Could a human writer complete a readable novel in just 27 hours? Barry Malzberg, who died last week at 85, did it — and it wasn't even his most impressive achievement.
In February 1969, a 29-year-old Malzberg sat down at his typewriter and churned out Diary of a Parisian Chambermaid at a pace of 60 words per minute. The resulting 60,000-word novel, written for pulp publisher Midwood Books, earned him $1,500—and his assessment years later that it was "the best novel written in 16 hours ever," as reported by Jeet Heer in The Nation:
On February 13, Malzberg sat down at the typewriter at 8 am and started banging away at his top rate of 60 words a minute, which gave him between 3,000 to 4,000 words an hour. Malzberg paced himself, taking time off to eat, go for a few walks, and sleep. He finished the book the next day, appropriately enough Valentine's Day, at 11 am. From start to finish, the novel took him 27 hours, with 16 of those feverishly pecking at the typewriter. The book was duly published under the pen name Claudine Dumas and Malzberg collected his fee of $1,500, giving him 2.5 cents a word for a 60,000-word opus. Malzberg worked, he said, "at an hourly wage rate that would astonish even a teamster."
But Malzberg's legacy extends beyond his superhuman typing speed. During his peak decade (1967-1976), he produced 68 novels and seven story collections, working across genres from erotica to mystery. His most significant work came in science fiction, where he brought a darkly modernist sensibility to familiar tropes. As fellow author Philip K. Dick noted, "In all the history of science fiction, nobody has ever bum-tripped science fiction as much as Barry Malzberg… he's a great writer."
His best-known works like Beyond Apollo (1972), Herovit's World (1973), Guernica Night (1975), and Galaxies (1975) challenged science fiction's typically optimistic view of technology. Where many saw space exploration as humanity's triumph, Malzberg saw "the engines of the night" — machines that will destroy us. This pessimistic outlook made him controversial among genre traditionalists, but influential to later writers.
Malzberg stopped writing novels in 1983, but his reputation has grown lately as publishers like Stark House Press have brought his works back into print.
Previously:
• Locus Award winners announced — After the Siege is best novella 2008!
