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james_davis_nicollLists courtesy of Andrew Wheeler.
Contents for anthologies and omnibuses from the Locus Index
to Science Fiction www.locusmag.com/index/
1991
January
STONE OF FAREWELL by Tad Williams
One of many Tad Williams books I have never read.
The Folk of the Fringe Orson Scott Card (Phantasia Press
0-932096-49-2, Apr '89, $22.00, 243pp, hc) [Carpenter];
+ 1 o West o na Free Lancers, ed. Elizabeth Mitchell, Baen,
1987
+ 68 o Salvage [Deaver Teague] o nv IASFM Feb '86
+ 87 o The Fringe o nv F&SF Oct '85
+ 110 o Pageant Wagon [Deaver Teague] o na *
+ 191 o America o nv IASFM Jan '87
+ 218 o Author's Note: On Sycamore Hill o ar Science Fiction
Review, 1985
+ 239 o Afterword o Michael R. Collings o aw
This I have read. It's the book that convinced me to stop buying Card books, in fact (I suppose if this had not done it, Lost Boys would have).
This details America after a nuclear catastrophe. As I recall the first story is about a group of Mormon refugees duplicating the 19th century journey of the Mormons out west and the last one is about the discovery that, as I understand it, the Mandate of Heaven has been taken from the whites, who have shown themselves unworthy, and given back to the natives. Somewhere in between is the story of a crippled teacher and some school kids. As I recall the moral was 'freaks should try to fit in better' and it is a story that convinced me I never want to be the minority in a society run by people like Card.
Might serve as an example of religious SF, but then so could much of what Card writes.
THE BLACK THRONE by Roger Zelazny and Fred Saberhagen (Alternate)
Missed this but not because of my Zelazny blind spot. I just don't care much for Saberhagen's later works.
THE RING OF CHARON by Roger MacBride Allen (Alternate)
I *think* this is part of a series in which a physics experiment accidentally triggers the theft of Earth by a post-sophont structure.
MISSION TO MARS by Michael Collins (Alternate)
As I recall, this is a short nonfiction work intended to drum up support for a crewed mission to Mars. Competent but not Collins' best, which is OK because his best is Carrying the Fire and it is very good
indeed.
For the younger folk in the audience, Collins was the third man on Apollo 11, the man who didn't quite go to the Moon.
February
N-Space Larry Niven (Tor 0-312-85089-1, Sep '90, $19.95, 529pp, hc,
cover by Dave Archer); Collection of Niven material, both
fiction and non-fiction, with stories, essays, and novel
excerpts, with an introduction by Tom Clancy.
+ 1 o Introduction: The Maker of Worlds o Tom Clancy o in *
+ 3 o On Niven o David Brin o bg * [Larry Niven]
+ 4 o On Niven o Gregory Benford o bg * [Larry Niven]
+ 5 o On Niven o Wendy All o bg * [Larry Niven]
+ 6 o On Niven o John Hertz o bg * [Larry Niven]
+ 7 o On Niven o Steven Barnes o bg * [Larry Niven]
+ 9 o On Niven o Frederik Pohl o bg * [Larry Niven]
+ 14 o Dramatis Personae o pr *
+ 23 o Foreword: Playgrounds for the Mind o fw *
+ 29 o from World of PTAVVS o ex New York: Ballantine, 1966
The novel this is from is an early Known Space story about the first encounter between humans and the virtually extinct Slavers who once ruled the galaxy.
+ 33 o Bordered in Black o ss F&SF Apr '66
Two spacemen travel to Sirius and discover a world crammed with humans, apparently intended to serve as food for Someone.
Not very good. Marred by huge science errors and a food ecology that doesn't make much sense (why grow humans for food?). Elements of this setting would be re-used in Known Space, though.
+ 50 o Convergent Series ["The Long Night"] o ss F&SF Mar '67
I *think* this is about the aggressive use of mathematics on demons.
+ 55 o All the Myriad Ways o ss Galaxy Oct '68
A short story examining some implications of the many-world model.
+ 65 o from A Gift from Earth o ex New York: Ballantine, 1968
New technology from Earth undermines the oppressive society of We Made It, the semi-habitable world of Tau Ceti.
