Simak help
Anthony Nance
I noticed how many Simak novels they have that I don't. I like
Simak in general. Which of the following do you have thoughts about?:
Time and Again (aka First He Died)
Time Is the Simplest Thing (aka The Fisherman)
All Flesh Is Grass
Cemetery World
A Heritage of Stars
Mastodonia (aka Catface)
The Visitors
Project Pope
Where the Evil Dwells
Special Deliverance
Tony
Mike Schilling
> I just spent a pleasant 45 minutes at a used book store, and
> I noticed how many Simak novels they have that I don't. I like
> Simak in general. Which of the following do you have thoughts about?:
>
> Time and Again (aka First He Died)
Very weird; almost Van Vogtian in its complication, but still folksy like
you'd expect from Simak. But still fun, and short enough to read in a
sitting or two.
William George Ferguson
wrote:
>I just spent a pleasant 45 minutes at a used book store, and
>I noticed how many Simak novels they have that I don't. I like
>Simak in general. Which of the following do you have thoughts about?:
The books skew toward later Simak (makes sense in terms of what's likely to
be most available). Tima and Again is very early (1951), TitST and AFIG
are both from the 60s, and the rest are late 70s and 80s. I tend to like
earlier versus later Simak, and I've gotten the impression that this is a
fairly common view, though not universal.
>Time and Again (aka First He Died)
nothing to add to Mike Schillings' comments
>Time Is the Simplest Thing (aka The Fisherman)
"I share with you my mind". Simak didn't completely agree with Hawking's
current comments on alien contact.
>All Flesh Is Grass
Like so many Simak stories, an alien contact story. Millville is cut of
from the rest of the world by a force field and has to deal with a rather
peaceful alien invasion.
>Cemetery World
The human race has moved to the stars, and turned Earth into a very high
priced cemetary (you get lots of style points from being buried on the home
planet).
>A Heritage of Stars
If Clifford Simak had written Andre Norton's Star Rangers/Last Planet
>Mastodonia (aka Catface)
Time travel tourism might not be as good an idea as it sounds.
>The Visitors
If Simak had written 2001
>Project Pope
If Simak had created Deep Thought instead of Adams
>Where the Evil Dwells
Simak says 'Gosh, I can write fantasy too.'
>Special Deliverance
I'm sure I've read this, since I've read pretty much all Simak, but I'm not
really remembering much of anything about it.
>Tony
I'm unfamiliar with this Simak work :)
--
I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer.
Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration.
I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me.
And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path.
Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain.
(Bene Gesserit)
Anthony Nance
Sounds like I'd have a good chance of enjoying it - thanks.
- Tony
Anthony Nance
Oh, that's the one about the unassuming mathematician who is grateful
that The Others on usenet help him avoid acquiring bad works of SF.
Partway in, he feels that he should reciprocate when possible, and a
little while later he realizes that he is one of The Others himself.
Typical Simak. :)
Thanks for all the comments - very helpful.
- Tony
P.S. Re: your comment for Where the Evil Dwells: I liked Simak's
The Fellowship of the Talisman. If you've read that, too,
how does WtED compare, enjoyment-wise?
Stephen Harker
> William George Ferguson <wmgf...@newsguy.com> wrote:
>> On 27 Apr 2010 17:19:52 GMT, na...@math.ohio-state.edu (Anthony Nance)
>>>Special Deliverance
>>
>> I'm sure I've read this, since I've read pretty much all Simak, but I'm not
>> really remembering much of anything about it.
An Professor of English gets tempted to find out who really wrote a
term paper. It was claimed to come from a slot machine. In following
this up he found himself in a strange world where he met others who
had been transported to a unclear quest on an empty world. The upshot
of the quest was this this was one alternate Earth in which
intelligence had died. The makers of the quest were looking for
people from various alternate Earths who could had appropriate
abilities to develop humanity further than any of the alternate worlds
all of which had their own problems. Did it make much sense? No, but
it was quite readable. Late Simak, around 1982 according to my copy.
--
Stephen Harker s.ha...@adfa.edu.au
PEMS http://sjharker.customer.netspace.net.au/
UNSW@ADFA
Joseph Nebus
>na...@math.ohio-state.edu (Anthony Nance) writes:
Is this the one where one of the participants was a ghost in
the opinion of almost everybody but himself (he saw himself as some
kind of slightly defective personality-duplicate)?
I have a faint memory of some part of the world being a set
of puzzles intended to be an intelligence-test-or-elementary-school-
in-superscience-weirdness, but that might easily be another story
where a Simakian bookish character wanders into bizarre things set
up by extraterrestrial/extradimensional power players.
--
Joseph Nebus
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Stephen Harker
> Stephen Harker <s...@mail.staff.adfa.edu.au> writes:
>
>>na...@math.ohio-state.edu (Anthony Nance) writes:
>
>>> William George Ferguson <wmgf...@newsguy.com> wrote:
>>>> On 27 Apr 2010 17:19:52 GMT, na...@math.ohio-state.edu (Anthony Nance)
>>>>>Special Deliverance
>>>>
>>>> I'm sure I've read this, since I've read pretty much all Simak, but I'm not
>>>> really remembering much of anything about it.
>
>>An Professor of English gets tempted to find out who really wrote a
>>term paper. It was claimed to come from a slot machine. In following
>>this up he found himself in a strange world where he met others who
>>had been transported to a unclear quest on an empty world. The upshot
>>of the quest was this this was one alternate Earth in which
>>intelligence had died. The makers of the quest were looking for
>>people from various alternate Earths who could had appropriate
>>abilities to develop humanity further than any of the alternate worlds
>>all of which had their own problems. Did it make much sense? No, but
>>it was quite readable. Late Simak, around 1982 according to my copy.
>
> Is this the one where one of the participants was a ghost in
> the opinion of almost everybody but himself (he saw himself as some
> kind of slightly defective personality-duplicate)?
I don't recall a ghost. I will have to re-read. Looking through the
blurb (I based the above on the blurb) I see the party included "a
take-charge Brigadier, a pompous Parson, a female engineer, a lady
poet, and Jurgens, a caretaker robot". I recall the party following a
path guided by information from a tavern, this takes them to a
mysterious cube, then an abandoned city with various working
interstellar connections/viewers plus other features.
> I have a faint memory of some part of the world being a set
> of puzzles intended to be an intelligence-test-or-elementary-school-
> in-superscience-weirdness, but that might easily be another story
> where a Simakian bookish character wanders into bizarre things set
> up by extraterrestrial/extradimensional power players.
It pretty much sums it up. Most of the party are lost, only the
Professor and his love interes (the female engineer) solve the problem
from their group. However, multiple groups have been run through the
puzzle with usually only a small number solving the puzzle.