New Wave Science Fiction and Fantasy Message Board

On the assumption that there couldn't *possibly* be enough groups on Librarything yet, I decided to make one more....

Although, seriously, I think that New Wave speculative fiction embodies the best qualities of science fiction -- asking hard questions about the character and future of human society, and not just about the next generation of gadgets. Roger Zelazny's Dream Master (or, if you insist, "He Who Shapes") was sort of a turning point for me when it comes to the ability of science fiction to go beyond merely entertaining genre writing.

My all time favorite author is Ursula K. Le Guin, and it was her essays which got me interested in Roger Zelazny and James Tiptree Jr.. I've started reading Samuel Delany more recently, too.

::smacks forehead:: Not sure why I didn't list Le Guin anywhere above.

Count me in as a lover of all things Michael Moorcock. Quite happy with any of the others, too. Having a bit of a Philip Jose Farmer phase at the moment, I guess. :)

Personally for me the New Wave reflects the kind of SF being published in the magazine New Worlds in the latter part of the 60s. Sladek, Disch, and Ballard epitomise the New Wave for me.

Is Damon Knight considered to have participated in the New Wave? I've only read a little of his stuff, and what I've read had a very New Wave feel to it, but I don't know if it's representative.

Well Damon Knight started writing too early to be wholly identified by the new wave (his first short stories were published in the 40s. However I think he saw much to admire in what was happening in Britain and his Orbit series of anthologies reprinted a lot of New Wave short fiction. He didn't write much fiction during the period, but looking at his 1984 novel The Man In The Tree it seems hard not to recognise certain influences.

Thanks, Andyl -- my feelings were similar regarding Humpty Dumpty An Oval.

bluetyson, what Philip Jose Farmer are you reading? I've read the Riverworld books and a few others, such as The Wind Whales of Ishmael, but there are big holes.

Tarzan Alive,The Adventure of the Peerless Peer,Doc Savage His Apocalyptic Life,TimeStop,blown,timestop,Lord of the Trees and I still have to get to Hadon of Ancient Opar too.

I read Riverworld stuff a long time ago, and wasn't really a huge fan. I want to track down The Other Log of Phileas Fogg, as I can't remember if I ahve read it or now.

Excellent. Doc Savage His Apocalyptic Life is currently moderately high on my very long list of books I need to read.

Think I might have just found The Other Log of Phileas Fogg, too.

My to read list is a bit more than moderately long unfortunately or fortunately, depending on how you look at it :)

Hi -I just found this group and wanted to see if there's still interest. The SF New Wave is still the most interesting period of SF for me, so...

Just to address the initial post from some time ago, I also was very impressed with Dream Master. I read it just a short while ago and really loved how overstuffed it was, the automated car ride, the superintelligent seeing eye dog - all this fascinating extra stuff besides the actual premise of the story.

My favorite new wave writer would still have to be Robert Silverberg. Not really an innovator, but he took the staple premises of SF and added greater character development, a more frank attitude towards sex and an upgrade in the quality of prose.

I just found LT & this group. I'm a real fan of all Roger Zelazny 's work. NESFA is putting out a 6 book Collected Works & I've read the first two, bought the next two & will buy the last two as soon as they're available.

#13 Envious... for I read all the Zelazny I could get my hands on in the '80s and '90s but I'm sure I missed some. Is there evidence that NESFA included ALL his novels, including his collaborations and the one's published posthumously?

I didn't mean to give the wrong impression about the NESFA books. They did not collect his novels, just his short stories & poetry. Some pieces of his novels are in them such as "And Call Me Conrad" which later became This Immortal & a section from Lord of Light, the Executioner & the Buddha, I believe it was called.

It's probably best you read about it directly:
http://nesfa.org/press/Books/Zelazny-Project.html

One of the really cool things about it is they have a section at the end of each item explaining all the allusions that Zelazny made. While I get most of them - I wouldn't enjoy reading him if I didn't - some go over my head.

Some of the short stories were never published, others only in an obscure place, so it's cool to read them. Ditto with his poems & some are corrected or have different versions. I'm not into his poetry, but it's still interesting.

The books are $30 each, which is tough to bear, but I've found them worth every penny. I've reviewed the first two & will start the third as soon as I've finished To Ride Hell's Chasm. The one bad thing about really nice books is I don't like to take them with me to work, so I only get to read them at night, which is often limited.

Thank you for all the information, Jim!

Just found these old posts. Think I'm going to start the New Year with a little Zelazny.
I'm thinking To Die in Italbar...

NESFA just released the last two books of Zelazny's collected works last week. I have them coming & am looking forward to reading them. The first 4 were well worth the time & money.

Possibly in Feb10, a 7th book, a bibliography, is going to be released. It should have thumbnails of all the cover art. Since several of his stories were based on paintings that are now very difficult to find, it should be worth getting. It was one of my complaints about the other collected works books. They'd mention a story was based on a painting, but didn't show it. Apparently that was partially a publishing cost & a fair use issue.

Does anyone own a copy of Here there be dragons and Way up high? I've read both stories, but on day I'd love to own the book so I could see the pictures. Apparently the book was long delayed because both the artist & the writer wanted too much money. It was finally published in a limited edition & seems to cost well over $100 when it does come up for sale. Too rich for my blood.