Silverberg, Robert 1935–
Silverberg, Robert 1935–
(Gordon Aghill, a joint pseudonym, Robert Arnette, a house pseudonym, T.D. Bethlen, Alexander Blade, a house pseudonym, Ralph Burke, a joint pseudonym, Walker Chapman, Dirk Clinton, Roy Cook, Walter Drummond, Dan Eliot, Don Elliott, Richard Greer, a house pseudonym, Franklin Hamilton, Paul Hollander, E.K. Jarvis, a house pseudonym, Ivar Jorgenson, Warren Kastel, a house pseudonym, Calvin M. Knox, Dan Malcolm, Webber Martin, Alex Merriman, Clyde Mitchell, a house pseudonym, David Osborne, George Os-borne, Robert Randall, a joint pseudonym, Ellis Robertson, a joint pseudonym, Lloyd Robinson, Eric Rodman, Lee Sebastian, Leonard G. Spencer, a house pseudonym, S.M. Tenneshaw, a house pseudonym, Hall Thornton, Gerald Vance, a house pseudonym, Richard F. Watson)
PERSONAL: Born January 15, 1935, in New York, NY; son of Michael (an accountant) and Helen (Baim) Silverberg; married Barbara H. Brown (an engineer), August 26, 1956 (separated, 1976; divorced, 1986); married Karen L. Haber, 1987. Education: Columbia University, B.A., 1956.
ADDRESSES: Home—P.O. Box 13160, Station E, Oakland, CA 94661-0160. Agent—Ralph Vicinanza, 111 Eighth Ave., No. 1501, New York, NY 10011. E-mail—[email protected].
CAREER: Writer, 1956–; president, Agberg Ltd., 1981–.
MEMBER: Science Fiction Writers of America (president, 1967–68), Hydra Club (chair, 1958–61).
AWARDS, HONORS: Hugo Awards, World Science Fiction Convention, best new author, 1956, best novella, 1969, for Nightwings, best novella, 1987, for Gilgamesh in the Outback, and best novelette, 1990, for Enter a Soldier. Later: Enter Another; New York Times best hundred children's books citation, 1960, for Lost Race of Mars; Spring Book Festival Awards, New York Herald Tribune, 1962, for Lost Cities and Vanished Civilizations, and 1967, for The Auk, the Dodo, and the Oryx: Vanished and Vanishing Creatures; National Association of Independent Schools award, 1966, for The Old Ones: Indians of the American Southwest; Nebula Award nominations, Science Fiction Writers of America, best novel, 1967, for Thorns, best novella, 1967, for Hawksbill Station, best novella, 1968, for Nightwings, best novel, 1969, for Up the Line, best no vella, 1969, for To Jorslem, best novel, 1970, for Tower of Glass, best novel, 1972, for The Book of Skulls, best novel, 1972, for Dying Inside, best novel, 1975, for The Stochastic Man, best novel, 1976, for Shadrach in the Furnace, best short story, 1982, for "The Pope of Chimps," best novella, 1983, for Homefaring, best no vella, 1986, for Gilgamesh in the Outback, best novella, 1987, for The Secret Sharer, and best novelette, 1989, for Enter a Soldier. Later: Enter Another; Hugo Award nominations, best novel, 1968, for Thorns, best novella, 1968, for Hawksbill Station, best novel, 1970, for Up the Line, best short story, 1970, for "Passengers," best novella, 1970, for To Jorslem, best novel, 1971, for Tower of Glass, best short story, 1971, for "The World Outside," best novel, 1972, for A Time of Changes, best novel, 1972, for The World Inside, best novel, 1973, for The Book of Skulls, best novel, 1973, for Dying Inside, best short story, 1973, for "When We Went to See the End of the World," best novella, 1975, for Born with the Dead, best short story, 1975, for "Schwartz between Galaxies," best novel, 1976, for The Stochastic Man, best novel, 1977, for Shadrach in the Furnace, best novel, 1981, for Lord Valentine's Castle, best short story, 1981, for "Our Lady of the Sauropods," best no vella, 1986, for Sailing to Byzantium, best novella, 1988, for The Secret Sharer, best novella, 1993, for Thebes of the Hundred Gates, best short story, 1995, for "Via Roma," and best short story, 1996, for "Hot Times in Magma City"; Guest of Honor, World Science Fiction Convention, 1970; Nebula Awards, Science Fiction Writers of America, best short story, 1970, for "Passen gers," best short story, 1972, for "Good News from the Vatican," best novel, 1972, for A Time of Changes, best novella, 1975, for Born with the Dead, and best no vella, 1986, for Sailing to Byzantium; John W. Camp bell Memorial Award, 1973, for excellence in writing; Jupiter Award, best novella, 1973, for The Feast of St. Dionysus; Prix Apollo, novel, 1976, for Nightwings; Milford Award, 1981, for editing; Locus Awards, best fantasy novel, 1982, for Lord Valentine's Castle, and best anthology, 1999, for Legends: Short Novels by the Masters of Modern Fantasy.
WRITINGS:
SCIENCE FICTION
Master of Life and Death (also see below), Ace Books (New York, NY), 1957.
The Thirteenth Immortal (bound with This Fortress World by J.E. Gunn), Ace Books, 1957.
Invaders from Earth (bound with Across Time by D. Grinnell), Ace Books, 1958, published separately, Avon, 1968, published as We, the Marauders (bound with Giants in the Earth by James Blish under joint title A Pair in Space), Belmont (New York, NY), 1965.
Stepsons of Terra (bound with A Man Called Destiny by L. Wright), Ace Books, 1958, published separately, 1977.
The Planet Killers (bound with We Claim These Stars!) by Poul Anderson), Ace Books, 1959.
Collision Course, Avalon (New York, NY), 1961.
Next Stop the Stars (story collection) [and] The Seed of Earth (novel), Ace Books, 1962, published separately, 1977.
Recalled to Life, Lancer Books (New York, NY), 1962.
The Silent Invaders (bound with Battle on Venus by William F. Temple), Ace Books, 1963, published separately, 1973.
Godling, Go Home! (story collection), Belmont, 1964.
Conquerors from the Darkness, Holt (New York, NY), 1965.
