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Those are lovely.

I read my first Ballard novel because of you, and I'll read many more! Incredible writer. Wonderful video, as always!

Stephen, I'm really enjoying your channel. Thanks for all the great videos. I must get Delany's "Tales of Neveryon" since I have Volumes 2-4. I actually acquired these a few days ago for £6 from a local charity shop! Very good condition- so quite a bargain. I've recently started reading Delany, but I overlooked him when I read SF in my teens. I concentrated on the other Ds- Disch and Dick. I think I'll get on with Delany since he merges SF and literary theory- I like both!

Excellent video touching on some of the concepts of our last conversation! Thanks, Steve Personally makes me all the more excited to see how Vandermeer takes up the ecological disaster legacy in the fourth and final Southern Reach book.

Thought provoking as always, OB! I can't help but view an author's proficiency through the eyes (ears?) of a musician and as such, I think of the story as a symphony and the way the author writes as being the collective performance of the orchestra. Some symphonies are magical, others are mundane, but a bad performance (author) can ruin a great symphony. That said, your constant cascade of great ideas never ceases to amaze. Really enjoyed this one, as I do all of the Outlaw Bookseller episodes. Cheers!

I've only read Downward to the Earth by Silverberg, but I was impressed on how prolific, detailed and huge the world he was talking to me about with so few words, at the moment The Man in the Maze is being shipped to my shelf, I can't wait to read more Silverberg. I also have on my shelf A Wreath of Stars, but I'm actually reading A Fire Upon the Deep by the recently late Vernor Vinge. Once again thank you for sharing great titles and being so authentic with your reviews and your words. Love your channel

Yes is the answer, because in SF is more than just the language. YMMV and clearly does.

oh wow.... I think I actually read Wreath of Stars, so long ago that I barely remember it. Might try and revisit; ghosts in a mine, Africa... it sounds really familiar. Haven't read any Priest recently either - should do something about that. Proficiency! really important, but never enough on it's own, in my estimation.

In my opinion collaborations aren't really true, 50:50, type deal. Clarke/Gentry Lee - Lee did the writing. Clarke/Baxter - totally, 100% Baxter Baxter/Pratchett - Let's say 98% Baxter Niven/ Pournelle - except Inferno, Pournelle was main writer. Benford/Brin - reads way more like David Brin novel (that's why it isn't very good). Asimov/Silverberg - Bob did the whole job. I think younger writer does the work, with older author just dropping ideas and sugestions. I haven read Casandra Project, but it sounds more Mcdevitt than Resnick.

Very enjoyable. I like seeing the variety of books

I love that a viewer got and sent you the missing matching the Neveryon! I had serendipitously gotten my hands on a very nice hardcover Berrington Bailey that you needed. I was going to take the loss and mail it off to you, but I didn't find your address anywhere listed. And then you got yourself a copy (Seeds of Evil, I believe.) will no credit for near misses! I should find where it's printed sometime though. . . You never know what I'll come across. Found a lovely hardcover Sladek "The New Apocrypha" last month. Still, nothing quite like appreciative viewers sending you swag.

Thanks again Stephen for a very interesting presentation. As a 69-year-old curmudgeon I'd lost interest in in SF writing after 1980, considering it to be too derivative and long winded. Since I found your channel however, I've realized that I'm missing out on some great stuff, so I have ordered a copy of The Glamour by Christopher Priest. I'm also a huge admirer of Silverberg so now The Face of the Waters is next on my list. I liked your earlier presentations on psychogeography as well. I've loved Greek myths since childhood and had a transcendent moment while on holiday on the island of Crete many years ago in my 40's where I suddenly understood them at an elemental level. I didn't have a name for the experience at the time, but now believe it was the effect of a kind psychogeography, though naturally nowhere near as deep as a native would feel. I've since felt it again walking in the landscape of the American West.

I want to write some scifi but I worry that living in a rural underdeveloped area where I have limited exposure to technology would be a detriment to anything I could dream up in a narrative. Do you think being exposed to a lot of contemporary technology is a requirement to write science fiction?

