Prime Time Replay:
Robert Silverberg
on his novel Sorcerors of Majipoor
MsgId: *infinities(1)
Date: Sun Sep 7 18:23:38 EDT 1997
From: Jim_Freund At: 207.38.234.221
Welcome to our special OmniVisions chat on Infinities. Tonight at 9:00 PM EDT our guest will be Robert Silverberg. Approximately the first 45 minutes will in the form of an interview, after which we'll open the (virtual) floor for questions. Join us!For most, Robert Siverberg needs no introduction, but suffice it to say that he has written over 100 sf books, 60 non-fiction titles, and over 100 other novels under pseudonyms. His 60+ anthologies are the beginning of a definitive sf librarty. As of this writing, Bob Silverberg has won more Hugos and Nebulas than any other writer. Join us at 9:00 PM EDT!
Well, it's 9:00 PM, so as soon as Bob gets here, we'll begin.
MsgId: *infinities(4)
Date: Sun Sep 7 21:10:16 EDT 1997
From: Jim_Freund At: 207.38.234.221
Hang on--we're trying to see if we can raise Bob. Well, we have stalwart agent trying to track Bob down, but in the meantime I've opened the room for discussion. Please don't forget to sign your names. If/when Bob shows up, we'll ask for silence for the first half-hour or so.
MsgId: *infinities(6)
Date: Sun Sep 7 21:28:24 EDT 1997
From: Jim_Freund At: 207.38.234.221
Here are this year's Hugo Award Winners:
Novel: Blue Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson
Novella: "Blood of The Dragon" by George R. R. Martin
Novelette: "Bicycle Repairman" by Bruce Sterling
Short Story: "The Soul Selects Her Own Society . . ." by Connie Willis
Non-Fiction Book: Time & Chance by L. Sprague de Camp
Dramatic Presentation: "Severed Dreams" (Babylon 5)
Professional Editor: Gardner Dozois
Professional Artist: Bob Eggleton
Semiprozine: Locus (Charles N. Brown, ed.)
Fanzine: Mimosa (Richard & Nicki Lynch, ed.)
Fan Writer: Dave Langford
Fan Artist: William Rotsler
Campbell Award: Michael A. Burstein
MsgId: *infinities(9)
Date: Sun Sep 7 21:34:06 EDT 1997
From: Jim_Freund At: 207.38.234.221
I guess we can call this the Waiting for Bob show. While doing so, I must say that his work has been a great influence on my way of thinking. Not that he gives answers, but that he poses questions. The story that affected me most was probably "Passengers". That one story not only works for me as sf/horror, but I think it strikes at the male soul -- the desire to palm off some bad sexual behavior on other 'uncontrollable' traits that we're unwilling to acknowlegde exist within ourselves.Other stories of Silverberg's that have similarly stayed with are are "When We Went to See the End of the World", " To See the Invisible Man", and "The Pope of the Chimps". Has anyone else been similarly affected?
MsgId: *infinities(13)
Date: Sun Sep 7 21:39:19 EDT 1997
From: EllenDatlow At: 152.168.101.127
My favorite novel of Silverberg's is "Dying Inside," about a telepath slowly losing his powers. But I also like his series of "alien stories" that he wrote for OMNI in the mid-late 80s, "Amanda and the Alien," "Against Babylon," and "Hannibal's Elephants."
MsgId: *infinities(15)
Date: Sun Sep 7 21:41:42 EDT 1997
From: guest At: 150.176.240.146
For me, it was a story called "Homefaring". Like many of his stories, I just couldn't put it down.
MsgId: *infinities(16)
Date: Sun Sep 7 21:42:05 EDT 1997
From: Jim_Freund At: 207.38.234.221
That might well be my favorite novel of his. Most of his work at that time had deep psychological implications. I think I was still working for either Galaxy or If when that came out. I seem to recall it had a deep subtext, but not what that subtext was. Do you?Ellen: Of course, you liked them so much you bought them. I had to settle for buying the magazine. :)
Guest: I don't recall "Homefaring". Can you refresh my poor memory? (Please sign your handle)
Ellen: I =loved= "Amanda and the Alien".
MsgId: *infinities(20)
Date: Sun Sep 7 21:45:07 EDT 1997
From: EllenDatlow At: 152.168.101.127
Re "Dying Inside," supposedly at the time Bob was having trouble writing, or at least was doubting what he was doing and some critics see it as a metaphor for his own situation at the time . . . I don't know how "true" this interpretation is.
