Barry N. Malzberg

Barry N. Malzberg, author of more than 50 books and over 250 short stories, is a prominent American science fiction author and editor. Malzberg’s 1972 novel Beyond Apollo received the first John W. Campbell Memorial Award for Best Science Fiction Novel and established his reputation for writing controversial works predicated upon unreliable narrators and the often-problematic psychological condition of his characters. His novel The Remaking of Sigmund Freud (1985) was nominated for both the Nebula Award for Best Novel and the Philip K. Dick Award for best original science fiction paperback published in the United States. Malzberg’s distinctive style, defying tradition, is an integral part of his works that frequently include dystopian themes and elements of metafiction. The Very Best of Barry N. Malzberg, published in 2013 by Nonstop Press, includes nearly forty of the author’s stories, including “A Galaxy Called Rome,” distinctive for being “not a novelette but a series of notes,” and “What I Did to Blunt the Alien Invasion,” a list of nine bullet points presented by a narrator of questionable mental stability. He edited the science fiction magazines Amazing Stories and Fantastic in the late 1960s and is a frequent reviewer and contributor to other publications in the genre, including the SFWA Bulletin published by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America. Malzberg’s collection of critical essays, The Engines of the Night (1982), won the Locus Award for best nonfiction/reference book, and Breakfast in the Ruins (2007), nominated for a Hugo Award, won the 2008 Locus Award for Best Related Non-Fiction. His latest critical work, The Bend at the End of the Road (2018), includes essays and commentary published during the past decade and provides an insightful overview of the history of science fiction. Malzberg considers himself an “unaccomplished” violinist and lives in Teaneck, New Jersey.