Clifford D. Simak
Clifford D. Simak was an influential American science fiction writer who initially made his mark as a journalist. He served as an editor for the Minneapolis Star and Tribune and played a key role in promoting science literature for young readers through the Tribune's Science Reading Series. Simak's foray into science fiction began in 1931 with his story "The World of the Red Sun," and he later contributed to the prestigious Astounding magazine, aligning with the golden age of science fiction in the late 1930s. His works often reflect a deep connection to rural life and human values, as seen in his acclaimed novel *City*, which explores themes of humanity's retreat from urbanization to a more pastoral existence.
Simak's writing style evolved to incorporate social themes, distinguishing his stories from traditional hard science fiction. Notable works include *Way Station*, which won a Hugo Award and revolves around an alien way station on a rural farm, highlighting his affinity for idyllic settings. Throughout his career, he received numerous accolades, including the Grand Master award from the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America in 1976. Simak wrote prolifically until his retirement from journalism, embracing a range of themes from nostalgia to humor, making him a significant figure in the realm of speculative fiction.
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Clifford D. Simak
Author
- Born: August 3, 1904
- Birthplace: Millville, Wisconsin
- Died: April 25, 1988
- Place of death: Minneapolis, Minnesota
Biography
Although Clifford Donald Simak became well known as a science- fiction (SF) writer, he started out as a journalist. He was an editor of the Minneapolis Star and Tribune and, starting in 1961, was coordinator of the Tribune’s Science Reading Series, which published work aimed at secondary-school students. Among the nonfiction books he composed were The Solar System: Our New Front Yard and Trilobite, Dinosaur, and Man: The Earth’s Story.
Simak began dabbling in science fiction with a time-travel story, “The World of the Red Sun,” published in 1931 in Wonder Stories magazine. He published only one other story between 1932 and 1938, when, like other popular golden-age SF authors, he began producing stories for Astounding, the magazine edited by John W. Campbell, Jr. His first novel was Cosmic Engineers, a full-blown space opera. As he continued writing stories for Campbell, the nature of his stories slowly changed from hardware to human values, especially the rural values with which he grew familiar living in the Midwest.
What grew out of all his work was City, a story depicting a future when humanity abandons its urban systems and its entire planet for a more pastoral existence elsewhere. As the story progressed, Simak created Jenkins, a robot whose task was to oversee the development of intelligence in the canines left to inherit the Earth. City first appeared in book form in 1952, with an expanded version in 1981, and was honored with an International Fantasy Award.
Another SF magazine, Galaxy, began to give Astoundingcompetition, emphasizing what might be called social SF over stories that focused on hard science. It was here that Simak serialized his time-travel yarn, Time and Again, which was later collected in book format. In a similar social-science vein, Ring Around the Sun depicted a system of parallel worlds where a secret group of mutants plan to produce unlimited goods. Some of his short stories were collected in an anthology, Strangers in the Universe, including “The Big Front Yard,” which won a Hugo Award from the World Science Fiction Convention in 1959.
Simak would work at his newspaper on a typewriter but wrote the first drafts of his fiction in longhand. He wrote all of them in his spare time until his retirement from journalism, when he became a full-time SF writer. Although a thread of nostalgia for pastoral virtues ran through most of his stories, he was capable of a variety of themes, from outright fantasy like The Fellowship of the Talisman to laugh-out-loud humor in They Walked Like Men.
Way Station, which depicts a stopping point on a rural Earth farm for traveling aliens, overseen by a farmer who has been gifted with immortality, won the 1964 Hugo for best novel of the previous year. Again, its easygoing rural setting and values predominate. David Pringle and John Clute, in The Science Fiction Encyclopedia (1991), call it his best novel.
The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America awarded Simak its Grand Master award in 1976.