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The Best of Clifford D. Simak
A collection of ten stories by Simak that date from 1939 to 1971. It also includes a six-page introduction by Simak, and a three-page bibliography of his science fiction books. The book is edited by Angus Wells.
Contents:
1. A Death in the House
2. Day of Truce
3. Final Gentleman
4. Madness from Mars
5. Shotgun Cure
6. Small Deer
7. Sunspot Purge
8. The Autumn Land
9. The Sitters
10. The Thing in the Stone
Contents:
1. A Death in the House
2. Day of Truce
3. Final Gentleman
4. Madness from Mars
5. Shotgun Cure
6. Small Deer
7. Sunspot Purge
8. The Autumn Land
9. The Sitters
10. The Thing in the Stone
253 pages, Hardcover
First published October 9, 1975
81 people are currently reading
275 people want to read
About the author
Clifford D. Simak
964 books1,068 followers"He was honored by fans with three Hugo awards and by colleagues with one Nebula award and was named the third Grand Master by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA) in 1977." (Wikipedia)
See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clifford...
See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clifford...
Ratings & Reviews
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Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
October 26, 2011
The stories were lovely and enjoyable but the collection does not really represent Simak's best as the title suggests. Leaves out some great stories like Dusty Zebra, Green Thumb, Project Mastodon, The Big Front Yard and All the Traps of Earth. The editor says that these collections aim to provide "a selection of short stories that demonstrate the authors' literary development, and at the same time providing new readers with a sound introduction to their work."
Madness from Mars (1939) 3/5
Sunspot Purge (1940) 4/5
The Sitters (1958) 4/5
A Death in the House (1959) 5/5
Final Gentleman (1960) 4/5
Shotgun Cure (1961) 3/5
Day of Truce (1963) 4/5
Small Deer (1965) 4/5
The Thing in the Stone (1970) 5/5
The Autumn Land (1971) 4/5
Author's Introduction 5/5
Madness from Mars (1939) 3/5
Sunspot Purge (1940) 4/5
The Sitters (1958) 4/5
A Death in the House (1959) 5/5
Final Gentleman (1960) 4/5
Shotgun Cure (1961) 3/5
Day of Truce (1963) 4/5
Small Deer (1965) 4/5
The Thing in the Stone (1970) 5/5
The Autumn Land (1971) 4/5
Author's Introduction 5/5
September 23, 2013
I really don’t feel that this book deserves to be titled as a “best of” collection, the collection is good, but is it the best? That’s always a matter of opinion. Then again, I did enjoy this collection for the most part. I loved “Empire”, it has a certain cinematic or comic quality that I relished none the less. Although the first couple of chapters dealing with pseudo-science nearly lost my attention. These mechanisms were needed to tell the story however, less can be more in my own humble opinion. “Hellhounds of the Cosmos” was a delicious gem that I could easily picture as a mid-1950’s low budget sci-fi movie, I’d also situate “The Street that Wasn't There” in this category as well. “Project Mastodon” was mediocre in my own judgment, although I enjoyed premise, I felt that the story was lacking soul. “The World that Couldn't Be” felt out of place in this collection, it was a nice story with an interesting concept and I would've liked to see more of this world and the unique fauna. Overall this book was great, my only real complaint was the e-book formatting, each story was setup as a chapter (annoying), and there were instances of where the original book had an image and what I was able to see what [insert image here]. I could care less about the image, I always prefer my mental image over anything else.
July 3, 2019
Ingenious, clever stories written long ago, but still compelling and thought provoking today. Fans of Clarke and Asimov will especially enjoy.
April 27, 2022
Sometimes I like going back to the history of the SF-genre and read some of the classics. Like Clifford D. Simak - an author of the 'golden age' of science fiction. This collections contains ten stories of his from the start of his career to the end of it, making it possible to see his development as an author and a thinker. The first two stories are juvenalia - pretty simple science fiction storiesabout newspapermen and strange circumstances. But the seeds of themes arriving in his later stories can be spotted here as well. Firstly an empathetic view towards different forms of life (aliens as different, but not evil and worthy of respect). As he says in an interview I found online: 'If you write about the universal mind, about the human heart, then you’ve got it going.' A beautiful story, 'A Death in the House' has a rural farmer caring for a strange creature he found in the woods, even though he can't understand it. In another story aliens visit earth with a cure for everything that ails us. And a doctor has to make a choice - because is our intelligence something that is wrong with us? If it leads to war, climate change and so on?
