Nightwings

Night SweatsBy Bob Gelms In science fiction circles, Robert Silverberg is something close to a force of nature. He won a prestigious Hugo Award for the book I am writing about in this issue, Nightwings. After the first Hugo, he still had a bit more in him. Mr. Silverberg managed to win four more Hugo Awards for a total of five and still he wasn’t done. He also accumulated five Nebula Awards. (Nebula Awards are to the Pulitzer Prize, as the Hugo is to the National Book Award.) He was inducted into the Science Fiction Hall of Fame and, believe it or not, there was more to come. In 2004, the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America honored Mr. Silverberg with the ultimate award, the Damon Knight Grand Master Award, a life achievement award, richly deserved. There are very few in that club and amongst the members fewer still who can equal Robert Silverberg’s astonishingly consistent high level of quality book after book after book. Nightwings had something of a tortuous birth. Mr. Silverberg wrote a novella he called Nightwings, published under that title in the September, 1968, issue of Galaxy Magazine. The second related novella, Among the Rememberers, was published in November of 1968 and the third installment, The Road to Jorslem, in February of 1969. At that point, he brought all three together, punched-up the plot and characters and combined them by writing connecting text between the three parts. Nightwings was published as a novel by Avon Books in September of 1969. BINGO, instant classic. Very often writing and publishing don’t travel in straight lines. In this case, everything just got better. It really was an instant classic. The third cycle reveals that the people of Earth achieved interstellar flight. They met many other races, some of whom they captured and studied. A few were put on display like animals in a zoo. These were sentient beings just like Earthlings. As it happens, Earth ran into planet-wide financial problems. They borrowed gigantic amounts of money from some of their extra-terrestrial friends. Eventually these folks wanted their money back and Earth could not pay. A planet in another star system bought up all of Earth’s debt. In a manner of speaking, they now owned Earth. It came to pass that this race had been captured by Earthlings and put on display. They vowed that someday they would get their revenge. But first their society had to make considerable scientific leaps because they didn’t even have vehicles that could fly to another planet in their system. So, Earth lived with the fear that someday they would be invaded. It took about a thousand years but now the invasion was nigh. Politicians and scientists tried to control Earth's weather making catastrophic decisions that led to massive death around the world. The oceans rose precipitously, completely altering the shape of the continents. The population took on a very medieval feeling. Guilds were formed just like in the middle ages. Our hero was a Watcher. His job was to scan the skies four times a day looking for anything unusual like, maybe, an invasion force. He was also a wanderer. On his way from Roum (Rome) to Perris (Paris), he acquired a few fellow travelers including the Prince of Roum who had been kicked out, blinded and now traveled as a Pilgrim, wearing a mask so no one could identify him. The Watcher also invited Gormon to travel with the group. He was mighty odd and sometimes could be big trouble. Little did they know. Last but not least, a sentient being who will remind you of Tinker Bell. Avluela is quite the piece of work. Wings, of course, because she can fly and she is quite small. She can talk and when she wears clothes she appears somewhat child-like. She is kind and generous. As they marched toward Perris (Paris) they encounter a few adventures. One night, Watcher sees an invasion force flying rapidly toward Earth. He sets off the alarm but it is too late. Apparently, all of Earth had been conquered in one night. The invaders are indeed the race who swore revenge. It just took them a thousand years to get here. I guess you could say that this was when the sparks begin to fly. There are many surprises ahead. Robert Silverberg’s writing style is crystal clear and sometimes beautiful. Underneath all the action is a layer of meaning springing from the characters and the way they interact with each other and the aliens. It approaches philosophy but if you’re not interested you can always just pay attention to the riveting plot. I find Robert Silverberg to be a little bit of Robert Heinlein blended with Arthur C. Clarke and a big dollop of an engaged reader. Enjoy.

My first encounter with Robert Silverberg was in the 1970 publication of The Hugo Winners, volumes I and II combined into one edition by Doubleday. I bought that book upon its release through my book club primarily because it was bound to be "the best" science fiction and it was edited by Isaac Asimov whom I greatly admired for some of his "robot" novels. I was not a hard science fiction fan by any means. I grew up as a boy reading Edgar Rice Burroughs' martian series and Pellucidar series, some of the Tarzan books and many of his one-off novels (and the two-off when he decided to re-visit). I also ate up HG Wells and Jules Verne, no doubt many school kids still do (I Hope), Edgar Allan Poe, Lovecraft, H Rider Haggard, and of course Robert E Howard's blundering chauvinistic hero with the sloping forehead, Conan, through something like a dozen or more serialized paperbacks. I thank my Grandfather for introducing me to Burroughs when I was barely old enough to read (exaggerated but close to the truth), those sexy pulp covers were astounding, later I set out to collect the Doubleday hardbacks with Frazetta painted covers. My Father was responsible for bringing home The Hobbit and The Lord Of The Rings to an adolescent with fantasy leanings, forever my favorite books to this day, Tolkein my favorite author. So as I began to venture into Clifford D Simak and his "pastoral" science fiction, John Wyndham and his "modernistic" Wells approach to sci-fi, and various other authors who were firmly planted in science with a softer fantasy approach, it was natural enough to be instantly enamored to Nightwings as I read it. I found myself a Silverberg short story collection later, Moonferns & Starsongs, which contained Nightwings. I read many of his time travel novels, and some of his "invasion" books but none of them held a candle to Nightwings. It was years later I discovered that he had indeed written two more novellas to complete the story arc begun in Nightwings. By then I was reading "serious stuff". So now here I am revisiting my youth, and what should I run across but a new edition of Nightwings complete, all three stories collected together and lightly edited by the author to make a more whole and consistent novel. It was an immediate must-have to finally get this and read it as the desired end result that Robert Silverberg had intended.This "New Classics" edition of an "Essential Science Fiction Library" was the fitting first installment since unlike any other science fiction story I read in the 60's - early 70's, this one was the one which left me with the deepest impressions akin to Simak's "City", "Way Station", or Wyndham's "Rebirth", "Midwich Cuckoos", etc, stories of speculative fiction on the border of sci-fi. I opened it up as soon as I pulled it out of the Amazon.com box and finished it very quickly only to re-read it immediately during my lunch breaks at work. The whole novel is even better than I remembered the novella, it is the written equivalent of a classical symphony performing Pink Floyd. It is beautifully antiqued with futuristic flourishes. The style is again pastoral, vivid and dramatic. Innocence mixed with jaded wit. You cannot help but be drawn in from the first paragraph into a cryptic and mystical world that seems at once familiar and wholly separate from any imaginings. This IDW Publishing edition (overseen by none other than Harlan Ellison) is a handsomely bound soft-cover in a hard cover size (Trade Paperback as opposed to the mass market paperbacks) printed on quality paper stock and well worth the Amazon price. The beautiful cover art is reproduced inside the book as illustrations separating the three parts of the novel. Kudos have to go to IDW for producing a classic looking book at an affordable price.Personally, I don't think you should read any lengthy descriptions of the plot and storyline, some of these reviews go into too much (spoiler) detail and stepping into this novel partially blind will reap the biggest rewards. If you love Tolkein-esque fantasy, and classic futuristic fiction, and a slightly melancholic writing style with some dry wit and cryptic mystery which should be discovered naturally in steps as you progress towards an inevitable conclusion, then you will love this book. If, like me, you once read the original novella but never read the two sequels, the continuing story is even more fascinating and the conclusion wonderfully astounding. This is a treasure for all lovers of fantasy and science fiction.

Quick read, interesting read on a believable future

アメリカを代表するカリスマＳＦ作家【ロバート・シルヴァーバーグ】が１９６９年に発表した、類いまれな傑作がこの『夜の翼』です。日本語版はハヤカワ文庫ＳＦの一冊として既に刊行されているので、興味がある方には当然日本語訳の方からオススメします。この作品の凄さを一言で云えば【世界が救われるイメージを完璧に描き切った】という、この一点に尽きます。ＳＦの世界ではどちらかと言えば暗い未来が描かれることが多く、それ自体は傑作であっても世界そのものの救済が描かれた作品はあまり多くありません。でもシルヴァーバーグが書いたこの『夜の翼』は、世界の救済それ自体を最後まで完璧に描き切ったというこの一点において、真に稀有な傑作と言えるでしょう。長々と書きましたが、興味がある方はハヤカワ文庫ＳＦから出ている日本語版をお読みください。面白いですよ(笑)。さて、ここからが本題です。私が今レビューしているのは、この『夜の翼』の英語版原書『ＮＩＧＨＴＷＩＮＧＳ』の、更にＡｍａｚｏｎが今運営している電子書籍【Ｋｉｎｄｌｅ】版です。私は英語のペーパーバックの『ＮＩＧＨＴＷＩＮＧＳ』もつい最近池袋の書店で購入して英語も分からない癖に今一生懸命読んでいるのですが、Ａｍａｚｏｎで検索してみたらこの【Ｋｉｎｄｌｅ】版『ＮＩＧＨＴＷＩＮＧＳ』も見つけて早速購入しました。英語が読めないのでサッパリ分からないのですが、それでも日本語版を何度も再読したので話の流れだけは何とかつかめます。それで、ここからが結論です。今英語を学びたいと思っている方は、とりあえず自分の好きな海外翻訳書の英語版原書を買って読んでみてはいかがでしょうか？嫁さんに勧められたのですが、これがかなり楽しいです。という訳で参考までに書いてみました。あしからず(笑)。

One of the very best science fiction books of all time. Truley beautiful, genuinly thought-provoking, and a wonderful way to see the future.I cannot reccomend this novel enough. I have bought it countless times for friends and always been thanked profousley.Please - Read my favorite book - It is Science Fiction they way they don't make em any more...

I had never before read a SciFi story remotely like this one. It was so refreshingly different that I'm going to get more Silverberg SciFi

To say that I love this book is not close enough. When I first read Nightwings, and even more so now as I come up to my 30th reading of it, it hold your emotions and mind in a way so few authors have over the years.Winner of soooo many awards, and so concise and pure of skill and style, you deserve to read this if you are a true science fiction fan.