To Worlds Beyond: Stories of Science Fiction, Chilton, 1965.
Needle in a Timestack (story collection), Ballantine (New York, NY), 1966, revised edition, Ace Books, 1985.
Planet of Death, Holt, 1967.
Thorns, Ballantine, 1967.
Those Who Watch, New American Library (New York, NY), 1967.
The Time-Hoppers, Doubleday (New York, NY), 1967.
To Open the Sky (story collection), Ballantine, 1967.
Hawksbill Station, Doubleday, 1968, published as The Anvil of Time, Sidgwick & Jackson (London), 1968.
The Masks of Time, Ballantine, 1968, published as Vornan-19, Sidgwick & Jackson, 1970.
Dimension Thirteen (story collection), Ballantine, 1969.
The Man in the Maze, Avon (New York, NY), 1969.
Nightwings, Avon, 1969.
(Contributor) Three for Tomorrow: Three Original Novellas of Science Fiction, Meredith Press, 1969.
Three Survived, Holt, 1969.
To Live Again, Doubleday, 1969.
Up the Line, Ballantine, 1969, revised edition, 1978.
The Cube Root of Uncertainty (story collection), Macmillan (New York, NY), 1970.
Downward to the Earth, Doubleday, 1970.
Parsecs and Parables: Ten Science Fiction Stories, Doubleday, 1970.
A Robert Silverberg Omnibus (contains Master of Life and Death, Invaders from Earth, and The Time-Hoppers), Sidgwick & Jackson, 1970.
Tower of Glass, Scribner (New York, NY), 1970.
Moonferns and Starsongs (story collection), Ballantine, 1971.
Son of Man, Ballantine, 1971.
A Time of Changes, New American Library, 1971.
The World Inside, Doubleday, 1971.
The Book of Skulls, Scribner, 1972.
Dying Inside, Scribner, 1972, recorded by the author, Caedmon, 1979.
The Reality Trip and Other Implausibilities (story collection), Ballantine, 1972.
The Second Trip, Doubleday, 1972.
(Contributor) The Day the Sun Stood Still, Thomas Nelson, 1972.
Earth's Other Shadow: Nine Science Fiction Stories, New American Library, 1973.
(Contributor) An Exaltation of Stars: Transcendental Adventures in Science Fiction (includes short story "The Feast of St. Dionysus"), edited by Terry Carr, Simon & Schuster, 1973.
(Contributor) No Mind of Man: Three Original Novellas of Science Fiction, Hawthorn, 1973.
Unfamiliar Territory (story collection), Scribner, 1973.
Valley beyond Time (story collection), Dell (New York, NY), 1973.
Born with the Dead: Three Novellas about the Spirit of Man, Random House, 1974.
Sundance and Other Science Fiction Stories, Thomas Nelson (Nashville), 1974.
The Feast of St. Dionysus: Five Science Fiction Stories, Scribner, 1975.
The Stochastic Man, Harper (New York, NY), 1975.
The Best of Robert Silverberg, Volume 1, Pocket Books (New York, NY), 1976, Volume 2, Gregg, 1978.
Capricorn Games (story collection), Random House, 1976.
Shadrach in the Furnace, Bobbs-Merrill (Indianapolis), 1976.
The Shores of Tomorrow (story collection), Thomas Nelson, 1976.
The Songs of Summer and Other Stories, Gollancz, 1979.
Lord Valentine's Castle, Harper, 1980.
The Desert of Stolen Dreams, Underwood-Miller, 1981.
A Robert Silverberg Omnibus (contains Downward to the Earth, The Man in the Maze, and Nightwings), Harper, 1981.
Majipoor Chronicles, Arbor House (New York, NY), 1982.
World of a Thousand Colors (story collection), Arbor House, 1982.
Valentine Pontifex (sequel to Lord Valentine's Castle), Arbor House, 1983.
The Conglomeroid Cocktail Party (story collection), Arbor House, 1984.
Sailing to Byzantium, Underwood-Miller, 1985.
Tom O'Bedlam, Donald I. Fine, 1985.
Beyond the Safe Zone: Collected Short Fiction of Robert Silverberg, Donald I. Fine, 1986.
Star of Gypsies, Donald I. Fine, 1986.
At Winter's End, Warner (New York, NY), 1988.
Born with the Dead (bound with The Saliva Tree by Brian W. Aldiss), Tor Books (New York, NY), 1988.
To the Land of the Living, Gollancz, 1989.
(With wife, Karen Haber) The Mutant Season, Foundation/Doubleday, 1989.
The New Springtime, Warner, 1990.
In Another Country: Vintage Season, Tor Books, 1990.
(With Isaac Asimov) Nightfall, Doubleday, 1990.
Time Gate II, Baen Books, 1990.
The Face of the Waters, Bantam, 1991.
(With Asimov) Child of Time, Gollancz, 1991.
(With Asimov) The Ugly Little Boy, Doubleday, 1992.
Thebes of the Hundred Gates, Pulphouse, 1992.
The Collected Stories of Robert Silverberg, Volume 1: Secret Sharers, Bantam, 1992, published in 2 volumes, Grafton (London), 1992.
(With Asimov) The Positronic Man, Doubleday, 1993.
Kingdoms of the Wall, Bantam, 1993.
Hot Sky at Midnight, Bantam, 1994.
The Mountains of Majipoor, Bantam, 1995.
Starborne, Bantam, 1996.
The Alien Years, HarperPrism, 1998.
Shadow on the Stars, Foxacre Press, 2000.
Cronos, I Books, 2001.
Longest Way Home, Gollancz, 2002.
Roma Eterna, Eos, 2003.
