Status
Available
Call number
Collection
Publication
DAW (1982), Paperback
Description
From science fiction Grand Master Clifford D. Simak, an interstellar adventure of aliens, fairies, and time travel. 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. During an interstellar mission to investigate rumors of dragon activity, this alternate Maxwell was intercepted by a strange alien race that wanted him to carry knowledge of a remarkable technology back to Earth, and it seems someone does not want the information shared. Suddenly, it's essential for Maxwell to find his own killer. He enlists the aid of Carol Hampton of the Time College, along with her pet saber-tooth tiger, a ghost with memory issues, and the intelligent Neanderthal Man recently rescued from a prehistoric cooking pot. But the search is pointing them toward the goblins, fairies, and assorted Little Folk living in reservations on campus, and into the dangerous heart of an interspecies blood feud that has been raging for millions of years. Ingeniously inventive and unabashedly tongue-in-cheek, this novel demonstrates multi-award-winning fantasy and science fiction favorite Clifford D. Simak operating at the imaginative peak of his considerable powers. … (more)
User reviews
LibraryThing member andyray
wheere does clifford simak come up with these creatures? Meet the wheelers, beings who navigate on biological wheels and who share their beiong symbiotically with a bunch of multi-colorfed maggot worms. whew. the elements of the story are all here, including a little love story, conflict, and
Show More
mystery, but the alien representations make MEN IN BLACK look like a cub scout convention. Show Less
LibraryThing member PMaranci
Simply a classic, and probably the best book that Clifford Simak ever wrote. It's short (particularly compared to modern novels), but fun, funny, and deeply enjoyable. The blending of fantasy and advanced science was not invented by Simak, but he handled it wonderfully well here. Not only is this a
I can imagine that some might find the relatively second-class status of the heroine offensive, although I would argue that Simak is not being sexist.
Charm, and ordinary human emotion; unlike many other genre writers of his day, Simak handled both well. His characters are amusing and sympathetic, but they are rarely cruel or unmotivated. I've often regretted that The Goblin Reservation wasn't longer (and that Simak never wrote a sequel - what a fascinating setting he created here! A modern publisher would have FORCED him to write sequels until he'd burned out completely). But at least we have this light but deeply enjoyable novel to read and re-read.
Show More
classic of fantasy and science fiction, but I consider it to be one of the funnier books in both genres as well!I can imagine that some might find the relatively second-class status of the heroine offensive, although I would argue that Simak is not being sexist.
Charm, and ordinary human emotion; unlike many other genre writers of his day, Simak handled both well. His characters are amusing and sympathetic, but they are rarely cruel or unmotivated. I've often regretted that The Goblin Reservation wasn't longer (and that Simak never wrote a sequel - what a fascinating setting he created here! A modern publisher would have FORCED him to write sequels until he'd burned out completely). But at least we have this light but deeply enjoyable novel to read and re-read.
Show Less
LibraryThing member Cheryl_in_CC_NV
Simak is still one of my favorites. Smarter, funnier, and less sexist than most of those old men. I love the homage to the Wisconsin countryside. This is a mystery - don't be frustrated by how confused you are throughout. Do pay attention, and then enjoy the climax and the ending.
LibraryThing member librken
Great example of what classic sci-fi was like when I was growing up in the 60s. A bit too flippant for me, but Simak's books always lack a certain dramatic tension.
LibraryThing member JohnFair
Although Simak tends to write books set in a fairly constrained locality, and this book is no different, the themes covered by the story are pretty universal.
When Peter Maxwell returned from Earth, he was somewhat disconcerted to be interviewed by a member of Earth's Security team but when he's
When Peter Maxwell returned from Earth, he was somewhat disconcerted to be interviewed by a member of Earth's Security team but when he's
Show More
told that he'd been and come back from his research trip looking for a dragon, he's startled. When informed that that copy of him had been killed he's disconcerted but the worry about what to do with the news of where he'd been is so overwhelming that he doesn't really process it until a number of creepy things occur to him as he makes his way home. And how do you bring yourself back from the dead when all your accounts and even your apartment have been closed to you? Show Less
LibraryThing member Razinha
File this under Books I Should Have Read Already. I carried around for more than 30 years (probably lots more) a worn paperback I got from a used bookstore, and it sat on a shelf next to Clarke, Anderson, Williamson, Blish, ...unread. I started it a number of times, but never got that far and lost
A decidedly odd book. Dated elements, but not overly so, given its oddness. I got a kick out of a subplot line involving the Goblins (actually, Little People...the traditional Irish type) and beer:
Scuttling down the path toward them came a tiny goblin, his multicolored, too-large shirt whipping in the wind of his headlong running. "The ale!" he screamed. "The ale!" He skidded to a halt in front of the three toiling up the path. "What of the ale?" panted Mr. O'Toole. "Do you mean to confess to me that you have been the sampling of it?" "It has gone sour," wailed the little goblin. "The whole bewitched mess of it is sour." "But ale can't go sour," protested Maxwell, grasping some sense of the tragedy that had taken place. Mr. O'Toole bounced upon the path in devastating anger. His face turned from brown to red to purple. His breath came gushing out in wheezing gasps. "It can, bedamned," he shouted, "with a spell of wizardry!"
In 1969, Simak probably had no experience with Flanders ales, but then, if he'd ever had Guinness, well, that stuff is nasty sour and not in a good, intentional way.
I like Simak's language he used for his Goblins:"But these," he said, "are dolorous topics on which to waste so glorious an autumn afternoon. So let us fasten our thoughts, rather, with great steadfastness, upon the foaming ale that awaits us on the hilltop."
