Grotto of the Dancing Deer and Other Stories

by Clifford D. Simak, David W. Wixon (Introduction)

Ten tales of wonder, danger, and the future--including the Hugo and Nebula Award-winning title story--from the science fiction Grand Master.

This volume #4 contains ten stellar short stories by science fiction Grand Master Clifford D. Simak. In “Grotto of the Dancing Deer”, a man carrying an ancient secret finally speaks up, unable to bear any longer the loneliness he has experienced for millennia. In “Over the River” , which Simak wrote in memory of his beloved grandmother Ellen, children from an embattled future are sent back for safekeeping to their ancestors in the peaceful past. And in “Day of Truce”, the inhabitants of a suburban subdivision must barricade themselves against bands of roving attackers. On only one day each year do the gates open wide. . . .

Each story includes an introduction by David W. Wixon, literary executor of the Clifford D. Simak estate and editor of this book.

Contents:
* The Language of Clifford D. Simak • essay by David W. Wixon
* Over the River and Through the Woods (1965) / short story by Clifford D. Simak
* The Grotto of the Dancing Deer(1980) / short story by Clifford D. Simak (variant of Grotto of the Dancing Deer)
* The Reformation of Hangman's Gulch (1944) / novelette by Clifford D. Simak
* The Civilization GamThe Grotto of the Dancing Deer (1958) / novelette by Clifford D. Simak
* Crying Jag (1960) / novelette by Clifford D. Simak
* Hunger Death (1938) / novelette by Clifford D. Simak
* Mutiny on Mercury (1932) / novelette by Clifford D. Simak
* Jackpot (1956) / novelette by Clifford D. Simak
* Day of Truce (1963) / novelette by Clifford D. Simak
* Unsilent Spring (1976) / novelette by Clifford D. Simak, Richard S. Simak

.

Genres: Science Fiction, Short Stories, Fiction, Fantasy, Audiobook, Collections, Anthologies

297 pages, Kindle Edition

First published March 1, 2016

About the author

"He was honored by fans with three Hugo awards and by colleagues with one Nebula award and was named the third Grand Master by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA) in 1977." (Wikipedia)

See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clifford...

Reviews

[Tadiana ✩Night Owl☽ · Rating 4 out of 5]

My search for award-winning science fiction shorts that are free online led me to this 1980 Nebula and Hugo award-winning story by Clifford D. Simak, whose novel Way Station is a nostalgic favorite of mine. This is a weak 4 stars from me, maybe 3.5. Review first posted on Fantasy Literature:

Boyd, an archeologist, is just finishing up his study of a recently discovered cave near Gavarnie, France that contains prehistoric paintings and other ancient artifacts. The rest of the crew has left; only Boyd’s native assistant, Luis, remains in the area, passing the time by playing a primitive pipe made of bone. Boyd is oddly reluctant to leave the cave, haunted by a feeling that something he initially dismissed as unimportant might actually be significant.

After chatting with Luis and accepting a final dinner invitation from him, Boyd returns to the cave and checks out a rock wall that was once broken, with the pieces of rock fitted back together. He pries out the pieces of rock and finds a fissure behind it. Boyd briefly struggles with his conscience, knowing he really shouldn’t enter the fissure without anyone else knowing where he is, but in the end the temptation to explore it proves irresistible. What he discovers at the end of the fissure is astounding ― and the more he examines what he finds there, the more fantastic it all becomes, especially when it ties back to the current era in a way that leads Boyd to only one possible conclusion, however difficult to believe.

“Grotto of the Dancing Deer” begins with a mystery ― which Boyd is able to unravel surprisingly quickly, with an improbable deductive leap ― and segues into a somewhat melancholy reflection on human nature, and how a man might react when his life takes a particular turn (avoiding spoilers here). There are many appealing details in the setting, and an intriguing reveal at the end that made me wish I could read the next chapter in Boyd’s life.

