Conference noted::sf

    Clifford Simak was one of the authors I grew up with.
    
    A lot of his stuff has a "pastoral" feel I enjoy.
    
    He will indeed be missed.
    
    Steve Kallis, Jr.

    He was easily in the top ten favorites of my lifetime, maybe even
    approached 3 or 2 on a couple of occasions.
    
    He will be definitely missed.
    
    
    					Lou

Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf-lovers
Path: decwrl!ucbvax!agate!eos!ames!husc6!cmcl2!phri!dasys1!jfreund
Subject: NY Times Simak obituary
Posted: 1 May 88 05:28:19 GMT
Organization: The Big Electric Cat
 
[From the NY Times, April 28, 1988] 
 
    CIFFORD D. SIMAK, 83, JOURNALIST AND SCIENCE-FICTION WRITER, DIES 
 
    MINNEAPOLIS, April 27 (AP) - Clifford Donald Simak, a newspaperman
and an award-winning writer of science fiction, died Monday at
Riverside Medical Center in Minneapolis.  He was 83 years old. 
 
    Mr. Simak wrote more than two dozen novels, several nonfiction
science books and hundreds of short stories during his 37-year career
as reporter, city desk editor and science editor for The Minneapolis
Star and The Minneapolis Tribune. 
 
    Among his better-known titles are "City," published in 1952; "Way
Station" (1963); "The Visitors" (1979) and "Skirmish: the Great Short
Fiction of Clifford D. Simak," comprising stories he published from
1944 to 1975. 
 
    He received three Hugo awards, regarded as the Oscar of
science-fiction writing, and three Science Fiction Association of
America Nebula Awards, including the Grand National in recognition of
his entire collection of work. He was inducted into the Science
Fiction Hall of Fame in 1973. 
 
    Mr. Simak was born on a farm in southwestern Wisconsin and
attended the University of Wisconsin for a short time.  He taught
school for several years before taking the first of several newspaper
jobs in 1929.  He began his career with the Star and the Tribune in 1939. 
 
    Many science-fiction writers wrote of invincible supermen, but Mr.
Simak wrote about common people who didn't always win. 
 
    "I have tried at times to place humans in perspective against the
vastness of universal time and space," he once said.  "I have been
concerned with where we, as a race, may be going and what may be our
purpose in the universal scheme - if we have a purpose. 
 
    "In general, I believe we do, and perhaps an important one." 
 
    Mr Simak's wife of 56 years, Agnes, died in 1985.  He is survived
by a daughter, a son, and a brother. 
 
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
    It is nice that the Times has taken note of Simak's contributions
(they failed to do so for Alfred Bester,) but I couldn't help but
notice the number of typical inaccuracies in the the piece: 
 
-He received three Hugo awards, regarded as the Oscar of science-fiction 
-writing, and three Science Fiction Association of America Nebula Awards,
-including the Grand National in recognition of his entire collection of work. 
-He was inducted into the Science Fiction Hall of Fame in 1973.
 
    The SFAA?  And I assume they're referring to the Grand Master
Award.  And finally, as if the SF Hall of Fame were something other
than a series of books, with contents voted upon by key SFWAn's... 
 
    Of course the credits for his newspaper career were accurate...
 
                               - Jim Freund -
Big Electric Cat Public UNIX                   ..!cmcl2!phri!dasys1!jfreund
	Hour of the Wolf -- WBAI (99.5FM) NYC -- Saturdays 5 - 7 AM


Subject: Re: NY Times Simak obituary
Posted: 2 May 88 02:32:27 GMT
Organization: Univ. of Rochester Computing Center
 
    In article <[email protected]> [email protected] (Jim Freund) writes:

>The SFAA?  And I assume they're referring to the Grand Master Award.  And
>finally, as if the SF Hall of Fame were something other than a series of
>books, with contents voted upon by key SFWAn's...
 
    Also, it's the Nebulas that are the Oscar of science fiction. They
are voted on by members of the profession, as are the Oscars.  The
Hugos are comparable to the People's Choice awards, although much more
respectable. 
 
    - Schuyler

    Clifford D. Simak gave me the biggest belly-laughs of any genuine
    SF writer.
    
