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Urban Nucleus #2
Catacomb Years
Contents:
Prelude: The Domes (1978)
If a Flower Could Eclipse (1970)
Interlude: The Testimony of Leland Turner (1979)
Old Folks at Home (1978)
Interlude: The City Takes Care of Its Own (1979)
The Windows in Dante's Hell (1973)
Interlude: Volplaning Heroes (1979)
The Samurai and the Willows (1976)
Interlude: First Councilor Lesser (1979)
Allegiances (1975)
Interlude: The Cradle Begins to Rock (1979)
At the Dixie-Apple with the Shoofly-Pie Kid (1977)
Interlude: The Fall of Saganella Lesser (1979)
Death Rehearsals (1979)
Prelude: The Domes (1978)
If a Flower Could Eclipse (1970)
Interlude: The Testimony of Leland Turner (1979)
Old Folks at Home (1978)
Interlude: The City Takes Care of Its Own (1979)
The Windows in Dante's Hell (1973)
Interlude: Volplaning Heroes (1979)
The Samurai and the Willows (1976)
Interlude: First Councilor Lesser (1979)
Allegiances (1975)
Interlude: The Cradle Begins to Rock (1979)
At the Dixie-Apple with the Shoofly-Pie Kid (1977)
Interlude: The Fall of Saganella Lesser (1979)
Death Rehearsals (1979)
296 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1979
99 people want to read
About the author
Michael Bishop
308 books105 followersMichael Lawson Bishop was an award-winning American writer. Over four decades & thirty books, he created a body of work that stands among the most admired in modern sf & fantasy literature.
Bishop received a bachelor's from the Univ. of Georgia in 1967, going on to complete a master's in English. He taught English at the US Air Force Academy Preparatory School in Colorado Springs from 1968-72 & then at the Univ. of Georgia. He also taught a course in science fiction at the US Air Force Academy in 1971. He left teaching in 1974 to become a full-time writer.
Bishop won the Nebula in 1981 for The Quickening (Best Novelette) & in 1982 for No Enemy But Time (Best Novel). He's also received four Locus Awards & his work has been nominated for numerous Hugos. He & British author Ian Watson collaborated on a novel set in the universe of one of Bishop’s earlier works. He's also written two mystery novels with Paul Di Filippo, under the joint pseudonym Philip Lawson. His work has been translated into over a dozen languages.
Bishop has published more than 125 pieces of short fiction which have been gathered in seven collections. His stories have appeared in Playboy, Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine, Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine, Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine, the Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, the Missouri Review, the Indiana Review, the Chattahoochee Review, the Georgia Review, Omni & Interzone.
In addition to fiction, Bishop has published poetry gathered in two collections & won the 1979 Rhysling Award for his poem For the Lady of a Physicist. He's also had essays & reviews published in the NY Times, the Washington Post, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, the Columbus Ledger-Enquirer, Omni Magazine & the NY Review of Science Fiction. A collection of his nonfiction, A Reverie for Mister Ray, was issued in 2005 by PS Publishing. He's written introductions to books by Philip K. Dick, Theodore Sturgeon, James Tiptree, Jr., Pamela Sargent, Gardner Dozois, Lucius Shepard, Mary Shelley, Andy Duncan, Paul Di Filippo, Bruce Holland Rogers & Rhys Hughes. He's edited six anthologies, including the Locus Award-winning Light Years & Dark & A Cross of Centuries: 25 Imaginative Tales about the Christ, published by Thunder’s Mouth Press shortly before the company closed.
In recent years, Bishop has returned to teaching & is writer-in-residence at LaGrange College located near his home in Pine Mountain, GA. He & his wife, Jeri, have a daughter & two grandchildren. His son, Christopher James Bishop, was one of the victims of the Virginia Tech massacre on 4/16/07.
Bishop received a bachelor's from the Univ. of Georgia in 1967, going on to complete a master's in English. He taught English at the US Air Force Academy Preparatory School in Colorado Springs from 1968-72 & then at the Univ. of Georgia. He also taught a course in science fiction at the US Air Force Academy in 1971. He left teaching in 1974 to become a full-time writer.
Bishop won the Nebula in 1981 for The Quickening (Best Novelette) & in 1982 for No Enemy But Time (Best Novel). He's also received four Locus Awards & his work has been nominated for numerous Hugos. He & British author Ian Watson collaborated on a novel set in the universe of one of Bishop’s earlier works. He's also written two mystery novels with Paul Di Filippo, under the joint pseudonym Philip Lawson. His work has been translated into over a dozen languages.