Also author of short story "Passengers," published in Orbit 4, edited by Damon Knight, 1969; of novella To Jorslem, published in the periodical Galaxy, February, 1969; of short story "The World Outside," published in Galaxy, October, 1970; of short story "Good News from the Vatican," published in Universe 1, edited by Terry Carr, 1971; of short story "When We Went to See the End of the World," published in Universe 2, edited by Terry Carr, 1972; of short story "Schwartz between the Galaxies," published in Stellar 1, edited by Judy Lynn del Rey, 1973; of short story "Our Lady of the Sauro-pods," published in the periodical Omni, September, 1980; of short story "The Pope of Chimps," published in Perpetual Light, edited by Alan Ryan, 1982; of novella Homefaring, published in the periodical Amazing Stories, November, 1983; of novella Gilgamesh in the Outback, published in the periodical Asimov's Science Fiction, July, 1986; of novella The Secret Sharer, pub-lished in Asimov's Science Fiction, September, 1987; of novella Enter a Soldier. Later: Enter Another, published in Asimov's Science Fiction, June, 1989; of short story "Via Roma," published in Asimov's Science Fiction, April, 1994; of short story "Hot Times in Magma City," published in Asimov's Science Fiction, December, 1995.
"LORD PRESTIMION" SERIES
Sorcerers of Majipoor, HarperPrism, 1996.
Lord Prestimion, HarperPrism, 1999.
King of Dreams, Eos (New York, NY), 2001.
JUVENILE FICTION
Revolt on Alpha C, Crowell, 1955.
Starman's Quest, Gnome Press, 1959.
Lost Race of Mars, Winston, 1960.
Regan's Planet, Pyramid Books, 1964, revised edition published as World's Fair, 1992, Follett, 1970.
Time of the Great Freeze, Holt, 1964.
The Mask of Akhnaten, Macmillan, 1965.
The Gate of Worlds, Holt, 1967.
The Calibrated Alligator and Other Science Fiction Stories, Holt, 1969.
Across a Billion Years, Dial, 1969.
Sunrise on Mercury and Other Science Fiction Stories, Thomas Nelson, 1975.
(Editor with Charles G. Waugh and Martin H. Green-berg) The Science Fictional Dinosaur, Avon, 1982.
Project Pendulum, Walker, 1987.
Letters from Atlantis, Macmillan, 1990.
CHAPBOOKS
Absolutely Inflexible, Alexandria Digital Entertainment, 1998.
Hunters in the Forest, Random House (London, England), 2001.
Seventh Shrine, Tor (New York, NY), 2004.
NONFICTION
First American into Space, Monarch, 1961.
Lost Cities and Vanished Civilizations, Chilton, 1962.
Empires in the Dust: Ancient Civilizations Brought to Light, Chilton, 1963.
The Fabulous Rockefellers: A Compelling, Personalized Account of One of America's First Families, Monarch Books, 1963.
Akhnaten: The Rebel Pharaoh, Chilton, 1964.
(Editor) Great Adventures in Archaeology, Dial, 1964.
Man before Adam: The Story of Man in Search of His Origins, Macrae Smith, 1964.
The Great Wall of China, Chilton, 1965, published as The Long Rampart: The Story of the Great Wall of China, 1966.
Scientists and Scoundrels: A Book of Hoaxes, Crowell, 1965.
Bridges, Macrae Smith, 1966.
Frontiers in Archaeology, Chilton, 1966.
The Auk, the Dodo, and the Oryx: Vanished and Vanishing Creatures, Crowell, 1967.
Light for the World: Edison and the Power Industry, Van Nostrand, 1967.
Men Against Time: Salvage Archaeology in the United States, Macmillan, 1967.
Mound Builders of Ancient America: The Archaeology of a Myth, New York Graphic Society, 1968.
The Challenge of Climate: Man and His Environment, Meredith Press, 1969.
The World of Space, Meredith Press, 1969.
If I Forget Thee, O Jerusalem: American Jews and the State of Israel, Morrow, 1970.
The Pueblo Revolt, Weybright & Talley, 1970.
Before the Sphinx: Early Egypt, Thomas Nelson, 1971.
Clocks for the Ages: How Scientists Date the Past, Macmillan, 1971.
To the Western Shore: Growth of the United States, 1776–1853, Doubleday, 1971.
The Longest Voyage: Circumnavigators in the Age of Discovery, Bobbs-Merrill, 1972.
The Realm of Prester John, Doubleday, 1972.
(Contributor) Those Who Can, New American Library, 1973.
Drug Themes in Science Fiction, National Institute on Drug Abuse, 1974.
(Contributor) Hell's Cartographers: Some Personal Histories of Science Fiction Writers, Harper, 1975.
JUVENILE NONFICTION
Treasures beneath the Sea, Whitman Publishing, 1960.
Fifteen Battles That Changed the World, Putnam, 1963.
Home of the Red Man: Indian North America before Columbus, New York Graphic Society, 1963.
Sunken History: The Story of Underwater Archaeology, Chilton, 1963.
The Great Doctors, Putnam, 1964.
The Man Who Found Nineveh: The Story of Austen Henry Layard, Holt, 1964.
Men Who Mastered the Atom, Putnam, 1965.
Niels Bohr: The Man Who Mapped the Atom, Macrae Smith, 1965.
The Old Ones: Indians of the American Southwest, New York Graphic Society, 1965.
Socrates, Putnam, 1965.
The World of Coral, Duell, 1965.
Forgotten by Time: A Book of Living Fossils, Crowell, 1966.
To the Rock of Darius: The Story of Henry Rawlinson, Holt, 1966.
The Adventures of Nat Palmer: Antarctic Explorer and Clipper Ship Pioneer, McGraw, 1967.
The Dawn of Medicine, Putnam, 1967.
The Morning of Mankind: Prehistoric Man in Europe, New York Graphic Society, 1967.
The World of the Rain Forest, Meredith Press, 1967.
Four Men Who Changed the Universe, Putnam, 1968.
Ghost Towns of the American West, Crowell, 1968.
Stormy Voyager: The Story of Charles Wilkes, Lippincott, 1968.
The World of the Ocean Depths, Meredith Press, 1968.
Bruce of the Blue Nile, Holt, 1969.
Vanishing Giants: The Story of the Sequoias, Simon & Schuster, 1969.
Wonders of Ancient Chinese Science, Hawthorn, 1969.
Mammoths, Mastodons, and Man, McGraw, 1970.
The Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, Crowell-Collier, 1970.
(With Arthur C. Clarke) Into Space: A Young Person's Guide to Space, Harper, revised edition, 1971.
John Muir: Prophet among the Glaciers, Putnam, 1972.
The World within the Ocean Wave, Weybright & Talley, 1972.
The World within the Tide Pool, Weybright & Talley, 1972.
