I started with Babel-17 and then read Nova and Stars In My Pocket... before getting into the short stories a bit (Time Considered as a Helix of Semi-Precious Stones was the first, I think).

He's a master, and his works are in a real sense masterworks. Whatever you start with, you'll probably find something to enjoy.

Stars in my pocket... is an Epic. Definitely worth it, but like Dune, it took me years of trying to get past page 100. Once past, they were both amazing works, but, oh do they start of sooo slowly.

I never had a problem with either of them, for some reason, but E.R. Eddison's The Worm Ouroboros had that effect on me pretty heavily. To this day I've never read more than 100 pages of that book in a single attempt (where attempt can be a couple weeks of concerted effort).

I'd suggest starting with _[Trouble on] Triton_. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triton_%28novel%29

Dhalgren[1] is a rich, interesting book but it really isn't SF, and is very much a product of its era, the 1960s-70s. I think it is in part a fantastic re-imagining of Delaney's own early years as recounted more prosodically in "Heavenly Breakfast"[2]. There are long passages that are probably sharp parodies of figures and events in the 1970s NY literary scene. Much of it is an elevation of the 1960s San Francisco hippie scene into a dystopian fantasy world. I think it works to read the city of Bellona as a symbol of an economic status: the status of the urban underclass, some of whose members are trapped in it, while some have entered it willingly to explore it.

That smoke blown, it rewards patience with some wonderful writing and some gripping drama as well.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dhalgren

[2]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heavenly_Breakfast

Not really SF? Do you say this because you don't like SF, or you do? Dhalgren is one of my favorite novels, and I think it's definitely SF.

I think it works to read it a whole bunch of ways. When Katrina happened, it seemed like New Orleans was Bellona for a bit.

I'd say start with Babel-17. It's short, exciting, and dense with both lyricism and great ideas. The first book of his I read was Dhalgren though, and though I couldn't really break into it until the third try, once I did it was amazing, like no other book I've read before or since.

Babel-17 and Empire Star are both excellent and were the first things of his I read. I've tried to read Triton, Stars in My Pocket, Dhalgren, Nova, and Fall of the Towers and every single one of them has failed to gain or keep my interest.

His novel Nova is probably the best place to start. The short story "Aye, And Gomorrah" is a pretty good spot too.

I picked Dhalgren out of a bag of used books randomly. I'd never never read any of Delany before, but I'd read a fair amount of SF and general fiction. I can't say it was my favorite book, but it certainly wasn't impenetrable.