Synergy: New Science Fiction, Volume 1

Synergy #1

by George Zebrowski (Editor)

Stories by Frederick Pohl, Ian Watson, Gregory Benford, Brian W. Aldiss, Rudy Rucker, James Morrow, W. Warren Wagar, and Charles L. Harness.

Genres: Science Fiction, Short Stories

243 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 1987

About the author

George Zebrowski was an American science fiction writer and editor who wrote and edited a number of books, and was a former editor of The Bulletin of the Science Fiction Writers of America. He lived with author Pamela Sargent, with whom he co-wrote a number of novels, including Star Trek novels.
Zebrowski won the John W. Campbell Memorial Award in 1999 for his novel Brute Orbits. Three of his short stories, "Heathen God," "The Eichmann Variations," and "Wound the Wind," were nominated for the Nebula Award, and "The Idea Trap" was nominated for the Theodore Sturgeon Award.

Reviews

[Lost Planet Airman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Shoot -- it was so overdue, I forgot to write down the stories...
Amazon says there are "stories" by Frederick Pohl, Ian Watson, Gregory Benford, Brian W. Aldiss (essay, not story), Rudy Rucker, James Morrow, W. Warren Wagar, and Charles L. Harness.

Amazon also has this interesting little note from a reviewer:

Back in the day they asked Ursula LeGuin to blurb the book and she wrote back,

John Radziewicz
Senior Editor
Harcourt Brace Jovanovich

Dear Mr Radziewicz,

I can imagine myself blurbing a book in which Brian Aldiss, predictably, sneers at my work, because then I could preen myself on my magnanimity. But I cannot imagine myself blurbing a book, the first of the series, which not only contains no writing by women, but the tone of which is so self-contentedly, exclusively male, like a club, or a locker room. That would not be magnanimity, but foolishness. Gentlemen, I just don’t belong here.

Yours truly,
(Signed)
Ursula K. Le Guin

Here's to you, Ms. Le Guin! The fiction was OK, but I see it in a whole new light now. Read this for the Frederick Pohl story "My Life As a Born-Again Pig", which has apparently never been reprinted. Understandably so, I think -- a rude amount of gender, racial and economic bigotry, and an excess of soft-core porn.

[Raven L. · Rating 1 out of 5]

The book probably had great promise but is dated, even for something published in 1987. Women characters are mere props and the men characters not well fleshed out. In its favor, it was a fast read with one or two interesting concepts.

The correct index is:
Introduction: Synergists - George Zebrowski
Bleak Velocities - Gregory Benford
Jewels in an Angel's Wing - Ian Watson
Signals - Charles L. Harness
Veritas - James Morrow
My Life as a Born-Again Pig - Frederik Pohl
Madonna of the Red Sun - W. Warren Wagar
Inside Out - Rudy Rucker
State of the Art: What Should an SF Novel Be About? - Brian W. Aldiss

[Ian Duvall · Rating 2 out of 5]

Read - The Eichman Variations

[Eleanor With Cats · Rating 2 out of 5]

Contents:
Stories
Bodily Surrender - Jan Lars Jensen
Polly - Charles Harness
The Enlightenment - Christopher McKitterick
The Garden: A Hwarhath Science Fictional Romance - Eleanor Arnason
The Meek - Damien Broderick
Yggdrasil - Damien Broderick
Two More For Tolstoi - Fruma Klass
Red City - Janeen Webb
Poetry
Uncompressed Rituals - Andrew Joron & Robert Frazier
Man Suspended By Voices - Andrew Joron & Robert Frazier
State of the Art
The First Invasion From Mars - William Tenn
Cele Goldsmith Lalli: Furthering the Unwritten History - Interview by Barry N. Malzberg
An Interview With Ray Bradbury - Interview by George Zebrowski
Who Killed Science Fiction - Again? - George Zebrowski