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Starshadows
Contents:
Shadows --
Gather blue roses --
Oasis --
Julio 204 --
IMT --
Desert places --
The other perceiver --
Bond and free --
If ever I should leave you --
Clone sister.
Shadows --
Gather blue roses --
Oasis --
Julio 204 --
IMT --
Desert places --
The other perceiver --
Bond and free --
If ever I should leave you --
Clone sister.
205 pages, Paperback
First published June 1, 1977
31 people want to read
About the author
Pamela Sargent
162 books209 followersPamela Sargent has won the Nebula Award, the Locus Award, and has been a finalist for the Hugo Award, the Theodore Sturgeon Memorial Award, and the Sidewise Award for alternate history. In 2012, she was honored with the Pilgrim Award by the Science Fiction Research Association for lifetime achievement in science fiction scholarship. She is the author of the novels Cloned Lives, The Sudden Star, Watchstar, The Golden Space, The Alien Upstairs, Eye of the Comet, Homesmind, Alien Child, The Shore of Women, Venus of Dreams, Venus of Shadows, Child of Venus, Climb the Wind, and Ruler of the Sky. Her most recent short story collection is Thumbprints, published by Golden Gryphon Press, with an introduction by James Morrow. The Washington Post Book World has called her “one of the genre's best writers.”
In the 1970s, she edited the Women of Wonder series, the first collections of science fiction by women; her other anthologies include Bio-Futures and, with British writer Ian Watson as co-editor, Afterlives. Two anthologies, Women of Wonder, The Classic Years: Science Fiction by Women from the 1940s to the 1970s and Women of Wonder, The Contemporary Years: Science Fiction by Women from the 1970s to the 1990s, were published by Harcourt Brace in 1995; Publishers Weekly called these two books “essential reading for any serious sf fan.” Her most recent anthology is Conqueror Fantastic, out from DAW Books in 2004. Tor Books reissued her 1983 young adult novel Earthseed, selected as a Best Book for Young Adults by the American Library Association, and a sequel, Farseed, in early 2007. A third volume, Seed Seeker, was published in November of 2010 by Tor. Earthseed has been optioned by Paramount Pictures, with Melissa Rosenberg, scriptwriter for all of the Twilight films, writing the script and producing through her Tall Girls Productions.
A collection, Puss in D.C. and Other Stories, is out; her novel Season of the Cats is out in hardcover and will be available in paperback from Wildside Press. The Shore of Women has been optioned for development as a TV series by Super Deluxe Films, part of Turner Broadcasting.
Pamela Sargent lives in Albany, New York.
In the 1970s, she edited the Women of Wonder series, the first collections of science fiction by women; her other anthologies include Bio-Futures and, with British writer Ian Watson as co-editor, Afterlives. Two anthologies, Women of Wonder, The Classic Years: Science Fiction by Women from the 1940s to the 1970s and Women of Wonder, The Contemporary Years: Science Fiction by Women from the 1970s to the 1990s, were published by Harcourt Brace in 1995; Publishers Weekly called these two books “essential reading for any serious sf fan.” Her most recent anthology is Conqueror Fantastic, out from DAW Books in 2004. Tor Books reissued her 1983 young adult novel Earthseed, selected as a Best Book for Young Adults by the American Library Association, and a sequel, Farseed, in early 2007. A third volume, Seed Seeker, was published in November of 2010 by Tor. Earthseed has been optioned by Paramount Pictures, with Melissa Rosenberg, scriptwriter for all of the Twilight films, writing the script and producing through her Tall Girls Productions.
A collection, Puss in D.C. and Other Stories, is out; her novel Season of the Cats is out in hardcover and will be available in paperback from Wildside Press. The Shore of Women has been optioned for development as a TV series by Super Deluxe Films, part of Turner Broadcasting.
Pamela Sargent lives in Albany, New York.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
December 1, 2025
STARSHADOWS checks off all the Dystopian boxes: overpopulation, birth control, draft dodging, joblessness, bloody mass riots, drug use, prison camps and assassinations. However the bold and uncompromising concepts outmaneuver and get ahead of the prose more often than not. A story like 'Clone Sister' shows the promise of examining a family of clones ostracized from society, but mars itself with a college-age melodrama complete with some bizarre logic regarding incest and therapeutic healing. The novella 'Shadows' opens with a mob of humans being led from a ruined city by violet-colored aliens wearing gemstones that are like universe-transporting bindis. However its the dull drama between lovers in the dome camps that de-sparkles the potential transcendental and starry-eyed ending.