Norm Sherman narrates the podcast sotto voce with a portentous tone, which I found annoying, and he assigned the character Luis an accent that sounded like he came from Transylvania. I’m a hardcore fan of the written word and, as my introduction to the world of audiobooks, I thought this podcast left quite a bit to be desired

You can listen to this one on a free (and legit!) podcast here, or if you're a diehard reader, a Google search will lead you to a Chinese (?) website that has posted this story online (and manages to mess up some of the punctuation), but you're on your own there.

[Mitticus · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Grotto of the Dancing Deer" (1980) Short story 2.5 stars

Hugo, Nebula, Locus winner ... and... That's it? Mmm Boring.

An archaeologist is about to leave after investigating rock paintings in France, when he makes another unexpected discovery.

It has a hint of longing. Long life can turn out to be a curse. The idea of this observer in the shadows is strange. What remains is that you can only survive to a certain extent in solitude without the need to seek a human bond, even if it is the minimum.

......
He put out his hand to touch the palette, then pulled it back. Symbolic, yes, this move to touch, this reaching out to touch the man who painted—but symbolic only; a gesture with too many centuries between.
......


“Over the River and Through the Woods”(1965) Short story. 3.5 stars

Sweet story, very in the timetravel tradition. Idealized farm life and dangerous future.

She turned back to the stove to stir the cooking apples, for which the wide-mouthed jars stood waiting on the table, then once more looked out the kitchen window. The two of them were closer now and she could see that the boy was the older of the two—ten, perhaps, and the girl no more than eight.
....

[Metaphorosis · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 stars - Metaphorosis Reviews

A collection of science fiction stories by Clifford D. Simak.

I often despair of understanding the logic of anthologists. Especially in collected works anthologies, they seem to group stories together with no clear organizational logic. This Open Road Media collection is no different. This volume has what it claims may be Simak's first story, from 1930, along with a western, and stories written up toward the end of the last century.

The sad common feature of many of the stories here - they're not that good. Even the introduction seems to acknowledge that, as do many of the story notes. It's not surprising that an author who wrote over such a long period put out some duds, or that he improved over time. The organization of this collection throws the latter point into sharp relief without giving a sense of how the change progressed. A few of the stories are good; one is downright embarrassing.

Some of the best stories (mostly):
Over the River and Through the Woods - time traveling children. Despite a somewhat condescending introductory note, this is a nice, relatively subtle piece that gets its fundamentals across without you really noticing.
Grotto of the Dancing Deer - cave paintings and longevity. I'm not sure this deserved its awards, but it's a nice story with a touching theme that the ending hammers a little too hard.
Crying Jag - alien intoxication. Thin, but with the strong small town feel that Simak was so good at.
Hunger Death - a small town doctor on Venus. With some not very credible aliens, but a nice feel.

And the embarrassing one:
Mutiny on Mercury - humans lord it over the inferior but uppity Selenite and Martian races, with, apparently, not a trace of satire in sight. It's hard to read, and hard to believe that this story is from the same guy who wrote about regular guys standing up to authority. I'd like to see it as a sardonic comment on colonial attitudes, etc. But I'm afraid it's not - [spoiler alert] the brave human puts down the troublesome lower races, and all is well again.
Then there's the story about how we need DDT to live.

All in all, an unfortunate grouping. There are good stories in here, but the overall feeling of the collection is a decidedly negative one. Don't let this be all the Simak you read. There's a lot more to him than this collection would suggest.

[Иван Иванов · Rating 4 out of 5]

Четвърти пореден том от събраните разкази на Саймък и, също като в предишните, разказите са със смесено качество. Явно това е търговска стратегия на издателя, за да няма открояващи се по-силни и по-слаби томове. Разказите не са подредени нито хронологично, нито тематично, просто във всеки том има по няколко страхотни, няколко добри и някой-друг посредствен. Наистина е чудесно, че най-после имаме възможността да прочетем всички разкази на този легендарен автор, но дали пък нямаше да е по-добре да се представят последователно, за да проследим развитието му през годините?

