Wrapped up tonight on a very interesting Sci Fi novel, which also introduced me to this author. And that interesting piece of SF is "The Goblin Reservation" by Clifford D. Simak.
Professor Pete Maxwell, a specialist in supernatural phenomena, has just returned to Earth from a galactic research mission for the has found himself in pretty desperate straits.
As he is well aware, Earth is very well advanced in a lot of areas; the perfection of time travel that enables all creatures (which includes goblins, dinosaurs and… Shakespeare?!) to coexist. But for Maxwell he has discovered, by sheer accident, a mysterious crystal planet that contains a complete storehouse of information that is unknown on Earth.
With the knowledge of the planet's value for Earth's future, he makes the attempt, at all costs, to convince those in power to gain control of it. But those efforts have been thwarted by a shocking fact; that he had been duplicated while on his return trip. His copy had come back before he even did, and soon after was accidentally killed. And now no one will ever believe the original Maxwell really exists.
When I say that this book is interesting, I really do mean it! While it does look like it's leaning into science fantasy territory it's probably more SF than anything else, that is of course SF with some fantasy flourishes in it. And there's some humor thrown along with a lot of intrigue too. And plus a little action.
Simak is another of the golden age writers, not truly as big as Asimov, Clarke and Heinlein, but still pretty notable. This is one of his novels from the sixties, and I have yet to read some of the works that he did in his earlier days, and is pretty good. Might have to explore more of his stuff, including from the early years and later, and see what other interesting stories he has to tell!
by i-the-muso-1968