On the evening of Tuesday, 3 May 2011, at its current venue, the SoHo Gallery for Digital Art on Sullivan Street, the New York Review of Science Fiction Readings Series hosted another in its annual tributes to the great writers of the genre. This year’s honoree was the incomparable Theodore Sturgeon (1918-85), a superlatively imaginative writer whose body of work was as wide-ranging as the genre itself and whose literary artistry transcended it. (Kurt Vonnegut, who teasingly based his character Kilgore Trout on him, called Sturgeon “a master storyteller” and “one of the best writers in America,” unlimited by any genre adjective.)
Guest-curated by Noël Sturgeon [center in this photo], Ted Sturgeon’s daughter, and, with Paul Williams, editor of the thirteen volumes of The Complete Stories of Theodore Sturgeon (published by North Atlantic Books)—the occasion for the evening’s salute and an accompanying tribute tour—the event featured two classic Sturgeon stories: one read by Samuel R. “Chip” Delany [right in photo] and the other by N.K. Jemisin [left in photo], followed by a Q&A session.
After briefly announcing an sf-related event at the New York Public Library (24 May, 6PM), part of New York Book Week, Jim Freund, the Series’ executive curator and host of WBAI-FM’s Hour of the Wolf radio program on sf and fantasy (now broadcasting and streaming every Thursday morning—except during Pledge Weeks—from 1:30 to 3:00AM on WBAI, 99.5 FM), valiantly but vainly tried to encapsulate the storyteller whom the New York Times called “the conscience of modern science fiction.” Born Edward Hamilton Waldo (his name was legally changed to Theodore Sturgeon as a result of his mother’s remarriage, meaning it was not, as some have misreported, a pseudonym), he was, related Freund, along with Delany (and Joanna Russ, who died last week), among the first people whom Jim met at BAI. The author of more than 30 novels (including More Than Human) and short story collections, Sturgeon was honored with the Hugo and Nebula Awards, as well as recognition of his lifetime’s work in the form of a World Fantasy Achievement Award and induction into the Science Fiction Hall of Fame. Additionally, he created the phrase “Live long and prosper,” formulated—and himself defied—Sturgeon’s Law (the observation in defense of sf that 90% of every genre is crud), and spread the credo “Ask the next question,” symbolized by a “Q” with an arrow leading out of it (see picture at left). Displayed around the Gallery, making full use of the SGDA’s electronic screens format, were photos of Sturgeon, copies of covers from his novels and magazines featuring his stories, along with Vol. VI of The Complete Stories, even a shot of T’Pau from Star Trek‘s “Amok Time.” Concluding, Freund handed off the hosting of the event to Noël Sturgeon.
Her father, she noted, was primarily a short story writer, and the 13-volume compilation contains 222 stories (including several never-before published) along with afterwords by Williams (of whose efforts she was unstinting in her praise) and, in the final volume, herself. She then brought up Delany, the winner of multiple Hugo and Nebula awards and one of sf’s most acclaimed authors, introducing him after his reading (forgivable, as he’s a man who needs no introduction).
The story that Delany chose to read was “The Clinic” (1953), about an amnesiac who takes up in the titular clinic, seemingly having forgotten atypical things like syntax, music, and buttons. Dubbed Nemo, his thought processes, or his “thinks,” are revealed in conversations with his doctor and a fellow “loony,” and he turns out to be from very far away. A comedic take on language and difference, Delany explained his reading selection, it makes you listen to see what Nemo (the narrator) is saying.
After a brief intermission, Noël returned to the podium to introduce Nora K. Jemisin, whose first novel, The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms, has been nominated for this year’s Hugo and Nebula Awards. The story that she read, selected from a list of suggestions from Noël, “Bianca’s Hands,” an early story (1947), was, and still is, controversial; rejected, it took a long time to get published, but, once it was (in Argosy), received accolades and honors. (Sturgeon himself was proud of it and his use of metered prose.) Accordingly, it received the bulk of the attention from the three panelists (Ms. Sturgeon, Jemisin, and Delany) during the Q&A (or should that be &A?). A repulsive girl’s (described as squat, a “drooling imbecile” and, by her mother, “a monster”) hauntingly beautiful hands, “shy” and “parasitic,” which have a life of their own, fatally captivate a young man. A horror story, it is a daring and powerful story about obsession, self-destructive love and, bluntly, sexual perversion. Delany found the boy, Ran’s, absolute fascination with her hands a “superb presentation of desire,” and called it a “quintessential American love and death” tale (“Thanatos and Eros,” said Nora, apologizing for her lapse into Freudianism). At the same time, he added, it’s a pure love, noting that Ran has to learn to be gentle, citing a scene where Ran doesn’t look at her hands for 19 days; just knowing that they are there is enough for him.
Summing up, Chip said that Sturgeon “taught me how to write and how to live,” and that, like Willa Cather, he was “a great American short story writer.” Noël reiterated that the 222 collected stories were variously sf, fantasy, horror and comedy, satirical, sardonic, insightful and poignant, hardboiled and lyrical, and groundbreaking, going beyond the usual science-fictional plots to tackle social issues like sexuality and war. Responding to the question “What makes a Sturgeon story a Sturgeon story?”, Jemisin and Freund responded that it was the emotion, the humanity; “during the pulp era” of stock characters, said Jim, “he brought humanity to sf.”
The audience of nearly 50 included Richard Bowes, Carol Cooper, William Freedman, Harold Garber, David Hilbert, Josh Jasper, Kim Kindya, Barbara Krasnoff, Lissanne Lake, Danny Lieberman, Gordon Linzner, Andrew Porter, Berthold Reimers (Station Manager of WBAI), and Douglass Smith. After the chairs were folded up, the guests and a number of audience members adjourned, as customary, to Milady’s, a nearby pub.