<span class="SFPTagline"> From SCIFIPEDIA </span>

Barry Malzberg (Barry N. Malzberg) (1939-) began writing SF short stories during the late 1960s under the name K.M. O'Donnell, and produced and sold approximately one per month steadily right up until the 1980s when his output dropped but did not entirely stop. Several of his early stories were quite striking including "Final War" (1968) and "In the Pocket" (1970). His first few novels, The Empty People (1969), Dwellers in the Deep (1970), and Gather in the Hall of Planets (1971), appeared as O'Donnell, the latter two being spoofs of SF fans dealing with aliens.

The O'Donnell name was abandoned during the early 1970s. The first novel under Malzberg's own byline was The Falling Astronauts (1971), one of three he would write about astronauts who experience severe mental difficulties, the other two being Revelations (1972), and the best of the three, Beyond Apollo (1972). All three were moderately controversial because many genre readers objected to the untraditional and decidedly non-heroic portrayal of the protagonists, who were clearly anti-heroes, and Malzberg's mordant view of the space program. Beyond Apollo won a John W. Campbell Award. Malzberg then resumed his satire of SF fandom itself in Herovit's World (1973), one of his best efforts though the response was decidedly negative from readers who felt they were being slighted.

More than twenty novels appeared during the 1970s, but after 1975 Malzberg largely confined his genre writing to short fiction. His most recent SF novel, The Remaking of Sigmund Freud, appeared in 1985. Malzberg explored a wide variety of themes, almost always in unconventional ways. In Tactics of Conquest (1973), a simple game determines the future of entire worlds. Women become scarce in The Sodom and Gomorrah Business (1974) and the assassination of John Kennedy is re-enacted in a future New York City in The Destruction of the Temple (1974). JFK's assassination is also a primary plot element in Scop (1976).

Malzberg has also been prolific in other genres, including several contemporary novels during the 1960s and 1970s, mystery thrillers and one horror novel in collaboration with Bill Pronzini, and the Lone Wolf men's adventure series written as Mike Barry. Although no longer writing SF novels, Malzberg has continued to contribute short stories to magazines and anthologies, often in collaboration with Kathe Koja and other writers. His collection of essays about SF, Engines of the Night (1982) contains some excellent and pointed commentary about the field. He has also edited almost a dozen anthologies.