A, B, C: Three Short Novels: The Jewels of Aptor, The Ballad of Beta-2, They Fly at Ciron

First Class collection. If you know Delaney, all you need to do is figure out where you are in each of his classic works.

I should start by saying that although I enjoy Science Fiction, I do not read it regularly and prior to A,B,C: Three Short Novels, had never read anything by Samuel Delany so if you are looking for where these stories fit into his overall body of work, I can’t really tell you. What I can say is I found the stories to be enjoyable reads that did a good job getting and holding attention by creating a sense of suspense but in each case, the resolutions were a bit weak.The book, as the name suggests contains three short stories, The Jewels of Aptor, The Ballad of Beta-2, and They Fly at Ciron. The preface by the author makes clear these were early works by the author and each seems to have a sentimental meaning for him, although none are related to each other. Overall, as I said, I found the stories well-written and engaging and each in a slightly different style. I would say Beta-2 was the most straightforward science fiction being staged in the future with a technologically advanced setting with Ciron being more on the fantasy fiction side, however, the mixture of science and fantasy were present in all of them. All of them also had heave spiritual and religious overtones as well- Aptor is directly related to two dueling religious orders while the references to the Holy Trinity in Beta-2 are impossible to miss. The author has a true gift of sketching out characters, events, and worlds in a very short time and holding the reader’s attention with vivid description. I think what I liked best was the flow of each story as the suspense built.However, this also points out to what I think the weak points of the stories as I see them- the suspense/mystery resolution is ok, but not all that satisfying. For example (SPOILER ALERT!!) in Aptor, an underlying current is that the mystery of the dueling religions and jewels would be found at the beach but when the heros get back to the beach and reach their rescue ship, the beach was only a metaphor for how there were dueling natures in all things such as order and disorder.Overall, however, since I don’t get a chance to read science fiction very often, I did find these enjoyable books- they were short, easy to get through, and told decent tales. As I said, apparently these were from the author’s early works so I look forward to reading more by him in the future.

THE JEWELS OF APTOR:Delany's first novel isn't his best, but there's definitely some good work in it. It's interesting to see how his fascination with jewels, reflections, etc. has evolved through his work.My 2018 re-read:Last time I read this I remember being a lot less invested in the story by the final chapter, so I read it more closely and carefully this time. It's a minor shame that the last chapter and a half or so feel stylistically different from the rest of the book. But not really: we're about talking Delany here.My first impression of this book was also that, as an early work, the style and themes that appear in Delany's later works had not yet appeared in The Jewels of Aptor. Not so. This time around, I was surprised by just how many Delanyisms there are in this book: Urson chewing his fingernails and the repeated references to Urson's bare feet and Snake's dirty hands. Sure, there's obvious symbolism in the jewels as the 'grail' at the end of the characters' quest. But for a devout reader of Delany's work, there's interesting symbolism, I think, in the characters' tendencies and motivations: for example, in the similarities between Urson and Hogg or, maybe, George or Tak from Dhalgren; or between Geo and Kid/the kid/Kidd, or even Rydra.Changing my rating from 3 to 4 stars.THE BALLAD OF BETA-2:I really like this little book, even after my third time reading it, though I wish it were part of a larger novel or series.I'd forgotten how nice that last chapter is when Leela meets The Destroyer. It's really something.THEY FLY AT ÇIRON:I read this 15 years ago, but I remember it being good. Strange, but good. New, more detailed review to follow later this year.

If there were genre of SF poetry - then these early SF novels by Samuel Delany would take place of honor in it.The Jewels of Aptor, The Ballad of Beta-2 are real poems in prose. Samuel Delany created his SF novels knowning the power of WORD. He carefully choosed words and took them into right place. That's why after you are starting to read his prose you are starting to belive that his SF worlds are real. Yes, it's science fiction in best traditions of the early 60s and in the same time it's perfectly and powerfully written prose.In Jewels of Aptor you will hear the echo of novels by Rider Haggard and Edgar Burroughs, in Ballad of Beta-2 - the echo of scientific culturological discussions and echo of the songs by folk singers as Bob Dylan from the early 60s.Nova, Babel-17, Einstein Intersection were impressive continuation of his SF worlds, ideas, poetic style of writing.They Fly at Ciron is a bit less impressive. Fantasy novel which could remind of Eye of the Heron by Ursula Le Guin (though The Eye of the Heron is a later novel). The thing which I didn't understand - why editor dropped off poetical Proem from the very beginning of They Fly to Ciron? (You can find it in original 1993 TOR edition of the novel). Well, it's good novel but not as imppressive as Ballad of Beta-2 and The Jewels of Aptor.Bonuses here are long and very interesting foreword and afterword by Samuel Delany in which he opens some circumstances of his life and creative attitude to writing back in the 60s. Much thanks to Vintage Books for this edition!

Book arrived on time- good service- but low review since using plastic to wrap up the books.