from Wonder Stories, November 1932
Towards the end of the 1930’s many readers wondered if Simak would ever appear again. He had contributed only five stories to the professional magazines, and rumour had it he had written a masterpiece for one of those fan publications… what was it?… Marvel Tales or something.
Indeed Clifford Simak was comfortably making his way up the promotion ladder in newspaper circles. The lack of reliable markets had caused him to give up writing science fiction, and it was only when John Campbell became editor of Astounding Stories that he was coaxed back to the field. In hindsight we can all sigh with relief that Simak made that decision otherwise the field would be without a great deal of wealth in the form of Simakian gems.
The last story to appear from Simak in those early days was “The Asteroid of Gold”. Here you have a chance to compare a story written by a twenty-seven year old Simak, with his latest science fantasy novels, written in his late sixties. In essence Simak has turned full circle in his writings, but has never lost that basic appeal. His first professional appearance, “World of the Red Sun”, in the December 1931 Wonder Stories tells of adventurers who travel in time to the future and discover a gigantic brain which controls the remnants of mankind. The story of how they defeat the brain is adeptly related, and the final weapon was not one of the atomic weapons so glibly used in 1930’s sf, but simply psychology.
One of his more recent stories, “Construction Shack” in the January 1973 Galaxy reveals how explorers of Pluto discover plans for the building of the solar system, and how each planet was given up in turn as failure. In between these stories Simak has turned out well over one hundred beautiful science fiction stories, such as the “City” series, where old Earth is left to be civilized by intelligent dogs under the careful eye of Jenkins the robot. “City” went on to win the International Fantasy Award, and Simak later scooped the double when “The Big Front Yard” received the Hugo Award in 1959, and a second Hugo for “Way Station”.
Simak is noted for the generally optimistic tone of his work, wherein his characters are more saints than sinners, and good generally wins out against evil.
* * *
“After this charge well knock off for eats and sleep,” Vince Drake suggested to his brother.
Vernon Drake nodded.
“I’ve got the jitters from wearing the suit for such a long stretch,” he said. “I’m afraid we’re overdoing the work a bit, Vince.”