Most Popular Books by Robert Silverberg

This issue we have quite an all-star lineup. From modern masters of mystery like Donna Andrews and Andrew Welsh-Huggins to the greatest names in science fiction like Frank Herbert and Robert Silverberg, this is an amazing issue no matter how you look at it. As for our featured novels, we have a Fantômas tale by Pierre Souvestre and Marcel Allain and Metropolis by Thea von Harbou. This might possibly be our best issue ever! Take a look at our contents and see for yourself— Cover: Ron Miller Mysteries / Suspense / Adventure: “A Beauty All Its Own,” by Andrew Welsh-Huggins [Michael Bracken Presents short story] “Death Takes the Stage,” by Hal Charles [Solve-It-Yourself Mystery] “Cold Blue Steel and Sweet Fire,” by Donna Andrews [Barb Goffman Presents short story] “The Murderer,” by Murray Leinster [short story] The Long Arm of Fantômas, by Pierre Souvestre and Marcel Allain [novel, Fantômas series] Science Fiction & Fantasy: “Chowhound” by Mack Reynolds [short novel] “A Kiss for the Conqueror,” by Henry Slesar [short story] “The Mystery of Deneb IV,” by Robert Silverberg [short story] “Try to Remember!” by Frank Herbert [short novel] Metropolis, by Thea von Harbou [novel]

"Gilgamesh in the Outback" is a science fiction novella by American writer Robert Silverberg, a sequel to his novel Gilgamesh the King[ as well as a story in the shared universe series "Heroes in Hell." It won the Hugo Award for Best Novella in 1987 and was also nominated for the Nebula Award for Best Novella in 1986. Real-life writers Robert E. Howard and H. P. Lovecraft feature as characters in the novella.

A tortured man’s visions hold the key to mankind’s future in Robert Silverberg’s post-apocalyptic masterpiece Life in the blasted wasteland of 2103 California is nasty, brutish, and short. If the savage “scratchers” don’t kill you, the poisoned environment will. But one man wanders this desolate landscape and sees beauty: glorious visions of impossible places and majestic beings not of Earth. Scorned and mocked as a madman, Tom doubts his sanity until his visions mysteriously begin to spread to others and a returning star probe offers evidence that they are real. Now, as a new religion is born, with Tom as its reluctant messiah, violent forces are unleashed—forces that have the power to transform humanity . . . or destroy it.

This far-future sci-fi saga by a multiple Hugo and Nebula Award–winning Grand Master chronicles the perilous rebirth of humanity on a destroyed Earth. Robert Silverberg''s critically acclaimed masterworks have earned him entry into the Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame, and a place among the genre''s greatest legacies. This classic, two-book saga gazes into a world many millennia from now and spins a mesmerizing tale of survival, evolution, and the ultimate future of humanity. At Winter''s End: For the past 700,000 years, the remaining inhabitants of planet Earth have survived underground, escaping the endless rain of "death stars" that destroyed their civilization—and the world. Now, with the surface finally inhabitable after countless millennia, one tribe''s leader is guiding her people to freedom. But unexpected threats and dark revelations could endanger their long-awaited rebirth. The Queen of Springtime: Hidden below ground for millennia, the People have finally emerged to repopulate the Earth and reclaim their legacy as the dominant species. But the cold, insectile hjjk, who remained on Earth''s surface throughout the frozen eons, will not give up the world they inherited without a fight. The New Springtime series is Robert Silverberg at his very best, showcasing the intelligence, ingenuity, humanism, and extraordinary talents that have won him four Hugo Awards, six Nebulas, and a host of other honors.

