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Stellar Guild
When the Blue Shift Comes
A brand new work by the Grandmaster of Science Fiction, Robert Silverberg (with a sequel novella by Alvaro Zinos-amaro).
What happens when the immortals of Earth are suddenly faced with their ultimate destruction?
Hanosz Prime, a near-immortal (though not truly so, not being of true Earth stock) travels to humanity's ancient home to discover the ultimate answer to humanity's end.
This book is part of the acclaimed Stellar Guild Series, edited by Mike Resnick.
What happens when the immortals of Earth are suddenly faced with their ultimate destruction?
Hanosz Prime, a near-immortal (though not truly so, not being of true Earth stock) travels to humanity's ancient home to discover the ultimate answer to humanity's end.
This book is part of the acclaimed Stellar Guild Series, edited by Mike Resnick.
- GenresScience Fiction
190 pages, Paperback
First published October 25, 2012
25 people are currently reading
302 people want to read
About the author
Robert Silverberg
2,328 books1,624 followersThere are many authors in the database with this name.
Robert Silverberg is a highly celebrated American science fiction author and editor known for his prolific output and literary range. Over a career spanning decades, he has won multiple Hugo and Nebula Awards and was named a Grand Master by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America in 2004. Inducted into the Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame in 1999, Silverberg is recognized for both his immense productivity and his contributions to the genre's evolution.
Born in Brooklyn, he began writing in his teens and won his first Hugo Award in 1956 as the best new writer. Throughout the 1950s, he produced vast amounts of fiction, often under pseudonyms, and was known for writing up to a million words a year. When the market declined, he diversified into other genres, including historical nonfiction and erotica.
Silverberg’s return to science fiction in the 1960s marked a shift toward deeper psychological and literary themes, contributing significantly to the New Wave movement. Acclaimed works from this period include Downward to the Earth, Dying Inside, Nightwings, and The World Inside. In the 1980s, he launched the Majipoor series with Lord Valentine’s Castle, creating one of the most imaginative planetary settings in science fiction.
Though he announced his retirement from writing in the mid-1970s, Silverberg returned with renewed vigor and continued to publish acclaimed fiction into the 1990s. He received further recognition with the Nebula-winning Sailing to Byzantium and the Hugo-winning Gilgamesh in the Outback.
Silverberg has also played a significant role as an editor and anthologist, shaping science fiction literature through both his own work and his influence on others. He lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with his wife, author Karen Haber.
Robert Silverberg is a highly celebrated American science fiction author and editor known for his prolific output and literary range. Over a career spanning decades, he has won multiple Hugo and Nebula Awards and was named a Grand Master by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America in 2004. Inducted into the Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame in 1999, Silverberg is recognized for both his immense productivity and his contributions to the genre's evolution.
Born in Brooklyn, he began writing in his teens and won his first Hugo Award in 1956 as the best new writer. Throughout the 1950s, he produced vast amounts of fiction, often under pseudonyms, and was known for writing up to a million words a year. When the market declined, he diversified into other genres, including historical nonfiction and erotica.
Silverberg’s return to science fiction in the 1960s marked a shift toward deeper psychological and literary themes, contributing significantly to the New Wave movement. Acclaimed works from this period include Downward to the Earth, Dying Inside, Nightwings, and The World Inside. In the 1980s, he launched the Majipoor series with Lord Valentine’s Castle, creating one of the most imaginative planetary settings in science fiction.
Though he announced his retirement from writing in the mid-1970s, Silverberg returned with renewed vigor and continued to publish acclaimed fiction into the 1990s. He received further recognition with the Nebula-winning Sailing to Byzantium and the Hugo-winning Gilgamesh in the Outback.
Silverberg has also played a significant role as an editor and anthologist, shaping science fiction literature through both his own work and his influence on others. He lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with his wife, author Karen Haber.
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Displaying 1 - 23 of 23 reviews
December 2, 2012
The Stellar Guild series of books by Phoenix Pick (Arc Manor) teams up a well known, best selling author with their choice of an up and coming, lesser known author to complete a novelette. With authors like Mercedes Lackey and Keven J. Anderson and famed editor Mike Resnick, Locus All-Time Award winner and 5 time Hugo winner this series is loaded with talent. Add Robert Silverberg – a Grand Master of Science Fiction – and expectations soar through the roof, into the heavens, and on to galaxies far, far away.
For this book, Silverberg brought to the table an unfinished work from nearly 30 years ago that he had started and admitted that he wasn’t sure how to end. Silverberg chose new comer Alvaro Zinos-Amaro to finish what he could not and wrap up an incredibly ambitious story in just a novella’s length. Congrats on your first published work Zinos-Amaro. No pressure.
The story is about a universe vastly (I mean vastly) older than our own where beings live out near-immortal lives. Hanosz Prime, our protagonist, is a near-immortal who, bored with his exceedingly long life of ruling his own planet, decides to travel to Earth, the only place in the universe where beings are completely immortal.
About this same time, an anomaly in space starts to spread or cause the universe to contract and Earth is on a collision course with destruction. But there is a prophecy about a savior that may or may not point to Hanosz Prime. As the universe contracts at an accerating pace, Hanosz Prime travels towards the anomoly’s center point where the answers and questions reside.
And “Cut!”
Silverberg sets up the premise above for the complete duration of his novella. In fact, if there is anything to say about his novella it is to say that it is a premise without a plot. To further complicate matters, Silverberg writes in an exceptionally ackward style with an outlandish amount of asides (especially when discussing time and how vastly, incredibly far away from the readers this story takes place.) With these hurdles in mind, Zinos-Amaro deftly navigates the premise, handles the characters in ways that Silverberg may have been surprised to see (the narrator is a great example), and brings to a satisfactory conclusion this 30 year old idea.
To give away what Zinos-Amaro does with the story is to ruin it as his novella is the only part of the story with surprises, action and suspense. Sure Silverberg’s universe is contracting / anomaly expanding and the beings live for a very long time and can change shape, but who cares? Only when Zinos-Amaro gets his hands on the story does it actually go somewhere. (And somewhere satisfying.)
I love Silverberg’s works. Some stand the test of time among the greatest science fiction of all time. But this novella was not one of those. Zinos-Amaro did what he could with the premise and showed at the very minimum that he is an extremely talented writer who seemlessly weaves science fact and humor into his writing. I can’t wait to see what he writes when he isn’t hampered with the assignment to follow-up and conclude another author’s unfinished work.
Overall, this book is a short, interesting read but as far as stories go it wasn’t the best. If you are looking for technical writing and literary style this book positively overflows with excellent examples. Solid achievement, ok story.
Also, see my interview with the author here: http://bookgateway.com/2012/11/alvaro...
This book was provided by the publisher as a review copy.
For this book, Silverberg brought to the table an unfinished work from nearly 30 years ago that he had started and admitted that he wasn’t sure how to end. Silverberg chose new comer Alvaro Zinos-Amaro to finish what he could not and wrap up an incredibly ambitious story in just a novella’s length. Congrats on your first published work Zinos-Amaro. No pressure.
The story is about a universe vastly (I mean vastly) older than our own where beings live out near-immortal lives. Hanosz Prime, our protagonist, is a near-immortal who, bored with his exceedingly long life of ruling his own planet, decides to travel to Earth, the only place in the universe where beings are completely immortal.
About this same time, an anomaly in space starts to spread or cause the universe to contract and Earth is on a collision course with destruction. But there is a prophecy about a savior that may or may not point to Hanosz Prime. As the universe contracts at an accerating pace, Hanosz Prime travels towards the anomoly’s center point where the answers and questions reside.
And “Cut!”
Silverberg sets up the premise above for the complete duration of his novella. In fact, if there is anything to say about his novella it is to say that it is a premise without a plot. To further complicate matters, Silverberg writes in an exceptionally ackward style with an outlandish amount of asides (especially when discussing time and how vastly, incredibly far away from the readers this story takes place.) With these hurdles in mind, Zinos-Amaro deftly navigates the premise, handles the characters in ways that Silverberg may have been surprised to see (the narrator is a great example), and brings to a satisfactory conclusion this 30 year old idea.
To give away what Zinos-Amaro does with the story is to ruin it as his novella is the only part of the story with surprises, action and suspense. Sure Silverberg’s universe is contracting / anomaly expanding and the beings live for a very long time and can change shape, but who cares? Only when Zinos-Amaro gets his hands on the story does it actually go somewhere. (And somewhere satisfying.)
