Barry N. Malzberg
Encyclopedia
Barry Nathaniel Malzberg (born 1939) is an American
writer and editor, most often of science fiction
and fantasy
.
. He first found commercial and critical success with publication of his surreal novelette "Final War" in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction under the name K. M. O'Donnell in 1968. In 1965, he had begun working for the Scott Meredith Literary Agency, and would intermittently continue with SMLA through the next several decades, being one of its last caretakers.
Malzberg's writing style is distinctive, with frequently long, elaborate though carefully constructed sentences and under-use of commas. Most of his science fiction books are short, present-tense narratives concerned exclusively with the consciousness of a single obsessive character. His themes, particularly in the novels Beyond Apollo
(1972) and The Falling Astronauts (1971) about the US space exploration
programme, include the dehumanisation effects of bureaucracy
and technology
; his treatment of these themes sometimes exhibits strong resemblances to Kafka
, accompanied by Unreliable narrator
techniques. In novels like Galaxies (1975) and Herovit's World (1973), Malzberg uses metafiction
techniques to subject the heroic conventions and literary limitations of space opera
to biting satire
.
His editorial career has included stints at a men's-magazine publisher, and as editor of fiction magazines Amazing Stories
and Fantastic
in 1968, as well as anthologies such as Final Stage (with Edward L. Ferman
) and several with Bill Pronzini
, among others. He has been an enormously prolific writer, particularly in the early 1970s, in a variety of fields, most often in crime fiction
and fantastic fiction, with notable, ambitious work published in other fields, as well, under his own name, as O'Donnell, and as Mike Barry and under other pseudonyms. He has also often written in collaboration with Pronzini, Kathe Koja
, and others. He wrote the novelization of the Saul Bass
-directed 1974 film Phase IV
.
A devotee of classical music, he is also a violinist, and performed in the premiere performance of work by Somtow Sucharitkul; he has also been nominated several times for the Hugo Award
, and won the Locus Award for his collection of historical and critical essays, The Engines of the Night (1982).
Malzberg's work has been widely praised by critics, while being attacked by proponents of hard science fiction
for its pessimistic, anti-Campbellian
tenor. The dystopian and metafictional elements of Malzberg's work have led to numerous parodies inside science fiction, including Paul Di Filippo
, whose first published story, "Falling Expectations," was a parody of Malzberg. Theodore Sturgeon
said of Malzberg in 1973, "I look forward eagerly to his byline, snatch joyfully at it when I see it and he has never let me down."
For the last several years, Malzberg has collaborated with friend and fellow science fiction writer Mike Resnick
on a series of more than 50 advice columns for writers in the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America
's quarterly magazine SFWA Bulletin.
Malzberg, a graduate of Syracuse University
, has been a resident of Teaneck, New Jersey
for many years.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
writer and editor, most often of science fiction
Science fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
and fantasy
Fantasy
Fantasy is a genre of fiction that commonly uses magic and other supernatural phenomena as a primary element of plot, theme, or setting. Many works within the genre take place in imaginary worlds where magic is common...
.
Overview
Initially in his post-graduate work Malzberg sought to establish himself as a playwright as well as a prose-fiction writer. His first two published novels were issed by Olympia PressOlympia Press
Olympia Press was a Paris-based publisher, launched in 1953 by Maurice Girodias as a rebranded version of the Obelisk Press he inherited from his father Jack Kahane...
. He first found commercial and critical success with publication of his surreal novelette "Final War" in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction under the name K. M. O'Donnell in 1968. In 1965, he had begun working for the Scott Meredith Literary Agency, and would intermittently continue with SMLA through the next several decades, being one of its last caretakers.
Malzberg's writing style is distinctive, with frequently long, elaborate though carefully constructed sentences and under-use of commas. Most of his science fiction books are short, present-tense narratives concerned exclusively with the consciousness of a single obsessive character. His themes, particularly in the novels Beyond Apollo
Beyond Apollo
Beyond Apollo is a novel by Barry N. Malzberg, first published in 1972 in a hardcover edition by Random House.Malzberg credits the inspiration for the novel to "I Have My Vigil", a 1969 short story by fellow science fiction writer Harry Harrison....
(1972) and The Falling Astronauts (1971) about the US space exploration
Space exploration
Space exploration is the use of space technology to explore outer space. Physical exploration of space is conducted both by human spaceflights and by robotic spacecraft....
programme, include the dehumanisation effects of bureaucracy
Bureaucracy
A bureaucracy is an organization of non-elected officials of a governmental or organization who implement the rules, laws, and functions of their institution, and are occasionally characterized by officialism and red tape.-Weberian bureaucracy:...
and technology
Technology
Technology is the making, usage, and knowledge of tools, machines, techniques, crafts, systems or methods of organization in order to solve a problem or perform a specific function. It can also refer to the collection of such tools, machinery, and procedures. The word technology comes ;...
; his treatment of these themes sometimes exhibits strong resemblances to Kafka
Franz Kafka
Franz Kafka was a culturally influential German-language author of short stories and novels. Contemporary critics and academics, including Vladimir Nabokov, regard Kafka as one of the best writers of the 20th century...
