Something Wild Is Loose: The Collected Stories of Robert Silverberg, Vol. Three

This third of a projected eight volumes of Grand Master Silverberg's short form fiction focuses on his literary output from 1969 to 1972. Many of the 16 stories share what Silverberg describes as the era's “Day-Glo splendor” and take a questioning, cynical tone, often with discontented characters searching for some kind of transcendence. In “The Feast of St. Dionysus,” a despondent astronaut encounters a hedonistic cult in the Mojave Desert and attains unlikely salvation, while “The Reality Trip” finds a marijuana-smoking, sexually uninhibited poet refusing to leave her lover when he reveals he's an alien in disguise. “Push No More” revolves around a horny adolescent boy with telekinetic abilities who contemplates using his powers to seduce his high school crush, and “Caliban” explores the inanity of conformity with a hopelessly superficial future humankind. Longtime fans and new readers alike will cherish this collection. (May)