5 ms·
This is an excellent article on a writer that more people need to know about.
by Djle 3y ago
This is an excellent article on a writer that more people need to know about.
- addaon 3y agoAgreed. By far the most influential writer in my life.
- bluepod4 3y agoCan you elaborate on this?
- germinalphrase 3y agoWhat would you recommend as a first read?
- daverol 3y agoBABEL-17
- addaon 3y ago"Time Considered as a Helix of Semi-Precious Stones." Short story, bootleg scan available online; I have no qualms telling people to start with that since they'll want to buy the rest of the collection soon enough. It's my favorite of his stories in a lot of ways. The characters are fun, every word (or at least every sentence) is essential to building the world, it has a very strong sense of place that's so common in his work.
- squidsoup 3y agoDhalgren is his masterpiece really, but it's not what you would describe as typical science fiction.
- addaon 3y agoI would /not/ suggest starting with Dhalgren. You will enjoy it more if you learn how to read Delany from his other works. Work through his super-accessible shorts, then Stars in my Pocket for an intro to theme and style, then Triton for an intro to disagreeable protagonists in his work. Then back to Babel-17 / Nova for use of language, and then -- if you enjoyed all of those -- on to Dhalgren for the first attempt.
- logicprog 3y agoAbsolutely Nova IMO, its amazing
- User23 3y agoJust know that if you support Delany you're supporting the sexual abuse of children. “I read the NAMBLA [Bulletin] fairly regularly and I think it is one of the most intelligent discussions of sexuality I’ve ever found. I think before you start judging what NAMBLA is about, expose yourself to it and see what it is really about. What the issues they are really talking about, and deal with what’s really there rather than this demonized notion of guys running about trying to screw little boys. I would have been so much happier as an adolescent if NAMBLA had been around when I was 9, 10, 11, 12, 13.” — Samuel R. Delany, June 25, 1994. There's certainly more to be found, and it gets considerably worse. He's not the only one in that era's sci fi author peer group either. Moira Greyland's account of her childhood with Marion Zimmer Bradley, her mother, is harrowing.
- FrustratedMonky 3y agoEquating someone that recommends some magazine, that then publishes a story about sex, to child sex abuse, is a bit of a stretch. Since you browsed HN, which had a link to an interview, with someone that read an article once about sex, does that make you a child sex abuser? A lot of sci-fi authors have 'weird sex' stories. Not only was it the sixties, they are sci-fi authors in the sixties, writing about alien sex and all kinds of out of the box thinking. I could just as easily say, don't vote Republican, they have a large percentage of sex abusers in office. Or, don't be Catholic.
- EatingWithForks 3y agoThis was a statement Samuel Delany had well over two decades ago. Additionally it's clear Samuel Delany was himself a victim of child sexual assault if you knew anything else about him.
- xrd 3y agoI had never heard of NAMBLA before. The wikipedia page is fascinating: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_American_Man/Boy_Love_Association https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_American_Man/Boy_Love_As... Allen Ginsberg was a member as well. Reading this article, it makes me recall all the pop songs from the 80s which had lyrics like "...she's only seventeen!" (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seventeen_(Winger_song) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seventeen_(Winger_song)). I don't think Winger was a member of NAMBLA.