A Time Of Changes

Author: Robert Silverberg

In a world ruled by the Covenant, the denial of self is the absolute law. Which means that it is forbidden to use the word "I". Following the accession of his brother to the throne, Prince Kinnall becomes a penniless exile, tormented by increasing alienation from his culture and society. When he meets an earthman, he is introduced to a powerful new drug which opens their minds to each other. This direct engagement with another makes it more necessary to recognise the self, and Kinnall begins a “selfbaring” cult that turns into a rebellion, until he is betrayed. Alienation is one of the key words associated with new wave science fiction, and here Silverberg combines it with other new wave tropes such as the use of drugs, the uncertainty of self-identity, and even the ambiguity of the ending, to produce a story that in many ways does not feel at all new wave. But that just shows how flexible and how varied the form could be. Why it's on the list: A Time of Changes won the Nebula Award, which isn't something that many overtly new wave novels achieved. But Silverberg shows how successfully the tropes and ideas of the new wave could be combined with more traditional forms of storytelling.