What do you think?
Rate this book
He Who Shapes / The Infinity Box
Science Fiction Double with 2 covers. He Who Shapes: 1966 Nebula Award Winning novella by Roger Zelazny. 107 pages. Flip the book over for the other story: The Infinity Box by Kate Wilhelm, Hugo-winning author. 76 pages.
Description is for the Sept. 1989 Tor First Edition.
183 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1965
3 people are currently reading
301 people want to read
About the author
Roger Zelazny
741 books3,843 followersRoger Joseph Zelazny was an American fantasy and science fiction writer known for his short stories and novels, best known for The Chronicles of Amber. He won the Nebula Award three times (out of 14 nominations) and the Hugo Award six times (also out of 14 nominations), including two Hugos for novels: the serialized novel ...And Call Me Conrad (1965), subsequently published under the title This Immortal (1966), and the novel Lord of Light (1967).
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews
May 31, 2020
This is Tor Double #12, of a series of 36 double books published from 1988 to 1991 by Tor Books. It contains two novellas, bound together tête-bêche in mass market paperback – back-to-back, inverted, with two front covers and both titles on the spine. The novellas are listed here alphabetically by author; neither should be considered “primary.”
second read – 31 May 2020 - *****. When I recently handled this physical book from my collection, I decided to re-read it. The two stories are linked by psychological speculations of direct mind communication between individuals, and plot elements involving a male character’s unintentional romantic obsession with a female character.
The Infinity Box, by Kate Wilhelm (1971) ****
This was originally published in Orbit 9, edited by Damon Knight, and was nominated for 1972 Nebula in the novella category. Edward Laslow and his wife meet their new neighbor Christine. Eddie is drawn to her and discovers that she is susceptible to the transference of his mind into her body. But things are more complicated than he realizes. A wonderfully concept-driven story, even if Eddie's motivations seem exaggeratedly violent.
He Who Shapes, by Roger Zelazny (1965) ***
This was originally published in the January 1965 issue of Amazing Stories, and won the 1966 Nebula in the novella category. It was later expanded into the novel The Dream Master. It was later adapted and extensively revised for film as Dreamscape (1984). The novella is set 35 years in the future (that calculates to the year 2000) with overpopulation, self-driving cars, intelligent service dogs, and dance performance robots. Psychologist Dr. Charles Render shapes virtual realities, and experiences them together with his patients, as neuroparticipation therapy often for a condition he calls autopsychomimesis. That is, the condition of a person who aspires to experience the traumas and struggles they need to validate their self-identity in a world which in truth protects them from it.
In the end,
first read - 2 October 1989 - ****. When Tor Doubles were first released, I reliably purchased and read most of them. My thoughts about them at the time have been incorporated into the reviews I wrote for my second read, above. However, I will say that “He Who Shapes” fell flat for me back then, while I see much more now.
second read – 31 May 2020 - *****. When I recently handled this physical book from my collection, I decided to re-read it. The two stories are linked by psychological speculations of direct mind communication between individuals, and plot elements involving a male character’s unintentional romantic obsession with a female character.
The Infinity Box, by Kate Wilhelm (1971) ****
This was originally published in Orbit 9, edited by Damon Knight, and was nominated for 1972 Nebula in the novella category. Edward Laslow and his wife meet their new neighbor Christine. Eddie is drawn to her and discovers that she is susceptible to the transference of his mind into her body. But things are more complicated than he realizes. A wonderfully concept-driven story, even if Eddie's motivations seem exaggeratedly violent.
He Who Shapes, by Roger Zelazny (1965) ***
This was originally published in the January 1965 issue of Amazing Stories, and won the 1966 Nebula in the novella category. It was later expanded into the novel The Dream Master. It was later adapted and extensively revised for film as Dreamscape (1984). The novella is set 35 years in the future (that calculates to the year 2000) with overpopulation, self-driving cars, intelligent service dogs, and dance performance robots. Psychologist Dr. Charles Render shapes virtual realities, and experiences them together with his patients, as neuroparticipation therapy often for a condition he calls autopsychomimesis. That is, the condition of a person who aspires to experience the traumas and struggles they need to validate their self-identity in a world which in truth protects them from it.
In the end,
first read - 2 October 1989 - ****. When Tor Doubles were first released, I reliably purchased and read most of them. My thoughts about them at the time have been incorporated into the reviews I wrote for my second read, above. However, I will say that “He Who Shapes” fell flat for me back then, while I see much more now.
February 18, 2016
Definitivno najslabija knjiga Rogera Zelaznog koju sam procitao!
