Reviews

"Incisive, wise, mordant, informed by a deep understanding of science fiction in all its aspects--a book of indispensable essays." --Robert Silverberg, SFWA Grand Master"Elegies and rants, a prose that Mencken might envy, seemingly eidetic recall for everything that has ever happened in science fiction's garish, slightly down-at-the-heels cabaret, plus an outlook on life as clear-eyed and weary-hearted as Edward Hopper's--you'll find them all in The Bend at the End of the Road. Barry Malzberg is sf's institutional memory, and in these pages, he transports us back to those thrilling days of yesteryear, when the stars were our destination and every story seemed a door into summer. But he also casts a cold eye on the fiction and fandom de nos jours. Here, then, is a full house of wise, provocative, and plangent essays--read 'em and weep." --Michael Dirda, Pulitzer Prize-winning literary journalist"In this book, Barry Malzberg will tell you what science fiction once was, why it changed, what it changed into, and why it's no longer what it could have been. He won't talk down to you. He'll expect you to pay attention and use your intelligence. And, as he says, 'linear argument or exposition can be a bitch.' So he'll walk you around the subject, leading you gradually into his argument and his viewpoint. It's an important one. Along the way, you'll learn the names of authors you'd love and work that will consume you. And by the end, you'll have read the most important book about science fiction published in the last decade." --John-Henri Holmberg, Swedish author, critic, publisher, and translator