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Why I Write
Of Solids and Surds
In the fourth volume in the Why I Write series, the iconic Samuel Delany remembers fifty years of writing and shaping the world of speculative fiction
“Delany’s prismatic output is among the most significant, immense and innovative in American letters.”—Jordy Rosenberg, New York Times
“He dispenses wisdom about craft—including the demanding revision process his dyslexia requires—but most moving are the moments when he sheds light on connections he has made with other readers and writers. . . . Delany’s fans are in for a treat.”— Publishers Weekly, starred review
Language is the way humans deal with past, present, and future possibilities, as well as the subset called the probable. This is where Samuel Delany finds his justification for the writing life.
Since the 1960s, occurrences such as Sputnik, school desegregation, and the advent of AIDS have given Delany, as a gay man, as a black man, access to certain truths and facts he could write about, and the language—sometimes fiction, sometimes nonfiction—in which to present them. “We write,” Delany believes, “at the intersection of your experience and mine in a way, I hope, that allows recognition.”
“Delany’s prismatic output is among the most significant, immense and innovative in American letters.”—Jordy Rosenberg, New York Times
“He dispenses wisdom about craft—including the demanding revision process his dyslexia requires—but most moving are the moments when he sheds light on connections he has made with other readers and writers. . . . Delany’s fans are in for a treat.”— Publishers Weekly, starred review
Language is the way humans deal with past, present, and future possibilities, as well as the subset called the probable. This is where Samuel Delany finds his justification for the writing life.
Since the 1960s, occurrences such as Sputnik, school desegregation, and the advent of AIDS have given Delany, as a gay man, as a black man, access to certain truths and facts he could write about, and the language—sometimes fiction, sometimes nonfiction—in which to present them. “We write,” Delany believes, “at the intersection of your experience and mine in a way, I hope, that allows recognition.”
168 pages, Hardcover
Published September 14, 2021
About the author
Samuel R. Delany
289 books2,325 followersSamuel Ray Delany, also known as "Chip," is an award-winning American science fiction author. He was born to a prominent black family on April 1, 1942, and raised in Harlem. His mother, Margaret Carey Boyd Delany, was a library clerk in the New York Public Library system. His father, Samuel Ray Delany, Senior, ran a successful Harlem undertaking establishment, Levy & Delany Funeral Home, on 7th Avenue, between 1938 and his death in 1960. The family lived in the top two floors of the three-story private house between five- and six-story Harlem apartment buildings. Delany's aunts were Sadie and Bessie Delany; Delany used some of their adventures as the basis for the adventures of his characters Elsie and Corry in the opening novella Atlantis: Model 1924 in his book of largely autobiographical stories Atlantis: Three Tales.
Delany attended the Dalton School and the Bronx High School of Science, during which he was selected to attend Camp Rising Sun, the Louis August Jonas Foundation's international summer scholarship program. Delany and poet Marilyn Hacker met in high school, and were married in 1961. Their marriage lasted nineteen years. They had a daughter, Iva Hacker-Delany (b. 1974), who spent a decade working in theater in New York City.
Delany was a published science fiction author by the age of 20. He published nine well-regarded science fiction novels between 1962 and 1968, as well as several prize-winning short stories (collected in Driftglass [1971] and more recently in Aye, and Gomorrah, and other stories [2002]). His eleventh and most popular novel, Dhalgren, was published in 1975. His main literary project through the late 1970s and 1980s was the Return to Nevèrÿon series, the overall title of the four volumes and also the title of the fourth and final book.
Delany has published several autobiographical/semi-autobiographical accounts of his life as a black, gay, and highly dyslexic writer, including his Hugo award winning autobiography, The Motion of Light in Water.
Since 1988, Delany has been a professor at several universities. This includes eleven years as a professor of comparative literature at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, a year and a half as an English professor at the University at Buffalo. He then moved to the English Department of Temple University in 2001, where he has been teaching since. He has had several visiting guest professorships before and during these same years. He has also published several books of criticism, interviews, and essays. In one of his non-fiction books, Times Square Red, Times Square Blue (1999), he draws on personal experience to examine the relationship between the effort to redevelop Times Square and the public sex lives of working-class men, gay and straight, in New York City.
In 2007, Delany was the subject of a documentary film, The Polymath, or, The Life and Opinions of Samuel R. Delany, Gentleman. The film debuted on April 25 at the 2007 Tribeca Film Festival.