    In a novel called (I think) The Watery World, he had a teleportee
    arrive on a world a week after he had arrived and been killed. This
    world was inhabited by Goblins, Dragons and the Ghost of William
    Shakespeare. I thoroughly recommend this book for raininy sunday
    afternoons. Good old-fashioned non-swords'n'sorcery fantasy, great
    stuff. 
    
    I'll miss him.

    That is, of course "The Goblin Reservation".

    
    >In a novel called (I think) The Watery World, he had a teleportee
    >arrive on a world a week after he had arrived and been killed. This
    >world was inhabited by Goblins, Dragons and the Ghost of William
    >Shakespeare. 
    
    
    I have not read a great deal of Simak's work; two novels and a handful
    of short stories.  One of the novels I did read was "Shakespeare's
    Planet", which bears some resemblance to the "Watery World"/"Goblin
    Reservation" mentioned above and in its next reply.  The similarity,
    as those who know Simak's work, is in the teleportation, that the
    carnivore (forget the name) somewhat resembled a goblin, and the
    reference to William Shakespeare.  
    
    Is this the result of a rewrite or simply a bit of self-canniblism,
    or are the facts straight here?
    
    Confused,
    -rick
    
    

Article: 321
From: [email protected] (Dani Zweig)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.reviews
Subject: REPOST: Belated Reviews #5: Clifford Simak
Organization: Netcom Online Communications Services (408-241-9760 login: guest)
Date: 10 Aug 93 11:49:21 GMT
 
		Belated Reviews #5:  Clifford Simak
 
Clifford Simak's science fiction career spanned close to half a century,
with his best-known work appearing in the forties, fifties, and sixties.
His work stands up better today than that of most early sf writers.  Simak
is as likely as any of his contemporaries to have bug-eyed monsters land on 
Earth, but *his* BEMs would probably land in rural Minnesota, and end up 
discussing their difficulties with some locals over a large stack of pancakes.
Simak's sf uses technology, but unlike that of many of his contemporaries,
it isn't *about* technology.  Star ships or genetic engineering might cause
the central problem of a book, but the story itself would be about ordinary
people dealing with that problem.  And the story would be written with a
skill which most of the same contemporaries (to put it bluntly) lacked.
Among Simak's better-known books are:
 
Way Station (****).  Enoch Wallace is a recluse, keeping to himself,
except for regular short walks.  His neighbors are used to these walks.
After all, he's been taking them since he came back from the Civil War.
It's harder, than it used to be, though, to mind one's own business and 
be left alone, and eventually his longevity is noticed in Washington.  
Investigators find that the family plot has one grave more than it should -- 
and that the one buried in it isn't human.  The investigators couldn't know
that the kin of the deceased would notice that the grave was disturbed.
 
Time is the Simplest Thing (****-).  In the world of the near-future,
telepaths search the stars for beings from whom they can acquire new 
technologies and ideas.  There is always the risk of coming back changed.
Shepherd Blaine is one of the top explorers, until the day he telepathically
encounters a friendly creature who says "Hi pal, I trade with you my mind."
On his return, he decides not to wait around for his employers to find out
that he's 'gone alien', and flees into the wider world, in which paranormals
are feared and hated by the normal majority.
 
City (***) is a set of linked short stories.  The title is that of the
first story, which sets the stage -- a world where high technology and
plenty have made cities obsolete.  Subsequent stories introduce a family
which has created and nurtured genetically-engineered intelligent dogs.
When most of humanity abandons Earth, the dogs stay to inherit.  Other
players in this saga are a mutant branch of humanity that takes its own
path, a disturbingly intelligent colony of ants, and the robot who is 
present over the centuries spanned by these stories.  Most of the stories
were written between 1944 and 1951, with an epilogue appearing in 1973.
 
The Werewolf Principle (***+) features Andrew Blake, a space explorer who
returns to Earth after an absence of centuries.  Only, the Andrew Blake
who returns discovers within himself the capacity to turn into two alien
creatures from his travels.  His hosts find this disconcerting.
 