Still one of my favourite Nivens, despite the usual science goofs and the odd way in which the oppressed peoples of the future resemble middle class Californians of the 1960s.
[Jo Walton subsequently pointed out it's not so much touched by the Sexism Faerie as being ridden like a frisky pony by the Sexism Faerie]
+ 73 o For a Foggy Night o ss Decal Jul '68
A man goes for a walk in the fog and gets very very lost.
+ 80 o The Meddler o nv F&SF Oct '68
?
+ 99 o Passerby o ss Galaxy Sep '69
A human trapped on a doomed star ship has an encounter between the stars.
+ 111 o Down in Flames o ar Trumpet #9 '69
Niven destroys Known Space. Based on an idea by Norman Spinrad.
+ 122 o from Ringworld o ex New York: Ballantine, 1970
Exploration of a huge construct 200 ly from Earth.
+ 129 o The Fourth Profession o nv Quark #4, ed. Samuel R.
Delany & Marilyn Hacker, Paperback Library, 1971
A bartender becomes entangled in the affairs of aliens who would prefer that we build a launch system for their starship, although they are will to settle for blowing up the Sun instead.
+ 170 o "Shall We Indulge in Rishathra?" o lt Science Fiction
Review Nov '78
?
+ 174 o Man of Steel, Woman of Kleenex o hu Knight Dec '69
Examination of Superman's sex issues.
+ 181 o Inconstant Moon o nv All the Myriad Ways, Ballantine,
1971
One man dealing with what he thinks is the Sun going Nova.
+ 203 o What Can You Say About Chocolate Covered Manhole
Covers? o ss All the Myriad Ways, Ballantine, 1971
Odd story about what aliens are breeding us for.
+ 213 o Cloak of Anarchy o ss Analog Mar '72
A critique of anarchy in the form of a short story.
+ 233 o from Protector o ex New York: Ballantine, 1973
A distant relative of humanity, super-intelligent and driven by his instincts, arrives in the solar system. Hijinks ensue.
+ 242 o The Hole Man o ss Analog Jan '74
A mission to Mars discovers an abandoned alien base, complete with a communications device using a small black hole of a type that sadly Hawking later showed would have attributes that make this story impossible. The device figures into the resolution of conflict between two crewmen.
+ 254 o Night on Mispec Moor o ss Vertex Aug '74
A man trapped out on a plains after dark finds out why locals know better than to get stuck in that situation.
+ 264 o Flare Time [Medea] o nv Andromeda 3, ed. Peter Weston,
London: Futura, 1978
?
+ 300 o The Locusts o Larry Niven & Steven Barnes o nv Analog
Jun '79
orrifically awful story about human colonists discovering previously undocumented aspects of human biology.
+ 335 o from The Mote in God's Eye [Mote] o Larry Niven & Jerry
E. Pournelle o ex New York: Simon & Schuster, 1974
The story of First Contact between humans and aliens caught in a nasty biological trap.
+ 339 o Building the Mote in God's Eye [Mote] o Larry Niven &
Jerry E. Pournelle o ar Galaxy Jan '76
Non-fiction article on writing MIGO.
+ 361 o Brenda [Haven] o na New Destinies, Vol. III, ed. Jim
Baen, Baen, 1988
?
+ 399 o The Return of William Proxmire o ss What Might Have
Been? Volume I: Alternate Empires, ed. Gregory Benford &
Martin H. Greenberg, Bantam Spectra, 1989
?
+ 408 o The Tale of the Jinni and the Sisters o ss Argos Win
'88
?
+ 422 o Madness Has Its Place [Kzin Wars] o nv IASFM Jun '90
?
+ 446 o Niven's Laws [revised from Owlswick Press] o ar *
?
+ 454 o The Kiteman o nv *
?
+ 489 o The Alien in Our Minds o ar *
?
+ 496 o Space o ar *
?
+ 510 o Bibliography of Larry Niven o bi *
One of the problems an established author can run into is how to handle the anthology problem. Older fans might complain about having to buy the same material over and over again to get a little new material while younger fans might complain that they can't find the older anthologies. Niven ran into this fairly early with the collection The Shape of Space
(which I think ended up cannibalized by a number of subsequent collections
in the 1970s).
In any case, I am an older fan, the material by him I like I already own and I never picked this up.
THE REAL STORY by Stephen R. Donaldson
I missed this.
[Part of his space opera series?]
THE CINEVERSE CYCLE (3-in-1 of SLAVES OF THE VOLCANO GOD, BRIDE
OF THE SLIME MONSTER and REVENGE OF THE FLUFFY BUNNIES)
by Craig Shaw Gardner (Alternate)
I found earlier Gardner comedies tedious and stupid so I missed all of these.
STATIONS OF THE TIDE by Michael Swanwick (Alternate)
As I recall, this is set in the same universe as Vacuum Flowers, a universe where unimpeded technological progress resulted in the absorptionof all of Terrestrial humanity into a post-human mass mind called the Comprise. Not surprisingly, the uneaten portion of humanity does not want to end up in the same boat as the Comprise units and so limits on technological development are the norm amongst the human societies. This book pits a bureaucrat against a "wizard" who may be using proscribed technology on the planet Miranda.
I really like most of Swanwick's work but I got a strong impression that I missed the significant bits of the book. Recommended anyway.
March
ISAAC ASIMOV: THE COMPLETE STORIES, VOLUME I by Isaac Asimov
I can't seem to find the contents list on this.
YRAMIDS by Terry Pratchett
A young man, trained as an assassin, is called home to his rather Egyptian homeland when his father dies, making the boy the next ruler. His ideas conflict with the traditions of his homeland, leading to a showdown with cosmological consequences between him and the head priest. Who wins depends on your frame of reference.
This is not my favourite Pratchett. In fact it ties with Moving Pictures as my least favourite post-Mort Prachett book.
[Still better than most comedy SF; bad Pratchett is usually still better than average (the exception being collaborations with Stephen Baxter, who could suck the fun out of chocolate just by standing near it)]
ANOTHER DAY, ANOTHER DUNGEON by Greg Costikyan (Alternate)
And I missed this. I own surprisingly few of Costikyan's novels, which is odd because I liked his work in the RPG field for reasons that should carry over to fiction.
Contents for anthologies and omnibuses from the Locus Index
to Science Fiction www.locusmag.com/index/
1991
January
STONE OF FAREWELL by Tad Williams
One of many Tad Williams books I have never read.
The Folk of the Fringe Orson Scott Card (Phantasia Press
0-932096-49-2, Apr '89, $22.00, 243pp, hc) [Carpenter];
+ 1 o West o na Free Lancers, ed. Elizabeth Mitchell, Baen,
1987
+ 68 o Salvage [Deaver Teague] o nv IASFM Feb '86
+ 87 o The Fringe o nv F&SF Oct '85
+ 110 o Pageant Wagon [Deaver Teague] o na *
+ 191 o America o nv IASFM Jan '87
+ 218 o Author's Note: On Sycamore Hill o ar Science Fiction
Review, 1985
+ 239 o Afterword o Michael R. Collings o aw
This I have read. It's the book that convinced me to stop buying Card books, in fact (I suppose if this had not done it, Lost Boys would have).
This details America after a nuclear catastrophe. As I recall the first story is about a group of Mormon refugees duplicating the 19th century journey of the Mormons out west and the last one is about the discovery that, as I understand it, the Mandate of Heaven has been taken from the whites, who have shown themselves unworthy, and given back to the natives. Somewhere in between is the story of a crippled teacher and some school kids. As I recall the moral was 'freaks should try to fit in better' and it is a story that convinced me I never want to be the minority in a society run by people like Card.
Might serve as an example of religious SF, but then so could much of what Card writes.
THE BLACK THRONE by Roger Zelazny and Fred Saberhagen (Alternate)
Missed this but not because of my Zelazny blind spot. I just don't care much for Saberhagen's later works.
THE RING OF CHARON by Roger MacBride Allen (Alternate)
I *think* this is part of a series in which a physics experiment accidentally triggers the theft of Earth by a post-sophont structure.
MISSION TO MARS by Michael Collins (Alternate)
As I recall, this is a short nonfiction work intended to drum up support for a crewed mission to Mars. Competent but not Collins' best, which is OK because his best is Carrying the Fire and it is very good
indeed.
