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Cities in Flight #3
Zemljanine dođi kući
Zemljanine dođi kući treća je knjiga Blishove legendarne tetralogije GRADOVI U LETU. Dva epohalna otkrića otvorila su čovjeku put do dalekih zvijezda. Počela je kolonizacija Galaktike…
GRADOVI U LETU – tetralogija u kojoj je Zemljanaine dođi kući treća knjiga – je djelo Jamesa Blisha u kojem dva ključna otkrića – antigravitacija i održavanje dugovječnosti čovjeka – odvode čovječanstvo put zvijezda. I dok su na Zemlji prilike sve teže, čitavi gradovi sa stanovnicama koji žive tisućama godina, podižu se s nje i kao divovski svemirski brodovi odlaze u međuzvjezdane prostore gdje osnivaju jedinstveno galaktičko društvo…
Blish je osmislio jednu povijest budućnost u kojoj čovjek, fizički ne više vezan za svoj rodni Sunčev sustav, postaje osvajač i žrtva svemira. S čitavom Galaktikom kao mjestom zbivanja, GRADOVI U LETU, premda stari nekoliko desetljeća, ostaju i dalje jedno od vječito uzbudljivih djela znanstvene fantastike.
GRADOVI U LETU – tetralogija u kojoj je Zemljanaine dođi kući treća knjiga – je djelo Jamesa Blisha u kojem dva ključna otkrića – antigravitacija i održavanje dugovječnosti čovjeka – odvode čovječanstvo put zvijezda. I dok su na Zemlji prilike sve teže, čitavi gradovi sa stanovnicama koji žive tisućama godina, podižu se s nje i kao divovski svemirski brodovi odlaze u međuzvjezdane prostore gdje osnivaju jedinstveno galaktičko društvo…
Blish je osmislio jednu povijest budućnost u kojoj čovjek, fizički ne više vezan za svoj rodni Sunčev sustav, postaje osvajač i žrtva svemira. S čitavom Galaktikom kao mjestom zbivanja, GRADOVI U LETU, premda stari nekoliko desetljeća, ostaju i dalje jedno od vječito uzbudljivih djela znanstvene fantastike.
264 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1955
6 people are currently reading
378 people want to read
About the author
James Blish
457 books323 followersJames Benjamin Blish was an American author of fantasy and science fiction. Blish also wrote literary criticism of science fiction using the pen-name William Atheling Jr.
In the late 1930's to the early 1940's, Blish was a member of the Futurians.
Blish trained as a biologist at Rutgers and Columbia University, and spent 1942–1944 as a medical technician in the U.S. Army. After the war he became the science editor for the Pfizer pharmaceutical company. His first published story appeared in 1940, and his writing career progressed until he gave up his job to become a professional writer.
He is credited with coining the term gas giant, in the story "Solar Plexus" as it appeared in the anthology Beyond Human Ken, edited by Judith Merril. (The story was originally published in 1941, but that version did not contain the term; Blish apparently added it in a rewrite done for the anthology, which was first published in 1952.)
Blish was married to the literary agent Virginia Kidd from 1947 to 1963.
From 1962 to 1968, he worked for the Tobacco Institute.
Between 1967 and his death from lung cancer in 1975, Blish became the first author to write short story collections based upon the classic TV series Star Trek. In total, Blish wrote 11 volumes of short stories adapted from episodes of the 1960s TV series, as well as an original novel, Spock Must Die! in 1970 — the first original novel for adult readers based upon the series (since then hundreds more have been published). He died midway through writing Star Trek 12; his wife, J.A. Lawrence, completed the book, and later completed the adaptations in the volume Mudd's Angels.
Blish lived in Milford, Pennsylvania at Arrowhead until the mid-1960s. In 1968, Blish emigrated to England, and lived in Oxford until his death in 1975. He is buried in Holywell Cemetery, Oxford, near the grave of Kenneth Grahame.
His name in Greek is Τζέημς Μπλις"
In the late 1930's to the early 1940's, Blish was a member of the Futurians.
Blish trained as a biologist at Rutgers and Columbia University, and spent 1942–1944 as a medical technician in the U.S. Army. After the war he became the science editor for the Pfizer pharmaceutical company. His first published story appeared in 1940, and his writing career progressed until he gave up his job to become a professional writer.
He is credited with coining the term gas giant, in the story "Solar Plexus" as it appeared in the anthology Beyond Human Ken, edited by Judith Merril. (The story was originally published in 1941, but that version did not contain the term; Blish apparently added it in a rewrite done for the anthology, which was first published in 1952.)
Blish was married to the literary agent Virginia Kidd from 1947 to 1963.
From 1962 to 1968, he worked for the Tobacco Institute.
Between 1967 and his death from lung cancer in 1975, Blish became the first author to write short story collections based upon the classic TV series Star Trek. In total, Blish wrote 11 volumes of short stories adapted from episodes of the 1960s TV series, as well as an original novel, Spock Must Die! in 1970 — the first original novel for adult readers based upon the series (since then hundreds more have been published). He died midway through writing Star Trek 12; his wife, J.A. Lawrence, completed the book, and later completed the adaptations in the volume Mudd's Angels.
Blish lived in Milford, Pennsylvania at Arrowhead until the mid-1960s. In 1968, Blish emigrated to England, and lived in Oxford until his death in 1975. He is buried in Holywell Cemetery, Oxford, near the grave of Kenneth Grahame.
His name in Greek is Τζέημς Μπλις"
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 74 reviews
May 11, 2009
If you like Golden Age SF and have somehow missed the Cities in Flight series, do yourself a favor and check it out. This is the best one, and in general one of the best space operas ever written; it was one of my favorite books when I was about 14. Everything is done on a colossal scale that is suggested well, and frequently manages to come across as awe-inspiring rather than silly. The invention of the "spindizzy" (surely you've heard of it?) has made it possible for whole cities to leave the Earth and start wandering across the Galaxy, looking for high-tech contract work. Crew-members take a drug that keeps them eternally young, so the decade-long trips between the stars don't seem that bad.
Given that it's 50s SF, there are of course some jarring mispredictions. When the book was written, the transistor had just been invented, so the Galactic economy uses a germanium standard instead of a gold standard. Well, that's what happens to hard SF; cutting edge today, laughably quaint a few years later. I also love the guy who's constantly playing with his slide-rule. Somehow, despite the fact that the flying cities have extremely sophisticated computers, Blish never realized that the machines could be made small. And I should warn you that there's no sex (it hadn't quite been invented yet), and only minimal characterization.
But what the hell: the magic still works quite reasonably. Blish just keeps upping the stakes in his cosmic poker game, and there's a great ending. This is a fun book.
Given that it's 50s SF, there are of course some jarring mispredictions. When the book was written, the transistor had just been invented, so the Galactic economy uses a germanium standard instead of a gold standard. Well, that's what happens to hard SF; cutting edge today, laughably quaint a few years later. I also love the guy who's constantly playing with his slide-rule. Somehow, despite the fact that the flying cities have extremely sophisticated computers, Blish never realized that the machines could be made small. And I should warn you that there's no sex (it hadn't quite been invented yet), and only minimal characterization.
But what the hell: the magic still works quite reasonably. Blish just keeps upping the stakes in his cosmic poker game, and there's a great ending. This is a fun book.
February 20, 2024
Earthman, Come Home is the third of the four books in Blish's Cities in Flight series, but was the first one written, and remains probably the best known of the quartet. This one is a fix-up novel of four novelettes, three from early 1950s issues of John W. Campbell's Astounding SF magazine and Sargasso of Lost Cities from a 1953 pulp with the unlikely title of "Two Complete Science Adventure Books" edited by Malcolm Reiss. It's a big-idea book, with little attention paid to characterization. There's only one memorable female character, and she doesn't seem to have much to do. It's a cosmic story about cities that have been fitted with "spindizzies," giant motors that allow them to travel through space. There are life-extending drugs that keep the main characters going for hundreds of years and across multiple volumes. This third one has aged more than many of Blish's works, but the series itself was an important and enjoyable work in the earlier days of the field.
