Thorns (novel)

Lore & Background

The story follows Duncan Chalk, a media mogul who is a psychic vampire drawing sustenance from the pain and trauma of others. He orchestrates a drama pairing Minner Burris, a space explorer surgically altered by aliens, and Lona Kelvin, a teenager whose eggs were used to produce a hundred babies. Chalk promises them rewards if they undertake a tour of the solar system, but their relationship deteriorates into hatred, feeding Chalk's power. The novel ends with Burris and Kelvin confronting Chalk, exposing their pain to overwhelm and kill him, then planning to return to the alien planet Manipool.

Reader's Guide

Thorns is significant as a turning point in Robert Silverberg's career, marking a shift from his earlier formulaic science fiction to more literary, character-driven work. The novel's themes of media as theater and exploitation of vulnerable people have become increasingly relevant with the rise of reality television. Silverberg's memoir notes that the book was seen by colleagues as a radical break from his 1950s work. Brian Stableford, in The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction, called it 'a stylized novel of alienation and psychic vampirism.' The novel shares thematic parallels with Silverberg's later work The Man in the Maze, including an embittered protagonist altered by aliens and a victory achieved by exposing inner torment to a telepathic receptor.

Did You Know?

• The names of Minner Burris' fellow astronauts, Malcondotto and Prolisse, were taken from an Italian science fiction magazine that criticized one of Silverberg's early novels as 'malcondotto e prolisse' (badly done and wo
• Oliver Sacks name-checks Thorns in his essay 'The Twins,' comparing the autistic savant twins to the character David Melangio.
• The line 'Pain is instructive' opens and closes the novel, first spoken by Duncan Chalk and later by Minner Burris.
• Silverberg wrote the novel quickly, often managing twenty pages or more per day, while making no concessions to standard science fiction conventions.