Dobra ideja, slaba realizacija. Nerazradjeno delo.
Iako je Zelazny jedan od mojih omiljenih pisaca ikada ova knjiga prosto ne zasluzuje drugo citanje, ikada.
Dobra ideja, slaba realizacija. Nerazradjeno delo.
Iako je Zelazny jedan od mojih omiljenih pisaca ikada ova knjiga prosto ne zasluzuje drugo citanje, ikada.
November 4, 2020
I slogged through Zelazny's novella and thought/hoped Wilhelm's story would be better, but ultimately no. The science is shaky in both, more dated in Zelazny and fantastic (not "good" but fantasy) in Wilhelm. Capable writers in a genre I have read and loved for fifty years. I should have enjoyed these novellas from 1965 and 1971. But really? yuck. These are the precise sort of stories I avoided back in the day. Sexist, dated, mid-century male-gaze and offering nothing forward-looking at all. Situations, not stories, and all too clever for their own good. They are representative of the period. Pretty girls, professional men with appetites. If you are into that sort of thing, you might find they are okay. Not for me.
This book goes on my discard pile. No possible reason to keep it.
This book goes on my discard pile. No possible reason to keep it.
November 21, 2020
Hard to rate a Tor double novel. Kate Wilhelm’s “The Infinity Box” was 5 stars easy. Another great psychological whirlwind of science fiction. I just love her style and stories. As for Zelazny’s “He Who Shapes”, I give it one star. Just never worked for me from page 1 to page 107.
So, splitting the difference, I should give 3 stars but Wilhelm demands I give more.
So, splitting the difference, I should give 3 stars but Wilhelm demands I give more.
May 26, 2025
Two stars for Zelazny's contribution, three for Kate Wilhelm's. Zelazny's story was the longer one, 107 vs. 76 pages, so the two rating carries the day.
I was surprised Zelazny's novella was so bad. I love his Amber series, but here we have the pretentious Zelazny, the one who writes so artistically he doesn't feel an obligation to make sense. After all, poetry is often too self-referential for outsiders to derive the meaning. Why, Zelazny must have wondered, can't he take similar liberties? Answer: he isn't writing poetry.
Roughly two thirds of the words written tie into the main story, which is that a blind woman wants to become a shaper, someone who makes visual dreams for clients. Her motivation, I think, it's hard to tell for sure, is that she wants to compensate for being blind. In a way, she can see if Render will agree to train her to create these visual dreams. So he does.
That's pretty much the story to the extent I could dig one out of the verbage. The rest of the writing is about smoking lots of cigarettes, dogs being given the ability through advanced science to talk, and getting in self-driving cars and letting them go wherever really, really fast. It was a mishmash of irrelevant nonsense I couldn't tie into the story. Oh, and Zelazny writes really cool, unfamiliar words to show off his vocabulary and take you out of his story in order to admire his pretty word choice and win an award from easily impressed critics, which I guess he did.
The marginally better story was Kate Wilhelm's, but it's not all that inspired either. Her characters talk about smoking too, only one third as much as Zelazny's, which is still too much. Don't have anything for a character to do? Have him take a break and smoke. At least the story was more linear and made sense with hardly any boring tangents.
The main character has this power to possess another character. No, I'm not talking slavery here. He can take over a woman's body. How he comes to realize he has this ability is pretty original and is the one and only part of the story I liked.
My main problem with the rest of the story was that it didn't have any real point. I couldn't figure out why Wilhelm felt the need to tell this story. It seems to be that taking possession of other people (if you can) is a really bad, unethical thing to do. Really? I wouldn't have known.
I also was uncomfortable with the graphic sex thinking. I guess it was realistic enough. Young people would think this way quickly, but it's a pretty dark take on human nature. That would be okay, I like dark, except here there is no real point of learning as a reward for putting up with the miserable depiction.
All in all, I think people can find better books to read. These two are not recommended.
I was surprised Zelazny's novella was so bad. I love his Amber series, but here we have the pretentious Zelazny, the one who writes so artistically he doesn't feel an obligation to make sense. After all, poetry is often too self-referential for outsiders to derive the meaning. Why, Zelazny must have wondered, can't he take similar liberties? Answer: he isn't writing poetry.
Roughly two thirds of the words written tie into the main story, which is that a blind woman wants to become a shaper, someone who makes visual dreams for clients. Her motivation, I think, it's hard to tell for sure, is that she wants to compensate for being blind. In a way, she can see if Render will agree to train her to create these visual dreams. So he does.
