A Rediscovery of Clifford D. Simak - A Reading Challenge

[Hugh]

The officer looks like a naval captain from the shoulder-boards and the paper well to his left looks like it says something about Stalingrad which might put it in late 1942/early 1943, probably 1943. Not sure about any of that, though.



In the US, in his lifetime, Simak was oddly collected. He put out City, of course, but never collected any 30s stories or any other 40s stories. Then he put out three nice big hardcovers from 1956-62 which covered only stories from 1950-60. Then he put out two smallish paperbacks in 1964 and 1968 that mined the same period (granted, he did write about half his total stories in that decade alone). That was it up to his death in 1988, other than one "Best" in 1967 and the other (Skirmish) in 1977. In the UK, there had been some odds and ends (mostly cut variant titles of US books) and then there were a few collections that came out right before and continued on after his death but I don't know much about them. So for a set, those three-to-five books were

Strangers in the Universe (1956)
The Worlds of Clifford Simak (1960)
All the Traps of Earth and Other Stories (1962)

and

Worlds Without End (1964)
So Bright the Vision (1968)

but beware cut versions of the first three - there's only one complete paperback version of #3 and none of the first two. Flipside, there are no US hardcovers of the last two.

As far as the two "Bests" (Best Science Fiction Stories (1967) and Skirmish (1977)), the first only collects one 1963 story that isn't from the main three, and Skirmish only collects three (from 1970-5) that aren't from those or City. So I agree that Skirmish is probably the single volume to get but, IMO, Strangers/Worlds/Traps would make a better set, allowing for their narrow period. The problem is that there are just too many good stories that the single-volume books miss and they still don't adequately represent the later period (and nothing represents the earlier period).

I don't know if it would hurt sales or help as a sort of sampler to get people to acquire the taste but a new large "Best" that covered his whole career (but still sampled heavily from the Big Three) drawn from the Complete Stories edition would probably be a great side project to produce.

Oh, and disclaimer: I've currently read only two and a half of the Big Three, as I'm in the middle of Worlds now. I don't know what my favorite Simak story of all time is and I've actually forgotten the ending to the one I'm on now but, if it holds up on this re-read (for the first time in a looong time), "The Big Front Yard" is on a short list for my favorite Simak story and really shows that Hugos used to mean something. So I stick with my recommendations, even if they're partly hypothetical at the moment.

When I started collecting Simak short stories I found the UK series edited by Francis (Frank) Lyall essential as they cover eight volumes, and , I think, thirty eight stories with no repetition:

In paperback:
So Bright the Vision (Methuen)
Brother and Other Stories (Methuen)
The Marathon Photograph (Methuen
Off-Planet (Mandarin)
The AutumnLand (Mandarin)
Immigrant (Mandarin)

The final two volumes are hardback and more difficult to access:
The Civilisation Game (Severn House)
The Creator (Severn House)

However, I very much hope that Dave Wixon and Open Road will surpass this with their complete edition.

And re:
"I don't know if it would hurt sales or help as a sort of sampler to get people to acquire the taste but a new large "Best" that covered his whole career (but still sampled heavily from the Big Three) drawn from the Complete Stories edition would probably be a great side project to produce."

An excellent idea!

 

[Hugh]

For what it's worth, I have not included that story in the collection (of all of Cliff's short fiction) that I've been working on -- primarily because I've never seen it, but also because I'm not sure it would be appropriate to include a non-professional work in the Collection (just as I did not attempt to include any of Cliff's unsold stories...).

Dave

It's interesting to hear that even you, Dave, have not seen "Pipeline to Destiny".

Also interesting that there are unsold stories. Presumably unfinished etc

Thanks

Hugh

 

[2DaveWixon]

In the US, in his lifetime, Simak was oddly collected. He put out City, of course, but never collected any 30s stories or any other 40s stories. Then he put out three nice big hardcovers from 1956-62 which covered only stories from 1950-60. Then he put out two smallish paperbacks in 1964 and 1968 that mined the same period (granted, he did write about half his total stories in that decade alone). That was it up to his death in 1988, other than one "Best" in 1967 and the other (Skirmish) in 1977. In the UK, there had been some odds and ends (mostly cut variant titles of US books) and then there were a few collections that came out right before and continued on after his death but I don't know much about them. So for a set, those three-to-five books were

Strangers in the Universe (1956)
The Worlds of Clifford Simak (1960)
All the Traps of Earth and Other Stories (1962)

and

Worlds Without End (1964)
So Bright the Vision (1968)

but beware cut versions of the first three - there's only one complete paperback version of #3 and none of the first two. Flipside, there are no US hardcovers of the last two.

