Thursday, May 15, 2008

Stuff I've read lately

I finished the Simak book, the last stories were:

"All the Traps of Earth" (1960) - Very reminiscent of Asimov's "Bicentennial Man", which I guess, wasn't written until 1976... so a point for Simak, there.

"Death Scene" (1957) - Very short, somewhat ominous feeling, but ends well.

"Reunion on Ganymede" (1966) - War heroes overcome their differences by blasting robot animals.

"The Money Tree" (1958) - Alien botanists help out a local thug.

"Party Line" (1978) - Interstellar communication via psychic hot-line/chat room.

"The Answers" (1953) - Man loses his drive to expand after learning life has no purpose.

"The Thing in the Stone" (1970) - Ironically, I picked up Simak because he is listed as a Christian author. The previous stories weren't exactly pinnacles of Christian doctrine. This one at least had a touching ending. The "thing" in the stone is some sort of universal war criminal. The main character meets an energy being attendant, which he first takes as a sort of "loyal pet". But, in the last paragraph, this being is revealed as a "shepherd", waiting for the redemption of the "thing". So, not all bad.

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