#Barry N. Malzberg

[sandmandaddy69]

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《《

[nerds-yearbook]

The first issue of the sci-fi anthology limited series Open Space was published with a cover date of Mid-December 1989. ("Handshake" "The Land of Nod" "Heroes" "Frontiers" Open Space 1, Marvel Graphics Comic Event)

[svenskaspindlar]

[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

[quoteoftheweekblog]

…

13/1/25 - NANCY MITFORD (AND BARRY MALZBERG AND BAPSI SIDHWA)

‘ “A woman of my age needs diamonds near her face to give a sparkle.“ ‘ (Mitford, 2015, p.570).

REFERENCE

Mitford, N. (2015 [1945] ) ‘Love in a cold climate’ in ‘The complete novels’.  London: Penguin Books, pp.535-680.

*****

AND FRIENDS TO CELEBRATE

…

ON

THE 8TH

&

…

THE 11TH

&

…

THE 12TH

*****

LAST WEDNESDAY I WAS 6 ******* 5

(DAVID BOWIE WOULD HAVE BEEN 78 AND ELVIS PRESLEY WOULD HAVE BEEN 90)

*****

HOW OLD?

*****

SEE ALSO

’ “And if I might offer you a little advice, Fanny, it would be to read fewer books … ” ’ (Mitford, 2015, p.635).

…

…

TO MY FRIEND IN PECKHAM

OUR QUOTE OF THE WEEK ASSISTANT

...

FOR THE BOOK TOKEN AND ADVICE

…

AND THANKS AGAIN

XXXX

&

MY FRIENDS IN BASINGSTOKE FOR THE BOOKS …

…

AND THANKS AGAIN

XXXX

…

XXXX

…

XXXX

PLUS

TO MY FRIEND IN CROUCH END WHO AVOIDED GIVING ME A BOOK

…

AND THANKS AGAIN

XXXX

LIKEWISE

MY FRIEND IN BASINGSTOKE

…

AND THANKS AGAIN

XXXX

&

MY DAUGHTER

TRAVELLIN' NANCE

…

IN TRANSIT FROM ESSAOUIRA TO ATHENS VIA HOVE REUNITED WITH

LOIS

IN BASINGSTOKE

…

…

AND THANKS AGAIN

XXXX

ALSO

TO MY PHOTOGRAPHIC ASSISTANTS

…

ON THE 8TH

XXXX

&

…

THE 11TH

XXXX

&

...

THE 12TH

XXXX

*****

FOR MY HUSBAND WHO WOULD HAVE ENJOYED THIS ONE

…

LOOKING GOOD

*****

RIP 2024/25

…

BARRY MALZBERG 19/12/24

OBITUARY

…

&

BAPSI SIDHWA

25/12/24

OBITUARY

…

RIP

*****

…

NANCY MITFORD

*****

QUOTE OF THE WEEK 2011 - 2025

…

13 EPIC YEARS

*****

FROM THE ARCHIVE

...

9/1/23

*****

[faxxmachine]

Might try to read 100 books this year just get the taste of A Little Life out of my brain. I've never been so angry at a book in my life and I think I will hate it until the end of time.

ANYWAY

Going well so far and seem to be on a SciFi tear. Unfortunately, sexism abounds in that genre and especially in the classic or important books. For something like Roadside Picnic, I can understand as it was written in 1971 and is not pretending to be a utopia (in fact, the new technology seems to be reproducing more of the same which is a fascinating angle). For a dystopia I can also understand it because why would it not be more of the same old shit (though they should indicate they have thought a bit about that)? For something purporting to be set in the future and a utopian society if an author cannot imagine women as human beings at the very least, never mind full social participants, I'm going to have trouble. It's at best an indication of intellectual and imaginative shortcoming and at worst a depressing confirmation that they do not in fact see women as people (a kind of sentient thing perhaps, but not a person). That's one of a few reasons I had such a hard time with The Demolished Man (and Blade Runner 2049 to a large degree).

Read E.M Forster's The Machine Stops the other night and the number of times I laughed nervously in recognition of certain human tendencies and of the current milieu was alarming to say the least. A bit scary. A bit prescient, Mr. Forster (except for the buttons - there are no buttons now, everything is a black mirror).

But I am looking forward to reading more Tanith Lee, getting into some Joanna Russ, more Ursula K Le Guin, dipping my toes in Octavia Butler's oeuvre, Margaret St Clair and Alice Bradley Sheldon aka James Tiptree Jr., and Anna Kavan to start with (er they don't have to be dead but it seems to be a theme here).

Also planning to read a bit of D.G. Compton, J. G. Ballard (god help me), R. A. Lafferty, PKD, Stanislaw Lem, Barry N. Malzberg (vale, sir), Greg Bear and Adam Roberts.

[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.

[basicallyanotherwitchesthing]

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

[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]

[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