Norstrilia (original 1975; edition 2004)

An odd coming of age story of sorts. It reads like a transitional form between Arthur Clarke and Ursula Le Guin. ( )

Cordwainer Smith (not his real name is an interesting author writing in the sci-fi genre. He wrote a series of short stories and Norstrilia his only novel. When he was not writing sci-fi he was a member of the Foreign Policy association and professor of Asiatic Politics at John Hopkins University. he is well thought of in the sci- fi fraternity with his short stories and Nostrilia both considered as classics in the field.

He had a fantastic imagination and his stories mostly written in the late 1950's and early 1960's are a delight. No hard science here just pure 50's sci-fi, mostly well written and featuring a cast of brilliant characters. For those that are familiar with the short stories then this novel which is set in the distant future will provide another good read. The Lords of the Instrumentality, C'mell the girlygirl catwoman. the go-captains, Mother Hittons Littul Kittons (a defence system) and the underpeople all feature. What more do you want? ( )

ZB13

A little bit of Australian satire in Norstrilia. e.g. Northern Australia. This is the only place in the galaxy that the sheep who produce an immortality product can be raised. This causes Norstrilia to be the richest place in the g alaxy.

That sort of money will alwa ys cause problems.

The people of Norstrilia are happy as they are, and don't want people coming there, or to go out and take over the universe.

The main character here thinks differently, and hence gets into a ton of trouble, taking his money out into space.

He'll need Lord Jestocost and C'Mell to get him out alive.

http://notfreesf.blogspot.com/2006/12/norstrilia-cordwainer-smith.html ( )

The first half of this book, originally published as The Planet Buyer, was very good. The second half, originally published as The Underpeople, just didn't work as well for me. I was pretty bored through most of it. ( )