Silverberg, Robert Books - Page 3

The Positronic Man

Isaac Asimov, Robert Silverberg

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 22 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

A tale of ambition and societal backlash 5 out of 5 stars.
4 of 4 people found this review helpful.

The story of a mechanical creature who wishes to become human is an old one, appearing in many forms over the centuries. In this superb story, a robot, named Andrew by the children who adore it, begins to exhibit human characteristics, due to the unpredictability of its' positronic memory circuits. Slowly, through a series of step-wise modifications, Andrew is altered so that his functions become more human. Throughout the tale, Andrew exhibits many of the characteristics of being human, although his human society is currently exhibiting a backlash against robots doing anything to appear as anything other than robots.
This is also a tale about human politics, emotions and insecurities. Some of the prejudices exhibited against robots are strikingly similar to those humans have against other humans not of the appropriate type. Asimov and Heinlein are masters at describing the consequences of technology and in this book, they are at their best. I have always considered Asimov's robot stories to be the best of all his science fiction works. They deal with limits placed on technology, through the hard-wired laws of robotics to the social restrictions placed on robots so that they do not appear too human. And yet, he also presses the envelope, in that he has humans becoming intimate with robots, even to the point of suggested sexual contact.
I consider this to be one of the two best science fiction books that Isaac Asimov wrote, with the other being Nightfall. It is an old tale, but told with emotional entanglements, such as having Andrew being treated not as a monster but as a member of a human family as he pursues his quest to be declared legally human.

Editorial Review:

Andrew Martin, a standard housekeeping robot, allows the unique capabilities of his experimental brain to lead him to become an artist, businessman, and crusader, in a novel based on Asimov's short story, ""The Bicentennial Man."" 35,000 first printing. $35,000 ad/promo.

Nightwings

Robert Silverberg

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 14 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

"Nightwings" is a classic story, but available elsewhere . . 4 out of 5 stars.
3 of 3 people found this review helpful.

The opening story of this collection, "Nightwings," is a classic: dealing with a decayed Earth, sexaul jealousy, a fascinating "guild" system, and alien invasion, it is one of the high points of the post-Golden Age era. The other two stories in the collection, while not terrible, do little more than flesh out the world. The major problem here is that "Nightwings" is avaiable in Silverberg's excellent collection _Phases of the Moon_; if you like science fiction at all, that book should be on your shelf. As such, it renders this collection somewaht unnecessary.

Editorial Review:

Introducing the first installment of IDW's new Essential Science Fiction Library, a series of titles handpicked by Sci-Fi legend Harlan Ellison. In the Hugo Award-winning Nightwings, as the Watcher is led from his vigil by Avluela the Flier, the invaders come and conquer. Now, headed for the Holy City - home of the Rememberers, keepers of the past - the Watcher hopes to recapture his youth and find the beautiful woman he loves. But Avluela holds more than love for the Watcher - and mankind. She knows of the riddle to free all men.

Roma Eterna

Robert Silverberg

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 30 Average rating: 3.0 of 5

SPQR Forever....what a book this could have been 3 out of 5 stars.
4 of 5 people found this review helpful.

I have heard of this book off and on for years and being both a Romanphile and a sci-fi devotee I thought it was long past time to get it. I had to order it from the used booksellers here, and it turned out to be an expensive purchase, but when it arrived I was just so very excited to get it. That lasted just about as long as reading the dust jacket blurb.....which was basically the evil Roman empire had kept the Jewish people in bondage for thousands of years and now they were going to finally escape in spacecraft. Oh no. No, no, no......I nearly didn't read the book after that, but, as it turns out, this isn't an evil Roman empire book at all and the blurb was just about as misleading a one as I have ever read in my life.

