Sad songs 4 dead writers

Barry N. Malzberg's THE ENGINES OF THE NIGHT (1982) is a lengthy critique of the science-fiction field, subtitled "Science Fiction in the '80s," but mainly it's a look back at some of the Xcellent writers who helped bring literacy 2 SF -- & what happened 2 them.
Malzberg spends mosta his time mourning about how writers as gifted as Theodore Sturgeon, Henry Kuttner, Fritz Leiber, Mark Clifton, C.M. Kornbluth, William Tenn, C.L. Moore & many others beat their brains out writing pulp-magazine stories 4 a penny a word. Summa their work was brilliant & revolutionized the SF field -- & Malzberg is alternately mournful & outraged about the fact that all the great SF writers of the '40s & '50s probly cranked-out all their work -- in its Ntirety -- 4 less than 1/4 of the avg advance 4 yr avg Big Best-Seller, these days.
But it's not just about economics. In a way, ENGINES OF THE NIGHT is about the fate that awaits all genre writers -- or possibly ALL writers -- 1nce they're no longer read.
In the book's most gripping & successful chapters, Malzberg paints unbearably moving portraits of the last days of Mark Clifton -- who discovered 2 his horror & disappointment that Bcoming a better, more effective writer DIDN'T Xpand his audience -- & of mystery writer Cornell Woolrich, who Dspite his brilliant writing ability had only 1 successful, lasting emotional relationship in his Ntire life, w/ his mother -- & who Dspite dying rich, spent his last days living alone in a Manhattan hotel, drinking & watching old movies on TV. These portraits Rn't easily 4got10. (& these sorta portraits could B carried thru 2 the present: The more recent deaths of SF stars like Philip K. Dick, John Brunner & Thomas M. Disch would provide still more sad portraits of supremely talented writers who were left w/ little or nothing -- but of course it wasn't the kind of WRITING they were doing that did this 2 them, or at least not directly....)
The resta the time, Malzberg looks back at the '50s, which he nominates as SF's best & most revolutionary decade, the time when the most lasting of SF's stories & novels were written, when the most adventurous, mind-Xpanding & Xperimental work was done, even moreso than during SF's late-'60s "New Wave."
There R Xaminations of sex in SF; the 6 mo's in the late-'60s when Malzberg was Editor of the 3rd-rate SF & fantasy magazines AMAZING & FANTASTIC; & a hilarious, revealing, unBlievable peek Bhind the scenes at the 4 DAYS it took Malzberg 2 write his early-'70s novel THE TACTICS OF CONQUEST (based on a 2,000-word short-story called "Closed Sicilian"; his slightly-later novel 4 the same now-Dfunct publisher, GALAXIES, was Xpanded from a story 5x as long, so Malzberg notes it was "easier to bloat").
Thruout this book, Malzberg keeps threatening 2 write what he calls "The True, Terrible Secret History of Science Fiction," & I wish he would do it B4 he gets 2 old 2 pull it off. This 200-pg critique is angrier, more emotional, more direct, & more successful than NE of his 50-some novels.
(& in the early '00s Malzberg Xpanded it w/ the addition of the 35-pg reminiscence "Tripping With the Alchemist," a lengthy recounting of his many yrs as a manuscript-reader w/ the Scott Meredith Literary Agency; the updated & Xpanded book is now titled BREAKFAST IN THE RUINS.)
I think Malzberg missed his calling & shoulda bn an essayist & critic from the start....

Great SF reviews!

Probly the best reviews & critical articles on science fiction Bing written 2day R those by John Clute, which can B found in spots all over the Internet. (I'll give U a few places 2 check-out, but a quick web search'll get U started).
Clute started out in the late '60s writing SF reviews 4 Britain's controversial NEW WORLDS magazine. When I 1st read him in the mid-'70s in the pgs of THE MAGAZINE OF FANTASY AND SCIENCE FICTION, at 1st I didn't know WHAT 2 think. He was so DIRECT -- brutal, abrupt, cynical, sarcastic, almost abusive about a lotta old-fashioned SF that he felt was tired, worn-out, pointless. While obviously passionate, he also Cmd awfully cranky, & I wasn't sure 4 awhile what all his fussing was about.
It took me awhile 2 figure-out that his abrupt & sometimes abusive crankiness could also B a pleasure 2 read -- if I was in the right mood.
A lotta other readers of F&SF apparently didn't know quite what 2 think either. Clute's apparent disrespect 4 & abuse of old-time SF writers like Poul Anderson, Gordon Dickson, Harry Harrison, Clifford Simak & others put summa those readers on-edge, & they Xpressed their displeasure. If Clute thot those Old Pros were writing in their sleep he SAID SO. & he wasn't nice about it. Nor did he apologize. In the intro 2 1 column he admitted all his weaknesses & bad 10dencies, agreed that they could B noted by chapter & verse ... & then kept right on going.
He only reviewed 4 F&SF 4 a few yrs, but I Njoyed him. Then he found other things 2 do, other places 2 write 4. W/ others, he founded Britain's INTERZONE magazine in the early '80s, & wrote much of the huge & marvelous ENCYCLOPEDIA OF SCIENCE FICTION. A few books of his criticism have bn published (STROKES includes the F&SF columns), & he's also published a coupla critically-acclaimed novels.
But things have changed over the yrs. From the cranky, sharp, opinionated & sarcastic reviewer of his early days, Clute has turned in2 1 of the central figures 2 read when trying 2 get a handle on Where SF Is At Now. & where it might B going....
I wouldn't say Clute LIKES everything now -- he doesn't LIKE everything & he doesn't READ everything -- but he's mellowed quite a bit. He can still come right out & say when something's a piece of shit, & he does. But he Cms a lot gentler, more intrested now in where a piece of fiction, a novel or short-story collection fits in w/ both the history of SF & Where We're At Now, & how a given piece of fiction might help chart a path in2 the future.
He's also Bcome WAY 2 good at writing obituaries 4 fellow SF writers. Some recent obits he's written 4 J.G. Ballard, Thomas M. Disch & Algis Budrys R superb eulogies 4 those talented men -- & they don't shy away from presenting the darker stuff.
Clute was writing reviews 4 SciFi.com but has apparently shifted over 2 SFWire.com. His newest reviews can B found at http://scifiwire.com/author/john_clute/. A pretty huge trove of older reviews under his 4mer column title "Excessive Candour" can B found at http://webarchive.org/. A few other fairly-recent reviews R stashed at http://blissbat.net/2009/07/excessive-candour-rescued/. There R also a few 5-yr-old reviews from Infinite Matrix that can B found at http://infinitematrix.net/archive/archive.html#clute. This will at least get U started....
Clute is carrying on his Xcellent work in the tradition of great earlier SF critics like Damon Knight, James Blish, Algis Budrys, P. Schuyler Miller, Harlan Ellison, Joanna Russ, Spider Robinson, Barry N. Malzberg & Norman Spinrad. I think he's the best SF critic since Budrys died & Spinrad apparently retired.