Benchmarks Continued: 1975-1982 by Algis Budrys: Reviews and Comments
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Todd Mason in Sweet Freedom, 2 December 2012: “New editions of Algis Budrys and Samuel Delany critical works, and some quivering puppies wave hello to Thog...”
Charlie Jane Anders in io9, 3 December 2012: “There is no snarking about books like Algis Budrys snarking about books”
Tim Powers in email, 6 January 2013: “Many thanks for publishing Benchmarks Continued! Budrys’ essays are wonderful, and need to be preserved! I hope there are plans for publishing the rest of his F&SF review columns!”
Mark Plummer in Strange Horizons, 11 February 2013: “Paraphernalia: Where the Ether Vibrates” [scroll down]
Jonathan Strahan in Notes from Coode Street, 25 February 2013: “Episode 136: On Benchmarks, Budrys and awards” [podcast]
David Redd in Bewildering Stories #516, 4 March 2013: “Labours of Love: Philip Harbottle, Algis Budrys”
Gary K. Wolfe in Locus, April 2013: “It is, as might be expected, something of a gold mine and something of a time capsule. The very first sentence of the very first review here provides a good example of the sort of provocative off-handed insight which characterized Budrys’s critical style: he describes Lovecraft as ‘a man endowed with proofs that he was undesirable.’ The book is full of such quotable nuggets, as well as some reviews of by now historical importance. [...] the book is a significant step forward in restoring the critical history of SF, and it feels like a gift.”
Peter Weston in Relapse 21, Spring 2013: “What a massive labour of love, both by Budrys himself and by Greg Pickersgill and Dave Langford who’ve scanned 47 of his columns from F&SF for this book. [...] I enjoyed this new volume immensely [...] Highly recommended.”
Michael Swanwick at Flogging Babel, 8 July 2013: “Benchmarks Concluded” [covering all three volumes] “As a critic Budrys was simply brilliant -- though, as I’ve implied, some of his take-downs were as unfair as they were unkind. But, of course, that only made them all that much more entertaining to read. Provided, of course, that they weren’t of your work. [...] If you read criticism for insight, I can recommend these books with a clean conscience. And if you read criticism for entertainment, the same thing goes.”
George Kelley at GeorgeKelley.org, 19 July 2013: “Forgotten Books #229: Benchmarks & Benchmarks Continued by Algis Budrys” “Algis Budrys’ reviews deserve to be read by those who care about science fiction.”
Zeno Agency Ltd, 5 August 2013: “Budrys Benchmarks” [on all three volumes]