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From Gustible's Planet
''The Rediscovery of Man: The Complete Short Science Fiction of Cordwainer Smith'' () is a 1993 book containing the complete collected short fiction of American science fiction author Cordwainer Smith. It was edited by James A. Mann and published by NESFA Press. Most of the stories take place in Smith's future history set in the universe of the Instrumentality of Mankind; the collection is arranged in the chronological order in which the stories take place in the fictional timeline. The collection also contains short stories which do not take place in this universe. Within the context of the future history, the Rediscovery of Mankind refers to the Instrumentality's re-introduction of chance and unhappiness into the sterile utopia that they had created for humanity. Other than Smith's novel, ''Norstrilia'', which takes place in the same future history, the book collects all of Smith's known science fiction writing. List of Instrumentality of Man stories *"No, No, Not Rogov!" *"War ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jack Gaughan
John Brian Francis "Jack" Gaughan, pronounced like 'gone' (September 24, 1930 – July 21, 1985) was an American science fiction artist and illustrator who won the Hugo Award several times. Working primarily with Donald A. Wollheim at Ace Books, and DAW Books from 1971, his simple linear style brought to life images of such works as Andre Norton's '' Witch World'' novels and E. E. Smith's '' Lensmen'' and ''Skylark'' novels (for which he did two related sets of Pyramid Books covers). His broad visual vocabulary enabled him to render the objects, spaceships and scenes in whatever was presented to him as they were described in the books and stories he illustrated. That was especially an accomplishment as many of these authors drew on their knowledge of esoteric subjects for their imagery. This ability made him very popular among people with an engineering background. During most of Ejler Jakobsson's tenure as editor of ''Galaxy Science Fiction'' from 1969 to 1974, Gaughan did ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Think Blue, Count Two
"Think Blue, Count Two" is a science fiction short story by Cordwainer Smith, set in his Instrumentality of Mankind future history. The story revolves around a psychological trip-wire installed to prevent an atrocity on a sleeper ship. Originally published in Galaxy Magazine ''Galaxy Science Fiction'' was an American digest-size science fiction magazine, published in Boston from 1950 to 1980. It was founded by a French-Italian company, World Editions, which was looking to break into the American market. World Editi ... in February 1963, it was awarded the 1990 Japanese Seiun Award for Best Foreign Language Short Story of the Year. References External links * Short stories by Cordwainer Smith Cryonics in fiction 1963 short stories {{1960s-sf-story-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1993 Short Story Collections
File:1993 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Oslo I Accord is signed in an attempt to resolve the Israeli–Palestinian conflict; The White House (Moscow), Russian White House is shelled during the 1993 Russian constitutional crisis; Czechoslovakia is peacefully Dissolution of Czechoslovakia, dissolved into the Czech Republic and Slovakia; In the United States, the ATF Waco siege, besieges a compound belonging to David Koresh and the Branch Davidians in a search for illegal weapons, which ends in the building being set alight and killing most inside; Eritrea gains independence; A major 1993 Storm of the Century, snow storm passes over the United States and Canada, leading to over 300 fatalities; Drug lord and narcoterrorism, narcoterrorist Pablo Escobar is killed by Military Forces of Colombia, Colombian special forces; Ramzi Yousef and other Islamic terrorism, Islamic terrorists 1993 World Trade Center bombing, detonate a truck bomb in the subterranean garage of List of t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Quest Of The Three Worlds
''Quest of the Three Worlds'' is a collection by Cordwainer Smith published in 1966. Plot summary ''Quest of the Three Worlds'' is a set of four stories of the hero Casher O'Neill. Reception Dave Langford reviewed ''Quest of the Three Worlds'' for ''White Dwarf'' #99, and stated that "In their far-out, mystical way, these aren't the most accessible of Smith's many linked stories: a tasty sample, though." Reviews *Review by J. Cawthorn (1967) in New Worlds, January 1967 *Review by P. Schuyler Miller (1967) in Analog Science Fiction and Science Fact, June 1967 *Review by Lee Weinstein (1979) in Science Fiction Review, November 1979 *Review by Baird Searles (1986) in Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine ''Asimov's Science Fiction'' is an American science fiction magazine which publishes science fiction and fantasy named after science fiction author Isaac Asimov. It is currently published by Penny Publications. From January 2017, the publicatio ..., August 1986 References ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
A Planet Named Shayol
"A Planet Named Shayol" is a science fiction story by American writer Cordwainer Smith (the pen name of Paul Linebarger). Like most of his science fiction work, it takes place in his Instrumentality of Mankind setting. It was first published in '' Galaxy Science Fiction'' magazine in October 1961. In other media Audio The story was adapted for radio by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation and broadcast in 1986. Plot summary The protagonist, Mercer, who lives within the Empire, has been convicted of "a crime that has no name". He is condemned by the Empire to the planet Shayol, in which he lives in a penal colony whose inhabitants must undergo grotesque physical mutations caused by tiny symbiotes called ''dromozoans''. Most grow extra organs, which the Empire harvests for medical purposes. The bull-man B'dikkat administers the prisoners a drug called super-condamine to alleviate the pain of their punishment and from their surgeries. More than a century pass. Mercer has fo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Ballad Of Lost C'Mell
