Product Description

Welcome to the strangest, most distinctive future ever imagined by a science fiction writer. An insterstellar empire ruled by the mysterious Lords of the Instrumentality, whose access to the drug stroon from the planet Norstrilia confers on them virtual immortality. A world in which wealthy and leisured humanity is served by the underpeople, genetically engineered animals turned into the semblance of people. A world in which the great ships which sail between the stars are eventually supplanted by the mysterious, instantaneous technique of planoforming. A world of wonder and myth, and extraordinary imagination.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #78080 in Books
• Published on: 1999-05-13
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 400 pages

Amazon.co.uk Review
The unusual mythic quality of Cordwainer Smith's extraordinary future comes partly from his upbringing in China and love of Oriental literature. His tales of far tomorrow are told as ancient legends which everyone finds familiar, but not completely: "You already know the end ... But you do not know the beginning." This Millennium SF Masterworks collection opens with Smith's remarkable 1950 debut story "Scanners Live in Vain" and continues with tales of the Instrumentality of Mankind, near-immortal overlords who wield the terrible power of Imperial Inquisitors in old China. Cats appear frequently: as essential fighters against space-borne horrors in "The Game of Rat and Dragon", subjected to forced evolution in "The Crime and the Glory of Commander Suzdal", uplifted (like other animals) to human shape as human's slaves in "The Ballad of Lost C'Mell" and other haunting tales of these "underpeople". The stories throb with crazy rhythms and dangerous music, notably the very strange "Under Old Earth"; Joan of Arc's fate is echoed in "The Dead Lady of Clown Town"; one of the weirdest Hells ever imagined--the Instrumentality's ultimate punishment--comes nightmarishly alive in "A Planet Named Shayol". There are further stories with memorably poetic titles, promising a rich strangeness which Smith always delivers. --David Langford

About the Author
SALES POINTS * #10 in the Millennium SF Masterworks series, a library of the finest science fiction ever written * 'Read this. Cordwainer Smith is timeless' -- Terry Pratchett * 'Smith's Instrumentality is the most complex and lyrical of all future histories, redolent with future antiquity. It is a history of a mankind transformed, oddly convincingly, by a relentless series of changes - war, genetic engineering, interstellar travel, immortality - and Smith's remarkable, rich prose gives shivery hints of a darkly imagined universe extending far beyond the boundaries of the stories. Lush, strange, unique, a treasure.' -- Stephen Baxter

Customer Reviews

_Two_ Rediscoveries
This collection is an excellent introduction to Cordwainer Smith's work, but a quick word of warning: there are actually two Smith books out there called 'The Rediscovery of Man'. This short story collection is the right place for beginners to start, but more ardent Smith fans may want to track down the NEFSA Press volume with the same title. The latter contains the _complete_ short fiction of Cordwainer Smith, including the non-Instrumentality short stories. If you get the NEFSA version and 'Norstrilia' you'll have all of Smith's science fiction in only two volumes.

And for what it's worth, I think 'A Planet Named Shayol' is one of the most extraordinary short stories ever written in any genre.

If you thought Golden Age SF wasn't challenging, think again
Cordwainer Smith brings depth, richness, and above all an amazing sense of a true alternative reality to SF with this brilliantly imagined series of stories.

Like Clockwork Orange, but without the pseudo-new-made-up-language, Smiths universe is one to be experienced in totality - and you can only really appreciate each story when you have finished the lot.

Whilst these stories only skim the surface of what was surely one of the most complete SF universes ever to grace the page, the multitude of small glimpses they offer gives far more sustenance than digesting many a weighty space opera multi-parter!

If this isn't on your bookshelf, you havent got a true context against which to measure anyone from Asimov to Gibson.

Fantastic!!!
This book really surprised me. Not only was the background colourful and insightful, the stories really do tie together really well. The 'Game of Rat and Dragon',rates as one of the finest short stories I have read. Read this book!