Norstrilia

I first read this book when I was a teenager, back in the late 60's, and it was quite a formative experience. The plight of the underpeople remains very compelling. The story has aged well, with only a mention of "nuclear fuel", unlike some of Asimov's work.

This was my first exposure to Cordwainer Smith. The story is quite strange, not really a lot of science, but a very good, interesting study of human (and almost human) society. Well thought out. I would call this a very slow tale. No blazing guns (or lasers), little to no intrigue, but a lot to study and think about. Normally, I’m reading SciFi for entertainment and escape. This story does not fit in that category. Even so, it was an engaging book. In the future, I’ll probably look at a sample of anything else by Mr. Smith. Excellent writing, but I could not handle a regular diet of this style of story.

This is one of the best sci-fi novels I’ve ever read. Full of creativity, some unexpected heart, and literal laugh out loud moments which I find are exceedingly rare in fiction. I won’t say anything about the plot or characters because it’s a joy to be surprised as the story unfolds. Buy this book.

Tremendous opening short story. then crazy good first half. After the turn, lost all interest. YMMV

Simply put, if you haven't read Cordwainer Smith - you need to. He only wrote the one novel Norstrilia and a host of inventive short stories (collected in a companion volume called "The Rediscovery of Man" also published by NEFSA. Smith - actually an academic named Paul Linebarger - combines a storytelling style from classic Chinese literature with his own imagination to create a future history spanning from "the first men in space" to tens of thousands of years in the future. Man changes, loses himself, and rediscovers himself during these years. In Norstrilia, we see this in miniature in the person of Roderick Frederick Ronald Arnold William MacArthur McBan the Hundred and Fifty-First ("Rod McBan") a young orphaned man who stands to inherit the oldest "station" on his dry dusty planet of Old North Australia (Norstrilia - founded by settlers who wanted to keep things like the old Australian outback). The funny thing is - all Norstrilians are immensely rich since they raise enormous sick sheep who are infected with a virus that can be distilled into an immortality drug (stroon)! (They keep themselves simple by import duties that range up to millions of percent of the purchase price). Rod (long story) manages to corner about one year's worth of the stroon harvest on the exchanges and is now rich enough to buy much of Earth. All he wants is to see it and possibly get some rare Cape Town stamps (currently the rerest stamps in 2010AD, but a lot rarer now that it's 10,000+ AD and the old world had already collapsed and been rebuilt). Along the way, he meets a lot of odd folks (including himself - don't ask) and realizes in the end that the thing he really sought was much closer to his dry dusty station on Norstrilia. The novel can be read alone from Smith's short stories, but the characters and situations in each are interwoven with the other. Therefore, read it all - it will be a much richer experience! The only thing I can't tell you is which ones (short stories or Norstrilia) to read first. I read the short stories in the mid 70s first and then read Norstrilia right after. Others to whom I've recommended Smith read it in the other order. No one was disappointed! Neither will you. By the way, one of the reasons to read Smith if you love SF is that many of the past and current masters of the genre (e.g., Lois McMaster Bujold) were inspired by Smith in the 60s to launch their careers. Reading Smith is really opening a door to imagination - grounded in strange people and strange societies that for all their strangeness are strangely familiar!

I liked this book, and it was good enough that it deserves a second reading (its also short enough). Some times the story doesn't make sense, sometimes its just really too bizarre. But when you think about when it was written its just amazing to think of how ahead of his time the author was. I would have wished for the story to be more epic because the preface set you up for an epic story and some parts of the story didn't get as developed as they might have. This is mainly because the book has so many characters that it jumps back and forth between, that at points you expect more to be done with a certain character. I would have liked to see more be done with the space pirates which at first you think are going to be major players in the book but then are seemingly cast aside. And with all the villians in the novel the main character never really seems to be in much danger even though the author clearly wants you to believe that he is. Then there are of some stupid parts to the book. For instance, I thought that the old wise catman part was nonsence and never came accross as meaningful as it was suppose to be. Besides the flaws, I think this book has a really cool universe, which has many interesting, yet underdeveloped characters, and a lot of very strong questions on the human condition that seem suprising applicable in the present even though the book was written some 40 years ago. Probably the reason most people wish that the author would have written more novels is not because this is the greatest book ever (because its not) but because it offers so many excellent questions yet never develops itself to the point of answering them. While there are better novels out there this one is so unique, short, and easy to read that no true sci-fi fan has an excuse to not read it.

This version came with the story "The Ballad of Lost C'Mell." It was an appropriate pairing as C'Mell figures heavily in Norstrilia. I last read it years ago; I had every hope I would enjoy it again. I am so happy that I fell once again in love with it. This classic science fiction novel draws heavily on the short stories set in the time of the Instrumentality of Mankind. I had re-read many of them shortly before I started this book. I think it deepened my appreciation of Norstrilia. I had the background to understand more about the harsh, practical world of Norstrilia, along with its customs. It is a harsh world and its customs seem cruel to me, but it made perfect sense in the setting of the book. I like Rod and C'Mell; I was totally surprised at some of the final scenarios. If you are a science fiction fan and have read any of Cordwainer Smith's short stories and liked them, but not read Norstrilia yet, you definitely should check this book out.

It probably pays to read a few reviews before starting on the works of an author you haven't come across before. Particularly if that author is dead and I say this because I believe Cordwainer Smith was an exceptional Author. I read his later book first and as one review stated I would do myself a favour by reading a collection of his short stories first ( The Rediscovery of Man: The Short Science Fiction of Cordwainer Smith.") Norstrilia is unusual by any standards. The style is unique in my experience but the story line-what you can make of it initially-is intriguing and dare I say bizarre. Two hundred tonne diseased sheep give humankind extended existences. The sheep's farmers are rich beyond imagining with a lifestyle that ignores this fact. They live in New Australia, a planet far from old, old earth and what could be more normal than to use your wealth to purchase old earth at the behest of a personal computer. This is just the beginning and you will need to read all to be enlightened, or not, as the case may be. I started of intrigued, thought about quitting at one point and finally congratulated myself on seeing it through. I wanted more and will not get it unfortunately but am grateful for the opportunity and privilege. Peter Eerden.

映画マッドマックスを思わせる自然と暴力。オーストラリアってこんななのかと思っていたら行ってみたら割とそうだった。全然傾向が違うがブロンテの嵐が丘のような直接的感情が与えられる。

Call it one of the best books in the history of science fiction is not an exaggeration. It combines the prose of a Ray Bradbury, with the imagination of John Barley. All in the late 50s!! Cordwainer Smith is one of the most copied authors of the Sci-fi in the 20th century and the source of inspiration of novels like Dune and A Planet Call Treason between others. You don’t know Science Fiction until you read Cordwainer Smith.

Seldom you encounter a book that has only glowing, raving, excited, enthusiastic reviews. With this book, I would be surprised about anything else. Apart from being a highly fascinating man in his own right, Cordwainer Smith was a literary Genius who has created one of SF's most complete, most thoroughly thought-through and elaborated future histories of mankind spanning some 8,000 years of development. Ranging from the first age of space over planoform space travel, guided by the 'Instrumentality of mankind' made possibly by the life-extending 'stroon' and the support of underpeople (genetically engineered animals in human shapes) towards a possible common vision for all people and underpeople. This is the focus of this book that I consider his masterpiece - and it is a gripping and novel story to that. This story is my favourite SF story of all, and I have read quite a few. Best regards, Andy

Remarkable Writer

Not really as good as Smith's earlier efforts. But a good read nevertheless.