Clifford D. Simak (1904–1988)

Simak had such stature in the early sixties, he could offer up an anthology of his own works. but these are seven memorable works. Target Generation the story of a generation ship that reaches its goal. but after the mission was forgotten. . Mirage was about sentient beings being hunted for fur:, the sexual spectrum a reply to william Tenn, perhaps: And Retrograde Evolution was a fascinating premise about a race that purposely chooses to avoid the ravages of war by trying to dumb itself down.

World Building 4*
Characters 1*
Plot 2*
Writing 4*

I appreciate the creativity of this story. For me, it did not deliver on the promise as the characters were flat and the story jumped around quite a bit. I do enjoy Simak's writing and I have enjoyed other books.

Unknown to the rest of Earth's inhabitants, Enoch Wallace is looking after a station in a inter-stellar transportation network but affairs on Earth and in the Galactic Council are coming to a crisis.

This was a pioneering work of pastoral science fiction which still exerts its quiet attraction with on one level weird and wonderful goings-on but on another an uneventful slice of life until the last 1/3 of the book.