debz57a52's review
4.0
I had never head of Clifford D. Simak when I found this collection of short stories in the Total Boox app, through my local library. However, I like science fiction, and I'm always looking for short fiction to read on my phone while in line, at the doctor's office, etc.
I have to say Simak pleasantly surprised me. His style is very recognizable, with the rural settings, the country-like descriptions of the landscape, and the realistic and practical inner thoughts of the characters.
As far as individual stories, I only skipped one. The others I read and thoroughly enjoyed. My favorites were:
* "No Life of Their Own" - The introduction of little men that help people have good or bad luck was such a great premise, and the fee of this story was very William Faulkner to me.
* "Spaceship in a Flask" - It could have been an episode of the Twilight Zone, with the characters striving for something bigger than themselves in an environment that they don't fully understand.
* "Message from Mars" and "Space Beasts" - Both stories were the classic be-careful-out-there kind of stories about space travel, and "Message from Mars" especially reminded me in a way of Ender's Game.
* "The Whistling Well" - This one had a slow unraveling of the plot and lots of environmental description, but I felt it was quite scary, too.
I look forward to reading more of Simak, in the earlier volumes of his work.
I have to say Simak pleasantly surprised me. His style is very recognizable, with the rural settings, the country-like descriptions of the landscape, and the realistic and practical inner thoughts of the characters.
As far as individual stories, I only skipped one. The others I read and thoroughly enjoyed. My favorites were:
* "No Life of Their Own" - The introduction of little men that help people have good or bad luck was such a great premise, and the fee of this story was very William Faulkner to me.
* "Spaceship in a Flask" - It could have been an episode of the Twilight Zone, with the characters striving for something bigger than themselves in an environment that they don't fully understand.
* "Message from Mars" and "Space Beasts" - Both stories were the classic be-careful-out-there kind of stories about space travel, and "Message from Mars" especially reminded me in a way of Ender's Game.
* "The Whistling Well" - This one had a slow unraveling of the plot and lots of environmental description, but I felt it was quite scary, too.
I look forward to reading more of Simak, in the earlier volumes of his work.
avalinahsbooks's review
4.0
How I read this: borrowed through Scribd free trial
Most of the stories in this collection are really, really good. There were only a few that were so-so ones. I can't wait to read the other tomes.
I really love Simak's rural settings that intersect with futuristics - a village full of alien immigrants, a villager orphan who finds alien artefacts. Those kinds of stories are the ones I love best among his work. But the space travel stories are also interesting - considering Simak wrote them before any real space travel took part, it's cute to read about how he imagined it - you pick up the keys, get into a rocket and go. Only the strongest can survive take off. There are no space suits in some stories, and in others they have an inexhaustible amount of oxygen. Rockets are powered by gasoline, and Mars and Venus have aliens living on them. It was very interesting to read and see the world that the pre-Nasa people imagined.
I must note that due to when the stories were written (anywhere between 1940-1960 or something like that), you may find some language that isn't fully politically correct, but that's due to the time frame. The author is very respectful even to the races that he's created himself (the aliens who don't actually exist). You could say the same about how women are missing from Simak's stories. I'm not entirely sure there was even a single woman in the whole book. Maybe one side character that never said anything. But if you understand when this was written, you can see it all in a slightly different light. And it's still definitely worth a read.
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Most of the stories in this collection are really, really good. There were only a few that were so-so ones. I can't wait to read the other tomes.
I really love Simak's rural settings that intersect with futuristics - a village full of alien immigrants, a villager orphan who finds alien artefacts. Those kinds of stories are the ones I love best among his work. But the space travel stories are also interesting - considering Simak wrote them before any real space travel took part, it's cute to read about how he imagined it - you pick up the keys, get into a rocket and go. Only the strongest can survive take off. There are no space suits in some stories, and in others they have an inexhaustible amount of oxygen. Rockets are powered by gasoline, and Mars and Venus have aliens living on them. It was very interesting to read and see the world that the pre-Nasa people imagined.
I must note that due to when the stories were written (anywhere between 1940-1960 or something like that), you may find some language that isn't fully politically correct, but that's due to the time frame. The author is very respectful even to the races that he's created himself (the aliens who don't actually exist). You could say the same about how women are missing from Simak's stories. I'm not entirely sure there was even a single woman in the whole book. Maybe one side character that never said anything. But if you understand when this was written, you can see it all in a slightly different light. And it's still definitely worth a read.
Book Blog | Bookstagram | Bookish Twitter
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