Book Review: Sailing to Byzantium

My prior experience with Robert Silverberg was limited to Science Fiction 101, a collection of 13 short stories by other writers. While I didn't always agree with his taste, the stories were generally fun, and his introduction and follow-up commentary enhanced them a little. I may yet make use of his lessons.

Now that I've read his five novellas in this collection, I'm undecided on whether Silverberg does better at writing stories or writing about them. He's no John Ringo, thankfully. I suspect that the main problem is the medium: From the few novellas I know, they're less like abridged novels and more like stretched short stories. They keep to simple themes, and their endings are unsurprising if not predictable well in advance.

Still, it wasn't just stubbornness that got me to the end. I can see why three of the novellas either won or were nominated for esteemed awards. The other two have less obvious merits; one had gone out of print, but Silverberg thought it deserved more popularity. More on that later.

( In order of presentation )

Next up is Owlflight by Mercedes Lackey and Larry Dixon. I can't tell that it'll feel original, but it's high time I returned to pure fantasy. At least I dig owls.