George R. Stewart: Other than Earth Abides; Storm, Fire, U. S. 40, Ordeal by Hunger, and more

[Extollager]

Let's find out if interest develops in reading work other than his famous Earth Abides, or if people want to talk about the man himself.

http://www.georgerstewart.com/

I've read only Earth Abides, but I think I'll try one of his others before long. Anyone ahead of me on this?

Would there be interest in reading and discussing Storm? That might be his best-known fiction other than Earth Abides. Cheap copies available:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/0803291353/?tag=brite-21

Also at abebooks.com. Btw, I've had good transactions with abebooks seller Graham Holroyd, and he has multiple copies.

 

[Extollager]

A copy of Storm arrived in my mailbox this afternoon... I'll probably start it before long, but first I have a novel (different author) that Baylor recommended to try.

 

[Extollager]

I'm past the halfway point in Storm and like it. This is "science" fiction in that the book is a sequence of many brief human-interest incidents (some with continuing characters) interspersed with much explanation and description of the formation and progress of a storm system. It reminds me a bit of John McPhee in The Control of Nature, but here there isn't a lot that can be done to control nature; there are better or less good ways to deal with what nature is doing. It was probably conceived as a "man's book," and indeed the edition I'm reading is a 1945 Infantry Journal-Penguin Books issue of the 1941 book.

There's a little joke at the author's expense when a snow-clearance superintendent reflects on the panic of a woman stuck in a blizzard, how she thought of the Donner Party and decided she had to walk out of there (into the storm). The supe thinks there ought to be a law on books on the Donner Party. Of course Stewart wrote one (Ordeal by Hunger).

 

[BAYLOR]

Earth Abides , The best end of civilization novel I've ever read. Isherwood William survivor , find other survivors sets up a colony and ties in vain to pass on the knowledge of civilization to his children and those of the other survivors. Powerful and sad.