As far as the two "Bests" (Best Science Fiction Stories (1967) and Skirmish (1977)), the first only collects one 1963 story that isn't from the main three, and Skirmish only collects three (from 1970-5) that aren't from those or City. So I agree that Skirmish is probably the single volume to get but, IMO, Strangers/Worlds/Traps would make a better set, allowing for their narrow period. The problem is that there are just too many good stories that the single-volume books miss and they still don't adequately represent the later period (and nothing represents the earlier period).

I don't know if it would hurt sales or help as a sort of sampler to get people to acquire the taste but a new large "Best" that covered his whole career (but still sampled heavily from the Big Three) drawn from the Complete Stories edition would probably be a great side project to produce.

Yes, I generally agree with your summary; as you imply, my recommendation of Skirmish was made in light of a restriction to a single volume.

And I also would like to do a really comprehensive "Best of..." collection, for the purpose of having a great introduction to Simak available -- but that has to be a project for the future. (The main problem would not be the creation of such a collection -- although perhaps it would get difficult to figure out which titles to omit -- but, as usual, finding a publisher. For that, even if the current contract situation allowed me to create such a collection and take it to a different publisher, I would be reluctant to, as it were, "betray" Open Road by competing with them...simply because I'm so grateful for what they've already done: by the end of this summer, more than half of Cliff's short fiction will be available, including many stories that were never collected before.)(Once all 14 volumes are out, perhaps Open Road will be open to the idea...)

I currently feel that any comprehensive "Best of..." single-volume collection could not include any of the stories that have not already made it into a prior collection; by definition, almost, it would omit any CDS stories before, say, "Huddling Place" and "Desertion."

I will add that for the most part, the prior collections were generally put together by editors at their initial publishing company, and presented to Cliff as something the company wanted to do -- I think that was even the case with the CITY volume, which was in fact the only Simak "collection" in the creation of which he was heavily involved (meaning, of course, in his creation of the interstitial materials). And Cliff was not going to turn down "free" money, right? And whenever an already-existing collection was re-issued in a truncated form, it was the idea of an editor somewhere. (It's because of publishers' needs that any of the volumes were ever "cut" at all -- none of that was Cliff's idea.)

Hmmmm -- if there is ever a new "Best of..." collection, I suppose it will be criticized as being a "cut" version of the 14-volume collection, right?

 

[Hugh]

When I started collecting Simak short stories I found the UK series edited by Francis (Frank) Lyall essential as they cover eight volumes, and , I think, thirty eight stories with no repetition:

In paperback:
So Bright the Vision (Methuen)
Brother and Other Stories (Methuen)
The Marathon Photograph (Methuen
Off-Planet (Mandarin)
The AutumnLand (Mandarin)
Immigrant (Mandarin)

The final two volumes are hardback and more difficult to access:
The Civilisation Game (Severn House)
The Creator (Severn House)

However, I very much hope that Dave Wixon and Open Road will surpass this with their complete edition.

And re:
"I don't know if it would hurt sales or help as a sort of sampler to get people to acquire the taste but a new large "Best" that covered his whole career (but still sampled heavily from the Big Three) drawn from the Complete Stories edition would probably be a great side project to produce."

An excellent idea!

I meant 48 stories, not 38, in the eight Methuen/Mandarin/Severn Simak volumes.

 

[2DaveWixon]

It's interesting to hear that even you, Dave, have not seen "Pipeline to Destiny".

