A Rediscovery of Clifford D. Simak - A Reading Challenge

[2DaveWixon]

No one seems to wear green eyeshades these days. Could be a gap in the market right there.

Actually, a couple of people near me at work do so...it's the overhead fluorescent lighting, of course.
(Somewhere, in some box, I have my own green eyeshade; but it was starting to crack, last time I saw it...)(I only used it when I played poker, just to distract my opponents...)

 

[Hugh]

Actually, a couple of people near me at work do so...it's the overhead fluorescent lighting, of course.
(Somewhere, in some box, I have my own green eyeshade; but it was starting to crack, last time I saw it...)(I only used it when I played poker, just to distract my opponents...)

I'll step down my search for a supplier.

 

[Hugh]

There is no doubt in my mind that Cliff was painting a portrait of his one-time job! And he could surely paint with words, couldn't he!?
There's a photo floating around the internet showing Cliff with co-workers and a military officer... They're sitting around the copydesk at the STAR, likely during or just after WWII...

I remember this photo, though I don't have it to hand. A different world indeed.

 

[Extollager]

This is a pity.

I am looking for the picture very long. For some reason, one finds it only very rarely. Probably it was only a small edition.

Well, good luck to you as regards finding a good image of that edition. However, don't think of it as a pity that I gave the surplus copy away. Someone may be enjoying it even right now.

 

[Ralf 58]

Ralf, I suspect you're aware the the image in this cover was re-used on a number of editions of the book, usually with the lettering changed?

Hello Dave,

yes, I know that there are different cover designs with the same picture motif. But since I want to capture as much as possible, I need of course the pictures of the different variants.

The editions of Del Rey / Ballantine from left to right: 1980, 1986, 1994

From the 1994 issue I still lack a picture in a good resolution. The optimal height of the image should be 750 px, but I also take anything higher than 223 px (the height of the currently used image).

 

[Extollager]

Hello Dave,

yes, I know that there are different cover designs with the same picture motif. But since I want to capture as much as possible, I need of course the pictures of the different variants.

The editions of Del Rey / Ballantine from left to right: 1980, 1986, 1994

From the 1994 issue I still lack a picture in a good resolution. The optimal height of the image should be 750 px, but I also take anything higher than 223 px (the height of the currently used image).

I like each version LESS than its predecessor.

 

[2DaveWixon]

Hello Dave,

yes, I know that there are different cover designs with the same picture motif. But since I want to capture as much as possible, I need of course the pictures of the different variants.

The editions of Del Rey / Ballantine from left to right: 1980, 1986, 1994

From the 1994 issue I still lack a picture in a good resolution. The optimal height of the image should be 750 px, but I also take anything higher than 223 px (the height of the currently used image).

Personally, I disliked that image a great deal. But what can one do when it's on one of one's favorite books?

(I'll look around to see if I have any other variants on this cover, and let you know.)

 

[BAYLOR]

Personally, I disliked that image a great deal. But what can one do when it's on one of one's favorite books?

(I'll look around to see if I have any other variants on this cover, and let you know.)

This book would make a great film. The only thing is what director could do the best adaptation.

 

[2DaveWixon]

This book would make a great film. The only thing is what director could do the best adaptation.

You're not alone in thinking that. Since Cliff died and I took the reins of his estate, the film rights to Way Station have constantly been on option... It must be hard to follow through, though, because most of those producers hold the rights for three to six years while trying to develop a movie, and then let them go -- and there's always someone else ready to sign up!

I'm getting to be a bit ambivalent on the subject...I'd love to see some of Cliff's work turned into a movie, or two, or three (with resulting increased popularization of his work)...but I'm scared that it might turn out to be a bad job!

 

[BAYLOR]

You're not alone in thinking that. Since Cliff died and I took the reins of his estate, the film rights to Way Station have constantly been on option... It must be hard to follow through, though, because most of those producers hold the rights for three to six years while trying to develop a movie, and then let them go -- and there's always someone else ready to sign up!

I'm getting to be a bit ambivalent on the subject...I'd love to see some of Cliff's work turned into a movie, or two, or three (with resulting increased popularization of his work)...but I'm scared that it might turn out to be a bad job!

The original Outer limits did an adaptation of one of his stories which he found unsatisfactory . It was a creature called a Megazoid and a clone sent to dispatch it. Ive never read the story of which its based on.

 

[2DaveWixon]

The original Outer limits did an adaptation of one of his stories which he found unsatisfactory . It was a creature called a Megazoid and a clone sent to dispatch it. Ive never read the story of which its based on.

"Good Night, Mr. James."
It was a story that Cliff would later call the "most vicious" he had ever done.

 

[Extollager]

Baylor is thinking of "The Duplicate Man," an adaptation of "Good Night, Mr. James." It's a middle-range Outer Limits production, neither one of the best (such as "A Feasibility Study," "The Architects of Fear," "Demon with a Glass Hand," or "The Man Who Was Never Born") nor one of the worst (such as "The Mutant").

We Are Controlling Transmission: The Duplicate Man

 

[BAYLOR]

Baylor is thinking of "The Duplicate Man," an adaptation of "Good Night, Mr. James." It's a middle-range Outer Limits production, neither one of the best (such as "A Feasibility Study," "The Architects of Fear," "Demon with a Glass Hand," or "The Man Who Was Never Born") nor one of the worst (such as "The Mutant").

We Are Controlling Transmission: The Duplicate Man

That's it. I just couldn't think of the title.

 

[Extollager]

Read again "Worrywart" last night, in Groff Conklin's Operation Future anthology. I see that, when I was reading around in this book before, the Simak story was the one I rated most highly of the ones I had read.

