#Barry N. Malzberg

[thefugitivesaint]

Charles Moll, ''Beyond Apollo'' by Barry N. Malzberg, 1973 Source

[doolsandtoys]

Barry N. Malzberg, La Destruction du Temple. Couverture de livre de poche, 1974.

[biblioklept]

22 Nov. 2024

Bought some books today, mass-market paperbacks by Barry N. Malzberg and Walter M. Miller, Jr. I don’t need them and honestly my eyes are so bad by now that I probably couldn’t make it through one—I’ll have to find them online probably. But they were so cheap and such a cheap indulgence and so lovely as objects. I’ve only ever come across two Walter M. Miller Jr. books: A Canticle for Leibowitz,…

[dirtyriver]

RIP (July 24, 1939 – December 19, 2024) 

Barry N. Malzberg "Un monde en morceaux" (pp61/63) 1973.

《"Attrape ça ! " cria Mack Miller sur un ton de triomphe en envoyant à l'extra-terrestre trois autres décharges de son laser. Il avait enfin percé le mystère de l'invulnérabilité du monstre: étant sensible à la télépathie, ce qu'il aurait dû savoir dès le départ, l'être captait donc les ondes sensorielles, et si Mack émettait des ondes de haine en même temps que le rayon laser, le monstre s'écroulait, cette sensibilité devait les perdre… si seulement Mack trouvait le mot qui 》 Voilà comment se termine la page qui se trouve devant lui. En y jetant un rapide coup d'oeil, par simple routine, il se dit qu'il lui faut absolument faire quelque chose. La syntaxe est approximative, on dirait les bredouillements d'un idiot, et en plus ça ne veut rien dire. Cette page au moins devra être recommencée demain. Mais ce n'est pas dans ses habitudes de remanier un texte. C'est une règle à laquelle il s'est fermement tenu depuis le début. Quand on commence à remanier son texte, on n'en sort plus: au début c'est une ligne par-ci par-là, après c'est un paragraphe ou un dialogue, et pour finir ce sont des scènes entières qu'on recommence. On risque alors de faire comme ce malheureux Jack Craggings, on ne s'en sort plus, et on n'arrive même plus à écrire autre chose. Dans ces conditions, ce seraient des monceaux de romans et de nouvelles qu'il faudrait repasser sur la machine pour n'arriver finalement à rien de correct. Dès qu'on se met à examiner d'un œil critique un texte, c'est toujours le même problème : ce n'est jamais parfait, c'est même vicié à la base. En regardant cette page dactylographiée, Herovit a l'impression de se rappeler des centaines, peut-être même des milliers d'auteurs de pulp-magazines des anciens temps - ou du moins des années vingt - que leur instinct de réviseur a perdus et qui sont maintenant complètement oubliés, et peut-être même morts. Leur voix s'est éteinte à jamais, pour ne rien dire de leur fortune. " Ne jamais réviser, murmure-t-il intérieurement : son vieux credo. Cela ne sert à rien. Les gens qui lisent ce genre de chose sont parfaitement incapables de faire la différence entre une phrase correcte et une phrase incorrecte, et d'ailleurs, si on y pense bien, toi non plus." Sur ce il franchit la porte de son bureau et part à la recherche de sa femme《《

[svenskaspindlar]

[eldrbenway]

"Eroticism is not in the act but in the anticipation, the slow unraveling of desire." — Barry N. Malzberg, The Spread.

Momo Sakura radiates a delicate allure that feels like a whispered secret. Shall I share more glimpses of her enchanting charm? 💫🌹🔥

[trashmenace]

The Lone Wolf 3: Boston Avenger by Mike Barry

The Lone Wolf 3 Boston Avenger by Mike Barry (Barry N. Malzberg) 1973, Berkley Medallion

Ex-cop on the run Wulff heads to Boston with twenty pounds of heroin he scored in the last book. He survives an assassination attempt at a toll booth but loses the heroin to two thugs who run off with it. Wulff tosses a grenade at a memorial at a mob mansion, while the two thugs try to sell the heroin to a Harvard associate professor who sidelines as a dealer.

Wulff is captured by the local mafia who agree to let him live if he recovers the heroin. Wulff goes after the prof, who had turned himself in to the cops. Wulff chases the police and recovers the heroin, but finds himself in a dragnet closing in. His master plan to evade the police involves crashing his car in the woods, walking thirty feet into the forest, and taking a nap. Not sure why he didn't just pull over if it was that easy.

The prof goes home, Wulff follows, the mob shows up, people are shot, the end.

Goes hard into characterizations, which might have worked if the story did. None of the motivations checked out - Wulff, anti-heroin crusader, wanted to recover the junk, to the point of shooting cops over it, for ill defined reasons other that using it for bait, somehow. The mafia don wanted the junk gone, something about avoiding flooding the market and lowering prices, as if storing it or moving it to a different territory wasn't an option. Both of them seem to change their minds.

Wulff's man on the run bit didn't play well with the fact that the mafia knows where he is at all times, even knowing what route he's driving. Four different times the mob just shows up, only twice to try and kill him - if the mob's informant network is that comprehensive, they need better reasons why Wulff is still alive. For part of the story they want Wulff to take care of the Prof, which they can't do themselves for undisclosed reasons.

I liked the tone, the most nihilistic of the Mack Bolan clones, but the actual prose is atrocious. Not quite at Lionel Fanthorpe levels, there is constant repetition, with characters repeating things back to each other and repeating that they don't need to repeat things. Wulff himself is Jimmy Two Times. Probably wouldn't have crossed a hundred pages without the filler

There's a line of opinion that this is subversive satire, or that it's building up to a climax in book 14 that will make it all worthwhile but you have to read the whole series to get the whole effect. I think this is based on Malzberg's positive reputation as a science fiction writer. Whether there's a master plan that pays off at the end or Malzberg's phoning it in at a genre he doesn't respect, there's too much pulp and not enough juice.

From Amazon

[graywyvern]

( via / jesus chairez on fb )

Tear apart, stick together.

Disappointingly brief "Celebrating Our Elders" with Kathe Koja. But here's some books she likes. Another one, which reminds me that there are two sequels now to the marvelously evocative Under the Poppy... This goers into some detail about her surprising (to me) collaborations with Barry N Malzberg.

"Like much of the best gothic writing, these tales blur the psychological and the metaphysical, inner experience and outer atmosphere, human violence and occult undercurrents."

"The gods will ooze through the floorboards in any form." --Andy Sharp

Grand Church Organ.

[saksthriftavenue]

Check out this listing I just added to my Poshmark closet: The Best of Keith Laumer Sci-Fi Softcover First Edition Book 1975.

[k-i-l-l-e-r-b-e-e-6-9]

[basicallyanotherwitchesthing]

Robert Silverberg - The Best of - Pocket - 1976 (cover art by Alan Magee)

[humanoidhistory]

Davis Meltzer cover art for The Falling Astronauts by Barry N. Malzberg, 1971.

[70sscifiart]

Ray Feibush's 1975 cover art for ‘Overlay,’ by Barry N. Malzberg

[safe-in-their-alabaster-chambers]

[science70]

Nova 2, edited by Harry Harrison (Sphere Books edition, 1975).

Cover art: Eddie Jones

[eldrbenway]

"Sex is a kind of wrestling, a challenge, a dialogue" — Barry N. Malzberg, Screen.

Watching Tsukasa Aoi is like witnessing beauty in dialogue with desire—her allure invites, teases, and entrances in a rhythm as magnetic as it is irresistible. 🌹✨🔥