This "toothy follow-up to Datlow''s first-rate Blood Is Not Enough" offers "admirably inventive variations on vampirism" ( Kirkus Reviews). Featuring stories by Jonathan Carroll, Chelsea Quinn Yarbro, and Robert Silverberg, A Whisper of Blood is a "consistently engrossing anthology" from award-winning editor Ellen Datlow ( Publishers Weekly). Continuing to expand the boundaries of the concept of vampirism—as she did in her first collection, Blood Is Not Enough—Datlow has assembled eighteen fascinating stories that range from tales of literal vampires to what she calls "metaphorical bloodsuckers," who can drain another''s life force without ever sinking their teeth into necks. In "Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep" by Suzy McKee Charnas, an elderly Jewish woman who''s taken her own life has second thoughts and makes a deal to become a vampire to stay immortal, the only condition being she has to drink blood by request only. An amnesiac operative tries to sort out if a secret government agency is trying to help him regain his memory or is wiping it clean in Chelsea Quinn Yarbro''s Kafkaesque "Do I Dare to Eat a Peach?" And in Jonathan Carroll''s "The Moose Church," a tourist in Sardinia is literally scarred by asking questions of death in his dreams . . . A Whisper of Blood includes contributions by Suzy McKee Charnas, Karl Edward Wagner, Robert Silverberg, Kathe Koja, Elizabeth Massie, Barry N. Malzberg, Rick Wilber, Jonathan Carroll, Thomas Ligotti, Melissa Mia Hall, David J. Schow, Jack Womack, Melinda M. Snodgrass, Thomas Tessier, Chelsea Quinn Yarbro, K. W. Jeter, Pat Cadigan, and Robert Holdstock and Garry Kilworth.

In the third novel of this acclaimed sci-fi/fantasy series, the ruler of a vast planet faces a threat of war—and conspiracy within his own court. Plagued by nightmares of blizzards and earthquakes besieging the planet Majipoor, Lord Valentine believes these dreams signal the coming of war between his people and the Shapeshifters, who once ruled the planet. For centuries they have conspired to regain their stolen world, and recently they were discovered impersonating members of the kingdom’s inner circle. Since coming to power, Valentine has made peaceful overtures to the Shapeshifters. This has led select members of the royal court to question his loyalties. Now some even want to remove Valentine from his governing role—casting him into the higher, ceremonial office of Pontifex. But if Valentine accepts the mantle of Pontifex and surrenders his position to his successor-in-waiting, he may be remembered as a leader who evaded his duties—and shattered the peace that has reigned for eight thousand years. . . . “[Valentine Pontifex is] a dance of conflicting emotions and political intrigue. Both the world and Lord Valentine have matured, and the trilogy becomes whole in a way that the form rarely achieves.” —The Village Voice “There’s an almost hypnotic grandeur to the thoughtful way Silverberg weaves the strands of the story together, effortlessly jugging the various motifs.” —Publishers Weekly

Annotated bibliography of novels and stories.

One of the most persistent legends in the annals of New World exploration is that of the Land of Gold. This mythical site was located over vast areas of South America (and later, North America); the search for it drove some men mad with greed and, as often as not, to their untimely deaths. In this history of quest and adventure, Robert Silverberg traces the fate of Old World explorers lured westward by the myth of El Dorado. From the German conquistadores licensed by the Spanish king to operate out of Venezuela, to the journeys of Gonzalo Pizarro in the Amazon basin, and to the nearly miraculous voyage of Francisco Orellana to the mouth of the Amazon River, encountering the warlike women who gave the river its name, violence and bloodshed accompanied the determined adventurers. Sir Walter Raleigh and a host of other explorers spent small fortunes and many lives trying to locate Manoa, a city that was rumored to be El Dorado—City of Gold. Celebrated science fiction author Robert Silverberg recreates these legendary quests in The Golden Dream: Seekers of El Dorado.