The story reminded me of Ursula Le Guin's (later) novel The Lathe of Heaven, my favorite of her adult books that I have read.

Simak's titles can be so noncommittal that they don't help you to remember the story's plot after you have read it. Take, even, "Desertion" -- someone like me might have to go back to the story to remember -- "Oh, yeah, that's the one about ...."

 

[2DaveWixon]

Read again "Worrywart" last night, in Groff Conklin's Operation Future anthology. I see that, when I was reading around in this book before, the Simak story was the one I rated most highly of the ones I had read.

The story reminded me of Ursula Le Guin's (later) novel The Lathe of Heaven, my favorite of her adult books that I have read.

Simak's titles can be so noncommittal that they don't help you to remember the story's plot after you have read it. Take, even, "Desertion" -- someone like me might have to go back to the story to remember -- "Oh, yeah, that's the one about ...."

I wonder if it might not be the case that Cliff, as a lifelong professional newspaperman, might have been a little bit averse to showy headlines?
His was an understated writing style all around, and surely that goes for titles, too...

I know for a fact -- he told me -- that he did not put much thought into titles for his stories; and his surviving journals give some support to that: sometimes he mentions working on a story without referencing a title, only giving some sort of descriptor (e.g., the "stamp story," which -- after being called "Spore" for a while, eventually came to be "Leg.Forst.")(Note: that particular title was indeed created by Cliff, as shown by the fact that he explains it in the story.) But even "The Big Front Yard" had three or four "working titles" in his journal before he sent it along to a magazine, and it's not clear that the final title was created by Cliff himself, or by the editor...)
(I tried to show some of the alternate titles in the blurbs I wrote for the stories in the COMPLETE SHORT STORIES OF CLIFFORD D. SIMAK -- which see.)(Clever ploy to get you to buy all the books...)
(Further note: "Bathe Your Bearings in Blood," surely the most flashy title of any Simak story, was definitely a label created in the editorial offices of AMAZING, and it is notable that Cliff changed it back (to "Mirage") in later appearances.)(It probably says something about me, however, that I rather liked "Bathe Your Bearings in Blood...")

Having drifted a little from the original plan for this posting, I will add that Cliff's indifference to titles extended even to his novels -- several of his novel publishing contracts were simply for "Novel to be named later.")

 

[2DaveWixon]

Oh, and some new info for anyone who's interested: the next three volumes of the COMPLETE SHORT STORIES OF CLIFFORD D. SIMAK -- volumes 10, 11, and 12 -- will be published on July 4th.
And on the same day, Open Road will also publish print versions of three more Simak novels: GOBLIN RESERVATION, TIME IS THE SIMPLEST THING, and A HERITAGE OF STARS.
I've even been given a chance to look at the art department's proposed covers on those three collections, and encouraged to give my input. I did...
Open Road is good to me that way -- and sometimes they even use some of my suggestions! (*blush*)

 

[Ralf 58]

Oh, and some new info for anyone who's interested: the next three volumes of the COMPLETE SHORT STORIES OF CLIFFORD D. SIMAK -- volumes 10, 11, and 12 -- will be published on July 4th.
And on the same day, Open Road will also publish print versions of three more Simak novels: GOBLIN RESERVATION, TIME IS THE SIMPLEST THING, and A HERITAGE OF STARS.
I've even been given a chance to look at the art department's proposed covers on those three collections, and encouraged to give my input. I did...
Open Road is good to me that way -- and sometimes they even use some of my suggestions! (*blush*)

Hello Dave,

good news! Still, the new books are not to be found at Amazon and Barnes & Noble. Also on the website of Open Road Media they are not yet mentioned. But that will surely happen in the next days.

 

[LoZioOscuro]

You're not alone in thinking that. Since Cliff died and I took the reins of his estate, the film rights to Way Station have constantly been on option... It must be hard to follow through, though, because most of those producers hold the rights for three to six years while trying to develop a movie, and then let them go -- and there's always someone else ready to sign up!

I'm getting to be a bit ambivalent on the subject...I'd love to see some of Cliff's work turned into a movie, or two, or three (with resulting increased popularization of his work)...but I'm scared that it might turn out to be a bad job!

I too would utterly love to see something Simak's on the screen, but I'm also afraid it could result in a disappointing film. In Simak works there are many nuances that - I believe - are very difficult to render.
A few years ago even a trailer of the film " Way Station " (or - any other name it carried, I cant' remember) circulated on the Internet, it lasted perhaps one or two years then disappeared.
The trailer was very intriguing, however.
Be as it is, it's too bad that no film from Simak's works has been developed till now.
Roberto

 

[LoZioOscuro]

"Good Night, Mr. James."
It was a story that Cliff would later call the "most vicious" he had ever done.

... and it seems that Simak said that it had been adaptated just due to its viciousness. It seems he hadn't a great opinion of TV.
Roberto

 

[LoZioOscuro]

Read again "Worrywart" last night, in Groff Conklin's Operation Future anthology. I see that, when I was reading around in this book before, the Simak story was the one I rated most highly of the ones I had read.

The story reminded me of Ursula Le Guin's (later) novel The Lathe of Heaven, my favorite of her adult books that I have read.

Simak's titles can be so noncommittal that they don't help you to remember the story's plot after you have read it. Take, even, "Desertion" -- someone like me might have to go back to the story to remember -- "Oh, yeah, that's the one about ...."

" Worrywart " is a splendid story - although, again, there are just a few Simak's works that I don't rate between " good " and " excellent ".
Roberto