Hunt the Space-Witch!: Seven Adventures in Time and Space

by Robert Silverberg

Space opera at its best—wild and fast and furious, as only Robert Silverberg could write it
 
As a young man, Robert Silverberg was a science fiction prodigy, turning out top-flight stories in the blink of an eye. Though written quickly, Silverberg’s early prose already showed evidence of the literary and imaginative qualities that would make him a giant in the field. In “Slaves of the Star Giants,” electrician Lloyd Harkins finds himself transported from 1956 into a desolate far-future Earth ruled by monstrous aliens. And in the gripping title story, a spacer named Barsac risks his life and sanity to free a friend from the clutches of an evil cult—by joining the cult himself.
 
Filled with slam-bang action and dazzling speculation, these seven novellas pay eloquent homage to the Golden Age of science fiction and anticipate the groundbreaking work that has become Silverberg’s legacy.

Genres: Science Fiction, Short Stories, Pulp, Fantasy

401 pages, Kindle Edition

First published February 1, 2011

About the author

There 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.

Reviews

[Daniel · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Hunt the Space-Witch!" contains seven novellas that Robert Silverberg wrote in the late fifties. In the introduction that he wrote for this edition, Silverberg explains that he wanted these stories to capture the same sense of adventure and excitement that earlier pulp science-fiction stories inspired. Though I have not read any of these predecessors, I can say that every story collected here is fun, vibrant, and full of action.

These stories are plot-driven and plot-heavy; as evidence, here is a sample of the conflicts that drive some of the novellas: a man must take on a race of giant aliens that treat humans like intriguing lab subjects; a young boy fulfills his dreams of becoming a pirate, and finds himself embroiled in a greater conflict against alien invaders; a man seeks out his blood brother, and finds him in the clutches of a cult that holds dominion over an entire system. Clearly, these stories are joined by the common theme of a singular man taking on something larger than himself and--no spoilers here--winning the day for all who have suffered under the yolk of oppression in its numerous forms.

What makes each story exciting is the way in which the hero of the moment overcomes his oppressor, and in the exposition of these conflicts Silverberg excels. His prose is brief, spare, and touched with just enough detail to cast the swashbuckling in a science-fiction setting. His ear for dialog rings true, and sounds just as believable today as it must have 50 years ago. He jumps his stories from one plot-point to another with the fervor of a checkers champion, and dives into violent action with a sure hand.

This is certainly pulp, and it is certainly pulp of a most satisfying kind. And while there isn't much sophistication in the elements that make up each story, the skill with which Silverberg mixes these ingredients shows true craft and artistry. Why it has taken me so long to get to his work, I cannot say. This is great stuff.

[Patrick Stuart · Rating 3 out of 5]

Purchased a long time ago, about the same time I bought Cooks 'Walrus and War-Wolf', from Paizo's now defunct in house Sword and Planet publishing imprint, Planet Stories.

There was an original 'Planet Stories' magazine which ran pulp adventures between 1939 and 1955 and its covers were _gorgeous_. Silverberg wrote a bunch of stories for the late-50s 'Science Fiction Adventures' magazine, heavily influenced by 'Planet Stories', and these are those stories, or at least seven of them, those that weren't expanded into their own books or series later.

So, a miscellany of a writers early tales.

These are pulp, masculine, repetitive and with a series of powerful tropes. Not necessarily bad, the great virtue of the stories of the first half is that they are complete and over quickly, this means there is not long to wait till another one, and that the impetuous rapid action of the stories plot and the stories all-american hero, (which are close to being the same thing), are unified, and RAPID. Things just keep happening and within thirty pages alien invaders are destroyed and star-empires overturned.

In 'Slaves of the Star Giants, a modern American technician is randomly dragged through space and time into a post-apocalyptic future of tribal experiments overseen by giant silent red aliens. There are also mutants, robots and supercomputers. Within thirty pages he has fought the headman, banged his girl, battled the star-giants and taken over the planet to free humanity.

In 'Spawn of the Deadly Sea', a very high testosterone dweller in the mysterious sea-cities of the post apocalyptic future joins the ruling class of 'Sea Lords', fights his way to the top of that class, re-unified humanity with their genetically engineered aquatic cousins and lead both groups in an army to defeat the returning space aliens who first drowned earth. Planet saved, thirty pages.

