Samuel R. Delany seems to write the ordinary stuff of ordinary fiction. A father must come to terms with his son’s death in the war. A white southern airport loader tries to do a favor for a black northern child. But the worlds he creates take place 25 to 150 years in the future. People have been engineered with gills to work underwater and telepathic children long to travel to distant galaxies so bad, they’ll kill for the chance. The award-winning short stories of Delany are in fact, anything but ordinary.
Delany will be doing a reading at UCSD on May 20 at 8 p.m. in Center Hall 115. Since the early 1970s the name Samuel R. Delany has been synonymous with unmatched science fiction and fantasy. After years of creating incredible worlds, in July 2002, he was inducted into the Science Fiction Hall of Fame.
In April, an anthology of his work was published called “”Aye, and Gomorrah.”” In the stories, Delany takes his time to reveal pieces of his fantasy world. This lends an air of mystery and excitement to the works. Even if you are not generally a science fiction fan, Delany has an amazing quality that appeals to all tastes. The stories work on a psychological level, challenging notions of ethics and humanity. If nothing else, hearing him bring life to the words at his reading will be an opportunity that shouldn’t be missed.