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

In the span of his fifty-five year career, Clifford Simak penned some of the most iconic science fiction ever written: over a hundred short stories paired with a fistful of award-winning novels like City, Why Call Them Back From Heaven?, and Way Station. Simak’s writing is defined by his themes—robots, immortality, cave men, time travel, all underlined by a rich feeling of pastoral life and small-town Americana. His writing is often thoughtful and subdued, whether they are flights of whimsy or sad reflections on humanity’s shortcomings. Despite his many awards, Simak is considered one of the genre’s more underrated masters; it’s been a while since many of his stories were reprinted, a situation thankfully being rectified via a nine-volume series collecting all of Simak’s short fiction.

The title story, “Grotto of the Dancing Deer,” is a quiet tale that touches on many of Simak’s core themes. An archaeologist investigating a series of ancient cave paintings in France notices that his local laborer always seems to be in the right place to discover these pieces of art. He realizes that this laborer was the original painter, doomed to walk the earth as an immortal, but trapped by that secret in lonely isolation. Simak handles the subject with soft care and precision, and the story is rich in pastoral vibes tinged with loneliness. It won the Hugo and Nebula for best short story for a reason: it’s a powerful but subtle piece.

The earliest stories in this collection are pieces of pure pulp entertainment, a bit ragged and archaic compared to the author’s more refined works. “Hunger Death” deals with a newspaper journalist investigating a killer disease where the infected starve to death, who discovers that a backwater Venusian colony-city—mostly down on their luck Okie-types, drawn to the planet by false advertising—is the only place immune to the sickness. It foreshadows where Simak was going with its folksy characters saving the day, but it feels quite primitive, both in Simak’s early writing and in the focus on print journalism. “Mutiny on Mercury” is one of the author’s earliest tales, and it’s almost unrecognizable, reading more like a draft from Otis Adelbert Kline. The mining planet of Mercury finds itself under a slave revolt when the traitorous Martians lead the strong-but-stupid moon men on a revolt against humanity, against which our bravo hero Tom Clark fights back with sword and gun. The story has good adventure and some harrowing thrills, but I found the slavery element quite distasteful and crude in its execution.

The stories I liked best come from the period of Simak’s high-water mark, the works he produced for Galaxy during the 1950s and 1960s. “Crying Jag” is one of the most effective: a small-town drunk is visited by two aliens, who themselves get drunk—and become addicted to—humanity’s tales of woe and sorrow, sucking the sadness out of whoever they meet. It’s a strange tale, but a brilliant one told with pathos. The starship crew in “Jackpot” have searched many planets for untapped minerals, but finally strike it big when they discover alien relics—sort of an alien library—on an uninhabited world. But the men become conflicted on what to do with them, showing that Simak’s space exploiters could be humanists after all. And “Day of Truce” deals with an ongoing war between roving youth gangs and suburban adults who have fortified their house into an electrified stronghold. While this setup may seem hyperbolic, it’s handled very well as both a metaphor and a solid story.

This series collecting Simak’s work continues to be well worth your time and interest, though I wish they had been presented either chronologically—well, maybe not, given the quality of his ’30s fiction—or thematically. Or at least with Simak’s western stories devoted to a single volume, to make it easier on readers of that genre. Still, it’s hard to fault the series given that Simak’s work is of consistent high quality. Clifford Simak is one of those rare gems in the annals of science fiction history, a talented writer who penned thoughtful, deeply humane stories. I fear that Simak’s name is oft forgotten or overlooked because he didn’t write what many readers expect SF to look like—space opera, planetary adventure, hard science—so I hope that these volumes bring his works to a wider audience.

[Jamie · Rating 4 out of 5]

1980 Nebula Award + 1981 Hugo Award for Best Short Story

Lovely story from Simak from the perspective of an archaeologist who stumbles on the mystery of a set of ancient European cave paintings and their connection to today.

[Stephanie Griffin · Rating 5 out of 5]

9.4/10 What a great selection of Simak’s short stories! Especially loved The Civilization Game and Hunger Death.

[Pam Hurd · Rating 3 out of 5]

A real mixed bag. I really loved some and trudged through others. While that is the norm for most collections of short stories, I had for more consistency since they were all Simak's work.

[Durandana · Rating 3 out of 5]

4/5 - Over the River and Through the Woods
3/5 - Grotto of the Dancing Deer
2/5 - The Reformation of Hangman's Gulch
3/5 - The Civilization Game
4/5 - Crying Jag
4/5 - Hunger Death
2/5 - Mutiny on Mercury
4/5 - Jackpot
4/5 - Day of Truce
3/5 - Unsilent Spring

[Preetam Chatterjee · Rating 5 out of 5]

Clifford D. Simak’s Grotto of the Dancing Deer and Other Stories is not merely a collection of science-fiction tales—it is a meditation on humanity’s deepest impulses: memory, solitude, reverence for the natural world, and the search for meaning in a universe that often feels indifferent. Simak, one of speculative fiction’s most humane voices, builds stories that operate not on shock or spectacle but on quiet emotional force.

This volume, anchored by the Hugo and Nebula Award–winning title story, showcases Simak at the height of his gentle, philosophical power.

The title story, “Grotto of the Dancing Deer,” is among the finest works Simak ever produced. It follows an archaeologist who uncovers an ancient cave painting only to discover that its creator still lives—an immortal man who has survived through millennia, carrying both the weight and wonder of endless time.

Rather than treating immortality as a curse or a scientific puzzle, Simak frames it as a quiet burden: a long, reflective journey filled with solitude, losses, and small joys. The story’s emotional core lies in its understatedness. It is not about grand revelations but about the profound dignity of a man who has lived so long that history itself feels like a personal diary. The final paragraphs linger in the mind, not with shock but with a deep, aching beauty.

Across the collection, Simak’s preoccupations repeat like motifs in a symphony: the moral responsibilities of sentient beings, the possibility of coexistence across species or planets, the tension between technological progress and natural harmony. His protagonists are often modest people—scientists, wanderers, caretakers—who confront extraordinary circumstances with quiet courage and sincere curiosity. Simak shows that heroism need not be loud, and that wonder often appears in the margins of experience rather than the centre.

Simak’s prose is deceptively simple. He writes with clarity, softness, and a pastoral lyricism that sets him apart from more hard-edged contemporaries. Forests, farmhouses, lonely hills, and abandoned roads form the emotional landscapes of his stories, grounding even the wildest speculative ideas in a sense of earthly familiarity.

When aliens or robots enter the narrative, they rarely bring destruction; instead, they introduce moments of reflection about compassion, identity, and the flexible definitions of life.

Other standout stories in the collection explore telepathy, parallel worlds, and machine consciousness, yet always through a fundamentally human lens. Simak never reduces characters to mouthpieces for ideas. His speculative frameworks expand emotional experience rather than overshadow it. Even when the stakes are cosmic, the stories feel intimate, personal, and quietly transformative.

Ultimately, Grotto of the Dancing Deer and Other Stories is a testament to Simak’s belief in the gentler possibilities of science fiction.

It is a collection that offers wisdom rather than cynicism, hope rather than despair, and a reminder that the universe—vast, mysterious, and unknowable—is still a place where kindness and understanding can flourish.

[Robert Arl · Rating 5 out of 5]

Clifford D. Simak was not only the third author honored as a Grand Master of Science Fiction, but also a master of rural fantasy tales. This collection, part of a series (ten or so volumes to date) edited by David W Dixon contains several such stories, along with some great pure science fiction stories . I highly recommend Dixon's efforts to collect and republish all of Simak's shorter works of fiction, and intend to read all volumes. Clifford Simak help to lay the foundation of SF/Fan back in the Golden Age of the genres, and should be read by anyone who is a SF/Fan aficionado.

[Chuck McKenzie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Clifford D. Simak was one of the absolute masters of 20th Century science fiction, his work consistently exploring strange, quirky and dark frontiers of the genre, with engrossing and sometimes quietly unsettling plots, relatable characters, and a true 'sense of wonder' that recalls the best of the Golden Age of SF. This set of fourteen collections of his short fiction is a wonderful showcase of the authors popularity and skill, and I highly recommend them to fans of both Simak specifically and of science fiction in general.

[Adam Meek · Rating 2 out of 5]

these collections are rather haphazard, they are not organized by theme or publication order. this one contains one of Simak's last sf stories, the hugo winning title story as well as one of his first, the blood soaked sword and planet adventure mutiny on mercury. grotto and over the river are the standouts. it also contains the western, the reformation of hangman's gulch which taught me the term owlhooter as a synonym for outlaw.

[Kay · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not a fan of the western tales and have learned that any work earlier than the 50s from Clifford D Simak is patchy. An author still learning his trade pre-1950 but these collections are introducing me to work I have never read before. Only short story I did recognise is Grotto of the Dancing Deer, a deserved winner of both the Hugo and Nebula awards.

Ray Smillie

[CJ Tillman · Rating 2 out of 5]

The title story is classic Simak and really enjoyable and heartwarming, but dear lord the other stories were all super forgettable. Rare miss from Simak, as I enjoyed the other short story selection I read and have loved almost all of his novels so far.

[Mac Blattert · Rating 4 out of 5]

Simak wields a very broad brush. He poses varied times, locations and situations, but holds back on conclusions. I especially liked "The Grotto of the Dancing Deer", "Over the River and Through the Woods", and "The Reformation of Hangman's Gulch". Each begs the reader to finish the stories.

[Yrisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Have heard only "Grotto of the Dancing Deer" (in russian).

[Pearl · Rating 3 out of 5]

Eh

[Allyson Riccardi · Rating 3 out of 5]

I could keep reading and reading these short stories and luckily there are 2 more anthologies to get through. they are weird and dated and so interesting and human!

[Forked Radish · Rating 4 out of 5]

Simak seems to have sniffed out, maybe subconsciously, the fraud of Lascaux.

[Tigerworld · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have only read Grotto of the Dancing Deer but I thought it was great. Read it for the first time 1-2 years ago but it still haunts me

[Jeff J. · Rating 4 out of 5]

A collection of science fiction short stories along with one western.

[Lindon Durvin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good stories except the one western.

Simao wrote for a living, so sometimes he wrote westerns. But all of his writing had characters that seem like people you would like.

[Donna Davis · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the second time I've been fortunate enough to get a DRC of Clifford D Simak's short stories, courtesy of Net Galley and Open Road Integrated Media. (The last collection was titled We Install and Other Stories; I have reviewed it also.) Simak's short stories are my kind of science fiction, the old school variety where there are no clever double entendres intended for--oh, for example--programmers that write obscure, difficult types of code. No, this is the stuff that is born of a fertile imagination and an excellent facility with words, and I enjoyed it start to finish, skimming nothing. And it's for sale now, so you can get your own copy.

There's an introduction by David W. Wixon that is probably intended to bring readers of the present up to date in understanding Simak, who wrote from 1930 until around 1980. I have to admit I don't care for the tone of the introduction, although I have no doubt that Wixon is fond of Simak's work. The irritation I experience in reading it is that it seems he is apologizing for Simak--this bit of dialogue is bad, for example, because Simak was so new at it--and I don't think anyone needs to apologize for this writer, a hugely creative, intelligent man whose prose can stand up for itself. Get onto another page and check the list of awards Simak garnered over his lengthy career; it isn't my imagination. He's a terrific writer, and I cringe that anyone would be so supercilious as to apologize for his old friend as if Simak weren't quite on his game.

But enough of that.

Time travel is always great fare for a short sci fi tale, and it's used abundantly here. I think deep in his heart Simak must have also wanted to write some historical fiction, because time travel isn't usually between the present time, even allowing for the fact that his present time when he was writing was quite some time before the present present time. He takes people from the future back to covered wagons, or to changed planets that have the habits of early American pioneers, particularly those of the wild west. And his characters are so tangible and so believable that they make the science fiction aspect of the story approachable to the reader whose science knowledge is limited. This inclination makes humanities-grounded individuals like myself so stinking happy, I can't begin to tell you how much it pleases me. I never like to have some aspect of literature cut off from me because I am not sharp enough to handle it, but when sci fi becomes hugely technical, there's nothing to do but to close the book and (if it isn't a DRC) pass it on to someone more scientifically proficient than I am.

But Simak is accessible, all the time. His work isn't dumbed down, but it is friendly and approachable. Anyone that has the ability to read at the level of a high school senior should be able to read this riveting collection without more than perhaps one or two Google searches, and those will likely be historical questions rather than technical ones.

I really enjoyed the title story, but my personal favorite of the lot is Crying Jag. In this tale, a local man has taken to drowning his sorrows in hooch, and then when he is sloppy drunk, he sits down and cries. Aliens land and are able to take the tears and the sorrow on tap, but with similar results; they get drunk from the sad stories and the tears. I laughed out loud through this one and frankly wondered what kind of creativity it would take to dream up something like this. I just loved it.

Such whimsy!

A more philosophical tale involves reaching an alien society that has labored for a long time to be able to bridge interplanetary culture and understanding; they have the perfect library for the use of the entire galaxy, absolutely free. Earth men that land here immediately begin scheming of ways to turn the "free" library into a private library for profit; hey, who's to be the wiser? And in the end, I was bemused to see how it worked out.

I am always a little surprised that not more people read short stories. Time for most people is limited. When you finish a short story, you can give yourself permission to turn out the light and go to sleep. And Simak's are of top caliber; the only writer whose short science fiction I enjoyed more might be Stephen Donaldson, and his vocabulary and prose is far less accessible.

High school teachers looking for good short science fiction for the classroom should look no further. The stories are varied in length and I would say they would be rated PG 13 if they were a movie instead of text; in other words, just fine for teenagers in the classroom, with a wealth of potential for discussion.

Highly recommended to all that enjoy old school science fiction.

[Maria Beltrami · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ten stories chosen from the abundant production of Simak. Ten pearls, although they are linked to the past, are able to capture completely the reader's attention, both for the powerful writing andthe perfect definition of the characters, which is rare in the short stories narrative form.
Apart from the story that gives the title to the collection, which addresses diversity from a merely psychological point of view, they are stories of pure adventure with a definite western scheme, hilarious.
Thank Open Road Integrated Media and Netgalley for giving me a free copy in exchange for an honest review.

Dieci racconti scelti tra l'abbondantissima produzione di Simak. Dieci perle che, nonostante siano legate al passato, riescono a catturare completamente l'attenzione del lettore, sia per la scrittura potente sia per la perfetta definizione dei personaggi, cosa rara nella forma racconto.
A parte il racconto che dà il titolo alla raccolta, che affronta la diversità da un punto di vista prettamente psicologico, si tratta di storie di pura avventura, con un preciso schema western, divertentissime.
Ringrazio Open Road Integrated Media e Netgalley per avermi fornito una copia gratuita in cambio di una recensione onesta.

[brooke · Rating 3 out of 5]

I received this from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This is the second collection of short stories by Clifford Simak that I have read. Simak writes what I would consider very 'classic' science fiction stories, and this collection is very good. My favorite story was probably 'The Civilization Game' and my least favorite story was 'The Reformation of Hangman's Gulch.' I would recommend this to fans of Simak or fans of traditional science fiction.

[Gato Montes · Rating 5 out of 5]

awesome

[Pamela · Rating 4 out of 5]

This would deserve 4 stars even if all the stories except GROTTO were crap. But...this being Simak, they aren't crap.