Bishop has published more than 125 pieces of short fiction which have been gathered in seven collections. His stories have appeared in Playboy, Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine, Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine, Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine, the Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, the Missouri Review, the Indiana Review, the Chattahoochee Review, the Georgia Review, Omni & Interzone.
In addition to fiction, Bishop has published poetry gathered in two collections & won the 1979 Rhysling Award for his poem For the Lady of a Physicist. He's also had essays & reviews published in the NY Times, the Washington Post, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, the Columbus Ledger-Enquirer, Omni Magazine & the NY Review of Science Fiction. A collection of his nonfiction, A Reverie for Mister Ray, was issued in 2005 by PS Publishing. He's written introductions to books by Philip K. Dick, Theodore Sturgeon, James Tiptree, Jr., Pamela Sargent, Gardner Dozois, Lucius Shepard, Mary Shelley, Andy Duncan, Paul Di Filippo, Bruce Holland Rogers & Rhys Hughes. He's edited six anthologies, including the Locus Award-winning Light Years & Dark & A Cross of Centuries: 25 Imaginative Tales about the Christ, published by Thunder’s Mouth Press shortly before the company closed.
In recent years, Bishop has returned to teaching & is writer-in-residence at LaGrange College located near his home in Pine Mountain, GA. He & his wife, Jeri, have a daughter & two grandchildren. His son, Christopher James Bishop, was one of the victims of the Virginia Tech massacre on 4/16/07.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
October 29, 2019
2-3 stars.
This book is meant to be a look at the lives of characters living in cities under domes across a period from 1994 to 2080, but the vision isn't particular interesting or exciting. It certainly starts off strongly with a first-person narrative enticing the reader with a mystery... but that ends. And now we're onto a third-person account of geriatrics living in a communal relationship... and then there's the story of the dancers, or something. Chapters alternate between perspectives, but Bishop feels stronger and more interesting in the first-person; however the stories contained in the chapters aren't all that interesting, and the interlinking connection between characters and the domes isn't compelling. We're told there is a future history here, yet the book itself only covers 100 years leaving another book to cover another period of time (a similar period I believe), and Bishop's first published novel referencing the Urban Nuclei he had already imagined in the first few pages. There is a basic story in this 380 page book, but the "story" only covers Chapters One, Five, Six and Seven... essentially. The final revelations are not going to be everyone's cup of tea. Personally, as I've stated about Dick's The Divine Invasion, I find gnosticism quite interesting, and these final parts of the book stopped me skim reading and start proper reading until the book wrapped itself up. Others, on the other hand, would probably prefer to throw the book through a window. There never felt like a genuine search for identity, or faith, throughout the chapters to make this part of the story compelling or heartfelt in the end. And that's disappointing.
Other than that, there's a lot of pointing out of black characters, and not a single character described as being white: it came across as a quintessential example of the "default white character". But Bishop gives blacks main roles along with his whites, and I liked that, so I can't fault him there.
This book is meant to be a look at the lives of characters living in cities under domes across a period from 1994 to 2080, but the vision isn't particular interesting or exciting. It certainly starts off strongly with a first-person narrative enticing the reader with a mystery... but that ends. And now we're onto a third-person account of geriatrics living in a communal relationship... and then there's the story of the dancers, or something. Chapters alternate between perspectives, but Bishop feels stronger and more interesting in the first-person; however the stories contained in the chapters aren't all that interesting, and the interlinking connection between characters and the domes isn't compelling. We're told there is a future history here, yet the book itself only covers 100 years leaving another book to cover another period of time (a similar period I believe), and Bishop's first published novel referencing the Urban Nuclei he had already imagined in the first few pages. There is a basic story in this 380 page book, but the "story" only covers Chapters One, Five, Six and Seven... essentially. The final revelations are not going to be everyone's cup of tea. Personally, as I've stated about Dick's The Divine Invasion, I find gnosticism quite interesting, and these final parts of the book stopped me skim reading and start proper reading until the book wrapped itself up. Others, on the other hand, would probably prefer to throw the book through a window. There never felt like a genuine search for identity, or faith, throughout the chapters to make this part of the story compelling or heartfelt in the end. And that's disappointing.
Other than that, there's a lot of pointing out of black characters, and not a single character described as being white: it came across as a quintessential example of the "default white character". But Bishop gives blacks main roles along with his whites, and I liked that, so I can't fault him there.
March 3, 2020
Full review: https://sciencefictionruminations.com...
