Three Hoarsemen

5: "Nova" by Samuel R. Delany


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It is an allegorical tale of interstellar adventure, a quest that is part Moby Dick and part revolutionary act. It is about confluence, archetypes, obsession, seeking the future, and the creative process itself. It is the story that marked the transition from Delany’s more straightforward genre explorations to the maturation of his career when he returned to the field with Dhalgren. It is the book that critic Algis Budrys said “…right now, as of this book…not as of some future book or some accumulated body of work, [Delany] is the best science-fiction writer in the world, at a time when competition for that status is intense.”

In this installment of The Three Hoarsemen, John E. O. Stevens, Fred Kiesche and Jeff Patterson discuss Nova by Samuel R. Delany, including their first encounter with the book, how subsequent readings have altered their views, and the continuing strength of the story after four and a half decades.

Fred Kiesche, John E.O. Stevens and Jeff Patterson

Show Notes & Links

Nova, by Samuel R. Delany

The Violent Century, by Lavie Tidhar

Member, by Michael Cisco

Additional Notes:

2013: The Year in Books

2013: The Year in Shorts

The SF Encyclopedia entry on Samuel R. Delnay

Worlds Without End on Nova

ISFD on Samuel R. Delany

Jo Walton at Tor Dot Com: Overloading the Senses

Jo Walton at Tor Dot Com: Scintillations of a Sensory Syrynx

The Polymath (film)

Weird Fiction reviews Michael Cisco

Notes on The Violent Century, by Lavie Tidhar

The Marvel Cinematic Universe

Cowl, by Neal Asher

Arrow

The Hollow Crown

Open Road Media to Publish Nine Books by Samuel R. Delany

...more
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Three HoarsemenBy Fred Kiesche, Jeff Patterson and John H. Stevens

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