@RUTGERS.ARPA:maxson%vaxwrk.DEC@decwrl.ARPA (03/01/85)
From: maxson%vaxwrk.DEC@decwrl.ARPA (VAXworks 223-9408) Yet another emphatic recommendation for 'Way Station' by Clifford Simak - it's my second favorite SF novel. I wrote the publisher for a new copy, but it's out of stock (or print, perhaps). #1 is actually two books (same book, different edition) by Arthur Clarke: "Against the Fall of Night" (circa 1957), or "The City and the Stars" (circa 1961). He rewrote the story while on a cruise ship to fight off boredom, but in all honesty, I think the original was better. Not sure about the dates - where is Jayembee when you need him?! "Bibliography is none of my business..." Mark Maxson MAXSON%vaxwrk.DEC@DECWRL.ARPA
psc@lzmi.UUCP (Paul S. R. Chisholm) (03/04/85)
<seen on a vegetable crate - SQUASH, do not crush>
Yes, WAY STATION is a good novel, and greatly underdiscussed.
I haven't read it in a long time, but I still remember enjoying
it when I was twelve, and several times since then. If any of
you have read "The Big Back Yard" (see THE SCIENCE FICTION HALL
OF FAME, volume 2B), let me tell you that WAY STATION has the
same kind of quietly escalating dramatic power, except better.
From THE LION OF COMMARRE/AGAINST THE FALL OF NIGHT ((c) 1968?):
Clarke write AGAINST THE FALL OF NIGHT between 1937 and 1946.
He wrote and sold several other stories, then (after John W.
Campbell turned it down), got it published in the November 1948
STARTLING STORIES. It appeared in hardcover (Gnome Press) in
1953, and has been reissued since than, more than once, by
Pyramid. THE CITY AND THE STARS was published by Harcort,
Brace, and World in 1956,
and has remained in print since then.
All the time, I assumed that the new version would
completely replace the older novel, but AGAINST THE
FALL OF NIGHT showed no tendency to fade away;
indeed, to my slight shagrin, some readers preferred
it its successor, and it has now been reissued several
times in paperback (Pyramid Books). One day I would
like to conduct a poll to discover which is the more
popular version; I have long ago given up trying to
decide which is the better one. [Clarke]
I like 'em both.
A note on hardcover prices in general, and the Science Fiction
Book Club in particular: The slim volume (209 pages) with these
two short novels listed (according to the SFBC) for $4.75. This
was back around 1973, when paperbacks were going for $.95. As a
SFBC member, I got the book for $1.49. (And Ben Bova was editing
Analog. Boy, those were the good old days.)
--
-Paul S. R. Chisholm
...!{pegasus,cbosgd}!lzmi!psc The above opinions are my own,
...!{hocsj,ihnp4}!lznv!psc not necessarily anyone else's.