Broderick, Damien
Entry updated 13 January 2025. Tagged: Author, Critic, Editor.
(1944- ) Australian author, editor and critic; he has a PhD in the semiotics of fiction, science and sf with special reference to the work of Samuel R Delany. He has edited four anthologies of Australian sf: The Zeitgeist Machine (anth 1977), Strange Attractors (anth 1985), Matilda at the Speed of Light (anth 1988) and Centaurus: The Best of Australian Science Fiction (anth 1999) with David G Hartwell. As a critic deeply involved in Postmodernism and SF and in attempts to reconcile academic understandings of the field with his own transparent love of the works themselves, he is well known for Transrealist Fiction: Writing in the Slipstream of Science (2000) and x, y, z, t: dimensions of science fiction (2004), which can be read together as a kind of diptych of informed critical takes and thrusts. His most widely influential study, however, may be Reading by Starlight: Post-Modern Science Fiction (1995), where he introduced the term SF Megatext, taken over from fantasy criticism, to designate the pool – it might be described as a kind of global index – of story forms, terms, associations, turns of phrase, references, tropes and Memes that marks or stains almost every sf story written. The very rare story that may have been written with no conscious knowledge of this intricate conversation will probably reflect unconscious influences, and/or reinvent the wheel: that is, repeat sf situations and solutions already laid down, perhaps frequently (see Adam and Eve; Clichés). More recently, Science Fiction: The 101 Best Novels 1985-2010 (2012) with Paul Di Filippo was written as a deliberate continuation of David Pringle's Science Fiction: The 100 Best Novels: 1949-1984 (1985); some omissions and eccentric inclusions are justified by its authors' intelligent presentation of the texts selected. Their conviction that sf as literature continues to flourish shines throughout. The Time Machine Hypothesis: Extreme Science Meets Science Fiction (2019) knowledgeably examines various problematic entities or concepts in modern Physics, including Black Holes and Wormholes, concluding that Time Travel is not likely to be possible, but that its impossibility is unproven; the subsequent analyses of fifty relevant sf novels – given the complicatedness of most time travel stories, and the condescending fatuity of creating synopses without telling stories – fortunately provide "spoilers" when necessary.
Broderick's first professionally published sf, "The Sea's Furthest End" (in New Writings in SF 1, anth 1964 ed John Carnell), much later formed the basis for his novel The Sea's Furthest End (1993). He has written short stories intermittently ever since, some to be found in A Man Returned (coll 1965) and The Dark Between the Stars: Speculative Fiction (coll 1991). His first novel was Sorcerer's World (1970); however, he hit his stride only with his second, The Dreaming Dragons: A Time Opera (1980), followed by The Judas Mandala (1982; rev 1990). Both books are crammed with ideas, and like The Black Grail (1986) – a far more complex and sophisticated rewrite of Sorcerer's World – depend upon elaborate plotting involving alternative timelines and temporal paradoxes (see Time Paradoxes). His work is indebted to structural Linguistics, and Noam Chomsky – apparently venerated by Broderick as a political radical and a universal grammarian – is offered explicit homage when Broderick names a future language in The Judas Mandala and a planet in Valencies (1983, with Rory Barnes) after him. The Judas Mandala is more explicitly influenced by French structuralism.
In his doctoral dissertation, Broderick subsequently critiqued some aspects of literary deconstruction, which he clearly saw as bizarre, championing in its stead what he described as a critical realism based on "the insistence of the empirical". His interest in postmodernism shapes his one mainstream novel, Transmitters (1984), a formidable but surprisingly funny book about sf fans (see Recursive SF); an entirely recast version of this tale, Quipu (2009), relocates the mise-en scène to a society obsessed with IQ measurements (see Intelligence). Striped Holes (1988) reads like a comic version of The Dreaming Dragons or The Judas Mandala, with familiar temporal paradoxes and embedded plotting, but the style is classic sf comedy in the vein of Robert Sheckley or, perhaps, Kurt Vonnegut Jr in a good mood. His 1993 novel The Sea's Furthest End completed his Faustus Hexagram sequence, comprising also The Dreaming Dragons (a Ditmar Award winner), The Judas Mandala, Transmitters, The Black Grail and Striped Holes (also a Ditmar Award winner). Uncle Bones (coll 2009) assembles novellas, mostly early, and The Qualia Engine (coll 2011) comprises mostly recent fiction. His nonfiction The Spike: Accelerating into the Unimaginable Future (1997) is a notable study of the hypothetical Singularity; further nonfiction includes Theory and Its Discontents (1997) and Ferocious Minds: Polymathy and the New Enlightenment (2005).
The displaced, ironic, post-modernist cast of vision typical of Broderick's varied and sophisticated nonfiction also arguably informs his stories and novels, especially those – like the Faustus Hexagram books – gathered together, sometimes after the fact of publication, under quizzical metaphysical rubrics. And as in the Godplayers sequence – comprising Godplayers (2005) and K-Machines (2006) – the self-reflexivity of such work is sometimes signalled by the presence of at least one protagonist who may in some sense write, or have already written, the large story he musingly inhabits. Godplayers also exhibits, more fully than before, a propensity of critic-writers of the twenty-first century to embed their narratives in webs of association to previous works in the field; in this case, Roger Zelazny's Amber sequence is an obvious and clearly acknowledged source for Broderick's tale in which a vast net of siblings squabbles over a plethora of worlds bequeathed them by a not necessarily-absent father (see Godgame). Savingly, the implied author of Broderick's work, both fiction and nonfiction, tends to aspire not to the role of God the Father but Loki. In the most meritorious possible meaning of the appellation, Broderick is a prankster. He received the Chandler Award in 2010. [RuB/JC]
see also: Computers; Generation Starships; Time Opera; Virtual Reality.
Damien Francis Broderick
born Melbourne, Victoria: 22 April 1944
works
series
Faustus Hexagram
- Sorcerer's World (New York: New American Library/Signet Books, 1970) [technically Faustus Hexagram: pb/Sanford Kossin]
- The Black Grail (New York: Avon Books, 1986) [rev vt of the above: Faustus Hexagram: pb/Luis Royo]
- The Dreaming Dragons: A Time Opera (Melbourne, Victoria: Norstrilia Press, 1980) [Faustus Hexagram: pb/]
- The Dreaming (Radford, Virginia: Wilder Publications, 2009) [rev vt of the above: Faustus Hexagram: hb/]
- The Judas Mandala (New York: Timescape, 1982) [Faustus Hexagram: pb/]
- The Judas Mandala (Melbourne, Victoria: Mandarin, 1990) [rev of the above: Faustus Hexagram: pb/Warren Crossett]
- Transmitters: An Imaginary Documentary, 1969-1984 (Melbourne, Victoria: Ebony, 1984) [Faustus Hexagram: pb/photographic]
- Striped Holes (New York: Avon Books, 1988) [Faustus Hexagram: pb/Jim Steranko]
- The Sea's Furthest End (North Adelaide, South Australia: Aphelion Publications, 1993) [Faustus Hexagram: based on "The Sea's Furthest End", first published in New Writings in SF 1 (London: Sidgwick and Jackson, 1964) edited by John Carnell: pb/Timothy Ide]
Jack and the Aliens
- Jack and the Aliens (Minneapolis, Minnesota: Word Weavers Press, 2002) [chap: Jack and the Aliens: pb/Ben Redich]
- Jack and the Skyhook (Minneapolis, Minnesota: Word Weavers Press, 2003) [chap: Jack and the Aliens: pb/Ben Redich]
Godplayers
- Godplayers (New York: Thunder's Mouth Press, 2005) [Godplayers: pb/David Riedy]
- K-Machines (New York: Thunder's Mouth Press, 2006) [Godplayers: pb/David Riedy]
individual titles
- A Man Returned (Sydney, New South Wales: Horwitz, 1965) [coll: pb/]
- Valencies (St Lucia, Queensland: University of Queensland Press, 1983) with Rory Barnes [pb/Karen Abbey]
- The Dark Between the Stars: Speculative Fiction (Melbourne, Victoria: Mandarin, 1991) [coll: pb/Warren Crossett]
- The White Abacus (New York: Avon Books, 1996) [pb/Chris Moore]
- Zones (Sydney, New South Wales: HarperCollinsAustralia, 1998) with Rory Barnes [pb/]
- Stuck in Fast Forward (Sydney, New South Wales: HarperCollinsAustralia, 1999) with Rory Barnes [pb/Luke Causby]
- The Book of Revelation (Sydney, New South Wales: HarperCollinsAustralia, 1999) with Rory Barnes [pb/]
- Dark Gray (Radford, Virginia: Wilder Publications/Fantastic Books, 2010) with Rory Barnes [vt of the above: pb/Ian Randal Strock]
- Transcension (New York: Tor, 2002) [hb/David Seeley]
- Uncle Bones (Radford, Virginia: Wilder Publications/Fantastic Books, 2009) [coll: pb/Anders Sandberg]
- Quipu (place not given: E-Reads.com, 2009) [entirely reworked from Transmitters (see under Faustus Hexagram) above: pb/]
- Human's Burden: A Science Fiction Novel (Rockville, Maryland: Wildside Press/San Bernardino, California: The Borgo Press, 2010) with Rory Barnes [pb/Ed Emshwiller]
- Post Mortal Syndrome: A Science Fiction Novel (Rockville, Maryland: Wildside Press/San Bernardino, California: The Borgo Press, 2011) with Barbara Lamar [pb/]
- The Qualia Engine (Radford, Virginia: Wilder Publications/Fantastic Books, 2011) [coll: pb/Mark Zambelli]
- Beyond the Doors of Death (Rockville, Maryland: Phoenix Pick, 2013) [anth/coll: comprising "Born with the Dead" by Robert Silverberg, first published April 1974 F&SF, and a sequel "Quicken" by Broderick: pb/]
- Threshold of Eternity (Rockville, Maryland: Arc Manor (Phoenix Pick), 2017) [much exp version of John Brunner's 1959 novel: pb/]
- The Valley of the God of Our Choice, Inc. (Rockville, Maryland: Wildside Press, 2015) with Rory Barnes [pb/]
collections
- Adrift in the Noösphere: Science Fiction Stories (Rockville, Maryland: Wildside Press, 2012) [coll: pb/]
nonfiction
- The Architecture of Babel: Discourses of Literature and Science (Melbourne, Victoria: Melbourne University Press, 1995) [nonfiction: coll: pb/John Howley]
- Reading by Starlight: Post-Modern Science Fiction (London: Routledge, 1995) [nonfiction: pb/Alan Craddock]
- The Spike: Accelerating into the Unimaginable Future (Kew, Victoria: Reed Australia, 1997) [nonfiction: pb/]
- The Spike: How Our Lives Are Being Transformed by Rapidly Advancing Technologies (New York: Tor, 2001) [nonfiction: rev vt of the above: hb/]
- Theory and Its Discontents (Geelong, Victoria: Deakin University Press, 1997) [nonfiction: pb/Anne Seelbach]
- The Last Mortal Generation: How Science Will Alter our Lives in the 21st Century (Kew, Victoria: Reed Australia, 1999) [nonfiction: pb/]
- Transrealist Fiction: Writing in the Slipstream of Science (Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 2000) [nonfiction: coll: hb/nonpictorial]
- x, y, z, t: dimensions of science fiction (Holicong, Pennsylvania: Wildside Press, 2004) [nonfiction: pb/Anders Sandberg]
- Ferocious Minds: Polymathy and the New Enlightenment (Holicong, Pennsylvania: Wildside Press, 2005) [nonfiction: pb/]
- Outside the Gates of Science: Why It's Time for the Paranormal to Come In From the Cold (New York: Thunder's Mouth Press, 2007) [nonfiction: pb/]
- Unleashing the Strange: Twenty-First Century Science Fiction Literature (Rockville, Maryland: Wildside Press/San Bernardino, California: The Borgo Press, 2009) [nonfiction: pb/]
- Climbing Mount Implausible: The Evolution of a Science Fiction Writer (Rockville, Maryland: Wildside Press/San Bernardino, California: The Borgo Press, 2010) [nonfiction: includes some fiction: pb/]
- Embarrass My Dog: The Way We Were, the Things We Thought (Rockville, Maryland: Wildside Press/San Bernardino, California: The Borgo Press, 2011) [nonfiction: pb/]
- Science Fiction: The 101 Best Novels, 1985-2010 (New York: Nonstop Press, 2012) with Paul Di Filippo [nonfiction: pb/Luis Ortiz]
- Strange Highways: Reading Science Fantasy, 1950-1967 (Rockville, Maryland: Wildside Press/San Bernardino, California: The Borgo Press, 2013) with John Boston [nonfiction: in the publisher's Borgo Literary Guides series: Science Fantasy: pb/]
- Building New Worlds, 1946-1959: The Carnell Era, Volume One (Rockville, Maryland: Wildside Press/San Bernardino, California: The Borgo Press, 2013) with John Boston [nonfiction: in the publisher's Borgo Literary Guides series: New Worlds: pb/]
- New Worlds: Before the New Wave, 1960-1964: The Carnell Era, Volume Two (Rockville, Maryland: Wildside Press/San Bernardino, California: The Borgo Press, 2013) with John Boston [nonfiction: in the publisher's Borgo Literary Guides series: New Worlds: pb/]