May 28, 2019
This book was first published in 1956. The edition I read was published in 1963, the year I was born. It fell apart when I was halfway through ( thankfully I am in slightly better shape. The technology and the social mores were anachronistic. There was only one female character, and while I wouldn’t say she was stupid she really doesn’t do much. There is almost no character development and often the plot was incomprehensible. I was charmed by the idea of cities zipping through space using something called a spindizzy. I was disheartened that the city in this instance ( New York, specifically the island of Manhattan) was run by petroleum engineers. When they find work throughout the galaxy most often they immediately start drilling for oil!!!!! Clearly they weren’t worried about global warming in 1956. The inhabitants of these city/ships call themselves “Okies”, another anachronism, but this book was published 20 years after the Dust Bowl. Anyhow despite the shortcomings of this book on so many points I did enjoy it, I found myself rooting for the Okies in their quest to finally find a home, although of course the first thing they started doing was drilling for oil. Sigh.
April 13, 2019
Of the books that make up The Cities in Flight series, this is the longest and perhaps the one most widely recognised today. My first copy had a tremendous Chris Foss cover on it.
This novel, like many of its time, is made up of a number of stories fixed together into a novel. Readers may recognise parts of the novel as ‘Okie’ (first published in Astounding in April 1950), ‘Bindlestiff’ (first published in Astounding in December 1950), ‘Sargasso of Lost Cities’ (first published in Two Complete Science-Adventure Books in Spring 1953) and the titular ‘Earthman, Come Home’ (first published in Astounding in November 1953).
By this third book in the series we are now about 2000 years in the future. Kept in extended lifespans with anti-agathy drugs, many of Earth’s cities have left using spindizzy drives to travel around the galaxy. Our focus, as in the previous books in the series, is on the city of New York, who with its mayor John Amalfi were one of the first to leave Earth. Now, with Amalfi having being mayor for hundreds of years, we are well away from the human’s home planet. Because of this, there is an uneasy relationship between the independent free-wheeling cities known as Okies and the Earth space-police, who see the Okies as rebels who have broken contracts. Whilst they are still ‘enemies’, the cities are too spread out and have travelled too far for the police to be able to do little more than patrol and occasionally deal with infractions as they occur.
The travel of the cities across the galaxy is not entirely to avoid the police. As distance has grown between the cities and their home planet we have seen them wheeling and dealing for trade as they encounter other colonies. The first part of the book deals with one of these situations. New York encounters the planet of Utopia, which is in conflict with one of the few alien races in this series, the Hruntians. The police arrive to deal with the Hruntians, and Amalfi, rather surprisingly, appears to side with the rather unpleasant Hruntians. There is a wider issue at stake here, which Amalfi uses to his advantage, of course.
New York escapes Utopia and the police and heads towards The Rift, the vast area of unnavigable starless space where cities appear to disappear. Some cities have thrived whilst others have gone rogue. On their travels New York discovers a planet being attacked by a ‘bindlestiff’, a pirate city gone rogue. They go to help and discover that the stricken planet is called He, which has a society regressed to primitive tribalism – all naked and god-fearing, kept in control by a repressive religious order. Amalfi acts to free the planet.
The rest of the book has an ongoing situation that involves New York attempting to repair a malfunctioning spindizzy. They visit Murphy, a repair planet, to find it deserted and Amalfi has another run-in with the police.
Whilst still looking for a place for repairs, New York then reaches The Jungle, a place where many cities are currently stranded. When Amalfi arrives, he finds that they have formed themselves into a group of about three-hundred cities, led by the ‘King’ of the city of Buda-Pesht, who are determined to return to Earth and make demands for justice on behalf of the Okies.
Amalfi appears to be defeated in the discussion over the so-called 'March to Earth', although this is really a ruse. Amalfi really wants the March to go ahead. The Okies return to Earth and there is a battle, although a major issue, that of the reappearance of the ancient Vegan alien race, is resolved by Amalfi.
The last part of the book concerns New York, still struggling on failing and malfunctioning spindizzies, trying to find a last resting place that is away from the police and one that they can set themselves up for a sedentary life. They encounter an old city with a terrible past. Amalfi manages to achieve a number of things here – deal out justice, find an appropriate resting place for New York and convince the police that New York has been destroyed, which should leave the city free to prosper in the future.
---------------
My overriding impression on rereading is that Earthman Go Home is a rather uneven read, as you might expect from a novel created from disparate parts. Combining the stories together highlights both the stories’ strengths and weaknesses.
For me the novel does not hold together as strongly as the earlier tales, with some parts being illogical or baffling. It also doesn’t help that Amalfi appears to exhibit intellectual powers that verge on the god-like, which means that there are actions that may make the reader scratch their head trying to work out what is going on.
There’s also moments of science-flippery that are just pure pulp – for example, Amalfi manages to escape a meeting with an adversary by reversing the spindizzy effect and then sliding down a skyscraper in some sort of King Kong-in reverse-like effect. He also manages to alter the axis of spin of a planet by using the spindizzy drive in a pulp-like plot-prop that really means that with this throwaway science almost anything is possible. Whilst it is undoubtedly entertaining, there are parts where my credulity was stretched.
And yet, in the end, the ambition of the tale still remains. As we go on, Earthman Go Home reads more and more as an alternative response to Asimov’s Foundation – a tale spread across vast time and distance, yet still one of human expansion. It's a story that shows us wonders and allows us to explore the unknown, and perhaps most of all in this future, Homo Sapiens and human ingenuity still seems to reign*, which may be the novel’s main attraction. It is a very-Campbellian future, which not only explains why most of it appeared in Astounding but may explain its popularity with readers.
Out of the three books in the series I’ve read so far, it is perhaps the most popular – it won a Retro Hugo in 2004 for Best Novelette. I can see why – there’s action, adventure and big overarching themes, as well as the fact that human ingenuity conquers all. But it is not a complete success for me.
*There are some, but surprisingly few, aliens – another similarity to Foundation, where if I remember right, there were not any.
This novel, like many of its time, is made up of a number of stories fixed together into a novel. Readers may recognise parts of the novel as ‘Okie’ (first published in Astounding in April 1950), ‘Bindlestiff’ (first published in Astounding in December 1950), ‘Sargasso of Lost Cities’ (first published in Two Complete Science-Adventure Books in Spring 1953) and the titular ‘Earthman, Come Home’ (first published in Astounding in November 1953).
By this third book in the series we are now about 2000 years in the future. Kept in extended lifespans with anti-agathy drugs, many of Earth’s cities have left using spindizzy drives to travel around the galaxy. Our focus, as in the previous books in the series, is on the city of New York, who with its mayor John Amalfi were one of the first to leave Earth. Now, with Amalfi having being mayor for hundreds of years, we are well away from the human’s home planet. Because of this, there is an uneasy relationship between the independent free-wheeling cities known as Okies and the Earth space-police, who see the Okies as rebels who have broken contracts. Whilst they are still ‘enemies’, the cities are too spread out and have travelled too far for the police to be able to do little more than patrol and occasionally deal with infractions as they occur.
The travel of the cities across the galaxy is not entirely to avoid the police. As distance has grown between the cities and their home planet we have seen them wheeling and dealing for trade as they encounter other colonies. The first part of the book deals with one of these situations. New York encounters the planet of Utopia, which is in conflict with one of the few alien races in this series, the Hruntians. The police arrive to deal with the Hruntians, and Amalfi, rather surprisingly, appears to side with the rather unpleasant Hruntians. There is a wider issue at stake here, which Amalfi uses to his advantage, of course.
New York escapes Utopia and the police and heads towards The Rift, the vast area of unnavigable starless space where cities appear to disappear. Some cities have thrived whilst others have gone rogue. On their travels New York discovers a planet being attacked by a ‘bindlestiff’, a pirate city gone rogue. They go to help and discover that the stricken planet is called He, which has a society regressed to primitive tribalism – all naked and god-fearing, kept in control by a repressive religious order. Amalfi acts to free the planet.