In 'The Flame and the Hammer' the son of a murdered priest defies a galactic empire, recovers a super-weapon and 'frees' galactic humanity.

'Valley Beyond Time' is a little more interesting as a future Space Man is again, mysteriously drawn through space to a mysterious valley where he, along with range of seemingly random humans and aliens are kept as pets. Some interest is added in that the valley heals and rejuvinates; some wish to escape, but others, near death, want to stay. But the rule is that if anyone leaves, all are banished. The hero fights a guy and nearly bangs his girl.

Things get a bit more interesting in the final quarter of the book with three tales which deal in similar primal emotions and set-piece mysteries, but which form more complex patterns of the essential elements.

The titular 'Hunt the Space Witch!' is a genuinely good science-fantasy short story which stands on its own legs. Rugged space-farer returns to the port where he accidentally abandoned his blood-brother years ago and seeks him out. The strange decadence and creepiness of the Witch-Cult beset city/world of Glaurus; its 'Street of Tears', mirror-masked cultists, bizarre menageries and the isolation and spiritual failure of its protagonist, make this a much better than average Silverberg story. Things do culminate in a stirring explosion of more classical Silverberg energy in a a denouement with the Space Witch herself!

'The Silent Invaders' is a genuinely odd and fun story in which an alien surgically and psychologically altered to look and feel human, is sent to earth to manipulate humanity, by preventing another alien race from doing exactly the same thing. This ends in a game of masks, double cross and weird alien sexual impulses, (the two groups despise each other but have been altered physically and psychologically to be attracted to human standard looks, meaning the two aliens wearing human skin suits do actually want to bang each other), throw in an 'ascended race' of human super-psychics and you have more than the thirty pages can really handle. This one could perhaps have been a pulp paperback on its own.

The last story; 'Spacerogue' has a more classically Silverbergian hero - a betrayed noble with a nihilistic but obscurely honourable temperament seeks revenge and takes on the mantle of 'Spacerogue'. After massively out-bidding a decadent nobleman for an alien slave, then spontaneously executing that slave in the marketplace a moment later, he is recruited by a criminal cartel who took his monstrous actions as a public advertisement of just what a crazy nihilistic bastard he is. Which he is, but the reason he killed the alien was also to save it from a lifetime of inevitable agony. When his criminal cartel is bought out by exactly the same noblemen against who he has sworn revenge, the protagonists dark sense of honour is turned against itself. Though this doesn't stop him banging the noblemans wife, then killing the nobleman, himself and everyone nearby.

All three of the later stories have a curious theme of invasive, behaviour-altering surgery. The hero of 'Space Witch' is enslaved surgically and mentally and can only plot against his owner tangentially. The protagonist of 'Silent Invaders' is literally a physical stranger to himself, consistently has things implanted into and taken out of him and has to slice open his own flesh to adjust his complex internal temperature regulators to earth-normal. Finally the hero of 'Spacerogue' voluntarily subjects himself, (for payment), to a form of Surgical full body implant which puts every member of the cartel at the mercy of whomever holds the controls - controls which change hands continuously and which are ultimately sold off to the corrupt noble he despises. These themes of bodily invasion, subversion, subjection and alienation (literally in one case), play a part in making Silverbergs stories stranger, murkier and more interesting.

Unless you really love pulp I wouldn't recommend the whole thing, but if you ever get a chance to read 'Hunt the Space Witch!" I would take it, along with 'Silent Invaders' and 'Spacerogue'. a

[MB Taylor · Rating 3 out of 5]

I finished reading Hunt the Space-Witch! last Wednesday. Although published last year, it’s a collection of novellas originally published in Science Fiction Adventures magazine in 1957 and 1958. These stories are not hard SF, they shade more toward space opera. This wasn’t a surprise given that the book was published under Paizo Publishing’s “Planet Stories” imprint. According to Silverberg’s introduction Science Fiction Adventures was launched expressly to publish stories like those in the original Planet Stories magazine in the 40s & early 50s.

I thought this collection started out a little slow. Neither of the first two stories, “Slaves of the Star Giants” (1957) and “Spawn of the Deadly Sea” (1957), really captured my imagination. But the nice thing about story collections is that every few pages (or in this case, every couple of dozen pages) there’s something new.

The third story, “The Flame and the Hammer” (1957), was much more to my liking. The story started out strong and really drew me in. The story has a galactic empire tottering on collapse, a religious sect, a lost secret, rebellion and betrayal. Not sure why, but it reminded me something Poul Anderson might have written for the original Planet Stories magazine.

I enjoyed all four of the remaining stories, “Valley Beyond Time” (1957), “Hunt the Space-Witch!” (1958), “The Silent Invaders” (1958) and “Spacerogue” (1958).

“Hunt the Space-Witch!” was probably my least favorite of the four and “Valley Beyond Time” was probably my favorite in the collection; although “The Silent Invaders” was also very interesting. “Spacerogue” seemed a little weak to me, but still better than the first two stories in the collection.

I never considered myself a Silverberg fan; in fact the first book of his I read (or tried to read) was Lord Valentine's Castle (1980). I didn’t much care for it and for many years after that I never picked up any of his books.

But a couple of years ago I picked up, read and enjoyed The Stochastic Man (1975) and Shadrach in the Furnace (1976). Since then I’ve been buying a lot of his books. Interestingly and (I think) coincidentally, all of my recent acquisitions were originally published before Lord Valentine’s Castle.

Paizo Publishing has also published two other Silverberg collections under the “Planet Stories” imprint, The Chalice of Death: Three Novels of Mystery in Space and The Planet Killers. Both are on my shelf and I hope they are as good as Hunt the Space-Witch!.

[Joel Flank · Rating 3 out of 5]

This collection of novellas is overall a mixed bag. Some are fine, but nothing to exciting, while others are great reads and definitely take the reader someone unexpected and fun. All of these are early stories from Silverberg, and homages to the pulp stories he grew up reading.

"Slaves of the Star Giants" and "Spawn of the Deadly Sea" are both pretty routine, and could have easily been from the height of the pulp era, but don't really stand out from other stories of the era.

"Valley Beyond Time", "Hunt the Space-Witch" and "The Silent Invaders" though are well worth the read, and come across more like a cross between a pulp adventure and a more thought provoking Star Trek episode. Definitely heavy on action and light on science, but the stories keep the reader enthralled with where and how things will resolve, and are full of wonder and interesting plot twists.

The other two, "The Flame and the Hammer" and "Spacerogue" are fine, but don't stand out overall. They each have some interesting elements, but don't push the envelope into novel areas.

Overall, still a good volume for fans of pulp stories, and the three stand out stories are worth reading for any science fiction fan.

[Jack Deighton · Rating 3 out of 5]

These are reprints of early Silverberg stories from the 1950s which first appeared in Science Fiction Adventures. As the stories’ titles (not to mention the book’s cover illustration) suggest they are firmly in the pulp tradition and bear most of that era’s faults and suppositions. Planet Stories as a publishing venture was set up precisely in order to resurrect them. This volume has seven of Silverberg’s stories from that time plus an introduction from the author remembering those early days of his as a writer.

Slaves of the Star Giants. Lloyd Harkins wakes up in a future where giant creatures (whose descriptions are a bit like dinosaurs) have taken over Earth and its humans have degenerated into pre-civilisation mode while giant robots plough back and forth. He has been summoned there by someone called the Watcher who primes him to enter a place called the Tunnel City and use to overthrow the aliens. This story is typical of those where humans - especially those of the twentieth century US variety, and, naturally, males - are superior creatures.

Spawn of the Deadly Sea is set on a far future Earth which was conquered by aliens known as Dhuchay’y who flooded the planet and left its human inhabitants to live on floating cities (each of which specialises in one product with which it can trade,) and then disappeared. Dovirr is a youngster in one of these cities, Vythain, who wishes, despite the chances of being killed on sight) to join the crew of Gowyn, the local Thalassarch (one of the human rulers who go around the cities collecting tribute; apparently in return for protection from pirates.) There are also undersea creatures known as Sea-Lords who will eat anything organic thrown into the water. These are descended from humans genetically altered to fight the Dhuchay’y but who were produced too late to make any difference. Dovirr vows to Gowyn to destroy the Dhuchay’y should they ever return.
The whole scenario falls completely to pieces if you give it a moment’s thought - what use would tribute in gold be to a Thalassarch who spends all his time plying the seas? - even while reading it. However, these stories were never designed to be anything but mere entertainment.

The Flame and the Hammer. The decaying Galactic Empire is threatened with revolt. Legend has it that a device known as the Hammer of Aldryne will end the Empire by killing the Emperor. Duyair, son of the High Priest on Aldryne is interrogated by the priesthood when his father is killed by Imperial torturers seeking the Hammer. He has no knowledge of its existence or whereabouts. The rebellion starts with the new High Priest Lugaur Holsp claiming to have the Hammer but he plans to collude with the Emperor to enrich himself. It falls to Duyair to thwart this.

Valley Beyond Time. A selection of humans, several men and two women, plus three aliens, find themselves in a valley from which they seem unable to escape. They have been plucked from their normal lives by a being named the Watcher presumably to see how they react and interact. The usual jealousies and conflicts arise before they begin to test the valley’s boundaries.

In Hunt the Space Witch! Barsac seeks his friend, Zigmunn, who had been left behind on the planet Glaurus when he failed to get back to his spaceship on time. He finds Zigmunn has recently fallen under the sway of the Cult of the Witch and was taken to the planet Azonda. Barsac has to be inducted into the cult, a process involving a kind of conditioning, in order to follow him. Barsac has to overcome the conditioning to succeed.

The Silent Invaders. The people of the planet Darruu are in conflict with Medlin. In surgically enhanced disguise as a human named Harris, Aar Khiilom of Darruu has been sent to Earth to thwart the efforts of Medlin to enlist Earth as an ally. His encounter with Beth Baldwin - who turns out to be a similarly disguised Medlin spy - leads Harris to a reassessment of his loyalties.

Spacerogue. Barr Herndon is the spacerogue of the title. He has sworn revenge on Seigneur Krellig after his family had been killed during a looting raid by some of Krellig’s henchmen. Recruitment into a smuggling operation gives him the chance to achieve this.

These stories have the faults of the time they were written and the outlets to which they were sold. The protagonist is always stronger or more forceful than his opponents, there is an awful lot of casual, unthinking violence, women are generally treated as little more than sex objects, not many are given any kind of agency. The prose is barely workmanlike. They do not bear comparison with the author’s later works. This collection is only for the Silverberg completist.

I also have to say the book’s cover is execrable.

[Craig Childs · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a collection of seven early pulp adventure stories the author wrote for editor Larry Shaw for Science Fiction Adventures and Infinity.

1. SLAVE OF THE STAR GIANTS (1956)

Harkins is transported to a far future when civilization has collapsed. Small mutated humans live underground in isolation. Ancient robots left over from the Time of Cities still roam the jungles but no longer serve any useful function. Small human tribes aboveground are used for social experiments by a race of aliens known as Star Giants. Harkins hatches a deadly plan to find the Brain that can reprogram the robots in order to wage war against the alien interlopers.

Previously collected in Next Stop the Stars.


2. SPAWN OF THE DEADLY SEA (1957)

Centuries ago, Terra was conquered by amphibious aliens who flooded the continents, spawned in our oceans, then left. Dovirr Stargen is a young man from one of the only remaining fifty island-cities, each surrounded by an ocean teeming with strange half-man, half-shark mutants. He longs to join the wayfaring Sea-Lords to fight pirates on the open seas, and his dreams of bloodlust and glory find fulfilment on the day the aliens unexpectedly return.

The detailed world-building in this short novella is excellent. This story was expanded into the 1965 novel Conquerors from the Darkness; this marks its first reprint in its original form.


3. THE FLAME AND THE HAMMER (1957)

There is a legend on the planet Dykran of a mythical weapon called the Hammer which will one day be used by the planets of the Aldryne system to overthrow the galactic Empire. When his father is killed by the Proconsul's interrogators, a young priest Ras Duyain flees to Dykran with dreams of finding the weapon and starting a universal revolt.

