Aye, and Gomorrah: And Other Stories

This volume includes most of Samuel R. Delaney's early stories, some of which won every award a stunned public could shower on him. The title story is amazing, but "Time Considered as a Helix of Semi-Precious Stones" and "Star Pit" are just plain damn immortal. If Delany had never written another word after these stories, he would still deserve a place in the pantheon that includes Ray Bradbury, Charles De Lint, and Ursula Le Guin. His command of language is unequalled, and every story gives us human, believable characters in settings that shine with originality. I can never recommend this collection enough.

An avid science fiction buff, I fell in love with Delany's short stories many years ago. He is an incredibly cerebral and visceral writer both, with challenging prose of haunting beauty. He upsets notions of social norms in a way that was revelatory to me as a teenager, and continues to underpin my beliefs of what is natural and possible in human beings and their relations. He is also one of the few writers of science fiction (though his work extends well beyond the genre) that counts as true literature in the high-falutin' sense of the word. I can't recommend this book - and any of his other works - highly enough.

I absolutely love this collection. The stories "driftglass" and "time considered as a helix of semi-precious stones" are incredible and I still, years later fins myself returning to the characters and the scenes, some quip and concatenation of Delanys prose lodged at the edge of memory.

Some of the stories are really great, but in others the prose style is so complex and high-minded that it is difficult to understand. The stories are written like a medieval textbook (and that is NOT a compliment).

Delany's language is poetic and stimulating but refreshingly succinct. I've never read words like these. These stories explore human issues - things like displacement, alienation, madness, shifting moral structures, sexual perversion and death - while thoroughly developing characters and spinning realistic and entertaining plots. Certainly for the more advanced reader. When I consider sharing a book with someone, this is the first that comes to mind.

Astounding stories. His language and tone varies from story to story but is always fluid and original and striking and moving. Some of the stories (that to Zelazny) are a bit dated (1966 or thereabouts) but the intent and drive behind each is timeless.

Hard to believe the brilliance of this novelist. His writing affected me during my youth, challenged me in my adulthood. This is the most wonderful collection of his short stories, containing pretty much all the really great ones.

although the stories are captivating, I would not enjoy reading the stories a second time. It just falls short of intelligent writing and is usually borderline pointless. Most of the stories sound like children stories assigned to kids in a technological institution. Let your kid read it! As an adult, there are better things to read. I do like the style of writing. Very unconventional.

When I read my first Samuel R Delany short story in a library book I literally jumped up and ran round the room screaming. I had never before read such glittering prose cram packed with bizzare concepts yet with humanity at it's core. I eagerly sought out everything I could find by him. Then I discovered the full length stories. Rereading these after reading so many adequate SF collections 're-exited me all over again. Please give this a go.

These are the stories that originally appeared in the 'Driftglass' collection, plus a few more. If you haven't read Delany before, this is a brilliant place to start and be introduced to his scintillating prose and glittering ideas. Delany asks us what it means to be human in the broadest sense. Some of these stories were written fifty years ago, but his insights into the fluidity of gender and sexuality, together with his subtle subversions of our ideas of race and the poetry and music of his writing, still take your breath away. The master at work.

Wow...some of the stories still haunt me months after I read them...