Bob Shaw

"Amphitheater" © Anticipations, ed. C.Priest, 1978 A Better Mantrap, 1982 --/ cool sf story "Appointment on Prila" (Ship of Strangers series) © Analog, Aug 1968 Ship of Strangers, Ace 1978 --/ fourth place space sf story --/ wonder award --/ adventure award "The Brink" © Fantastic, Aug 1972 Cosmic Kaleidoscope, 1976 --/ cool sf story "Burden of Proof" (Slow Glass series) © Analog, May 1967 Other Days, Other Eyes, 1972 --/ cool sf story "Call Me Dumbo" © IF, Dec 1966 Tomorrow Lies in Ambush, 1973 --/ fourth place sf story --/ wonder award "Conversion" © IASFM, Aug 3 1981 A Better Mantrap, 1982 --/ cool sf story --/ wonder award ---------------------------------------------- "Cosmic Kaleidoscope" (coll) © 1976, Gollancz --/ third place sf collection --/ wonder award --/ style award Exceptional quality collection, where every story shines. Highly recommended as a showcase of sf delights. review: 09-Jul-06 (read in 1988) ---------------------------------------------- "Dagger of the Mind" (nv) © 1972, Ace Books --/ third place sf novel --/ wonder award --/ idea award --/ style award --/ shock value "Dark Icarus" (also as "A Little Night Flying") (Vertigo series) © Science Fiction Monthly, 1974 © IF, Aug 1974 Cosmic Kaleidoscope, 1976 (exp. into "Terminal Velocity" combined with others into "Vertigo") (also as "The Peace Machine") © 1979, Ace books --/ cool sf story --/ wonder award "Deflation, 2001" © Amazing, Sep 1972 --/ humour award --/ rare find "Frost Animals" © 1979, Universe # 9 A Better Mantrap, 1982 --/ fourth place sf story --/ wonder award --/ idea award "A Full Member of the Club" © Galaxy, Jul 1974 Cosmic Kaleidoscope, 1976 --/ fourth place sf story --/ wonder award "The Giaconda Caper" © Cosmic Kaleidoscope, 1976 --/ fourth place sf story --/ wonder award --/ idea award "Invasion Of Privacy" © Amazing, Jul 1970 Tomorrow Lies in Ambush, 1973 --/ cool sf story ---------------------------------------------- "Light of Other Days" (exp. into "Other Days, Other Eyes") (Slow Glass) © Analog, Aug 1966 also in - Amazing, May 1972 novel : Ace books, 1972 --short story : 1967 Hugo --short story : 1967 Nebula --short fiction : 1971 Astounding/Analog All-Time Poll /6 --short story : 1999 Locus All-Time Poll /14 --/ cool sf story --/ idea award Slow glass is one of the most original concepts to appear in sf in decades. Light travels through this glass so slowly that, looking through a pane of it, you might see what had happened five minutes ago on the other side - or five years. It stopped being a toy. It became invasion of privacy. Many other moral and practical complications arise. review: 21-Jul-06 (read in 1986) ---------------------------------------------- "A Little Night Flying" (also as "Dark Icarus" - see) © Science Fiction Monthly, 1974 Cosmic Kaleidoscope, 1976 --/ cool sf story --/ wonder award "Medusa's Children" (nv) © 1977, Pan Books --/ third place sf novel --/ wonder award --/ adventure award --/ style award "Orbitsville" (nv) (Orbitsville Series) © Galaxy, Jun 1974 book : Ace SF Special, 1977 --third place : 1976 Campbell Memorial /3 --1976 British SF award W --/ third place space sf novel --/ wonder award --/ adventure award --/ style award --/ idea award --/ awesome scale ---------------------------------------------- "Other Days, Other Eyes" (nv) (Slow Glass) © 1972, Gollancz --/ cool sf novel --/ idea award Slow glass was an amusing scientific toy. Light traveled through it so slowly that, looking through a pane of it, you might see what had happened five minutes ago on the other side - or five years. It stopped being a toy. Bob Shaw's famous story "Light of Other Days" began to tell the story of this thrilling future world - now here it is in book form. review: 21-Jul-06 (read in 1986) ---------------------------------------------- "The Palace of Eternity" (nv) © 1969, Ace SF Special --/ cool sf novel ---------------------------------------------- "The Ragged Astronauts" (nv) (Ragged Astronauts 1) © 1986, Gollancz --novel : 1987 Hugo --runner-up : 1987 Clarke /2 --sf novel : 1987 Locus /25 --novel : 1987 British SF W --/ fourth place sf novel --/ wonder award --/ idea award Two planets are so close to each other that they share an atmosphere, which makes space travel even easier than a cannon shot from Jules Verne's "From the Earth to the Moon". Wooden spaceships (and ornate baloons) ply the spaceways, loaded with the ragged astronauts (and also Victorian scientists, salon dames and other unlikely filibusters). They sweep majestically over the book's cover artwork and across the reader's minds. One of the truly original SF ideas in decades, it tends to haunt the imagination (just like Larry Niven's amazing "Integral Trees" or Barrington Bayley's splendid anachronisms) The plot could feel a bit cartoonish and too operatic - it's hard to focus on a single character among the great panorama of migration to the other planet - but the trilogy would make excellent graphic novels in the style of Moebius, "Heavy Metal" magazine, or Metabarons. However, if the first book was extraodrinary and terrific fun, the sequels are much slower and more clunky, albeit still enjoyable. The idea of sailing the interstellar void, powered by nothing except raw natural power (what the Good Lord provided) seems very popular with human imagination... Remember Tolkien's elfin ships, which sailed right off the edge of the Middle-Earth, or the recent cartoon "Treasure Planet" - something tells me we are going to see such amazing sights in the future, one way or the other... review: 19-Oct-06 (read in 2003) ---------------------------------------------- "Repeat Performance" © F&SF, Feb 1971 Tomorrow Lies in Ambush, 1973 --/ cool sf story "Retroactive" (Ship of Strangers series) © Universe # 2, 1972 Ship of Strangers, Ace 1978 --/ fourth place space sf story --/ wonder award --/ adventure award "Ship Of Strangers" (coll) © 1978, Ace Books --/ third place space sf collection --/ wonder award --/ adventure award "The Silent Partners" © Nebula Stories, 1959 Cosmic Kaleidoscope, 1976 --/ cool sf story "Skirmish On A Summer Morning" © Cosmic Kaleidoscope, 1976 --/ fourth place sf story --/ wonder award --/ adventure award "Small World" © Pulsar # 1, ed. G.Hay, 1978 A Better Mantrap, 1982 --/ cool sf story "Terminal Velocity" (nv) (Vertigo series) (exp. from "Dark Icarus") combined with others into "Vertigo") (also as "The Peace Machine") © 1981, Gollancz --/ cool sf novel "Uncomic Book Horror Story" © Science Fiction Monthly, 1975 Cosmic Kaleidoscope, 1976 --/ fourth place sf story --/ wonder award "Unreasonable Facsimile" © The Long Night of Waiting, ed. R. Elwood, 1974 Cosmic Kaleidoscope, 1976 --/ cool sf story "Vertigo" (nv) (Vertigo series) (also as "Terminal Velocity") (exp. from "Dark Icarus") combined with others into "Vertigo") (also as "The Peace Machine") © 1992, Gollancz --/ cool sf novel "Waltz of the Bodysnatchers" © Andromeda # 1, 1976 Cosmic Kaleidoscope, 1976 --/ fourth place sf story --/ wonder award "Who Goes Here?" (nv) © 1977, Gollancz / Ace Books --/ cool sf novel --/ wonder award ---------------------------------------------- "The Wooden Spaceships" (nv) (Land and Overland, Book 2) © 1988, Gollancz --/ fourth place sf novel --/ wonder award --/ idea award See the review for "Ragged Astronauts"... Outstanding. The roots of steampunk run deep, the strong imagination and epic scale make this truly unique series. Even the titles are awesome. "The Wooden Spaceships" should be a name for a cult group or a movie somewhere. ---------------------------------------------- "A Wreath of Stars" (nv) © 1976, Dell Books --/ cool sf novel --/ wonder award "Ironically, for Gilbert Snook who considered himself the human equivalent of a neutrino (a particle able to travel through the Earth without disturbing any other particle) it all started with the panic that followed the sighting of the anti neutrino planet as it approached Earth. Earth was unaffected but Snook ended up in a small African Republic teaching English to diamond miners. Then the miners started seeing ghosts and Snook found himself at the centre of a bizarre and far reaching scientific discovery and in the middle of some very dirty political infighting." review: 8-Sep-06 (read in 1987) ----------------------------------------------

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