For the younger folk in the audience, Collins was the third man on Apollo 11, the man who didn't quite go to the Moon.
February
N-Space Larry Niven (Tor 0-312-85089-1, Sep '90, $19.95, 529pp, hc,
cover by Dave Archer); Collection of Niven material, both
fiction and non-fiction, with stories, essays, and novel
excerpts, with an introduction by Tom Clancy.
+ 1 o Introduction: The Maker of Worlds o Tom Clancy o in *
+ 3 o On Niven o David Brin o bg * [Larry Niven]
+ 4 o On Niven o Gregory Benford o bg * [Larry Niven]
+ 5 o On Niven o Wendy All o bg * [Larry Niven]
+ 6 o On Niven o John Hertz o bg * [Larry Niven]
+ 7 o On Niven o Steven Barnes o bg * [Larry Niven]
+ 9 o On Niven o Frederik Pohl o bg * [Larry Niven]
+ 14 o Dramatis Personae o pr *
+ 23 o Foreword: Playgrounds for the Mind o fw *
+ 29 o from World of PTAVVS o ex New York: Ballantine, 1966
The novel this is from is an early Known Space story about the first encounter between humans and the virtually extinct Slavers who once ruled the galaxy.
+ 33 o Bordered in Black o ss F&SF Apr '66
Two spacemen travel to Sirius and discover a world crammed with humans, apparently intended to serve as food for Someone.
Not very good. Marred by huge science errors and a food ecology that doesn't make much sense (why grow humans for food?). Elements of this setting would be re-used in Known Space, though.
+ 50 o Convergent Series ["The Long Night"] o ss F&SF Mar '67
I *think* this is about the aggressive use of mathematics on demons.
+ 55 o All the Myriad Ways o ss Galaxy Oct '68
A short story examining some implications of the many-world model.
+ 65 o from A Gift from Earth o ex New York: Ballantine, 1968
New technology from Earth undermines the oppressive society of We Made It, the semi-habitable world of Tau Ceti.
Still one of my favourite Nivens, despite the usual science goofs and the odd way in which the oppressed peoples of the future resemble middle class Californians of the 1960s.
[Jo Walton subsequently pointed out it's not so much touched by the Sexism Faerie as being ridden like a frisky pony by the Sexism Faerie]
+ 73 o For a Foggy Night o ss Decal Jul '68
A man goes for a walk in the fog and gets very very lost.
+ 80 o The Meddler o nv F&SF Oct '68
?
+ 99 o Passerby o ss Galaxy Sep '69
A human trapped on a doomed star ship has an encounter between the stars.
+ 111 o Down in Flames o ar Trumpet #9 '69
Niven destroys Known Space. Based on an idea by Norman Spinrad.
+ 122 o from Ringworld o ex New York: Ballantine, 1970
Exploration of a huge construct 200 ly from Earth.
+ 129 o The Fourth Profession o nv Quark #4, ed. Samuel R.
Delany & Marilyn Hacker, Paperback Library, 1971
A bartender becomes entangled in the affairs of aliens who would prefer that we build a launch system for their starship, although they are will to settle for blowing up the Sun instead.
+ 170 o "Shall We Indulge in Rishathra?" o lt Science Fiction
Review Nov '78
?
+ 174 o Man of Steel, Woman of Kleenex o hu Knight Dec '69
Examination of Superman's sex issues.
+ 181 o Inconstant Moon o nv All the Myriad Ways, Ballantine,
1971
One man dealing with what he thinks is the Sun going Nova.
+ 203 o What Can You Say About Chocolate Covered Manhole
Covers? o ss All the Myriad Ways, Ballantine, 1971
Odd story about what aliens are breeding us for.
+ 213 o Cloak of Anarchy o ss Analog Mar '72
A critique of anarchy in the form of a short story.
+ 233 o from Protector o ex New York: Ballantine, 1973
A distant relative of humanity, super-intelligent and driven by his instincts, arrives in the solar system. Hijinks ensue.
+ 242 o The Hole Man o ss Analog Jan '74
A mission to Mars discovers an abandoned alien base, complete with a communications device using a small black hole of a type that sadly Hawking later showed would have attributes that make this story impossible. The device figures into the resolution of conflict between two crewmen.
