Nightwings and other stories by Robert Silverberg
Robert Silverberg has always inspired me, and just about everyone else who’s ever read his works.
I first read Lord Valentine’s Castle in high school. Sometimes my fingers trembled as I turned the pages. I was so close to being there that when I put down the book to do annoying things like homework, I felt homesick. Somehow he took me to Majipoor. And that is not easy for an author to do.
Silverberg’s world building (though I didn’t really understand it at the time) is some of the best. He’s up there with Herbert and Tolkien. As I grew older, I discovered other works that not only took me somewhere, but inspired me to write. Sailing to Byzantium was one of the first stories that made me want to be a writer. If I could only write like this! I would say.
And Silverberg also is a teacher. For anyone interested in writing SF, his collection dubbed, Science Fiction 101, is essential. It was there that I learned, among other things, the ‘dual plot’ of short story writing. Put two, probably, unoriginal stories together in a new way and you have a unique story.
Recently I ran across Nightwings, a short story. Again, Silverberg amazes me with his world building and his gentle descriptions that lift the world from the pages into my imagination.
He is a gem.
