Driftglass Author:Samuel R. Delany In 10 short stories, including two Nebula Award winners, Samuel R. Delany gives an unforgettable demonstration of the thought-provoking vision and enormous talent that have distinguished all his works. Ranging from Earth to the remote corners of the galaxy, they are stories that offer a thrilling diversity of mind-stretching reading. — Among the... more » works in this collection, you'll find:
CAGE OF BRASS -- Brass is the most dreaded penitentiary in the universe. Doomed to eternal solitary confinement, all prisoners are stored in coffins that feed and wash them, minister to any medical needs and keep them from hurting themselves... too badly. Yet, through a kind of whispering chamber effect, three inmates find that they can communicate with each other. In the darkness each tells his own story, and when the newest prisoner, an architectural student, reveals that he once saw the prison's plans, they prepare to attempt what no one has ever dared try before -- escape!
DRIFTGLASS -- Undersea cities, herds of whales and other marvels were once a part of Cal Svenson's life. While still a boy he underwent the operations which gave him gills and made him an amphiman. But while working on a project for the Aquatic Corps, he was horribly injured in an undersea accident that forced him to retire to the land. Now, after 18 years, the Corps has decided to resume the project that nearly destroyed him. In a moving account of inner conflict, Cal must make the bitter decision to aid the young amphiman whose success can only serve to highlight his own disastrous failure.
THE STAR PIT -- At 25,000 light years off the galactic rim, a strange barrier causes madness and death in all humans but the goldens, genetic freaks whose ability to reach other galaxies has made them an elite class of cosmic nomads. From this fascinating premise, the author builds a story filled with the wonder of discovery... and the frustration of the ordinary men for whom the universe has set irrevocable limits.
CORONA -- Of the three proven telepaths so far discovered, a nine-year-old girl named Lee is the most powerful. Her mind has tuned in on people all over the world and once she even received thoughts from a man on Mars. Yet for Lee the "gift" of telepathy is a curse and she finds herself assailed by a stream of frequently painful thoughts which she has no power to shut off!
Six other stories are included in this collection. Each is a perfect example of the striking originality and craftsmanship that have earned Samuel R. Delany recognition as one of science fiction's most accomplished authors.
The other stories are:
Dog in a Fisherman's Net
Aye, and Gomorrah
We, In Some Strange Power's Employ, Move on a Rigorous Line
High Weir
Time Considered as a Helix of Semiprecious Stones
Night and the Loves of Joe Dicostanzo
Samuel R. Delany grew up in New York's Harlem and attended the Bronx High School of Science. At City College he served as poetry editor of the magazine Promethean. He composed his first novel at nineteen and between succeding books has worked, more or less in order, as a bookstore clerk, a shrimp boat laborer off the Texas Gulf, and a folk singer in Greece. As befits one with such remarkable and capricious gifts, Mr. Delany was appropriately born on April Fool's Day.« less