And a dig on fools who would chug:He [O'Toole] put the mug to his mouth again and emptied it in several lusty gulps. He slammed it down on the table and looked at Maxwell's mug, still full. "Drink up," he urged. "Drink up, then I fill them yet again for a further wetting of the whistle." "You go ahead," Maxwell told him. "It's a shame to drink ale the way you do. It should be tasted and appreciated." Mr. O'Toole shrugged. "A pig I am, no doubt. But this be disenchanted ale and not one to linger over."
Lost, for most readers I'm sure, among the narrative, Simak writes something I've been saying for much of my adult life...his main character Peter Maxwell observes:"I do not like the word `intolerant,' Mr. Marmaduke, because it implies that there is ground for tolerance and there is no such thing-not for you, nor me, nor any other creature in the universe."Wisdom in classic science fiction. It is there, you know.
Show More
my well-traveled copy to a fire in 2013. A decidedly odd book. Dated elements, but not overly so, given its oddness. I got a kick out of a subplot line involving the Goblins (actually, Little People...the traditional Irish type) and beer:
Scuttling down the path toward them came a tiny goblin, his multicolored, too-large shirt whipping in the wind of his headlong running. "The ale!" he screamed. "The ale!" He skidded to a halt in front of the three toiling up the path. "What of the ale?" panted Mr. O'Toole. "Do you mean to confess to me that you have been the sampling of it?" "It has gone sour," wailed the little goblin. "The whole bewitched mess of it is sour." "But ale can't go sour," protested Maxwell, grasping some sense of the tragedy that had taken place. Mr. O'Toole bounced upon the path in devastating anger. His face turned from brown to red to purple. His breath came gushing out in wheezing gasps. "It can, bedamned," he shouted, "with a spell of wizardry!"
In 1969, Simak probably had no experience with Flanders ales, but then, if he'd ever had Guinness, well, that stuff is nasty sour and not in a good, intentional way.
I like Simak's language he used for his Goblins:"But these," he said, "are dolorous topics on which to waste so glorious an autumn afternoon. So let us fasten our thoughts, rather, with great steadfastness, upon the foaming ale that awaits us on the hilltop."
And a dig on fools who would chug:He [O'Toole] put the mug to his mouth again and emptied it in several lusty gulps. He slammed it down on the table and looked at Maxwell's mug, still full. "Drink up," he urged. "Drink up, then I fill them yet again for a further wetting of the whistle." "You go ahead," Maxwell told him. "It's a shame to drink ale the way you do. It should be tasted and appreciated." Mr. O'Toole shrugged. "A pig I am, no doubt. But this be disenchanted ale and not one to linger over."
Lost, for most readers I'm sure, among the narrative, Simak writes something I've been saying for much of my adult life...his main character Peter Maxwell observes:"I do not like the word `intolerant,' Mr. Marmaduke, because it implies that there is ground for tolerance and there is no such thing-not for you, nor me, nor any other creature in the universe."Wisdom in classic science fiction. It is there, you know.
Show Less
LibraryThing member ikeman100
Clifford Simak writes wonderful stories. I now know why this book won awards. It's quite fun. Normally I am not interested in SF books that border on Fantasy but Simak can write about anything and make it a good story.
Is it a deep and profound book? No.
Is it life changing? No.
Is it full of
Kept me interested and made me chuckle.
Is it a deep and profound book? No.
Is it life changing? No.
Is it full of
Show More
interesting characters and a fun story? YES.Kept me interested and made me chuckle.
Show Less
LibraryThing member MaowangVater
Professor Peter Maxwell of the College of Supernatural Phenomena has just retuned to the University in Wisconsin by means of matter transmission, but not from the planet he had planned to visit. He’d planned to visit a system to investigate rumors of a dragon, instead he found himself on what he
He’s shocked when the authorities inform him that he returned a month ago and died in an accident a week later. It’s even more upsetting when he returns to campus to discover that his home has been rented to someone with a pet saber tooth tiger that knock him over as soon as he unlocks his front door. The next day he discovers his job has been filled by someone else right after his funeral. What is he going to do?
This is a fast paced adventure with intrigue and puzzles aplenty. It’s also not terribly serious blend of science fiction and fantasy, complete with evil extraterrestrials, goblins, trolls, banshees, a Neanderthal that goes by the name of Alley Oop, and a time traveling William Shakespeare who did not write those plays
Show More
described as a “roofed-in crystal planet.”He’s shocked when the authorities inform him that he returned a month ago and died in an accident a week later. It’s even more upsetting when he returns to campus to discover that his home has been rented to someone with a pet saber tooth tiger that knock him over as soon as he unlocks his front door. The next day he discovers his job has been filled by someone else right after his funeral. What is he going to do?
This is a fast paced adventure with intrigue and puzzles aplenty. It’s also not terribly serious blend of science fiction and fantasy, complete with evil extraterrestrials, goblins, trolls, banshees, a Neanderthal that goes by the name of Alley Oop, and a time traveling William Shakespeare who did not write those plays
Show Less
Subjects
Awards
Hugo Award (Nominee — Novel — 1969)
Language
Original language
English
Original publication date
1968
Physical description
192 p.; 17.2 cm
ISBN
0879977302 / 9780879977306
Local notes
Omslag: Kelly Freas
Omslaget viser et tæppe formet som en mand, der har en drage i snor efter sig. I luften svæver en fe
Indskannet omslag - N650U - 150 dpi
Omslaget viser et tæppe formet som en mand, der har en drage i snor efter sig. I luften svæver en fe
Indskannet omslag - N650U - 150 dpi
Similar in this library
Pages
192
DDC/MDS
| 813 |