Other tales vary in intensity and execution while all achieving a pessimistic and hopeless tone equal with that of James Sallis and early Kit Reed. Even a story like 'If I Should Ever Leave You', a genuine time-travel love story, never loosens its doomed grasp on the broken heart and the bittersweet resolution. 'Desert Places' feels like a remnant of the same haunted city-scape of D.G. Compton's novel 'The Silent Multitude'. Here, a small group of survivors escape the crumbling metropolis in their path, but this isn't a virus but something far more planned, more automated for destruction. 'Julio 104' is a nasty deviation into the state of future medicine. A scumbag doctor night lines as a drug dealer and murderer in an overcrowded world where medicine can only be afforded by the uber wealthy. 'Bond and Free' feels like it belongs next to Gene Wolfe's 'Death of Doctor Island', where virtual therapy abandons a juvenile patient in a desert of their own broken longings. And in rare humorous form, Sargent delivers a grotesque comedy with 'The Other Perciever', where turtle-like aliens actually turn the Earth to shit.
Don't come here for subtleties and nuances. And don't judge the book by its cover art. Please, don't.
***
Other tales vary in intensity and execution while all achieving a pessimistic and hopeless tone equal with that of James Sallis and early Kit Reed. Even a story like 'If I Should Ever Leave You', a genuine time-travel love story, never loosens its doomed grasp on the broken heart and the bittersweet resolution. 'Desert Places' feels like a remnant of the same haunted city-scape of D.G. Compton's novel 'The Silent Multitude'. Here, a small group of survivors escape the crumbling metropolis in their path, but this isn't a virus but something far more planned, more automated for destruction. 'Julio 104' is a nasty deviation into the state of future medicine. A scumbag doctor night lines as a drug dealer and murderer in an overcrowded world where medicine can only be afforded by the uber wealthy. 'Bond and Free' feels like it belongs next to Gene Wolfe's 'Death of Doctor Island', where virtual therapy abandons a juvenile patient in a desert of their own broken longings. And in rare humorous form, Sargent delivers a grotesque comedy with 'The Other Perciever', where turtle-like aliens actually turn the Earth to shit.
Don't come here for subtleties and nuances. And don't judge the book by its cover art. Please, don't.
***
July 28, 2025
Short story collection. If there's a unifying theme, it's late 70s pessimism, urban breakdown and general griminess.
* Shadows: Humans are herded into camps by alien invaders who want to elevate us to become Star Trek like beings of pure thought. Lots of real world parallels to this story of people being subjected to violence by the incomprehensibly powerful for reasons they can't understand but are nominally for their own good.
* Gather Blue Roses: Psychic empathy is a terrible thing.
* Oasis: Surprisingly ditto.
* Julio 104: A serial-killer/doctor in a city where law and order has broken down and medicine is illegal.
* IMT: An administrator in another decaying city deals with a technological innovation allowing instant travel.
* Desert Places: People living a scavenger existence in an abandoned city gradually being demolished by unseen aliens.
* The Other Perceiver: A man assists an alien to transform the world.
* Bond and Free: A women escapes from a hospital to an outside world ruled by condescending pricks, who unfortunately happen to be immensely powerful psychics.
* If Ever I Should Leave You: An exception to the general pessimism - a sweet story of dealing with grief through time travel.
* Clone Sister: Clonecest! A young clone tries to establish his own identity, separate from his siblings. Like many young men in literature this mostly involves trying to persuade women to have sex with him.
* Shadows: Humans are herded into camps by alien invaders who want to elevate us to become Star Trek like beings of pure thought. Lots of real world parallels to this story of people being subjected to violence by the incomprehensibly powerful for reasons they can't understand but are nominally for their own good.
* Gather Blue Roses: Psychic empathy is a terrible thing.
* Oasis: Surprisingly ditto.
* Julio 104: A serial-killer/doctor in a city where law and order has broken down and medicine is illegal.
* IMT: An administrator in another decaying city deals with a technological innovation allowing instant travel.
* Desert Places: People living a scavenger existence in an abandoned city gradually being demolished by unseen aliens.
* The Other Perceiver: A man assists an alien to transform the world.
* Bond and Free: A women escapes from a hospital to an outside world ruled by condescending pricks, who unfortunately happen to be immensely powerful psychics.
* If Ever I Should Leave You: An exception to the general pessimism - a sweet story of dealing with grief through time travel.
* Clone Sister: Clonecest! A young clone tries to establish his own identity, separate from his siblings. Like many young men in literature this mostly involves trying to persuade women to have sex with him.
July 21, 2025
**** “Shadows”
**** “Gather Blue Roses”
*** “Oasis”
** “Julio 204”
*** “IMT”
**** “Desert Places”
** “The Other Perceiver”
** “Bond and Free”
**** “If Ever I Should Leave You”
*** “Clone Sister”
“Shadows” — A strangely dystopic utopian vision of first contact with aliens, both highlighting the problems and the possibilities with humans in a bigger universe. Like much of Sargent’s work, the story’s strength is in her psychological understanding of people, especially her protagonist, usually a “little person” caught up in a much bigger story. For a 70s story, this is prescient of transhumanism and the urge to be part of the universe.
“Gather Blue Roses” — Story tropes run in waves of multiple years and sometimes decades. Here in the 2020s, everything is about artificial intelligence; in the 1980s, it was hackers and unscrupulous corporations; in the 1970s, for some reason, many stories concerned telepathy. Here, it’s telempathy, in that the character not only senses the feelings of those around her, but can manifest the same afflictions, from headaches to bloody noses. The power of the story, however, arises from the depiction of the mother and father characters, Jews who suffered from the Holocaust, and how the narrator learned to understand what they went through just as she learns about what she has inherited from her mother. I feel it ended a bit more abruptly than I would have liked, as I’m not entirely sure why the mother thinks what she thinks in the final paragraph. Worthwhile.
“Oasis” — A disturbing story about an empath who tried to get away from people because he could feel their pain and suffering. Not just feel it, though, but know it. The disease in their liver or their lungs. Their feelings of pleasure and discomfort. Empathy and telepathy are no gift, 70s SF writers determined, and this is Pam’s entry into that discussion. Her contribution is to say that such a thing would eventually drive you mad.
“Julio 204” — A very ugly dystopia where the US has become overpopulated, diminishing the value of life. The protagonist is a doctor who escaped the streets but provides illegal practice to people, but he’s no Samaritan, expecting people to pay for his skill. He uses people. But, as the ending shows, he’s not the only one.
“IMT” — Sargent’s take on the social changes that having a teleporter might cause. She starts with a dystopic society where transportation has already broken down: the subways are collapsing, residents are blockading streets, etc. The IMT has the promise to resolve this issue, but the protagonist believes it to be the solution to cities themselves, but doesn’t want to implement in the city for fear that it will just prolong the life of the broken cities. I followed the reasoning, but felt it didn’t really explore the full possibility of what teleportation could do for a society.
“Bond and Free” — Well written but not the kind of story I care for, where the protagonist is utterly clueless of their situation and must discover it completely. Of course there’s a reason why the protagonist is clueless and the discovery thereof is supposed to be the payoff for the story, but like too many apocalyptic tales, I find it takes too long for that epiphany to come.
“If Ever I Should Leave You” — A nicely done tale of endless love and time travel, distinguished not by the plot but by the warmth and humanity of the two characters and their love for each other. The plot is standard time travel trope, although it might not have been as old hat when it was originally published in the 1970s. But the characters, and the depiction of growing old and grief, are very well portrayed.
“Clone Sister” — A follow-up to “A Sense of Difference” (not included in this collection) that is both logical and strangely bordering on taboo given the sexual material. I found it a bit long, but I think it also needed to be that length to set-up the climax at the end. The protagonist, Jim, annoys me, however. A lot of modern talk in the writing circles concentrates on whether or not characters have to have agency. That is, is it okay if a character simply lets things happen to them rather than taking action. For some characters, they are unable to take action because of the strictures of society and or situation they find themselves in. Jim seems to be stuck in something similar, a product of an experiment of which he can not escape. Lacking agency makes for difficult reading, which may be why writers are warned against it.