The rest of the book has an ongoing situation that involves New York attempting to repair a malfunctioning spindizzy. They visit Murphy, a repair planet, to find it deserted and Amalfi has another run-in with the police.
Whilst still looking for a place for repairs, New York then reaches The Jungle, a place where many cities are currently stranded. When Amalfi arrives, he finds that they have formed themselves into a group of about three-hundred cities, led by the ‘King’ of the city of Buda-Pesht, who are determined to return to Earth and make demands for justice on behalf of the Okies.
Amalfi appears to be defeated in the discussion over the so-called 'March to Earth', although this is really a ruse. Amalfi really wants the March to go ahead. The Okies return to Earth and there is a battle, although a major issue, that of the reappearance of the ancient Vegan alien race, is resolved by Amalfi.
The last part of the book concerns New York, still struggling on failing and malfunctioning spindizzies, trying to find a last resting place that is away from the police and one that they can set themselves up for a sedentary life. They encounter an old city with a terrible past. Amalfi manages to achieve a number of things here – deal out justice, find an appropriate resting place for New York and convince the police that New York has been destroyed, which should leave the city free to prosper in the future.
---------------
My overriding impression on rereading is that Earthman Go Home is a rather uneven read, as you might expect from a novel created from disparate parts. Combining the stories together highlights both the stories’ strengths and weaknesses.
For me the novel does not hold together as strongly as the earlier tales, with some parts being illogical or baffling. It also doesn’t help that Amalfi appears to exhibit intellectual powers that verge on the god-like, which means that there are actions that may make the reader scratch their head trying to work out what is going on.
There’s also moments of science-flippery that are just pure pulp – for example, Amalfi manages to escape a meeting with an adversary by reversing the spindizzy effect and then sliding down a skyscraper in some sort of King Kong-in reverse-like effect. He also manages to alter the axis of spin of a planet by using the spindizzy drive in a pulp-like plot-prop that really means that with this throwaway science almost anything is possible. Whilst it is undoubtedly entertaining, there are parts where my credulity was stretched.
And yet, in the end, the ambition of the tale still remains. As we go on, Earthman Go Home reads more and more as an alternative response to Asimov’s Foundation – a tale spread across vast time and distance, yet still one of human expansion. It's a story that shows us wonders and allows us to explore the unknown, and perhaps most of all in this future, Homo Sapiens and human ingenuity still seems to reign*, which may be the novel’s main attraction. It is a very-Campbellian future, which not only explains why most of it appeared in Astounding but may explain its popularity with readers.
Out of the three books in the series I’ve read so far, it is perhaps the most popular – it won a Retro Hugo in 2004 for Best Novelette. I can see why – there’s action, adventure and big overarching themes, as well as the fact that human ingenuity conquers all. But it is not a complete success for me.
*There are some, but surprisingly few, aliens – another similarity to Foundation, where if I remember right, there were not any.
April 1, 2018
It is easy to see how James Blish was selected to write the Star Trek novelizations of the original series. Essentially this novel is an early Star Trek adventure. The Enterprise here is a far future New York City that has taken off from Earth and acts like a starship. The propulsion unit can go faster than light. Amalfi plays Captain Kirk. Others around Amalfi function as a ship's crew, and the flying city goes from place to place having adventures.
Normally, this premise would get four stars from me since I love Star Trek. However, these particular adventures were uninteresting. Nor is the cast surrounding Amalfi particularly engaging. Amalfi does have the Captain Kirk flair for doing whatever it takes to win, keeping his plans to himself, and taking surprising and ethically questionable actions to come out on top. It's all for the greater good of the city, of course. The only problem is we're never told why the city deserves continued existence.
The last adventure of the New York spaceship crew was There was nothing particularly enticing or noteworthy about the goal and reaching it wasn't going to really achieve salvation. The book meandered to a meaningless and unmemorable end.
Normally, this premise would get four stars from me since I love Star Trek. However, these particular adventures were uninteresting. Nor is the cast surrounding Amalfi particularly engaging. Amalfi does have the Captain Kirk flair for doing whatever it takes to win, keeping his plans to himself, and taking surprising and ethically questionable actions to come out on top. It's all for the greater good of the city, of course. The only problem is we're never told why the city deserves continued existence.
The last adventure of the New York spaceship crew was There was nothing particularly enticing or noteworthy about the goal and reaching it wasn't going to really achieve salvation. The book meandered to a meaningless and unmemorable end.
June 14, 2013
Earthman, Come Home is set a few hundred years after the previous novel. John Amalfi is still the mayor of the Okie city New York, and is now over 700 years old; thanks to the anti-agathic drugs that all citizens take. New York is running low on supplies and must land and take a job soon, but Amalfi's only option is to pick one of two warring planets in the closest system, both of which they have been warned off by the earth police. Amalfi first chooses to land on Utopia, a planet ravaged by nuclear attacks. But later chooses to move over to Gort, a planet in the old Hruntan Empire. The Hruntans turn out to have been a bad choice of allies, as they hold NY hostage and demand from them an explanation of the sought-after friction-field generator tech. When Amalfi finally manages to escape from the Hruntans, the City has accumulated even more violations on its record, and the earth police are not happy with them. So Amalfi takes the city out into the Rift, a huge expanse of space that is empty of stars and planets, Except for one lonely star system, containing the planet He, which is the only possible place to land inside the emptiness of the rift.
The citys adventures continue on, endlessly, which make it a very difficult book to synopsise. New York, as Okie cities do, moves from one planet to the other, never able to settle, and seemingly never getting ahead, always in some trouble, always low on some resource or other. As such, the plot does seem to wander as much as the city itself does, but later events always rely on something learned or gained in earlier adventures, so things do tie together quite nicely.
The passage of time in this novel was seriously hard to comprehend. With the spindizzy drive, the okie cities can travel across distances that just would not be possible for us, the spindizzy is equivalent to travelling many times the speed of light. But apparently it does still take years to travel between systems, and the cities spend years again fulfilling their contracts on planets. Yet it did take me a while to understand this, there is no feel of a great passage of time in the writing, the story moves on from one event straight to the other, and then suddenly Amalfi will muse that he's 2 centuries older! I found this very jarring. I couldn't relate to the time spans at all.
I also didn't get along very well with the main character. Arguably, Amalfi is supposed to be a hard character to relate to, because he has lived centuries longer than most humans and has become a little detatched from the rest of humanity. I think he even admits at one time that he behaves more like a computer now than a human. But on top of that I'm afraid I found him just plain irritating. Amalfi is constantly keeping plans to himself until the last possible second, even from the reader, which is a really childish way to create a plot mystery, I have to say I expected more from Blish than this terrible fake suspense trick. I'm not even sure why Amalfi keeps a City Manager to run the city, as he never lets Hazleton get on with his job. He makes his plans without telling a single person, and then when Hazleton tries to makes descisions, Amalfi countermands all his orders without an explanation. I found this just incredibly annoying, it doesn't make Amalfi sound heroic or intelligent, just irritatingly childish. Every time it happened I couldn't help thinking how much better things would have gone if he'd have just been open with Hazleton from the beginning. But then of course there would be no 'suspense'.
Another character that irritated me was Dee, the only female character. She was portrayed as fairly intelligent, but unfortunately she never seemed to do anything with her intelligence. She had no role on the city, apart from to be someone elses wife, and she had no skills, and nothing whasoever to do. She may have been an intelligent love interest, but she was just a love interest all the same. I suppose I'm not entirely suprised, considering the decade the book was written in, but I don't have to like it. Although I'm sure Blish's portrayal of female characters improved in the 60s when he started writing for the very progressive Star Trek series.
There were a lot of interesting ideas in the novel, the technology, the planets, and the civilisations were all fascinating, but I don't feel that it was carried off very well at all. Apart from Amalfi's secret plotting, there were also a few too many instances of Deus ex Machina, eg when ..
I found out after finishing the entire set of novels that although number 3 in the series, Earthman, Come Home was actually the first written. Which explains why it never seems as well thought or out, or as well written as the others. But it still contains a lot of very good ideas, and I suppose in the end it is worth reading in order to tie all the other novels together. Still, I'd have to say this was my least favourite out of all the 4 books.