MsgId: *infinities(21)
Date: Sun Sep 7 21:45:27 EDT 1997
From: robertsilverberg At: 153.34.197.158
Silverberg here . . . I think
MsgId: *infinities(22)
Date: Sun Sep 7 21:46:02 EDT 1997
From: Jim_Freund At: 207.38.234.221
Hi BoB! We wre just talking about you! :)
MsgId: *infinities(23)
Date: Sun Sep 7 21:46:08 EDT 1997
From: EllenDatlow At: 152.168.101.127
Hi Bob, We were worried about you. Welcome.
MsgId: *infinities(24)
Date: Sun Sep 7 21:47:02 EDT 1997
From: Jim_Freund At: 207.38.234.221
Did you have trouble getting online?
MsgId: *infinities(25)
Date: Sun Sep 7 21:47:24 EDT 1997
From: robertsilverberg At: 153.34.197.158
Well, it's a strange new world for me. But I found you.
MsgId: *infinities(26)
Date: Sun Sep 7 21:47:56 EDT 1997
From: guest At: 150.176.240.146
Homefaring was about giant lobsters, time travel, and had a dreamlike quality to it. It was nominated for a Nebula in '83. Homefaring notes by Mike McCoy
MsgId: *infinities(28)
Date: Sun Sep 7 21:49:52 EDT 1997
From: Jim_Freund At: 207.38.234.221
Guest: I recall it now. Since Bob is now here, I've sealed the doors to the room, and will reopen them in a bit. In the meantime, please observe radio silence for the beginning. I'll let you know when we'll be open for questions.
MsgId: *infinities(29)
Date: Sun Sep 7 21:50:10 EDT 1997
From: robertsilverberg At: 153.34.197.158
Should have won, too
MsgId: *infinities(30)
Date: Sun Sep 7 21:50:54 EDT 1997
From: Jim_Freund At: 207.38.234.221
Bob some tips for this interface: Click the RELOAD link every so often to see if a new message has appeared, and don't forget to click on "Pause While Typing" before entering a message."True, true -- it should've won. :) To begin, could you give us a brief precis of "Sorcerors of Majipoor?"
MsgId: *infinities(32)
Date: Sun Sep 7 21:52:15 EDT 1997
From: robertsilverberg At: 153.34.197.158
Gotcha. Fire when ready.Takes place a thousand years before the first three Majipoor books. The emperor is dead; his son plans to make an unconstitutional grab for the throne. We get a civil war. And a lot of other stuff.
MsgId: *infinities(34)
Date: Sun Sep 7 21:54:51 EDT 1997
From: Jim_Freund At: 207.38.234.221
When you began the Majipoor books, did you envision them as a cycle, or did the series grow as new ideas sprang forth?
MsgId: *infinities(35)
Date: Sun Sep 7 21:57:34 EDT 1997
From: robertsilverberg At: 153.34.197.158
I knew that "LORD VALENTINE'S CASTLE" needed a sequel to deal with the problem of the disgruntled Shapeshifters. Then I wrote "CHRONICLES" to fill in the rest of the planetary background -- such a damn big place. And then . . . There was stuff to investigate back in Majipoor's past -- the golden age of Lord Prestimion, that I mentioned but never described. And so, suddenly, a new trilogy.
MsgId: *infinities(37)
Date: Sun Sep 7 22:02:32 EDT 1997
From: Jim_Freund At: 207.38.234.221
I think I speak for all of us when I say we're glad for more. What influences are there in the Majipoor books, beside The Flying Karamazov Brothers? (I'm from Brooklyn nowadays.) Vance?
MsgId: *infinities(38)
Date: Sun Sep 7 22:02:40 EDT 1997
From: robertsilverberg At: 153.34.197.158
Should I keep going, or do you want to ask something?
MsgId: *infinities(39)
Date: Sun Sep 7 22:04:32 EDT 1997
From: Jim_Freund At: 207.38.234.221
There may have been a bit of lag between Q&A with this software, but there is a new post -- It probably appeared as you were writing yours.
MsgId: *infinities(41)
Date: Sun Sep 7 22:05:02 EDT 1997
From: robertsilverberg At: 153.34.197.158
Vance was an influence so far as the design of the planet was concerned -- I borrowed his "BIG PLANET" concept, though I designed my own. The novels of ER Eddison, such as "THE WORM OUROBOROS," lurk in the background of the new one, "SORCERERS." Otherwise no conscious influences involved.