The Hugo and Nebula Award–winning author delivers a prescient tale that "explores the inanity of conformity with a hopelessly superficial future humankind" ( Publishers Weekly, starred review). He was revived, somehow, and thrust into a brand-new world, one in which humans have evolved to breathe underwater, reproduction is quite uncommon, and everyone has standardized their appearance to conform to the presently favored model. He is a rarity, a throwback, with his short legs, hairy body, lopsided face, and scars. He remembers automobiles, tax returns, a family—all the components of an imperfect world. But here and now, he is an object of fascination to be studied by doctors and politicians, and to be wanted by adventurous women. He keeps telling himself that in a country of the beautiful, the ugly man is king. If only he''d listen . . . Praise for Robert Silverberg and his short stories "When Silverberg is at the top of his form, no one is better." —George R. R. Martin, #1 New York Times–bestselling author "Silverberg''s creative story premises are matched by a remarkable ability to make his characters sympathetic, whether human or not." — Publishers Weekly (starred review) "The short stories in Robert Silverberg''s First-Person Singularities are inventive, sublime, and endlessly entertaining." — Foreword Reviews "Decades after being originally published, most of these stories are still just as entertaining and powerful as they were when first released. A singularly unique collection." — Kirkus Reviews

Anthologized here for the first time, the author''s five novellas give testimony to his groundbreaking career, including the title story, which won him a Nebula Award.

Three tales of science fiction: "How It Was When the Past Went Away, " "The Eve of RUMOKO, " "We All Die Naked."

The first three novels in the acclaimed sci-fi fantasy series from the award-winning author: “An imaginative fusion of action, sorcery, and science fiction” (The New York Times Book Review). In the first three books of the Majipoor Cycle, Hugo and Nebula Award–winning author Robert Silverberg delivered a vast and vividly imagined world full of epic adventure, court intrigue, and high drama. In Lord Valentine’s Castle, an amnesiac wanderer receives dreams of his true destiny as ruler of the planet Majipoor. In Majipoor Chronicles, the planet’s bloodthirsty history is revealed through tales of rulers and thieves. And in the final novel, Valentine Pontifex, Valentine faces the threat of civil war as well as conspiracy within his court.

This is the definitive collection of one of the century''s finest fantasists & features introductions by some of the biggest names in the field. Includes an afterword by Ray Bradbury & Harlan Ellison.

Eleven science fiction stories from noted authors exploring some of their most popular worlds. The universe of the mind is a limitless expanse of wonders, filled with worlds and secrets that cannot be fully explored within the pages of a single novel. Here, science fiction''s most beloved and highly honored writers revisit their best-known worlds in perhaps the greatest concentration of science fiction ever in one volume. Featuring stories by: Ursula K. Le Guin Joe Halderman Orson Scott Card David Brin Robert Silverberg Dan Simmons Nancy Kress Frederik Pohl Gregory Benford Anne McCaffrey Greg Bear Praise for Far Horizons "Editor Silverberg here does for science fiction series what he did for fantasy sagas in Legends: Stories by the Masters of Modern Fantasy by presenting eleven noted authors of famous series, each exploring some aspect of theirs that they did not find a way of dealing with in the books of the series proper. . . . The stories remain true to their universes and characters, so they deliver good first-contact experiences for series novices as well as happy reading for longtime fans." — Booklist "A sampler of the best of the genre. Highly recommended for series fans and newcomers alike and a good choice for most sf collections." — Library Journal "An ideal combination of the reassuringly familiar and the excitingly new: should prove as popular as its fantasy predecessor." — Kirkus Reviews

In the sequel to Lord Valentine''s Castle, the history of Majipoor is revealed through thrilling tales of rulers, warriors, murderers, and thieves. "If you like tales with an Arabian Nights piquancy, this book belongs in your hands." — The Washington Post Book World Lord Valentine has claimed the title of Coronal, ruling over the gigantic planet of Majipoor. Yet he still remembers Hissune, the boy who aided him in his time of wandering, and gives him a post in the House of Records. In a catalogue of ancient reports, Hissune discovers the Register of Souls, a repository of millions of memories of long-dead explorers, pioneers, warriors, even Coronals and Pontifexes. He begins to immerse himself into their lives—and finds himself experiencing first-hand the vast history of Majipoor . . . "Majipoor is probably the finest creation of Silverberg''s powerful imagination and certainly one of the most fully realized worlds of modern science fiction." — Booklist