No, this book has it's problems, but it certainly isn't about Romans persecuting Jews for thousands of years as implied by the cover. The problems I had with the book are that it is not a novel but a series of short stories showing an alternate hsitory in which Rome does not fall. The short story approach creates a very choppy narrative and overall I didn't find the alternative history all that plausible or the writing that compelling. The book is OK, and I have enjoyed Silverberg as a writer in the past, but I was left fairly disappointed with this work. Part of the problem I think is that Silverberg never considered this as a novel...it just a series a different ideas he had at different times and created short stories out of. Then they are all strung together to make this tale. I'd love to read an alternative Roman history work where the author sat down and figured out the big picture first and then colored in all the details later. Robert Conroy did a good job of this in his "1901" which I found fascinating. My overall recommendation: you won't miss anything if you don't read this one.

Editorial Review:

No power on Earth can resist the might of Imperial Rome, so it has been and so it ever shall be. Through brute force, terror, and sheer indomitable will, her armies have enslaved a world. From the reign of Maximilianus the Great in A.U.C. 1203 onward through the ages -- into a new era of scientific advancement and astounding technologies -- countless upstarts and enemies arise, only to be ground into the dust beneath the merciless Roman bootheels. But one people who suffer and endure throughout the many centuries of oppressive rule dream of the glorious day that is coming -- when the heavens themselves will be opened to them…and the ships they are preparing in secret will carry them on their "Great Exodus" to the stars.

Mountains of Majipoor, The

Robert Silverberg

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 5 Average rating: 3.5 of 5

Short-story with novel pretensions 4 out of 5 stars.
16 of 16 people found this review helpful.

For those of us who have read Silverberg's novels located in huge, beautiful and diverse Majipoor, the publication of a new book on this marvelous world is always a special event. Two of three previous books in this saga ("Lord Valentine's Castle" and "Valentine Pontifex"), have been full-length novels, with well developed characters and plots, covering 400 pages or more. The third one ("Majipoor Chronicles")is a collection of short stories, which contains one titled "A thief in Nimoya", which I consider one of the best ever written by Silverberg. However, "Mountains of Majipor" is only a short story, maybe what is considered a "novella" in the science fiction jargon. A large print and a clever page layout converted an otherwise short-story in a novel. The books depicts the adventures of a court noble who is disgraced and sent to one of the most remote and harshest areas of Majipoor, where he finds a primitive people, with very strange customs. His mission is to rescue several scientists who have been kidnapped by that isolated tribe. Silverberg's talent for creating believable and interesting aliens appears again in this book, which offers clues to the origin of one of the native peoples of the planet, the shapeshifters. I consider "Mountains of Majipoor" a loosening exercise by the author, preparing himself for the bigger task of giving his readers once again a full novel placed in Majipoor. That one is "Sorcerers of Majipoor", recently published. It was a good read, I liked it, but I expected a little more depth from one of the most respected authors in science fiction.

Editorial Review:

Facing blizzards, ice storms, and strange beasts on a mission to the frozen tundra, Prince Harpirias attempts to rescue a party of scientists who have been kidnapped by an uncivilized race from beyond Majipoor. Reprint.

Sorcerers of Majipoor (Prestimion Trilogy)

Robert Silverberg

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 14 Average rating: 3.0 of 5

You've read it before... 2 out of 5 stars.
5 of 5 people found this review helpful.

An oddly uninspired rehashing of every throne usurping novel you've ever read. Silverberg even manages to plagerize himself, reusing the premise behind "Lord Valentines Castle", but without the interesting parts.
In one of the most puzzling coups in the history of monarchial fiction, the books villian steals the throne from it's rightful ruler, by simply picking up the crown and placing it on his own head. Majipoor has always had a fascinating juxtaposition of high-tech and feudalism, but common sense never seemed to be a rare comodity before.
The book then becomes a listless repetition of: raise and army, fight and win, fight and lose, raise a new army, fight and win. The book culminates in one of the most anticlimatic methods possible, a character who has barely put in an appearance kills the villain and the fight is over. Except for the one token good guy who has to die to toss some credibility into the mix.
Had this been a first time authors submission, no way would it have ever seen paper.

