The Science Fiction Novel - Clifford D. Simak

Logan and friends

Our visitors from over the New Year period have been gone for a few days now, but this picture arrived today. One of the few sunny days we had when they were here. This is Logan and Jo and I.

Re the missus, me looking gormless.... ;0)

Today we finally got the snow that's been forecast. The southern part of the island was hit harder I think, but we're supposed to get 30 cm today / tonight (about a foot). I had a dentist appointment this morning and being the 'brave' Canadian that I am, I chose to chicken out and not drive. I walked down instead, got my exercise in and also a filling. I've been out twice today shoveling the driveway and the neighbours and my other neighbour were having a great time the second time..... *not* Anyway, hoping it stops tonight and clears up tomorrow, at least the roads anyway. Jo has an appointment tomorrow night.

Clifford Donald Simak

Now on to my ongoing look at the Science Fiction novel. Next in line is American author, Clifford Donald Simak. Simak was born in Wisconsin in 1904 and died in Minnesota in 1988. I was first introduced to his writing, as I was to many of the writers I will highlight here, during my Science Fiction novel course at the University of Toronto. I think that was probably in my 3rd year. We read my favorite novel, to-date anyway, of his, City.

Simak became interested in Sci-Fi as a child after reading the works of H.G. Wells. His first published contribution to the genre was a short story published in Wonder Stories in 1931; The World of the Red Sun. Within the year he placed four more stories but between 1932 - 1938, he had only one published.

My 2nd copy of this book

John W. Campbell took over the helm of Astounding in 1937 and after that Simak became a regular contributor. His early style was reminiscent of E.E. Doc Smith's 'super science' sub-genre but he gradually developed his own more gentle style. During this period he also published a number of war and western stories. His best known Sci-Fi story, a combination of short stories was City, originally published in 1952. As I mentioned previously this is still my favorite of his books.

"City by Clifford D. Simak was a reread for me. It had been 40 years since last I'd read it so I wanted to see if it would have a similar impact as my memories of it. I had recently read The Werewolf Principle by Simak and thoroughly enjoyed it. So with that short preamble, I decided to read a copy of City that I found recently.

Basically, it did not disappoint. The story is more of a series of short stories about the future of mankind on Earth. The stories are told by dogs, who have been surgically given the ability to speak and also have had their eyes altered to provide them with a human view perspective. There is a preamble before each story which outlines the dogs views on whether the stories are true themselves.

The main humans are the Webster family who are involved in all of the changes that are taking place in the future. It is a Webster who makes the changes to the dogs, who impacts on a philosophy that might give a hope for the future, etc. The other main character, besides the dogs is Jenkins, the old family butler, who also happens to be a robot. The stories move farther and farther into the future with drastic changes to mankind, the dogs, robots, etc.

The stories tie together nicely and make for a fascinating view of the future. I'm glad I read again; it was worth digging it out again. (4 stars)"

He was a prolific writer of all genres. The complete collection of his works can be found at this link. Since 2016, I've read 5 of his novels; some I've enjoyed more than others. Below are the other four and my reviews.

a. The Werewolf Principle (1967). I take back my first comment about City; this may be my favorite so far. I still think City is an excellent novel though.

"Back in my university days, I took a Science Fiction novel course. One of the books we read was City, a story of the future where all that remains on Earth are dogs and robots. A beautiful, engaging, touching story. For some reason, I've never read another Simak book, until this past week. The Werewolf Principle, written in 1967, was a lovely surprise.

In the future, mankind sent ships into space to search the universe for habitable planets. Along with the ships were two unique humans (maybe telling you their uniqueness might take some of the joy of discovering it for yourselves, so I won't elaborate). Suffice it to say, that one of them returns to Earth, discovered in hibernation in a capsule.

Andrew Blake arrives, suffering from amnesia. Slowly he discovers himself and how he has changed over this 200 year journey. He is now more than Andrew Blake. Discovering how he has changed is part of the joy of this book; such an imaginative concept. I found myself saying 'Wow' many times.

The book is thoughtfully crafted, intelligently written and the story and characters are all interesting and engaging. It's so nice exploring Science Fiction again, the imagination and the stories. I do like how Simak views the future, some concepts like the living homes are fascinating, and, yet, people still use coins and public phone boxes. I also liked the Brownies, the beings from another world who have settled on Earth and keep an eye on things.

Everything about this story was fascinating. I had originally given it 4-stars, but as I write about it and think about it, it deserves more than that. It intrigued me, brought out emotions, both happy and sad, and just totally grabbed me, from beginning to end. It won't take me 40 years to read another Simak story. (5 stars)"

b. Cemetery World (1973)









"Cemetery World is the 4th Science Fiction story by Clifford Simak that I've read in the past couple of years. I've enjoyed for the most part, especially enjoyed The Werewolf Principle and City. Cemetery World was an entertaining, enjoyable read.

Fletcher Carson returns to Earth, now a Cemetery World for the descendants of Earthlings. After a world destroying war thousands of years before, the majority of the remaining humans escaped and inhabited planets throughout the Universe. A company, Cemetery, has turned the Earth into the cemetery of choice for its descendants (of course, they make much money off of it). Carson, accompanied by a robot, Elmer, who was originally from Earth and a sentient machine, Bronco, wants to travel around Earth making a 'movie', let's call it. Arriving on Earth, he also meets Cynthia, who arrived before and joins the group, searching for treasure / artifacts, left behind by an alien Anachronian.

That's the basic story. As the group travel they are hounded by agents of Cemetery; grave robbers, war machines from the past, Wolves of Steel and even spirits, Shades. There is even a bit of time travel thrown in. On the whole, you won't learn any astounding theories from the book, but if you want a good, sound, entertaining story with interesting characters and a satisfying conclusion, you'll enjoy this story. (3 stars)

c. Time is the Simplest Thing (1961). My least favorite Simak thus far.








"I've read a couple of other books by Clifford D. Simak recently; The Werewolf Principle and City, and enjoyed both very much. Unfortunately, Time Is the Simplest Thing wasn't quite as successful. It was a short book so I stuck with it.

Basically, Shep Blaine is a paranormal who is used by an organization called Fishhook to explore the stars. At some point in Earth's history, mankind decided that science and spaceships could not succeed in this exploration. Fishhook continued working with science and discovered that paranormals with the assistance of star machines could explore the universe without leaving Earth; their minds and a recording machine of sorts would do this exploration and bring back anything useful that was discovered. Fishhook is a monopoly and becomes a repository for anything useful discovered that is then sold to mankind to make life easier.

Blaine discovers another being on one visit and their minds become enmeshed. He decides he has to escape Fishhook as he is now alien and a danger to them. Thus begins a mad journey across the US as he tries to discover who he is and how he can fight Fishhook and also help paranormals scattered throughout the US and world. Another twist in the story is that mankind has become very suspicious and superstitious of paranormals, believing them to be akin to witches and werewolves and such.

There are interesting possibilities in this story but overall I just thought it tried to hard and ended up not succeeding like it wanted. I liked lots of pieces; Simak displayed a nice touch with small details and actions. But it just was a bit all over the place and while the ending tried to resolve matters, it wasn't all that satisfying of a story. I still have some of his books to read and will try again but this wasn't one of his successes in my mind. (2.5 stars)"

d. The Goblin Reservation (1968).

"I've read a few of Clifford D. Simak science fiction novels. I particularly enjoyed City and The Werewolf Principle. The Goblin Reservation was a fun read even though  I'm not quite sure how to take it.

Mr. Maxwell, a professor at Time University, returns from a trip in space where he was searching for dragons, discovers that he has already arrived home only to die. How did he get split in two? Was it another race from another planet (the Crystal World) or maybe was it the Wheelers, a mysterious race, possibly Earth's enemies, from somewhere outside the universe?

What do the beings from Crystal World want from him? They seem to be offering the wisdom of billions of years and what do they want for it? Do the Wheelers want it as well?

Maxwell and his strange coterie of friends; Alley Oop, a primitive caveman brought back from the prehistoric past; Ghost, a ghost who doesn't know who he is; Sylvester; a sabre-tooth tiger, part Mech; and Carol, Sylvester's owner, must try to find out what the beings want, how Maxwell was turned into two creatures and maybe save the universe at the same time. Oh, let's not forget the Goblins and Trolls and other mythical creatures who live in the Goblin Reservation land next to the University.

So you've got time travelers, supernatural beings, lots of drinking, carousing and fighting and all in aid of saving a world. At times it seems as though the story was written by someone on drugs. Surprisingly, there are wonderful descriptions of surroundings, the characters are interesting, the story weird but a fun read and the ending satisfying. It's not a perfect story, but still entertaining, worth trying. (3 stars)."

So there you go. I have no more Simak books on my bookshelf but I plan to get a few more. Simak was made the Science Fiction Writer of America Grand Master by the SFWA in 1976. You should check him out; I'd suggest City or The Werewolf Principle as a starting point.

Enjoy the rest of your week! Stay safe!