Gotlieb, Phyllis (Fay Bloom) 1926-

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GOTLIEB, Phyllis (Fay Bloom) 1926-

PERSONAL: Born May 25, 1926, in Toronto, ON, Canada; daughter of Leo (a movie theater manager) and Mary (Kates) Bloom; married Calvin Gotlieb (a professor of computer science at the University of Toronto), children: Leo, Margaret, Jane. Education: University of Toronto, B.A., 1948, M.A., 1950. Religion: Jewish.

ADDRESSES: Home—19 Lower Village Gate, PH 06, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M5P 3L9.

CAREER: Writer.

MEMBER: League of Canadian Poets, Science Fiction Writers of America.

WRITINGS:

POETRY

Within the Zodiac, McClelland & Stewart (Toronto, Ontario, Canada), 1964.

Ordinary, Moving, Oxford University Press (Toronto, Ontario, Canada), 1969.

Doctor Umlaut's Earthly Kingdom, Calliope Press (Toronto, Ontario, Canada), 1978.

The Works (collected poems), Calliope Press (Toronto, Ontario, Canada), 1978.

Red Blood, Black Ink, White Paper: New and Selected Poems, 1961-2001, Exile Editions (Toronto, Ontario, Canada), 2002.

NOVELS

Sunburst (science fiction), Gold Medal Books (New York, NY), 1964, revised with introduction by Elizabeth A. Lynn, Gregg Press (Boston, MA), 1978.

Why Should I Have All the Grief?, Macmillan (New York, NY), 1969.

O Master Caliban! (science fiction), Harper (New York, NY), 1976.

A Judgment of Dragons (science fiction), Berkley Publishing (New York, NY), 1980.

Emperor, Swords, Pentacles (science fiction), Ace Books (New York, NY), 1981.

Heart of Red Iron, St. Martin's Press (New York, NY), 1989.

Blue Apes, Tesseract Books (Edmonton, Alberta, Canada), 1995.

Flesh and Gold, TOR/A Tom Doherty Associates Book (New York, NY), 1998.

Violent Stars, Tor (New York, NY), 1999.

Mindworlds, Tor (New York, NY), 2002.

Also author, with Glenn Chang and Mark J. McGarry, of The Edge of Space: Three Original Novellas of Science Fiction, edited and with an introduction by Robert Silverberg, Elsevier (New York, NY), 1979. Author of radio plays broadcast in Canada, England, and Australia. Contributor of poems to Tamarack Review, Canadian Forum, and Queen's Quarterly, and science fiction stories to Amazing, Fantastic, Fantasy and Science Fiction, Galaxy, Cosmos, and If.

SIDELIGHTS: Poet and science fiction author Phyllis Gotlieb has experimented with a variety of forms in her poetry, producing verse which is original and playful. "She writes like a witch torn between the fairy godmother magic of songs of child-innocence and wonder . . . and the fascination of playing with the deep down misery of the flesh," Mary Keyes wrote in Canadian Forum. In a review of Ordinary, Moving, Keyes found the book "about the old, and about grown-ups. . . . And finally and everywhere, about the children—their games, the rhymes and rhythms of their play . . . [which, in the title poem,] collect to themselves in the poet's genius-stricken arrangement an incredible welter of emotion." Yale Review contributor Louis L. Martz called Ordinary, Moving "one of the liveliest and most original volumes of poetry I have come across in several years. . . . [The title poem] becomes a celebration and lament for all the world's children, ourselves. I am not sure, after several readings, whether this poem is entirely successful, but it is an affecting and exciting experiment. This might be said of Mrs. Gotlieb's whole volume. However outrageous, however experimental, it is continuously good to read, with notably fine and nearly perfect poems scattered throughout."

According to Peter Gellatly of Library Journal, the book is filled with "bizarre, outrageous, and marvelous notions. . . . [Gotlieb is] making a considerable contribution to the look and sound of the new poetry." D. G. Jones, reviewing Ordinary, Moving for Canadian Literature, wrote, "Throughout [the book] we are reminded of poetry's roots in the play of language. . . .Still, we are reminded that. . .the hey-rube of carnivals and even the songs of children seem somehow to belong to an earlier and more innocent world of discourse. One doubts whether they can in fact raise the sun, bring the light." Finally, Daisy Aldan in Poetry described the book as "a circus of sparkling sounds, songs, memories, and new thoughts, masterfully mingled. . . .Portions of this book are like what the first stage after death might be as the soul leaves the body, and trails into the next phase of being."

Shifting gears with the publication of her breakthrough novel Sunburst in 1964 Gotlieb joined the ranks of first-rate science fiction authors. In his interview with Gotlieb for Maclean's, Brian Bethune noted "Sunburst also brought to the fore what would be Gotlieb's perennial theme over the next four decades-telepathy." Gotlieb offered, "I hope it's clear that telepathy in my writing is shorthand for understanding and communication." In addition to Sunburst, Gotlieb has written several novels, including the trilogy Flesh and Cold, Violent Stars, and Mindworlds, described by Library Journal reviewer Jackie Cassada as an "epic tale of galactic adventure, romance, and political intrigue." Among Gotlieb's short story publications is Blue Apes, with stories spanning nearly twenty years of her career. James Schellenberg on the Golden.net Web site remarked that "each story has an ornate quality that defies the expectations of genre fiction." He added that "Gotlieb is a superb writer of short stories, and her style generally functions with grace and wit in this form."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

BOOKS

Contemporary Literary Criticism, Volume 18, Gale (Detroit, MI), 1981.

PERIODICALS

Analog Science Fiction & Fact, May, 1998, Tom Easton, review of Flesh and Gold, p. 144; October, 1999, Tom Easton, review of Violent Stars, p. 132.

Booklist, January 1, 1998, John Mort, review of Flesh and Gold, p. 785; May 1, 2002, John Mort, review of MindWorlds, p. 1513.

Canadian Forum, January, 1970.

Canadian Literature, winter, 1965; summer, 1970.

Library Journal, March 15, 1970; May 15, 1999, Jackie Cassada, review of Violent Stars, p. 131; May 15, 2002, Jackie Cassada, review of MindWorlds p. 129.

Maclean's, May 20, 2002, p. 72.

New York Times Book Review, April 12, 1998, Gerald Jonas, review of Flesh and Gold, p. 20.

Poetry, April, 1971.

Publishers Weekly, February 3, 1989, Sybil Steinberg, review of Heart of Red Iron, p. 101; April 22, 2002, review of MindWorlds, p. 55.

Quill and Quire, January, 1977.

Saturday Night, May, 1969.

Time, January 19, 1998, review of Flesh and Gold, p. 48.

Yale Review, June, 1970.