Editorial Review:

The Long-Awaited Prequel! A thousand years before Lord Valentine, the destiny of kings is hostage to sorcery and deceit. On the planet Majipoor, it is a time of great change. The aged Pontifex Prankipin, who brought sorcery (and prosperity) to the Fifty Cities of Castle Mount, is dying. The Coronal Lord Confalume, who will become replacement is chosen. It is no secret that the next Coronal will be prince Prestimion. By law and custom, the blood son of the present Coronal--has a secret quarry--the Starburst Crown. Visited by an oracle, Korsibar has heard a prophecy that will plunge the planet into a fearsome conflagration and alter destiny itself: ""You will shake the world!""

The Disappearance (Bison Frontiers of Imagination)

Philip Wylie

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 21 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

“The female of the species vanished on the afternoon of the second Tuesday of February at four minutes and fifty-two seconds past four o'clock, Eastern Standard Time. The event occurred universally at the same instant, without regard to time belts, and was followed by such phenomena as might be expected after happenings of that nature.” On a lazy, quiet afternoon, in the blink of an eye, our world shatters into two parallel universes as men vanish from women and women from men. After families and loved ones separate from one another, life continues in very different ways for men and women, boys and girls. An explosion of violence sweeps one world that still operates technologically; social stability and peace in the other are offset by famine and a widespread breakdown in machinery and science. And as we learn from the fascinating parallel stories of a brilliant couple, Bill and Paula Gaunt, the foundations of relationships, love, and sex are scrutinized, tested, and sometimes redefined in both worlds. The radically divergent trajectories of the gendered histories reveal stark truths about the rigidly defined expectations placed on men and women and their sexual relationships and make clear how much society depends on interconnection between the sexes. Written over a half century ago yet brimming with insight and unsettling in its relevance today, The Disappearance is a masterpiece of modern speculative fiction.

Something Wild is Loose

Robert Silverberg

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 2 Average rating: 3.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

The world that these stories sprang from was the troubled, bewildering, dangerous, and very exciting world of those weird years when the barriers were down and the future was rushing into the present with the force of a river unleashed. But of course I think these stories speak to our times, too, and that most of them will remain valid as we go staggering onward through the brave new world of the twenty-first century. I am not one of those who believes that all is lost and the end is nigh. Like William Faulkner, I do think we will somehow endure and prevail against increasingly stiff odds.

A great many strange and dizzying things happen to the characters in these sixteen stories, and in the fourteen stories of the 1972-73 volume that will follow. The reader who makes the journey from beginning to end of all thirty stories will be taken on many a curious trip, that I promise -- as was their author during the years when they were being written.
--Robert Silverberg, from the Introduction

To Be Continued: The Collected Stories of Robert Silverberg

Robert Silverberg

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 1 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Pleasant surprise - Rate : ****1/2 4 out of 5 stars.
5 of 5 people found this review helpful.

