Robert Silverberg (born January 15, 1935) is an American author and editor, best known for writing science fiction. He is a multiple winner of both Hugo and Nebula Awards, a member of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame, and a Grand Master of SF. He has attended every Hugo Awards ceremony since the inaugural event in 1953.

Biography

Early years

Silverberg was born to

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parents in Brooklyn, New York. A voracious reader since childhood, he began submitting stories to science fiction magazines during his early teenage years. He received a BA in English Literature from

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

, in 1956. While at Columbia, he wrote the juvenile novel '' Revolt on Alpha C'' (1955), published by Thomas Y. Crowell with the cover notice: "A gripping story of outer space". He won his first Hugo in 1956 as the "best new writer". That year Silverberg was the author or co-author of four of the six stories in the August issue of '' Fantastic'', breaking his record set in the previous issue. For the next four years, by his own count, he wrote a million words a year, mostly for magazines and

Ace Double American company Ace Books began publishing genre fiction starting in 1952. Initially these were mostly in tête-bêche format with the ends of the two parts meeting in the middle and with a divider between them which functioned as the rear cover ...

s. He used his own name as well as a range of pseudonyms during this era, and often worked in collaboration with

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(The Silverberg/Garrett collaborations also used a variety of pseudonyms, the best-known being Robert Randall.) From 1956 to 1959, Silverberg routinely averaged five published stories a month, and he had over 80 stories published in 1958 alone. In 1959, the market for science fiction collapsed, and Silverberg turned his ability to write copiously to other fields, from historical non-fiction to

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. "Bob Silverberg, a giant of science fiction... was doing two ooksa month for one publisher, another for a second publisher, and the equivalent of another book for a magazine... He was writing a quarter of a million words a month" under many different pseudonyms including about 200 erotic novels published as Don Elliott. In a 2000 interview, Silverberg explained that the erotic fiction (published under the

pseudonym A pseudonym (; ) or alias () is a fictitious name that a person or group assumes for a particular purpose, which differs from their original or true name (orthonym). This also differs from a new name that entirely or legally replaces an individua ...

"Don Elliott")

"... was undertaken at a time when I was saddled with a huge debt, at the age of 26, for a splendid house that I had bought. There would have been no way to pay the house off by writing science fiction ... so I turned out a slew of quick sex novels. I never concealed the fact that I was doing them; it made no difference at all to me whether people knew or not. It was just a job. And it was, incidentally, a job that I did very well. I think they were outstanding erotic novels."

Literary growth

In the mid-1960s, science fiction was becoming more serious and sophisticated. Frederik Pohl, then editing three science fiction magazines, offered Silverberg creative freedom in writing for them. Thus inspired, Silverberg returned to the field that gave him his start, paying far more attention to depth of character development and social background than he had in the past and mixing in elements of the

modernist Modernism is both a philosophy, philosophical and arts movement that arose from broad transformations in Western world, Western society during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The movement reflected a desire for the creation of new fo ...

literature he had studied at Columbia. Silverberg continued to write rapidly— Algis Budrys reported in 1965 that he wrote and sold at least 50,000 words ("call it the equivalent of a commercial novel") weekly—but the novels he wrote in this period are considered superior to his earlier work; Budrys in 1968 wrote of his surprise that "Silverberg is now writing deeply detailed, highly educated, beautifully figured books" like '' Thorns'' and '' The Masks of Time''. Perhaps the first book to indicate the new Silverberg was ''To Open the Sky'', a

fixup A fix-up (or fixup) is a novel created from several short fiction stories that may or may not have been initially related or previously published. The stories may be edited for consistency, and sometimes new connecting material, such as a frame s ...

of stories published by Pohl in '' Galaxy Magazine'', in which a new religion helps people reach the stars. That was followed by '' Downward to the Earth'', a story containing echoes of material from Joseph Conrad's work, in which the human former administrator of an alien world returns after the planet's inhabitants have been set free. Other acclaimed works of that time include '' To Live Again'', in which the memories and personalities of the deceased can be transferred to other people; ''

The World Inside ''The World Inside'' is a science fiction novel by American writer Robert Silverberg, published in 1971. The novel originally appeared as a series of shorter works in 1970 and 1971, all but one published in ''Galaxy'', including the Hugo nominat ...

