There are a number of editions of this book, which are combined here by diligent LibraryThingers. The copyright 1988 book is the shortest, Delany not wanting to offend anyone and not naming names. The other editions get longer and more detailed.

This is a gay African American author's memoirs of growing up in New York City and becoming a writer. Most of the book is about living with a group of people in an apartment in the East Village in the middle sixties. The most interesting material for me was the Sixties Greenwich Village ambiance, Delany's explorations into his sexuality, and his and Marilyn Hacker's (his former wife) struggles to learn to be writers.

The earliest edition of Motion of Light on Water (1988) didn't stand out as a great book when I read it. I found the Masquerade edition (1993) a much more interesting book, not only including more information, but an extended meditation on memory and story that becomes increasingly engrossing as the book goes on. Fans of memoirs will be interested in reading this longer version.

Delany's adventures continue in the autobiographical novel/memoir, Heavenly Breakfast. ( )