Being a Silverberg fan for years and knowing by experience that his best works had been written between 1965-1976 it was with some reservations that I picked this volume up. While the majority of the stories don't rank among his best short works they are wonderful examples of a writer trying to hit his stride by avoiding pulp-formulas, adressing serious issues and even experimenting with form and style. Here we encounter clever time-paradoxes stories(Absolutely Inflexible), moving Twilight Zone-like fables (The Warm Man) disturbing horror-science fiction hybrids ( The Road to Nightfall), lyrical fables (The Songs of Summer), Sheckleyan comedy (The Silent Colony), hard SF (Sunrise on Mercury), Simakian and Asimovian robot stories (Ozymandias, The Iron Chancellor)etc. The introductions for each story are superb and add extra flavour to the reading experience. This collection is a clear proof that from the very beginning Silverberg was a writer of considerable skill and ambition. After finishing it I had the sensation of discovering a new writer, a new "old" Silverberg very different from stories like The Gorgon Planet(included here only for the sake of curiosity and historical interest). While this book can't be recommended for those who desire to immerse themselves for the first time in Silverberg's mind and imagination (I strongly recommend any collection covering the period mentioned above)To Be Continued is mandatory reading for Silverberg addicts. The Collected Stories of Robert Silverberg Volume One: To Be Continued (Covering the period between 1953-1958) Gorgon Planet **1/2 The Road to Nightfall ***** Absolutely Inflexible **** The Silent Colony **** The Macauley Circuit ***** The Songs of Summer ****1/2 To Be Continued **** Alaree ***** The Artifact Business **** Collecting Team **** A Man of Talent ****1/2 One-Way Journey **** Sunrise on Mercury - World of a Thousand Colours *** The Warm Man ***** Blaze of Glory ***1/2 Why? ***1/2 The Outbreeders ****1/2 The Man Who Never Forgot **** There Was An Old Woman **** The Iron Chancellor ***1/2 Ozymandias **** Counterpart ****1/2 Delivery Guaranteed **

Up the Line

Robert Silverberg

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 10 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

ENJOYABLE SILVERBERG READ 4 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

I like time travel stories and this is one of the better ones published in recent years. If I recall, I first read this one in 1981 and recently dug it out for another shot. As several reviewers have pointed out, this is probably not the best book sto start your pre-teen on, as it does get a bit heavy as to the sexual situations, but for the mature reader, it is quite acceptable as the situations our "hero" finds himself do add to the story. Silverberg gives us plenty to think about and the story is well written and moves well. Highly recommend this one. I think you will enjoy it.

Editorial Review:

Being a Time Courier was one of the best jobs Judson Daniel Elliott III ever had. It was tricky, though, taking group after group of tourists back to the same historic event without meeting yourself coming or going. Trickier still was avoiding the temptation to become intimately involved with the past and interfere with events to come. The deterrents for any such actions were frighteningly effective. So Judson Daniel Elliott played by the book. Then he met a lusty Greek in Byzantium who showed him how rules were made to be broken...and set him on a family-history-go-round that would change his past and his future forever!

The Man in The Maze

Robert Silverberg

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 7 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Sophocles Redux 4 out of 5 stars.
7 of 9 people found this review helpful.

Mankind is threatened by an alien that strips us of our free will. We can't communicate with these aliens, so we can't fight or appease them. Our only hope is Dick Muller, who, in mankind's first contact with an alien race, was permanently maimed and cannot live with humans anymore. However, it is precisely this injury that gives him the opportunity to let the aliens know we are a thinking race. The only question is-will he reject the human race that previously rejected him?

This modern retelling of the myth of Philoctetes is short, sweet, and to the point. It doesn't pause for discursive considerations of the maning of life or the nature of the human beast; that would belabor a subtle point and lose the larger meaning. The whole piece is a careful consideration of the limits of the human animal, and what makes it possible to live with one another.

This silver-age SF gem presaged such Silverberg classics as Dying Inside, a more careful meditation on the same themes. It also dovetails neatly into the New Wave of science fiction, in which the great source of speculation isn't scientific advancement, but the limits of the human being. All in all, it becomes a forward-thinking insight using a framework as old as time. Though imperfect, it belongs to a class of book that just doesn't get written anymore.

Editorial Review:

During his heroic first encounter with an alien race, Dick Muller was permanently altered, hideously transformed in a way that left him repulsive to the entire human race. Alone and embittered, he exiled himself to Lemnos, an abandoned planet famed for its labyrinthine horrors both real and imagined.

But now, Earth trembles on the brink of extinction, threatened by another alien species, and only Muller can rescue the planet. Men must enter the murderous maze of Lemnos, find Muller, and convince him to come back.

Will the homeless alien, alone in the universe, risk his life to save his race the race that has utterly rejected him?