"Michael Bishop’s Catacomb Years (1979) takes the form of a complex and multi-layered future history of a single city, the Urban Nucleus of Atlanta, Georgia—entombed/reborn under a vast dome where even the sky is obscured. Over the course of seven short SF works linked by recurring characters (and character references), theme, and chronology Bishop weaves one of the [...]"
"Michael Bishop’s Catacomb Years (1979) takes the form of a complex and multi-layered future history of a single city, the Urban Nucleus of Atlanta, Georgia—entombed/reborn under a vast dome where even the sky is obscured. Over the course of seven short SF works linked by recurring characters (and character references), theme, and chronology Bishop weaves one of the [...]"
August 6, 2020
There are some moving stories in this story suite. It is very much of its time, though a new ebook edition under the title The City and the Cygnets has recently been released which may address those infelicities of the passage of time and changing of fashions.
I recommend it to anyone, even if you have no interest in yesterday's futurism or roller skating.
I recommend it to anyone, even if you have no interest in yesterday's futurism or roller skating.
November 12, 2024
"The whales stayed in the water. Maybe they knew what they were doing. Maybe they knew.
But they rise to the light-."
But they rise to the light-."
August 7, 2011
Talk about getting it wrong...
I hate slamming Bishop, as he's one of the better post-Golden Age sci-fi scribblers.He's literate, highly educated, well traveled; and his work reflects his background. Moreover, he's a fellow army brat, and the VA Tech massacre robbed him of a son exactly ten days before my father succumbed to cancer. This is to say that I respect the man and feel a degree of kinship with him, for all that we've never met or corresponded.
This clunker, though? Feh! As I never leave a book unfinished (even when I'm reading a dozen or more simultaneously), I found myself muttering "Oy, gevalt! My enemies should have such troubles!" with every turn of the page -- and I'm an Anabaptist!
Bishop's futuristic Atlanta bears no resemblance to the real city -- past, present or in the foreseeable future. And I should know -- I've *lived* in metro Atlanta since 1976. Playing Cassandra is a risky and potentially embarrassing game, as most economists, political pundits, self-styled "intellectuals," and SF authors eventually discover. The aforementioned being ivory-tower vocations, one and all; those who pursue them usually miss the action at ground level. Sadly, Bishop missed by a friggerty mile.
Among the predictable, "Well, duh!" historic milestones he never foresaw: 1.) The spectacular, coke-fueled "crash and burn" of Julian Bond's political career; 2.) the emergence of "King Crack" and the subsequent proliferation of street gangs; 3.) the wholesale Mexican colonization of Fulton, Cobb, Cherokee, Forsyth and Gwinnett Counties; 4.)the rise of necon slimeball Newt "Mudpuppy" Gingrich; and the fall of speech-impeded D-4 Rebublicrat Pat S(h)windall (who single-handedly proved that the only good thing ever to come out of Alabama was I-20).
Oh, well. Nobody bats a thousand...
I hate slamming Bishop, as he's one of the better post-Golden Age sci-fi scribblers.He's literate, highly educated, well traveled; and his work reflects his background. Moreover, he's a fellow army brat, and the VA Tech massacre robbed him of a son exactly ten days before my father succumbed to cancer. This is to say that I respect the man and feel a degree of kinship with him, for all that we've never met or corresponded.
This clunker, though? Feh! As I never leave a book unfinished (even when I'm reading a dozen or more simultaneously), I found myself muttering "Oy, gevalt! My enemies should have such troubles!" with every turn of the page -- and I'm an Anabaptist!
Bishop's futuristic Atlanta bears no resemblance to the real city -- past, present or in the foreseeable future. And I should know -- I've *lived* in metro Atlanta since 1976. Playing Cassandra is a risky and potentially embarrassing game, as most economists, political pundits, self-styled "intellectuals," and SF authors eventually discover. The aforementioned being ivory-tower vocations, one and all; those who pursue them usually miss the action at ground level. Sadly, Bishop missed by a friggerty mile.
Among the predictable, "Well, duh!" historic milestones he never foresaw: 1.) The spectacular, coke-fueled "crash and burn" of Julian Bond's political career; 2.) the emergence of "King Crack" and the subsequent proliferation of street gangs; 3.) the wholesale Mexican colonization of Fulton, Cobb, Cherokee, Forsyth and Gwinnett Counties; 4.)the rise of necon slimeball Newt "Mudpuppy" Gingrich; and the fall of speech-impeded D-4 Rebublicrat Pat S(h)windall (who single-handedly proved that the only good thing ever to come out of Alabama was I-20).
Oh, well. Nobody bats a thousand...
August 8, 2009
Weird and enjoyable. Cities of the future are sealed and independent, and this is the story of Atlanta in the future.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews