Science fiction novelists really got their mojo working in the 1960s and 1970s. Authors ditched the formulas of the past with the fiery splendor of an Apollo spaceship jettisoning its booster rocket. Almost everything or anything could show up in a sci-fi book during this period, from acid trips to Joycean stream-of-consciousness. In just the course of a century, we had gone from Jules Verne's Around the Moon to J.G. Ballard's The Atrocity Exhibition , a shift that perhaps represented progress, but certainly signalled a brave new world in which sci-fi writers had finally reached the final frontier. Maybe taboos and totems still existed in society at large, but they didn't need to limit the imagination of a science fiction author, for whom everything was now permitted . All systems go, and full speed ahead….
But even by the expansive standards of the era, Barry N. Malzberg bites off quite a mouthful in his short novel Herovit's World . In just 160 pages, Malzberg slashes and burns, and leaves behind plenty of scorched earth, not to mention a few scorched planets in other solar systems. This is a science fiction novel that offers a savage critique of the field, with caustic assessments of sci-fi conventions, agents, college courses, editors and writers. Parodied passages of space opera fiction are peppered throughout the text, and the authors of such works are presented as exemplars of self-loathing, backstabbing, groupie-groping and stupor-inducing drunkenness. We also get meta-narrative, black comedy, gritty New York realism, and not just the death of the author (always a postmodern crowdpleaser), but also enjoy that delectable rarity, namely the death of the author’s pseudonym.
Malzberg didn’t invent any of these techniques and concepts. I've seen characters get into battles with their authors before, or even go on strike to protest subpar literary working conditions. But Malzberg does offer some new twists. His characters come equipped with ultra-tech space age weapons, so they can really inflict serious damage in a shoot-out with the author.
The science-fiction-author-as-pathetic-hero at the center of this novel is Jonathan Herovit, who perhaps once showed some modest promise and ambition, but now has settled into middle age as an experienced hack churning out shallow astronaut adventures for equally shallow readers. His target market, he reluctantly admits to himself, consists of "engineers and distrubed adolescents."
Last year, Herovit earned $11,400, not much even in 1970 dollars, and especially embarrassing when one considers that he is "one of the ten to fifteen most prolific science fiction authors in the country." But what can you expect for an author who tosses off a formulaic novel in a few hours, and follows one cardinal rule: never go back and rewrite—just submit it as it comes off the typewriter. Life imitates art: Malzberg himself earned a reputation for fast writing during his early days in the science fiction field. But even Malzberg can't match his character Herovit, who has written 92 novels and more than 500 magazine pieces.
Most of his work focuses on a single character, astronaut Mack Miller who leads the Survey Team—on an endlessly prolonged mission to explore (and frequently kill) new life forms. An audience of between 70,000 and 80,000 consumes these made-to-order stories, but few of them even know that Herovit is their author. He relies on the pseudonym Kirk Poland for this hack work; he once hoped to save his real name for more serious writing.
But that goal is now more elusive than ever. When we meet up with Herovit he is burnt out, drinking too much and writing too little. His agent is unhappy, and his new publisher frustrated with his inability to meet the specified deadline for the next Survey Team novel. Herovit's wife is even more embittered, resentful of the couple's baby daughter who demands more love and attention than either Mom or Dad are prepared to give her. In the midst of this turmoil, Herovit encounters a former collaborator who offers him a thread of hope—an invitation to an academic conference where our running-on-empty protagonist can perhaps take advantage of the growing interest at colleges and universities in science fiction writers. At a minimum, he hopes, he might meet some attractive coeds.
But Herovit has too few psychic and emotional resources at his command, and events threaten to overwhelm him. As if this isn't enough, his pseudonym Kirk Poland comes to life—perhaps a hallucination, but in the context of this novel, who can be sure?—and wants to take charge of the situation. Herovit is tempted to comply. After all, he has made a mess of his life, so why not hand off responsibility to someone else?
Malzberg, unlike Herovit, is a stellar writer, and he addresses all of these plots and complications with stylish prose, caustic insight, and more than a little humor. The story never feels rushed, even though Herovit's life and career go through tumultuous changes over the course of just a few pages. The story is compelling on its own merits, but science fiction fans will especially enjoy the 'inside baseball' glimpse of the inner workings of the genre publishing field. Malzberg extracts maximum effect from the contradictions between the ostensible futuristic, grandiose nature of sci-fi stories, and the petty squalor that produces these visionary works.
Herovit's World , like so many of Malzberg's works, is no longer in print, except as a digital download. This novel deserves a better fate. Science fiction was growing up in the decade leading up to this book’s publication, and Malzberg not only played a part in the process of experimentation and maturation, but even described, in these pages, the conflicts and crises behind this transition. Herovit's battle was, to some extent, one that the whole genre faced. And if the author as character failed to surmount the obstacles, as did the pseudonym-behind-the author, Malzberg himself triumphs in the end.
Ted Gioia writes on music, literature and popular culture. His next book, a history of love songs, is forthcoming from Oxford University Press.