Clifford Simak

[JunkMonkey]

There are 24 copies currently listed on eBay.com

 

[Hobbit]

And in a similar vein, Gizmo, try abe books. They have 211 copies, available around the world.

(Not sure where you live exactly.)


As an aside:

here's a copy I have:

Nothing to do with the book, really, but I like Chris Moore.

and another:

which I have.

but I love this one:

even though it doesn't fit in with my image of the book.

This one is my favourite:

Mark

 

[JunkMonkey]

My copy has the Chris Moore cover too. And it really does have nothing to do with the book does it? I think the most violent thing that happens in City is that someone kicks over an ants nest - and someone shoots a robin with a bow and arrow.

 

[Hobbit]

At the time in the UK (early 80's?) the Simak you could get in the UK all had Chris Moore covers: so it tied in, I guess. But I do remember reading it and thinking, 'Where is this cover in the book?'

Some of the others were better.

Mark

 

[Omphalos]

My copy has the Chris Moore cover too. And it really does have nothing to do with the book does it? I think the most violent thing that happens in City is that someone kicks over an ants nest - and someone shoots a robin with a bow and arrow.

Sure it does, its just that it's full of anachronisms. The city is abandoned after a war, which is what the first story, City, is about. The robot looking on is Jenkins, who turns up for the first time in Huddling Place as the servant of the Webster family, then makes appearances in later stories. And the building is covered with an ant hill.

The astounding cover is Towser and Jenkins.

 

[JunkMonkey]

I think we're at crossed purposes here. The Chris Moore cover is this one:

 

[Omphalos]

Ah. Sorry. got confused when I read this:

but I love this one:

even though it doesn't fit in with my image of the book.

 

[Viti]

City is a great book as is Way Station. I really must read some other stuff of his. The only other ones I've read are Goblin Reservation (read sometime after City and was just average in my opinion) and Where the Evil Dwells which I remember liking a lot many years ago. I think Aldiss in Trillion Year Spree cites Ring around the Sun as one of Simak's best.

 

[Deleted member 9458]

Can't comment on City since I haven't read it, but I can say Way Station is my favorite Simak novel. I shudder everytime I see a mention made of turning it into a movie. I can see Hollywood trying to turn it into a special effects picture, when really the special effects are the least of the story. It's the heart of the characters that's important and how they affect the universe.

I also love his Goblin Reservation and Cemetary World. A Heritage of Stars is also enjoyable. One of the things Simak does so well is get across the sense of wonder about the universe and man's place in it. And he doesn't take hundreds of pages to do it. Lately I haven't found a lot of sf that inspired a sense of wonder. Don't know if I'm looking in the wrong places or what.

The only other writer I've come across who feels a bit like Simak is Alexander Key - author of Escape to Witch Mountain (the original novel is so much better than the movie versions), The Forgotten Door, and the Magic Meadow. Oh, Zenna Henderson's People stories come to mind when I think of books like Simak's too.

 

[JunkMonkey]

Can't comment on City since I haven't read it, but I can say Way Station is my favorite Simak novel. I shudder everytime I see a mention made of turning it into a movie.

I think someone did already - but without mentioning Simak anywhere on the credits.

I love that sense of wonder too - I still treasure the memory of reading his story The Big Front Yard in an old Astounding magazine when I was about 10 or so. The idea that some alien culture may have never invented paint just blew my mind (as we used to say) and opened me up to the idea that not all cultures are the same!

 

[Viti]

The only other writer I've come across who feels a bit like Simak is Alexander Key - author of Escape to Witch Mountain (the original novel is so much better than the movie versions), The Forgotten Door, and the Magic Meadow. Oh, Zenna Henderson's People stories come to mind when I think of books like Simak's too.

I read The Forgotten Door a few years back and it never occurred to me but you're absolutely correct; a definite Simak feel to that one.