MsgId: *infinities(42)
Date: Sun Sep 7 22:06:43 EDT 1997
From: Jim_Freund At: 207.38.234.221
Was there a point when you determined to write more fantasy vs. sf?
MsgId: *infinities(43)
Date: Sun Sep 7 22:08:27 EDT 1997
From: robertsilverberg At: 153.34.197.158
Yes. When all this cumbersome Internet stuff started happening, and I realized it was going to dominate the next century, I figured I'd rather turn toward the other direction -- the romantic and fantastic past.
MsgId: *infinities(44)
Date: Sun Sep 7 22:10:29 EDT 1997
From: Jim_Freund At: 207.38.234.221
Aha! This may be the Anti-cyber movement . . . :) Asimov was quoted as saying something like "Where Silverberg goes, sf will follow". Where are you going nowadays, if that's not too broad a question?
MsgId: *infinities(45)
Date: Sun Sep 7 22:12:16 EDT 1997
From: robertsilverberg At: 153.34.197.158
The next novel -- already written, out next summer -- is about the conquest of Earth by aliens who stay here for fifty years and don't bother saying Word One to us. It's called "THE ALIEN YEARS." Then back to Majipoor with "LORD PRESTIMION," the sequel to "SORCERERS." I start writing that one in a few weeks.
MsgId: *infinities(46)
Date: Sun Sep 7 22:14:07 EDT 1997
From: Jim_Freund At: 207.38.234.221
As you begin to write, are the stories full-blown in you mind? That is for example, did you know how this new trilogy was to end when you began it?
MsgId: *infinities(47)
Date: Sun Sep 7 22:15:37 EDT 1997
From: robertsilverberg At: 153.34.197.158
Yes, because the whole vast trilogy is an amplification of one paragraph at the end of the story "The Desert of Stolen Dreams" in "MAJIPOOR CHRONICLES." It will take three fat books to explain how the events of that paragraph came about.
MsgId: *infinities(48)
Date: Sun Sep 7 22:17:18 EDT 1997
From: Jim_Freund At: 207.38.234.221
BTW, since we began late, would it be OK if we went till 11:00? (That's another 40 minutes NY time)
MsgId: *infinities(49)
Date: Sun Sep 7 22:19:14 EDT 1997
From: robertsilverberg At: 153.34.197.158
By my watch we started at a bit before 7 Pacific time. Wasn't that the right hour? But all right, let's keep going until the guy whose computer I'm using decides he's tired of clicking the mouse for me.
MsgId: *infinities(50)
Date: Sun Sep 7 22:21:45 EDT 1997
From: Jim_Freund At: 207.38.234.221
Actually, we were to start at 6:00 your time. Thanks for bearing with us . . .You have mastered both the short form and novels in fiction. How are those crafts different for you?
MsgId: *infinities(52)
Date: Sun Sep 7 22:24:29 EDT 1997
From: robertsilverberg At: 153.34.197.158
The short story is a very much more demanding form, because every sentence has to contribute to the ultimate effect. You can wander off the track in a novel for whole chapters and do no harm, but a short story is a different matter. They are very tense projects for me as a result. I hate writing them. (But I do anyway.)
MsgId: *infinities(53)
Date: Sun Sep 7 22:26:38 EDT 1997
From: Jim_Freund At: 207.38.234.221
I'm surprised to hear you say that -- I love 'getting lost' in your novels, and I certainly take them with me (internally) through life, but your short stories have had the moist profound effect on me. Looking back what are your favorite works (of your own)?
MsgId: *infinities(54)
Date: Sun Sep 7 22:27:46 EDT 1997
From: robertsilverberg At: 153.34.197.158
Oy. Which is your favorite finger? And I've got a lot of fingers. Why don't you tell me what YOUR favorites of my stories are?
MsgId: *infinities(55)
Date: Sun Sep 7 22:27:52 EDT 1997
From: Jim_Freund At: 207.38.234.221
(Message to all: We have now re-opened the forum for audience participation. If you would like to add your comments or chat with Robert Silverberg, use the dialog box which should have been added to your screen by now. (Click on "Pause While Typing", first.) Please don't forget to sign your messages so we know who you are.)Of your various fingers, er, stories, my favorites include "Passengers", "When We Went to See the End of the World", "The Pope of the Chimps", "To See the Invisible Man", on and on. BTW, what did you think of the TV adaptation of "To See the Invisible Man"?
MsgId: *infinities(57)
Date: Sun Sep 7 22:31:06 EDT 1997
From: robertsilverberg At: 153.34.197.158
I thought the adaptation of "INVISIBLE MAN" was terrific. Very faithful to the story. Guy named Steve Barnes wrote it.
MsgId: *infinities(58)
Date: Sun Sep 7 22:33:38 EDT 1997
From: Jim_Freund At: 207.38.234.221
I liked it too. He got the essence in there. I was positing earlier that there is a subtext to "Passengers" about how men can try to pass off things they do -- externalize them, rather than accept credit. Is it just me, or was there any such thought in your creation of that story?
MsgId: *infinities(60)
Date: Sun Sep 7 22:35:24 EDT 1997
From: robertsilverberg At: 153.34.197.158
Well, sure. Except that it didn't occur to me while I was writing the story. What I had in mind is irrelevant, anyway . . . I write 'tem, you collaborate by reading 'em.
MsgId: *infinities(61)
Date: Sun Sep 7 22:39:17 EDT 1997
From: Jim_Freund At: 207.38.234.221
I agree that that the writer/reader relationship is a collaborative one, but I always like to know whether the author is sending the signal I'm receiving. Much of your work seems deeply rooted in psychological relationships. Have you ever gotten some truly off-the-wall suggestions about the 'meaning' of your work?
MsgId: *infinities(63)
Date: Sun Sep 7 22:40:34 EDT 1997
From: robertsilverberg At: 153.34.197.158
I wrote "DYING INSIDE," which is about a telepath. After it came out a woman said to me at a convention, "I didn't know that you were one of US." I said, "If I really were one of you, you would have known it already."
MsgId: *infinities(62)
Date: Sun Sep 7 22:40:33 EDT 1997
From: guest At: 207.212.58.105
Any reflective thoughts on changes in the publishing industry?
MsgId: *infinities(64)
Date: Sun Sep 7 22:42:18 EDT 1997
From: robertsilverberg At: 153.34.197.158
Current publishing conditions are unwonderful so far as creative work goes -- everything very corporate, everything converging toward sure-thing conformity. But there are still a few corners available for people like me. The nice thing about not being young any more is that I don't have to contend with the collapse of western civilization for more than another thirty years or so.
MsgId: *infinities(65)
Date: Sun Sep 7 22:43:21 EDT 1997
From: Jim_Freund At: 207.38.234.221
(hearty laugh) That had to be after you moved to California. Do you miss anything about the NY lifestyle?
MsgId: *infinities(67)
Date: Sun Sep 7 22:44:25 EDT 1997
From: robertsilverberg At: 153.34.197.158
Minds work faster in New York. People hit the ball back with more spin on it. But the weather is a hell of a lot better out here.
MsgId: *infinities(68)
Date: Sun Sep 7 22:45:53 EDT 1997
From: Jim_Freund At: 207.38.234.221
Do you think that collapse inevitable? (Talk about dark visions . . .)As an editor, where do you think the sf field is going? Are there positive trends?
MsgId: *infinities(70)
Date: Sun Sep 7 22:47:09 EDT 1997
From: guest At: 150.176.240.146
I really have enjoyed your work over the years. Two questions: 1) Has any of your work been made into a movie or tv program; 2) who is your favorite current author? Mike McCoy
MsgId: *infinities(72)
Date: Sun Sep 7 22:53:38 EDT 1997
From: robertsilverberg At: 153.34.197.158
Are you there?
MsgId: *infinities(73)
Date: Sun Sep 7 22:54:35 EDT 1997
From: Jim_Freund At: 207.38.234.221
Bob may be having a technical problem. As we wait, Mike, "To See the Invisible Man" was made into a 'New Twilight Zone' episode a few years back.
MsgId: *infinities(74)
Date: Sun Sep 7 22:55:22 EDT 1997
From: robertsilverberg At: 153.34.197.158
My story "AMANDA AND THE ALIEN" was filmed for SHOWTIME last year. Still turns up everys few months. "BOOK OF SKULLS" is somewhere in development at Universal. "Passengers" and "Needle in a Timestack" are also in various phases of the process. Et cetera. Plenty of smoke out of Hollywood and maybe a little fire.
MsgId: *infinities(75)
Date: Sun Sep 7 22:55:23 EDT 1997
From: Jim_Freund At: 207.38.234.221
Yep, we're here. There are about 3 questions pending. Click on the refresh button and scroll down to see them.
MsgId: *infinities(77)
Date: Sun Sep 7 22:56:45 EDT 1997
From: robertsilverberg At: 153.34.197.158
Well, collapses are always inevitable. But so is rebirth. The Romans had a terrible time around 500 AD but we've had some good shots at civilization in the past l500 years anyway. I hope for better days.
MsgId: *infinities(78)
Date: Sun Sep 7 22:57:24 EDT 1997
From: Jim_Freund At: 207.38.234.221
Here's a repost of an earlier question: As an editor, where do you think the sf field is going? Are there positive trends?(It's now 11:00 PM EDT, so we'll give Bob a chance to answer the straggling questions, and then sign off.)
MsgId: *infinities(80)
Date: Sun Sep 7 23:00:00 EDT 1997
From: robertsilverberg At: 153.34.197.158
There are always positive trends. The trouble is they're buried in a vast pile of crappy trends. We are getting some wonderful science fiction/fantasy written and published these days -- but it's hard to find it because it's submerged amidst all the formula-driven and media-oriented glop that takes up most of the display space.
MsgId: *infinities(81)
Date: Sun Sep 7 23:01:18 EDT 1997
From: Jim_Freund At: 207.38.234.221
As a final question, could you elaborate on what trends are positive, and which are not?
MsgId: *infinities(82)
Date: Sun Sep 7 23:03:10 EDT 1997
From: robertsilverberg At: 153.34.197.158
The quality of writing, where it's high, is higher than it ever was even in the Golden Age. Writers like Kim Stanley Robinson and Bruce Sterling, to take just the first two who come to mind, can write rings around Asimov and Heinlein just as WRITERS. But the great weight of idiot sci-fi conceals their work from view, whereas in the old days they would have stood out like beacons.
MsgId: *infinities(83)
Date: Sun Sep 7 23:03:40 EDT 1997
From: EllenDatlow At: 38.26.16.224
Bob, I'd like to know what kind of books are "you" reading these days? Fiction and nonfiction?
MsgId: *infinities(84)
Date: Sun Sep 7 23:05:44 EDT 1997
From: robertsilverberg At: 153.34.197.158
I'm currently reading James Salter's "BURNING THE DAYS" -- a wonderfully eloquent memoir by a not very well known writer. And also "THE TRAVELS OF SIR JOHN DE MANDEVILLE," fourteenth-century opus, wildly imaginative travel tales, from which I hope to pick up a little Majipoor background -- his medieval imagination kindling mine. I don't seem to be reading s-f right now.
MsgId: *infinities(85)
Date: Sun Sep 7 23:08:43 EDT 1997
From: Jim_Freund At: 207.38.234.221
Bob, I can't thank you enough for being here, and more importantly, for your body of work. You will always be one of the greats of the field, and much of your work transcends the genre. As an editor, your insight , stewardship, (and continuation of the Universe series) helps to upscale the field's standards.
MsgId: *infinities(86)
Date: Sun Sep 7 23:10:51 EDT 1997
From: robertsilverberg At: 153.34.197.158
What can I say? Thank YOU. I try to do my best. It's been fun talking to you. We should do all this again in twenty or thirty years, okay? Goodnight to all.
MsgId: *infinities(87)
Date: Sun Sep 7 23:12:04 EDT 1997
From: EllenDatlow At: 38.26.16.224
Thank you Bob, Jim. And good night to all.
MsgId: *infinities(88)
Date: Sun Sep 7 23:12:23 EDT 1997
From: Jim_Freund At: 207.38.234.221
Good night. And I hope it's less time than that before we see you here again.To all, thanks for coming by. Don't forget that next Thursday, Septemeber 11, my guest will be Michael Swanwick discussing his latest novel, "Jack Faust." The following week, Ed bryant will host Chelsea Quinn Yarbro, regarding her new book, "Writ in Blood." Good night.
Home || Prime Time || Live Science || Machine Dreams || Project Open Book || SF-Fantasy-Horror
Continuum || Antimatter || Mind-Brain Lab || Interactive IQ || Gallery || OMNI ToonsQuestions, comments and suggestions can be mailed to the webmaster.
Copyright © 1998 by Omni Publications International, Ltd. All Rights Reserved.