Mostrando resultados por "Clifford Simak" en Todas las categorías

Jenkins was a robot. He was built to be the perfect worker, tireless and uncomplaining. But, quite unexpectedly, he also became a close companion to generation after generation of his owners as the human race matured, moved beyond the confines of its once tiny planet, and eventually changed beyond all recognition.

In this Hugo Award-winning classic, Enoch Wallace is an ageless hermit, striding across his untended farm as he had done for over a century, still carrying the gun with which he had served in the Civil War. But what his neighbors must never know is that, inside his unchanging house, he meets with a host of unimaginable friends from the farthest stars.

This volume contains ten stellar short stories by Clifford D. Simak. In "Grotto of the Dancing Deer," a man carrying an ancient secret finally speaks up, unable to bear any longer the loneliness he has experienced for millennia. In "Over the River," which Simak wrote in memory of his beloved grandmother Ellen, children from an embattled future are sent back for safekeeping to their ancestors in the peaceful past. And in "Day of Truce," the inhabitants of a suburban subdivision must barricade themselves against bands of roving attackers.

The long and prolific career of Clifford D. Simak cemented him as one of the formative voices of the science fiction and fantasy genre. The third writer to be named a Grand Master by the Science Fiction Writers of America, his literary legacy stands alongside those of Robert A. Heinlein and Ray Bradbury. This striking collection of nine tales showcases Simak's ability to take the everyday and turn it into something truly compelling, taking listeners on a long journey in a very short time.

Author Jay Vickers would like nothing more than to be left alone so he can finish his next book. But "there's something strange going on," as his peculiar neighbor, Horton Flanders, says. The market is filling with new inventions that supposedly last forever-cars, razors, cigarette lighters, and more. Individuals and whole families are disappearing. Soon, even Mr. Flanders vanishes-but not before leaving Vickers a note.

The hunt for his killer leads a dead professor of supernatural phenomena into the perilous intrigues of aliens, fairy folk, and time travelers in this classic of science fiction. Until the day he was murdered, Professor Peter Maxwell was a respected faculty member of the College of Supernatural Phenomena. Imagine his chagrin when he turns up at a Wisconsin matter transmission station several weeks later and discovers he's not only dead but unemployed.

In rural Wisconsin, wonder clashes dangerously with corporate greed when an alien visitor opens up a gateway through time into a breathtaking prehistoric lost world. On sabbatical from teaching at a small university, paleontologist Asa Steele is content to relax amid the pastoral splendor of his Wisconsin farm. That is until his dog starts bringing home unrecognizable artifacts and, strangest of all, fresh dinosaur bones.

Twenty years ago, Asher Sutton vanished somewhere in the star system 61 Cygni, an inaccessible corner of the universe that humankind has thus far been unable to explore. Now Asher has returned to Earth, having impossibly survived catastrophic damage to his spacecraft. But the star traveler is not the same man he was when he began his journey two decades earlier. He is, in fact, no longer completely human. And he isn't alone.

Robot believers at the far end of the galaxy endeavor to create a true religion, but their efforts could be shattered by a shocking revelation. Far in the future, on the remote planet End of Nothing, sentient robots are engaged in a remarkable enterprise. They call their project Vatican-17: an endeavor to create a truly universal religion presided over by a pope, whose extreme godliness and infallible artificial intelligence are fed by telepathic human Listeners who psychically delve into the mysteries of the universe.

Nothing much ever happens in Millville, a small, secluded middle-American community - until the day Brad Carter discovers he is unable to leave. It's not just the nearly bankrupt real estate agent who's being held prisoner; every other resident is also being confined within the town's boundaries by an invisible force field that cannot be breached. As local tensions rapidly reach a breaking point, a set of bizarre circumstances leads Brad to the source of their captivity.

Adventurers journey into the foreboding unknown regions of outer space in these two classic science fiction tales from the Hugo and Nebula Award winning author.

After a disastrous planet-wide war, Earth is nothing more than an elite graveyard—but Fletcher Carson is venturing back in search of a vital bounty. Fletcher, a former artist, is joined by a sentient machine, an ancient, powerful robot, and a treasure-seeking beauty. They soon discover that Earth harbors more than the carefully groomed tombstones. In the wild land beyond the cemetery there are dangerous machines, mutant creatures, and even humans who never left their home planet.

In an alternate Europe where the Roman Empire never fell, the expansive Empty Lands are inhabited by forces known collectively as the Evil. Yet Charles Harcourt is honor-bound to venture into that dangerous area to find his long-lost fiancee. He is joined on his trek by an abbot who hopes to locate a crystal prism that hold the soul of a saint; the non-human Knurly Man, who craves release from his pitiful existence; and the beautiful Yolanda, who seeks the answer to a secret mystery.

In the collection's title story, Frederick Gray is closing in on seventy and has outlived his usefulness as a professor of law. He has no family; his best friend, fellow faculty member Ben Lovell, has recently died. Before Gray moves into a retirement home, he takes a final canoe trip to a favorite fishing spot he and Lovell had visited many times, only to find that someone has built a house on the remote riverside. When an accident leaves Gray stranded and in pain, he returns to the shelter seeking aid and instead finds a new reason for living.

Two present-day investigators race across time to escape malevolent aliens from the future and their terrible "gift" of immortality in this science fiction classic. What is the price of eternal life? Secret agent Jay Corcoran is about to learn the answer when his investigation into an inexplicable disappearance carries him and journalist friend Tom Boone hundreds of years into the past.

Forestry student Jerry Conklin is fly-fishing when something huge lands on his car, crushing it into the earth. It looks like a big black box-about fifty feet high and two hundred feet long-and the object stirs up quite a commotion among the townspeople of Lone Pine, Minnesota. One of them even shoots at it-and quickly pays for it with his life.

Award winning author Clifford D. Simak published "The World That Couldn't Be" in 1958. It appeared in the January issue of Galaxy Science Fiction magazine. In the story, Layard was an alien world that puzzled sociologists, since the planet's inhabitants were genderless, yet there was no decrease in population. Gavin Duncan had come to this world to farm vua, a plant that cured mental illnesses. Vua was a cash crop that Gavin hoped would bring him great wealth. He is thwarted by the Cytha, a large, supposedly simple-minded creature with a taste for vua.

Named a Grand Master by the Science Fiction Writers of America, Clifford D. Simak was a preeminent voice during the decades that established science fiction as a genre to be reckoned with. Held in the same esteem as fellow luminaries Isaac Asimov, Robert A. Heinlein, and Ray Bradbury, his novels continue to enthrall today's audiences. And his short fiction is still as gripping and surprising now as when it first entertained an entire generation of fans.

In an alternate world where the Dark Ages never ended, "the Evil" that arises every 500 years has prevented all manner of technological advancement, even well into the 20th century. The son of a powerful English noble, young Duncan Standish has always longed to be a soldier of the Lord, and now he's been offered a rare opportunity to fulfill his dream.

Space travel has been abandoned in the 22nd century. It is deemed too dangerous, expensive, and inconvenient - and now the all-powerful Fishhook company holds the monopoly on interstellar exploration for commercial gain. Their secret is the use of "parries", human beings with the remarkable telepathic ability to expand their minds throughout the universe.