Driftglass. by Samuel R. Delany. 1971
DRIFTGLASS
RATED 85% POSITIVE. STORY SCORE 4.1 OF 5
10 STORIES : 4 GREAT / 4 GOOD / 1 AVERAGE / 1 POOR / 0 DNF
When Jo Walton reviewed Samuel R Delany’s short fiction, she wrote that “very few people have explored the undersides of shiny spaceship futures.” As usual, she nailed it. There is a grime to his stories. A working class vulgarity. The vibe of imperfect and imprecise sexuality. It is held together by a inventive science fictional mind and a strong sense of realism.
Delany writes about tortured prisoners, spaceship repairmen hopelessly looking for something better, modified spacemen who have become a fetish, and fishermen (both normal and genetically engineered.). It pulsates with the New Wave style of science fiction that was more experimental, opaque, and more accepting of sex and the profane.
These stories true a late-1960s future extrapolation in the way that every generation imposes their obsessions on their science fiction future. That is occasionally to the detriment of the weaker tales, but is part of the strength of the great stories.
It is amazing that all of these stories were written by one man between 1967 and 1971.
There are four stories that join The Great List:
The Star Pit • (1967) • novella by Samuel R. Delany. I’ve come around and now understand the greatness of this story. A densely written and plotted novella. A normal man works as a mechanic at the edge of the galaxy and is haunted by the fact that he cannot go farther into space without going mad.
Corona • (1967) • short story by Samuel R. Delany. An injured worker who had been horribly tortured and a little girl with telepathy who feels the pain of others and is suicidal as a result. This is a painful look at the human suffering, telepathy, and the price of empathy. Very 60-70s grimy grind house with a finishing ray of light. A story I won’t likely reread but will remember and admire for a long time.
Aye, and Gomorrah • (1970) • short story by Samuel R. Delany. Masterful new wave sexual allegory about neutered spacers and the perverse(?) humans who pay to have sex with them.
Driftglass • (1967) • short story by Samuel R. Delany. If Hemingway wrote SF, it would read like this. Cal Svenson is one of 750,000 people who have been modified to perform dangerous undersea construction work. Svenson was horribly injured when one of these jobs went wrong. He now walks the beaches looking for Driftglass. A powerful character study. Great stuff.
DRIFTGLASS IS RATED 85% POSITIVE
10 STORIES : 4 GREAT / 4 GOOD / 1 AVERAGE / 1 POOR / 0 DNF
The Star Pit • (1967) • novella by Samuel R. Delany
Great. I’ve come around and now understand the greatness of this story. A densely written and plotted novella. A normal man works as a mechanic at the edge of the galaxy and is haunted by the fact that he cannot go farther into space without going mad.
Dog in a Fisherman's Net • (1971) • short story by Samuel R. Delany
Good. A very well written story of death and life on a Greek island. Only the tiniest hint of fantasy with the female god of the island, but maybe this is just purely a piece of realist fiction.
Corona • (1967) • short story by Samuel R. Delany
Great. An injured worker who had been horribly tortured and a little girl with telepathy who feels the pain of others and is suicidal as a result. This is a painful look at the human suffering, telepathy, and the price of empathy. Very 60-70s grimy grind house with a finishing ray of light. A story I won’t likely reread but will remember and admire for a long time.
Aye, and Gomorrah • (1970) • short story by Samuel R. Delany
Great. Masterful new wave sexual allegory about neutered spacers and the perverse(?) human who pay to have sex with them.
Driftglass • (1967) • short story by Samuel R. Delany
Great. If Hemingway wrote SF, it would read like this. Cal Svenson is one of 750,000 people who have been modified to perform dangerous undersea construction work. Svenson was horribly injured when one of these jobs went wrong. He now walks the beaches looking for Driftglass. A powerful character study. Great stuff.
We, in Some Strange Power's Employ, Move on a Rigorous Line • (1968) • novella by Samuel R. Delany
Good. In a dystopia future, a team that spread power lines to everyone come into conflict with a counter-cultural community that wants none of it.
Cage of Brass • (1968) • short story by Samuel R. Delany
Average. An architect ends up broken in an automated prison of his own design as has a conversation with two other men imprisoned within.
High Weir • (1968) • novelette by Samuel R. Delany
Good. A dead Martian city. An astronaut whose mind is falling apart. Holograms that transmit the message of the lost people.
Time Considered as a Helix of Semi-Precious Stones • (1968) • novelette by Samuel R. Delany
Good. A wild ride as a small time crook works his way up through a series of interactions and parties. Pretty groovy 1960s style.
Night and the Loves of Joe Dicostanzo • (1970) • short story by Samuel R. Delany
Poor. A strange looping fantasy where two characters apparently believe that each of them made the other. Pretty incoherent and boring.
