Reflections and Refractions

by Silverberg, Robert

• ISBN13: 9781887424240
• ISBN10: 1887424245
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 1997-05-01
• Publisher: Underwood Books

Summary

A collection of columns originally published in various magazines between 1973 and 1997 discusses science fiction, science and society, the profession of writing, and other writers

Table of Contents

FOREWORD: Pontifications	xi	(10)
ONE: SCIENCE FICTION: SOME GENERAL THOUGHTS	xxi
Enwonderment	1	(4)
Bat Durston's Blasting Jets	5	(3)
Dumbing Down	8	(3)
All Those Picture-Books	11	(3)
Picture-Books, Continued	14	(3)
Too Many Sequels	17	(4)
The Way the Future Looks: Blade Runner and THX-1138	21	(7)
Science Fiction and the Future	28	(8)
Boomers and the Science Fiction Boom	36	(3)
The Audience Grows Older	39	(5)
Gresham's Law and Science Fiction	44	(4)
Gresham's Law, Continued	48	(5)
TWO: ABOUT SCIENCE AND SOCIETY	53	(88)
Genetic Hysteria	55	(4)
More Genetic Hysteria	59	(3)
Those Sinister Antifreeze Bacteria Again	62	(4)
The Case Against the Antifreeze Bacteria	66	(3)
Killer Tomatoes from Outer Space	69	(4)
Genetic Luddites Yet Again	73	(4)
The Last of the Codfish	77	(4)
Extinct Again	81	(4)
A Species Saved Is a Species Earned	85	(4)
Ovary Transplants?	89	(4)
The Gay Gene: One	93	(5)
The Gay Gene: Two	98	(5)
Warning: Radiation Zone	103	(3)
Embalm Your Spouse	106	(3)
Creationism	109	(3)
Feedback	112	(3)
Alternative Energy Sources	115	(3)
Getting Rid of Acid Rain	118	(3)
Getting Rid of Acid Rain, Continued	121	(3)
The Green Flash	124	(4)
Gods Almighty	128	(4)
The Voyager Photos	132	(4)
Six Trillion Miles High	136	(5)
THREE: THE PROFESSION OF WRITING	141	(88)
The Making of a Science-Fiction Writer	143	(40)
The Long Despair of Doing Nothing Well	183	(4)
Falsus In Uno, Falsus In Omnibus	187	(3)
The Curse of Thoth	190	(4)
Beginnings	194	(4)
To a Writer Just Starting Out	198	(4)
The Perils of Prosperity	202	(3)
Starting Too Soon	205	(3)
Becoming a Writer	208	(3)
What a Writer Needs to Know	211	(4)
Short Stories vs. Novels	215	(4)
Revisions	219	(3)
Writers' Correspondence	222	(3)
Long-Term Careers	225	(4)
FOUR: COLLEAGUES	229	(102)
Players on the Team	231	(5)
Going to Conventions	236	(8)
Isaac	244	(4)
Heinlein	248	(5)
Don Wollheim	253	(4)
Lester	257	(5)
Campbell, Boucher, Gold	262	(5)
Philip K. Dick: A Premature Memoir	267	(5)
Philip K. Dick: The Short Fiction	272	(10)
James Tiptree, Jr.	282	(5)
Roger and John	287	(7)
Zelazny: This Immortal	294	(5)
Harlan	299	(8)
Theodore Sturgeon	307	(2)
Jack Vance: The Eyes of the Overworld and the Dying Earth	309	(11)
Jack Williamson	320	(3)
City: Clifford D. Simak	323	(8)
FIVE: TODAY'S WORLD	331	(62)
The Power of Words: One	333	(4)
The Power of Words: Two	337	(4)
Gourmet to Go	341	(4)
The International Language	345	(4)
The Fragmented Global Village	349	(3)
Political Correctness, One: Minority Hypersensitivity	352	(3)
Political Correctness, Two: Redskins and Bloody-Nosed Aliens	355	(3)
Political Correctness, Three: Geezer Ruminations	358	(3)
I'd Like to Talk to You, Robert	361	(4)
Gold Doesn't Smell	365	(4)
Struldbrugs	369	(4)
When Empires End	373	(4)
The Revenge of History	377	(5)
Holocaust Deniers	382	(5)
Coming Attractions	387	(6)
SIX: A FEW PERSONAL ITEMS	393
The Books of Childhood	395	(4)
The Books of Childhood, Continued	399	(4)
The Oakland Fire	403	(5)
Dreams	408	(5)
A Science-Fiction Garden	413	(3)
Why I Wrote a Sequel After All	416	(4)
Introduction to "Sundance"	420