1968-1976 A Collection of Science Fiction Works by Samuel R. Delany

Description

Original Binding, Publishers' Original Binding

Eight volumes. Written by Samuel R. Delany, an American writer and literary critic best known for his science fiction and essays on literature, sexuality, and society. Works include: Out of the Dead City, 1968. The first novel in the Fall of Tower trilogy, set in a post-holocaust Earth. The Towers of Toron, 1968. The second novel in the Fall of Tower trilogy. Babel 17, 1969. Signed by the author to title page, dated 1973 in Bristol. Babel-17 is a language that can be used as a weapon utilized by enemy invaders during an interstellar war. Chinese starship captain, linguist, poet, and telepath Rydra Wong begins to learn the language. Nova, 1969. By the year 3172, political power in the galaxy is split between two factions: the older Earth-based Draco and the historically younger Pleiades Federation. Both have interests in the even newer Outer Colonies, where mines produce trace amounts of the prized power source Illyrion, the superheavy material essential to starship travel and terraforming planets. City of a Thousand Suns, 1969. The final novel in the Fall of Tower trilogy, set again in the post-apocalyptic empire of Toromon, confined by a surrounding "Barrier" of highly-radioactive land, and inhabited by mutant "forest people" (some of whom are telepaths) and devolved "neanderthals", as well as normal humans. The events of the book focus on a claimed war. The Einstein Intersection, 1970. Signed by the author to title page, dated 1973 in Bristol. In a post-transcendent Earth, intelligent anthropoids deal with genetic mutation from ancient radiation. The beings emulate early human civilization and retell stories from "our ghosts called Man" Dharlgren, 1975. The city of Bellona, a fictional city in the American Midwest cut off from the rest of the world by an unknown catastrophe, is severely damaged; radio, television, and telephone signals do not reach it. People enter and leave by crossing a bridge on foot. Triton, 1976. The novel examines how Triton's freedoms and customs are perceived by the main characters, particularly Bron Helstrom, a young man who has previously worked on Mars as a male prostitute. The society of Mars is far harsher than that of Triton, and it has evidently influenced Bron's personality.