To Be Continued

The Collected Stories of Robert Silverberg #1

by Robert Silverberg

OThough none of his best-known or award-winning stories are included, these selections, which Silverberg deems the best of his early era, illustrate his apprenticeship and presage the Grand Master he has become.ON"Publishers Weekly"

Genres: Science Fiction, Short Stories, Fiction, 20th Century, Collections, Anthologies

396 pages, Paperback

First published August 30, 2006

About the author

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Robert Silverberg is a highly celebrated American science fiction author and editor known for his prolific output and literary range. Over a career spanning decades, he has won multiple Hugo and Nebula Awards and was named a Grand Master by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America in 2004. Inducted into the Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame in 1999, Silverberg is recognized for both his immense productivity and his contributions to the genre's evolution.
Born in Brooklyn, he began writing in his teens and won his first Hugo Award in 1956 as the best new writer. Throughout the 1950s, he produced vast amounts of fiction, often under pseudonyms, and was known for writing up to a million words a year. When the market declined, he diversified into other genres, including historical nonfiction and erotica.
Silverberg’s return to science fiction in the 1960s marked a shift toward deeper psychological and literary themes, contributing significantly to the New Wave movement. Acclaimed works from this period include Downward to the Earth, Dying Inside, Nightwings, and The World Inside. In the 1980s, he launched the Majipoor series with Lord Valentine’s Castle, creating one of the most imaginative planetary settings in science fiction.
Though he announced his retirement from writing in the mid-1970s, Silverberg returned with renewed vigor and continued to publish acclaimed fiction into the 1990s. He received further recognition with the Nebula-winning Sailing to Byzantium and the Hugo-winning Gilgamesh in the Outback.
Silverberg has also played a significant role as an editor and anthologist, shaping science fiction literature through both his own work and his influence on others. He lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with his wife, author Karen Haber.

Reviews

[Greg · Rating 3 out of 5]

COUNTDOWN: Mid-20th Century North American Crime
BOOK/Short 91 (of 250)
"The Inquisitor" - After reading this work 1957 , I flashed to the current Mueller investigations: This 1950's work is relevant today. I couldn't find a separate ISBN number, so I placed this short story here, as shorts were sometimes retitled. And this short had to go into my top 100: it connects to today's headlines in an obtuse way.
HOOK=4: "...there were 3 prisoners waiting to be interrogated," opens the story. In today's news, there is much about questions, interrogations, etc., and I was intrigued.
PACE=3: Nicely done short fiction.
PLOT=4: Are all 3 prisoners accused of treason to be found guilty? Is one a traitor...to the others? And about the titular Inquisitor: much more is going on here than one might initially think. Should we be suspicicious of the Inquisitor. Well, we must, today, research carefully everyone.
CHARACTERS=3: The point here is the man making the decisions.
PLACE=3: A cold, brutalist room: perhaps the last room 'out of prison' a man or men may see. This is a tough story.
SUMMARY=3.4. Yes, this is crime fiction with a tinge of syfy. And it's a must for crime/mystery fans.

[Craig Childs · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a collection of twenty-four pieces of short fiction Robert Silverberg wrote between 1954-1958. He selected these as the best work from his prolific early period.

According to the most complete bibliographies available, Silverberg published 15 sci-fi novels and at least 329 stories, novellas, and novelettes between his first sale in 1953 and the end of the decade. (Strangely, none of the stories written in 1959 made the cut for this volume.) That's not even counting the softcore adult books he wrote on the side as a means of generating fast income to support his family.

Note: This volume supersedes the 1996 short story collection The Road to Nightfall. It contains all the same stories, plus several more.

Gorgon Planet - A team of explorers discovers a planet with a living gorgon, a creature of myth that can seemingly turn a man to stone with a single look. This is the author's first published fiction. Also published as "The Fight with the Gorgon".

The Road to Nightfall - After the food runs out in post-atomic America, half of which is radioactive wasteland, one man tries to maintain his dignity as civilization collapses around him into cannibalism and anarchy. The author provides a lively introduction explaining how Harlan Ellison intervened to find a publisher for this bleak, relentless story.

The Silent Colony - An ancient immortal race of aliens unexpectedly finds a planet of newborn babies of their same species. I thought this story had a lot of potential, but it was squandered by an abrupt surprise ending.

