Other Worlds, Times, and Places: Clifford D. Simak


(August 3, 1904 - April 25, 1988)

Simak started writing for science fiction pulp magazines in 1931, but dropped out of the field by 1933. The only science-fiction piece that he published between 1933 and 1937 was "The Creator" (Marvel Tales #4, March-April 1935), a notable story with religious implications, which was at the time a rarity in the genre of science fiction.

Gentle and Pastoral

Simaks narrative style, often described as gentle and pastoral, was very much different than most SF of the time. A great number of his works are set in an idyllic rural Wisconsin backdrop where you are more likely to find a traveling alien sitting on a country porch with a backwoodsman protaganist and drinking beer rather than a hostile alien invasion force bent on destroying or enslaving the human race.

As a young teenager, I discovered three of Simaks books while impatiently waiting for more Andre Norton books to come out. The Werewolf Pinciple, Way Station, and Goblin Reservation. These three fantastic stories opened my eyes to the fact that there was more to SF than just Norton.