This story has several flaws. There are too many characters with odd names that have little to do in the story. It proves preposterously easy to coordinate and stage an interplanetary war. There are too many head-scratching coincidences to count. Plus, how many times can sci-fi writers recount the fall of the Roman Empire in space? Previously collected in Valley Beyond Time.


4. VALLEY BEYOND TIME (1957)

Nine strangers are transported by an alien being--The Watcher--into an idyllic valley they cannot leave. They do not need to eat or sleep. Their wounds heal, they grow younger, and they rise from the dead if killed. There is love but no sex. It is, in short, the Christian version of Heaven--and it is a hellish place to live.

An enthralling novella with theological undertones. Previously collected in Valley Beyond Time and Robert Silverberg Megapack.


5. HUNT THE SPACE-WITCH! (1957)

A life-long fuelman in deep space, Barsac lands on the planet Glaurus to search for an old friend who was stranded there for eight years and then disappeared without a trace. The entire planet lives in fear of a mysterious, violent off-world cult which may be behind the disappearance as well as a string of murders. Barsac is beaten, robbed, and eventually enslaved as he attempts to infiltrate the cult and rescue his friend.

Pure noir from start to finish with a haunting, ambiguous ending. Perhaps the strongest story in the book. It has been anthologized once but never before reprinted in a Silverberg short story collection.


6. THE SILENT INVADERS (1958) --

Alien planets send undercover operatives disguised as humans to Earth to persuade us to enter a galactic conflict. This story focuses on two agents who would normally be arch-enemies but find themselves strongly attracted to each other in their new human bodies. The author weaves a compelling, oddly personal story amidst what would normally be a rather trite sci-fi backdrop. Plus, there is a nice twist involving the future of human evolution.

This marks the first reprint of the original story; it was expanded into the 1963 novel of the same name.


7. SPACEROGUE (1958)

The son of a nobleman vows revenge after the king kills his family and burns his village. He alters his appearance, reinvents himself as a smuggler, and begins a long campaign to rise among the courtiers in order to get face to face with his sworn enemy.

There are a few missteps in this story, but it still displays the author's talent for world-building and maintaining suspense. Previously collected in Valley Beyond Time and Robert Silverberg Megapack.

[Michael T Bradley · Rating 1 out of 5]

I think I made it through the first one, barely.

Look, there's nothing wrong with learning your craft, and there's nothing wrong with pulp. But Bob is NOT deft at it, at least from what I read here. It's readable, I suppose, but I didn't care about anything and felt no curiosity about what would happen next. Bob's so much better at crafting complex stories.

[Alan Carlson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Early short-stories, heavy on space opera, (from the 1950s) from master of SF.

[Dustin · Rating 2 out of 5]

It was a little different from what I usually read. I'm not used to the magazine pulp style of Sci-fi stories in the book (as a child of the nineties I'm used to a full length novel). They were interesting tales of adventure and I'd definitively read more from the author if I could find a collection of his stories that were a little more interlinked than the seven in the book.

[Clint · Rating 4 out of 5]

The first two stories, "Slaves of the Star Kings" and "Spawn of the Deadly Sea" were two stars. The next three were stronger, but not by much. My favorite of the collection was "The Silent Invaders" followed by "Spacerogue" and "Hunt the Space Witch"

I give it four stars as while none of the stories were fantastic, they were nostalgic space opera fun.

[Timothy · Rating 3 out of 5]

7 early novellas:

Slaves of the Star Giants (1957) (SF Adventures 1957/2)
Spawn of the Deadly Sea (1957) (SF Adventures 1957/4)
The Flame and the Hammer (1957) (SF Adventures 1957/9)
Valley Beyond Time (1957) (SF Adventures 1957/12)
Hunt the Space-Witch! (1958) (SF Adventures 1958/1)
The Silent Invaders (1958) (SF Adventures 1959/10) (Infinity 1958/10)
Spacerogue (1958) (Infinity 1958/11)

[Brian · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed reading these early works of a SF Master. The tales were, without a doubt, pulp - a favorite genre if mine - and a fast, easy and flavorful read.

[Lorraine · Rating 3 out of 5]

entertaining enough, but Sliverberg never *impressed* me