I love Silverberg’s works. Some stand the test of time among the greatest science fiction of all time. But this novella was not one of those. Zinos-Amaro did what he could with the premise and showed at the very minimum that he is an extremely talented writer who seemlessly weaves science fact and humor into his writing. I can’t wait to see what he writes when he isn’t hampered with the assignment to follow-up and conclude another author’s unfinished work.
Overall, this book is a short, interesting read but as far as stories go it wasn’t the best. If you are looking for technical writing and literary style this book positively overflows with excellent examples. Solid achievement, ok story.
Also, see my interview with the author here: http://bookgateway.com/2012/11/alvaro...
This book was provided by the publisher as a review copy.
November 11, 2012
One of the greatest stories I've read. Some authors devour concepts, others characters and few great authors indulge in twists of the plot. How would it be if all three gets together and on top of it, written by two authors, interconnected by a time interval that spun over two decades -- this is the novel, or more specifically novella-couplet.
The story revolves around what happens during the end of the universe and dwells into the concept of parallel universes, time dilated events while trouncing on the concepts that make our lives, the impact of parent-child connection, of self realization while preaching a small philosophical adage that being in peace with oneself is the best a man's singularity can experience.
A must-read, especially the icing on the cake that is the final chapter.
The story revolves around what happens during the end of the universe and dwells into the concept of parallel universes, time dilated events while trouncing on the concepts that make our lives, the impact of parent-child connection, of self realization while preaching a small philosophical adage that being in peace with oneself is the best a man's singularity can experience.
A must-read, especially the icing on the cake that is the final chapter.
January 6, 2015
A Must-Read for Classic SF Fans
This is an unusual and quite delightful book, and one that I'd say is required reading for lovers of classic SF.
We are in the unimaginably distant future, and humans have colonized the galaxies and acquired the ability to assume any physical shape at will. Life extension through rebirths has given everyone near-immortal lifespans.
But there is a flaw in the universe: a wholly anomalous hypersingularity has begun to devour the universe at an accelerating rate. At first, the phenomenon appears distant and unthreatening; but when it begins to accelerate and astronomers start to notice stars blueshifting towards it, it becomes quickly clear that the hypersingularity not only threatens all worlds, but that it may already be too late to do anything about it.
Hanosz Prime, the all-powerful ruler of the world of Prime in Andromeda's Parasol system is plagued by disturbing, apocalyptic dreams. Close to the end of his current body and facing yet another tiresome rebirth, Hanosz is visited by a mysterious traveler who piques his interest about Earth, the only world where humans enjoy true immortality.
As the hypersingularity starts to devour space, it becomes clear that Hanosz (whose life becomes even more complicated when he meets the beautiful Kaivilda and her mad father, Sinon Kreidge) may be the only one capable of saving the universe--or is he? Even Earth's ancient and mysterious Oracles cannot tell.
The Stellar Guild series, of which this book is part, is edited by SF superstar Mike Resnick, and each volume teams up an established, big-name author with an emerging author of their choice in back-to-back novellas. Alvaro Zinos-Amaro (author of the second, concluding novella) does a fantastic job of matching and resolving Silverberg's initial piece in style and tone, and shows himself fully in control of the wild plot elements which Silverberg has thrown out there in the first novella.
The extraordinary thing about these paired novellas—which between them form a complete story—is the narrative voice. Exuberant, bardic, improbable, tongue-in-cheek, filled with narrative asides and hilarious digressions, it brings faint echoes of Douglas Adams, Spinrad, Zelazny, and even Vonnegut at their wildest, and yet is wholly original; there are similarities to Fred Pohl's "Day Million", but without the latter's urgent, harsh edge (some readers might even invoke Farmer/Trout's infamous "Venus on the Half-Shell"); there is worldbuilding to make your head spin; there is hard science; and there is, at the heart of it all, a very Silverbergian love story.
This isn't a book for everyone. If you don't enjoy storytelling and just want sober, formulaic dialogue and plot, you're probably not going to get it. But if you know and enjoy the authors mentioned above; if you know what Stapledonian excess is; and if, above all, you love classic SF...don't miss this one.