Delany attended the Dalton School and the Bronx High School of Science, during which he was selected to attend Camp Rising Sun, the Louis August Jonas Foundation's international summer scholarship program. Delany and poet Marilyn Hacker met in high school, and were married in 1961. Their marriage lasted nineteen years. They had a daughter, Iva Hacker-Delany (b. 1974), who spent a decade working in theater in New York City.
Delany was a published science fiction author by the age of 20. He published nine well-regarded science fiction novels between 1962 and 1968, as well as several prize-winning short stories (collected in Driftglass [1971] and more recently in Aye, and Gomorrah, and other stories [2002]). His eleventh and most popular novel, Dhalgren, was published in 1975. His main literary project through the late 1970s and 1980s was the Return to Nevèrÿon series, the overall title of the four volumes and also the title of the fourth and final book.
Delany has published several autobiographical/semi-autobiographical accounts of his life as a black, gay, and highly dyslexic writer, including his Hugo award winning autobiography, The Motion of Light in Water.
Since 1988, Delany has been a professor at several universities. This includes eleven years as a professor of comparative literature at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, a year and a half as an English professor at the University at Buffalo. He then moved to the English Department of Temple University in 2001, where he has been teaching since. He has had several visiting guest professorships before and during these same years. He has also published several books of criticism, interviews, and essays. In one of his non-fiction books, Times Square Red, Times Square Blue (1999), he draws on personal experience to examine the relationship between the effort to redevelop Times Square and the public sex lives of working-class men, gay and straight, in New York City.
In 2007, Delany was the subject of a documentary film, The Polymath, or, The Life and Opinions of Samuel R. Delany, Gentleman. The film debuted on April 25 at the 2007 Tribeca Film Festival.
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Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews
December 29, 2021
Well, I too, like Horace, write because I believe it is possible—sometimes—for one to educate while one delights.
I have no idea what the title ‘Of Solids and Surds’ refers to after having read this, suffice it to say it is a collection of 68 notes based loosely on the question: ‘Why do I write?’ As a corollary, Delany asks: ‘Why do we read?’ Being Delany, a gregarious and generous observer of both his craft, humanity and the arts in general, this book quickly becomes a deep dive into his extensive oeuvre, writing and life experience.
I think this book is best aimed at the long-time Delany reader. Alternatively, if you are looking for a way into ‘reading’ Delany, it is a broad enough overview of his entire oeuvre – from his early SF and fantasy to his later academic and gay writing – to be able to discern an entry point that interests you.
‘Of Solids and Surds’ is an ideal companion piece to ‘Letters from Amherst’. Always generous yet rigorous in his writing, whether musing on the intricacies of galactic superclusters or the function of neologisms in SF, Delany takes a look back at his long career and why he ended up writing the kinds of books he did, and what subject matter has held a perennial fascination for him.
Here three books in particular are a key focus: ‘Atlantis: Model 1924’, about the poet Hart Crane, which Delany says is the most research-heavy and experimental writing he has ever done; ‘The Tales of Plagues and Carnivals’, written at the onset of the AIDS pandemic, and which would soon see Delany labelled as a ‘pornographer’ due to his insistence in later fiction such as ‘The Mad Man’ and ‘Through the Valley of the Nest of Spiders’ on correctly portraying the mechanics of gay sex; and ‘Dark Reflections’, Delany’s bow-shot warning to his creative writing students that the life of a writer is often lonely, penurious and obscure:
That’s why, today, so many of us teach. I would like to be able to say to the young, “You think you have it rough? Well, when I was your age …” But I can’t. Today’s young folks, especially in the arts, have a much harder time than those of us – who now have some sort of track record and, possibly, tenure – did fifty years ago when we started. I wish it were otherwise. It would be healthier for the entire country.
Delany also looks back at what he terms the height of his writing prowess, roughly spanning his 30s to his 50s, and how ageing and generally deteriorating health has affected his life (he is 79). He reflects on the halcyon time when ‘Dhalgren’ was a bestseller, and how the later phases of his writing career have relegated him to being a ‘mid-list’ writer in publishing terms, meaning relative obscurity in both sales and public recognition. (These are the most poignant parts of the book.)