"The Ballad of Lost C'Mell" is a science fiction novella by American writer Cordwainer Smith. It was first published in October 1962 in ''Galaxy Magazine'', and since reprinted in several compilations and omnibus editions. The main characters are Jestocost, a lord of the Instrumentality of Mankind, and C'mell, a beautiful cat-derived "underperson" (an animal given human speech and form but no rights, while retaining some of its inherent genetics -- for example, C'mell's father held the long-jump record at the time) who works as a "girly-girl" (similar to an escort) at the main spaceport. Plot summary The story revolves around Jestocost's ambition to help the oppressed underpeople gain rights without upsetting the established social order. While debating how to make contact, Jestocost telepathically accesses C'mell's thoughts during the funeral of her athlete father, and overhears her call for help to someone named E-telly-kelly. After awkwardly questioning her later (which sh ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alpha Ralpha Boulevard
"Alpha Ralpha Boulevard" is a science fiction story by American writer Cordwainer Smith, set in his Instrumentality of Mankind universe, concerning the opening days of a sudden radical shift from a controlling, benevolent, but sterile society, to one with individuality, danger and excitement. The story has been reprinted a number of times, including in ''The Best of Cordwainer Smith'' and ''The Rediscovery of Man'' collections. Ursula K. Le Guin said that " 'Alpha Ralpha Boulevard' (...) was as important to me as reading Pasternak for the first time."MacCaffery, Larry and Gregory, Sinda, ''Alive and Writing: Interviews with American Authors of the 1980s'', p. 177, University of Illinois Press, 1987. "Alpha Ralpha Boulevard" was inspired in part by a painting from Smith's childhood, '' The Storm'' by Pierre-Auguste Cot, of two young lovers fleeing along a darkening path. Additionally, the names of the two principal characters, together with the conscious attempt to revive a Fre ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mother Hitton's Littul Kittons
"Mother Hitton's Littul Kittons" is a classic science fiction short story by American writer Cordwainer Smith, first published in ''Galaxy Magazine'' in 1961, and partly based on Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves. It is collected most recently in ''The Rediscovery of Man''. It details the methods by which the Norstrilians (or "Old North Australians") of Smith's fictional " Instrumentality" universe maintain their monopoly on the precious immortality drug ''stroon''. The story details part of the background to the novel ''Norstrilia'' (which references the Kittons once in its introduction as a sure method of death). The story has been alluded to in Charles Stross's '' Glasshouse''. Background Cordwainer Smith is a pseudonym of Paul Linebarger, the noted China expert, who wrote most of his published science-fiction stories within the setting of the Instrumentality of Mankind. For many millennia, the rather static structure of this society (on those planets which the Instrumentali ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Drunkboat (short Story)
"Drunkboat" is a science fiction short story by American writer Cordwainer Smith. It was first published in the magazine ''Amazing Stories'' in October 1963. It was included in ''Space Lords'', a collection of five stories by Cordwainer Smith published in May 1965. It appeared in ''The Instrumentality of Mankind'', a collection published in May 1979, and it was in ''The Rediscovery of Man'', a complete collection of his short stories, published in 1993. cordwainer-smith.com, accessed 19 August 2015. Background The story was based on the writer's earlier "The Colonel Came Back from the Nothing-at-All", which in 1955 had failed to find a publisher. In 1963, |
The Dead Lady Of Clown Town
"The Dead Lady of Clown Town" is a science fiction novella by American writer Cordwainer Smith, set in his Instrumentality of Mankind future history. It was originally published in ''Galaxy Science Fiction'' in 1964. It was included in the collection ''The Best of Cordwainer Smith'' and most recently in ''The Rediscovery of Man'' short story collection. A graphic novel adaptation by Elaine Lee and Michael Kaluta was to have appeared in DC Comics during the late 1980s, but never materialized. Background Cordwainer Smith wrote several stories set in a fictional milieu called the Instrumentality of Mankind. Although humanity achieves a utopian state, people live sterile and shallow lives. The ''underpeople'' are animals who have been heavily modified to look human and have human intelligence. Despite this, they have no rights and are treated like animals, to be used and destroyed without qualm. The story takes obvious inspiration from the story of Joan of Arc. There are also points of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Crime And The Glory Of Commander Suzdal
"The Crime and the Glory of Commander Suzdal" is a science fiction short story by Cordwainer Smith, set in Smith's " Instrumentality" universe. It was first published in ''Amazing Stories'' in May 1964, and is collected in ''The Rediscovery of Man'' compendium. Plot Commander Suzdal is a captain of "The Navy and the Instrumentality" sent on a "one man" mission of exploration (in actuality he is accompanied by several generations of "Turtle-People"). He hibernates in cryogenic sleep while long-lived turtle underpeople run the ship, until the need for a "true human" arises. A deep space probe is found. It tells a brilliantly conceived but utterly false story about the plight of a group of settlers calling themselves the Arachosians. Suzdal is deceived and turns his ship towards the planet Arachosia and reenters hibernation. When he arrives he learns the horrible truth. The original settlers nearly became extinct, succumbing to a plague that (in Smith's words) rendered "feminini ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Game Of Rat And Dragon
"The Game of Rat and Dragon" is a science fiction short story by American author Cordwainer Smith, written in 1954J.J. Pierce (ed.), '' The Best of Cordwainer Smith'' (1975), p. 67. and published in '' Galaxy Science Fiction'' in 1955. It is set in the far future, though no date is given. It occurs in the same universe as other Cordwainer Smith novels, with a passing reference to the super-powerful regulatory 'Instrumentality'. The "dragons" are mysterious aliens which attack human starships and drive the inhabitants insane. Cats guided by telepaths are used to fight the "dragons", because of their very quick reactions. They see the aliens as giant rats, hence the story title. The human telepaths form very strong bonds with these cats, seeing them as almost human. Non-telepaths sometimes mock them for this. Plot Human travel in outer space is threatened by strange creatures known as the Dragons. Imperceptible to ordinary people, Dragons are experienced as nothing but a sudden de ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