See my other reviews of Cities in Flight:
← #2 A Life for the Stars | #4 The Triumph of Time →
The citys adventures continue on, endlessly, which make it a very difficult book to synopsise. New York, as Okie cities do, moves from one planet to the other, never able to settle, and seemingly never getting ahead, always in some trouble, always low on some resource or other. As such, the plot does seem to wander as much as the city itself does, but later events always rely on something learned or gained in earlier adventures, so things do tie together quite nicely.
The passage of time in this novel was seriously hard to comprehend. With the spindizzy drive, the okie cities can travel across distances that just would not be possible for us, the spindizzy is equivalent to travelling many times the speed of light. But apparently it does still take years to travel between systems, and the cities spend years again fulfilling their contracts on planets. Yet it did take me a while to understand this, there is no feel of a great passage of time in the writing, the story moves on from one event straight to the other, and then suddenly Amalfi will muse that he's 2 centuries older! I found this very jarring. I couldn't relate to the time spans at all.
I also didn't get along very well with the main character. Arguably, Amalfi is supposed to be a hard character to relate to, because he has lived centuries longer than most humans and has become a little detatched from the rest of humanity. I think he even admits at one time that he behaves more like a computer now than a human. But on top of that I'm afraid I found him just plain irritating. Amalfi is constantly keeping plans to himself until the last possible second, even from the reader, which is a really childish way to create a plot mystery, I have to say I expected more from Blish than this terrible fake suspense trick. I'm not even sure why Amalfi keeps a City Manager to run the city, as he never lets Hazleton get on with his job. He makes his plans without telling a single person, and then when Hazleton tries to makes descisions, Amalfi countermands all his orders without an explanation. I found this just incredibly annoying, it doesn't make Amalfi sound heroic or intelligent, just irritatingly childish. Every time it happened I couldn't help thinking how much better things would have gone if he'd have just been open with Hazleton from the beginning. But then of course there would be no 'suspense'.
Another character that irritated me was Dee, the only female character. She was portrayed as fairly intelligent, but unfortunately she never seemed to do anything with her intelligence. She had no role on the city, apart from to be someone elses wife, and she had no skills, and nothing whasoever to do. She may have been an intelligent love interest, but she was just a love interest all the same. I suppose I'm not entirely suprised, considering the decade the book was written in, but I don't have to like it. Although I'm sure Blish's portrayal of female characters improved in the 60s when he started writing for the very progressive Star Trek series.
There were a lot of interesting ideas in the novel, the technology, the planets, and the civilisations were all fascinating, but I don't feel that it was carried off very well at all. Apart from Amalfi's secret plotting, there were also a few too many instances of Deus ex Machina, eg when ..
I found out after finishing the entire set of novels that although number 3 in the series, Earthman, Come Home was actually the first written. Which explains why it never seems as well thought or out, or as well written as the others. But it still contains a lot of very good ideas, and I suppose in the end it is worth reading in order to tie all the other novels together. Still, I'd have to say this was my least favourite out of all the 4 books.
See my other reviews of Cities in Flight:
← #2 A Life for the Stars | #4 The Triumph of Time →
January 18, 2023
TLDR
Этот том самый хаотичный среди всех четырех. Словно у Блиша синдром дефицита внимания, и он забыл выпить свой Аддерол. В меню хаос, внезапные многоходовочки и невероятные совпадения. Это может сбивать с толку, но если представить, что это просто современный кино-блокбастер, который срезает углы, то становится полегче. Стоит просто покрепче вцепиться в кресло этих американских горок и закрыть глаза. И тогда это почти такой Bioshock Infinite, скрещенный со Звездными войнами. Космическая опера, а не фантастика. Слова и персонажи Блишу еще даются с трудом. Зато идей клевых у него хоть отбавляй. Так что 2,5 звезды за текст и 3,5 за идеи.
Детали
* На примере этого тома легко анализировать intensively recomplicated стиль письма Блиша. Для описания технологий и мира он набрасывает больше фактов чем требуется. В итоге, когда получается удачно, то мир кажется более продуманным, чем он есть на самом деле.
* Концепция городов Оки на основе истории бедных переселенцев во время Депрессии — сильная и красивая. Интересно было узнать, что самым дном считались bindlestiff. Бездомные, которые воруют котомки у других бездомных.
* При этом откуда у земных копов появились ресурсы диктовать бродягам условия — решительно непонятно. Неужели дело только в пушках Бете?
Ну и когда копы разгоняют митинги бродяг и запрещают собираться в группы больше четырех — прям страшно похоже на современную Россию.
* Наконец-то появляются детали того, как длинная жизнь влияла на людей. Например, правители становились более тираничными, потому что им некогда было объяснять свои решения более молодым. Слишком большой профессиональный разрыв.
* Мой любимый момент с тем, как
* Самый слабый момент — Вот это поворот, как сказали бы в Робоцыпе.
* В тексте упоминается Великое отречение Будды. Круто, что появились отсылки не только к христианству.
* Блиш снова ведет себя смело и пишет в 50ые про узколобость рабовладельцев (в этом момент в Америке еще полным ходом продолжается сегрегация). Его язык уже не прошел бы проверку на политкорректность в 2020м. Но его идеи вполне себе.
* И наконец, спиндиззи. Название дурацкое, зато идея красивая. Что чем тяжелее корабль, тем эффективнее и быстрее он летает. Отменяет бесконечные расстояния вселенной не хуже прыжков через гиперпространство.
Я прочитал эту книгу для обсуждения на подкасте про научную фантастику «Худо Не Было». Послушать можно тут: https://share.transistor.fm/s/5fed0125
Этот том самый хаотичный среди всех четырех. Словно у Блиша синдром дефицита внимания, и он забыл выпить свой Аддерол. В меню хаос, внезапные многоходовочки и невероятные совпадения. Это может сбивать с толку, но если представить, что это просто современный кино-блокбастер, который срезает углы, то становится полегче. Стоит просто покрепче вцепиться в кресло этих американских горок и закрыть глаза. И тогда это почти такой Bioshock Infinite, скрещенный со Звездными войнами. Космическая опера, а не фантастика. Слова и персонажи Блишу еще даются с трудом. Зато идей клевых у него хоть отбавляй. Так что 2,5 звезды за текст и 3,5 за идеи.
The new culture began among these nomad cities; and when it was all over, the Bureaucratic State, against its own will, had done what it had long promised to do “when the people were ready”—it had withered away.
Детали
* На примере этого тома легко анализировать intensively recomplicated стиль письма Блиша. Для описания технологий и мира он набрасывает больше фактов чем требуется. В итоге, когда получается удачно, то мир кажется более продуманным, чем он есть на самом деле.
* Концепция городов Оки на основе истории бедных переселенцев во время Депрессии — сильная и красивая. Интересно было узнать, что самым дном считались bindlestiff. Бездомные, которые воруют котомки у других бездомных.
* При этом откуда у земных копов появились ресурсы диктовать бродягам условия — решительно непонятно. Неужели дело только в пушках Бете?
Ну и когда копы разгоняют митинги бродяг и запрещают собираться в группы больше четырех — прям страшно похоже на современную Россию.
* Наконец-то появляются детали того, как длинная жизнь влияла на людей. Например, правители становились более тираничными, потому что им некогда было объяснять свои решения более молодым. Слишком большой профессиональный разрыв.
* Мой любимый момент с тем, как
* Самый слабый момент — Вот это поворот, как сказали бы в Робоцыпе.
* В тексте упоминается Великое отречение Будды. Круто, что появились отсылки не только к христианству.
* Блиш снова ведет себя смело и пишет в 50ые про узколобость рабовладельцев (в этом момент в Америке еще полным ходом продолжается сегрегация). Его язык уже не прошел бы проверку на политкорректность в 2020м. Но его идеи вполне себе.