, accompanied by Unreliable narrator
Unreliable narrator
An unreliable narrator is a narrator, whether in literature, film, or theatre, whose credibility has been seriously compromised. The term was coined in 1961 by Wayne C. Booth in The Rhetoric of Fiction. This narrative mode is one that can be developed by an author for a number of reasons, usually...
techniques. In novels like Galaxies (1975) and Herovit's World (1973), Malzberg uses metafiction
Metafiction
Metafiction, also known as Romantic irony in the context of Romantic works of literature, is a type of fiction that self-consciously addresses the devices of fiction, exposing the fictional illusion...
techniques to subject the heroic conventions and literary limitations of space opera
Space opera
Space opera is a subgenre of science fiction that emphasizes romantic, often melodramatic adventure, set mainly or entirely in outer space, generally involving conflict between opponents possessing advanced technologies and abilities. The term has no relation to music and it is analogous to "soap...
to biting satire
Satire
Satire is primarily a literary genre or form, although in practice it can also be found in the graphic and performing arts. In satire, vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, ideally with the intent of shaming individuals, and society itself, into improvement...
.
His editorial career has included stints at a men's-magazine publisher, and as editor of fiction magazines Amazing Stories
Amazing Stories
Amazing Stories was an American science fiction magazine launched in April 1926 by Hugo Gernsback's Experimenter Publishing. It was the first magazine devoted solely to science fiction...
and Fantastic
Fantastic (magazine)
Fantastic was an American digest-size fantasy and science fiction magazine, published from 1952 to 1980. It was founded by Ziff-Davis as a fantasy companion to Amazing Stories. Early sales were good, and Ziff-Davis quickly decided to switch Amazing from pulp format to digest, and to cease...
in 1968, as well as anthologies such as Final Stage (with Edward L. Ferman
Edward L. Ferman
Edward Lewis Ferman was an American science fiction and fantasy fiction editor and magazine publisher.Ferman is the son of Joseph W...
) and several with Bill Pronzini
Bill Pronzini
Bill Pronzini is an American writer of detective fiction. He is also an active anthologist, having compiled more than 100 collections, most of which focus on mystery, western, and science fiction short stories....
, among others. He has been an enormously prolific writer, particularly in the early 1970s, in a variety of fields, most often in crime fiction
Crime fiction
Crime fiction is the literary genre that fictionalizes crimes, their detection, criminals and their motives. It is usually distinguished from mainstream fiction and other genres such as science fiction or historical fiction, but boundaries can be, and indeed are, blurred...
and fantastic fiction, with notable, ambitious work published in other fields, as well, under his own name, as O'Donnell, and as Mike Barry and under other pseudonyms. He has also often written in collaboration with Pronzini, Kathe Koja
Kathe Koja
Kathe Koja is an American writer. She was initially known for her intense speculative fiction for adults, but over the past few years has turned to writing young adult novels....
, and others. He wrote the novelization of the Saul Bass
Saul Bass
Saul Bass was a Jewish-American graphic designer and filmmaker, best known for his design of motion picture title sequences....
-directed 1974 film Phase IV
Phase IV
Phase IV is an American science fiction film, made in 1974. It is the only feature-length film directed by the noted title designer Saul Bass. It starred Michael Murphy, Nigel Davenport and Lynne Frederick....
.
A devotee of classical music, he is also a violinist, and performed in the premiere performance of work by Somtow Sucharitkul; he has also been nominated several times for the Hugo Award
Hugo Award
The Hugo Awards are given annually for the best science fiction or fantasy works and achievements of the previous year. The award is named after Hugo Gernsback, the founder of the pioneering science fiction magazine Amazing Stories, and was officially named the Science Fiction Achievement Awards...
, and won the Locus Award for his collection of historical and critical essays, The Engines of the Night (1982).
Malzberg's work has been widely praised by critics, while being attacked by proponents of hard science fiction
Hard science fiction
Hard science fiction is a category of science fiction characterized by an emphasis on scientific or technical detail, or on scientific accuracy, or on both. The term was first used in print in 1957 by P. Schuyler Miller in a review of John W. Campbell, Jr.'s Islands of Space in Astounding Science...
for its pessimistic, anti-Campbellian
John W. Campbell
John Wood Campbell, Jr. was an influential figure in American science fiction. As editor of Astounding Science Fiction , from late 1937 until his death, he is generally credited with shaping the so-called Golden Age of Science Fiction.Isaac Asimov called Campbell "the most powerful force in...
tenor. The dystopian and metafictional elements of Malzberg's work have led to numerous parodies inside science fiction, including Paul Di Filippo
Paul Di Filippo
Paul Di Filippo is an American science fiction writer. He has been published in Postscripts...
, whose first published story, "Falling Expectations," was a parody of Malzberg. Theodore Sturgeon
Theodore Sturgeon
Theodore Sturgeon was an American science fiction author.His most famous novel is More Than Human .-Biography:...
said of Malzberg in 1973, "I look forward eagerly to his byline, snatch joyfully at it when I see it and he has never let me down."
For the last several years, Malzberg has collaborated with friend and fellow science fiction writer Mike Resnick
Mike Resnick
Michael Diamond Resnick , better known by his published name Mike Resnick, is an American science fiction author. He was executive editor of Jim Baen's Universe.-Biography:...
on a series of more than 50 advice columns for writers in the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America
Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America
Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, or SFWA is a nonprofit association of professional science fiction and fantasy writers. It was founded in 1965 by Damon Knight under the name Science Fiction Writers of America, Inc. and it retains the acronym SFWA after a very brief use of the SFFWA...
's quarterly magazine SFWA Bulletin.
Malzberg, a graduate of Syracuse University
Syracuse University
Syracuse University is a private research university located in Syracuse, New York, United States. Its roots can be traced back to Genesee Wesleyan Seminary, founded by the Methodist Episcopal Church in 1832, which also later founded Genesee College...
, has been a resident of Teaneck, New Jersey
Teaneck, New Jersey
Teaneck is a township in Bergen County, New Jersey, and a suburb in the New York metropolitan area. As of the 2010 United States Census, the township population was 39,776, making it the second-most populous among the 70 municipalities in Bergen County....
for many years.
Novels
- 1968 Screen
- 1968 Oracle of the Thousand Hands
- 1969 The Empty People (writing as K M O'Donnell)
- 1970 Dwellers of the Deep (writing as K M O'Donnell)
- 1971 Confessions of Westchester County
- 1971 The Falling Astronauts
- 1971 Gather in the Hall of the Planets (writing as K M O'Donnell)
- 1971 In My Parents' Bedroom
- 1972 Beyond ApolloBeyond ApolloBeyond Apollo is a novel by Barry N. Malzberg, first published in 1972 in a hardcover edition by Random House.Malzberg credits the inspiration for the novel to "I Have My Vigil", a 1969 short story by fellow science fiction writer Harry Harrison....
- 1972 Overlay
- 1972 The Men Inside
- 1972 Revelations
- 1973 Phase IVPhase IVPhase IV is an American science fiction film, made in 1974. It is the only feature-length film directed by the noted title designer Saul Bass. It starred Michael Murphy, Nigel Davenport and Lynne Frederick....
, adapted from the screenplay by Mayo SimonMayo Simon-Select filmography:*The Man from Atlantis pilot episode, *Futureworld *Phase IV *Marooned *I Could Go On Singing -External links:... - 1973 Herovit's World
- 1973 In the Enclosure
- 1973 Tactics of Conquest
- 1973 Opening Fire
- 1974 The Destruction of the Temple
- 1974 On a Planet Alien
- 1974 The Sodom and Gomorrah Business
- 1974 Guernica Night
- 1974 The Day of the Burning
- 1974 Underlay
- 1975 The Gamesman
- 1975 Galaxies
- 1975 Conversations
- 1976 The Running of Beasts (with Bill Pronzini)
- 1976 Chorale
- 1976 Scop
- 1977 The Last Transaction
- 1977 Acts of Mercy (with Bill Pronzini)
- 1979 Night Screams (with Bill Pronzini)
- 1980 Prose Bowl (with Bill Pronzini)
- 1982 The Cross of Fire
- 1985 The Remaking of Sigmund Freud
Collections
- 1969 Final War: And Other Fantasies (writing as K M O'Donnell)
- 1971 In the Pocket: And Other SF StoriesIn the Pocket: And Other SF StoriesIn The Pocket: And Other SF Stories is Barry Malzberg's second collection of science fiction stories, published under his "K. M. O'Donnell" byline...
(writing as K M O'Donnell) - 1971 Universe Day (writing as K M O'Donnell)
- 1974 Out From Ganymede
- 1975 The Many Worlds of Barry Malzberg
- 1975 The Best of Barry N Malzberg
- 1976 Down Here In The Dream Quarter
- 1979 Malzberg At Large
- 1980 The Man Who Loved the Midnight Lady: A Collection
- 1982 The Engines of the Night: Science Fiction in the Eighties (Essays)
- 1994 The Passage of the Light—The Recursive Science Fiction of Barry N. Malzberg (with Tony Lewis and Mike Resnick)
- 2000 In the Stone HouseIn the Stone HouseIn the Stone House is a collection of science fiction, fantasy and horror stories by author Barry N. Malzberg. It was released in 2000 and was the author's first book published by Arkham House. It was published in an edition of approximately 2,500 copies...
- 2001 Shiva: And Other Stories
- 2003 Problems Solved (all stories collaborations with Bill Pronzini)
- 2007 Breakfast in the Ruins (A much expanded version of "The Engines of the Night")
External links
- Anthopology 101: The (Non)Final Stage by Bud WebsterBud WebsterClarence Howard "Bud" Webster is a science fiction and fantasy writer who is also known for his essays on both the history of science fiction and sf/fantasy anthologies as well. He is perhaps best known for the Bubba Pritchert series, which have won two Analytical Laboratory readers' awards from...
at Galactic Central