I feel as though I have become extremely dependent on the kind and skilful people who help me, including my partner and my assistant, but at the same time I am aware that I lack all sorts of abilities that seem to get worse because of increasing short-term forgetfulness and the failure to be able to create new habits in under six weeks. Something as simple as keeping two pill cases stocked with six nighttime pills and eight daytime pills has become a biweekly task that I do not think at this point I could accomplish by myself – or at least it would take substantially longer than it does with my assistant to help, who does not have my short-term memory failings.
Those failures of memory have already made it extremely difficult to continue writing fiction.
Delany also writes frankly about his lifelong struggle with dyslexia, and how this impacts his writing process (for example, he is a “grammar fanatic” as a result). He also looks at how SF has evolved from a ‘paraliterary’ genre to being the only legitimate literary form currently able to grapple with the impact of technology on society.
One of the fun aspects is that the copy-editor’s notes have been retained as footnotes, including Delany’s patient responses, resulting in a kind of delightful sparring that brings out the writer’s impish side. A truly wonderful book.
I have no idea what the title ‘Of Solids and Surds’ refers to after having read this, suffice it to say it is a collection of 68 notes based loosely on the question: ‘Why do I write?’ As a corollary, Delany asks: ‘Why do we read?’ Being Delany, a gregarious and generous observer of both his craft, humanity and the arts in general, this book quickly becomes a deep dive into his extensive oeuvre, writing and life experience.
I think this book is best aimed at the long-time Delany reader. Alternatively, if you are looking for a way into ‘reading’ Delany, it is a broad enough overview of his entire oeuvre – from his early SF and fantasy to his later academic and gay writing – to be able to discern an entry point that interests you.
‘Of Solids and Surds’ is an ideal companion piece to ‘Letters from Amherst’. Always generous yet rigorous in his writing, whether musing on the intricacies of galactic superclusters or the function of neologisms in SF, Delany takes a look back at his long career and why he ended up writing the kinds of books he did, and what subject matter has held a perennial fascination for him.
Here three books in particular are a key focus: ‘Atlantis: Model 1924’, about the poet Hart Crane, which Delany says is the most research-heavy and experimental writing he has ever done; ‘The Tales of Plagues and Carnivals’, written at the onset of the AIDS pandemic, and which would soon see Delany labelled as a ‘pornographer’ due to his insistence in later fiction such as ‘The Mad Man’ and ‘Through the Valley of the Nest of Spiders’ on correctly portraying the mechanics of gay sex; and ‘Dark Reflections’, Delany’s bow-shot warning to his creative writing students that the life of a writer is often lonely, penurious and obscure:
That’s why, today, so many of us teach. I would like to be able to say to the young, “You think you have it rough? Well, when I was your age …” But I can’t. Today’s young folks, especially in the arts, have a much harder time than those of us – who now have some sort of track record and, possibly, tenure – did fifty years ago when we started. I wish it were otherwise. It would be healthier for the entire country.
Delany also looks back at what he terms the height of his writing prowess, roughly spanning his 30s to his 50s, and how ageing and generally deteriorating health has affected his life (he is 79). He reflects on the halcyon time when ‘Dhalgren’ was a bestseller, and how the later phases of his writing career have relegated him to being a ‘mid-list’ writer in publishing terms, meaning relative obscurity in both sales and public recognition. (These are the most poignant parts of the book.)
I feel as though I have become extremely dependent on the kind and skilful people who help me, including my partner and my assistant, but at the same time I am aware that I lack all sorts of abilities that seem to get worse because of increasing short-term forgetfulness and the failure to be able to create new habits in under six weeks. Something as simple as keeping two pill cases stocked with six nighttime pills and eight daytime pills has become a biweekly task that I do not think at this point I could accomplish by myself – or at least it would take substantially longer than it does with my assistant to help, who does not have my short-term memory failings.
Those failures of memory have already made it extremely difficult to continue writing fiction.
Delany also writes frankly about his lifelong struggle with dyslexia, and how this impacts his writing process (for example, he is a “grammar fanatic” as a result). He also looks at how SF has evolved from a ‘paraliterary’ genre to being the only legitimate literary form currently able to grapple with the impact of technology on society.
One of the fun aspects is that the copy-editor’s notes have been retained as footnotes, including Delany’s patient responses, resulting in a kind of delightful sparring that brings out the writer’s impish side. A truly wonderful book.
September 24, 2021
Delany being Delany. Erudite and interesting on the topic of writing.
October 25, 2024
Fascinating and thought provoking thoughts on writing in general and specific works in particular as well as memories and life details, all of it written in Delany's unique and wonderful style which itself is a treat. Basically this was great.
