Through the Valley of the Nest of Spiders

Lore & Background

The novel begins in Atlanta, Georgia, on July 6, 2007, introducing Eric Jeffers, who is about to turn seventeen. Eric moves to the fictive Runcible County on the Georgia coast to live with his mother, Barbara, in the town of Diamond Harbor. There he learns of a utopian community for black gay men in a neighborhood called the Dump, established by a black, gay philanthropist. Eric takes a job with garbage man Dynamite Haskell and his son Morgan Haskell, who becomes Eric's life partner. The story follows Eric and Morgan through job changes—from garbage men to managing a pornographic theater to handymen—and changes of address, from a cabin in the Dump to an apartment over the theater to a cabin on the nearby island of Gilead, into their old age. The novel ends somewhere between 2070 and 2080, though much of it does not feel like far future science fiction.

Delany has said he was inspired by a quote from Vladimir Nabokov's essay 'On A Book Entitled Lolita', which lists three taboo themes for American publishers: a successful Negro-White marriage with many children, and a happy atheist who dies at 106. An excerpt from a draft was published as 'In the Valley of the Nest of Spiders' in Black Clock magazine issue 7, and a version of chapter 19 appeared as 'Puppies' in the anthology I Transgress. A set of typographical corrections was released in 2012, and two corrected editions were published on Amazon in 2012: a two-volume large print version and a single volume with cover art by Mia Wolff.

Reader's Guide

Through the Valley of the Nest of Spiders garnered positive reviews. Roger Bellin of the Los Angeles Review of Books called it 'a book worthy of his career full of masterpieces — and a book that no one else could have written.' Steven Shaviro stated that 'it is the best English-language novel that I know of, of the 21st century so far.' Further praise came from Paul Di Filippo in Locus magazine and from Jo Walton at Tor.com. Edward Parker of Lambda Literary noted that time is an important theme, with the first half covering only five of the novel's seventy years, structurally reflecting the human experience of time. Parker criticized a perceived lack of editorial oversight, citing a passage about toastmaking, but also considered the literary worth of its prose and whether it helped readers relate to the slowness of time. The novel's significance lies in its ambitious scope, its treatment of taboo themes as identified by Nabokov, and its place within Delany's career.

Did You Know?

• An excerpt from a draft was published as 'In the Valley of the Nest of Spiders' in Black Clock magazine issue 7.
• A version of chapter 19 was published as 'Puppies' in the anthology I Transgress, edited by Chris Kelso.
• Two corrected editions were published on Amazon in 2012: a two-volume large print version and a single volume with cover art by Mia Wolff.
• Delany was inspired by a quote from Vladimir Nabokov's essay 'On A Book Entitled Lolita' about taboo themes for American publishers.