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Book Cover for: The Thing in the Stone: And Other Stories, Clifford D. Simak

The Thing in the Stone: And Other Stories

Clifford D. Simak

A mind-opening collection of short science fiction from one of the genre's most revered Grand Masters.

Legendary author Robert A. Heinlein proclaimed, "To read science fiction is to read Simak. A reader who does not like Simak stories does not like science fiction at all." The remarkably talented Clifford D. Simak was able to ground his vast imagination in reality, and then introduce readers to fantastical worlds and concepts they could instantly and completely dig into, comprehend, and enjoy.

In the title story, a man's newfound ability to walk in the past allows him to dwell among dinosaurs, saber-toothed tigers . . . and something even more timeless. In "Construction Shack," the first manned expedition to Pluto reveals that no matter how advanced aliens may be, even they don't always get everything right. And in "Univac 2200," the thin line between humans creating technology and humans becoming technology is about to be crossed--and there may be no going back.

Each story includes an introduction by David W. Wixon, literary executor of the Clifford D. Simak estate and editor of this ebook.

Book Details

  • Publisher: Open Road Media Science & Fantasy
  • Publish Date: Feb 8th, 2022
  • Pages: 350
  • Language: English
  • Edition: undefined - undefined
  • Dimensions: 8.00in - 5.25in - 0.78in - 0.88lb
  • EAN: 9781504073943
  • Categories: • Science Fiction - Collections & Anthologies• Science Fiction - Alien Contact• Short Stories (single author)

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About the Author

Wixon, David W.: - DAVID W. WIXON was a close friend of Clifford D. Simak's. As Simak's health declined, Wixon, already familiar with science fiction publishing, began more and more to handle such things as his friend's business correspondence and contract matters. Named literary executor of the estate after Simak's death, Wixon began a long-term project to secure the rights to all of Simak's stories and find a way to make them available to readers who, given the fifty-five-year span of Simak's writing career, might never have gotten the chance to enjoy all of his short fiction. Along the way, Wixon also read the author's surviving journals and rejected manuscripts, which made him uniquely able to provide Simak's readers with interesting and thought-provoking commentary that sheds new light on the work and thought of a great writer.
Simak, Clifford D.: - During his fifty-five-year career, CLIFFORD D. SIMAK produced some of the most iconic science fiction stories ever written. Born in 1904 on a farm in southwestern Wisconsin, Simak got a job at a small-town newspaper in 1929 and eventually became news editor of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, writing fiction in his spare time.
Simak was best known for the book City, a reaction to the horrors of World War II, and for his novel Way Station. In 1953 City was awarded the International Fantasy Award, and in following years, Simak won three Hugo Awards and a Nebula Award. In 1977 he became the third Grand Master of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, and before his death in 1988, he was named one of three inaugural winners of the Horror Writers Association's Bram Stoker Award for Lifetime Achievement.

More books by Clifford D. Simak

Book Cover for: City, Clifford D. Simak
Book Cover for: Way Station, Clifford D. Simak
Book Cover for: I Am Crying All Inside: And Other Stories, Clifford D. Simak
Book Cover for: Time and Again, Clifford D. Simak
Book Cover for: They Walked Like Men, Clifford D. Simak
Book Cover for: The Goblin Reservation, Clifford D. Simak
Book Cover for: Dusty Zebra: And Other Stories, Clifford D. Simak
Book Cover for: A Heritage of Stars, Clifford D. Simak
Book Cover for: Time Is the Simplest Thing, Clifford D. Simak
Book Cover for: Epilog: And Other Stories, Clifford D. Simak
Book Cover for: The Werewolf Principle, Clifford D. Simak
Book Cover for: All Flesh Is Grass, Clifford D. Simak
Book Cover for: A Choice of Gods, Clifford D. Simak
Book Cover for: New Folks' Home: And Other Stories, Clifford D. Simak
Book Cover for: Earth for Inspiration: And Other Stories, Clifford D. Simak
Book Cover for: The Shipshape Miracle: And Other Stories, Clifford D. Simak

Praise for this book

Praise for Clifford D. Simak
"Like Olaf Stapledon and SF's later mystics, Simak could dream on a grand scale. . . . Thoreau or Wordsworth would feel at home in his isolated houses rooted in natural landscapes." --Locus

"Simak is the most underrated great science fiction writer alive, and has never written a bad book." --Theodore Sturgeon

"I read [Simak's] stories with particular attention, and I couldn't help but notice the simplicity and directness of the writing--the utter clarity of it. I made up my mind to imitate it, and I labored over the years to make my writing simpler, clearer, more uncluttered, to present my scenes on a bare stage." --Isaac Asimov

"Without Simak, science fiction would have been without its most humane element, its most humane spokesman for the wisdom of the ordinary person and the value of life lived close to the land." --James Gunn