EDITOR; SCIENCE FICTION
Earthmen and Strangers: Nine Stories of Science Fiction, Duell, 1966.
Voyagers in Time: Twelve Stories of Science Fiction, Meredith Press, 1967.
Men and Machines: Ten Stories of Science Fiction, Meredith Press, 1968.
Dark Stars, Ballantine, 1969.
Tomorrow's Worlds: Ten Stories of Science Fiction, Meredith Press, 1969.
The Ends of Time: Eight Stories of Science Fiction, Hawthorn, 1970.
Great Short Novels of Science Fiction, Ballantine, 1970.
The Mirror of Infinity: A Critics' Anthology of Science Fiction, Harper, 1970.
The Science Fiction Hall of Fame, Doubleday, Volume 1, 1970, published in two volumes, Sphere (London), 1972.
Worlds of Maybe: Seven Stories of Science Fiction, Thomas Nelson, 1970.
1977–78 Alpha, Volumes 1-6, Ballantine, Volumes 7-9, Berkley.
Four Futures, Hawthorn, 1971.
Mind to Mind: Nine Stories of Science Fiction, Thomas Nelson, 1971.
The Science Fiction Bestiary: Nine Stories of Science Fiction, Thomas Nelson, 1971.
To the Stars: Eight Stories of Science Fiction, Hawthorn, 1971.
Beyond Control: Seven Stories of Science Fiction, Thomas Nelson, 1972.
Invaders from Space: Ten Stories of Science Fiction, Hawthorn, 1972.
Chains of the Sea: Three Original Novellas of Science Fiction, Thomas Nelson, 1973.
Deep Space: Eight Stories of Science Fiction, Thomas Nelson, 1973.
Other Dimensions: Ten Stories of Science Fiction, Hawthorn, 1973.
Three Trips in Time and Space, Hawthorn, 1973.
Infinite Jests: The Lighter Side of Science Fiction, Chilton, 1974.
Mutants: Eleven Stories of Science Fiction, Thomas Nelson, 1974.
Threads of Time: Three Original Novellas of Science Fiction, Thomas Nelson, 1974.
Windows into Tomorrow: Nine Stories of Science Fiction, Hawthorn, 1974.
(With Roger Elwood) Epoch, Berkley, 1975.
Explorers of Space: Eight Stories of Science Fiction, Thomas Nelson, 1975.
The New Atlantis and Other Novellas of Science Fiction, Warner Books, 1975.
Strange Gifts: Eight Stories of Science Fiction, Thomas Nelson, 1975.
The Aliens: Seven Stories of Science Fiction, Thomas Nelson, 1976.
The Crystal Ship: Three Original Novellas of Science Fiction, Thomas Nelson, 1976.
Earth Is the Strangest Planet: Ten Stories of Science Fiction, Thomas Nelson, 1977.
Galactic Dreamers: Science Fiction as Visionary Literature, Random House, 1977.
The Infinite Web: Eight Stories of Science Fiction, Dial, 1977.
Triax: Three Original Novellas, Pinnacle, 1977.
Trips in Time: Nine Stories of Science Fiction, Thomas Nelson, 1977.
Lost Worlds, Unknown Horizons: Nine Stories of Science Fiction, Thomas Nelson, 1978.
The Androids Are Coming: Seven Stories of Science Fiction, Elsevier-Nelson, 1979.
(With Greenberg and Joseph D. Olander) Car Sinister, Avon, 1979.
(With Greenberg and Olander) Dawn of Time: Prehistory through Science Fiction, Elsevier-Nelson, 1979.
The Edge of Space: Three Original Novellas of Science Fiction, Elsevier-Nelson, 1979.
(With Greenberg) The Arbor House Treasury of Great Science Fiction Short Novels, Arbor House, 1980.
(With Greenberg) The Arbor House Treasury of Modern Science Fiction, Arbor House, 1980.
Randall Garrett, The Best of Randall Garrett, Pocket Books, 1982.
The Nebula Awards, Arbor House, 1983.
(With Greenberg) The Arbor House Treasury of Science Fiction Masterpieces, Arbor House, 1983.
(With Greenberg) The Fantasy Hall of Fame, Arbor House, 1983.
(With Greenberg) The Time Travelers: A Science Fiction Quartet, Donald I. Fine, 1985.
(With Greenberg) Neanderthals, New American Library, 1987.
Robert Silverberg's Worlds of Wonder, Warner, 1987.
(With Greenberg) The Mammoth Book of Fantasy All-Time Greats, Robinson, 1988.
Worlds Imagined: Fifteen Short Stories, Crown, 1989.
(With Haber) Universe 1, Foundation/Doubleday, 1990.
(With Haber) Universe 2, Bantam Books, 1992.
Alfred Bester, Virtual Unrealities: The Short Fiction of Alfred Bester, Vintage, 1997.
Legends: Short Novels by the Masters of Modern Fantasy, Tor Books, 1997.
A Century of Fantasy, 1980–1989, MJF Books, 1997.
A Century of Science Fiction, 1950–1959, MJF Books, 1997.
Far Horizons: All New Tales from the Greatest Worlds of Science Fiction, Avon Eos, 1999.
EDITOR; "NEW DIMENSIONS" SERIES
1980–81 New Dimensions, Volumes 1-5, Doubleday, Volumes 6-10, Harper, (with Marta Randall) Volumes 11-12, Pocket Books.
The Best of New Dimensions, Pocket Books, 1979.
UNDER PSEUDONYM WALKER CHAPMAN
The Loneliest Continent: The Story of Antarctic Discovery, New York Graphic Society, 1964.
(Editor) Antarctic Conquest: The Great Explorers in Their Own Words, Bobbs-Merrill, 1966.
Kublai Khan: Lord of Xanadu, Bobbs-Merrill, 1966.
The Golden Dream: Seekers of El Dorado, Bobbs-Merrill 1967, published as The Search for El Dorado, 1967.
UNDER PSEUDONYM DON ELLIOTT
Flesh Peddlers, Nightstand, 1960.
Passion Trap, Nightstand, 1960.
Backstage Sinner, Nightstand, 1961.
Lust Goddess, Nightstand, 1961.
Sin Cruise, Nightstand, 1961.
Kept Man, Midnight, 1962.
Shame House, Midnight, 1962.
Sin Hellion, Ember, 1963.
Sin Servant, Nightstand, 1963.
Beatnik Wanton, Evening, 1964.
Flesh Bride, Evening, 1964.
Flesh Prize, Leisure, 1964.
Flesh Taker, Ember, 1964.
Sin Warped, Leisure, 1964.
Switch Trap, Evening, 1964.
Nudie Packet, Idle Hour, 1965.
The Young Wanton, Sundown, 1965.
Depravity Town, Reed, 1973.
Jungle Street, Reed, 1973.
Summertime Affair, Reed, 1973.
Also author of eighty other novels, 1959–65, under pseudonyms Dan Eliot and Don Elliott.
OTHER
(With Randall Garrett, under joint pseudonym Robert Randall) The Shrouded Planet, Gnome Press, 1957, published under names Robert Silverberg and Randall Garrett, Donning, 1980.
(Under pseudonym Calvin M. Knox) Lest We Forget Thee, Earth, Ace Books, 1958.
(Under pseudonym David Osborne) Aliens from Space, Avalon, 1958.
(Under pseudonym Ivar Jorgenson) Starhaven, Avalon, 1958.
(Under pseudonym David Osborne) Invisible Barriers, Avalon, 1958.
(With Randall Garrett, under joint pseudonym Robert Randall) The Dawning Light, Gnome Press, 1959, published under names Robert Silverberg and Randall Garrett, Donning, 1981.
(Under pseudonym Calvin M. Knox) The Plot against Earth, Ace Books, 1959.
(Under pseudonym Walter Drummond) Philosopher of Evil, Regency Books, 1962.
(Under pseudonym Walter Drummond) How to Spend Money, Regency Books, 1963.
(Under pseudonym Franklin Hamilton) 1066, Dial, 1963.
(Under pseudonym Calvin M. Knox) One of Our Asteroids Is Missing, Ace Books, 1964.
(Under pseudonym Paul Hollander) The Labors of Hercules, Putnam, 1965.
(Under pseudonym Franklin Hamilton) The Crusades, Dial, 1965.
(Under pseudonym Lloyd Robinson) The Hopefuls: Ten Presidential Candidates, Doubleday, 1966.
(Under pseudonym Roy Cook) Leaders of Labor, Lippincott, 1966.
(Under pseudonym Lee Sebastian) Rivers, Holt, 1966.
(Under pseudonym Franklin Hamilton) Challenge for a Throne: The Wars of the Roses, Dial, 1967.
(Under pseudonym Lloyd Robinson) The Stolen Election: Hayes versus Tilden, Doubleday, 1968.
(Under pseudonym Paul Hollander) Sam Houston, Putnam, 1968.
(Under pseudonym Lee Sebastian) The South Pole, Holt, 1968.
Robert Silverberg Reads "To See the Invisible Man" and "Passengers" (recording), Pelican Records, 1979.
Lord of Darkness (fiction), Arbor House, 1983.
Gilgamesh the King (fiction), Arbor House, 1984.
Reflections and Refractions: Thoughts on Science-Fiction, Science, and Other Matters, Underwood Books (Grass Valley, CA), 1997.
Contributor, sometimes under pseudonyms, to Omni, Playboy, Amazing Stories Science Fiction, Fantastic Stories Science Fiction, Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, and other publications.
SIDELIGHTS: Robert Silverberg is among the best-known contemporary science-fiction writers in the United States. A prolific author, he has won the field's prestigious Nebula and Hugo awards and has received more award nominations for his work than any other writer in the genre. Interestingly, despite his prominence in the field, Silverberg's science fiction makes up only a portion of his total production—indeed, he has even left the field entirely to work in other genres on two separate occasions. Much of Silverberg's work has been nonfiction, reflecting his interests in such varied topics as archaeology, conservation, history, and the natural sciences. He has received awards for several of these nonfiction books, while his Mound Builders of Ancient America: The Archaeology of a Myth has been hailed as one of the standard works on the subject. Still, this considerable success in the nonfiction field is overshadowed by his continuing popularity among science-fiction fans. As George R.R. Martin, writing in the Washington Post Book World, admits, Silverberg "is best known and best regarded for his work within science fiction."
Silverberg began his writing career while still a student at Columbia University in the 1950s. He had decided to become a science-fiction writer because of his own reaction to the genre as a boy. He told Jeffrey M. Elliot in Science Fiction Voices #2: "When I was a boy, I read science fiction and it did wonderful things for me. It opened the universe to me. I feel a sense of obligation to science fiction to replace what I had taken from it, to add to the shelf, to put something there for someone else that would do for them what other writers had done for me." Silverberg's first sales were to the science fiction magazines of the 1950s, and his first book, Revolt on Alpha C (1955), was a juvenile science-fiction novel. Upon graduation from Columbia in 1956, he became a full-time freelance writer. His work was already so popular that the World Science Fiction Convention, a gathering of the genre's devotees, voted him the Hugo Award as the best new writer of 1955. At the time, Silverberg was only twenty years old.
During the 1950s Silverberg produced hundreds of stories for the science fiction magazines. His production was so voluminous that he was obliged to publish much of this work under a host of pseudonyms. Silverberg recalled that time to Charles Platt in Dream Makers: The Uncommon People Who Write Science Fiction: "I was courted by editors considerably back then, because I was so dependable; if they said, 'Give me a story by next Thursday,' I would." George W. Tuma characterizes these early stories in the Dictionary of Literary Biography as "conforming] closely to the conventions of science fiction: alien beings, technological gadgetry, standard plot devices, confrontations between [Earth-lings] and extraterrestrial beings, and so forth."
In 1959 a downturn in sales forced many science-fiction magazines out of business. No longer able to support himself by writing for the genre—and somewhat disil-lusioned by the formulaic nature of the work desired by publishers—Silverberg instead turned to writing articles for popular magazines, maintaining his high level of production by turning out two pieces every working day. By the early 1960s he began writing juvenile non-fiction, a career transition he once recalled with some relief to CA. "I severed my connections with my sleazy magazine outlets and ascended into this new, astoundingly respectable and rewarding career," he explained. In a few years Silverberg established himself as one of the most successful nonfiction writers in the country, publishing books about Antarctica, ancient Egypt, the U.S. space program, medical history, and a host of other topics for young readers. "I was considered one of the most skilled popularizers of the sciences in the United States," the author remembered.