- Other Spacetimes: Interviews with Speculative Fiction Writers (Rockville, Maryland: Wildside Press/San Bernardino, California: The Borgo Press, 2016) with Van Ikin [nonfiction: pb/Anders Sandberg]
- Starlight Interviews: Conversations with a Science Fiction Writer (Vancleave, Mississippi: Ramble House/Surinam Turtle Press, 2017) [nonfiction and fiction: coll: pb/Anders Sandberg]
- Psience Fiction: The Paranormal in Science Fiction Literature (Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland and Company, 2018) [nonfiction: pb/H R van Dongen]
- The Time Machine Hypothesis: Extreme Science Meets Science Fiction (Cham, Switzerland: Springer International Publishing, 2019) [nonfiction: Time Travel: pb/]
works as editor
- The Zeitgeist Machine: A New Anthology of Science Fiction (Sydney, New South Wales: Angus and Robertson, 1977) [anth: pb/]
- Strange Attractors: Original Australian Speculative Fiction (Sydney, New South Wales: Hale and Iremonger, 1985) [anth: hb/]
- Matilda at the Speed of Light (North Ryde, New South Wales: Sirius, 1988) [anth: pb/Warren Crossett]
- Not Only the Planet: Science Fiction Travel Stories (place not given: Lonely Planet Australia, 1998) [anth: pb/David O'Brien]
- Centaurus: The Best of Australian Science Fiction (New York: Tor, 1999) with David G Hartwell [anth: hb/Peter Lutjen]
- Earth Is But a Star: Excursions Through Science Fiction to the Far Future (Crawley, Western Australia: University of Western Australia Press, 2001) [anth: pb/Anders Sandberg]
- Year Million (New York: Atlas and Company, 2008) [anth: pb/]
- Chained to the Alien: The Best of Australian Science Fiction Review (Second Series) (Rockville, Maryland: Wildside Press/San Bernardino, California: The Borgo Press, 2010) [anth: pb/Robert Mizerek]
- Skiffy and Mimesis: More Best of SF Review (Second Series) (Rockville, Maryland: Wildside Press/San Bernardino, California: The Borgo Press, 2010) [anth: pb/]
- Warriors of the Tao: The Best of Science Fiction Review: A Review of Speculative Literature (Rockville, Maryland: Wildside Press/San Bernardino, California: The Borgo Press, 2013) with Van Ikin [anth: pb/]
- Not the Only Planet: Science Fiction Travel Stories (Carlton. Victoria, Australia: Lonely Planet, 1998) [anth: pb/David O'Brien]
- The Daymakers: Selected Stories from Science Fantasy (Vancleave, Mississippi: Ramble House/Surinam Turtle Press, 2014) with John Boston [anth: stories from Science Fantasy: pb/Gavin L O'Keefe]
- You're Not Alone: Thirty Science Fiction Stories from Cosmos Magazine (Vancleave, Mississippi: Ramble House/Surinam Turtle Press, 2014) [anth: Cosmos: pb/Anders Sandberg]
- City of the Tiger: More Selected Stories from Science Fantasy (Vancleave, Mississippi: Ramble House/Surinam Turtle Press, 2015) with John Boston [anth: stories from Science Fantasy: pb/Gavin L O'Keefe]
- Perchance to Wake: Yet More Selected Stories from Science Fantasy (Vancleave, Mississippi: Ramble House/Surinam Turtle Press, 2016) with John Boston [anth: stories from Science Fantasy: pb/Gavin L O'Keefe]
- Xeno Fiction: More Best of Science Fiction: A Review of Speculative Fiction (Rockville, Maryland: Wildside Press/San Bernardino, California: The Borgo Press, 2011) with Van Ikin [nonfiction: anth: pb/Anders Sandberg]
- Fantastika at the Edge of Reality: Yet More Best of Science Fiction: A Review of Speculative Fiction (Rockville, Maryland: Wildside Press, 2012) with Van Ikin [nonfiction: anth: pb/Anders Sandberg]
about the author
- Russell Blackford. Hyperdreams: Damien Broderick's Space/Time Fiction (New Lambton, New South Wales: Nimrod Publications, 1998) [nonfiction: chap: in the publisher's Babel Handbooks on Fantasy and SF Writers series: pb/uncredited]
links
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