Misplaced Pages

The Cube Root of Uncertainty

First edition
Author	Robert Silverberg
Cover artist	Anthony Sini
Language	English
Genre	Science fiction
Publisher	Macmillan Publishing
Publication date	1970
Publication place	United States
Media type	Print (hardback & paperback)
Pages	239
OCLC	67672

The Cube Root of Uncertainty is a collection of science fiction short stories by American writer Robert Silverberg, published in hardcover by Macmillan in 1970 and issued in paperback by Collier Books in 1971. No further editions have been issued.

Contents

• "Introduction"
• "Passengers" (Orbit 4 1968)
• "Double Dare" (Galaxy 1956)
• "The Sixth Palace" (Galaxy 1965)
• "Translation Error" (Astounding 1959)
• "The Shadow of Wings" (If 1963)
• "Absolutely Inflexible" (Fantastic Universe 1956)
• "The Iron Chancellor" (Galaxy 1958)
• "MUgwump Four" (Galaxy 1959)
• "To the Dark Star" (The Farthest Reaches 1968)
• "Neighbor" (Galaxy 1964)
• "Halfway House" (If 1966)
• "Sundance" (F&SF 1969)

"Passengers" won the Nebula Award for Best Short Story and was nominated for the Hugo Award.

Reception

Joanna Russ gave the collection a mixed review, noting its division between early work ("Old Silverberg is an idiot") and more recent efforts ("New Silverberg is something else: a highly colored, gloomy, melodramatic, morally allegorical writer who luxuriates in lush description and has a real love of calamity"). She noted that even the better stories were marked by "the sophomoric dark doom that most of us -- far less technically expert -- dealt with during our apprenticeships."

References

1. Index to Science Fiction Anthologies and Collections
2. Locus Index to SF Awards Archived 2013-10-10 at the Wayback Machine
3. "Books", F&SF, April 1971, p.67

v t e Robert Silverberg
Bibliography
Novels	Revolt on Alpha C Lest We Forget Thee, Earth Starman's Quest Collision Course The Seed of Earth The Silent Invaders Time of the Great Freeze Conquerors from the Darkness The Gate of Worlds Planet of Death Thorns Those Who Watch The Time Hoppers Hawksbill Station The Masks of Time The Man in the Maze Nightwings Across a Billion Years To Live Again Up the Line Downward to the Earth Tower of Glass Son of Man The Second Trip The World Inside A Time of Changes The Book of Skulls Dying Inside Shadrach in the Furnace Sailing to Byzantium Nightfall The Face of the Waters Kingdoms of the Wall The Positronic Man Starborne Roma Eterna Nidonian series The Shrouded Planet The Dawning Light Majipoor series Lord Valentine's Castle Majipoor Chronicles Valentine Pontifex Gilgamesh series Gilgamesh the King To the Land of the Living
Short story collections	The Cube Root of Uncertainty
Anthologies edited	Alpha series 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 The Best of Randall Garrett Dawn of Time Deep Space: Eight Stories of Science Fiction Epoch Far Horizons Legends Legends II The Nebula Awards #18 Nebula Awards Showcase 2001 New Dimensions 1 New Dimensions II New Dimensions 3 New Dimensions IV New Dimensions 5 Robert Silverberg Presents the Great SF Stories: 1964 The Science Fiction Hall of Fame, Volume One, 1929–1964 Strange Gifts Universe 1 Universe 2 Universe 3
Nonfiction	Lost Cities and Vanished Civilizations

• 1970 short story collections
• Science fiction short story collections
• Short story collections by Robert Silverberg