To Be Continued, Volume One: The Collected Stories of Robert Silverberg [Hardcover]

Robert Silverberg (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 2006

First in a projected eight volumes collecting all of the short stories and novellas SF Grandmaster Silverberg wants to take their place on the permanent shelf. Each volume will be roughly 150,000-200,000 words, with classics and lesser known gems alike. Mr. Silverberg has also graced us with a lengthy introduction and extensive story notes for each tale.

--This text refers to the Kindle Edition edition.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Beginning with his very first sale, "Gorgon Planet," Hugo and Nebula award–winner Silverberg (A Time of Changes) collects 24 stories from the prolific first five years of his career (1953–1958), each piece with a lively headnote about its genesis, magazine venue and editor. While learning his craft and churning out copy to pay the rent, Silverberg imitated the styles of well-known writers, with such stories as "The Songs of Summer," which borrows the technique of multiple viewpoints from William Faulkner to tell a first contact tale, and "The Silent Colony," which seeks to replicate Robert Sheckley's clarity. Silverberg also wrote stories to match cover art, a literary exercise that resulted in "Why?" and in the often-anthologized "Sunrise on Mercury." Though none of his best-known or award-winning stories are included, these selections, which Silverberg deems the best of his early era, illustrate his apprenticeship and presage the Grand Master he has become. (Nov.)
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From Booklist

This volume launches what may become one of the largest sf collected sets ever published. Grand Master Silverberg's lifetime output of short fiction numbers, he says, in the vicinity of 1,000 stories. The series will include much of his detective and adventure output, though not his western tales. His introduction discloses how he, still in his teens, made a better living than many much older colleagues: he was fast, fast, fast. These 24 stories all can be called sf and, representing the level their author was working at so many years ago, may satisfy curiosity if not always aesthetics. Roland Green
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Product Details

• Hardcover: 392 pages
• Publisher: Subterranean Press (December 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1596060611
• ISBN-13: 978-1596060616
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.2 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #983,244 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Pleasant surprise - Rate : ****1/2, July 22, 2007

By 

R. Benardes "www.maquinariodanoite.blogspot.com" (Bahia - Brazil) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: To Be Continued, Volume One: The Collected Stories of Robert Silverberg (Hardcover)

Being a Silverberg fan for years and knowing by experience that his best works had been written between 1965-1976 it was with some reservations that I picked this volume up. While the majority of the stories don't rank among his best short works they are wonderful examples of a writer trying to hit his stride by avoiding pulp-formulas, adressing serious issues and even experimenting with form and style. Here we encounter clever time-paradoxes stories(Absolutely Inflexible), moving Twilight Zone-like fables (The Warm Man) disturbing horror-science fiction hybrids ( The Road to Nightfall), lyrical fables (The Songs of Summer), Sheckleyan comedy (The Silent Colony), hard SF (Sunrise on Mercury), Simakian and Asimovian robot stories (Ozymandias, The Iron Chancellor)etc. The introductions for each story are superb and add extra flavour to the reading experience. This collection is a clear proof that from the very beginning Silverberg was a writer of considerable skill and ambition. After finishing it I had the sensation of discovering a new writer, a new "old" Silverberg very different from stories like The Gorgon Planet(included here only for the sake of curiosity and historical interest). While this book can't be recommended for those who desire to immerse themselves for the first time in Silverberg's mind and imagination (I strongly recommend any collection covering the period mentioned above)To Be Continued is mandatory reading for Silverberg addicts. The Collected Stories of Robert Silverberg Volume One: To Be Continued (Covering the period between 1953-1958) Gorgon Planet **1/2 The Road to Nightfall ***** Absolutely Inflexible **** The Silent Colony **** The Macauley Circuit ***** The Songs of Summer ****1/2 To Be Continued **** Alaree ***** The Artifact Business **** Collecting Team **** A Man of Talent ****1/2 One-Way Journey **** Sunrise on Mercury - World of a Thousand Colours *** The Warm Man ***** Blaze of Glory ***1/2 Why? ***1/2 The Outbreeders ****1/2 The Man Who Never Forgot **** There Was An Old Woman **** The Iron Chancellor ***1/2 Ozymandias **** Counterpart ****1/2 Delivery Guaranteed **