Absolutely Inflexible - Mahler is the government official charged with finding time travelers from the past and exiling them before they can infect humanity with diseases eradicated long ago. However, he finds himself caught in an infinite causality loop after he is presented with a device that can travel both forwards and backwards in time. This is the first time travel story I have read which has addressed the issue of travelers carrying dangerous contagions, which is a neat spin. The paradox angle was fun but not particularly sophisticated.

The MacAuley Circuit - A engineer invents a music synthesizer that can compose music without need of humans. Silverberg was probably not the first sci-fi author to postulate whether technology can create art, but he was an early adopter of the theme. This story came out a few years before Lloyd Biggle Jr.'s better known "The Tunesmith". Silverberg deserves some recognition for how accurate his prediction of synthesizer technology turned out.

The Songs of Summer - A time traveler from New York, 1956, accidentally winds up in the 35th century, where he tries to bring back modern civilization to an agrarian society. Includes many now-familiar s/f tropes such as telepathy, group-mind or hive intelligence, and the idea we could be living inside a world of our own imagination. This was the author's first attempt at using multiple narrators and points of view within a single story.

To Be Continued - Gaius was born during the Roman Empire, but he ages 100 times slower than a normal man. He finally reaches maturity in the 1950's, but can he find a woman worthy of mothering immortal children? Light-hearted and imaginative.

Alaree - Astronauts encounter an alien who is part of a group consciousness, but prolonged exposure to humans teaches it individualism, with tragic results.

The Artifact Business - Archaeologists travel to other planets to search for the antiquities of long-dead alien civilizations.

Collecting Team--A team of zoologists capture alien animals to take back to earth's zoos. Today, they are about to find the thin line between collecting and being collected. One of Silverberg's most oft-anthologized short stories. Originally published as "Catch 'Em All Alive!"

A Man of Talent-- An underappreciated poet flees to a lonely planet where he can practice his art without interruption or criticism. This story is a clunky expository examination of the artist's life. It deals with big questions but does not find many answers: Should you write to satisfy yourself or others? Can anyone be an artist, or does it take a special level of talent? What is an artist without an audience?

One Way Journey-- When an earthman falls in love with an ugly cow-like alien girl, a psychoanalyst puts him under regressive hypnosis to find out what triggered his mental divergence. Not only does this story seem to endorse a view that physical beauty trumps love and affection, it also contains some very bad pseudoscience about the effects of birth trauma.

Sunrise on Mercury-- A scientific expedition lands too close to the sunside of Mercury and must race against time and an unknown alien presence to save themselves. Reminded me of some of the best Asimov man-versus-nature adventure stories.

A World of a Thousand Colors-- A man commits murder in order to go to a world filled with sentient beings of light. Notable for its startling imagery and use of color, which the author states was modeled on the techniques of Jack Vance.

Warm Man-- An empath comes to a small New York suburb. A smart social satire that shows the author's developing range. Reminded me of Harlan Ellison's "Try a Dull Knife," only more coherent and accessible.

Blaze of Glory-- A hot-headed communications officer sacrifices himself to save his ship, but was it heroism or murder?

Why? -- Two beleaguered explorers are visiting their 164th planet in 11 years, and they are questioning why they feel compelled to sacrifice their lives in the lonely deep of space. A decent story but gets bogged down in heavy-handed philosophical wondering.

The Outbreeders--Human clans have lived apart for 400 years, but two young lovers are determined to end the inbreeding and bring them together. A maudlin re-imagining of Romeo and Juliet on an isolated alien planet.

The Man Who Never Forgot-- A man is cursed with the ability of perfect recall-- every face, name, date, event, and conversation all the way back to his birth.

There Was an Old Woman-- A woman raises 31 identical twins in a social experiment with a dark result. This story is more sophisticated than it sounds. The author was decades ahead of his time in describing in vitro fertilization, a topic that he would also later address in his novel Thorns.

The Iron Chancellor--A robotic chef with a built-in dieting function goes berserk and tries to starve its owners to death. A funny tale that deliberately resembles the works of Henry Kuttner.

Ozymandias-- Archaeologists find a robot with the stored knowledge of a civilization that died a million years ago. Highly engaging. Makes use of the author's love of archaeology and lost civilizations.

Counterpart-- A failed actor and an aspiring politician have each other's memories grafted into their brains in the hopes to increase their ability to build empathy with their audiences. The mechanism of memory transfer was badly dated, but this story shows greater depth of characterization and nuanced inner conflict than anything else I have read from Silverberg in the 1950's.

Delivery Guaranteed--A space ferry is hired to transport museum relics from Venus to Ganymede. The author wrote this story on spec based on a piece of magazine cover art. He turned a really cheesy painting into a light, fun, engaging little space opera.

[Ignacio · Rating 2 out of 5]

Decepcionante lectura cuyo interés fundamental radica en dos aspectos: bien testar cómo se desenvolvía Silverberg en los primeros años de su carrera; bien en las introducciones a cada relato donde el autor de Muero por dentro recuerda aquellos años 50 en los que se convirtió en un mercenario de la palabra. Básicamente un trienio durante el cual, a ritmo de 20 relatos al mes, inundaba las revistas de la época para ganarse un suculento jornal. Hay aventuras espaciales coloristas ("Collecting Team", "Sunrise on Mercury"), historias clasicotas centradas en el giro final ("Absolutely Inflexible"), relatos simpáticos con mala baba ("The Iron Chancellor", "Warm Man"), otros donde comienza a verse el interés por la forma y las ideas que serían habituales en los 60 ("Why?", "There was an old woman", "Counterpart")... Pero nada especialmente memorable, más cuando recuerdo material que estaban escribiendo entonces no ya Bradbury, Sturgeon, Leiber, Sheckley o Matheson. Colecciones con buenos relatos de la época de Damon Knight, C. L. Moore o Robert F. Young son mucho más recomendables que este libro. Por su contenido, furgón de cola de los segundos espadas

[Earl Truss · Rating 3 out of 5]

The stories were a bit dated. After all they were written in the 50's. Actually, I did like a lot them even though they are that old.

[Fantasy Literature · Rating 4 out of 5]

Though To Be Continued: 1953-1958 is the first official volume of the definitive collection of Robert Silverberg's short stories, it should be read after In the Beginning: Tales from the Pulp Era (1955-1959), a collection of short stories that overlaps with To Be Continued only in terms of chronology: There are absolutely no stories duplicated in the two volumes, and in To Be Continued, Silverberg makes frequent reference to In the Beginning which, like To Be Continued, has the same autobiographical introductions to every story.

Having now read these first two volumes, I am fairly certain Silverberg would want readers to finish In the Beginning... Read More: http://www.fantasyliterature.com/revi...

[Michael Samerdyke · Rating 5 out of 5]

Not every story in this book is a masterpiece, but the book as a whole is a terrific experience.

You can see Silverberg developing as a writer in this collection of his Fifties stories. His introductions to the stories make a story in themself, as he reveals his interactions with editors and his changing attitude toward the genre.

What surprised me was how dark or ironic Silverberg's vision was. Usually we think of the Fifties and Fifties science fiction as bright and cheerful. However, Silverberg's stories usually end with someone's doom or humanity being doomed (in the long run), or victory at the cost of someone's life. The universe usually gets the last laugh, not the protagonist.

Best stories, to me were "The Macauley Circuit," "To Be Continued," "Sunrise on Mercury," "World of a Thousand Colors," "The Man Who Never Forgot," and "Counterpart." There were several others that were very good, such as the famous "Warm Man" and "The Iron Chancellor."

Highly recommended for those interested in science fiction.

[Cora · Rating 4 out of 5]

To Be Continued is a collection of short stories written by Robert Silverberg at the beginning of his career. Silverberg was a very prolific author who produced hundreds of stories for publication in the science fiction magazines of the 1950s. He made a good living doing so, but he admits that not all of his stories were high quality. In the first volume of the collection of his stories he includes those that he thought were worth preserving. I liked a lot of the stories in the book and a few I will probably even remember. The best part of the collection, for me, was the introduction of each story which included the history of that story, why it was written, where it was published, etc. It felt like I was reading the history of early science fiction and how to make a living writing during that time. If you have any interest in the golden age of science fiction, it is worth reading the collection of this prolific writer.

[Riju Ganguly · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nowhere close to the classics that would make us go ga-ga over his writing, the stories in this book still manages to flash the promise of greatness that Silverberg would later unleash upon us. Compared to its companion volume 'In The Beginning', which was full of hackwork, this book also contains actually readable stuff. And amidst the pulpy stereotypes which were all about WASP-s taking mega strides across galaxy, there were some jewels like 'Warm Man' and 'Ozymandias'.
Not a must buy, especially in these politically correct ambience. But if you want to read a (somewhat mixed) bag full of stories, then this is a good volume.

[Edith]

Don’t read this collection for the sake of the stories. Read what Silverberg says about writing and selling unapologetic potboilers at a punishing pace. The stories are just there as placeholders and examples of his output and evolution as a writer.

