SF's Fabled New Wave Considered as a Barnstorming Basketball Team
by Robert Friedman

-Well, the excitement level is high here tonight in San Francisco, folks.

-Yes, it sure is. Leave it to those wild, wild visitors from the black reaches of space to create an event like this one.

-Can't argue with you there, buddy. Let's explain to the vast intergalactic audience what we're talking about, though.

-That's right. Here's the deal: this is a special night. An exciting night. Tonight the greats of SF's New Wave will be going head-to-head with some of basketball's toughest competitors.

-You know it, big guy. Only those mysterious aliens and their reconstruct technology could come up with a contest like this one.

-That's for darned sure. We're talking New Wave basketball at it's barnstorming finest. Ellison. Ballard. Zelazny. Disch. Delany. Not to mention a bench that's every bit as strong as tonight's starting lineup.

-Oh, you're right as rain, fella. A lot of people focus on that starting lineup without ever considering the bench. But think about it. Sallis. Shirley. Silverberg. Sladek. Spinrad. And that's just the S's.

-It is amazing how these nameless aliens do it.

-It sure is. Though the idea is simple if you think about it – just a matter of reconstructing our New Wave writing boys and imbuing them with equivalent basketball skills.

-Well, that may be simple to you, buddy, but it's pretty amazing to me. I can barely figure out how to work my microphone. And tonight's contest promises to be a great one. Chamberlain. Russell. Baylor. Jordan. Erving. The best of the best.

-Yes, those inscrutable nomads from the starry realms sure know how to put on a show.
Who knew they were such big basketball fans? Who knew they loved New Wave SF so much?

-Who knew anything about them at all? Not me, that's for sure. Know what else I didn't know? That these New Wave boys would come together as such a powerful team. I would never have guessed.

-Well, a lot of credit has to go to their manager, Mike Moorcock.

-It sure does. He's brought them a long way – given them New Worlds to conquer, so to speak.

-Good one. You're right there. Of course, that's always been one of the strengths of the New Wave team – management and coaching. I think back to the early days of Judith Merrill. Her playbook, England Swings SF was a heck of an influence.

-Moved on to the Canadian leagues, didn't she?

-She sure did. Made some waves up there, too, I believe.

-And then of course there's the player coach, Ellison.

-Yup. More player than coach these days, of course. But his Dangerous Visions set the standard for a whole generation of players to follow.

-You know, a lot of people thought Ellison wasn't big enough to play center in this league. He's proven them all wrong over the years, though.

-Speed and explosiveness are how he does it.

-Speaking of Ellison – this is amazing. He's just jumped for the ball against the towering Chamberlain and won. This game is on its way.

-Got springs in his sneakers, that fellow.

-Yes, and a gift for continuous self revelation. I'm sure we'll hear a great deal about how it felt to win that jump after the game.

-Zelazny is moving the ball down the court with almost mythical ease. You know, I'm told that Zelazny is the heartspring of this team.

-He's just a real nice guy. He wisecracks with everyone and expertly eases that inevitable tension. No trash talking from this player – rumor has it he's never uttered a bad word to anybody.

-Or misplaced one, for that matter.

-Darn right. Precision is his game.

-Zelazny eyes the alternate realities and doesn't put up a shot. He throws a quick pass to Ballard instead, who is double and then triple-teamed. Ballard coolly assesses the disastrous situation and passes the ball to Delany.

-Watch Delany. He's one heck of a playmaker. You can see him carefully
probe the strengths and weaknesses of his opponents and then zoom right in on defining their complex power structure.

-Well, whatever he's doing out there works, that's for sure. Watch him psyching out Jordan, who looks confused. Not many players can do that to Michael Jordan, reconstruct or not.

-Delany fakes, shoots, and hits from outside! Incredible! The New Wave team is the first on the scoreboard tonight. Jordan is shaking his head.

-Jordan will need to watch Delany closely this evening. Those natural gifts for exploring human consciousness might give Delany a real edge.

-Good point. It sure looks like Disch's sly stylishness is giving him an edge over Russell.

-That's right. Disch has stolen the ball! It's Disch all alone as he heads for the hoop and slam dunks it!

-Well, we've all known since The Asian Shore that Disch can deliver the goods.

-A lot of folks unfairly blame Disch for the saccharine sweetness of Disney's The Brave Little Toaster. But of course you can't really control the ball once it's left your hands.

-That's right.

-What amazes me is how effectively this team plays together. If you think about it, they bring wildly different styles of play to the court.

-They have toughness in common. You can't succeed despite entrenched commercial opposition without being tough.

-It's true. These boys came up the hard way. They paved their own trails.

-Well, right now it looks like Ellison is paving a trail right to the basket. Look at that boy move.

-Oh, he's quick and unpredictable, isn't he? Knows all the angles, too. He scurried right by Erving and Baylor.

-Well, Ellison brought a whole new style of street play to the game.

-Some people accuse him of making up his own rules.

-They've accused him of everything from grammatical inaccuracy to murder. It is true that his play was once wildly inconsistent. You can't say that today, though. He's got Chamberlain all over him and hasn't given in an inch.

-Terrific will. Terrific stubbornness. Ellison looking for an opening. He fakes left, hits Chamberlain with an elbow, kicks him in the shin, spins, then let's loose with a fadeway jump shot.

-It's good! Ellison scores! Chamberlain is hot. He's pointing and yelling at the official. What do you think?

-He's right, it's an offensive foul. But only if the official says so. Chamberlain is just blowing off some steam.

-You know, we mentioned the New Wave bench earlier. That may well become a crucial component here if the game gets this rough and players begin to foul out.

-Speaking of the bench, have you noticed who's providing moral support down there?

-I sure did. Sturgeon and Bester. Two of the best to ever play the game. Not strictly New Wave, of course, but these two boys had a huge effect on many players. We're talking polish, inventiveness, sophistication. Grace under pressure.

-And that pressure is growing here tonight as the New Wave plays hard defense against their opponents.

-Yes, they're crowding them, no doubt about it.

Russell moves in and slips a quick pass to Jordan. He twists, tries to shoot, passes to Chamberlain – and Chamberlain scores.

-Ellison lost his man that time. He sure looks angry at himself, doesn't he?

-You know, it's incredible how lifelike these reconstructs are.

-Well, scientists tell us they show all the signs of human life. Which is more than most scientists show, let me tell you.

-Good one. Incredible what our mystifying guests from the inky intergalactic depths can pull off, huh?

-Yes, it sure is. And speaking of pulling off, it looks like the officials are having some trouble pulling Ellison off Wilt Chamberlain.

-A tough competitor, Ellison, no doubt about it.

-Wait a minute. I think we've got a situation developing out there on the court.

-We sure do. Delany has Jordan cornered against the first row seats. Ballard is wrestling Baylor to the floor. Zelazny is using his Aikido skills on Julius Erving. What the heck is going on out there? It looks orchestrated, doesn't it?

-Yes, it sure does. I wish I knew. The New Wave bench is surging onto the court.

-My God, Chamberlain is down. The big man is down.

-I believe you used the word man a bit too soon there, fella.

-You're absolutely right. Something icky is crawling away from Chamberlain's body. And it doesn't look like a man at all to this announcer.

-No, it looks like a hateful alien inva – I mean a surprise visitor from unimaginable distances.

-The hell with that. It's an invader. They're all invaders. At last, we see them. At last, we view our enemy. And the New Wave team has them on the run.

- Incredible. Who'd have thunk it?

-Not me, certainly. It looks like this one game may at last free humanity from our mindless slavery to these creatures.

-But how did the New Wavers plan it? How could they, when our every thought and word is so closely monitored?

-Maybe through the stories, friend. Maybe coded messages in all that sometimes self-indulgent prose. Who knows?

-Not me, that's for sure. I'm just glad it worked. The crowd is pouring out of the stands now. Oh, it's a bloodbath. Uh, if you can call that stuff blood.

-They're down. They're down. The invaders are down. Humanity is free! The New Wave team has routed our enemies at last!

-They sure have. We're free again after untold eons of bondage! It's an exciting moment here on Earth.

-Yes, it sure is. I think we should all pause in grateful remembrance of the Golden Age players who helped teach these New Wave boys how to throw off the heavy yoke of alien oppression.

-Agreed. They learned their lessons well – good old human spirit, courage, and ingenuity are what you need. Of course, New Wave drive and creativity also helped bring about this victory.

-No doubt about it. I'm sure glad those dystopian cyberpunk fellows weren't out there on the court tonight. Too much grim acceptance of our dark fate. We'd be enslaved for more untold eons.

-Well, of course the same goes for those fantasy series boys. How many sequels would we have been forced to live through?

-That's for darned sure. Folks, we'll be taking a brief commercial break and then heading to the locker room for the post-game show. See you there.

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