Author of the bestselling Dhalgren and winner of four Nebulas and one Hugo, Samuel R. Delany is one of the most acclaimed writers of speculative fiction. Babel-17, winner of the Nebula Award for best novel of the year, is a fascinating tale of a famous poet bent on deciphering a secret language that is the key to the enemy’s deadly force, a task that requires she travel with a splendidly improbable crew to the site of the next attack. For the first time, Babel-17 is published as the author intended with the short novel Empire Star, the tale of Comet Jo, a simple-minded teen thrust into a complex galaxy when he’s entrusted to carry a vital message to a distant world. Spellbinding and smart, both novels are testimony to Delany’s vast and singular talent

Bellona is a city at the dead center of the United States. Something has happened there… The population has fled. Madmen and criminals wander the streets. Strange portents appear in the cloud-covered sky. Into this disaster zone comes a young man — poet, lover, and adventurer — known only as the Kid. Tackling questions of race, gender, and sexuality, Dhalgren is a literary marvel and groundbreaking work of American magical realism. Text is full. The unclosed ending sentence can be read as leading into the unopened opening sentence, turning the novel into an enigmatic circle

Premios Nebula 1969 y Hugo 1970 al mejor relato

This second volume of the Alien Sex anthology series brings together authors Neil Gaiman, Robert Silverberg, Samuel R. Delany, Joyce Carol Oates, Elizabeth Hand, and many others to explore the mysteries of sex, alien and human alike. From an alien spy who falls in love with one of the earthlings he’s monitoring, to a woman whose souvenir dream-catcher calls to her bedroom more than she bargained for, to a genetically engineered sex object aboard a space station, these thought-provoking tales of alien sex open up new worlds for fantastical exploration

Opuszczoną przez ludzi Ziemię zasiedliła humanoidalna rasa, usiłująca upodobnić się do swych poprzedników i przeżyć ich historię na nowo. Przybysze ze czcią traktują pozostawione przez ludzi ślady kultury i cywilizacji. W ich świecie postaciami mitycznymi są nie tylko Orfeusz i Chrystus, ale także bohater Dzikiego Zachodu — Billy Kid oraz Beatlesi. Nagła śmierć ukochanej sprawia, że bohater powieści, Lobey, porzuca swą idylliczną, zagubioną w lasach wioskę i wyrusza na wędrówkę, aby odnaleźć i odzyskać utraconą miłość

Won the Hugo Award for Best Short Story and Nebula Award for best Novelette in 1970