During the 1960s Silverberg maintained a rapid writing pace, publishing nearly two million words per year, not only juvenile nonfiction works but science-fiction novels, such as the highly praised Collision Course, 1963's The Silent Invaders, sci-fi short stories, and rewrites of many of his earlier novels. He told Elliot that he managed to write prolifically due to intense concentration. "I concentrated on a point source and the words just came out right," the author recalled. Barry M. Malzberg in the Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction allows that "the man is prolific. Indeed, the man may be, in terms of accumulation of work per working year, the most prolific writer who ever lived."
However, the years of prolific writing finally ended in the mid-1960s. Silverberg later cited two factors for the slowdown in his production at that time. The first was a hyperactive thyroid gland, brought on by prolonged overwork, which forced him in 1966 to slow his working pace considerably. The second factor was a fire in early 1968 at Silverberg's New York City home. This fire, he once told CA, "drained from me, evidently forever, much of the bizarre energy that had allowed me to write a dozen or more significant books in a single year."
Despite the drop in production, the late 1960s found the author embarking on more experimental science-fiction writing. In fact, it is the work from this period that most observers credit as the beginning of his serious fiction in the genre. Thomas D. Clareson, although noting in his book Robert Silverberg that "from the beginning, he was a skilled storyteller," marked 1969 to 1976 the period when Silverberg "conducted his most deliberate experiments and attained the most consistent command of his material." Malzberg claimed that "in or around 1965 Silverberg put his toys away and began to write literature."1967's Thorns has been cited as the author's transitional work through its focus on not only the physical universe, but the inner, psychic universe as reflected by philosophical, psychological, and social elements. In the novel, human protagonist Minner Burris has been physically altered to conform to beings on the planet Manipol. On Manipol, while now accepted for his appearance, Burris is emotionally isolated from native Manipolians due to his social, cultural, and psychological differences. Eventually returning to Earth, he finds himself rejected due to his unusual appearance. Burris's resulting alienation from human society is contrasted with that of other characters, whose circumstances have set them apart while their inner natures continue to need the contact of fellow humans.
In part, the change in Silverberg's science fiction of the late 1960s reflected shifts in the field as a whole. The New Wave, a movement of writers (including Silver-berg) trying to break out of the pulp formulas of science fiction and utilize the techniques of modernist literature, had a powerful influence on many writers in the field. New subjects and approaches were suddenly suitable for commercial science fiction. Referring to such novels as Nightwings (1969) and Hawksbill Station (1968), in an article in the New York Times Book Review, Theodore Sturgeon maintains that Silverberg "changed into something quite new and different—his own man, saying his own things his own way, and doing it with richness and diversity." Tuma also saw a transformation in Silverberg's work, stating that the author finally "found his unique approach to science fiction, in terms of both content and writing style." And Russell Letson, writing in Extrapolation, found Silver-berg's fiction "pursued the modernist themes of anxiety and alienation" while he "shaped science fiction materials to deal with themes that were not previously part of the American sf mainstream." Speaking of the novels Thorns and Hawksbill Station, as well as of the story "To See the Invisible Man," Stableford sees Silverberg as using "science fictional ideas to dramatize situations of extreme alienation."
As Silverberg sought to extend the range of science fiction his experiments with style and narrative structure continued into the 1970s. "Having already proved that he could write every kind of s.f. story at least as well as anyone else," Gerald Jonas comments in the New York Times Book Review, "Silverberg set out … to stretch both the genre and himself." In 1971's Son of Man, for example, Silverberg writes of a series of bizarre adventure sequences set on "not the physical planet Earth but the Earth of human perception—the model world of the mind," as Stableford relates. Clay, the novel's aptly named protagonist, time-shifts to the future, where he meets several species of humanoids that have evolved in differing directions. In this future world, communication between beings involves sexual contact, and Clay eventually experiences unity and transcendence through understanding the heightened significance of physical union. Sandra Miesel, writing in Extrapolation, calls Son of Man a "sensuous, didactic, and witty novel" in which "the dream fantasy is stretched to the breaking point."
Despite the fact that his new approach in his work put Silverberg in the forefront of the science fiction field—"By the 1970s Silverberg was writing science fiction much as such of his contemporaries as Barth, Reed, Bartheleme, and Coover were presenting their renditions of everyday American life," Clareson would write in Voices for the Future: Essays on Major Science-Fiction Writers—Silverberg was dissatisfied with the response to his work. His books won awards, but their sales were poor and they often met with uninformed critical comments from science fiction purists. "I was at first bewildered by the response I was getting from the audience," Silverberg told Platt. "There are passages in Dying Inside or in Nightwings which I think are sheer ecstatic song, but people would come up to me and say, Why do you write such depressing books? Something was wrong." By 1975 all of Silverberg's more serious books, upon which he had placed such importance, were out of print. At that point he announced his retirement from science fiction.
For the next four years Silverberg wrote no new science fiction. Instead, he devoted his time to the garden of his California home. "I had had my career," the author once recalled to CA. "Now I had my garden." But in 1978 he was pushed back into the field after he and his first wife separated and she required a house of her own. To raise the necessary money, Silverberg decided to write "one last book." The result, Lord Valentine's Castle, was a massive novel that set a record (for its time) when it was offered to publishers at auction. Harper & Row paid the largest sum ever given for a science fiction novel, $127,500. Silverberg was a writer again.
In Lord Valentine's Castle Silverberg mixes elements from science fiction and heroic fantasy. The science fiction elements include a far future setting, the imaginary planet of Majipoor, and a host of exotic alien life forms. However, the plot is common to the fantasy genre. It involves a quest by the exiled prince of a distant planet to regain the throne of Majipoor, right the ancient wrong of dispossession committed against the planet's original inhabitants, the primitive Metamorph peoples, and rejuvenate his own self-confidence. The clever combination of genre elements was praised by Jack Sullivan in the New York Times Book Review. Sullivan describes Lord Valentine's Castle as "an imaginative fusion of action, sorcery and science fiction, with visionary adventure scenes undergirded by scientific explanations." In his book Robert Silverberg, Clareson states that "whatever else it does, Lord Valentine's Castle demands that its readers re-examine the relationship between science fiction and fantasy, for in this narrative Silverberg has fused the two together."