One final note: for maximum enjoyment, I strongly recommend skipping Robert Silverberg's notes linking (and interrupting) the two novellas until you've finished the book. A minor point, but in my opinion, the publisher would have done far better to put these notes at the end for a seamless read of this wholly enjoyable work.
This is an unusual and quite delightful book, and one that I'd say is required reading for lovers of classic SF.
We are in the unimaginably distant future, and humans have colonized the galaxies and acquired the ability to assume any physical shape at will. Life extension through rebirths has given everyone near-immortal lifespans.
But there is a flaw in the universe: a wholly anomalous hypersingularity has begun to devour the universe at an accelerating rate. At first, the phenomenon appears distant and unthreatening; but when it begins to accelerate and astronomers start to notice stars blueshifting towards it, it becomes quickly clear that the hypersingularity not only threatens all worlds, but that it may already be too late to do anything about it.
Hanosz Prime, the all-powerful ruler of the world of Prime in Andromeda's Parasol system is plagued by disturbing, apocalyptic dreams. Close to the end of his current body and facing yet another tiresome rebirth, Hanosz is visited by a mysterious traveler who piques his interest about Earth, the only world where humans enjoy true immortality.
As the hypersingularity starts to devour space, it becomes clear that Hanosz (whose life becomes even more complicated when he meets the beautiful Kaivilda and her mad father, Sinon Kreidge) may be the only one capable of saving the universe--or is he? Even Earth's ancient and mysterious Oracles cannot tell.
The Stellar Guild series, of which this book is part, is edited by SF superstar Mike Resnick, and each volume teams up an established, big-name author with an emerging author of their choice in back-to-back novellas. Alvaro Zinos-Amaro (author of the second, concluding novella) does a fantastic job of matching and resolving Silverberg's initial piece in style and tone, and shows himself fully in control of the wild plot elements which Silverberg has thrown out there in the first novella.
The extraordinary thing about these paired novellas—which between them form a complete story—is the narrative voice. Exuberant, bardic, improbable, tongue-in-cheek, filled with narrative asides and hilarious digressions, it brings faint echoes of Douglas Adams, Spinrad, Zelazny, and even Vonnegut at their wildest, and yet is wholly original; there are similarities to Fred Pohl's "Day Million", but without the latter's urgent, harsh edge (some readers might even invoke Farmer/Trout's infamous "Venus on the Half-Shell"); there is worldbuilding to make your head spin; there is hard science; and there is, at the heart of it all, a very Silverbergian love story.
This isn't a book for everyone. If you don't enjoy storytelling and just want sober, formulaic dialogue and plot, you're probably not going to get it. But if you know and enjoy the authors mentioned above; if you know what Stapledonian excess is; and if, above all, you love classic SF...don't miss this one.
One final note: for maximum enjoyment, I strongly recommend skipping Robert Silverberg's notes linking (and interrupting) the two novellas until you've finished the book. A minor point, but in my opinion, the publisher would have done far better to put these notes at the end for a seamless read of this wholly enjoyable work.
November 30, 2018
I was happily pleased with both the structure and the writing of this book. It took me a while to realize the writer of the first part of the story was a different writer than the second part. The story is seamless and coherent throughout. I liked it.
August 31, 2017
Breathtaking,
Such a saga. I had a difficult time wrapping my mind around such a crazy futuristic world, but enjoyed the characters and got into the story. But it intrigues me to see the culmination of the story so satisfactorily summed up, and by a completely different author! Great minds think alike, obviously.
Such a saga. I had a difficult time wrapping my mind around such a crazy futuristic world, but enjoyed the characters and got into the story. But it intrigues me to see the culmination of the story so satisfactorily summed up, and by a completely different author! Great minds think alike, obviously.
October 7, 2017
A grand sweep of time book.
Not bad. Not perfect, but good. A grand sweep of time novel. Worth a read. I am not sure I agree this is likely. However the far future is well beyond my ability to discern.
Not bad. Not perfect, but good. A grand sweep of time novel. Worth a read. I am not sure I agree this is likely. However the far future is well beyond my ability to discern.
February 20, 2020
I found the unusual style of writing quite entertaining. The story was interesting, but felt a bit like a support for the experiment rather than the other way around.
