On a Planet Alien

by Barry N. Malzberg

Book Overview

3 classic alien novels by John W. Campbell Memorial Award-Winner Barry N. Malzberg : Scop, In the Enclosure and On a Planet Alien This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: B000GRL966
• Release Date: January 1974
• Publisher: Pocket
• Weight: 1.01 lbs.

Customer Reviews

OH MAN

THREE FOR THE PRICE OF ONE . Wow MALZBERG never wastes a word either,he,d proababLy argue the point .[i can think fast enough ]. Just thinking about MALZBERG does it to me. oh man !FIRST OFF,neglected ,cause he Is so true and good.HE IS A WRITER THAT DESCRIBES THE SEVENTIES.LIKE RICHARD BRAUTIGAN DECRIBES THE SIXTIES,[ID HAVE TO say they are two of my favorite authors] i get nervous and agitated just thinking about em.AND LIKE THE SEVENTIES, its only normal they have been kinda brushed asSide, maybe I read too much into em, [Scause they still resSonate deep Within, I often feel like a character in MALZBERGS FICTION .[malzberg writes about] BEING TRAPPED [here i go] in a science fiction.. frontier ;[now what does that mean,or what or who cares, thats my point no one does EXCEPT MAYBE BARRY,its like an endless retelling like the letter narator in KAFKAS CAASTLE, MALZBERGS NARRATORs ARE THE ANOMONOUS everyone whose LIVES/LIES are thwarted in the near and now;.. [.everyday seventies decay ],like squirrels in the cage DOiNG THEIR CIRCLE things ..TRAPPED ,CAGED ,BUT RUNNING.. IN AN ENDLESS circle within. HES WAY TO MUCH COMPLICATED and light year advance for any stab by me at PINNING ANY load of logic shreddin ultimate moment of reasen, INEXPLICABLY IT ALMOST HAPPEN AT will withins malzbers universe.SO PROCEED AT CAUTION ,IM WARNING YOU.AND malzberg does NOT deserve this three book in one HODGEPODGE, GROUPINGG OF THE RANDOM. A GENUIS DESERVED BETTER,note [ barry writes slim i hate so this much he writes DECEPTABLY deceptions SIMPLE ENCYCLODEDIAN DENSE.. IN A GOOD WAY,NOVELa[Nouvella [disguised as, mass marketed science fiction almost like postage stamp disspossable,IF YOU DONT PEER BENEATH THE SURFACE.

Three Challenging Novels In One Volume

Barry N. Malzberg, one of the small handful of truly great science fiction novelists, has become mysteriously and unfairly ignored in recent years. Most of his quirky and challenging books are currently out of print, including his undeniable masterpieces DESTRUCTION OF THE TEMPLE and HEROVIT'S WORLD. Malzberg's writing is intense, harsh and despairing in tone, yet frequently hilarious. His books may not be pleasantly fluffy entertainment but they are singularly intelligent and powerfully original. He continually subverts some of science fiction's more mundane and cliched plotlines with outlandish twists, unusual (to put it mildly) lead characters, explicit sexual escapades and some of the sharpest, funniest dialogue ever to appear in the genre. He is also, above all, a superior and proudly literate writer whose finest work is a joy to read simply because of his beautiful mastery of the language. That said, it must be noted that the three novels included in ON A PLANET ALIEN are strictly mid-tier Malzberg, written in a fury during his most productive period (1973 - 1977). ON A PLANET ALIEN (1974), the first and best of the books, finds Captain Hans Folsom in charge of an expedition tasked with "humanizing" the populace of a distant world in order to make them all subservient citizens of the galaxy-controlling Federation. Folsom's mission is doomed from the start and his eventual descent into despair and madness is described with obsessive, entertainingly farcical detail. SCOP (1976) is one of the author's many Kennedy-assassination themed works, about a time traveler who, in his attempts to change the past, merely strengthens the bleaker aspects of the future. Its an unrelentingly downbeat novel, enlivened by Malzberg's characteristic prose and a fairly strong narrative drive; at a short 128 pages it's a reasonably diverting quick read. IN THE ENCLOSURE (1973), on the other hand, is pure tedium. Quir is an alien from another world held prisoner on Earth, repeatedly questioned by "therapists" who seek information from his failing memories. He dreams of escape (of various kinds) but predictably remains trapped in his enclosure at the novel's end. Overall, ON A PLANET ALIEN is recommended as a good introduction to the dazzling writings of Barry Malzberg. His more acclaimed novels all appear to be currently unavailable so this is the only way to go for anyone interested in sampling this great writer's iconoclastic work.