Also interesting that there are unsold stories. Presumably unfinished etc

Thanks

Hugh

Depends on your definition of "unfinished," Hugh. I have more than a dozen of them, and while a few are, as you say, clearly not carried to a conclusion, most of them at least reached a condition in which Cliff felt he could submit them to a publisher -- some, in fact, were in Cliff's files still in the envelopes in which editors returned them...
A lot of Cliff's stories were rejected on their initial submissions, for that matter. In most cases, Cliff simply put them in new envelopes and mailed them out right away to a different editor... sometimes it took a number of submissions before a story was accepted by some magazine somewhere; sometimes Cliff would let a rejected ms. sit for a period, before again sending it out (there appear to have been at least a couple of cases in which a story that was rejected by a magazine publisher -- remember, magazines were THE market for short stories -- was taken by the same publisher a couple of years later...); and sometimes a story would not sell until submitted to a, shall we say, less popular magazine, which probably could not afford to reject a submission from a big-name author.

It was not unusual for Cliff to have a story returned by an editor, with a suggestion that the editor would like to see the story again if certain changes were made. On occasion, Cliff did so -- particularly when the editor was Campbell or Gold -- but sometimes Cliff, irritated, would reject the suggestion, and refuse (Cliff did get irritated with Campbell on occasion).

Frankly, Cliff's journals (some of which, as I've said elsewhere, either vanished from his files over the years, or were never created...) were very spotty in their coverage; and it was rare for him to do much more than record sending a story out, or getting it sold, or getting it returned. (And since it was not at all unusual for a story he submitted to have its name changed for publication, it's sometimes difficult to tell whether a story he mentioned having sent out might have been published under a different name...) I've spent a lot of time trying to figure out, from dates and contents of stories, whether they were stories he recorded sending out under a different title...

But there remain two things that continue to frustrate me greatly: (1) I can't tell whether some of the stories that Cliff sent out might never have sold, but somehow been lost ("Cubes of Ganymede," apparently Cliff's first sale, was sold but still ended up never being unpublished -- and getting lost); and (2) there appear, from the journals, to have been at least a couple of stories (from the 40's) that Cliff recorded as "sold," but that, as far as I can tell, were never published (a third Mr. Meek story comes to mind)... Were they lost in some publisher's files? Could they have been published under a different name (but it would be clear, in the case of that third Mr. Meek story...)? Or might one or more of them have been published under a different author-name (there's no indication that Cliff ever used a pseudonym, but if a publisher decided, for instance, to publish a story under a different name, for some reason, would Cliff have tried to veto that? Particularly in the 40's and 50's, the few of his journals which survived show that Cliff often felt a need to make more money...

Well, Hugh, I may have just given you more than your comment asked for; I'm sorry about that -- I've spent a lot of time rummaging through Cliff's journals, and I guess I had a buried need to expose the patterns I have seen...

As for those stories that Cliff finished but never sold: I'm not experienced enough in judging the worth of fiction to have a worth-while opinion as to their salability -- but I guess, with that caveat, at least a few of them might have been publishable in their day. But I did not feel I should "muddy the waters" by including them in the 14-vol. collection.

Dave

 

[2DaveWixon]

I will add that for the most part, the prior collections were generally put together by editors at their initial publishing company, and presented to Cliff as something the company wanted to do -- I think that was even the case with the CITY volume, which was in fact the only Simak "collection" in the creation of which he was heavily involved (meaning, of course, in his creation of the interstitial materials).

It is a great frustration to me that the period in which Cliff was presumably putting the CITY collection together, and creating those interstitial materials, is a period for which Cliff either did not do a journal(s), or did one or more that were lost...
(But then, even if there were such journals, it would not necessarily help us in understanding his thinking -- Cliff was a reticent sort, and even in those journals that survive, he seldom recorded his real thoughts...)

 

[Hugh]

Depends on your definition of "unfinished," Hugh. I have more than a dozen of them, and while a few are, as you say, clearly not carried to a conclusion, most of them at least reached a condition in which Cliff felt he could submit them to a publisher -- some, in fact, were in Cliff's files still in the envelopes in which editors returned them...
A lot of Cliff's stories were rejected on their initial submissions, for that matter. In most cases, Cliff simply put them in new envelopes and mailed them out right away to a different editor... sometimes it took a number of submissions before a story was accepted by some magazine somewhere; sometimes Cliff would let a rejected ms. sit for a period, before again sending it out (there appear to have been at least a couple of cases in which a story that was rejected by a magazine publisher -- remember, magazines were THE market for short stories -- was taken by the same publisher a couple of years later...); and sometimes a story would not sell until submitted to a, shall we say, less popular magazine, which probably could not afford to reject a submission from a big-name author.

It was not unusual for Cliff to have a story returned by an editor, with a suggestion that the editor would like to see the story again if certain changes were made. On occasion, Cliff did so -- particularly when the editor was Campbell or Gold -- but sometimes Cliff, irritated, would reject the suggestion, and refuse (Cliff did get irritated with Campbell on occasion).

Frankly, Cliff's journals (some of which, as I've said elsewhere, either vanished from his files over the years, or were never created...) were very spotty in their coverage; and it was rare for him to do much more than record sending a story out, or getting it sold, or getting it returned. (And since it was not at all unusual for a story he submitted to have its name changed for publication, it's sometimes difficult to tell whether a story he mentioned having sent out might have been published under a different name...) I've spent a lot of time trying to figure out, from dates and contents of stories, whether they were stories he recorded sending out under a different title...

But there remain two things that continue to frustrate me greatly: (1) I can't tell whether some of the stories that Cliff sent out might never have sold, but somehow been lost ("Cubes of Ganymede," apparently Cliff's first sale, was sold but still ended up never being unpublished -- and getting lost); and (2) there appear, from the journals, to have been at least a couple of stories (from the 40's) that Cliff recorded as "sold," but that, as far as I can tell, were never published (a third Mr. Meek story comes to mind)... Were they lost in some publisher's files? Could they have been published under a different name (but it would be clear, in the case of that third Mr. Meek story...)? Or might one or more of them have been published under a different author-name (there's no indication that Cliff ever used a pseudonym, but if a publisher decided, for instance, to publish a story under a different name, for some reason, would Cliff have tried to veto that? Particularly in the 40's and 50's, the few of his journals which survived show that Cliff often felt a need to make more money...

Well, Hugh, I may have just given you more than your comment asked for; I'm sorry about that -- I've spent a lot of time rummaging through Cliff's journals, and I guess I had a buried need to expose the patterns I have seen...

As for those stories that Cliff finished but never sold: I'm not experienced enough in judging the worth of fiction to have a worth-while opinion as to their salability -- but I guess, with that caveat, at least a few of them might have been publishable in their day. But I did not feel I should "muddy the waters" by including them in the 14-vol. collection.

Dave

Many thanks Dave. I just find this so interesting. It's really good of you to take this time.

I'm always keen to learn more about him.

And many thanks also for all your work in making sense of his journals and associated papers.

I'm sure I read in an interview somewhere that he had sold every story he had ever written, but my memory may be failing me here.

 

[LoZioOscuro]

" As for those stories that Cliff finished but never sold: I'm not experienced enough in judging the worth of fiction to have a worth-while opinion as to their salability -- but I guess, with that caveat, at least a few of them might have been publishable in their day. But I did not feel I should "muddy the waters" by including them in the 14-vol. collection. "

Dave, let me say first that your posts are exceedingly interesting, and I do thank you for them.
As to the unsold stories, well, I always supposed (without really thinking to it, in reality) that all the stories he wrote had been published - or had went lost.
Knowing that unsold stories survived, well, I don't know about the other Simak fans, but I myself would utterly love to read them.
I don't know about the ethics of this matter, and can understand that mixing up published and unpublished stories would be unfair.
Nevertheless, I think that a book grouping such unsold stories would rise a great interest in his fans; even though I must admit that the commercial output would be questionable.
One question: why did you define " Pipeline to Destiny " a non-professional story? It is listed in all the lists covering his stories, so I expected I would read it, one day or another.
Thanks again.
Roberto

 

[2DaveWixon]

Many thanks Dave. I just find this so interesting. It's really good of you to take this time.

I'm always keen to learn more about him.

And many thanks also for all your work in making sense of his journals and associated papers.

I'm sure I read in an interview somewhere that he had sold every story he had ever written, but my memory may be failing me here.

No, You're correct: there was an interview in which Cliff was reported to have said that. I cannot say why that information appeared/was given out; I only report what Cliff's journals show (another of the many things I never found out until after he died; otherwise I would have besieged him with questions -- likely causing him to throw me out of his house...)

