THE IRON CHANCELLOR was Robert Silverberg’s second contribution to GALAXY (his first a year earlier in 1956 was BLAZE OF GLORY); he was 22 when it appeared and it shows a remarkably developed talent. Silverberg in his memoirs remembers how Horace Gold, the editor of GALAXY magazine, was simultaneously entranced by Silverberg’s precocity and angered by what he felt was the young writer’s eagerness to settle for production, stylistic facility and prolific output. Like all of the editors with whom Silverberg dealt in his early career, Gold alternated between impatience and admiration but he did find THE IRON CHANCELLOR a strong story and he was glad to have it at a time when so many of his regular contributors, impatient with the field and with Horace, were moving on or moving out. In this story of a controlling machine assuming a totalitarian control, the influences on Silverberg can be clearly noted--Henry Kuttner’s Gallegher stories, Robert Sheckley’s rampant and perverse technology in the AAA Ace Series (also published in GALAXY). Silverberg’s own voice has emerged and he handles his rather large cast without stereotype, with clear definition and with a good deal of control. Silverberg became an increasingly dominant GALAXY contributor in the following decade and then, in the early 1970’s when the editorship had passed to Ejler Jakobsson’s and a new publisher, three of Silverberg’s novels were serialized in consecutive issues of the magazine, “The amazing fulfillment of a childhood fantasy” Silverberg wrote.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Robert Silverberg (b. 1935) sold his first science fiction stories to the lower-grade pulps in the mid-fifties, moved swiftly to the three prestigious magazines (ASTOUNDING, GALAXY and THE MAGAZINE OF FANTASY & SCIENCE FICTION) and as his style deepened and themes expanded in through the next reached the first rank of science fiction writers. He is regarded as the greatest living writer of science fiction, an SFWA Grandmaster, ex-President (in the 1960’s) of that organization, winner of five Nebulas, four Hugos and many other domestic and foreign awards. Among his famous novels are DYING INSIDE,THE BOOK OF SKULLS, DOWNWARD TO THE EARTH, A TIME OF CHANGES; his novella BORN WITH THE DEAD (1974) is perhaps the finest work of that length published within the genre. Shifting to a predominating fantasy in the late 1970’s (LORD VALENTINE’S CASTLE and the attendant Majipoor Series), Silverberg continued to write science fiction and won a Nebula in 1986 for the novella SAILING TO BYZANTIUM, and Hugos for the novelettes GILGAMESH IN THE OUTBACK and ENTER A SOLDIER: LATER, ENTER ANOTHER. He was editor of the long-running original anthology series New Dimensions and of important reprint anthologies such as THE SCIENCE FICTION HALL OF FAME, ALPHA and THE ARBOR HOUSE TREASURY OF MODERN SCIENCE FICTION.
ABOUT THE SERIES
Horace Gold led GALAXY magazine from its first issue dated October 1950 to science fiction’s most admired, widely circulated and influential magazine throughout its initial decade. Its legendary importance came from publication of full length novels, novellas and novelettes. GALAXY published nearly every giant in the science fiction field.
The Galaxy Project is a selection of the best of GALAXY with new forewords by some of today’s best science fiction writers. The initial selections in alphabetical order include work by Ray Bradbury, Frederic Brown, Lester del Rey, Robert A. Heinlein, Damon Knight, C. M. Kornbluth, Walter M. Miller, Jr., Frederik Pohl, Robert Scheckley, Robert Silverberg, William Tenn (Phillip Klass) and Kurt Vonnegut with new Forewords by Paul di Filippo, David Drake, John Lutz, Barry Malzberg and Robert Silverberg. The Galaxy Project is committed to publishing new work in the spirit GALAXY magazine and its founding editor Horace Gold. **
Description:
THE IRON CHANCELLOR was Robert Silverberg’s second contribution to GALAXY (his first a year earlier in 1956 was BLAZE OF GLORY); he was 22 when it appeared and it shows a remarkably developed talent. Silverberg in his memoirs remembers how Horace Gold, the editor of GALAXY magazine, was simultaneously entranced by Silverberg’s precocity and angered by what he felt was the young writer’s eagerness to settle for production, stylistic facility and prolific output. Like all of the editors with whom Silverberg dealt in his early career, Gold alternated between impatience and admiration but he did find THE IRON CHANCELLOR a strong story and he was glad to have it at a time when so many of his regular contributors, impatient with the field and with Horace, were moving on or moving out. In this story of a controlling machine assuming a totalitarian control, the influences on Silverberg can be clearly noted--Henry Kuttner’s Gallegher stories, Robert Sheckley’s rampant and perverse technology in the AAA Ace Series (also published in GALAXY). Silverberg’s own voice has emerged and he handles his rather large cast without stereotype, with clear definition and with a good deal of control. Silverberg became an increasingly dominant GALAXY contributor in the following decade and then, in the early 1970’s when the editorship had passed to Ejler Jakobsson’s and a new publisher, three of Silverberg’s novels were serialized in consecutive issues of the magazine, “The amazing fulfillment of a childhood fantasy” Silverberg wrote.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Robert Silverberg (b. 1935) sold his first science fiction stories to the lower-grade pulps in the mid-fifties, moved swiftly to the three prestigious magazines (ASTOUNDING, GALAXY and THE MAGAZINE OF FANTASY & SCIENCE FICTION) and as his style deepened and themes expanded in through the next reached the first rank of science fiction writers. He is regarded as the greatest living writer of science fiction, an SFWA Grandmaster, ex-President (in the 1960’s) of that organization, winner of five Nebulas, four Hugos and many other domestic and foreign awards. Among his famous novels are DYING INSIDE,THE BOOK OF SKULLS, DOWNWARD TO THE EARTH, A TIME OF CHANGES; his novella BORN WITH THE DEAD (1974) is perhaps the finest work of that length published within the genre. Shifting to a predominating fantasy in the late 1970’s (LORD VALENTINE’S CASTLE and the attendant Majipoor Series), Silverberg continued to write science fiction and won a Nebula in 1986 for the novella SAILING TO BYZANTIUM, and Hugos for the novelettes GILGAMESH IN THE OUTBACK and ENTER A SOLDIER: LATER, ENTER ANOTHER. He was editor of the long-running original anthology series New Dimensions and of important reprint anthologies such as THE SCIENCE FICTION HALL OF FAME, ALPHA and THE ARBOR HOUSE TREASURY OF MODERN SCIENCE FICTION.
ABOUT THE SERIES
Horace Gold led GALAXY magazine from its first issue dated October 1950 to science fiction’s most admired, widely circulated and influential magazine throughout its initial decade. Its legendary importance came from publication of full length novels, novellas and novelettes. GALAXY published nearly every giant in the science fiction field.
The Galaxy Project is a selection of the best of GALAXY with new forewords by some of today’s best science fiction writers. The initial selections in alphabetical order include work by Ray Bradbury, Frederic Brown, Lester del Rey, Robert A. Heinlein, Damon Knight, C. M. Kornbluth, Walter M. Miller, Jr., Frederik Pohl, Robert Scheckley, Robert Silverberg, William Tenn (Phillip Klass) and Kurt Vonnegut with new Forewords by Paul di Filippo, David Drake, John Lutz, Barry Malzberg and Robert Silverberg. The Galaxy Project is committed to publishing new work in the spirit GALAXY magazine and its founding editor Horace Gold. **