* И наконец, спиндиззи. Название дурацкое, зато идея красивая. Что чем тяжелее корабль, тем эффективнее и быстрее он летает. Отменяет бесконечные расстояния вселенной не хуже прыжков через гиперпространство.
Чем старше становится человек, тем скорее он отыскивает выход из сложных ситуаций — сказывается накопленный жизненный опыт. При этом все менее и менее склонен он терпеть несообразительность своих коллег. Если человек мыслит разумно, то и ответы, которые он находит, решая свои проблемы, тоже разумны. Если его мышление нелогично — принимаемые решения не отличаются здравомыслием. Но суть не в этом. Самым главным обстоятельством человеку преклонного возраста начинает казаться быстрота, с которой решение может быть найдено. В конце концов и трезвомыслящий человек, и идиот в одинаковой степени становятся диктаторами, все меньше и меньше способными объяснить, почему одно решение они предпочли другому.
Я прочитал эту книгу для обсуждения на подкасте про научную фантастику «Худо Не Было». Послушать можно тут: https://share.transistor.fm/s/5fed0125
June 22, 2015
This is the third and longest novel in the Cities in Flight omnibus. I believe it was first published in 1955, making it the first published of these four novels. I also found it, initially at least, the least engaging. The writing seems disjointed. It's often hard to follow the characters' reasoning and thought processes. MY impression is that it is comic bookish. It is a series of strange space opera adventures. I don't know, but I'm guessing that it must have been written for publication as a serial in one of the pulp science fiction mags of the day. The character development is thin, with the lead character, John Amalfi, being the only one with whom we can identify at all; and as the novel progresses, we do learn to follow him and root for him. In the end, it is a fun space romp.
August 9, 2024
In this, the third book in the Cities in Flight series—but the first one to be published—Mayor John Amalfi leads the city of Manhattan through several adventures.
Early on, we learn the fate of Chris, the main character from A Life for the Stars. I have to say that it was a disappointment. Considering what we learned here, Blish should've kept going with Chris's story until said fate occurred.
Anyway, Chris's replacement as City Manager is Mark Hazelton, but this story is strictly told from Amalfi's POV, which is a shame. Hazelton is much younger than Amalfi (by a few centuries) and hasn't grown too cynical to love or dream. It would've been more enjoyable had we got to read about Hazelton's experiences and motivations rather than have Amalfi explain them to Hazelton and us.
Despite the fact that we only get Amalfi's POV, we never truly get to know Amalfi. When he gets passionate about something (good or bad), it seems like it comes out of left field. Blish leaves the reader (and Hazelton) hopelessly in the dark on Amalifi's plans. It isn't until things are already in motion that we have any idea that Amalfi is prepared for the plot twists. Maybe if we were allowed to get in his head, Amalfi wouldn't have seemed like such a jerk at times.
Another thing that bothered me was the passage of time. Blish doesn't offer any clues that it's happening. He lays out the development of a project or the travels of a city but doesn't offer us any signposts. A year passes in the blink of an eye on a mining project when it seemed like it had just started. And decades can pass when the city travels from point A to point B, but there's no indication the journey took nearly that long.
Despite my grumblings, I did enjoy this story. The technological shortcomings (slide rule, Saturn's rings thought to be solid) were easy to overlook when compared to other ideas: AI, energy weapons, anti-agathics. The adventures were entertaining, and Blish put down the cultures that practiced misogyny and aggressive serfdom. For a story published in 1955, it's aged fairly well. I just wish the actual storytelling had been better.
3.5 stars rounded down to 3 because of Amalfi.
Early on, we learn the fate of Chris, the main character from A Life for the Stars. I have to say that it was a disappointment. Considering what we learned here, Blish should've kept going with Chris's story until said fate occurred.
Anyway, Chris's replacement as City Manager is Mark Hazelton, but this story is strictly told from Amalfi's POV, which is a shame. Hazelton is much younger than Amalfi (by a few centuries) and hasn't grown too cynical to love or dream. It would've been more enjoyable had we got to read about Hazelton's experiences and motivations rather than have Amalfi explain them to Hazelton and us.
Despite the fact that we only get Amalfi's POV, we never truly get to know Amalfi. When he gets passionate about something (good or bad), it seems like it comes out of left field. Blish leaves the reader (and Hazelton) hopelessly in the dark on Amalifi's plans. It isn't until things are already in motion that we have any idea that Amalfi is prepared for the plot twists. Maybe if we were allowed to get in his head, Amalfi wouldn't have seemed like such a jerk at times.
Another thing that bothered me was the passage of time. Blish doesn't offer any clues that it's happening. He lays out the development of a project or the travels of a city but doesn't offer us any signposts. A year passes in the blink of an eye on a mining project when it seemed like it had just started. And decades can pass when the city travels from point A to point B, but there's no indication the journey took nearly that long.
Despite my grumblings, I did enjoy this story. The technological shortcomings (slide rule, Saturn's rings thought to be solid) were easy to overlook when compared to other ideas: AI, energy weapons, anti-agathics. The adventures were entertaining, and Blish put down the cultures that practiced misogyny and aggressive serfdom. For a story published in 1955, it's aged fairly well. I just wish the actual storytelling had been better.
3.5 stars rounded down to 3 because of Amalfi.
July 29, 2022
that was interesting.
I actually read the novella,
I actually read the novella,
April 21, 2025
3.5 ⭐️ A tough book to review. Four pulp published novellas re-worked into a novel. To add to the complication, it’s the first published book in the Cities in Flight/Okies in Space saga, though the third book in the timeline. Having read (and enjoyed) the first two, I believe this could be read as a standalone.
New York City flies through space looking for migrant labor on colonized planets. Conflicts arise with other cities, space cops, ancient aliens and earth itself. Omniscient mayor Amalfi handles these conflicts. Neat ideas and hard science meet to make some goofy pseudoscience with little character development.
Blish seems to rush his concepts out before he forgets them, leading to some confusing storytelling. Roddenberry must have been a fan, as it feels like proto-Trek.
New York City flies through space looking for migrant labor on colonized planets. Conflicts arise with other cities, space cops, ancient aliens and earth itself. Omniscient mayor Amalfi handles these conflicts. Neat ideas and hard science meet to make some goofy pseudoscience with little character development.
Blish seems to rush his concepts out before he forgets them, leading to some confusing storytelling. Roddenberry must have been a fan, as it feels like proto-Trek.
February 25, 2018
In the far future of Blish's 'Okie' stories, the impoverished cities of Earth have left their home to travel the space lanes, hustling for work like the itinerant farmers of the Great Depression. It's a wonderful and poetic image, which sadly Blish never delivers on. Earthman, Come Home is a 1950s sci-fi novel very much of its time, all bullheaded alpha-male characters and exposition. Lots of exposition. Blish is too good a writer to use the old "As you know, Bob..." trick, but his characters sure do love to explain things to each other. They only seem to exist when they're telling each other things in otherwise featureless rooms. The stories themselves invariably come down to solving some seemingly impossible dilemma through Science, with very little human dimension.
All that said, several planets get ripped out of orbit and it's better than the run-of-the-mill SF of its time. It deserves its status as a classic. But the magic of Fifth Avenue and the Flatiron Building drifting among the stars got lost somewhere along the way.
All that said, several planets get ripped out of orbit and it's better than the run-of-the-mill SF of its time. It deserves its status as a classic. But the magic of Fifth Avenue and the Flatiron Building drifting among the stars got lost somewhere along the way.
March 28, 2015
A real disappointment after the first two volumes, it gets the few stars that it does because of the sci-fi ideas, which are as strong as ever. But the story is just terrible. It seems lump together and then blasted into pieces by a pace that is so ridiculously fast that it seems as though Blish was writing with a gun to his head and orders to crank out pages as fast as possible. The characters are flat as boards, their motives inexplicable and their actions, in many cases downright bizarre. There is a truckload of bad dialogue, including many instances of the most egregious sci-fi dialogue mistake, that of characters discussing technical details that they already know and would never discuss just for the benefit of the reader. Its awkward and it destroys any sense of reality.
February 23, 2014
I enjoyed this book, and at the same time found it somewhat frustrating. In some ways Blish is trying to convey a time course of centuries through actions of the moments. It has its moments of great social commentary, it has some very good predictions of future technology but it only has one character in total.
November 24, 2018
Короткий, но крутой рассказ из цикла про летающий города (нужно прочитать еще!), в котором есть загадка, чудовищное преступление, спасение и чуть чуть любви, она так незаметна, но обозначена.
экранизация была бы интересной.
экранизация была бы интересной.
March 16, 2009
Not as good as the previous installment in the series. I found it difficult to follow what was actually going on most of the time.
February 26, 2021
New York, New York, it's a helluva town!
This third of four Cities in Flight novels must surely be the pinnacle. It was the longest but read the quickest--I couldn't put it down. Mayor Amalfi, met briefly in the second novel, takes center stage to play a pivotal role in New York City's future history.
Reading this book on the heels of A Life for the Stars, which closed with Chris being named city manager, I anticipated reading of his new adventures with Mayor Amalfi's. But alas, Blish for whatever reason discarded the character of Chris in a throwaway line: "deFord had been shot by the City Fathers around the year 3300 for engineering an egregious violation of the city's contract with a planet called Epoch" (p. 18). Huh? That didn't read like the Chris we knew and cheered on. And how could the City Fathers shoot anyone when they are only computer banks? That implies they ordered Chris shot and somehow Amalfi was complicit. So that set things off on a bad foot.
This novel is set 600 years after the execution of deFord. Current city manager Mark Hazleton could just as easily been deFord, and I wished Blish had simply recast Hazleton as deFord to tighten the continuity between the books. But I grew to like Hazleton and the old man-young protege relationship they shared. It reminded me of the rapport Karl Malden and Mike Douglas enjoyed on The Streets of San Francisco.
The complicating factor of Dee and the resulting love triangle was never fully developed, and that was for the better. Blish didn't seem to know what to do with Dee, besides using her to ask naive questions readers would likely ask that allowed Amalfi to offer exposition. And then there's her gratuitous and bizarre "nude scene" in the abandoned subway station that served no purpose than to "sex up" the narrative for a couple pages.
Blish is at his best writing plot-driven space adventure, and this book boasted a bounty of action-packed and suspenseful scenes, culminating in the final chapters with the introduction of Karst and the showdown with the notorious IMT (of "Remember Thor V" infamy). I defy any reader to get to those closing couple chapters and set the book down. Blish cranked the suspense to overload and I could almost hear the Mission: Impossible music playing while our latter-day Phelps and Barney engineered the awe-inspiring climax.
The novel is necessarily episodic because it is four short stories stitched together. But to Blish's credit, he edited them so well the seams between stories never showed. Well, barely showed. Hazleton's disappearance in the final sequence indicates he wasn't a part of the original "Earthman, Come Home" story. I'd like to read the originals and compare them to the novelized forms.
Blish's vivid writing left many images lingering in my mind, from the jungle of cities circling that red dwarf to my favorite: The legendary Vegan Orbital Fort reduced to being a bug splattered on the windshield of the spindizzy-powered planet Hern VI, which was like a bowling ball hurtling through the pins. And of course that final scene that upended the age-old adage that what goes up must come down.
Onward to the closing volume. I initially thought I would read one and pick up the next volume a month or two later, but Blish has me riveted. I suspect Earthman, Come Home was the pinnacle and that this final volume will be epilogue at best and anticlimactic at worst, but there's only one way to find out: Spin!
This third of four Cities in Flight novels must surely be the pinnacle. It was the longest but read the quickest--I couldn't put it down. Mayor Amalfi, met briefly in the second novel, takes center stage to play a pivotal role in New York City's future history.
Reading this book on the heels of A Life for the Stars, which closed with Chris being named city manager, I anticipated reading of his new adventures with Mayor Amalfi's. But alas, Blish for whatever reason discarded the character of Chris in a throwaway line: "deFord had been shot by the City Fathers around the year 3300 for engineering an egregious violation of the city's contract with a planet called Epoch" (p. 18). Huh? That didn't read like the Chris we knew and cheered on. And how could the City Fathers shoot anyone when they are only computer banks? That implies they ordered Chris shot and somehow Amalfi was complicit. So that set things off on a bad foot.
This novel is set 600 years after the execution of deFord. Current city manager Mark Hazleton could just as easily been deFord, and I wished Blish had simply recast Hazleton as deFord to tighten the continuity between the books. But I grew to like Hazleton and the old man-young protege relationship they shared. It reminded me of the rapport Karl Malden and Mike Douglas enjoyed on The Streets of San Francisco.
The complicating factor of Dee and the resulting love triangle was never fully developed, and that was for the better. Blish didn't seem to know what to do with Dee, besides using her to ask naive questions readers would likely ask that allowed Amalfi to offer exposition. And then there's her gratuitous and bizarre "nude scene" in the abandoned subway station that served no purpose than to "sex up" the narrative for a couple pages.
Blish is at his best writing plot-driven space adventure, and this book boasted a bounty of action-packed and suspenseful scenes, culminating in the final chapters with the introduction of Karst and the showdown with the notorious IMT (of "Remember Thor V" infamy). I defy any reader to get to those closing couple chapters and set the book down. Blish cranked the suspense to overload and I could almost hear the Mission: Impossible music playing while our latter-day Phelps and Barney engineered the awe-inspiring climax.
The novel is necessarily episodic because it is four short stories stitched together. But to Blish's credit, he edited them so well the seams between stories never showed. Well, barely showed. Hazleton's disappearance in the final sequence indicates he wasn't a part of the original "Earthman, Come Home" story. I'd like to read the originals and compare them to the novelized forms.
Blish's vivid writing left many images lingering in my mind, from the jungle of cities circling that red dwarf to my favorite: The legendary Vegan Orbital Fort reduced to being a bug splattered on the windshield of the spindizzy-powered planet Hern VI, which was like a bowling ball hurtling through the pins. And of course that final scene that upended the age-old adage that what goes up must come down.
Onward to the closing volume. I initially thought I would read one and pick up the next volume a month or two later, but Blish has me riveted. I suspect Earthman, Come Home was the pinnacle and that this final volume will be epilogue at best and anticlimactic at worst, but there's only one way to find out: Spin!
May 18, 2025
Saith the 1955 science fiction novel: "Nowadays, nobody bothered to remember many facts. That was what the City Fathers and like machines were for: they stored data. Living men memorized nothing but processes, throwing out obsolete ones for new ones as invention made it necessary. When they needed facts, they asked the machines." Spooky, eh?
There were also some fun descriptive phrases I wouldn't have expected from a 50's sci-fi, such as, "the door to his room irised open," and I was struck by this prophetic piece of dialogue: "We're not going to import that story into the Cloud."
But my overall impression of this book? What a slog! There's a reason it took me two months to finish it. Remind me never to start a James Blish book in the middle of a re-reading marathon. I was surprised when I heard he later went on to write for Star Trek; I thought, "He must have changed his style a lot between 1955 and 1966." However, I learned he only wrote novelizations for them and considered Star Trek to be juvenile. That checks out.
He thinks we ought to know every single detail about how every single fictional technology was created and has evolved up until the futuristic present. And he justifies this by making his main character 800+ years old, and everyone else in the story is also basically immortal by virtue of longevity drugs. He is trying to write through a lens unnaturally broad for humans, and the result is a pretty bizarre moral vision in terms of warfare and survival, as well as nigh impossible-to-track pacing.
The last line of the book was perhaps the worst line of the book. "Earth isn't a place. It's an idea." No, I'm pretty sure Earth is a place, but let's say it's not: what's the idea? All the ideas you've come up with for alien cultures came from Earth culture. There isn't anything uniquely conceptual about Earth in this book. Religion is spoken of in a passing, anthropological manner, so it's not as if Blish imagines Earth as an idea in the mind of God. It's a pretty much meaningless line to cap off one's entire novel.
There were also some fun descriptive phrases I wouldn't have expected from a 50's sci-fi, such as, "the door to his room irised open," and I was struck by this prophetic piece of dialogue: "We're not going to import that story into the Cloud."
