The Collected Stories of Robert Silverberg, Vol. Six: Multiples (1983-87)

The latest volume of SFWA Grand Master Silverberg's most acclaimed short stories and novellas represents five years of work from 1983-1987, when "four-digit slick magazine [pay]checks" from venues like Playboy and OMNI allowed the author "the luxury of polishing and repolishing each story until it gleamed." These 14 stories showcase a diverse palette of styles and tones, from the dark comedy of "Hannibal's Elephants," about the difficulties of carrying on an extramarital affair during an alien invasion, to the qualified optimism of "The Pardoner's Tale." Alien races stir intellectual and moral puzzles in "The Iron Star" and "Hardware." The gems of the collection are the elegiac and haunting "Sailing to Byzantium," set in a future so distant that Earth's history runs together, and the picaresque adventures of assorted "fallen emperors and kings and pharaohs and shahs"%E2%80%94and pulp-era fantasy authors%E2%80%94in "Gilgamesh in the Outback." Informed by classical historic%E2%80%94and even prehistoric%E2%80%94settings as much as far-future journeys through remote space, this volume gives fans and scholars a closer look at some of Silverberg's best work, as he explores classic science fiction themes of alienation, exploration, and humanity. (Oct.)