Written by two different people, but it felt *almost* seamless to me. I enjoyed this, but probably won't read it again soon.
I note that there is an explanation as to how/why the two authors came about. It's stuck in the middle of the book, at the point where the author changes, which I found a bit disconcerting! But I did what I always do with introductions - skipped it, and went back and read it after I'd finished the book.
Written by two different people, but it felt *almost* seamless to me. I enjoyed this, but probably won't read it again soon.
I note that there is an explanation as to how/why the two authors came about. It's stuck in the middle of the book, at the point where the author changes, which I found a bit disconcerting! But I did what I always do with introductions - skipped it, and went back and read it after I'd finished the book.
November 28, 2017
Silverberg has long been an author I've enjoyed, but I saw why he had difficulty getting out of the corner he'd written himself into. The newcomer finishes the story off very well, and I couldn't have told where one ended and the other began if they hadn't said so. Oh, and it's about how the universe ends. Or not.
November 10, 2020
A collaborative effort with Zinos-Amaro completing Silverberg's unfinished novel. With the end of the universe imminent, Hanosz Prime travels to Earth, where he finds there is a prophecy that he may be the one to save everything. It is written in an irreverent style, and is full of Silverberg's imagination.
February 27, 2026
Probably the weirdest book I've ever read. Really liked its themes, the stuff about immortality was great. The writing style was really fun. But sometimes the plot felt like a child telling a story, with a lot of "and then this happened, and then this happened" instead of it feeling smooth and thought out (which of course is due to this having a second author write the second half).
September 21, 2017
I liked the book when it began, the part Robert Silverberg wrote. When Alvaro Amaro began his section, I lost him. Especially the last 20 or so pages, became very difficult to follow.In too many science fiction novels, God is not part of the picture. I have a problem with that.
September 23, 2017
Read this novel about 2 years ago, and I don't remember *anything* about it, so it must have been pretty unremarkable... it's not only by the venerable Silverberg, but also from another, pretty newer, author called Alvaro Zinos-Amaro, which I think did the heavy-lifting... so that may be the cause.
December 14, 2017
The more I read, the less I wanted to read. It was very tedious. There were some interesting concepts, but too much was just plain silly and foolish.
October 10, 2017
I liked the concept but I just did not enjoy the execution. There were parts where the unique narative structure worked, but others where it just felt tedious.
February 14, 2025
I really enjoyed this. Wonderful imagination to have created this.
September 29, 2016
Kind of a difficult one to rate. In some ways I rather liked it. It had a lot in common with The Dancers at the End of Time, which I think is a marvellous book. I have usually found Silverberg an excellent author and have enjoyed most of what I have read by him and have found him one of my favourite writers of short stories, a style I am not usually overly fond of. There was a lightness and humour which made it quite easy to read and quite enjoyable. Further, Zinos-Almaro picks up the story and runs with it near seamlessly. This very much felt like one complete novel and not two much shorter offerings spliced together or juxtaposed.
However, in the end I found myself unmoved. The whole things worked OK, but perhaps it was just a little too close to Moorcock's fabulous tale of the end of all things and a world of unfailingly decadence. Perhaps it was something else. In the end, it just did not really grab me. A shame, as I was hoping for more.
As a side note, while I have not read anything else in this 'series', I strongly suspect that the conceit that this is one book in a shared universe is utter tosh. In his introduction, Silverberg makes it clear that this his part of this was a short story he had been unable to finish and had hanging around for decades. Conveniently set in some period of history so far in the future it could conceivably be set in the same universe as anything from Star Trek to Lord Valentine's Castle.
However, in the end I found myself unmoved. The whole things worked OK, but perhaps it was just a little too close to Moorcock's fabulous tale of the end of all things and a world of unfailingly decadence. Perhaps it was something else. In the end, it just did not really grab me. A shame, as I was hoping for more.
As a side note, while I have not read anything else in this 'series', I strongly suspect that the conceit that this is one book in a shared universe is utter tosh. In his introduction, Silverberg makes it clear that this his part of this was a short story he had been unable to finish and had hanging around for decades. Conveniently set in some period of history so far in the future it could conceivably be set in the same universe as anything from Star Trek to Lord Valentine's Castle.
November 18, 2012
In the 1950's, 60's and 70's there was a trend in SF for far-future and/or galaxy spanning stories, where the characters are all Greek Heroes. This sub-genre is the literal source of the term 'Space Opera'. Technology is magical but usually irrelevant, often described and dismissed with lyrical phrases such as "fearsome engines". Needless to say, while "sciencey", such stories did not explore science, nor how the human condition might endure under the alternate realities created by technology.
By the 70's such novels had become somewhat surreal, attempting to retain relevance by incorporating the socially subversive themes and druggy visions cropping up in American books in general and in SF in particular. Eventually the Space Opera was changed by the desire for more nuanced characters and a preference for hard science and at least a token attempt to portray believable (i.e. non-mythic) human cultures.
Blue Shift is clearly from the 70's tail end of this genre, and would have been considered stale even then. For readers who like Heroic fiction for its own merits, or who would simply like a clear example of 70's form of this genre; I might bump up the rating by a point or two.
By modern standards this book is a simple Fantasy, suitable for early teens in its theme and story complexity - though the baroque sentence structure and emotive navel gazing of the characters will make it difficult to hold their interest.
By the 70's such novels had become somewhat surreal, attempting to retain relevance by incorporating the socially subversive themes and druggy visions cropping up in American books in general and in SF in particular. Eventually the Space Opera was changed by the desire for more nuanced characters and a preference for hard science and at least a token attempt to portray believable (i.e. non-mythic) human cultures.
Blue Shift is clearly from the 70's tail end of this genre, and would have been considered stale even then. For readers who like Heroic fiction for its own merits, or who would simply like a clear example of 70's form of this genre; I might bump up the rating by a point or two.
By modern standards this book is a simple Fantasy, suitable for early teens in its theme and story complexity - though the baroque sentence structure and emotive navel gazing of the characters will make it difficult to hold their interest.
February 26, 2013
This is one of a group of books in which a well-known, established writer is paired with a new one; each writer is to produce a story with the same setting or characters. In this case, Silverberg wrote the first half of a story and Alvaro Zinos-Amaro finished it. I was really rather disappointed by the first half, a very far-future thing similar to Moorcock's Dancers at the End of Time series, with lots of meta-nods to the reader written in a sort of confused R.A. Lafferty mad-cap style. After that, there's an introduction by Silverberg to the second half in which he explains that his section is actually something he started many years ago and couldn't do anything with, but he dug it out and used it in this context. The second half by Zinos-Amaro faithfully follows the style and format of the beginning and attempts to wrap it all up, but I never felt any connection to any of the characters and, despite some interesting wordplay, was not really impressed by the volume at all.
January 18, 2015
The book started out extremely promising. Full of loose ends and quizzical matters that need urgent tending to. So the adventure begins! It has everything you would want in a good read; a strong authoritive main character, a mysterious adventure that becomes his eventual doom(or does it?). The ever alluring attraction to the beauty of the romantic interest of our powerful hero. Let us not forget the delicious promise of eternal life. Then something goes incredibly haywire. The entire universe is enveloped by an uncountable amount of non-corporeal beings. . . And that is that.
May 11, 2015
When the Blue Shift Comes is set in galaxy spanning time so far in the future that humans aren’t quite human any more, and the universe has started contracting, hence the Blue Shift in the title. It comprises two novellas, the first by Robert Silverberg and the second by Alvaro Zinos-Amaro. I found that it worked quite well – the styles used by the two authors are similar enough for the second novella to form a fairly cohesive follow-up to the first. It all makes for a passable read to while away a short period of time, but isn’t really anything special. For Silverberg purists.
October 17, 2014
I thought having another author finish a half-written story would be disjointed but to my suprise, his voice is matched quite well.
Despite taking 192 pages, it is a simple and easy-to-read story. I liked the comical bits of rapport between the hero and his female friend.
It didn't grip me as some of his other novels have.
Despite taking 192 pages, it is a simple and easy-to-read story. I liked the comical bits of rapport between the hero and his female friend.
It didn't grip me as some of his other novels have.
January 16, 2016
I just couldn't get into this one. *sigh*
Displaying 1 - 23 of 23 reviews