'', a look at an overpopulated future; and '' Dying Inside'', a tale of a telepath losing his powers. In the August 1967 issue of ''Galaxy'', Silverberg published a 20,000-word novelette called "Hawksbill Station". This story earned Silverberg his first Hugo and Nebula story award nominations. An expanded novel form of '' Hawksbill Station'' was published the following year. In 1969 '' Nightwings'' was awarded the Hugo for best novella. Silverberg won a Nebula award in 1970 for the short story "

Passengers A passenger (also abbreviated as pax) is a person who travels in a vehicle, but does not bear any responsibility for the tasks required for that vehicle to arrive at its destination or otherwise operate the vehicle, and is not a steward. Th ...

", two the following year for his novel '' A Time of Changes'' and the short story " Good News from the Vatican", and yet another in 1975 for his novella " Born with the Dead".

Later developments

After suffering through the stresses of a major house fire and a thyroid malfunction, Silverberg moved from his native

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

to the West Coast in 1972, and he announced his retirement from writing in 1975. In 1980 he returned, however, with ''

Lord Valentine's Castle ''Lord Valentine's Castle'' is a novel by Robert Silverberg published in 1980. Plot summary ''Lord Valentine's Castle'' is a novel in which Lord Valentine liberates the planet Majipoor series, Majipoor from tyrannical rule and helps establish a ...

'', a panoramic adventure set on an alien planet, which has become the basis of the Majipoor series—a cycle of stories and novels set on the vast planet Majipoor, a world much larger than Earth and inhabited by no fewer than seven different species of settlers. In a 2015 interview Silverberg said that he did not intend to write any more fiction. Silverberg received a Nebula award in 1986 for the novella '' Sailing to Byzantium'', which takes its name from the poem by William Butler Yeats; a Hugo in 1987 for the novella ''

Gilgamesh in the Outback ''Gilgamesh in the Outback'' is a science fiction novella by American writer Robert Silverberg, a sequel to his historical novel '' Gilgamesh the King'' as well as a story in the shared universe series ''Heroes in Hell''. It won the Hugo Award fo ...

'', set in the '' Heroes in Hell'' universe of Bangsian Fantasy; a Hugo in 1990 for ''Enter a Soldier. Later: Enter Another''. The Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame inducted Silverberg in 1999, its fourth class of two deceased and two living writers, and the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America made him its 21st

SFWA Grand Master The Damon Knight Memorial Grand Master Award is a lifetime honor presented annually by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA) to no more than one living writer of fantasy or science fiction. It was inaugurated in 1975 when Robe ...

in 2005.

Personal life

Silverberg has been married twice. He and Barbara Brown married in 1956, separated in 1976, and divorced a decade later. Silverberg and science fiction writer

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married in 1987. They live in the San Francisco Bay Area. Before the age of 30, Silverberg was independently wealthy through his investments and once owned the former mansion of New York City Mayor Fiorello La Guardia.

Awards

Hugo Awards * Most Promising New Author (1956) * ''Nightwings'' (Best Novella, 1969) * ''Gilgamesh in the Outback'' (Best Novella, 1987) * "Enter a Soldier. Later: Enter Another" (Best Novelette, 1990) Locus Award * '' Born with the Dead'' (Best Novella, 1975) * ''

'' (Best Fantasy Novel, 1981) * ''The Secret Sharer'' (Best Novella, 1988) Nebula Awards * "Passengers" (Best Short Story, 1969) * '' A Time of Changes'' (Best Novel, 1971) * "Good News from the Vatican" (Best Short Story, 1971) * ''Born with the Dead'' (Best Novella, 1974) * ''Sailing to Byzantium'' (Best Novella, 1985) * Damon Knight Grand Master Award (2003)

Bibliography

References

External links

* * * * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Silverberg, Robert 1935 births 20th-century American male writers 20th-century American novelists 21st-century American male writers 21st-century American novelists American alternate history writers American erotica writers American fantasy writers American male novelists American male short story writers American science fiction writers Anthologists Asimov's Science Fiction people Columbia College (New York) alumni Erasmus Hall High School alumni Hugo Award-winning writers Jewish American novelists Jewish American short story writers Living people Nebula Award winners Novelists from New York (state) Science fiction editors Science fiction fans Science Fiction Hall of Fame inductees SFWA Grand Masters Writers from Brooklyn