Sundance & Other Science Fiction Stories

by Robert Silverberg

1st edition Corgi 1976 paperback, vg++ In stock shipped from our UK warehouse

Genres: Science Fiction, Short Stories, Fiction

176 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 1969

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

[Lyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sundance is a 1969 short story by Science Fiction Grandmaster Robert Silverberg which, like a lot of Silverberg’s work, is about several topics at once.

Using a sometimes difficult to follow change of narrative tense and perspective, Silverberg introduces a story where the far future protagonist, Tom Two Ribbons, with an ancestry sensitive to racial and cultural discrimination, finds himself on an alien planet whose odd native indigenous species will be in the way of the soon to arrive human colonists.

Two Ribbons anxiety about this planet sized irony unfolds into a deep spiritual and personal struggle. Channeling the spirit of Piper’s 1962 Little Fuzzy, the question is asked, are the natives intelligent? And if so, is this genocide? Is humanity once again destroying a culture in the name of progress?

Silverberg also mentions a “mind editing” process, where therapy patients, like Two Ribbons, can start anew. This SF instrument has been seen in other Silverberg works and the author uses this in an innovative way as an off stage device.

All this is rolled up into an economic 19 pages. No wonder Silverberg fielded yet another Nebula nomination for this sharp work that blends Native American spirituality and philosophical questions into a tight SF format.

[Althea Ann · Rating 3 out of 5]

A Native American, on a mission to prepare a new planet for colonization, becomes disturbed by the concept that the native life he's exterminating might be sentient. The story starts very strongly, but then tries to squish too many possibilities in, right at the end. I expected a strong statement, but it kind of backed off and sputtered out.

[Adam Hulse · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've seen complaints about Silverberg changing narrative tense and how it can be jarring or hard to follow. Personally, I was fine with it and actually thought it gave the relevant stories quite a modern feel. Sundance is a fantastic story, as are Neighbor and Passport to Sirius. Each story was entertaining and featured some unique visions and charming humour. Overall, this was a positive introduction to Silverberg's work.

[Paul Trembling · Rating 3 out of 5]

This collection of short SF stories was published in 1974, and some of the stories go back over a decade before that. So it's not surprising that they're starting to show their age. Language and style sometimes feel dated and ideas which might have been cutting edge in their day are now old and blunted through much use.

And with old SF it's always interesting to compare the writers vision of the future with what we're seeing now. Technology has moved on, but not in the ways that might have been expected. We don't yet have starships, but we do have the internet, and SF writers didn't see that coming in the 50s and 60s!

But if not mind-blowing, there's still a lot to enjoy here, and some things to perhaps ponder on. Silverberg was perhaps less interested in how technology would develop than in how people would - or wouldn't. So, for example, 'Caught in the Organ Draft' - a chilling view of the social differences that might come from widespread organ grafting. Or 'The Pain Peddlers' - if feeling could be transmitted as easily as TV pictures, what effect might that have on the media?

There's a touch of horror story in some of these tales, and it may be that they will be the ones that best stand the test of time. Because the horror comes from technology unleashing the worst of human nature, and human nature hasn't changed much at all.

[Zen · Rating 3 out of 5]

I kind of liked this story as I listened to it, on headphones as I was walking.

It's just that the ending....kind of left me wanting. I not the sort of person that complains about fuzzy, unresolved endings by nature, but for some reason, this one just didn't hit home with me. Maybe it's my educational background in Anthropology rearing its ugly head and stomping on my creative, drug addled brain a bit.

Speaking of drug addled....being a teenager of the 70's, I can't help but recognize that for me, this story is definitely rooted in 70's sci-fi culture. I admit I read a ton of that stuff and, unfortunately lot of it wasn't very satisfying at the time. Too many authors, who hadn't taken enough drugs, were writing stuff that fell short of their dreams.

This story is head and shoulders above most of the stuff I remember from then. So much of the imagery that happens during the 'Sundance' part of the story is quite wonderful. Not to mention somewhat familiar? Hhmmm.....

Anyways, I thought the Eaters were pretty cool creatures. And the mind-wiping stuff was kind of cool also. And in my opinion, Tom Two Ribbons was the only memorable character in the story. And that probably played a big part in the unsatisfying ending of the story. I mean, I just didn't buy into them loving, and being concerned about Tom Two Ribbons's welfare.

But that aside, I still thought it was a good story. Might even read it again someday just to see if maybe it deserves a 4 star rating.

[Aracne Mileto · Rating 5 out of 5]

*4.5

[Forked Radish · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mmmmind editing sounds great to me! 🤤 I'd like to erase the memories of my relatives too. Another thing I'd like to erase is the memory of "Some of Your Blood" by the author of the above.

[Timothy · Rating 4 out of 5]

9 stories:

Sundance (1969)
Neighbor (1964)
Passport to Sirius (1958)
Caught in the Organ Draft (1972)
Neutral Planet (1957)
The Pain Peddlers (1963)
The Overlord's Thumb (1958)
The Outbreeders (1959)
Something Wild Is Loose (1971)

[Peter Dunn · Rating 2 out of 5]

Uninspiring - hoped for more from a Silverberg collection