[Larry · Rating 3 out of 5]

Stories from the 50s, when 'SF' meant space travel, time travel and robots.
Nostalgic.
Not his best work, but I enjoyed reading these early stories from the young author when he was getting started. The intros and biographical material were also interesting.

[James · Rating 3 out of 5]

Stories very much of their time, but still enjoyable for all that. Each story is accompanied by an autobiographical note from Silverberg giving some context for how the story came to be written/published, and they add up to a fascinating glimpse of the history of science fiction.

[Bri (the short story guy)]

Gorgon Planet 4/5

[Timothy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Gorgon Planet (1954)
The Road to Nightfall (1958)
The Silent Colony (1954)
Absolutely Inflexible (1956)
The Macauley Circuit (1956)
The Songs of Summer (1956)
To Be Continued (1956)
Alaree (1958)
The Artifact Business (1957)
Collecting Team (1956)
A Man of Talent (1966)
One-Way Journey (1957)
Sunrise on Mercury (1957)
World of a Thousand Colors (1957)
Warm Man (1957)
Blaze of Glory (1957)
Why? (1957)
The Outbreeders (1959)
The Man Who Never Forgot (1958)
There Was an Old Woman (1958)
The Iron Chancellor (1958)
Ozymandias (1958)
Counterpart (1959)
Delivery Guaranteed (1959)

[Jared Millet · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'd forgotten how much I adored Silverberg as a short story writer. One of my earliest exposures to SF literature was the Denham Springs Junior High's library copy of a Silverberg collection that I'm 90% sure was Sunrise on Mercury . I devoured it, then got distracted by Asimov, Clarke, Herbert, and Piers for-the-love-of-god Anthony and never came back for more until Subterranean Press started practically giving away Silverberg's retrospective collections on Ebook.

The stories in Volume 1 cover the period in the mid-fifties when Silverberg was just starting out as a professinal writer and managed to jump on the tail-end of the SF magazine bandwagon before the market collapsed. There is a personal introduction to each story, so the book also serves as an autobiography. The man was amazingly prolific, and it's staggering to think that what's included here represents only a tiny fraction of the work he was actually producing at the time. Sometimes Silverberg seems fairly self-conscious about the fact that he was more willing to do hackwork to pay the bills than his contemporaries, but the stories in this volume strike just the right balance between sheer pulpy goodness and actual decent writing, at least for my taste.

In starting with Vol. 1, I see that I actually skipped the "Vol. Zero" book: In the Beginning: Tales from the Pulp Era . I'll probably back up and tackle that one next before plunging forward.

[Marc · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've read most of these stories before, some of them two or three times. And I thoroughly enjoyed reading them again.

This first volume of an 8-book series of collected short stories contains the best of Silverberg's early work. While some of the stories are hokey, they're still fun to read, and Silverberg's autobiographical commentaries on each story are at least as interesting as the stories themselves.

For my money, Silverberg is one of the best, if not the best, SF short story writer of all time. The only other author whose short work is as consistently satisfying is Philip K. Dick, and Silverberg is a better stylist.

Highly recommended for anyone who enjoys old-fashioned SF.

[Joseph · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great set of books from Subterranean Press reprinting Silverberg's sci fi short stories chronologically.

This is his earliest work, and as such has some rough edges, but from the hop Silverberg was a craftsman. While some of the stories lack his later emotional power, they are solid, if at times workmanlike. The prefatory material is very worthwhile, and I find it fascinating to watch the steady growth of Silverberg as a writer. And there are some strong pieces here, and much adventure and wonder.

[Ed · Rating 3 out of 5]

It is full of solid stories by an upcoming young writer. A nice touch are the short and fascinating biographical essay which preface each story. These provide an excellent view of the science fiction community of the 1950s.

[Adam Meek · Rating 4 out of 5]

An excellent collection of early Silverberg tales. Silverberg is just hitting his stride and finding his voice in this period, so we have stories in the mode of Vance, Kornbluth, and Sheckley, all geared for the magazines of the day.

[Frank Taranto · Rating 4 out of 5]

The early short SF of Silverberg. The stories are still enjoyable 50 years after they were written. His later genius is foreshadowed here.

[David Blyth]

Introduction - Article - (8/10)
Gorgon Planet - Short Story - Originally published in Nebula Science Fiction No: 7 February 1954 - (7/10)