But my overall impression of this book? What a slog! There's a reason it took me two months to finish it. Remind me never to start a James Blish book in the middle of a re-reading marathon. I was surprised when I heard he later went on to write for Star Trek; I thought, "He must have changed his style a lot between 1955 and 1966." However, I learned he only wrote novelizations for them and considered Star Trek to be juvenile. That checks out.
He thinks we ought to know every single detail about how every single fictional technology was created and has evolved up until the futuristic present. And he justifies this by making his main character 800+ years old, and everyone else in the story is also basically immortal by virtue of longevity drugs. He is trying to write through a lens unnaturally broad for humans, and the result is a pretty bizarre moral vision in terms of warfare and survival, as well as nigh impossible-to-track pacing.
The last line of the book was perhaps the worst line of the book. "Earth isn't a place. It's an idea." No, I'm pretty sure Earth is a place, but let's say it's not: what's the idea? All the ideas you've come up with for alien cultures came from Earth culture. There isn't anything uniquely conceptual about Earth in this book. Religion is spoken of in a passing, anthropological manner, so it's not as if Blish imagines Earth as an idea in the mind of God. It's a pretty much meaningless line to cap off one's entire novel.
November 25, 2024
Earthman Come Home. Flawed but Exciting
ECH is the third book (actually a cobbled together combination of what were originally novelettes) in James Blish’s “Cities In Flight” series, in which the invention of the “spindizzy” faster-than-light drive has enabled entire cities to uproot themselves and set out across the Galaxy, destroying the existing Vegan civilisation along the way, and looking for work on various human-settled planets.
It focuses on the adventures of New York NY, one of the cities which has gone out too seek its fortune. These principally involve getting caught up in a war between two planets, clearing away the jungle which dominates an isolated world, losing all their wealth in a galaxy-wide depression, getting involved in a “march on earth” by destitute cities, and eventually seeking refuge in another galaxy.
All very exciting but there are some glaring inconsistencies. The least convincing part is the “Okie jungle” where some 300 cities are gathered together, continually undercutting each other in their bids for whatever jobs are going, despite the efforts of a violent “shop steward” to enforce collective bargaining – an episode best summed up as “John Steinbeck in Space”. Yet why for Pete’s sake? If (as we know from other chapters) a single city has enough spindizzies to propel an entire planet, why don’t they just confiscate one and make it their own? We are told that they “crack oil” to make food, so anywhere with hydrocarbons will do., and even at the time of writing, Titan was known to have a methane atmosphere so it’s a good bet that such worlds are available. And if uninhabited worlds and asteroids can meet their needs, why bother seeking work at all?
Still, enough grumbling. For all its flaws its an exciting epic, Read and enjoy.
.
ECH is the third book (actually a cobbled together combination of what were originally novelettes) in James Blish’s “Cities In Flight” series, in which the invention of the “spindizzy” faster-than-light drive has enabled entire cities to uproot themselves and set out across the Galaxy, destroying the existing Vegan civilisation along the way, and looking for work on various human-settled planets.
It focuses on the adventures of New York NY, one of the cities which has gone out too seek its fortune. These principally involve getting caught up in a war between two planets, clearing away the jungle which dominates an isolated world, losing all their wealth in a galaxy-wide depression, getting involved in a “march on earth” by destitute cities, and eventually seeking refuge in another galaxy.
All very exciting but there are some glaring inconsistencies. The least convincing part is the “Okie jungle” where some 300 cities are gathered together, continually undercutting each other in their bids for whatever jobs are going, despite the efforts of a violent “shop steward” to enforce collective bargaining – an episode best summed up as “John Steinbeck in Space”. Yet why for Pete’s sake? If (as we know from other chapters) a single city has enough spindizzies to propel an entire planet, why don’t they just confiscate one and make it their own? We are told that they “crack oil” to make food, so anywhere with hydrocarbons will do., and even at the time of writing, Titan was known to have a methane atmosphere so it’s a good bet that such worlds are available. And if uninhabited worlds and asteroids can meet their needs, why bother seeking work at all?
Still, enough grumbling. For all its flaws its an exciting epic, Read and enjoy.
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December 30, 2024
Master of the unusual James Blish delivers one of his most unlikely tales yet (with regards to the few I've already read, i.e. the After such knowledge trilogy, Galactic cluster, and the memorable A case of conscience).
"Earthman, come home" defies definition. Everything is off-scale. The events of some pages take minutes, while a few lines might contain centuries - and I am not making this up. If you know the premises that many sci-fi aficionados will have heard about, you will know that the Cities in flight tetralogy deals with, well, flying cities, and semi immortal humans, thanks to the advancement of medicine. What looks like an easy enough plot device (how could you otherwise work out a story about perennial interstellar travel with very mortal protagonists?), ends up being a subtle focus of the narration, in which the identity, and the underlying morality of the main character, is always lightly questioned.
Who are the humans in this story? Is there even such a thing any longer?
Adventure gets mixed up with politics and practical philosophy all time, so much so that the entire book ends up vaguely resembling a history of ideas, so large is its scope. Its cast ends up resembling oddly down to earth Clark-Ashton-Smith-onian gods who keep true to themselves, all the while playing gravely with the immense power of longevity.
It's difficult to get used to the odd, alternatingly over-technical and over-vague narration, as well as its inconsistent pace, but once you do, you will find some acute brilliance to it, some memorable moments that remind me more closely of a particularly well written history book, or a memoir perhaps.
What I can say, is that there is something rather unique about this book - it's one of those stories that can't possibly be written twice, and an intense product of the golden age of sci-fi.
True rating: 4 and 1/2 stars.
"Earthman, come home" defies definition. Everything is off-scale. The events of some pages take minutes, while a few lines might contain centuries - and I am not making this up. If you know the premises that many sci-fi aficionados will have heard about, you will know that the Cities in flight tetralogy deals with, well, flying cities, and semi immortal humans, thanks to the advancement of medicine. What looks like an easy enough plot device (how could you otherwise work out a story about perennial interstellar travel with very mortal protagonists?), ends up being a subtle focus of the narration, in which the identity, and the underlying morality of the main character, is always lightly questioned.
Who are the humans in this story? Is there even such a thing any longer?
Adventure gets mixed up with politics and practical philosophy all time, so much so that the entire book ends up vaguely resembling a history of ideas, so large is its scope. Its cast ends up resembling oddly down to earth Clark-Ashton-Smith-onian gods who keep true to themselves, all the while playing gravely with the immense power of longevity.
It's difficult to get used to the odd, alternatingly over-technical and over-vague narration, as well as its inconsistent pace, but once you do, you will find some acute brilliance to it, some memorable moments that remind me more closely of a particularly well written history book, or a memoir perhaps.
What I can say, is that there is something rather unique about this book - it's one of those stories that can't possibly be written twice, and an intense product of the golden age of sci-fi.
True rating: 4 and 1/2 stars.
May 7, 2021
I enjoyed this 1955 novel about cities that have turned themselves into space ships and ply the stars looking for work and trade. I have read a fair amount of old timey space opera but I have to say that Blish's premise of flying cities is pretty unique. I've seen the idea crop up a few times in short stories but never in a novel-length treatment.
I also enjoyed the sub-current of political differences between the "Okies" (the people in the flying cities), the "Bindlestiffs" (the people in the flying cities who have turned to piracy and rapine), and various star systems and worlds, such as the "Hamiltonians" and others. I also enjoyed the interactions with the "City Fathers," which was the name the Okies gave their main computer systems.
I don't generally find the characters terribly interesting in most of these Golden Age or transitional stories but I do think Blish did a good job getting into the head of the main character, Amalfi, and exploring some of the psychological downsides that come with taking drugs that allow one to live for a couple of thousand years. Otherwise the characterization is secondary (but not horrible) which is what I expect for these sorts of books during this period. Nevertheless the story is quite imaginative and I can recommend this book as a fun read.