Secondly his stories show a pre-occupation with time travel based on a singular view of time. He posits that the past and the future are not real and thus cannot be traveled to - if you travel to future or past you visit a different world. What is possible in his stories is seeing the world as it appeared in the past (without traveling to the past) as in 'The Thing in the Stone'. Regular time travel features in 'Small Deer' - that has great dinosaurs for the time it was written: the T-rex is written as a fast moving creature.
Simaks view of time fits with a third theme that appears in later stories, that of human perception being not all too dependable. What we see as real, what we think is real, is colored by our thoughts, our dreams, our preconceptions. 'A man can think so many things, daydream so many things, imagine so many things that he can never trust his mind.' (A quote from this book). Thus in several stories characters have their colored glassed ripped from them and see the world as it is. But can they handle that change in perception? 'For an instance he had seen with different eyes than he'd ever used before or since ... for the fractional part of a second he had sensed a simple truth behind the facade of the ordinary world.' One of the stories, 'Final Gentleman', is from 1960 but reads as a precursor of 'The Matrix' and other cyberpunk stories, as the protagonist, an author, finds out he is not a gentleman living in a huge mansion, but for thirty years he thought he was - he didn't dine in an upscale restaurant, but it was how he perceived the diner he ate. His perception had changed by an outside influence, and if he doesn't stay awake, he will slip back into this false reality. In other stories people see visions from the past or the future ('The Thing in the Stone'), or slip from reality, which itself seems to be simple a way of perceiving the world and not a solid thing in itself ('The Autumn Land').
Coming back to the first theme - Simaks stories retain an optimism, like he is saying that even if we can't trust our view of reality, we can find solid ground in our connection to other people and other beings. Love for others is a more solid base to build your life on than ideas about the nature of reality.
Oh, Simaks prose is more beautiful than that of contemporaries like Clarke and Asimov. I've read comparisons of Simak with Bradbury. He does not reach those heights, but his evocative descriptions have a beautiful, almost poetic quality, with some great metaphors and a great sense of the natural world, that is brought to life with a sense of love. It gives the stories a timeless feeling. I for one was impressed by this collection.
Secondly his stories show a pre-occupation with time travel based on a singular view of time. He posits that the past and the future are not real and thus cannot be traveled to - if you travel to future or past you visit a different world. What is possible in his stories is seeing the world as it appeared in the past (without traveling to the past) as in 'The Thing in the Stone'. Regular time travel features in 'Small Deer' - that has great dinosaurs for the time it was written: the T-rex is written as a fast moving creature.
Simaks view of time fits with a third theme that appears in later stories, that of human perception being not all too dependable. What we see as real, what we think is real, is colored by our thoughts, our dreams, our preconceptions. 'A man can think so many things, daydream so many things, imagine so many things that he can never trust his mind.' (A quote from this book). Thus in several stories characters have their colored glassed ripped from them and see the world as it is. But can they handle that change in perception? 'For an instance he had seen with different eyes than he'd ever used before or since ... for the fractional part of a second he had sensed a simple truth behind the facade of the ordinary world.' One of the stories, 'Final Gentleman', is from 1960 but reads as a precursor of 'The Matrix' and other cyberpunk stories, as the protagonist, an author, finds out he is not a gentleman living in a huge mansion, but for thirty years he thought he was - he didn't dine in an upscale restaurant, but it was how he perceived the diner he ate. His perception had changed by an outside influence, and if he doesn't stay awake, he will slip back into this false reality. In other stories people see visions from the past or the future ('The Thing in the Stone'), or slip from reality, which itself seems to be simple a way of perceiving the world and not a solid thing in itself ('The Autumn Land').
Coming back to the first theme - Simaks stories retain an optimism, like he is saying that even if we can't trust our view of reality, we can find solid ground in our connection to other people and other beings. Love for others is a more solid base to build your life on than ideas about the nature of reality.
Oh, Simaks prose is more beautiful than that of contemporaries like Clarke and Asimov. I've read comparisons of Simak with Bradbury. He does not reach those heights, but his evocative descriptions have a beautiful, almost poetic quality, with some great metaphors and a great sense of the natural world, that is brought to life with a sense of love. It gives the stories a timeless feeling. I for one was impressed by this collection.
August 25, 2015
Madness from Mars - 2.5
Sunspot Purge - 4
The Sitters - 3.5
A Death In The House - 3.5
Final Gentleman - 4
Shotgun Cure - 3.5
Day of Truce - 2.5
Small Deer - 3
The Thing In The Stone - 4
The Autumn Land - 5
An odd and interesting little collection. Some bad stories with good endings, some good stories with bad endings and a few gems scattered about.
Simak seems to have a very quaint, poetic writing style that reminds me very much of Ray Bradbury - which is odd, because I find Bradbury frustrating and pretentious, mainly due to his writing style, whereas I have very much enjoyed the Simak I have so far read.
Time And Again and City are the only other works of his I have read so far, and both of these books begin with a man sitting in a rocking chair on his front porch. Many of the stories here also begin as such, and most are either set in Wisconsin or feature a character that hails from there. Many similar themes also run through his stories, such as a dissatisfaction with the way life is and the way it is going, which often requires the interjection of aliens - for better or for worse.
Simak also has a fondness for time travel, which is fine, because I've been a massive fan of time travel ever since I read H. G. Well's "The Time Machine".
Despite some of my ratings, I didn't think any of the stories to be particularly bad, just disappointing, or average. But even they had some redeeming qualities.
I enjoyed Sunspot Purge very much, simply because it had a noir-esque feel to it, it involved time travel but also involved other things happening in the background that later came to haunt both the protagonist and the reader.
I also enjoyed The Sitters and A Death In The House quite a lot, but I wasn't left particularly satisfied with the endings. There's also just something about friendly aliens that's just not that intriguing.
Final Gentleman was for the most part very good, and it brought to mind various elements of Dark City, The Matrix and Philip K. Dick's "Flow My Tears, The Policeman Said".
Unfortunately, I wasn't too fond of the dramatic shift in tone that occurs towards the end of the story.
The Autumn Land was easily the best in the collection. I didn't even fully understand it, but I felt completely drawn in by the atmosphere painted by the author. A haunting story of a town in which time stands still, serving as an escape from a not too distant apocalypse.
All in all a worth while collection. I didn't feel like I wasted my time on any of the stories, though I do hope that they weren't the best of Simak as the title suggests, and that I can find some more gems in the future.
Sunspot Purge - 4
The Sitters - 3.5
A Death In The House - 3.5
Final Gentleman - 4
Shotgun Cure - 3.5
Day of Truce - 2.5
Small Deer - 3
The Thing In The Stone - 4
The Autumn Land - 5
An odd and interesting little collection. Some bad stories with good endings, some good stories with bad endings and a few gems scattered about.
Simak seems to have a very quaint, poetic writing style that reminds me very much of Ray Bradbury - which is odd, because I find Bradbury frustrating and pretentious, mainly due to his writing style, whereas I have very much enjoyed the Simak I have so far read.
Time And Again and City are the only other works of his I have read so far, and both of these books begin with a man sitting in a rocking chair on his front porch. Many of the stories here also begin as such, and most are either set in Wisconsin or feature a character that hails from there. Many similar themes also run through his stories, such as a dissatisfaction with the way life is and the way it is going, which often requires the interjection of aliens - for better or for worse.
Simak also has a fondness for time travel, which is fine, because I've been a massive fan of time travel ever since I read H. G. Well's "The Time Machine".
Despite some of my ratings, I didn't think any of the stories to be particularly bad, just disappointing, or average. But even they had some redeeming qualities.
I enjoyed Sunspot Purge very much, simply because it had a noir-esque feel to it, it involved time travel but also involved other things happening in the background that later came to haunt both the protagonist and the reader.
I also enjoyed The Sitters and A Death In The House quite a lot, but I wasn't left particularly satisfied with the endings. There's also just something about friendly aliens that's just not that intriguing.
Final Gentleman was for the most part very good, and it brought to mind various elements of Dark City, The Matrix and Philip K. Dick's "Flow My Tears, The Policeman Said".
Unfortunately, I wasn't too fond of the dramatic shift in tone that occurs towards the end of the story.
The Autumn Land was easily the best in the collection. I didn't even fully understand it, but I felt completely drawn in by the atmosphere painted by the author. A haunting story of a town in which time stands still, serving as an escape from a not too distant apocalypse.
All in all a worth while collection. I didn't feel like I wasted my time on any of the stories, though I do hope that they weren't the best of Simak as the title suggests, and that I can find some more gems in the future.
February 24, 2016
Old school science fiction
I don't know....I still find the golden age guys wrote the best stories.. Asimov, Simak, Heinlein, and on and on. It seems to me that when I am reading contemporary stories I get this strange feeling of familiarity as I bore through them. To be sure there are many very good writers these days! But, those golden age guys stimulated my mind so thoroughly in my childhood I guess I was spoiled and find myself comparing the "new guys" to the masters over and over again!
