Nova
by Samuel R. Delany · first published 1968
43% recommend57% neutral
These are at least some of the ways you can read NOVA: as a fast-action farflung interstellar adventure; as archetypal mystical/mythical allegory (in which the Tarot and the Grail both figure prominently); as modern myth told in the S-F idiom... the reader observes, recollects, or participates in a range of personal experience including violent pain and disfigurement, sensory deprivation and overload, man-machine communion, the drug experience, the creative experience - and inter-personal relationships which include incest and assassination, father-son, leader-follower, human-pet, and lots mor
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…reviewer just happening to cover a book up your alley is about as common as a planetary alignment. I asked ChatGPT for 20th century space operas with literary merit or lasting recognition. It suggested Nova by Samuel Delany. Great book. How many newspaper book reviews would I have to read before I got suggestions for books in that category? I'd probably die waiting.
on “AP to end its weekly book reviews” ↗…Absolute Best would be anything by: Stanislaw Lem (Cyberiad, Futurological Congress, Solaris) Alfred Bester (The STars my Destination, The Demolished Man) or Samuel R. Delany (Babel-17, Dhalgren, Trtion, Nova) oh and Roger Zelazny's Lord of Light and This Immortal are both great. Some of Philip K. Dick's stuff is great, but everyone recommends him. :) almost forgot John Brunner, check out Steel Beach, The…
on “Ask YC: What's the most inspiring sci-fi book you've read?” ↗I started with Delany's Nova when I was about 12 or 13. What an incredible story! For something published in 1966, it really pushed the boundaries of science fiction not just in terms of topics (race, drugs, society, etc.) but also…
on “In Praise of Samuel R. Delany” ↗…was delivered. The fine print of employment and publishing contracts is often very restrictive and/or requires additional steps to unlock certain rights or benefits. For anyone who hasn't read Delany, Nova is a solid starting point. Forget the "space opera" label, it's just a great story with interesting characters and vision of humanity's far future.
on “Samuel R. Delany Reimagined Sci-Fi, Sex, and the City” ↗…treasury of SF ideas" is baseless hyperbole, and your entire rant falls on a throwaway comment she made 30 years ago. She looted the "treasury of SF ideas" in the same way Delany looted Moby Dick to write Nova or Jo Walton looted Greek myth to write The Just City
on “Dark Futures: What happens when literary novelists experiment with Sci-Fi” ↗The Road To Reality - Roger Penrose. Slowly, step by step. Neuromancer - William Gibson. 6th or 7th time through. Coming to it now after having read Delany's Nova, and the influence is clear. Little Heroes - Norman Spinrad. All that's good about Spinrad and all that's bad. He does write well about Hollywood. History Of Film- David Parkinson. A short survey…
on “Ask HN: What are you reading right now?” ↗I keep thinking I read Gibson said something along the lines of "Delany's Nova was his attempt to reach the heights of The Stars My Destination, and Neuromancer was my attempt to reach Nova." But I haven't been able to find it again. Maybe I imagined it.
on “Revisting Neuromancer After Three Decades” ↗…Silverberg - Dying Inside (1972) Roger Zelazny - Lord of Light (1967) Russell Hoban - Riddley Walker (1980) Samuel R. Delany - Babel-17 (1966). Samuel R. Delany - Dhalgren (1975) Samuel R. Delany - Nova (1968) Samuel R. Delany - The Einstein Intersection (1967) Samuel R. Delany - Trouble on Triton: An Ambiguous Heterotopia (1976) Stanislaw Lem - Ze wspomnien Ijona Tichego Kongres futurologiczny…
on “New Wave Sci-Fi: 75 Best Novels of 1964–1983” ↗