We the Underpeople

A collection that gathers and paris the plight of the Underpeople of the Instrumentality stories with the novel that features more of the same in the second half, Norstrilia. As it turns out, this works really, really well, so a clever idea of Baen's to package them this way. There's also an introduction about Robert Silverberg, who was around at the time the first Smith story was published, and he talks about that and Smith's career. We the Underpeople : The Dead Lady of Clown Town - Cordwainer Smith We the Underpeople : Under Old Earth - Cordwainer Smith We the Underpeople : Mother Hitton's Littul Kittons - Cordwainer Smith We the Underpeople : Alpha Ralpha Boulevard - Cordwainer Smith We the Underpeople : The Ballad of Lost C'mell - Cordwainer Smith We the Underpeople : Norstrilia - Cordwainer Smith Witch woman and dead robot animal trial. 4.5 out of 5 Too happy is bad. 3.5 out of 5 Old North Australia's mutant mad mink secret defense doesn't pussyfoot around with thieves and murderers. Or, Stop, You'll Eat Yourself. 5 out of 5 Hard to believe in France. 3 out of 5 Underpeople Lord assisted execution escapage. 4.5 out of 5 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 galaxy. 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. 4 out of 5

I have many, many SF books. Cordwainer Smith rates with the best of the Golden age; this collection should be on the shelf of any SF fan

. Cordwainer Smith's WE THE UNDERPEOPLE is set in the future and tells of planoforming ships in which the Underpeople, humanlike beings created from animals to do human work, have no rights --and have become more than workers. When Rod joins forces with the cat woman C'Mell, rebellion is sparked.

I have been rereading Cordwainer Smith since I first discovered his writing in the 60's. For those who do not know Cordwainer Smith was the pen name of Paul Linebarger who passed away at the age of only 53. This version brings together both the novel 'Norstrilia', aka 'The Planet Buyer', and short stories featuring the quest for freedom of the Underpeople. We get to look into the struggle for freedom through the stories of D'joan and C'mell. We meet the people of Norstrilia and the boy who bought Earth, Rod McBan the 151st. Most of the science fiction and fantasy that I read make for good stories with plenty of action and well developed characters. But the fiction of Smith makes you enjoy his writing and think. This is especially true now that we are at the beginnings of gene engineering and cloning. These two things are the basis of his writing, even though these subjects were nothing more than Science Fiction 40 years ago. I can only hope that a companion volume with the stories about the establishment of the Lords of the Instrumentality will be forthcoming. This is highly recommended for those who have never read any works by Cordwainer Smith and for those who wish to reread his works.

Smith wrote relatively few short stories and only one SF novel, mostly in the 1960's. Even so, he is one of the great SF writers with a style that is unique. His entire work is available in two hardback books, but this edition gives you his novel, Norstrilia, and the associated short stories (a large fraction of his total output). This is the most cost effective way get an introduction to his work, but you may end up wanting his complete short stories too and there is obviously overlap. I think this is better than the stand-alone Norstrilia because it includes the relevant short stories in one edition.