Many of Simak's books are closer to the fantasy side of the fence, including
The Goblin Reservation (**), which is about what the title implies, and Out 
of Their Minds (**), an amusing novel in which our myths and fairy tales 
take objective reality. 
 
%A  Simak, Clifford
%T  Way Station
%T  Time is the Simplest Thing
%T  City
%T  The Werewolf Principle
%T  The Goblin Reservation
%T  Out of Their Minds
 
Standard introduction and disclaimer for Belated Reviews follows.

Belated Reviews cover science fiction and fantasy of earlier decades.
They're for newer readers who have wondered about the older titles on the
shelves, or who are interested in what sf/f was like in its younger days.
The emphasis is on helping interested readers identify books to try first, 
not on discussing the books in depth.
 
A general caveat is in order:  Most of the classics of yesteryear have not
aged well.  If you didn't encounter them back when, or in your early teens,
they will probably not give you the unforced pleasure they gave their
original audiences.  You may find yourself having to make allowances for
writing you consider shallow or politics you consider regressive.  When I
name specific titles, I'll often rate them using the following scale:
 
**** Recommended.
***  An old favorite that hasn't aged well, and wouldn't get a good
	reception if it were written today.  Enjoyable on its own terms.
**   A solid book, worth reading if you like the author's works.
*    Nothing special.
 
Additional disclaimers:  Authors are not chosen for review in any particular
order.  The reviews don't attempt to be comprehensive.  No distinction is 
made between books which are still in print and books which are not.
 
-----
Dani Zweig
[email protected]
 
  The surface of the strange, forbidden planet was roughly textured and green,
  much like cottage cheese gets way after the date on the lid says it is all 
  right to buy it.--Scott Jones

Article: 579
From: [email protected] (Aaron V. Humphrey)
Organization: The Anna Amabiaca Fan Club
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.reviews
Subject: Retrograde Reviews--Clifford Simak: Way Station
Date: Fri, 29 Apr 1994 22:02:48 GMT
 
Clifford Simak: Way Station
 
A Retrograde Review by Aaron V. Humphrey
 
Way Station is, as far as I know, Simak's only Hugo-winner. In my
opinion, it definitely earned it. 
 
Simak is one of those authors I have as vague an impression of as Fred
Pohl.  I've only read a couple of his books before, and don't have a
clear image of either of them.  But Way Station is undeniably his classic.
 
It's almost as thick in ideas as a first novel, but is a bit more
sophisticated in style.  It's the story of Enoch Wallace, who was
recruited after the end of the Civil War to be the monitor of a
transfer station on Earth.  A galactic league of aliens was trying to
open up this spiral arm, and an alien who Enoch names Ulysses found in
Enoch the ideal man for the job. 
 
So Wallace retires from human society, for the most part, for a
hundred years.  He watched aliens come through, chats with some,
receives gifts, most of which he can barely comprehend, and only
spends about an hour a day in the outside world, which is the only
time he ages.
 
The first part of the book concerns some CIA agents who become
interested in this unaging hermit (and especially the alien body buried
beside his parents).
 
The book soon shifts to Wallace himself, telling his story mostly by
flashbacks.  But when the action catches up to the present day, we
find that a number of factors are converging--impending war on Earth,
a mob prepared to stalk him at home, a galactic furor over the
disappearance of the alien body buried there, as well as the theft of
the Talisman, a holy object which, in the hands of a sensitive
custodian, allows communion with The Force.  (Or Simak's equivalent to
it.)  Wallace is faced with a decision between the galactic community
and his own planet.
 
I'll try not to give away the ending, but let's just say that
everything is wrapped up nicely, or almost everything.
 
A great tour de force.  I'll definitely have to read more Simak after this.
 
%A Simak, Clifford D.
%T Way Station
%I Ballantine del Rey
%C New York
%D Copyright 1963
%G ISBN 0-345-28420-8
%P 236 pp.
%O Paperback, US$1.95
 
-- 
--Alfvaen(Editor of Communique)
Current Album--Rush:A Show of Hands
Current Read--Norman Spinrad:The Last Hurrah of The Golden Horde
"...her very gut fauna exert themselves strenuously on her behalf." --nj