+ 254 o Night on Mispec Moor o ss Vertex Aug '74
A man trapped out on a plains after dark finds out why locals know better than to get stuck in that situation.
+ 264 o Flare Time [Medea] o nv Andromeda 3, ed. Peter Weston,
London: Futura, 1978
?
+ 300 o The Locusts o Larry Niven & Steven Barnes o nv Analog
Jun '79
orrifically awful story about human colonists discovering previously undocumented aspects of human biology.
+ 335 o from The Mote in God's Eye [Mote] o Larry Niven & Jerry
E. Pournelle o ex New York: Simon & Schuster, 1974
The story of First Contact between humans and aliens caught in a nasty biological trap.
+ 339 o Building the Mote in God's Eye [Mote] o Larry Niven &
Jerry E. Pournelle o ar Galaxy Jan '76
Non-fiction article on writing MIGO.
+ 361 o Brenda [Haven] o na New Destinies, Vol. III, ed. Jim
Baen, Baen, 1988
?
+ 399 o The Return of William Proxmire o ss What Might Have
Been? Volume I: Alternate Empires, ed. Gregory Benford &
Martin H. Greenberg, Bantam Spectra, 1989
?
+ 408 o The Tale of the Jinni and the Sisters o ss Argos Win
'88
?
+ 422 o Madness Has Its Place [Kzin Wars] o nv IASFM Jun '90
?
+ 446 o Niven's Laws [revised from Owlswick Press] o ar *
?
+ 454 o The Kiteman o nv *
?
+ 489 o The Alien in Our Minds o ar *
?
+ 496 o Space o ar *
?
+ 510 o Bibliography of Larry Niven o bi *
One of the problems an established author can run into is how to handle the anthology problem. Older fans might complain about having to buy the same material over and over again to get a little new material while younger fans might complain that they can't find the older anthologies. Niven ran into this fairly early with the collection The Shape of Space
(which I think ended up cannibalized by a number of subsequent collections
in the 1970s).
In any case, I am an older fan, the material by him I like I already own and I never picked this up.
THE REAL STORY by Stephen R. Donaldson
I missed this.
[Part of his space opera series?]
THE CINEVERSE CYCLE (3-in-1 of SLAVES OF THE VOLCANO GOD, BRIDE
OF THE SLIME MONSTER and REVENGE OF THE FLUFFY BUNNIES)
by Craig Shaw Gardner (Alternate)
I found earlier Gardner comedies tedious and stupid so I missed all of these.
STATIONS OF THE TIDE by Michael Swanwick (Alternate)
As I recall, this is set in the same universe as Vacuum Flowers, a universe where unimpeded technological progress resulted in the absorptionof all of Terrestrial humanity into a post-human mass mind called the Comprise. Not surprisingly, the uneaten portion of humanity does not want to end up in the same boat as the Comprise units and so limits on technological development are the norm amongst the human societies. This book pits a bureaucrat against a "wizard" who may be using proscribed technology on the planet Miranda.
I really like most of Swanwick's work but I got a strong impression that I missed the significant bits of the book. Recommended anyway.
March
ISAAC ASIMOV: THE COMPLETE STORIES, VOLUME I by Isaac Asimov
I can't seem to find the contents list on this.
YRAMIDS by Terry Pratchett
A young man, trained as an assassin, is called home to his rather Egyptian homeland when his father dies, making the boy the next ruler. His ideas conflict with the traditions of his homeland, leading to a showdown with cosmological consequences between him and the head priest. Who wins depends on your frame of reference.
This is not my favourite Pratchett. In fact it ties with Moving Pictures as my least favourite post-Mort Prachett book.
[Still better than most comedy SF; bad Pratchett is usually still better than average (the exception being collaborations with Stephen Baxter, who could suck the fun out of chocolate just by standing near it)]
ANOTHER DAY, ANOTHER DUNGEON by Greg Costikyan (Alternate)
And I missed this. I own surprisingly few of Costikyan's novels, which is odd because I liked his work in the RPG field for reasons that should carry over to fiction.
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Re: "The Locusts" vs Theodore Sturgeon
Date: 2013-10-08 03:09 am (UTC)