Robot: Rivista di fantascienza n 14

Robot #14

by Edward Bryant, Frederik Pohl, Fritz Leiber

Minuscoli extraterrestri scendono sulla Terra in missione esplorativa, ma incappano in un uomo pieno di debiti; e allora cominciano i guai. Gli aliens sono gentili, simpatici, vorrebbero rendersi utili: quale potrà essere Il dono di Garigolli (The Gift of Garigolli)? Ce lo rivelano spiritosamente Frederik Pohl e Cyril Kornbluth.
Frederik Pohl da solo ci trascina invece nel drammatico mondo dove orride creature Comperavano gente (We Purchased People), usandole senza pietà.
A risollevare il morale ci pensa Fritz Leiber con la sua Brutta giornata per gli affari (A Bad Day for Sales); e Franco Giambalvo ci concede altre quattro risate alle spalle di Gil Koko, un poveraccio finito nelle grinfie della Galatto-tour.
Tra il serio e il faceto Il mecenate (Patron of the Arts) di William Rotsler mpara a proprie spese che la creatività artistica può essere un tremendo mezzo di seduzione; e Edward Bryant, per chiudere, intona una mesta Canzone d'amore (Love Song of Herself), mostrandoci un futuro in cui una gigantesca creatura divora ogni forma di vita terrestre.
Che brividi!

160 pages, Paperback

Published May 1, 1977

About the author

Edward Winslow Bryant, Jr. was born August 27, 1945 in White Plains NY and was raised on a cattle ranch in Wyoming. He attended the University of Wyoming, where he earned a Master’s in English in 1968 and ’69. He went to the Clarion Writers’ Workshop in 1968. In 1972 he moved to Denver CO, where he founded the Northern Colorado Writers Workshop. He helped found and run many other workshops and classes as well, including the Colorado Springs Writers Workshop.

Bryant was an accomplished science-fiction writer, mostly of short stories. He began publishing SF work with “They Come Only in Dreams” and “Sending the Very Best”, both in January 1970. For the next two decades he was a frequent contributor to magazines and anthologies, and though his fictional output slowed in the ’90s, he was still active as a critic. He was a familiar figure at conventions, especially in Colorado fandom. He was a frequent guest at the World Horror Convention, and chaired the 2000 convention in Denver.

With Harlan Ellison he wrote Phoenix without Ashes (1978), and solo short novel Fetish appeared in 1991. He also edited 2076: The American Tricentennial (1977), and was an editor for Wormhole Books. He wrote screenplays and occasionally appeared in films.

--excerpted from Locus Publications