A Saucer of Loneliness: The Complete Stories of Theodore Sturgeon Volume 7 [Hardcover]

Theodore Sturgeon (Author), Paul Williams (Editor), Kurt Vonnegut Jr. (Foreword)

Book Description

Series: The Complete Stories of Theodore Sturgeon | Publication Date: October 10, 2000

Kurt Vonnegut cites Theodore Sturgeon as the inspiration for his character Kilgore Trout. This volume includes 12 stories from 1953, considered Sturgeon's golden era. Among them are such favorites as the title story, "The Silken-Swift," "A Way of Thinking," "The Dark Room," "The Clinic," and "The World Well Lost," a story very ahead of its time in advocating gay rights.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Historically, the Complete Sturgeon is one of the most important reissues in years. In terms of reading, this is a goldmine both for those already familiar with Sturgeon's work and for a new generation of readers ready for something real."
—Strange Worlds Magazine

"Theodore Sturgeon has become a kind of patron saint of SF short story writers. His fiction demonstrated a love of humanity and an understanding of human emotion unparalleled in the field. At the time of his death in 1985, no short story writer was held in so high a regard."
—David Brin, author of Heaven's Reach

About the Author

Theodore Sturgeon was born on February 26, 1918 in Staten Island, New York. He died in Eugene, Oregon, on May 8, 1985. A resident of New York City, upstate New York, and Los Angeles, he is the author of more than thirty novels and short story collections.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 300 pages
• Publisher: North Atlantic Books; First Edition edition (October 10, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1556433506
• ISBN-13: 978-1556433504
• Product Dimensions: 6.4 x 1.4 x 9.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,175,760 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A little slice of perfection, September 27, 2004

By 

Addison Phillips (San Jose, CA United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: A Saucer of Loneliness: Volume VII, The Complete Stories of Theodore Sturgeon (Paperback)

It is hard to believe that this is the SEVENTH volume of Ted Sturgeon's collected stories and they are only up to 1953. Why would you want to own such a voluminous set? And why this particular one?

Simply: Sturgeon is one of the most provocative, innovative and beautiful writers in the English language and the title story of this volume alone is worth the price of the book. But once you're beyond one of the arguably greatest stories of the last 51 years, you'll find that Sturgeon has many more wonders in every volume of this series. For example, "Mr Cosell, Hero" is the most thorough demolition of the 1950's Red Scare (and it is set in outer space!). "The Clinic" predates classics like Flowers for Algernon, and gives us an alien perspective to boot.

Sturgeon's writing, as noted in many places, is about love as much as it is about anything. With each new volume, he inspires his readers to share that feeling. You may not end up with the full shelf of his work, but "A Saucer of Loneliness" is one you'll certainly want, need, desire and lust after.

7 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars If ANYTHING deserves 5 stars, this is it., September 26, 2004

By 

Vercingetorix (Pittsburgh, PA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: A Saucer of Loneliness: Volume VII, The Complete Stories of Theodore Sturgeon (Paperback)

"A Saucer of Loneliness" is one of two stories most important in making SF considered a "serious" field (the other being RAH's "Stranger"). Of the two, this certainly isn't the better, but it had more of an effect on me, personally. The end notes in this book note that it talked Spider Robinson, one current major SF writer, out of suicide, and it has more of an emotional effect that that could explain.
The rest of the book is still amazing. The second story has an interesting idea, but sloppy execution. The following, "The World Well Lost," literally made me fall out of my chair laughing, and includes the RS drive, which might be the most creative invention I've seen in years. Much farther on, with "The Clinic," you see the same type of emotional depth as you did in "Saucer," presented almost as well. Any one of those stories alone is worth the price of the novel.
For continuing fun after you've read it two or three times, I occasionally repeat parts of the "Koala" conversation out of "Wages of Synergy" without context. It makes my day to break up a serious revelation with "Koala..." "What does that mean?" "It means a great deal..."

10 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Pure Sturgeon!, December 4, 2000

A Kid's Review

This review is from: A Saucer of Loneliness: The Complete Stories of Theodore Sturgeon Volume 7 (Hardcover)

I first read Saucer of Loneliness in Sturgeon's E. Pleribus Unicorn. It instantly became my favorite and still is in this new book. Its always a pleasure to read his works.