I also enjoyed the sub-current of political differences between the "Okies" (the people in the flying cities), the "Bindlestiffs" (the people in the flying cities who have turned to piracy and rapine), and various star systems and worlds, such as the "Hamiltonians" and others. I also enjoyed the interactions with the "City Fathers," which was the name the Okies gave their main computer systems.
I don't generally find the characters terribly interesting in most of these Golden Age or transitional stories but I do think Blish did a good job getting into the head of the main character, Amalfi, and exploring some of the psychological downsides that come with taking drugs that allow one to live for a couple of thousand years. Otherwise the characterization is secondary (but not horrible) which is what I expect for these sorts of books during this period. Nevertheless the story is quite imaginative and I can recommend this book as a fun read.
January 6, 2020
Here you can find all that is wrong with Science Fiction. Fast paced plots full of "technical" terms (terms without sense at all) and a complete disregard for any character development or sense at all.
As Wikipedia says, this novel combines several stories. Most of the endings can be defined as deus ex-machina. Worst, even after reading each story, I can still not follow the logic of the characters' actions, mostly of Amalfi, the main character who, despite being more than 700 years old behaves as someone in his early 20s most of the time, but more pretentious.
Now I understand why several authors will refuse to be labelled as sci-fi authors: they have novels like this one as a parameter.
As Wikipedia says, this novel combines several stories. Most of the endings can be defined as deus ex-machina. Worst, even after reading each story, I can still not follow the logic of the characters' actions, mostly of Amalfi, the main character who, despite being more than 700 years old behaves as someone in his early 20s most of the time, but more pretentious.
Now I understand why several authors will refuse to be labelled as sci-fi authors: they have novels like this one as a parameter.
May 1, 2023
The story rushes pall mall along, grabbing skyhooks to swing from one scenario to the next, and manages a rough coherence that might have benefited from a bit more breathing room. Blish tended to write short---very efficiently, with a minimal of explication---and quite often managed marvels in compact spaces, but this borders on losing the point. But. As a kind of rough examination of the changing of systems (economic, political, social) it is conceptually challenging. He basically overlaid the idea of the Great Depression over an interstellar canvas and traced the evolution of social expediencies.
There are a few moments of archaic characterization that careful reading rescues from the pit of cliche, all in service to the larger point he was trying for. But his fascinating conceit---the Okie Cities---are here dying and so the novel is suffused with a vague melancholy. Primary, though, for the historian of the genre. Blish is seldom discussed these days, which is unfortunate. This is worth a look.
There are a few moments of archaic characterization that careful reading rescues from the pit of cliche, all in service to the larger point he was trying for. But his fascinating conceit---the Okie Cities---are here dying and so the novel is suffused with a vague melancholy. Primary, though, for the historian of the genre. Blish is seldom discussed these days, which is unfortunate. This is worth a look.
October 22, 2023
It definitely felt disjointed, which makes sense given that it was originally a set of novellas pushed together. Lots of fake science, lots of dated things that place it as a novel of the 50s, and the characters are pretty flat (especially the one woman who serves as a prop mostly). It is a novel celebrating the values of liberal individualism and Amalfi is a kind of super man who is always three steps ahead of his allies and ten ahead of his enemies. The lack of clarity on time frames was also confusing (seriously, did these adventures take place over a few days or over centuries?) and overall it wasn’t my favorite. If you really like Golden Age sci-fi this one will work ok for you, otherwise I would give it a miss.
August 13, 2024
I rated this novel " A - " when I read it Feb. 11, 1977. This novel is the third of the four "Cities in flight" books. I was a big fan when I read them.
My rating system:
Since Goodreads only allows 1 to 5 stars (no half-stars), you have no option but to be ruthless. I reserve one star for a book that is a BOMB - or poor (equivalent to a letter grade of F, E, or at most D). Progressing upwards, 2 stars is equivalent to C (C -, C or C+), 3 stars (equals B - or B), 4 stars (equals B+ or A -), and 5 stars (equals A or A+). As a result, I maximize my rating space for good books, and don't waste half or more of that rating space on books that are of marginal quality.
A rating of " A - " translates to a Goodreads score of 4 stars.
My rating system:
Since Goodreads only allows 1 to 5 stars (no half-stars), you have no option but to be ruthless. I reserve one star for a book that is a BOMB - or poor (equivalent to a letter grade of F, E, or at most D). Progressing upwards, 2 stars is equivalent to C (C -, C or C+), 3 stars (equals B - or B), 4 stars (equals B+ or A -), and 5 stars (equals A or A+). As a result, I maximize my rating space for good books, and don't waste half or more of that rating space on books that are of marginal quality.
A rating of " A - " translates to a Goodreads score of 4 stars.
August 21, 2025
I first heard of the concept behind this novel when I was about 8, and thought it was the coolest thing ever. I still think that the concept of itinerant cities using anti-gravity generators head for the stars is brilliant.
Unfortunately, James Blish has so many ideas that there isn't really time to flesh out the main one. We only really see things from the point of view of the command crew, and see nothing of the daily lives of the "Okies" who inhabit the city. This novel honestly felt like 1960s Star Trek with a more baroque ship.
I don't think there's a single idea out of old science fiction that I'd like to see a modern writer pick up and run with than the migrant cities of Earth, gone wandering in search of work across the wide open galaxy.
Unfortunately, James Blish has so many ideas that there isn't really time to flesh out the main one. We only really see things from the point of view of the command crew, and see nothing of the daily lives of the "Okies" who inhabit the city. This novel honestly felt like 1960s Star Trek with a more baroque ship.
I don't think there's a single idea out of old science fiction that I'd like to see a modern writer pick up and run with than the migrant cities of Earth, gone wandering in search of work across the wide open galaxy.
April 23, 2018
Earthman, Come Home is the longest book in the Cities in Flight series, even so it is still a relatively spritely 266 pages making it a fairly quick read.
The story gains even more scale in this book with New York continuing it's adventures and travels through the universe, times get harder for them in this book and they're forced to make some tough decisions in some rather adverse conditions.
Certainly builds upon the foundations laid out in the earlier books of the series (although interestingly this was written first in 1955, the first in 1956 then the second in 1962 as a bridge between this and the first) and paints quite a vivid universe.
The story gains even more scale in this book with New York continuing it's adventures and travels through the universe, times get harder for them in this book and they're forced to make some tough decisions in some rather adverse conditions.
Certainly builds upon the foundations laid out in the earlier books of the series (although interestingly this was written first in 1955, the first in 1956 then the second in 1962 as a bridge between this and the first) and paints quite a vivid universe.
June 10, 2017
This is actually the first in the series--a collection of novellas of the star traversing "Okie" city, New York. Mainly it follows the mayor Amalfi from adventure to adventure across the galaxy and beyond. In the compilation Cities In Flight, this is placed third in the series and is by far the longest. I don't find Blish's characters to be very riveting or well-developed--potential plot lines are seemingly left without resolution even if there are a few brief action packed moments.
March 26, 2019
So much worse than I expected.
I was a fan of Blish’s horrendously sketchy Star Trek books (guilty pleasure) and was happy to read this recommendation, but dear goodness. Still waiting to find a likeable or even well drawn character. Want a female character?Tough. When a woman does appear they are little more than simpering cyphers for the male characters to boss around.
Struggled to get through this more than any book I’ve read in the last ten years. Just didn’t engage with it at all. 😞
I was a fan of Blish’s horrendously sketchy Star Trek books (guilty pleasure) and was happy to read this recommendation, but dear goodness. Still waiting to find a likeable or even well drawn character. Want a female character?Tough. When a woman does appear they are little more than simpering cyphers for the male characters to boss around.
Struggled to get through this more than any book I’ve read in the last ten years. Just didn’t engage with it at all. 😞
April 29, 2019
This is one of the classic science fiction books that everyone should read. It was written around 1955 when slide rules were used by everyone involved in science or math. It discusses many new concepts that were followed up and further developed over the next 60 years of science fiction writing. I enjoyed it very much as much for the storyline as the history of science fiction. The ending had several problems that were not very well thought out but was not important when the book was written.
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