November 1, 2021
This shortish book (157 pages) took me a surprising five days to read. Some of it is because I was very busy during those five days; but it is mainly because of the information density of some parts.
It is the fourth in Yale University Press's series, "Why I Write". It bears a relationship to Delany's Windham-Campbell Lecture, delivered (I think) in September of 2020. I do not know what that relationship is, though I have watched the video of the speech -- which was, itself, delivered as a prerecorded video. Parts of the text are identical; others are near-identical, with minor word changes, generally for the better, in the printed text. But some parts of the speech do not seem to have made it into the printed text, and parts of the printed text are definitely not in the speech.
Even more confusingly, the final subscription dates its composition on July 4, 2019. This presents two problems:
(1) There are references in it to things which occurred well after that date -- even a few in 2021, and so also after the speech.
(2) I find it hard to believe that Delany wrote a 157-page book in one day. Delany has always been a ruminative writer, and there is certainly a great deal of rumination in the text.
Neither solids nor surds are explicitly mentioned in the text, which rambles, but in a pleasant way, from rumination to recollection and back, with side orders of theory and social criticism. _Because_ it rambles, it's hard to say much about it without going into a far more detailed critical discourse than a mere review warrants. (The book , or parts of it, certainly _deserve_ some detailed critical discourse.)
Delany speaks to the more general reasons he writes (or wrote; the speech ends with a statement that his capacity for writing is, due to the effects of aging, becoming quite limited), but also to the specific reasons he wrote some specific tasks -- notably _Dark Reflections_, _The Tale of Plagues and Carnivals_, "Atlantis: Model 1924", and _The Mad Man_.
What else can I say without becoming superspecific? That I enjoyed this, as I generally enjoy Delany's texts, and will doubtless reread it in time.
It is the fourth in Yale University Press's series, "Why I Write". It bears a relationship to Delany's Windham-Campbell Lecture, delivered (I think) in September of 2020. I do not know what that relationship is, though I have watched the video of the speech -- which was, itself, delivered as a prerecorded video. Parts of the text are identical; others are near-identical, with minor word changes, generally for the better, in the printed text. But some parts of the speech do not seem to have made it into the printed text, and parts of the printed text are definitely not in the speech.
Even more confusingly, the final subscription dates its composition on July 4, 2019. This presents two problems:
(1) There are references in it to things which occurred well after that date -- even a few in 2021, and so also after the speech.
(2) I find it hard to believe that Delany wrote a 157-page book in one day. Delany has always been a ruminative writer, and there is certainly a great deal of rumination in the text.
Neither solids nor surds are explicitly mentioned in the text, which rambles, but in a pleasant way, from rumination to recollection and back, with side orders of theory and social criticism. _Because_ it rambles, it's hard to say much about it without going into a far more detailed critical discourse than a mere review warrants. (The book , or parts of it, certainly _deserve_ some detailed critical discourse.)
Delany speaks to the more general reasons he writes (or wrote; the speech ends with a statement that his capacity for writing is, due to the effects of aging, becoming quite limited), but also to the specific reasons he wrote some specific tasks -- notably _Dark Reflections_, _The Tale of Plagues and Carnivals_, "Atlantis: Model 1924", and _The Mad Man_.
What else can I say without becoming superspecific? That I enjoyed this, as I generally enjoy Delany's texts, and will doubtless reread it in time.
August 19, 2024
Some good moments and some “what the hell are you talking about, Delany?” moments that feel common in his nonfiction
Read
August 7, 2025Lots of assays, some tiny, some extended, almost all interesting.
June 11, 2022
I was constantly delighted to read this recent piece by one of my absolute favorite writers on why he writes, despite having already read a decent portion of the included anecdotes in his other works (The Motion of Light in Water and the Afterword to A, B, C: Three Short Novels).
September 21, 2023
I love this series. I've read three now (Patti Smith, Eileen Myles, Delany) and have two more to go. I can't say I have a favorite so far, but I really enjoy Delany's mind.
December 7, 2021
What a great book by a write on writing. Will reread again.
January 26, 2023
First Delany. I think I have to read Dhalgren this year.
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"Does one write for the future?
