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A Heritage of Stars by [Clifford D. Simak]

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Clifford D. Simak

A Heritage of Stars Kindle Edition

by Clifford D. Simak (Author) Format: Kindle Edition

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A man hunts for lost knowledge in a future society that’s reverted to a primitive tribal state in this novel by the author of Way Station.

More than a thousand years have passed since humankind intentionally destroyed its treacherous technology, choosing to revert back to a primitive tribal state. In this society the rusting brain cases of long-inert robots are considered trophies, and the scant knowledge that has survived is doled out to an inquisitive few in monastery-like “universities.” It is at one such center of learning that young Tom Cushing first reads of the legendary “Place of Going to the Stars,” rumored to exist on a high butte somewhere in the western part of the land. Driven by enthusiasm and an insatiable need to track the myth to its source, Tom sets out on an amazing trek across what was once called “America,” teaming up with a witch, the world’s last remaining robot, and other odd companions. But all the astonishing discoveries and dangers they encounter along the way will pale before the revelations that await them at journey’s end.

Clifford D. Simak, award-winning science fiction Grand Master, offers a breathtaking vision of the future that is both dystopian and hopeful in equal measure. In A Heritage of Stars, he boldly displays the heart, intelligence, and awesome imaginative powers that have established him as one of the all-time greatest authors of speculative fiction.

Print length

155 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Open Road Media Sci-Fi & Fantasy
Publication date

July 21, 2015
File size

2164 KB
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Editorial Reviews

Review

“To read science-fiction is to read Simak. The reader who does not like Simak stories does not like science-fiction at all.” —Robert A. Heinlein

“Just about any work by Simak deserves to be considered a classic.” —SFBook.com

“One of the great makers of science fiction . . . The man shines through.” —Jack Williamson

--This text refers to the paperback edition.

About the Author

During his fifty-five-year career, Clifford D. Simak produced some of the most iconic science fiction stories ever written. Born in 1904 on a farm in southwestern Wisconsin, Simak got a job at a small-town newspaper in 1929 and eventually became news editor of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, writing fiction in his spare time.

Simak was best known for the book City, a reaction to the horrors of World War II, and for his novel Way Station. In 1953 City was awarded the International Fantasy Award, and in following years, Simak won three Hugo Awards and a Nebula Award. In 1977 he became the third Grand Master of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, and before his death in 1988, he was named one of three inaugural winners of the Horror Writers Association’s Bram Stoker Award for Lifetime Achievement.

--This text refers to the paperback edition.

Product details

ASIN ‏ : ‎ B00YTFTA0S
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Open Road Media Sci-Fi & Fantasy (July 21, 2015)
Publication date ‏ : ‎ July 21, 2015
Language ‏ : ‎ English
File size ‏ : ‎ 2164 KB
Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Print length ‏ : ‎ 155 pages
Lending ‏ : ‎ Enabled

Best Sellers Rank: #306,343 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- #1,602 in Action & Adventure Literary Fiction
- #2,298 in Space Exploration Science Fiction eBooks
- #2,554 in Exploration Science Fiction

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230 ratings

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Clifford D. Simak

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During his fifty-five-year career, Clifford D. Simak produced some of the most iconic science fiction stories ever written. Born in 1904 on a farm in southwestern Wisconsin, Simak got a job at a small-town newspaper in 1929 and eventually became news editor of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, writing fiction in his spare time. Simak was best known for the book City, a reaction to the horrors of World War II, and for his novel Way Station. In 1953 City was awarded the International Fantasy Award, and in following years, Simak won three Hugo Awards and a Nebula Award. In 1977 he became the third Grand Master of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, and before his death in 1988, he was named one of three inaugural winners of the Horror Writers Association's Bram Stoker Award for Lifetime Achievement.

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3 star		15%
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Top reviews from the United States

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Karl JanssenTop Contributor: Fantasy Books

Searching for hope in a post-technological future

Reviewed in the United States on July 7, 2016

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Celebrated science fiction writer Clifford D. Simak’s novel A Heritage of Stars was originally published in 1977. In 2015 it became available in e-book format from Open Road Media, along with many other Simak works. Simak is a master sci-fi visionary whose career spanned over half a century. A Heritage of Stars displays the high level of speculative creativity and quality storytelling indicative of Simak’s body of work, but still it’s not one of his most successful efforts.

The story takes place about two thousand years in the future. Earth is now a post-apocalyptic world in which mankind has reverted to barbarism. About 1500 years prior to the events of the story, humanity began to feel an intense hatred toward the technology they had created and the problems it had fostered—massive unemployment, depleted natural resources, environmental pollution, and oppressive, ungainly social, economic, and political systems. In a fit of worldwide rage, humans rebelled against their technology and destroyed it, along with most of the recorded knowledge of their machines and how they functioned. Thus, mankind reverted back to a primitive existence of nomadic hunting, subsistence farming, and tribal warfare. One bastion of civilization still holds out—the former University of Minnesota, where a band of peaceful citizens mostly practices potato farming but still maintains a respect for literacy. Thomas Cushing, one of the university’s inhabitants, comes across a millennium-old history that mentions a Place of Going to the Stars, suspected to be a launching pad for interstellar travel. Restless and curious, Cushing decides to leave the safety of the university, head west, and seek out this mythical site.

The novel starts out as a pretty good post-apocalyptic wilderness adventure, reminiscent of Jack London’s The Scarlet Plague. The saga of a lone explorer striking out into an unknown and dangerous world is always a compelling one. As the novel proceeds, however, it begins to veer further and further into the realm of fantasy. Though Simak tackles hard science concepts, the plot begins to follow the familiar fantasy formula that’s been used in everything from The Wizard of Oz to The Lord of the Rings. Cushing picks up a band of misfits, each of which has a special power, and together they make a pilgrimage to a lost city, encountering scary monsters along the way. A Heritage of Stars deals with a number of recurring Simak themes, including intelligent plants, robots struggling to find their place in the world, and mankind’s relationship to those robots. The way in which Simak treats these topics in this novel, however, feels less scientifically sound and more poetically imaginative. Even the very premise upon which the plot is built, the revolt against technology, seems too unrealistic the way he’s handled it here.

I recently read I Am Crying All Inside and Other Stories: The Complete Short Fiction of Clifford D. Simak, Volume 1 and found it to be an excellent collection of short stories and novellas. Simak is truly a master of the short form narrative. This longer work, however, feels like a short story that’s been drawn out far too long. Even though it overstays its welcome, the ending feels half-baked, as if left open for a sequel that would never come. Despite my complaints, this is not a bad book. I was engaged by Cushing’s journey and eager to see its resolution. However, A Heritage of Stars is merely an OK book by a great author. Compared to Simak’s other works, it’s nothing special, but compared to 90% of the science fiction out there, it still holds up pretty well.

34 people found this helpful

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Michael G Kurilla

Deprecated world, a millennium after

Reviewed in the United States on December 27, 2020

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Clifford D Simak's A Heritage of Stars is our future a thousand years from now after humanity has voluntarily given up all technology and destroyed their history of that technology. The story concerns a young boy who has been living within the confines of a former university that has been somewhat isolated, but other than learning to read, not much goes on. He finds some evidence of that history that alludes to a space port. Given the oral history of humanity conquering space, he sets off on a trek to find this mythical place. Along the way, he accumulates an eclectic group of joiners and encounters much in the way of lawlessness and superstition. In the end after reaching his goal, he devotes himself to pulling mankind towards progress and towards the stars.

Simak extrapolates the fears and concerns of his time regarding a global backlash against all technology. On the other hand, it's hard to envision the entire planet buying into this perspective. Furthermore, after 1000 years (given our own recent past), it's hard to imagine mankind maintaining this self imposed ignorance. There is liberal use of robots (another topical theme of the day), but the notion of a robot surviving a millennium on bear fat alone is a bit far fetched. The alien plants and rocks seemed an afterthought as well as the notion that in the absence of technology, mental powers would increase seemed more convenient, rather than logical.

2 people found this helpful

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I like that the story doesn't hurry

Reviewed in the United States on February 1, 2017

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A Heritage of Stars by Clifford D. Simak

This was written in 1977, but really is a classic. It has a feel that goes back to the Golden age of SciFi. I like that the story doesn't hurry, but rather takes it's time to develop. Yes the characters are mostly one dimensional, but each of them adds in a unique way.
This is a sort of travelogue of going across the Midwest of America, in a far future where anything and everything technological has been thrown down. Our hero finds some unlikely companions along the way, but they each prove their worth, if in some ways you don't expect.
It is a quick, fun read. Enjoy! =)

8 people found this helpful

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atrain48

Kinda like the Wizard of Oz-kinda sorta

Reviewed in the United States on September 7, 2017

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I was looking forward to this novel. After finishing I am not so sure I would read it again. I am confused. Three words come to mind. Implausible (yet familiar). Anticlimactic (yet evocative). The story resembles a version of the Wizard of Oz. But the characters are sort of unfinished. The end of the venture left me wishing for something better.

9 people found this helpful

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Desert Tortoise

This is not Simak's best book, but it is also not his worst

Reviewed in the United States on January 27, 2016

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This is not Simak's best book, but it is also not his worst. The story plods at times and there is not much character development, but the premise and characters are sufficient to keep you interested. It is definitely not your typical post-apocalyptic story, and Simak manages to give you hope at the end that mankind might be able to emerge from the total collapse of society that took place.

11 people found this helpful

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Miriam, Philly

What happens after we have destroyed ourselves

Reviewed in the United States on November 21, 2020

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When our technology has destroyed civilisation and we are back to living primitively, all technology is gone, most learning is gone, and life is brutal. One man sets out on a quest for the legend that humans once went to the stars and collect a small band of seekers who join him.

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Amazon Customer

Great Simak themes in incomplete form

Reviewed in the United States on November 30, 2019

Verified Purchase

Simak's fascination with robots, second only to Asimov's, shows through in this novel, but is not so developed as it is in, for example, Project Pope. He also deals with the theme of an extended quest for truth better in other works. In all, the ending didn't feel complete to me. But his writing is authentically his own style, and overall he has produced a decent if not excellent book.

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jdb

A decent read. Interesting concept, but not much ...

Reviewed in the United States on December 10, 2017

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A decent read. Interesting concept, but not much of a payoff at the end. The language was a little stilted, which at first I thought was supposed to be due to the isolation of the characters, but all the characters introduced had the same odd way of speaking.

3 people found this helpful

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Top reviews from other countries

A. Mar.

One of the good novels of Clifford Simak

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on July 4, 2020

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A group of people (joined later by a robot) roam the post-apocalyptic landscape of the American countryside. Well told sci-fi story by Simak describing a dystopian society years after the atomic war. This novel kept my interest to the very end.

One person found this helpful

M J MCCUMISKEY

An easy book to read while travelling

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on November 26, 2013

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An easy book to read while travelling. a little simplistic at times and ends rather abruptly, as if it should have a sequel

Linda Novak

Odd but Interesting

Reviewed in Canada on October 21, 2019

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It is sci-fi with a touch of fantasy. It starts slow but held my interest. As I read, I was frustrated that some things were introduced without explaining what they were. It came together at the end, but I never understood why the drastic revolution occurred.

FWAX

Five Stars

Reviewed in Canada on November 30, 2016

Verified Purchase

The great Clifford Simak never disappoints.

Hans Mueller

Great tale

Reviewed in Canada on May 24, 2017

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Up to the masters standard