" Kirinyaga" novel ( fix-up of 8 short stories ) by Resnick is a must - read , I think... They were a real treat back in the 90s when I read them first individually in our croatian SF magazine ( most of those stories got an award, or were at least nominated .. EDIT : I just checked wiki ; 67 awards & nominations for novel & separate stories ) It's about the attempt for a kind of luddite / traditonal utopia for Kenyan Kikuyu people on the terraformed planetoid (& something always goes wrong in each story 😁 ) Also, two novellas : " 43 Antarean Dynasties " & " Seven Views of Olduvai Gorge " were also great.... ( both Hugo winners) I always figured that Resnick is one of those very productive writers with lot of mediocre stuff but with core ouvre that is top - top shelf like the works I mentioned ( Brunner was like that too, no ? )

Think I'll give 'Wreath of Stars' a go as 'Other Days, Other Eyes' is currently absurdly priced in the States. Thanks for your recommendations & reviews!

Good stuff

"Proficient"--you hit the nail squarely on the head. There was a time when you couldn't open an Analog or Mag of SF&F and not come upon a story by Resnick, it seemed. And it was for this very reason. "Dependably good enough," I would say. He never did it for me, though. I needed much harder drugs. Great video, Outlaw. And great observation.

Hi Steve, thanks for the video. I think that if I'd discovered Bob Shaw earlier in my reading career - after Clarke or Asimov - I'd be a fan. I find his style very agreeable, but lacking in the sort of finesse you get from Silverberg and the characterisation fails to involve me. It's very hard, once you've tasted excellence to go back to proficiency. When I saw you were reading The Face of the Waters, I was excited to hear your opinion because I lived in hope of uncle Bob regaining his pre-hiatus heights. I had suffered the disappointment of Tom O'Bedlam, but was hopeful for The Face of the Waters and Kingdoms of the Wall. Your comments about TFotW have helped adjust my expectations; not that later Silverberg is at all bad, but the surpassing excellence of The Book of Skulls, Dying Inside or The World Inside clearly did not reassert itself. In reality, it's a very mild disappointment and no reason to begrudge the man his retirement.

Lets take the case of Haiti? Ok, lets. The only successful slave rebellion/revolution in history. Its been the poorest or near poorest country in the world since consistently, paying reparations to France till the 90s. Thats right, former slaves paying former slave masters for loss of earnings! Haiti had been invaded directly by the US three time in its 'independent' history. Haiti has had any attempt at democracy destroyed, any hope undernined at every step of it post independence history. It has been prevented from developing at all. Whether its with US imposed Dictators like Papa Doc and his murderous Tonton Macoute death squad or the overthrow and kidnapping of the peaceful uncorrupt president Bertrand Aristede in a US backed coup. Ravaged non stop, but maybe its just that those 12million Haitians are no damn good at doing a country. A good number of proficient books have been written about. I can link a few if anyone wants to diversify their SF reading with some realitic and brutal history? Don't like to bring discord to the comments section of one of my absolute favourite CZcams channels, respect your work and opinions on literature greatly Steve, but I couldn't let that Haiti comment go by even if it was throwaway. ✌

Thanks for the shout out Steve...glad the Delany reached you in good order...enjoy it 🙂

I must read more Bob shaw read a few now and really enjoy his writing. Silverbergs The conglomeriod cocktail party arrived yesterday along with the broken bubble by PKD not read either before but still on that mission to read all things silver and PKD . Keep turning those rocks over and shining a light on the obscure Steve many thanks 🫡

My first McDevitt was Ancient Shores . Later i got into the Hutchin novels..starting with The Engines Of God . Then it was the Alex novels . The books can be a bit dense , but McDevitt always manage to grab and hold my attention . I have read Risnick Santigo stories( legends ?) Westerns in space ? . Prolific vs proficient . Sometimes i am not sure what i want . I want more from my faves, but at what cost . Hacks ????( my bias opinion ) Only Shaw i have are Rugged Astronauts and the sequel .looking for more , not easy to find here . I have and love much Silverberg . I have The Face Of The Waters ...next on my tbr . ok enough emotion . Thanks for the video .

Classic O.B. - moving sideways across topics and authors. Thank you, I enjoyed. Always glad to hear about what's "in" the books. Enjoyed, and I too am unsure what to think of Resnick & Mcdevitt. The Gollancz Masterwork you mentioned doesn't ring a bell, I wonder if there is a "Most Iconic" or "fan fave" to watch out for from these two authors.

Resnick won five Hugos, and was nominated 37 times. He founded an SF magazine too, Galaxy’s Edge. If prodigious output is a signal one is a hack, then Resnick is in good company. SF historically has plenty of adored authors who had massive output, often under several pen names.

The big question is was SF writing better in the past? Does modern SF match up? 🧐🧐🧐🧐🧐🧐🧐🧐

I have read a couple of books by Resnick ( Ivory and Paradise. Which retells the history of Kenya, substituting a distant, alien planet for the African country ). And from memory I would rate his writing as proficient

CZcams has been offering up your back catalogue to me all morning, but do they tell me you've posted a NEW video? No. Wandering, wandering in hopeless net Out here in the CZcams there are no new vids Out here we is sidelined Algorithmic . . With apologies to J. Morrison

Yet another cracking episode Stephen, jotted down the names of all books mentioned. I've started Brian Aldiss "Greybeard" and Robert Silverberg "The Second Trip" today. Also I commented on one of your videos asking about authors/books similar in style to Burrough's cut-up style and recently discovered the amazing "Kali Yug Express" by Claude Pelieu which completely blew me away. His style is nowhere near as fractured as Burroughs, it just flows as a book and it was an excellent read. Anyway, all the best!

Lovely reviews. I love Bob Shaw. His short stories are amazing and pack a punch. Face of the waters was my first foray into Silverberg. I think it put me off.. but a nice story nonetheless.

Can you remind me which SF novel has Elon (someone) as a Mars colony leader? Great vid. Not finished it yet.. but I can tell

PLEASE READ THIS POST BEFORE COMMENTING: Yes, I'm aware there are problems with audio during some parts of this video. If you comment on this, I'm probably just going to roll my eyes. Apologies nonetheless.

Hi. Got here finally after 9 seconds..

A very good video

It all came together for you in this video. Well done!

Speaking of influences on "The Terminator", check out Philp K Dick's story "Second Variety", which was published in 1953

Near completism ?

I saw Matt's video and wanted to read it, but all of the vendors online are demanding six to eight hundred dollars for a hard used paperback. So in April I managed to get a copy through my local library on an inter-library loan and was surprised to receive a hardcover first edition owned by Liberty University, which you may or may not know, is a very conservative Christian University.

Excellent video. Love Ballard. Great editing. I was thinking about JGB the other day walking around Le Lignon housing estate here in Geneva. It has(had?) the title of being Europe’s longest building.

Hi Stephen. Never could get along with Ballard. Way back when I read Crash and Concrete Island and came away totally confused and unimpressed. I read The Drought quite recently and, quite frankly, I found it tedious and unsatisfying because, I think, I couldn't make a connection with the protagonist and all the Pirate Bikers stuff reminded me of a b-movie from Netflix. So fast forward to last month when I had a bash at The Atrocity Exhibition . . .WTF ??

mr ballard . we here salute you.

Striking, challenging stuff -- I read it all in the '70s, and still have the short story collections and disaster novels (thanks for the tip about The Wind From Nowhere, I'll be sure to hang on to my copy). The background images in this post are perfect, they look like the '60s-built concrete college I attended, but more decrepit. I'm overdue for a re-read of a lot of this. Tried sharing the early stuff with my wife, who admired Empire Of The Sun, but she would have none of it.

The artwork (of his covers) is always top notch!

Fantastic💥 Love this format, great to see an SF/-video with original complimentary images instead of the reviewer/channel owner talking. Great material, would love to see more of this format now and then! Best/Felix

Tack!

Hi have you ever read Michael J sullivan

Nice job, well done

Good video. Spot on about the appeal of post apocalyptic! I really enjoyed The Drowned Earth the other year when I read it last!