Breakfast in the Ruins
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5.0 • 1 Rating
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- $8.99
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- $8.99
Publisher Description
Barry N. Malzberg reflects back over four decades of writing science fiction, giving an insider's view of the field during that time which few can match, both for its authority and for the sharp and witty way he describes the highs and lows of one science fiction writer's career. He also writes vivid profiles of writers and editors, ranging from the titans who transformed the field, such as John W. Campbell, to once popular writers who are now all but forgotten, such as Hugo Award-winner Mark Clifton. "If there is any particular cachet to my perspective," he writes, "it comes because my career is, perhaps more than some, metaphoric." The original, shorter version of the book was widely praised, as by the San Francisco Chronicle: "Contains literary criticism ranging over the whole history of the field. . . . this is a mordant, brilliant book," and by The Washington Post Book World: "Malzberg makes persuasively clear that the best of science fiction should be valued as literature and nothing else." Breakfast in the Ruins is an indispensable book for every science fiction reader. At the publisher's request, this title is sold without DRM (Digital Rights Management).
Customer Reviews
A master class by an established master
Barry Malzberg's BREAKFAST IN THE RUINS is more than a collection of essays. It is a master class in science fiction by an established master of many genres. It is "required reading for any writer interested in publishing science fiction" or, for that matter, anyone interested in any form of literature—writer or reader. With a bold, unique, and incisively critical perspective, Malzberg pulls no punches as he maps the history of the field and his "personal and professional odyssey" within it. John W. Campbell, Robert Heinlein, Isaac Asimov, Robert Silverberg, Philip K. Dick, Alice Sheldon (James Tiptree, Jr.), and Harry Harrison are just a few of the familiar names that appear. (Even a very crafty Alfred Hitchcock turns up here and there.) But Malzberg also pays tribute to many of the perhaps less-remembered, including Frederic Brown, Mark Clifton, Cornell Woolrich, T.L Sherred, and Carter Scholz.
BREAKFAST IN THE RUINS ranks among the best books I have ever read on writing (not just science fiction) and is, by far, the hardest hitting. Yeah, you bet, I loved it. If it's not on your bookshelf (electronic or otherwise), it should be.