![]() ![]() ![]() Although he leads a quiet life in an isolated farmhouse, his great age eventually catches the attention of the intelligence services – especially since he doesn't look a day over 30. There, Enoch Wallace, a Union-side veteran of the 1863 battle of Gettysburg in the American Civil War, has been living for more than 100 years. In the case of Way Station, the bucolics are centred around backwoods Wisconsin in the early 1960s. On the evidence of Way Station, that's a pity.Ī detailed (and only slightly boring) explanation of the meaning and import of "pastoral science-fiction" can be found here, but most of what you need to know is contained in its self-explanatory moniker: this is sci-fi set in the countryside. ![]() Perhaps someone better informed can tell me otherwise (the comments are open!), but there don't seem to be many direct followers of this strand today. Simak was best known as the pioneer and finest exponent of "pastoral science-fiction", one of the many genres sheltering under the SF umbrella. ![]() Worse still, his influence also seems to be waning. I had to pick up my copy of Way Station on abebooks. Now, in the UK, all his books seem to be out of print. Back in 1977, he was appointed the third SF "grandmaster" by the SWFA – a title almost as serious as it sounds. ![]()
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