 

[2DaveWixon]

" As for those stories that Cliff finished but never sold: I'm not experienced enough in judging the worth of fiction to have a worth-while opinion as to their salability -- but I guess, with that caveat, at least a few of them might have been publishable in their day. But I did not feel I should "muddy the waters" by including them in the 14-vol. collection. "

Dave, let me say first that your posts are exceedingly interesting, and I do thank you for them.
As to the unsold stories, well, I always supposed (without really thinking to it, in reality) that all the stories he wrote had been published - or had went lost.
Knowing that unsold stories survived, well, I don't know about the other Simak fans, but I myself would utterly love to read them.
I don't know about the ethics of this matter, and can understand that mixing up published and unpublished stories would be unfair.
Nevertheless, I think that a book grouping such unsold stories would rise a great interest in his fans; even though I must admit that the commercial output would be questionable.
One question: why did you define " Pipeline to Destiny " a non-professional story? It is listed in all the lists covering his stories, so I expected I would read it, one day or another.
Thanks again.
Roberto

Thank you for your kind words, Roberto; particularly about my posts -- there are times when something in my brain seems to be sparked into life, and I begin to run off at the mouth...it's comforting to know that I don't drive everybody away, at least.

Yes, I'm sure that there are a few Simak fans who would be interested in the unpublished works; but I can't conceive of any publisher that would back such a venture, unless (and it's pretty unlikely) Simak sales for the collections I'm putting together go through the roof. (And, having read through the stories and fragments I have, I have to say that even the most interested Simak fan would tire of the unpublished material in short order: while some of them probably approach publishable status, most of even those need more work -- and some are just fragments...sometimes interesting fragments, but fragments nonetheless...)

(For more on the "unsold stories," see my reply to Hugh, of a couple of minutes ago.)

And certainly, it makes sense that there would be such unsold stories -- after all, there was a time when Cliff was a beginning author, and had to learn to write publishable fiction by trying to write it. I truly suspect that there were many stories than we know of, that he started and did not finish, or started and submitted, only to have them rejected -- throughout most of the 1930's, Cliff and his wife made many moves, from one newspaper job to the next; and I suspect a lot of the paper he had lying about was too much trouble to pack up and move...and for that matter, even after Cliff was settled in the Twin Cities, he and Kay moved a lot -- if only from a house in Minneapolis to a house in a suburb, and then to a house in a different suburb...in short, it is likely that much was lost over the years (including, almost certainly, the legendary "Cubes of Ganymede," his first sale, which the publisher, having held it unpublished for several years, returned to him still unpublished).

As for "Pipeline to Destiny:" I listed it as non-professional because the only thing I know about it is that it was published in a fanzine, and fanzines do not usually pay for the works they publish. Moreover, while I have never seen the story, and know nothing about when it might have been written, there is this: Cliff regarded himself as a professional, and one thing that his journals do show is that he was always concerned about making enough money for his family; if "Pipeline to Destiny" had been professional-level work, I believe Cliff would have submitted it to a paying market -- and would only have agreed to give it to a fanzine if convinced that it was unsalable.

Over the years, and particularly after he got his job in the Twin Cities, he supported fan publishing -- I believe simply out of his joy at finding others who loved science fiction (the very first meeting of the now-legendary Minneapolis Fantasy Society was held in Cliff's house) -- and he wrote things for the Society's fanzine now and then. Some was amusing, but none reached a level that would have merited being paid for...

I hope this made some sense to you, my friend.

Dave

 

[LoZioOscuro]

Thank you for your kind words, Roberto; particularly about my posts -- there are times when something in my brain seems to be sparked into life, and I begin to run off at the mouth...it's comforting to know that I don't drive everybody away, at least.

Yes, I'm sure that there are a few Simak fans who would be interested in the unpublished works; but I can't conceive of any publisher that would back such a venture, unless (and it's pretty unlikely) Simak sales for the collections I'm putting together go through the roof. (And, having read through the stories and fragments I have, I have to say that even the most interested Simak fan would tire of the unpublished material in short order: while some of them probably approach publishable status, most of even those need more work -- and some are just fragments...sometimes interesting fragments, but fragments nonetheless...) "

