Samual R. Delaney

Nova

Nova is the first book of Mr. Delaney's that I read and it's a darn good thing. He has a very complicated mind. His very sympathetic, usually unusual, and beautifully developed characters are what keep me reading his novels. He loves the underdog and tends to put them in some fascinating situations. Sometimes they don't come out of them again.

Nova is the fairly straight-forward story of two groups of entrepreneurs off to scoop up a chunk of the sun and sell it for untold riches. Now, this isn't as easy as it sounds. The two expedition heads are blood rivals with a long family history. This book has a definate "adventure on the high seas" kind of feel to it, written from the perspective of Mouse. He is basically a stevedore hired at the docks at the beginning of the story.

It's not that long a book, which is an advantage if this is your first experience with Samual R. Delaney. I really like his stories.

Dhalgren

This is one of my stand-bys that I read over and over again if I can't commit to a new book.

This is the story of Kid, a wanderer, a searcher, an amnesiac, and an all-around good guy. On his travels Kid wanders into an apocalyptic-time warp of a city where reality is modelled on a Dali painting.

As usual, the charaters and encounters Kid meets along the way are captivating.

Stars In My Pocket Like Grains Of Sand

This is the story of Rat Korga, an troubled soul who geos in for a personality adjustment and comes out a mindless worker drone. Except that there is still a seed of self left in his head.

There is a lot going on in this book and Mr. Delaney is not discriminating in his use of gender pronouns. or time sequence. or giving clues as to what planet you're on. or who's speaking.

This is a marvellous story but not for the faint of heart.

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