Way Station (A Collier Nucleus Science Fiction Classics) [Paperback]

Clifford D. Simak (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 1992 | Series: A Collier Nucleus Science Fiction Classics

Clifford Simak, winner of Hugo, Nebula, Grand Master, and other science fiction awards, was never more clearly a master of modern SF than in this novel of a simple farmer who bridged the gap between humanity and the stars. This powerfully entertaining and thought-provoking work is one of the all-time great favorites of science fiction.

Editorial Reviews

From the Inside Flap

Neighbors saw Enoch Wallace as an ageless hermit, striding across his untended farm as he had done for over a century, still carrying the gun with which he had served in the Civil War. They must never know that inside his unchanging house, he met and conversed with a host of unimaginable friends from the farthest stars.
More than a hundred years before, an alien being named Ulysses had recruited Enoch as the keeper of Earth's only galactic transfer station. Now Enoch studied the progress of Earth as he tended the tanks where the aliens appeared, and the charts he made indicated that his world was doomed to destruction. His alien friends could only offer help that seemed worse than the dreaded disaster.
Then he discovered the horror that lived across the galaxy . . . --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

About the Author

Clifford D. Simak (1904-1988) worked as a newspaperman for most of his life and only became a full-time writer of sf after his retirement. His first published story appeared in Wonder Stories in 1931. His novels include Cosmic Engineers, City, Time is the Simplest Thing, They Walked Like Men and The Visitors. He received the Grand Master Nebula Award in 1976. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback: 210 pages
• Publisher: Collier Books (December 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0020248717
• ISBN-13: 978-0020248712
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.4 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 0.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (66 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #846,199 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

60 of 61 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Timeless Masterpiece of Classic SF, November 17, 2001

By 

OhSayCanYouSee1 "ohsaycanyousee1" (Elmhurst, IL United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Way Station (SF Collector's Edition) (Gollancz Collectors' Editions) (Paperback)

Clifford D. Simak's Way Station is simply one of the most original and best SF novels ever written. Long considered a masterpiece, published in 1963, this story remains as fresh today as when first written. Though the theme has often been explored, the plot is one of a kind. So different that it remains unduplicated after almost 4 decades.

The theme of the book revolves around whether human society is worthy of inclusion in galactic society, mainly because of its warlike tendencies. Written in the era of the Cuban Missile Crisis, and the nuclear uncertainty surrounding that era of the Cold War between the USA and the Soviet Union, Simak weaves a tale that was modern when written, but timeless in retrospect. This theme has recurred again and again in actual society, such as during the Vietnam War, the Gulf War, and now the War against Terrorism.

But the plot of this book is so unique, that we are fortunate that no writer has attempted to copy this idea. The Way Station is a galactic transportation transfer point, kept by a lone human being, himself a throwback to another era. Beings from all over the galaxy secretly pass through the Earth, communicating, learning and sharing with the station keeper, and spreading their cultures by so doing. The character development of the protagonist is first rate, and the writing is of exceptional quality. When separate crises develop simultaneously on the Earth and within galactic society, the book comes to a fascinating and exciting climax.

Simak's body of work has been rated highly, but this story ranks among the best SF novels of all time. It is a must read for all serious SF fans, and should be a foundation piece for anyone looking to acquire such works on their bookshelf. Way Station is rated at 4.95 stars out of 5.00, easily rounded up to 5.00. The book reads wonderfully now; it will read wonderfully again when you pick it up in 10-20 years.

60 of 63 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Overlooked classic, February 27, 2001

By 

Michael Battaglia - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Way Station (A Collier Nucleus Science Fiction Classics) (Paperback)

Most people have never heard of Clifford Simak unless they're longtime SF fans and even those that have tend to gravitate more toward his other classic "City" but those who do, or even those who makes the mistake of ignoring him completely are making a grave error. This book is the equal of any SF classic based purely on the strength of its ideas and subtle conviction in those ideas. It doesn't have an ultracomplicated structure or a hip "postmodern" attitude but the attitude is does have is quiet and understated and undeniably brilliant. What's it all about? Basically Enoch Wallace has been living in his house for what seems like years and years and years but his neighbors are folk who don't question stuff like that. Turns out that Wallace is way older than anyone can think of and his house serves as one of the crossroads of the galaxy, with strange and fascinating aliens visiting him as they pass through, leaving him with a house cluttered with strange and wonderful treasures that he can hardly begin to contemplate . . . while at the same time wondering what all this means to Earth and its place in the galactic community. But forces are closing in on what he actually is while at the same time forces across the farflung galaxy are pushing forward events that even the aliens involved are hardly ready for. What makes this novel so good is not it's depiction of the bizarre array of philosophical and imaginative aliens, although that's part of it, Simak throws out alien races in a few sentences that other authors could spend entire novels trying to explain and describe. No, what makes it good is its unwavering faith in humanity, Wallace and the aliens might not have a high opinion of people at times but for all our dirty little mannerisms, in the end we've got just as much potential as everyone else. That, coupled with his pastoral views of the land around the house and the simple beauty of the untamed wilderness makes for a book mostly light on action but great in depth, Wallace is one of the rare totally three dimensional SF characters, content in his mission but still wondering what it all means even as everyday brings new wonders to light. I thought this book was going to be good but I was amazed at how excellent it was. One of the alltime classics.

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A pre-cursor to Star Trek's Galactic Federation!, October 13, 2008

By 

Paul Weiss (Dundas, Ontario Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Way Station (Hardcover)

Enoch Wallace is 124 years old, the last survivor of the Civil War, living as a recluse in the woods of southwest Wisconsin. For reasons of their own, aliens have selected Enoch to run an inter-stellar way station, a hub of their galactic transportation network that enables aliens from planets across the galaxy to travel instantaneously from one star system to another. Because the aliens have decided that mankind and earth are not yet ready for membership in this galactic federation, Enoch must labour in splendid isolation and keep the station's secret to himself. Inevitably, Wallace's astonishing longevity attracts notice and the US government begins to investigate both Wallace and the odd happenings at his house in the woods.

When the investigating agent inadvertently interferes with alien property, the aliens (whose political alliances are also uncharacteristically strained) threaten retribution and removal of the way station from earth entirely. With the aid of alien science and mathematics, Wallace now believes the world is headed unavoidably for self-annihilation in a nuclear war that will destroy humanity for centuries to come. Despite his obvious desire for a union between mankind and the alien races he has come to know and respect, Wallace is left with what amounts to an impossible Hobson's choice - abandon humanity, join the aliens in their travels across the galaxy and man a way-station elsewhere; or bid farewell to the aliens and toss in his lot with the human species that he is convinced is destined for self-destruction.

In many ways, "Way Station" is a typical Simak novel, quiet and soft in a comfortably low key character and idea-driven pastoral style. One might even go so far as to say it hovers on the edge of fantasy or mysticism as it explores the idea of humanity's reaction to other sentience in the universe or other more difficult ideas such as what might form the basis for an alien "religion". But, in this very short novel (perhaps typical of the classic sci-fi era), Simak also explores some harder sci-fi ideas such as teleportation, holograph technology, the form that sentient aliens may take and the construction of alien language.

The intensely emotional happy ending, comfortably warm and fuzzy is probably a reflection of Simak's personal optimism (or at least hopes) for the future of man and Earth as we evolve in the years to come. A thoroughly enjoyable must read for any lover of classic sci-fi.

Paul Weiss