Dave, everything you wrote makes much sense. Reading your post I got a feeling that I was uncounsciously looking at Simak, out of my admiration for him, somewhat like a kind of superior writer, while of course he had his works refused now and then - by logic, much more often at his beginning.
And, of course, it goes by logic that the average quality of unpublished stuff be scarce at best. Still, I'm eager to know how much it's possible, and to read hos much it's possible, of him.
As to " Pipeline to Destiny ", I didn't know it had been published by a fanzine. So you didn't read it, if I understood correctly. But is that story still around? And now another question comes to my mind. If other Simak's stories were publicated by fanzines, how it goes that " Pipeline to Destiny " is the only one survived, or, at least, the only one listed in the lists of his works?
Thanks again, all the best.
Roberto

 

[LoZioOscuro]

Since I'm working my way forward in the thread (as I said it would), I have come upon this challenge but have not yet seen whether someone gave you a correct answer, Roberto -- but I'll bet you named your dog Nathaniel.
Dave

I think that you use to say " you hit the nail on its head " or something - well, you did!!!

 

[John Thiel III]

Simak had a very mundane attitude for an SF writer--by "mundane" I mean down-to-earth, worldly, neighborly, focusing upon common things. I noticed in his writing an attitude that mankind was very sinful and apt to be having to face the consequences of sin. He shared this with Rog Phillips and Edgar Pangborn. This mundanity does not excite readers very much and that accounts for little being said about them, but the reading is still sf and interesting.

 

[2DaveWixon]

Simak had a very mundane attitude for an SF writer--by "mundane" I mean down-to-earth, worldly, neighborly, focusing upon common things. I noticed in his writing an attitude that mankind was very sinful and apt to be having to face the consequences of sin. He shared this with Rog Phillips and Edgar Pangborn. This mundanity does not excite readers very much and that accounts for little being said about them, but the reading is still sf and interesting.

Considering Cliff Simak's attitudes toward organized religion, I would suggest that "sinful" would not be an appropriate word for what you're describing. (However, it's early and my back hurts and so my mind is not quickly pulling out a better word -- just yet, anyway; something will no doubt pop into my head as soon as I've left the internet...)
Dave

 

[Hugh]

Simak had a very mundane attitude for an SF writer--by "mundane" I mean down-to-earth, worldly, neighborly, focusing upon common things. I noticed in his writing an attitude that mankind was very sinful and apt to be having to face the consequences of sin. He shared this with Rog Phillips and Edgar Pangborn. This mundanity does not excite readers very much and that accounts for little being said about them, but the reading is still sf and interesting.

I really don’t get the word “sinful” about Simak at all, though clearly you have your reasons for saying this. I’ve read all of three stories by Edgar Pangborn, and I did enjoy these, but only one by Rog Philllips which I don’t recall right now. In contrast I’ve read almost everything published from Simak.

I didn’t get into Simak until I was in my 50s, and at that point I had read very little science fiction since my 20s (early 1970s). Curiously I started reading him again because my elderly uncommunicative father enjoyed him, and this was one of the few topics that I could manage to find that enabled me to converse with him in a limited fashion.

I think that part of what I came to really appreciate about Simak was that he was about the same age as myself. By the time he wrote City he was already in his late 30s and by 1968, and still regularly producing books, he was still only 64, the same age as I am now. In my 20s I liked space operas, intergalactic jaunts, Farmer, Dick and others. By my 50s and significantly slowed down, I preferred the gentler pace, the interest in relationship and in other people, the quirkiness, the everyday rural settings, that I found in Simak. In my teens and twenties I might have categorised this as "mundanity", but now I savour this. I think this is why I see Simak as unique among science fiction writers. I've come across others who manage to touch into similar material, but not so consistently.

Sinful I don’t get. I get an everyday interest in living, in people and in the world around one.

Anyway, reading Simak got me into reading science fiction again, and I now happily plough my way through old anthologies.

 

[LoZioOscuro]

I really don’t get the word “sinful” about Simak at all, though clearly you have your reasons for saying this. I’ve read all of three stories by Edgar Pangborn, and I did enjoy these, but only one by Rog Philllips which I don’t recall right now. In contrast I’ve read almost everything published from Simak.

I didn’t get into Simak until I was in my 50s, and at that point I had read very little science fiction since my 20s (early 1970s). Curiously I started reading him again because my elderly uncommunicative father enjoyed him, and this was one of the few topics that I could manage to find that enabled me to converse with him in a limited fashion.

