The Creator

by Clifford D. Simak

Special edition limited to 500 copies published for the 39th World Science Fiction Convention at which Simak was the Guest of Honor. The book includes appreciations by Isaac Asimov, Robert A. Heinlein, Jack Williamson, and Frederik Pohl. It also includes Simak's 1932 story, The Creator.

Genres: Science Fiction

Paperback

First published January 1, 1981

About the author

"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...

Reviews

[Craig · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Creator is an early novelette written by Simak which originally appeared in a now obscure magazine, Marvel Tales, in 1935, along with pieces by H.P. Lovecraft and George Allen England. It's very much an "idea" story with little of the charming characterizations or pastoral settings for which he was later best known; it discusses philosophy and religion. This chapbook was printed in 1981 to celebrate Simak's Guest of Honorship at the World SF Convention in Denver that year. It includes very nice appreciations by Jack Williamson, Frederik Pohl, Robert A. Heinlein, and Isaac Asimov.

[Bradley · Rating 4 out of 5]

This short by Simak was a great little bait and switch story. Sticks to the big ideas but takes a sudden right turn when we get to the end.

I'd like to say this is Hard-SF and it is in the concept and the pocket universes and time, but really, it's a Lovecraft story. :)

[Gr1972 · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 out of 5

[Kam Yung Soh · Rating 2 out of 5]

A 'super-science' story about two men who are probing the nature of time and thought. After much hard work, they discover a path to a new and bigger reality than our universe and meet the Creator. Haughty and impatient, the Creator condescends to let them find a way back to our 'pocket' universe, only the discover the Creator has other, destructive plans.

Written in a much earlier era, this story would not pass muster with today's SF readers. But in its time, it would probably be seen as an interesting story about a meta-universe and the powers that might be unleashed by science.

The story starts and ends with an interesting look at the far future of the Earth that has echoes with the version first put forward in H.G. Well's "The Time Machine".

This chapbook was provided by the Locus Photo and Ephemera Archive Project as part of their backer's gift.