I haven’t been reading science fiction lately. After years of gorging on the genre, I’ve suddenly had enough. I still have the urge to read SF, but I’m having trouble finding science fiction I want to read. I have quite a large TBR pile but none of its titles interest me. I’m in the mood for something different, but after reading thousands of science fiction novels and short stories, finding something different isn’t easy.
Has anyone read the Technic Civilization books by Poul Anderson? Yesterday, I was testing out a program to view old pulp magazines on my Mac and I randomly picked the August 1967 issue of Analog. It had a cover story for “Starfog” by Poul Anderson. I started reading it. I’ve only read a handful of Anderson’s novels and short stories and always avoided his book series. I avoid series books in general. I started reading “Starfog” and decided it was exactly something I’ve always avoided, so maybe it will be different.
But I wanted to hear the story. After some research on ISFDB.org, I discovered “Starfog” was included in Flandry’s Legacy, Book 7, the last volume of the Technic Civilization series. I only had three Audible credits left, but what the heck, I decided to give it a try. “Starfog” is a novella, but Book 7 includes three novels, three novellas, and one novelette of stories in the series. This could be a tremendous bargain if I like the series.
I’ll let you know what I think — hopefully soon. The other inspiration I had to find something different came from a YouTube video. Bookpilled had a moving account of discovering the books of Barry Malzberg just before he died. I have read a couple of Malzberg books and they were so-so. But he was very prolific and Bookpilled has convinced me I should give Malzberg another try. So I’m reading about his novels. I did have a few emails from Barry, and he recommended his horse racing novels and a couple science fiction novels. I’ve always found Barry’s books about science fiction more interesting. He was a sharp-tongue critic.
File 770 has a nice tribute to Barry, “Curmudgeonly Breakfast: A Farewells-And-Learn-More-About Barry Malzberg (Last) Round-Up” that links to tons of resources about him. I’m hoping out of all that I will find a SF novel by him to read, hopefully, one that’s available on Audible.
Maybe between Anderson and Malzberg, I’ll get back into science fiction. But things might be slow around here for a while. To be honest, I think the real world has gotten more science fictional than science fiction.
If you’ve read a science fiction story you feel is radically different from any science fiction you’ve read before, leave a comment below.
James Wallace Harris, 1/27/25
Classics of Science Fiction 
If you haven’t done so yet, take a look at Ted Chiang’s stories. He’s always interesting.
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Oh, I like Ted Chiang’s stories. I even got to meet him briefly years ago. His stories are so well crafted and unique.
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I read “Starfog” quite a long time ago, probably early 1970s. I remember liking it, but I was less critical at that age. Good luck.
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I’m writing my review today. Hope to get it out soon.
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The most interesting piece of SF I have read recently is Christopher Rowe’s “The Four Last Things” in THE BEST AMERICAN SCIENCE FICTION AND FANTASY 2024 (ed. Hugh Howey), originally in ASIMOV’S for Nov-Dec 2003. The author says it “grew out of my interests in the study of the end-times, eschatology, and in the work of the great mid-twentieth-century writer known as Cordwainer Smith. . . .” After I read it I felt like John W. Campbell must have felt between reading and rejecting Smith’s “Scanners Live in Vain”–largely bewildered, though JWC of course put it on Smith (“too extreme,” he said). But I’m also convinced that there’s something there worth grasping. So I will definitely reread it before the book goes on the shelf.
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I bought the audiobook of THE BEST AMERICAN SCIENCE FICTION AND FANTASY 2024 but haven’t listened to it yet. I’ll give Rowe’s story a try.
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Also: what’s the credit on the interesting illustration at the head of the column? Looks like Wallace Wood but I am not placing it.
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That is Wally Wood, but I don’t know from where. I just found it on the net and liked it.
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Inverted World by Christopher Priest may work for you as it is set in a different kind of reality.
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I have INVERTED WORLD as a Kindle edition, but I’ve been hoping it would show up as an Audible edition. I’ve seen references about it for decades. I guess I should go ahead and read it.
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The stories by Anderson in that series concerning Flandry and Falkayn are good if you take them slowly. The stories can be somewhat repetitive and Anderson has “tropes” that he repeats over and over. But fun reads if you pace it right.
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Anderson does a lot of philosophizing in “Starfog.” It’s a good hard science story, but it’s hurt by promoting too many ideas. Of course, the ideas are entertaining, but they slow the story, and they don’t help to make you like the characters.
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