CityThis award-winning science fiction classic explores a far-future world inhabited by intelligent canines who pass down the tales of their human forefathers. Thousands of years have passed since humankind abandoned the city—first for the countryside, then for the stars, and ultimately for oblivion—leaving their most loyal animal companions alone on Earth. Granted the power of speech centuries earlier by the revered Bruce Webster, the intelligent, pacifist dogs are the last keepers of human history, raising their pups with bedtime stories, passed down through generations, of the lost “websters” who gave them so much but will never return. With the aid of Jenkins, an ageless service robot, the dogs live in a world of harmony and peace. But they now face serious threats from their own and other dimensions, perhaps the most dangerous of all being the reawakened remnants of a warlike race called “Man.” In the Golden Age of Isaac Asimov and Robert A. Heinlein, Clifford D. Simak’s writing blazed as brightly as anyone’s in the science fiction firmament. Winner of the International Fantasy Award, City is a magnificent literary metropolis filled with an astonishing array of interlinked stories and structures—at once dystopian, transcendent, compassionate, and visionary. |
Contents
Notes on the Second Tale | |
Notes on the Third Tale | |
Notes on the Fourth Tale | |
Notes on the Fifth Tale | |
Notes on the Sixth Tale | |
Notes on the Seventh Tale | |
Notes on the Eighth Tale | |
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Common terms and phrases
agoraphobia ain't Andrew ants Archie body brain Bruce Webster building Carter chair CITY CLIFFORD D Clayborne desk Dogs dome door dream Earth Ebenezer eyes face feet felt FICTION CLIFFORD D fingers flea Fowler Geneva gone Gramp Grant hand hill Homer human race hundred Ichabod International Fantasy Award Jenkins told Jon Webster Joshua Jovian Jupiter Juwain philosophy killing knew legend listening live looked Lopers Lupus MASTER OF SCIENCE metal mice mind mob psychology mutants Nathaniel never nodded perhaps Peter rabbit raccoon reached remembered Sara SCIENCE FICTION CLIFFORD shadow shook his head SIMAK slowly snapped Solar System someone stared stayed stood story sure tale talk telepathy tell there's thing thought Jenkins thousand Towser tree understand voice waiting walked watching Webster House Webster told wolf wondered words World Committee