Benchmarks Revisited: 1983-1986 by Algis Budrys: Reviews and Comments
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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.”
Zeno Agency Ltd, 5 August 2013: “Budrys Benchmarks” [on all three volumes]
Locus Recommended Reading List for 2013
Todd Mason at Sweet Freedom: “Friday’s Forgotten Books”. “Re-reading these, since I would read them as they appeared in the magazine, is revealing in part because of how much they nudged my own thought along, how much his challenge to all sorts of conventional thought about speculative fiction and all sorts of other matter suited me down to the ground. [...] They are frequently brilliant, and one can mostly regret not being able to ask Budrys the next question when he is just a bit vague (when so, usually intentionally so, though not always – these were written to publishing deadline) or referring to something just a bit beyond the periphery of the eyepiece he provides. They are always worth reading.”