I think one has the best chance of future interest if one writes as intensely as possible for the present." 7
"Writers do not know everything about their stories." 18
"Harold Bloom's answer to the question "Why do writers write?" is fascinating: Artists create in rebellion against the failure to create." 34
"The judgement of the crisis was not that I must reach as many people as possible; rather it was: the people I reach I must reach as intensely as possible." 35
"I write to display what I have learned and what it has meant to me" 83
"I write because time and history have more or less convinced us that things are not what they seem." 89
"In a world where cutting is seen as so much easier and the audience is far too overvalued - and simulatneously underestimated" 154
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.
.
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"Does one write for the future?
I think one has the best chance of future interest if one writes as intensely as possible for the present." 7
"Writers do not know everything about their stories." 18
"Harold Bloom's answer to the question "Why do writers write?" is fascinating: Artists create in rebellion against the failure to create." 34
"The judgement of the crisis was not that I must reach as many people as possible; rather it was: the people I reach I must reach as intensely as possible." 35
"I write to display what I have learned and what it has meant to me" 83
"I write because time and history have more or less convinced us that things are not what they seem." 89
"In a world where cutting is seen as so much easier and the audience is far too overvalued - and simulatneously underestimated" 154
October 19, 2021
It's great! You'll eat it up. Very insightful, too. 😉 #yeah--
March 31, 2022
that’s a black king right there
May 7, 2023
This is part of the "Why I Write" series by Yale Press.
Delany has had a wide and varied career, primarily as a science fiction writer. He published his first novel sixty-one years ago. He has had a long, distinguished career.
This short book consists of 65 very short sections, a page or two long, and one longer section of biographical notes on his writing career. The first sections are different takes, stories, theories with some direct and some loose connection to the question, "why do I write?".
Delaney is a black, queer, New Yorker. He has thought hard about how his race, sexual preference and hometown are connected to his writing. Some of the connections are explicit but some of the connections are fairly complicated. He begins many sections with alternative answers to the question. "I wrote because it was fun.", "I wrote because, being very young, I was terrified by the notion of death", "I have certainly written simply to play with language.", or "a lot of my writing was done to simulate myself sexually".
He is a smart guy with a bunch of good stories, deep thoughts about big things and interesting experiences. It is one of those books that changes tone page by page. Some of it is fairly deep theory about literature and society. Some of it is war stories from his publishing live. Some is biographical sketches and some is a smart guy sharing some fascinating takes on things.
Delany has had a wide and varied career, primarily as a science fiction writer. He published his first novel sixty-one years ago. He has had a long, distinguished career.
This short book consists of 65 very short sections, a page or two long, and one longer section of biographical notes on his writing career. The first sections are different takes, stories, theories with some direct and some loose connection to the question, "why do I write?".
Delaney is a black, queer, New Yorker. He has thought hard about how his race, sexual preference and hometown are connected to his writing. Some of the connections are explicit but some of the connections are fairly complicated. He begins many sections with alternative answers to the question. "I wrote because it was fun.", "I wrote because, being very young, I was terrified by the notion of death", "I have certainly written simply to play with language.", or "a lot of my writing was done to simulate myself sexually".
He is a smart guy with a bunch of good stories, deep thoughts about big things and interesting experiences. It is one of those books that changes tone page by page. Some of it is fairly deep theory about literature and society. Some of it is war stories from his publishing live. Some is biographical sketches and some is a smart guy sharing some fascinating takes on things.
January 13, 2024
Written as part of Yale’s “Why I Write Series,” Of Solids and Surds serves as a miniature intellectual autobiography of a writer who’s been plying his trade for over sixty years. Having published three novels by the age of 21, Delany was an intellectual prodigy fortunate enough to have been raised in a family that valued education. But that foundation never made for a life story that was similarly straightforward. Although he is probably best known for his award-winning SF novels, Delany has also written forthrightly and at length in numerous novels about being gay, promiscuously so. While he does not dwell on personal or interpersonal hostilities to his homosexuality or African heritage (which one presumes he has endured), his anecdotes reveal a fulfilled life for which he is thankful and content—as a successful author and beloved father, friend, and life-partner. What Of Solids and Surds slowly reveals is the sheer pleasure Delany takes in recognizing that—in the midst of myriad ways in people and the “multiverse” (his preferred word) are entwined with each other, communicating and interacting with each other—his creations seep into that enormous entanglement and affect the lives of his readers and their experiences in the multiverse.
For more of my reviews, please see https://www.thebookbeat.com/backroom/...
For more of my reviews, please see https://www.thebookbeat.com/backroom/...
