Flight to Distant Dreams
|
I`m a real fan of SF prose by Samuel Delany. My favourite books are "Babel-17", "Nova", "Einstien Intersection", "Driftglass", "Fall of the Towers". If SF ideas by Delany may seem dated but his prose stylistcally is very polished and beautiful. You could read his novels and stories only because of his original language - rhythmic, spiritual and musical.
"Distant Stars" is a collection (originally released in 1981) and the book is a real gift for true SF reader! Here included: introduction by Delany ("Of Doubts and Dreams"), fairy tale fantasy novella "Prismatica" (1977), short novel "Empire Star" (1966), one of his best stories "Time Considered as a Helix of Semi-Precoius Stones" (1967), short stories written in the 1960s - "Corona", "Ruins" (tied with the world of "They Fly to Ciron"), "We in Some Stange Power`s Employ..." and original story "Omegahelm" (name of the planet) written specially for this edition and set in the universe of "Stars in My Pocket...". Here Delany at his best! Illustrations in the book are in style of the 1970s.
Reading "Distant Stars" I thought: What a miracle it could be if Delany still could write SF prose for normal sane readers in our times as he did it in the 1960s, sometimes in the 1970s and rarely even in the 1980s!
What did he do with his talent? What a pity!
|
|
|
United States | 
United Kingdom | 
Canada