Description
Welcome to the strangest, most distinctive future ever imagined by a science fiction writer. An interstellar empire ruled by the mysterious Lords of the Instrumentality, whose access to the drug stroon from the planet Norstrilia confers on them virtual immortality. A world in which wealthy and leisured humanity is served by the underpeople, genetically engineered animals turned into the semblance of people. A world in which the great ships which sail between the stars are eventually supplanted by the mysterious, instantaneous technique of planoforming. A world of wonder and myth, and extraordinary imagination.
The best short fiction of acclaimed SF author Cordwainer Smith.
About the Author
Reviews
Read this. Cordwainer Smith is timeless. - Terry Pratchett.Smith's instrumentality is the most complex and lyrical of all future histories, redolent with future antiquity. It is a history of a mankind transformed, oddly convincingly, by a relentless series of changes - war, genetic engineering, interstellar travel, immortality - and Smith's remarkable, rich prose gives shivery hints of a darkly imagined universe extending far beyond the boundaries of the stories. Lush, strange, unique, a treasure. - Stephen Baxter.
Book Information
ISBN 9780575094246
Author Cordwainer Smith
Format Paperback
Page Count 400
Imprint Gateway
Publisher Orion Publishing Co
Series S.F. Masterworks
Weight(grams) 319g
Dimensions(mm) 216mm * 128mm * 28mm
The best short fiction of acclaimed SF author Cordwainer Smith.
About the Author
Cordwainer Smith (1913 - 1966)
Cordwainer Smith was the most famous pen name of US foreign policy adviser Paul Myron Anthony Linebarger. Born in Milwaukee in 1913, his godfather was the Chinese revolutionary and political leader, Sun Yat-sen - the result of his political activist father's close ties with leaders of the Chinese revolution. Smith held a PhD in Political Science from Johns Hopkins, served in the US military during the Second World War and acted as an adviser to President Kennedy. Although he only published one novel, Norstrilia, Smith is well regarded for his short fiction, the majority of which is set in his future history of the Instrumentality of Mankind.
Reviews
Read this. Cordwainer Smith is timeless. - Terry Pratchett.Smith's instrumentality is the most complex and lyrical of all future histories, redolent with future antiquity. It is a history of a mankind transformed, oddly convincingly, by a relentless series of changes - war, genetic engineering, interstellar travel, immortality - and Smith's remarkable, rich prose gives shivery hints of a darkly imagined universe extending far beyond the boundaries of the stories. Lush, strange, unique, a treasure. - Stephen Baxter.
Book Information
ISBN 9780575094246
Author Cordwainer Smith
Format Paperback
Page Count 400
Imprint Gateway
Publisher Orion Publishing Co
Series S.F. Masterworks
Weight(grams) 319g
Dimensions(mm) 216mm * 128mm * 28mm
