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Godling, Go Home!
11 wild trips into space and future by one America's foremost science fiction writers:
Godling Go Home!
Why?
The Silent Colony
Force of Mortality
There's no Place Like Space
Neutral Planet
The Lonely One
Solitary
The Man With Talent
The Desiccator
The World he Left Behind
Godling Go Home!
Why?
The Silent Colony
Force of Mortality
There's no Place Like Space
Neutral Planet
The Lonely One
Solitary
The Man With Talent
The Desiccator
The World he Left Behind
- GenresScience Fiction
157 pages, Paperback
First published June 1, 1964
26 people want to read
About the author
Robert Silverberg
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Robert Silverberg is a highly celebrated American science fiction author and editor known for his prolific output and literary range. Over a career spanning decades, he has won multiple Hugo and Nebula Awards and was named a Grand Master by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America in 2004. Inducted into the Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame in 1999, Silverberg is recognized for both his immense productivity and his contributions to the genre's evolution.
Born in Brooklyn, he began writing in his teens and won his first Hugo Award in 1956 as the best new writer. Throughout the 1950s, he produced vast amounts of fiction, often under pseudonyms, and was known for writing up to a million words a year. When the market declined, he diversified into other genres, including historical nonfiction and erotica.
Silverberg’s return to science fiction in the 1960s marked a shift toward deeper psychological and literary themes, contributing significantly to the New Wave movement. Acclaimed works from this period include Downward to the Earth, Dying Inside, Nightwings, and The World Inside. In the 1980s, he launched the Majipoor series with Lord Valentine’s Castle, creating one of the most imaginative planetary settings in science fiction.
Though he announced his retirement from writing in the mid-1970s, Silverberg returned with renewed vigor and continued to publish acclaimed fiction into the 1990s. He received further recognition with the Nebula-winning Sailing to Byzantium and the Hugo-winning Gilgamesh in the Outback.
Silverberg has also played a significant role as an editor and anthologist, shaping science fiction literature through both his own work and his influence on others. He lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with his wife, author Karen Haber.
Robert Silverberg is a highly celebrated American science fiction author and editor known for his prolific output and literary range. Over a career spanning decades, he has won multiple Hugo and Nebula Awards and was named a Grand Master by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America in 2004. Inducted into the Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame in 1999, Silverberg is recognized for both his immense productivity and his contributions to the genre's evolution.
Born in Brooklyn, he began writing in his teens and won his first Hugo Award in 1956 as the best new writer. Throughout the 1950s, he produced vast amounts of fiction, often under pseudonyms, and was known for writing up to a million words a year. When the market declined, he diversified into other genres, including historical nonfiction and erotica.
Silverberg’s return to science fiction in the 1960s marked a shift toward deeper psychological and literary themes, contributing significantly to the New Wave movement. Acclaimed works from this period include Downward to the Earth, Dying Inside, Nightwings, and The World Inside. In the 1980s, he launched the Majipoor series with Lord Valentine’s Castle, creating one of the most imaginative planetary settings in science fiction.
Though he announced his retirement from writing in the mid-1970s, Silverberg returned with renewed vigor and continued to publish acclaimed fiction into the 1990s. He received further recognition with the Nebula-winning Sailing to Byzantium and the Hugo-winning Gilgamesh in the Outback.
Silverberg has also played a significant role as an editor and anthologist, shaping science fiction literature through both his own work and his influence on others. He lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with his wife, author Karen Haber.
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
November 17, 2023
This is Robert Silverberg's second short story collection, after 1962's Next Stop the Stars. Three of the stories have never been reprinted in any other Silverberg collection. Here are my individual story reviews:
Godling, Go Home! (1957) -- An Earthman returns to a planet where he made First Contact thirteen years ago. Due to time dilation caused by faster than light travel, more than a thousand years have passed from the aliens' perspective. Will he be treated like a returning god, or will they reject all ties with Earth? The title is probably be an homage to Fredric Brown's Martians, Go Home. (Only time collected)
Why? (1957) -- Two beleaguered explorers are visiting their 164th planet in 11 years, and they are questioning why they feel compelled to sacrifice their lives in the lonely deep of space. A decent story but gets bogged down.
The Silent Colony (1954) -- An ancient race of aliens unexpectedly finds a planet of newborn babies of their same species. I thought this story had a lot of potential, but it was squandered by an abrupt surprise ending.
Force of Mortality (1957) -- Two archaeologists study the ruins of a planet on which the primary sentient species learned how to halt the aging process. (Only time collected)
There's No Place Like Space (1958) -- Ed Reese returns to earth after a 12-year absence, only to be confounded by the changes that have taken place. The best thing about this comedic story is its abundance of classic futuristic technology -- teleporters, self-driving cars, robots, and fully immersive adult "sensie" movies.
