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The Collected Stories of Robert Silverberg #2
Secret Sharers
Winner of an unprecedented four Hugo and five Nebula awards, Robert Silverberg is an acknowledged master of modern science fiction. His novels and short stories open the door to stunning new worlds of imagination and wonder. In this definitive collection are Silverberg’s short stories written during the last decade, including award winners and nominees destined to become science fiction classics:
• Nebula-nomiated “Homefaring” offers Silverberg’s twist on the giant-creature genre, in which a time traveler finds a home in an unexpectedly alien future Earth.
• “Sailing to Byzantium,” Nebula winner and Hugo nominee, is a tale of the wonders and horrors a twentieth-century man discovers in a decadent culture where work is done solely by automatons.
• “The Secret Sharer,” winner of the 1988 Locus award and nominee for both the Hugo and the Nebula, pays homage to Joseph Conrad: love, devotion, and the universe as seen through the eyes of a young ship’s captain—and a woman who shares his soul.
• “Enter a Soldier. Later: Enter Another,” which earned Silverberg his fourth Hugo, tells of an encounter between Socrates and the conqueror of the Incan empire as autonomous, sentient holograms conjured by twenty-second-century software.
This collection of twenty-four stories, each introduced by the author, presents one of the premier writers of science fiction—short stories and novels—at the top of his form.
• Nebula-nomiated “Homefaring” offers Silverberg’s twist on the giant-creature genre, in which a time traveler finds a home in an unexpectedly alien future Earth.
• “Sailing to Byzantium,” Nebula winner and Hugo nominee, is a tale of the wonders and horrors a twentieth-century man discovers in a decadent culture where work is done solely by automatons.
• “The Secret Sharer,” winner of the 1988 Locus award and nominee for both the Hugo and the Nebula, pays homage to Joseph Conrad: love, devotion, and the universe as seen through the eyes of a young ship’s captain—and a woman who shares his soul.
• “Enter a Soldier. Later: Enter Another,” which earned Silverberg his fourth Hugo, tells of an encounter between Socrates and the conqueror of the Incan empire as autonomous, sentient holograms conjured by twenty-second-century software.
This collection of twenty-four stories, each introduced by the author, presents one of the premier writers of science fiction—short stories and novels—at the top of his form.
546 pages, Hardcover
First published October 1, 1992
About the author
Robert Silverberg
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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 - 6 of 6 reviews
October 9, 2017
As I read through this compendium of Silverberg's short stories, I can't help but think this is all so obsolete with the modern audience. The stories are generally dated but give us a glimpse of American history and concerns. One of the aspects I really appreciate about this work is how Silverberg describes the context in which he wrote the stories, how the business and craft of writing worked and his relationships with the other titans of the Sci-Fi genre. I have tried to find the next volume in the series and this is the next one in the series:
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2...
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2...
December 9, 2017
A lot of stories with very similar ideas (lots of scientists beaming themselves into the past/future) and this crushing obsession with mortality and suicide and escaping from one's own life. Kind of a tough slog to get through.
December 10, 2023
24 stories:
Homefaring (1983)
Basileus (1983)
Dancers in the Time-Flux (1983)
Gate of Horn, Gate of Ivory (1984)
Amanda and the Alien (1983)
Snake and Ocean, Ocean and Snake (1984)
Tourist Trade (1984)
Multiples (1983)
Against Babylon (1986)
Symbiont (1985)
Sailing to Byzantium (1985)
Sunrise on Pluto (1985)
Hardware (1987)
Hannibal's Elephants (1988)
The Pardoner's Tale (1987)
The Iron Star (1987)
The Secret Sharer (1987)
House of Bones (1988)
The Dead Man's Eyes (1988)
Chip Runner (1989)
To the Promised Land (1989)
The Asenion Solution (1989)
A Sleep and a Forgetting (1989)
Enter a Soldier. Later: Enter Another (1989)
Homefaring (1983)
Basileus (1983)
Dancers in the Time-Flux (1983)
Gate of Horn, Gate of Ivory (1984)
Amanda and the Alien (1983)
Snake and Ocean, Ocean and Snake (1984)
Tourist Trade (1984)
Multiples (1983)
Against Babylon (1986)
Symbiont (1985)
Sailing to Byzantium (1985)
Sunrise on Pluto (1985)
Hardware (1987)
Hannibal's Elephants (1988)
The Pardoner's Tale (1987)
The Iron Star (1987)
The Secret Sharer (1987)
House of Bones (1988)
The Dead Man's Eyes (1988)
Chip Runner (1989)
To the Promised Land (1989)
The Asenion Solution (1989)
A Sleep and a Forgetting (1989)
Enter a Soldier. Later: Enter Another (1989)
June 14, 2016
It took me awhile to warm up to this collection. My tastes tend to go straight from New Wave to William Gibson, so a bunch of pop sci-fi stories (several even written for Playboy) from the 1980's was a bit of a reach. But Silverberg is a slick writer and all of the stories are entertaining, many are imaginative, and a few are excellent.
October 5, 2009
A great collection of shorts by a master storyteller. Contaains my favorite of his works: Sundance.
August 7, 2011
Loved it. Silverberg is amazing.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews