Interworld

Interworld #1

by Isidore Haiblum, Laurence Kresek

Paperback

Genres: Science Fiction

256 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1977

About the author

A quintessential New Yorker, Isidore Haiblum grew up a Yiddish-speaker in a home that was filled with music, books and the sounds of Eastern European languages.

As a young man, Izzy, as he was known to his friends, showed the sharp intellect, boundless curiosity and vivid wit that characterized him as a person and as a writer. He delved into politics and was a champion of civil rights and social justice. He also developed a lifetime passion for music.

At City College of New York, he earned an honors degree for his knowledge of English literature and Yiddish, as well as his gifts as a writer. Despite an affinity for teaching, he chose the more difficult path of becoming an independent author. His 18 published novels carry the unmistakable mark of his quirky sense of humor and fine-tuned ear for languages. They also reflect his love for New York City and the miles walked as he worked out plots. His books have been translated into eight languages.

Reviews

[Rex Fantastic · Rating 3 out of 5]

Roger Zelazny was apt in calling this book a mix of hard-boiled and zany. The plot was very thin and later becomes almost irrelevant, but I enjoyed the writing style for most of the book, perhaps because I had never read anything quite like it. An amusing, fast paced, and not all together unpleasant read. If you happen to have a copy lying around and enjoy old, mediocre sci-fi and/or old, mediocre detective novels, then give it a whirl.

[David Merrill · Rating 3 out of 5]

My rating would be 2 1/2 stars.

This book has been in my collection since the mid 70's. I bought it at a beach variety store on Long Beach Island that carried overstock items. You don't see too many of those any more. I bought it and a few other science fiction books for about a quarter apiece. They were coverless. Back then I didn't know they were that way because publishers took returns of books from stores allowing them to send back just the cover. The books were then to be destroyed and recycled. I think it sat on my shelf unread for so long because it had no cover art to pull me in. I picked it up after a re-read of When Gravity Fails because it seemed to have a bit of a noir hard boiled detective feel in the beginning. Unfortunately that was not maintained throughout. Flash forward nearly 40 years and today we have the technology for me to pull the cover image off the web, tape it to Bristol board and make my own front cover to protect it while I'm reading it. Pretty cool.

Haiblum was definitely trying to channel Philip K. Dick with this one. The character names remind me of those Dick would use, but the characters themselves are cardboard and wooden. I didn't really care what happened to any of them. He manages to imitate the frenetic plot pace but the structure of the story falls short.

[Stephen Rowland · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really had no idea what the hell was going on but, as I am quickly running out of science fiction to read, I read the entire thing.