I think that part of what I came to really appreciate about Simak was that he was about the same age as myself. By the time he wrote City he was already in his late 30s and by 1968, and still regularly producing books, he was still only 64, the same age as I am now. In my 20s I liked space operas, intergalactic jaunts, Farmer, Dick and others. By my 50s and significantly slowed down, I preferred the gentler pace, the interest in relationship and in other people, the quirkiness, the everyday rural settings, that I found in Simak. In my teens and twenties I might have categorised this as "mundanity", but now I savour this. I think this is why I see Simak as unique among science fiction writers. I've come across others who manage to touch into similar material, but not so consistently.

Sinful I don’t get. I get an everyday interest in living, in people and in the world around one.

Anyway, reading Simak got me into reading science fiction again, and I now happily plough my way through old anthologies.

Hugh, as you might remember we're the same age. I started reading SF when I was 15 or so, and never ceased, even though my interest encountered ups and downs - as, I suppose, most things of life.
It's a matter of fact that my own interest for Simak grew when I was older - let's say, if not 50 like you, 40-45 years old, and kept - or even strengthened - since then.
At any rate, I fully second everything you've written - you expressed very well my own feeling.
All the best to you all.
Roberto

 

[Hugh]

Hugh, as you might remember we're the same age. I started reading SF when I was 15 or so, and never ceased, even though my interest encountered ups and downs - as, I suppose, most things of life.
It's a matter of fact that my own interest for Simak grew when I was older - let's say, if not 50 like you, 40-45 years old, and kept - or even strengthened - since then.
At any rate, I fully second everything you've written - you expressed very well my own feeling.
All the best to you all.
Roberto

And a big cyberspace hello to you Roberto!

I'm glad Nathaniel is doing well.

Best

Hugh

 

[LoZioOscuro]

And a big cyberspace hello to you Roberto!

I'm glad Nathaniel is doing well.

Best

Hugh

Thank you Hugh. As to my previous post, re-thinking of when I started loving Simak, it was actually much earlier than I wrote.
When A Heritage of Stars, The Destiny Doll, The Fellowship the Talisman, The Shakespeare Planet, Cemetery World were translated into Italian, i.e. by the end of seventies/beginning of eighties, I was a great fan of him already, and I was younger than 30.
But, the older I grow, the more I appreciate him.
Best
Roberto

 

[LoZioOscuro]

Simak had a very mundane attitude for an SF writer--by "mundane" I mean down-to-earth, worldly, neighborly, focusing upon common things. I noticed in his writing an attitude that mankind was very sinful and apt to be having to face the consequences of sin. He shared this with Rog Phillips and Edgar Pangborn. This mundanity does not excite readers very much and that accounts for little being said about them, but the reading is still sf and interesting.

John,
I will admit willingly that my command of English is not so deep to appreciate all the nuances of English terms.
Nevertheless, unless my understanding of the word " sinful " is very poor, I'm also a bit surprised by your choice of this word, on which I don't agree.
I would rather say that Simak was judging mankind as... weak, befuddled, apt to ake many mistakes - even mortal ones, from the moment that in many of his works he feared that it would terminate due to an atomic conflict, but not sinful.
IMHO he never gave a religious judgement over mankind.
Moreover, while, as said, in most of his works he criticized very heavily the mankind's behavior and choices (just to mention the one that seems to be the worst, on Simak's opinion: the choice to develop a substantially mechanical culture, instead than cultivating the human factors), in the end normally Man redeems hinself, even though, mostly, thanks to the help of wiser aliens race(s).
I hope I've been able to let me understand.
All the best to you all.
Roberto, AKA " Lo Zio Oscuro " (The Dark Uncle - from, you'll have understood, the Shannara saga).

 

[Bick]

I realized I hadn't checked into this thread in a little while, or rather I'd read some posts, but had dropped the ball regards posting myself. I just wanted to say that I've really enjoyed reading the recent discussions. your insights are fascinating, Dave. Also, it would be remiss not to welcome you to the thread, so to speak, Hugh, as you're a newish member, and clearly a knowledgable CDS fan. Delighted to get another officionanado on the board!

I've not been reading much Simak in the last few months, but I expect I'll set that straight soon. Which later novel would folk recommend, for instance? Most of the work I've read is 1960s or earlier.