with excerpts from some of Marilyn's (and his own) poems, Motion paints an indelible portrait of the tail end of the 'beat' era and the beginning of the 'hippie' movement. I found myself saying, yes, that is exactly how it was (even though Delany is six years older than me), as his work evoked some of my own memories of my early years away from home, living in a rat-trap with little income, the first experiences of actually living with a woman, the community of young people that wove around and over you, the passions and idealisms of youth.

On top of this, Delany lays forth the genesis of his early works, both their writing and his difficulties in getting them published. Some of the characters and situations of his novels take on a new light after reading this, seeing how much of himself Delany put into those characters.We find that Delany also has other talents besides writing: musician (once headlined above Bob Dylan), actor, and poet.

As they say in the movies: Warning: this book contains explicit sex scenes, both heterosexual and homosexual. Those who are offended by such should not read this book.But those who do read it will be rewarded with a great tale of life told with pin-point accuracy and all the emotion of great poetry.

This book took the 1989 Hugo for best science-fiction related non-fiction work, and it fully deserved it.

--- Reviewed by Patrick (hyperpat)

maybe lives don't come in just one size
One of the most engaging and thoughtful memoirs I've ever encountered.Delany writes of his life as a young writer and lover in Greenwich Village from about 1959 until 1963.I, too, was gay and sexually active in theVillage, though a few years later, but the atmosphere wasn't all thatchanged and I remembered a lot of the places and feelings Delany described. Unfortunately, I (or probably anyone else who was around) did not have hissophistication and insight at age 20 or so, nor did I have the unbelievableluck (I think it was luck, at least in part) to have Delany's experiencesand meet as many unbelievably interesting characters, many of whom becamefamous, as did Delany.Unless you are bothered by casual sex, includinganonymous homosex, I can't imagine anyone who wouldn't find this book afascinating and thoughtful read.

It READS, literally, like the motion of light in water
This is probably my favorite memoir of all time. The prose is sinuous and reflective, and reflects on much more than sex and science fiction writing.The cast of 'walk ons' in Delany's life is astounding; including BobDylan, W.H. Auden, and Albert Einstein (yes, Einstein).The poet MarilynHacker, his wife at the time, plays a prominent role in these pages andindeed Delany is one of the astutest critics of poets that I've read, whichis all the more astounding since it's one of his very minor concerns!Delany is a major--and one of the tragically under-rated--figures inAmerican literature--and this book not only shows the genesis of hiswriting, but cements his place in its own right.

Great ideas, good anecdotes, unsympathetic characters
Much of the book has explicit homosexual action throughout the book, which made it very difficult for a number of people in my college English class. It's the story of Delany's first few years out of high school, when he was trying to make it as a science fiction writer, as well as figuring out his own sexuality. One of Delany's prime characters is a self-described "geriatric rapist." This man, along with a few other characters just make you sick about humanity.Still, there are some great psychological observations and neat littlestories inside this book. W.H. Auden and Bob Dylan both make an appearance,although Auden's is much more memorable.

Loved it! The best autobiography I've read in years.
A very absorbing tale.A believable telling of an
almost unbelievable life. ... Read more

Product Description
Sci Fi by the author of Dhalgren; author if a four-time Nebula Award Winner. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Perhaps my fav next to Dhalgren
This is a great space adventure novel from the 1970's ripe with all the excess and energy of the "sixties" and as dreamy as any Roger Dean painting.If you want a great big purple psychedelic mushroom of a novel, this or a few others of Delaney's will do the job.This one is a fav though.It's straight-up sci-fi, but with a much higher passionate, dramatic flair, and BTW perhaps the first sci-fi novel I encountered where people did drugs.I could criticize Delaney for a million flaws I perceive in his style or ideas, but mostly I just praise him as a great American writer, and an intrepid explorer of the mind, body, and soul.He was an incredibly inventive writer, only just a little bit like Roger Zelazney, and just as much like a psychedelic Andre Norton. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

"Tromp barefoot in the wet edging of the sea..."
The themes had a few touches that felt late '60's/early '70's - occasional odd references in clothing or race that seem out-moded now.But - the collection is sharp and well connected.It is great to watch Delany's mind playing with various themes; things that caught his attention worked out over a series of stories.I found myself watching for these moments.One such: the nature of hologram for storage - or more specifically - a fractional remainder of an original hologram.Delany teases this out in HIGH WEIR and in TIME AS A HELIX with very different characters & purposes.Some of the tales are a little fuzzy themselves - almost like a slice of something not fullly formed or finished - which is how the book closes with JOE DICOSTANZO.I think CORONA held my attention most - and it is one of the tales that smacks of the '60's.Great basic collection.

Lovely little stories
A collection of ten stories with settings ranging from foreign worlds to a tiny fishing village in Greece. Delany, as always, writes lyrically and with a great graciousness and clarity. If there was a fault it would be that I was inclined to find some of these a little bit slight. For people who keep track of these things, the stories included are:

The Star Pit
Dog in a Fisherman's Net (* my favorite!)
Corona
Aye, And Gomorrah
Driftglass
We, In Some Strange Power's Employ, Move On A Rigorous Line
Cage of Brass
High Weir
Time Considered As A Helix of Semi-Precious Stones
Night and the Loves of Joe Dicostanzo

Brilliant, lyrical, evocative writing and story-telling
I've read this book four or five times over the years, and continue to marvel at Delany's awesome stylistic resources.Several of the stories are very moving, all are interesting, and all are exceptionally well-written. The stories cover the conflict between old and new (in the future),personal loss, the nature of freedom within the limits of the universe, andone odd, self-reflective narrative.Well worth seeking out for beauty innarrating and narrative. ... Read more

Product Description
Interplanetary war, capture and escape, diplomatic intrigues that topple worlds...Triton...All the fascinating color, invention and romance of classic science fiction in a futuristic novel for today. ... Read more

Product Description
Phallos is the tale of a tale. Neoptolomus pursues mystic knowledge through the Mediterranean world in the time of Emperor Hadrian. From Egypt to Syracuse, from Athens to Byzantium and further, filled with wit and eruditon--and deeply homoerotic--this is a Lacanian riddle to delight and intrigue fans of Delany's more recent fiction, The Mad Man, and his Return to Neveryon series. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

bumptious divertissement
(I am not a native speaker, please overlook my style)

Mr Delany enjoys a widespread acclaim by critics and common readers: with good cause, his mastery of the language is outstanding and he knows perfectly how to develop a good story.

Both qualities are to be found and appreciated in phallos too but an author so esteemed must perforce keep his standards extremely high.
In this work he choses a literary topos: he feigns he has found an older work by an unknown author, a pornographical novel set in the late Roman empire and he engages the reader in a witty, cultured commentary on this novel, inserting erotic excerpts from the same.

Problem is, his "commentary" is not witty enough to stand on its own feet, and the excerpts, though teasing enough, are not outright erotic so as to give satisfaction at least in that way.

To read this work is just like reading an interesting literary essay (with some useless shows of erudition where the language is convoluted) about a work which does not exist

Phabulous Phun
What a shame there's no image of the cover of this
book--it's quite handsome. Left of center is Delany's
mythical beast (which first appeared in 'The Mad Man') with a bull's head, a man's body, wings, and talons.

Visuals aside, I picked up this book
with a misgiving or two (after all, I'm a heterosexual male), but I must admit, I was delightfully surprised. Reminiscent of Borges, Delany opens with a missing text "rumored to have been in the possession of German classical antiquarian Johann Joachim Winckelman in 1768--an item that the 19-year-old murderer Arcangeli presumably made off with, along with the golden medals, after garroting the 51-year-old scholar in a pensione just outside Trieste."

From this point--the second paragraph--on, I was
hooked. A clever writer as intellectually
deft as Umberto Eco, Delany is a better wordsmith than Eco (judging from what reaches us in translation).

In addition to the multi-layered plot involving
a quest for the jewel-encrusted member of
an ancient deity (for which the book is named) this book is just a great deal of
postmodern fun involving two modern critics, the
internet, a young reader of homoerotic
fiction, and two male lovers navigating the
Mediterranean world during the reign of the Emperor
Hadrian. The back cover summary calls this book a
"Lacanian riddle to delight" and indeed it does. It
is one mirror reflected into another reflected into
another. One simple example: the search, in modern times, for an extant copy of the novel mirrors the search of Neoptolomus and his paramour, Nevik, for the fabled Phallos. But this is
not dry, academic, rarefied entertainment--far from
it. There are plenty of adventures, mishaps, escapes
and eventful twists.

Highly recommended reading for anyone who would like to see the convolute plots of Eco alloyed with the erudition and linguistic
splendor of Borges.

Don't miss it!
... Read more

Product Description
Large science fiction graphic novel. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Delany's Empire!
This rare graphic novel is just what I'd expect out of the creative genius Samuel R. Delany.It's sexy, exciting, and most Delany-esque extremely mind opening.It's a great read for any fan of Delany and those who are not.

Spectacular collaboration
Chaykin and Delany are individually within the first rank of storytellers, visual and verbal respectively. This joint effort combines the best of both artists.

It's a swashbuckling story of the classic sort. A powerful device has been hidden, in pieces, across the width of the rapacious empire. Qrelon, whose planet was destroyed to feed the empire's greed, leads a small band of rebels. She and they risk everything to collect the pieces of that device. Once complete, it will be the one force that can destroy the planet-sized computer that drives the empire. Wryn, a student of archaeology, is thrust into the conflict in a very personal way: an imperial commander selects him, at random, as the one to execute the rebel leader. At the risk of his own life, he lets her escape. Then, the chase is on.

OK, the story is a lot like a lot of others. Christmas trees, the trunk, branches, and needles, are a lot like each other, too. In both cases, uniqueness and special meaning come details that furnish it, not from the main structure of it. Delany's narrative details distinguish Empire, and Chaykin's iconic imagery brings it to life. The art is a bit rough and sketchy at times, but that's a matter of style rather than ineptitude. His figures are bold and posed, without seeming static. Somehow, he manages to make every panel look like the most important one in the story. Once you've developed an eye for his style, you'll see how the younger generation of comic artists have learned from him.

It's a great story in a great presentation. The 70s printing from the Byron Preiss branch of Berkeley Publishing is hard to find now. It's long overdue for a reprint - stories inevitably pick up traces of the time in which they're written, but this one is still strong and fresh.

//wiredweird

This was the FIRST graphic novel...
Back when Metal Hurlant (Heavy Metal Magazine)was first appearing in the US, Sam Delaney and Howard Chaykin teamed up to give us this unique blend of textual and visual storytelling.

This is a smart, fast-paced piece of space opera with plenty of substance and originality.

I'm not a big fan of Chaykin's style (I like more detail in the hardware designs...) but this book is full of interesting imagery and clever layout.

Worth hunting down, if you've any interest in Delaney, Chaykin, or Space Opera. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

A Wonderful Adventure!
Pryn, our heroine, hijacks a dragon to flee her mountain village.Her journey takes her to the port city of Kolhari and into issues involving personal loyalty, freedom, heroism, and slavery.

An intellectual adventure! Highly Recommended. One of his best works yet! ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

A fascinating volume on a fascinating writer
While one essay ("Debased and Lascivious?: Samuel R. Delany's Stars in My Pocket Like Grains of Sand" by Russell Blackford) displays nothing more than its author's ignorance of the realities of contemporaryurban gay life (wherein all of the social constructs Blackford dismisses asunrealistic and unbelievable actually obtain today), it is the exception ina volume that is otherwise fascinating, revelatory and worthy of itschallenging subject.

Given that Delany is himself a formidable critic,writing about him in a way that is just as incisive as he writes about bothhimself and others is a particular challenge. This volume delivers inspades, especially in two essays successfully look in detail at Delany'scriticism (by David N. Samuelson and Ken James), and in Kathleen Spenser'sessay "Neveryon Deconstructed," which offers a fresh andinvigorating approach to Delany's already self-deconstructing"Tales."

Highly recommended for anyoine interested in Delany'scriticism or critical embroideries of his work that suggest new ways ofperceiving those challenging works. ... Read more

Product Description
Omnibus containing three novels; "Walk to the End of the World" (Charnas), "The Female Man" (Russ), and "Triton" (Delany). ... Read more