Wayside World

by George Zebrowski

It has been two generations since the war plagues and fireballs left heaps of dead on the now-primitive world of Cleopatra. Ishbok learned to read as he hid in the abandoned libraries until his food gave out, and now his skill for making knives and spear points is keeping him alive on a planet where book knowledge is useless, but inspiration is the key to survival.

ebook

First published September 25, 2003

About the author

George Zebrowski was an American science fiction writer and editor who wrote and edited a number of books, and was a former editor of The Bulletin of the Science Fiction Writers of America. He lived with author Pamela Sargent, with whom he co-wrote a number of novels, including Star Trek novels.
Zebrowski won the John W. Campbell Memorial Award in 1999 for his novel Brute Orbits. Three of his short stories, "Heathen God," "The Eichmann Variations," and "Wound the Wind," were nominated for the Nebula Award, and "The Idea Trap" was nominated for the Theodore Sturgeon Award.

Reviews

[Althea Ann · Rating 3 out of 5]

On a post-apocalyptic colony world, the remnants of human civilisation have degenerated into a life resembling our worst conceptions of cavemen. The strong and brutish survive. Unfortunately, Ishbok is a man who, in our society, would probably have become a nerdy geek. Bullied, and rejected by his love interest, it doesn't look like there's much hope for him - until visitors arrive from the skies.