The Conglomeroid Cocktail Party

Sixteen tales, 1980-84, representing Silverberg's latest incarnation (after a manic phase, an intellectual phase, and premature retirement) as a steady, thoughtful short story writer and sometime novelist (the Majipoor yarns). For starters, there's a memorable set of time travel variations: a man fails into a parallel world where everything is almost, but not quite, as before; a time-traveler scheming to destroy a hated rival is betrayed by an earlier version of himself; a genius composer brought from the 18th century self-destructs without composing anything new (cf. James Blish's "A Work of Art," about a reconstituted Richard Strauss); a man comes home to find his wife in bed with a man from the future; and two time-travelers vie for the same woman by returning to change one another's pasts. Elsewhere, the subjects are more diverse, the craftsmanship equally assured, as in tales concerning: some genetically enhanced chimpanzees who invent religion - and sacrifice; a future US broken into hundreds of squabbling city-states; human bodies that can he reshaped to any desired form (the title piece); Earth colonists deserting a planet that's subject to periodic severe earthquakes; recreated dinosaurs plotting to overthrow the mammalian kingdom; Aztec devils, magic mushrooms, alien parasites, and more. Economical, often subtle, beautifully realized tales - somewhat lacking in originality, perhaps, but nearly always satisfying. (Kirkus Reviews)