That's pretty much the story to the extent I could dig one out of the verbage. The rest of the writing is about smoking lots of cigarettes, dogs being given the ability through advanced science to talk, and getting in self-driving cars and letting them go wherever really, really fast. It was a mishmash of irrelevant nonsense I couldn't tie into the story. Oh, and Zelazny writes really cool, unfamiliar words to show off his vocabulary and take you out of his story in order to admire his pretty word choice and win an award from easily impressed critics, which I guess he did.
The marginally better story was Kate Wilhelm's, but it's not all that inspired either. Her characters talk about smoking too, only one third as much as Zelazny's, which is still too much. Don't have anything for a character to do? Have him take a break and smoke. At least the story was more linear and made sense with hardly any boring tangents.
The main character has this power to possess another character. No, I'm not talking slavery here. He can take over a woman's body. How he comes to realize he has this ability is pretty original and is the one and only part of the story I liked.
My main problem with the rest of the story was that it didn't have any real point. I couldn't figure out why Wilhelm felt the need to tell this story. It seems to be that taking possession of other people (if you can) is a really bad, unethical thing to do. Really? I wouldn't have known.
I also was uncomfortable with the graphic sex thinking. I guess it was realistic enough. Young people would think this way quickly, but it's a pretty dark take on human nature. That would be okay, I like dark, except here there is no real point of learning as a reward for putting up with the miserable depiction.
All in all, I think people can find better books to read. These two are not recommended.
August 4, 2025
DNF. Didn't like the writing style or topic.
June 6, 2024
A two-fer aka 2-in-1 scifi book or double novel, but more like short scifi novellas or novelettes:
He Who Shapes aka "The Dream Master" (Roger Zelazny): Psychiatric therapy by a Shaper using "neuroparticipation" on so-called dreams. I hope the blind-since-birth character has had her lessons in color names from her previous Shaper, or else there's this (minor) plot hole that's gonna keep bugging me (we can't assume my perception of 'blue' is the same as yours, much less with someone who's blind since birth) during her sessions with the protagonist. The distinction between the 'true' and 'false' egos may not be possible if the Shaper doesn't know the subject/patient well enough e.g. previous traumas, or the Shaper's own egos... Overall tone is similar to Bob Shaw's but a shade darker and more unsettling, like a feeling that it's not gonna be good in the end. Talking dogs? I'm in! Too bad it's not traditionally novel-length as the ending feels rushed.
The Infinity Box (Kate Wilhelm): Writing is great as always, but pseudo-science fantasy/psychological thriller isn't my thing -- it could for work for readers who are into this genre. The main concept is very similar to that in the 1999 "Being John Malkovich" movie. Surprisingly feminist and exhilirating ending.
Bending our understanding of sensory perception seems to be the common thread, and while this may not be for everyone as in most new wave scifi I think the hallucinogenic concept-bending should be given a chance since the ideas here are fairly unique!
He Who Shapes aka "The Dream Master" (Roger Zelazny): Psychiatric therapy by a Shaper using "neuroparticipation" on so-called dreams. I hope the blind-since-birth character has had her lessons in color names from her previous Shaper, or else there's this (minor) plot hole that's gonna keep bugging me (we can't assume my perception of 'blue' is the same as yours, much less with someone who's blind since birth) during her sessions with the protagonist. The distinction between the 'true' and 'false' egos may not be possible if the Shaper doesn't know the subject/patient well enough e.g. previous traumas, or the Shaper's own egos... Overall tone is similar to Bob Shaw's but a shade darker and more unsettling, like a feeling that it's not gonna be good in the end. Talking dogs? I'm in! Too bad it's not traditionally novel-length as the ending feels rushed.
The Infinity Box (Kate Wilhelm): Writing is great as always, but pseudo-science fantasy/psychological thriller isn't my thing -- it could for work for readers who are into this genre. The main concept is very similar to that in the 1999 "Being John Malkovich" movie. Surprisingly feminist and exhilirating ending.
Bending our understanding of sensory perception seems to be the common thread, and while this may not be for everyone as in most new wave scifi I think the hallucinogenic concept-bending should be given a chance since the ideas here are fairly unique!
July 19, 2018
Wow - so Zelazny. He's amazing. The He Who Shapes story stuck with me after I'd finished it for many many days (and into my dreams). It made me think. It creeped me out a little. It was good.
I haven't read The Infinity Box yet (July 2018), but I did read that its author, Kate Wilhelm, has passed over the rainbow reading bridge. She won awards, so I'm expecting a good story there too.