I don't know....I still find the golden age guys wrote the best stories.. Asimov, Simak, Heinlein, and on and on. It seems to me that when I am reading contemporary stories I get this strange feeling of familiarity as I bore through them. To be sure there are many very good writers these days! But, those golden age guys stimulated my mind so thoroughly in my childhood I guess I was spoiled and find myself comparing the "new guys" to the masters over and over again!
April 23, 2024
Following a neatly autobiographical 'Introduction' we have~
1. Madness from Mars;
2. Sunspot Purge;
3. The Sitters;
4. A Death in the House;
5. Final Gentleman;
6. Shotgun Cure;
7. Day of Truce;
8. Small Deer;
9. The Thing in the Stone;
10. The Autumn Land.
Not all of these are Simak's best stories. But they are all cleanly written tales, featuring typical protagonists representing the times and thoughts prevailing. They are enjoyable, but not necessarily memorable.
1. Madness from Mars;
2. Sunspot Purge;
3. The Sitters;
4. A Death in the House;
5. Final Gentleman;
6. Shotgun Cure;
7. Day of Truce;
8. Small Deer;
9. The Thing in the Stone;
10. The Autumn Land.
Not all of these are Simak's best stories. But they are all cleanly written tales, featuring typical protagonists representing the times and thoughts prevailing. They are enjoyable, but not necessarily memorable.
Want to read
February 22, 202610 stories:
(3/10 read)
** Madness from Mars (1939)
Sunspot Purge (1940)
The Sitters (1958)
A Death in the House (1959)
**** Final Gentleman (1960)
Shotgun Cure (1961)
Day of Truce (1963)
*** Small Deer (1965)
The Thing in the Stone (1970)
The Autumn Land (1971)
(3/10 read)
** Madness from Mars (1939)
Sunspot Purge (1940)
The Sitters (1958)
A Death in the House (1959)
**** Final Gentleman (1960)
Shotgun Cure (1961)
Day of Truce (1963)
*** Small Deer (1965)
The Thing in the Stone (1970)
The Autumn Land (1971)
October 11, 2017
I read some of these when I was a kid. If you haven't discovered Clifford Simak... check him out.
Wonderful old fashioned sci-fi author. Interesting stories with heart.
Wonderful old fashioned sci-fi author. Interesting stories with heart.
November 9, 2022
stories that i cannot believe a human wrote.
the pure genius and mastery required to write like this is insane to me.
one of my top books of all time
the pure genius and mastery required to write like this is insane to me.
one of my top books of all time
May 1, 2017
What's not to like about Clifford Simak?
Many, many years ago (early to mid seventies?) National Public Radio had a program where they read a book aloud. It lasted about an hour a day till the book was finished, if I remember correctly. One week they read The Way Station. That was my introduction to Clifford Simak. From that time on I've been an enthusiastic fan. Sci-fi has changed a lot since then, but Simak is classic. I would definitely recommend any and all of his books.
Many, many years ago (early to mid seventies?) National Public Radio had a program where they read a book aloud. It lasted about an hour a day till the book was finished, if I remember correctly. One week they read The Way Station. That was my introduction to Clifford Simak. From that time on I've been an enthusiastic fan. Sci-fi has changed a lot since then, but Simak is classic. I would definitely recommend any and all of his books.
June 21, 2018
Amazingly addictive
I can’t say enough as to the joy I found in my reading of Simak’s short story. An excellent and truly enjoyable way to read and enjoy, immensely, a story from the mind of a great author.
I can’t say enough as to the joy I found in my reading of Simak’s short story. An excellent and truly enjoyable way to read and enjoy, immensely, a story from the mind of a great author.
January 17, 2015
Great stories
I really enjoyed these collection of stories. Very visual for vintage science fiction. Easy to read and engaging. I wished there were more.
I really enjoyed these collection of stories. Very visual for vintage science fiction. Easy to read and engaging. I wished there were more.
November 29, 2015
Finished reading. Definitely not his best, but not bad. The older works not as good as the later ones, but OK.
June 28, 2016
Very "Golden Age", reminiscent of E. E. Smith's Skylark and Lensman stories. Which is not a bad thing.
February 18, 2020
Worked my way through this one. Some of ihe stories (all good) I've read before in other publications.
Read
May 20, 2015Science-Fiction
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