**** “Gather Blue Roses”
*** “Oasis”
** “Julio 204”
*** “IMT”
**** “Desert Places”
** “The Other Perceiver”
** “Bond and Free”
**** “If Ever I Should Leave You”
*** “Clone Sister”
“Shadows” — A strangely dystopic utopian vision of first contact with aliens, both highlighting the problems and the possibilities with humans in a bigger universe. Like much of Sargent’s work, the story’s strength is in her psychological understanding of people, especially her protagonist, usually a “little person” caught up in a much bigger story. For a 70s story, this is prescient of transhumanism and the urge to be part of the universe.
“Gather Blue Roses” — Story tropes run in waves of multiple years and sometimes decades. Here in the 2020s, everything is about artificial intelligence; in the 1980s, it was hackers and unscrupulous corporations; in the 1970s, for some reason, many stories concerned telepathy. Here, it’s telempathy, in that the character not only senses the feelings of those around her, but can manifest the same afflictions, from headaches to bloody noses. The power of the story, however, arises from the depiction of the mother and father characters, Jews who suffered from the Holocaust, and how the narrator learned to understand what they went through just as she learns about what she has inherited from her mother. I feel it ended a bit more abruptly than I would have liked, as I’m not entirely sure why the mother thinks what she thinks in the final paragraph. Worthwhile.
“Oasis” — A disturbing story about an empath who tried to get away from people because he could feel their pain and suffering. Not just feel it, though, but know it. The disease in their liver or their lungs. Their feelings of pleasure and discomfort. Empathy and telepathy are no gift, 70s SF writers determined, and this is Pam’s entry into that discussion. Her contribution is to say that such a thing would eventually drive you mad.
“Julio 204” — A very ugly dystopia where the US has become overpopulated, diminishing the value of life. The protagonist is a doctor who escaped the streets but provides illegal practice to people, but he’s no Samaritan, expecting people to pay for his skill. He uses people. But, as the ending shows, he’s not the only one.
“IMT” — Sargent’s take on the social changes that having a teleporter might cause. She starts with a dystopic society where transportation has already broken down: the subways are collapsing, residents are blockading streets, etc. The IMT has the promise to resolve this issue, but the protagonist believes it to be the solution to cities themselves, but doesn’t want to implement in the city for fear that it will just prolong the life of the broken cities. I followed the reasoning, but felt it didn’t really explore the full possibility of what teleportation could do for a society.
“Bond and Free” — Well written but not the kind of story I care for, where the protagonist is utterly clueless of their situation and must discover it completely. Of course there’s a reason why the protagonist is clueless and the discovery thereof is supposed to be the payoff for the story, but like too many apocalyptic tales, I find it takes too long for that epiphany to come.
“If Ever I Should Leave You” — A nicely done tale of endless love and time travel, distinguished not by the plot but by the warmth and humanity of the two characters and their love for each other. The plot is standard time travel trope, although it might not have been as old hat when it was originally published in the 1970s. But the characters, and the depiction of growing old and grief, are very well portrayed.
“Clone Sister” — A follow-up to “A Sense of Difference” (not included in this collection) that is both logical and strangely bordering on taboo given the sexual material. I found it a bit long, but I think it also needed to be that length to set-up the climax at the end. The protagonist, Jim, annoys me, however. A lot of modern talk in the writing circles concentrates on whether or not characters have to have agency. That is, is it okay if a character simply lets things happen to them rather than taking action. For some characters, they are unable to take action because of the strictures of society and or situation they find themselves in. Jim seems to be stuck in something similar, a product of an experiment of which he can not escape. Lacking agency makes for difficult reading, which may be why writers are warned against it.
January 2, 2022
Going in I knew this would be mediocre pulpy sf, which was expected and even welcomed. I did not realize it would be *this* bad. It’s supposed to be 10 different stories, but quite a few were basically doubles with names and genders switched around. I disliked every single female character in this book, all of them were annoying cardboard stereotypes, whiny, obsessed with clothing, and/or only accessible through sex. I know it was written in a different time, but really, Pamela, wtf. Everything else was unconvincing dystopian depressing stuff. Humans are terrible, we get it.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews