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From: jsq@im4u.UUCP (John Quarterman)
Newsgroups: net.books,net.sf-lovers,net.motss
Subject: Re: Should book ads disclose sexual slant?
Message-ID: <712@im4u.UUCP>
Date: Sat, 4-Jan-86 20:38:10 EST
Article-I.D.: im4u.712
Posted: Sat Jan  4 20:38:10 1986
Date-Received: Sun, 5-Jan-86 05:46:49 EST
References: <4729@hlexa.UUCP> <223@birtch.UUCP>
Reply-To: jsq@im4u.UUCP (John Quarterman)
Organization: U. Texas CS Dept., Austin, Texas
Lines: 20
Keywords: gay sex, Delany
Xref: watmath net.books:2712 net.sf-lovers:11778 net.motss:2400

I wonder if the idea that to appreciate a story one must identify
with its major characters is attributable to television?  (Half serious.)

Back to Delany:  Just about all of his early work has no sex in it at all.
This includes The Jewels of Aptor, the Towers Trilogy, the Einstein
Intersection, Babel-17, and Nova.  Read the last three if you don't
like some particular variety of sex in your books but want to see why
Delany is considered to be such a good writer.  Babel-17 has a strong
female protagonist, for those who are tired of Delany's Kidd character.
There are several short story collections, none with a bad story,
many of them Hugo or Nebula winners, all with practically no sex.

If you *want* weird sex, try Tides of Lust (if you can find it).
It's got a bit of everything.  It appears that he wanted to practice
writing about sex before he wrote Dhalgren.

Personally, I like his later stuff as well or better than his earlier.
-- 
John Quarterman, UUCP:  {gatech,harvard,ihnp4,pyramid,seismo}!ut-sally!im4u!jsq
ARPA Internet and CSNET:  jsq@im4u.UTEXAS.EDU, jsq@sally.UTEXAS.EDU