The Einstein Intersection

While many of the "New Wave" science fiction writers of the 1960s did little more than adapt long-dead literary styles to their own work (as John Brunner, in "Stand on Zanzibar" adapted the style of John Dos Passos), Delany forged a new style of his own, telling a science fiction story through the creative use of ancient and modern myth. Warning--this is not a book for a lazy reader or a slow one. But if you've got the chops,... Read Full Review

Samuel R. Delany is known for being among the best SF stylists; in his fiction, his prose shines and is, for the most part, unusual even for today. For a book that won the 1967 Nebula Award, for it to still be strange today is an accomplishment not to be looked down upon. The Einstein Intersection, much like Nova, has a certain element of metafiction to it; that is, it is aware of itself as a story. But even more than Nova... Read Full Review

Along with EMPIRE STAR, EINSTEIN INTERSECTION is Delany's best book. A flood of poetic images fills a funny, fast-paced story that may B a retelling of the myth of Theseus -- but U won't care. Delany's odd eye, great sense of humor & different look at things will B enuf. & parts of it R laff-out-loud funny. At 120 pages, U can read it in a couple hours. & if U like this, try EMPIRE STAR and really scramble yr brain...... Read Full Review

After starting with Dhalgren and finding it unreadable, I decided not to give up on Delany. I went to Nova, which is sadly out of print by the way, and found it to be one of the finest SF books I've ever read. Next I tried Babel-17 (also out of print) and found that to be a very good work, but not up to par with Nova. And then this. Delany's early (pre-Dhalgren) SF is very engaging. His characters are intense as is... Read Full Review

The mythologies of Orpheus, the Beatles, Billy the Kid, Jean Harlow, and everyone's fave good ol' J.C. are intertwined here, replaying themselves among a race of alien wayfarers who've inherited the abandoned Earth and uneasily assumed the mantle of the vanished humanity. Told from the POV of Lobey, a "different" youth who is questing for his lost love Friza, this book deals with Delaney's usual concerns with art, Story,... Read Full Review