Over the years since 1965, Algis Budrys has emerged as the leading critic of modÂern speculative fiction: insightful, ecÂlectic, and notoriously uninhibited. Benchmarks collects the material that started it—all 54 Galaxy Bookshelf book-review columns Budrys created for the now-vanished Galaxy Magazine. WritÂten for what was then the world’s leading SF periodical, these legendary summaÂtions and summary judgments coincided with the period when newsstand-borne science fiction and fantasy were evolving from pulp toward literature. Budrys’ Galaxy reviews trace an incisive, someÂtimes wickedly acerb path through that sparsely charted literary territory.
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Budrys defines his standards and his function in his own words: “A book should he good. A bird should fly.
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“Writers of imperfect, tousled books should be made aware that standards of breeding and grooming exist. I strive to fulfill that function.â€
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