Neutral Planet (1957) -- Two starship captains on opposing sides of a war arrive at a neutral planet, each wanting to convince the natives to sign an economic treaty. The plot is so similar to the famous 1967 Star Trek episode "Friday's Child" that it could not possibly be a coincidence, but Silverberg did not receive a writing credit from the show.
The Lonely One (1956) -- In the far future, most of humanity has fled to the stars to settle new planets, but one hundred people are left on our frozen, dying earth. They are the prisoners of a lonely planet that will not let them leave.
Solitary (1957) -- A police investigator is bored with his job, which consists of feeding data into a giant supercomputer. He decides to try to solve a cold case crime which has stumped the AI for thirty years. I like the premise of this story (too bad it was not the first in a long series) but the resolution of the mystery feels ho-hum.
The Man with Talent (1956) -- An underappreciated poet flees to a lonely planet where he can practice his art without interruption or criticism. This story is a clunky examination of the artist's life. It deals with big questions but does not find many answers: Should you write to satisfy yourself or others? Can anyone be an artist, or does it take a special level of talent? What is an artist without an audience? Later revised and republished as "A Man of Talent"
The Dessicator (1956) -- A Martian inventor tries to sell his patented dehydration machine in the wet climes of Earth. A breezy, funny filler story for the pulp magazine market.
The World He Left Behind Him (1959) -- An engineer accidentally opens a portal to what he believes must be a parallel world. The people there are happy and carefree. He falls for a girl named Corilee. When he tries to return to his own planet, however, he realizes he may have miscalculated where--and when--he has been living. This is my favorite story in the book. (Only time collected.)
Godling, Go Home! (1957) -- An Earthman returns to a planet where he made First Contact thirteen years ago. Due to time dilation caused by faster than light travel, more than a thousand years have passed from the aliens' perspective. Will he be treated like a returning god, or will they reject all ties with Earth? The title is probably be an homage to Fredric Brown's Martians, Go Home. (Only time collected)
Why? (1957) -- Two beleaguered explorers are visiting their 164th planet in 11 years, and they are questioning why they feel compelled to sacrifice their lives in the lonely deep of space. A decent story but gets bogged down.
The Silent Colony (1954) -- An ancient race of aliens unexpectedly finds a planet of newborn babies of their same species. I thought this story had a lot of potential, but it was squandered by an abrupt surprise ending.
Force of Mortality (1957) -- Two archaeologists study the ruins of a planet on which the primary sentient species learned how to halt the aging process. (Only time collected)
There's No Place Like Space (1958) -- Ed Reese returns to earth after a 12-year absence, only to be confounded by the changes that have taken place. The best thing about this comedic story is its abundance of classic futuristic technology -- teleporters, self-driving cars, robots, and fully immersive adult "sensie" movies.
Neutral Planet (1957) -- Two starship captains on opposing sides of a war arrive at a neutral planet, each wanting to convince the natives to sign an economic treaty. The plot is so similar to the famous 1967 Star Trek episode "Friday's Child" that it could not possibly be a coincidence, but Silverberg did not receive a writing credit from the show.
The Lonely One (1956) -- In the far future, most of humanity has fled to the stars to settle new planets, but one hundred people are left on our frozen, dying earth. They are the prisoners of a lonely planet that will not let them leave.
Solitary (1957) -- A police investigator is bored with his job, which consists of feeding data into a giant supercomputer. He decides to try to solve a cold case crime which has stumped the AI for thirty years. I like the premise of this story (too bad it was not the first in a long series) but the resolution of the mystery feels ho-hum.
The Man with Talent (1956) -- An underappreciated poet flees to a lonely planet where he can practice his art without interruption or criticism. This story is a clunky examination of the artist's life. It deals with big questions but does not find many answers: Should you write to satisfy yourself or others? Can anyone be an artist, or does it take a special level of talent? What is an artist without an audience? Later revised and republished as "A Man of Talent"
The Dessicator (1956) -- A Martian inventor tries to sell his patented dehydration machine in the wet climes of Earth. A breezy, funny filler story for the pulp magazine market.
The World He Left Behind Him (1959) -- An engineer accidentally opens a portal to what he believes must be a parallel world. The people there are happy and carefree. He falls for a girl named Corilee. When he tries to return to his own planet, however, he realizes he may have miscalculated where--and when--he has been living. This is my favorite story in the book. (Only time collected.)
June 4, 2020
Full review: https://sciencefictionruminations.com...
"Before Robert Silverberg wrote his late 60s and early 70s New Wave masterpieces (A Time of Changes, Dying Inside, The World Inside, etc), he produced a vast quantity of pulp science fiction novels and short stories. Godling, Go Home! (1964) is a surprisingly solid collection of 50s shorts that can, at times, be surprisingly meditative (on death, exploration, [...]"
"Before Robert Silverberg wrote his late 60s and early 70s New Wave masterpieces (A Time of Changes, Dying Inside, The World Inside, etc), he produced a vast quantity of pulp science fiction novels and short stories. Godling, Go Home! (1964) is a surprisingly solid collection of 50s shorts that can, at times, be surprisingly meditative (on death, exploration, [...]"
March 7, 2022
This collection of stories by Robert Silverberg was published in 1964. This was just before Silverberg embarked on a tour de force of several novels which took the classic science fiction themes and pushed them to the limits in an innovative fashion. In this collection, Silverberg shows his chops for writing stories involving interplanetary exploration and other related themes but always with unexpected twists. The title story Lieutenant Cartisser as he returns to a planet which on which he'd helped introduce a fairly primitive society to advanced technology and to which he'd promised he'd return. In this story, Silverberg subverts the usual triumphant story of demonstrating the superiority of Earth's culture and technology. In the final story, "The World He Left Behind," Jeff Matthews was present as his society inadvertently developed a portal which enabled transportation to a different world and finds out what happens if he steps into through the portal. In this story, it's not just high tech, but also about establishing friendships on the other side and paying attention the needs of those other people. This story is more upbeat, but again takes the SF theme and plays against reader expectations. The other stories also play with conventional SF themes, but offer surprises and unexpected outcomes.
Silverberg is a master in many respects and these stories show his level of comfort in playing with standard SF themes and making them new again. In a sense, this previews what he was about to do in the longer novel form over the next few years, but with a more direct focus on the particular themes of people from earth (and other planets) encountering other races. If you enjoy traditional SF, these stories deliver the goods, but Silverberg also will surprise the reader as well and often add a healthy dose of humor or explore the emotional reactions of these characters to their unusual experiences.
Silverberg is a master in many respects and these stories show his level of comfort in playing with standard SF themes and making them new again. In a sense, this previews what he was about to do in the longer novel form over the next few years, but with a more direct focus on the particular themes of people from earth (and other planets) encountering other races. If you enjoy traditional SF, these stories deliver the goods, but Silverberg also will surprise the reader as well and often add a healthy dose of humor or explore the emotional reactions of these characters to their unusual experiences.
November 19, 2023
This book of short stories was original published in 1964 and I am going to review with that in mind.
The Bad
All of the protagonist are men.
Women are only mentioned or characters in passing.
The Good
The stories do not always end in the expected ways for this time period. The title story has a surprising ending that made me happy.
Each story has a comment on society that is very progressive. Acknowledgement of how society was consuming too much and destroying the Earth was very prevalent in all the stories.
My Favourites
Why - two explorers asking themselves if they should go home or keep exploring
Force of Mortality - told from the point of view of an older male character reaching retirement with a young partner just starting out. They are archeologists exploring why societies have ended on the planets they find.
Godling, Go Home - Humans are uplifting other planets intelligent life
The other stories do not have the understanding of colonialism or capitalism. It maybe that they do and are just being overtly facetious leaving it up to the reader to realize that the situation is very wrong. I hope that it is the latter.
The Bad
All of the protagonist are men.
Women are only mentioned or characters in passing.
The Good
The stories do not always end in the expected ways for this time period. The title story has a surprising ending that made me happy.
Each story has a comment on society that is very progressive. Acknowledgement of how society was consuming too much and destroying the Earth was very prevalent in all the stories.
My Favourites
Why - two explorers asking themselves if they should go home or keep exploring
Force of Mortality - told from the point of view of an older male character reaching retirement with a young partner just starting out. They are archeologists exploring why societies have ended on the planets they find.
Godling, Go Home - Humans are uplifting other planets intelligent life
The other stories do not have the understanding of colonialism or capitalism. It maybe that they do and are just being overtly facetious leaving it up to the reader to realize that the situation is very wrong. I hope that it is the latter.
October 24, 2023
11 stories:
Godling, Go Home! (1957)
Why? (1957)
The Silent Colony (1954)
Force of Mortality (1957)
There's No Place Like Space (1959)
Neutral Planet (1957)
The Lonely One (1956)
Solitary (1957)
The Man with Talent (1956)
The Desiccator (1956)
The World He Left Behind (1959)
Godling, Go Home! (1957)
Why? (1957)
The Silent Colony (1954)
Force of Mortality (1957)
There's No Place Like Space (1959)
Neutral Planet (1957)
The Lonely One (1956)
Solitary (1957)
The Man with Talent (1956)
The Desiccator (1956)
The World He Left Behind (1959)
February 21, 2010
This is a rather good Silverberg collection from the mid '60s. The title story is pretty memorable and takes a different view of the old 'humans worshipped as gods on a primitive alien planet' theme which I found interesting. The stories are generally pretty inventive, although, as with a lot of the SF of that period, the ideas are more interesting than the characters.
May 7, 2011
Not my favorite collection by Silverberg.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews