149. (September 2025) City by Clifford Simak — The Tabletop Roleplayers' Book Club

City Question 4: The Dogs

kcaryths — Tue, 07 Oct 2025 03:31:29 +0000

Did you enjoy the concept of the Dogs who were created to be a sort of caretaker as humankind continued to vacate earth? Do you think dogs were a good choice for this role or would another animal have worked better? Did the narration from the Dogs from the future work for you?

City Question 7: Ants and Violence

kcaryths — Tue, 07 Oct 2025 03:36:33 +0000

The final tale of the book for a very long time, how did the concept of the entire planet being consumed by ants land with you? Did you find Jenkins' moral dilemma of whether to tell the dogs how to deal with the ant an interesting one. Did it make sense for this robot to be the one who ultimately decides the fate of all of the creatures on the planet, and to have made that particular choice?

City Question 3: Agoraphobia

kcaryths — Tue, 07 Oct 2025 03:23:50 +0000

Does agoraphobia seem like a likely, or at least possible, outcome from the social scattering and post-scarcity society that was setup early
on in the book? Do we see any correlatives in society today? Are there other ways that you feel society and individuals might change instead
in a situation like the one presented in the book?

City Question 1: General Thoughts

kcaryths — Tue, 07 Oct 2025 03:23:19 +0000

What were your thoughts on the book? It seems to have its fans and its detractors. Do you enjoy fix-ups generally? How did this one work for you?
Did you have any expectations coming into it, perhaps from reading Huddling Place in The Science Fiction Hall of Fame?

City Question 6: Jovian Bliss

kcaryths — Tue, 07 Oct 2025 03:34:40 +0000

Was the idea of most of humankind eventually choosing to become "Lopers" on Jupiter a reasonable one? Do you think that that many humans would have been convinced to do something as "final" as that, through the use of the "kaleidoscope" or would there have been a lot more who would have resisted? Or would ANY have been truly able to resist if becoming a Loper was as good as it was claimed to be? How was Fowler able to resist, even for a short time, to try and bring the rest of humanity to Jupiter? Does that imply that there is some sort of relational aspect on Jupiter, where having others there also adds value to the experience?

City Question 8: Epilogue

kcaryths — Tue, 07 Oct 2025 03:36:45 +0000

If your copy included the ninth story, Epilogue, then did it feel like it fit well with the rest of the stories? Was it a satisfying way to wrap everything up or would it have been better to have not included it at all. Was there any significance to mice being the final inheritors of the entire planet?

City Question 5: Parallel Universes and the Cobblies

kcaryths — Tue, 07 Oct 2025 03:34:14 +0000

How did the cobblies and the parallel universes fit in with Simak's themes and ideas in the story? Did they work well to flesh out his ideas or did they fall a little flat?
Are they even really tied into the main themes or more of a lighter plot device?

City Question 2: Leaving the City

kcaryths — Tue, 07 Oct 2025 03:23:37 +0000

What did you think of the idea of advanced technology eventually leading to people leaving the City and going out into more rural communities?
Did you find this plausible? Would a lack of scarcity mean that people would begin to scatter away from the City and from each other?

City Question 9: Gaming

kcaryths — Tue, 07 Oct 2025 03:38:22 +0000

Was there anything in this book which would lend itself to a good gaming experience? I suspect it might be difficult due to the way the book was structured but I'd be interested to hear what you think.

About Clifford Simak

RichardAbbott — Tue, 26 Aug 2025 19:28:00 +0000

During his fifty-five-year career, Clifford D. Simak produced some of the most iconic science fiction stories ever written. Born in 1904 on a farm in southwestern Wisconsin, Simak got a job at a small-town newspaper in 1929 and eventually became news editor of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, writing fiction in his spare time. Simak was best known for the book City, a reaction to the horrors of World War II, and for his novel Way Station. In 1953 City was awarded the International Fantasy Award, and in following years, Simak won three Hugo Awards and a Nebula Award. In 1977 he became the third Grand Master of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, and before his death in 1988, he was named one of three inaugural winners of the Horror Writers Association's Bram Stoker Award for Lifetime Achievement.

Cover blurb for City

RichardAbbott — Tue, 26 Aug 2025 19:27:01 +0000

On a far future Earth, mankind's achievements are immense: artificially intelligent robots, genetically uplifted animals, interplanetary travel, genetic modification of the human form itself.

But nothing comes without a cost. Humanity is tired, its vigour all but gone. Society is breaking down into smaller communities, dispersing into the countryside and abandoning the great cities of the world.

As the human race dwindles and declines, which of its great creations will inherit the Earth? And which will claim the stars?