I haven't read The Infinity Box yet (July 2018), but I did read that its author, Kate Wilhelm, has passed over the rainbow reading bridge. She won awards, so I'm expecting a good story there too.
October 10, 2022
Wilhem - 4 stars
Zelazny - 3.5 stars
Another excellent Tor double. These really haven't disappointed me yet. Excellent premises in both of these novellas. Wilhelm, in her tale, uses great economy to create intrigue; Zelazny, not so much economy, there's a bit of drift and digression.
Zelazny - 3.5 stars
Another excellent Tor double. These really haven't disappointed me yet. Excellent premises in both of these novellas. Wilhelm, in her tale, uses great economy to create intrigue; Zelazny, not so much economy, there's a bit of drift and digression.
July 24, 2022
Only read He who Shapes
Want to read
July 22, 2024(1/2 read)
2 novellas:
**** He Who Shapes (1965) • Roger Zelazny
The Infinity Box (1971) • Kate Wilhelm
2 novellas:
**** He Who Shapes (1965) • Roger Zelazny
The Infinity Box (1971) • Kate Wilhelm
August 3, 2025
Wilhelm expertly navigates the power dynamics of patriarchy with an almost effortless telling of one woman’s susceptibility to control and the men who exploit it (and blame her for it).
January 25, 2022
"One of the finest science fiction stories I know..." -Ursula K. Le Guin
That is the reason I read this book. Knowing that some compensation had to be made by the reader (me) as this was originally published in 1965. Some things had to be forgiven. Like the cover art, for example. Or the fact that the patient has to be completely naked inside the egg contraption for the "dream shaping" to work. Naked. In a doctor's office. No gown. No privacy. Whatever! I can dream just fine while wearing pajamas thank you.
That being said, the writing and the main character are pretentious. The main character doesn't seem to have much personality at all besides the work he does. Has no other interests besides smoking (1965 compensation) or skiing. In fact I don't understand why the woman he's dating is with him.
The ending is also difficult to follow. It's basically left to the reader to translate, which is not the reader's job. It's the writer's job not to get too lost in his prose and help us to see what the hell is actually happening. Maybe I'm just not smart enough to understand it but I hate being left guessing.
That is the reason I read this book. Knowing that some compensation had to be made by the reader (me) as this was originally published in 1965. Some things had to be forgiven. Like the cover art, for example. Or the fact that the patient has to be completely naked inside the egg contraption for the "dream shaping" to work. Naked. In a doctor's office. No gown. No privacy. Whatever! I can dream just fine while wearing pajamas thank you.
That being said, the writing and the main character are pretentious. The main character doesn't seem to have much personality at all besides the work he does. Has no other interests besides smoking (1965 compensation) or skiing. In fact I don't understand why the woman he's dating is with him.
The ending is also difficult to follow. It's basically left to the reader to translate, which is not the reader's job. It's the writer's job not to get too lost in his prose and help us to see what the hell is actually happening. Maybe I'm just not smart enough to understand it but I hate being left guessing.
Read
May 28, 2016Huhh! Tõsiselt kummitav lugu oma jaburate psühholoogiliste/psühhiaatriliste arendustega. See kindlasti ei kuulu mu lemmikute hulka Zelazny loomingus, kuid igal juhul kuulub mu üldise lugemuse paremikku. Ehk segased mõtted loole, mis suutis minu ajuga manipuleerida (natuke Dickilikult ehk isegi? Zelazny asjadest "Üksildase oktoobriöö" emotsioonile sarnanevalt, kuid siiski päris mitte). Igal juhul jäi tunne, et ega Zelazny ise ka selle kirjutamise ajal endast ja end ümbritsevast maailmast just vaimustuses olnud. Punkte ei pane. Punkt.
September 6, 2011
Focusing around an immersive futuristic psychotherapy technique, "He Who Shapes" is intelligent, imaginative and shows an incredible depth of understanding of human psychology and interpersonal relationships. The intense plotline combined with vivid imagery, sharp characterizations and well-written dialogue make this easily the best sci-fi short story I've ever read. Genre aside, it's also one of the more intelligent and nuanced pieces of writing I've come across in a while.
May 24, 2012
I've read a handful of these TOR doubles and this is by far the best pair of them I've encountered so far. Both great stories, though when read together, clearly very anxiety inducing! haha
September 16, 2015
He Who Shapes, still not a Zelazny fan...
October 14, 2015
OK standard science fiction short stories. Not taking long to read and about worth the time spent
Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews