Quote:
Originally Posted by DMcCunney
NB: his last name has no "e" -- it's Delany.
Nova was a brilliant book. I'm also fond of Triton, and have wished someone would collect the "Notes towards the modular calculus" Chip had scattered through that volume as a seperate publication.
I wouldn't call liking Delany old fashioned. I'd call him one of the reigning masters of the field, as adept in shorter lengths (such as "Time Considered as a Helix of Semi-precious Stones", which garnered a Best Short Story Hugo Award in 1970) as in novels.
He's also a very nice guy in person, and fascinating to talk to.
I can't legitimately recommend all of his work. He did a porno novel called "The Tides of Lust" many years back which may be the most unerotic book I've ever read, and Dhalgren is best considered a literary experiment (though it was a cult item when published, with lots of folks discussing exactly what Delany was doing in that book.)
But for the most part, pick a Delany off the shelf and expect a good read.
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Dennis
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I remember receiving Dhalgren as a Christmas present
many years ago from my little brother. I think that with the cover art on the paperback book he thought it was just another scifi book. I started reading it on Christmas Day, and if I recall rightly there was a scene early on in the book graphically describing a homo-erotic oral sex encounter that the hero of the book was engaging in. Since my tastes didn't veer in that direction (sixteen year old horny hetero teenager), I quickly put the book down and never picked it up again. Of course, to my brother's embarrassment and my parent's horror, I read out loud to everybody hanging out in the living room one particularly juicy passage that Christmas morning...