August 8, 2026
Perhaps this will not be the most "useful" review, but I think this book is a worthy read.
It's a collection of anecdotes, and Delany doesn't like to provide much for the future writers (if that is why you are approaching this text) regarding writing tips. I didn't go into it with that mindset, though I did hope for it. I will say that I often found myself wondering if an anecdote or two could've been removed, as I didn't get much from them. This did not remove me from the book entirely, but it did make certain portions a drag to read.
If there is one thing that I appreciated the most, aside from Delany's beautiful prose and the visible communication between Delany and the copyeditor, it is that Delany provides important history regarding his writing and the making of sci-fi literature. You get the ugly of writing books and the reasons why he writes, but most of all you get hope from a great writer. If you are worried about your place as a writer, then this book is for you. He discusses how he was weaving the current issues of his time into his text. He discusses researching for one's own writing. He discusses success and failure and navigating writing with dyslexia.
It's a collection of anecdotes, and Delany doesn't like to provide much for the future writers (if that is why you are approaching this text) regarding writing tips. I didn't go into it with that mindset, though I did hope for it. I will say that I often found myself wondering if an anecdote or two could've been removed, as I didn't get much from them. This did not remove me from the book entirely, but it did make certain portions a drag to read.
If there is one thing that I appreciated the most, aside from Delany's beautiful prose and the visible communication between Delany and the copyeditor, it is that Delany provides important history regarding his writing and the making of sci-fi literature. You get the ugly of writing books and the reasons why he writes, but most of all you get hope from a great writer. If you are worried about your place as a writer, then this book is for you. He discusses how he was weaving the current issues of his time into his text. He discusses researching for one's own writing. He discusses success and failure and navigating writing with dyslexia.
August 5, 2023
I was greedy and savored this for as long as I could. I’d been at the foot of the last great stretch, a great deal longer and headier than the rest, for a few months and giving it false starts. But I’m done now.
“All language is habit, as I remind my writing students regularly: speaking or writing. You learn to write badly, to overwrite, or to write dull, banal stories much they way you learn to write well — well as a given epoch sees it” (110-111).
Delany is never mad at anyone, at fashion or trend or style or personalities. He’s so serious without being solemn. As visceral as his fiction is, his nonfiction is joyous, and recalled in a way that feels like discovery for Delany and the reader all at once.
Very special writer. Best living writer.
“All language is habit, as I remind my writing students regularly: speaking or writing. You learn to write badly, to overwrite, or to write dull, banal stories much they way you learn to write well — well as a given epoch sees it” (110-111).
Delany is never mad at anyone, at fashion or trend or style or personalities. He’s so serious without being solemn. As visceral as his fiction is, his nonfiction is joyous, and recalled in a way that feels like discovery for Delany and the reader all at once.
Very special writer. Best living writer.
January 20, 2024
This is a fine audiobook even if you aren't a Samuel Delany fan. This is a volume in a series about why certain famous writers write. "Why do I write?" is the overarching question he answers throughout the book. You don't need to know anything about him or his work to enjoy this little conversational book about his life-time writing process. Throughout the interview he tells stories about his life to provide concrete examples of what he is talking about. Without exception the entire book is interesting and pleasant. But, if you are a Delany fan you are going to love it. Stefan Rudnicki, the reading talent is the same person who reads Delany's fiction and does an excellent job. I don't know what Delany's voice sounds like. But this reader's performances has become Delany's voice for me.
Read
August 2, 2022i have a problem with a lot of SRD's books. his writing often feels unpleasant to me, his writing about writing well above my head. despite this, the book has some standout passages, and its overall effect is quite informative.
March 22, 2023
Very insightful, has some very interesting sections. It is hard to read, and sometimes seems like the ramblings of a mad man. Once he switched to a more narrative format (the last 50ish pages) it was much better.
September 12, 2023
read for my writers on writing class n finished in a few hours ... the beginning was occasionally a bit confusing n frustrating/pretentious feeling for me (countless name drops that i just don't understand the context for) but the second half of it, particularly pgs 137-143 i really enjoyed !!!
August 9, 2025
I'm not usually interested in reading what authors have to say about the writing process. It's something I prefer to experience in person, if at all. But when there are no fans of Delany left, then I am dead and everyone I have pressured to read him is also dead. Presumably humanity is ended.
January 11, 2024
Interesting book.
July 3, 2024
This book was lovely and a fun read. I like this guy. Might try some of his other books :)
Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews