Cosmic Engineers

1950 novel by Clifford D. Simak

Cosmic Engineers

Cover of first edition (hardcover)

Author| Clifford D. Simak
Cover artist| Edd Cartier
Language| English
Genre| Science fiction
Publisher| Gnome Press

Publication date

| 1950
Publication place| United States
Media type| Print (hardback & paperback)
Pages| 224
OCLC| 21462352

Cosmic Engineers is a science fiction novel by American author Clifford D. Simak. It was published in 1950 by Gnome Press in an edition of 6,000 copies, of which 1,000 were bound in paperback for an armed forces edition. The novel was originally serialized in the magazine Astounding in 1939.

## Plot introduction

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The novel concerns a group of earthmen and a girl, who is awakened from suspended animation, being contacted by aliens with whom they join to prevent the collision of one universe with another.

## Reception

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Groff Conklin found the 1950 text "has an old-fashioned and somewhat frenetic ring to it which, nevertheless, is rather pleasant."[1] Damon Knight, however, panned the same edition as "a pot-boiler [which] should have been left interred" and noted that the 70th-century's inhabitants "talk, think, and act exactly like middle-class, middle-intellect 1930s Americans."[2] P. Schuyler Miller reported the novel was "good fun, but nothing to weight you down with ideas."[3]

Stephen King mentions Cosmic Engineers in Hearts in Atlantis,[4] and also in his memoir On Writing, describing Simak's novel as "a terrific read".[5]

## References

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1. ^ "Galaxy's 5 Star Shelf", Galaxy Science Fiction, February 1951, p.101.
2. ^ "The Dissecting Table", Worlds Beyond, January 1951, p.103
3. ^ "Book Reviews", Astounding Science Fiction, June 1951, p.132
4. ^ King, Stephen. Hearts in Atlantis. Pocket Books. Chapter 8.
5. ^ Stephen King, On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft. 2000, Pocket Books, p. 157

## Sources

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* Chalker, Jack L.; Mark Owings (1998). The Science-Fantasy Publishers: A Bibliographic History, 1923-1998. Westminster, MD and Baltimore: Mirage Press, Ltd. p. 299.
* Tuck, Donald H. (1978). The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction and Fantasy. Chicago: Advent. p. 391\. ISBN 0-911682-22-8.

## External links

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* Cosmic Engineers title listing at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database

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Novels by Clifford D. Simak

* The Creator (1946)
* Cosmic Engineers (1950)
* Time and Again (1951)
* City (1952)
* Ring Around the Sun (1953)
* Time is the Simplest Thing (1961)
* Way Station (1963)
* All Flesh is Grass (1965)
* The Werewolf Principle (1967)
* Why Call Them Back from Heaven? (1967)
* The Goblin Reservation (1968)
* Shakespeare's Planet (1976)
* The Visitors (1980)
* Project Pope (1981)

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