Shorthand for the corrupting of the genre

January 6, 2025 1:27 AM

Malzberg knew the machines were changing us because he himself had been part of the process. To make a living as a pulp writer, he turned himself into a human machine—a kind of ChatGPT avant la lettre. This process of becoming a human text generator drove Malzberg, as himself admitted, half mad. It informs all his best work, giving them an authenticity of lived experience. from Novelist on a Deadline: Barry Malzberg, 1939–2024 [The Nation; ungated]
posted by chavenet (12 comments total)

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posted by McCoy Pauley at 4:28 AM on January 6

To quote Ecclesiastes, "People never stop writing books, and reading them will wear you out."

But seriously, I've never heard of this guy. I do have a science fiction blind spot from the early to mid seventies, after my dad stopped buying books and before I started. Can anyone recommend a good Malzberg SF novel as a place to start?
posted by jabah at 5:46 AM on January 6

He claims to have produced "the greatest novel ever written in sixteen hours"—I'm thinking of getting some votive candles made. RIP
posted by newdaddy at 5:57 AM on January 6 [1 favorite]

Wikipedia entry has more details.
posted by doctornemo at 6:09 AM on January 6 [1 favorite]

Beyond Apollo is a wild New Wave novel, recommended.

Very hard working writer with a fine imagination.

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posted by doctornemo at 6:10 AM on January 6 [1 favorite]

I recommend The Running of Beasts which was written in collaboration with Bill Pronzini, but it's a thriller, not science fiction, about a serial killer in a small town in upstate New York. It quickly transcends its rather bland premise.

If you want Malzberg at his most Malzbergian, as it were, his short stories, where he tends to question the whole concept of science fiction, is the place to start.

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posted by dannyboybell at 6:27 AM on January 6 [4 favorites]

Beyond Apollo is the place to start. If you like it, you will probably like everything he wrote. If you don’t like it, you will probably dislike everything he wrote.
posted by wittgenstein at 6:41 AM on January 6 [1 favorite]

I seem to recall Robert Silverberg (mentioned in TFA) writing about his days as a well-compensated maximum-speed pulp pornographer. I think at one point he has two plumbers in the house and he takes pride that he's earning enough in real time to pay their hourly rate.
posted by Lemkin at 6:47 AM on January 6 [3 favorites]

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posted by detachd at 7:11 AM on January 6 [1 favorite]

I don't think that I read any of his novels, but I'm almost certain that I read and enjoyed a couple of his short story collections.
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posted by Spike Glee at 7:27 AM on January 6 [1 favorite]

I read a handful of his books. I didn’t especially like them, but did rather appreciate them. His heyday was well before I started reading SFF, but the sheer number of his books that I saw in used bookstores gave me the impression he must have been fairly successful. At least for a brief very 1970s looking moment.

Also, I suppose I will always like that one of his books (I think it was The Falling Astronauts , but it might have been Destruction of the Temple or Beyond Apollo) marks one of my few victories when getting more lit-fic minded friends to try SFF and actually enjoy the writing and story.

I was disappointed with his SFWA Bulletin behaviour.
posted by house-goblin at 10:20 AM on January 6 [1 favorite]

Barry Malzberg... Now that's a name I've not heard in a long time. A long time.
posted by Aardvark Cheeselog at 10:22 AM on January 6 [1 favorite]