The rich diversity of the planet Majipoor was remarked upon by several reviewers, including Patrick Parrinder of the Times Literary Supplement. "Silverberg's invention," Parrinder writes, "is prodigious throughout. The early sections … are a near-encyclopaedia of unnatural wonders and weird ecosystems. I suspect this book breaks all records in the coinage of new species." John Charnay of the Los Angeles Times Book Review, although believing the book "lacks depth of dialogue and emotion to match the grandeur of scenery and plot," still finds that "Silverberg's inventiveness is intriguing."
The success of Lord Valentine's Castle drew Silverberg back into the writing life. He began to write stories for Omni magazine, where several old friends were working. In 1982 he published Majipoor Chronicles, a novel fashioned from several short stories set on the planet introduced in Lord Valentine's Castle. Each story is an episode from Majipoor's history, which has been stored on an experience-record. By using a futuristic reading machine, a young boy is able to relive these historical events. "As a result," Michael Bishop comments in the Washington Post Book World, "the stories become something more than stories—vivid initiation experiences in the boy's struggle to manhood. A neat trick, this." Sturgeon, in his review of the book for the Los Angeles Times Book Review, expresses "absolute awe at Silverberg's capacity for creating images—wonder upon wonder, marvel upon marvel, all with verisimilitude…. This is a beautiful book."
With the novel Valentine Pontifex, Silverberg did what he had once vowed he would never do: write a sequel to Lord Valentine's Castle. Colin Greenland, of the Times Literary Supplement, who had maintained that Lord Valentine's Castle was a weak novel that "satisfied readers' wishes for a great big safe world where nice things flourish and evil succumbs to forgiveness," saw Silver-berg's sequel as an "act of conscience for Lord Valentine's Castle." In Valentine Pontifex, Lord Valentine, now restored to his position as ruler of Majipoor, faces opposition from the Piurivars, an aboriginal race dispossessed years before by Earthling colonists. The Piurivars release plagues and deadly bio-engineered creatures upon the humans. Finding that "the lazy pace through time and space" found in Lord Valentine's Castle gives way in this novel "to a dance of conflicting emotions and political intrigue," a reviewer for the Voice Literary Supplement regards Lord Valentine's Castle, Majipoor Chronicles, and Valentine Pontifex as related works forming a loose trilogy that "becomes a whole in a way that the form rarely achieves."
Silverberg continued the Majipoor series with The Mountains of Majipoor, Sorcerers of Majipoor, and Lord Prestimion. The Mountains of Majipoor "is a modest story," recounted Roland Green in Booklist, "but the marvelously well realized world of Majipoor and Sil-verberg's graceful prose carry it along in a fashion that most lovers of Majipoor will find highly satisfying." Lord Prestimion, published in 1999, was also well received by critics. Jackie Cassada in Library Journal writes: "Silverberg excels at balancing strong characters and complex plotting to achieve a rare example of epic fantasy told with a scientist's eye for detail."
In the years since his return from self-imposed "early retirement," Silverberg has continued his work in the genre with both novels and short stories that expand upon his view of future worlds. Among those are 1988's At Winter's End, the following year's To the Land of the Living, and Kingdoms of the Wall, which Silverberg published in 1993. Compared by one reviewer to the works of nineteenth-century fantasy writer Lord Dunsany, Kingdoms of the Wall follows the pilgrimage of a group of young alien beings to the summit of a daunting mountain range called Kosa Saag, or "the Wall." The purpose of the pilgrimage was to learn from the gods who live at that great height. Traditionally, few pilgrims ever returned from this annual trip, and none had ever returned sane. On the way, the group passes through numerous "worlds" at different levels of the mountains' ascent, at one point coming across a space traveler, an "Irtiman" (Earthman), who has been stranded on their planet. He is weak from hunger and eventually dies. Finally, nearing the summit, the surviving members of the group are tempted to end their quest when they discover a land of magic where they can remain perpetually young. Analog reviewer Tom Easton views Silverberg's tale as social allegory: "He is … hinting that those who persevere despite all the pressures upon them to conform do not find the satisfaction they crave. In fact, if they ever reach the goal of their quest, they are crashingly disillusioned." In contrast, New York Times Book Review critic Gerald Jonas viewed the work as a religious parable "about the dangers of seeking more intimate contact with the powers that control the universe." Disregarding the novel's social or spiritual implications, Paul Di-Filippo lauded Kingdoms of the Wall in his Washington Post Book World review "for its first two-thirds, pure witchery, a Bosch-like canvas of strange creatures and places…. Kingdoms of the Wall proves once more, if it needed proving, that scaling and comprehending Robert Silverberg is just as exciting as tackling Kosa Saag."
Many of Silverberg's works have been supplemented in bookstores by reprints and limited editions of earlier, often unpublished works. In addition, several collections have drawn together some of his best short fiction from the 1970s and 1980s. The Conglomeroid Cocktail Party, released in 1984, collects several short stories from the early 1980s that a Sci-Fi Review critic termed "very slick, very polished, and often [focusing on] substantial matters, but at the same time … perfunctory." However, Stan Gebler Davies disagrees in Punch, praising Silverberg's ability to portray time travel realistically. Citing included works, such as "Needles in a Timestack" and "Jennifer's Lover," Davies notes that "Silverberg is hooked on time-travel and comes as near as any writer to getting away with it." Also with the publication of the first part of The Collected Stories of Robert Silverberg in 1992, Silverberg devotees were able to sample twenty-four of his most critically acclaimed short stories of the 1980s. In addition to the novella Sailing to Byzantium, winner of the Nebula Award, and Enter a Soldier. Later: Enter Another, a Hugo winner, are lesser-known but equally well-written works, each prefaced by the author's own introduction, which puts the story into the context of the author's total oeuvre. "The end result," notes Gary K. Wolfe in Locus, "is not only a good lesson in craft and style, but a clear picture of a highly professional writer who knows exactly what he's doing—even when he plays it safe." James Sallis agrees in a Los Angeles Times Book Review piece. He comments that "This man who speaks so insistently of simple craftsmanship again and again delivers, surreptitiously and a little abashedly, it seems, a rare kind of art."
Over a writing career spanning several decades, Silver-berg has produced an immense body of original fiction in several genres, authored numerous nonfiction works, and edited several highly praised collections, such as 1992's shared-world anthology titles Murasaki, featuring work by writers Frederik Pohl, Nancy Kress, and Pohl Anderson. Commenting on Silverberg's diversity, Martin reflects that "few writers, past or present, have had careers quite as varied, dramatic, and contradictory as that of Robert Silverberg." As a writer of nonfiction, Silverberg has enjoyed success, but as a writer of science fiction, he is among a handful of writers who have helped to shape the field into what it is today. He is, Elliot declares, "a titan in the science fiction field." "Few science fiction readers," Elliot continues, "have not been enriched and inspired by his contributions to the genre, contributions which reflect his love of the field and his deep respect for its readers." Silverberg's contributions to the field, Clareson writes in the Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, are of predictably high quality: "He will tell a good story, he will fuse together content and form, and he will add to our perception of the human condition."
In his introduction to Galactic Dreamers: Science Fiction as Visionary Literature, Silverberg explains what he has been striving to attain in his work: "To show the reader something he has never been able to see with his own eyes, something strange and unique, beautiful and troubling, which draws him for a moment out of himself, places him in contact with the vastness of the universe, gives him for a sizzling moment a communion with the fabric of space and time, and leaves him forever transformed, forever enlarged."
BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:
BOOKS
Aldiss, Brian, and Harry Harrison, editors, Hell's Cartographers: Some Personal Histories of Science-Fiction Writers, Harper, 1975.
Chapman, Edgar L., The Road to Castle Mount: The Science Fiction of Robert Silverberg, Greenwood Press, 1999.
Children's Literature Review, Volume 59, Thomson Gale (Detroit), 2000.
Clareson, Thomas D., editor, Voices for the Future: Essays on Major Science Fiction Writers, Volume 2, Bowling Green State University Popular Press, 1979.
Clareson, Thomas D., Robert Silverberg, Starmont House, 1983.
Clareson, Thomas D., Robert Silverberg: A Primary and Secondary Bibliography, G.K. Hall, 1983.
Contemporary Literary Criticism, Volume 7, Thomson Gale, 1977.
Dictionary of Literary Biography, Volume 8: Twentieth-Century American Science Fiction Writers, Thomson Gale, 1981.
Elliot, Jeffrey M., Science Fiction Voices #2, Borgo Press, 1979.
Magill, Frank N., editor, Survey of Science Fiction, Salem Press, 1979.
Platt, Charles, Dream Makers: The Uncommon People Who Write Science Fiction, Berkley, 1980.
Rabkin, Eric S., and others, editors, No Place Else, Southern Illinois University Press, 1983.
Schweitzer, Darrell, editor, Exploring Fantasy Worlds: Essays on Fantastic Literature, Borgo Press, 1985.
Silverberg, Robert, editor, Galactic Dreamers: Science Fiction as Visionary Literature, Random House, 1977.
Stableford, Brian M., Masters of Science Fiction, Borgo Press, 1981.
Staircar, Tom, editor, Critical Encounters II, Ungar, 1982.
Walker, Paul, Speaking of Science Fiction: The Paul Walker Interviews, Luna Press, 1978.
PERIODICALS
Analog Science Fiction/Science Fact, November, 1979; December, 1990; August, 1993, p. 162; July, 1994, p. 306.
Atlantic, April, 1972.
Booklist, September 1, 1992; February 1, 1995, p. 993; May 15, 1996, p. 1573; April 1, 1997, p. 1277; August, 1998, p. 1924; May 15, 1999, p. 1676.
Essays in Arts and Sciences, August, 1980.
Extrapolation, summer, 1979; winter, 1980; winter, 1982.
Fantasy Newsletter, June-July, 1983.
Library Journal, June 15, 1997, p. 101; August, 1998, p. 139; August, 1999, p. 147.
Locus, March, 1992, p. 60; April, 1992, p. 15; October, 1992, p. 33; January, 1993, pp. 22-23; February, 1994, p. 27.
Los Angeles Times Book Review, May 18, 1980; April 18, 1986; September 13, 1987; January 10, 1993.
Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, April, 1971; April, 1974; May, 1988.
Megavore, March, 1981.
National Review, November 3, 1970.
New Statesman, June 18, 1976.
New York Times Book Review, May 9, 1965; November 3, 1968; March 5, 1972; August 24, 1975; August 3, 1980; August 4, 1985; November 23, 1986; July 24, 1988; December 31, 1989; May 13, 1990; De-cember 9, 1990; May 3, 1992, p. 38; March 14, 1993; November 14, 1993; March 13, 1994 p. 30; June 30, 1996, p. 28.
Publishers Weekly, December 20, 1993, p. 54; January 16, 1995, p. 444; May 27, 1996, p. 69; January 27, 1997, p. 86; June 16, 1997, p. 49; June 29, 1998, p. 40; September 21, 1998, p. 78; April 12, 1999, p. 58; July 26, 1999, p. 68.
Punch, March 6, 1985, p. 54.
Rapport, Volume 18, number 2, 1994, p. 19.
Science Fiction: A Review of Speculative Literature, September, 1983.
Science Fiction Chronicle, January, 1985; May, 1985.
Sci-Fi Review, February, 1985, pp. 51-52.
Starship, November, 1982.
Times (London), November 19, 1988; August 2, 1990.
Times Literary Supplement, June 12, 1969; March 15, 1974; November 7, 1980; August 3, 1984; January 2, 1987.
Tribune Books (Chicago), December 30, 1990.
Voice Literary Supplement, December, 1983.
Voice of Youth Advocates, August, 1993, pp. 170-171; June, 1993, p. 104.
Washington Post Book World, February 28, 1982; May 8, 1983; September 28, 1986; September 27, 1987; May 27, 1990; March 28, 1993, p. 9.
Writer, November, 1977.