Shakespeare's Planet

by Clifford D. Simak

Carter Horton and three other crew members are sent on a mission to find a planet which would be suitable for human life. They are put in a deep sleep until they arrive. However, due to a systems malfunction, Carter is the last one left alive. When he makes it to the planet he finds that he has been in deep sleep for about two thousand years and that the ship he made it there with refuses to return to earth. The only living thing he discovers is Carnivore, who claims that there is an inter-space tunnel which is the only way to leave the planet.

Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction, Science Fiction Fantasy, Fantasy, Shakespeare, Speculative Fiction, Ebooks

218 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published May 1, 1976

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

[Велислав Върбанов · Rating 5 out of 5]

„Планетата на Шекспир“ е много силна и философска фантастика! Клифърд Саймък съчетава по увлекателен начин научнофантастични и фентъзи елементи в нея, за да предизвика размисли за същността на времето, необятността на Вселената, контактът между коренно различни форми на живот и други значими теми. Атмосферата на книгата като цяло е мрачна, но и страшно въздействаща.

Космически кораб, чийто интелект се състои от три сливащи се човешки съзнания, е изпратен от Земята на мисия за октриване на далечни и подходящи за живот планети. Обаче, той достига целта си след повече от хилядолетие... Екипаж от космонавти са били „замразени“ за периода на пътуването, но от тях е оцелял единствено Картър Хортън. На него се пада задачата да живее известно време на планетата, както и да я изучава с помощта на един робот. Там се запознават и разговарят със загадъчен извънземен Хищник, който им показва тайнствен тунел (свързващ този свят с други, но отказващ да допусне пътуване в обратната посока), както и запустял град, и не по-малко загадъчно езеро... Хищникът също им разказва за човек, който наричал себе си Шекспир, и до преди да умре също е живял там... Скоро през тунела пристига жена от друга далечна планета. Впоследствие, заедно с Хортън, Хищника и робота, започват да правят опити да разкрият мистериите, а и да обмислят по какъв начин да си тръгнат...

[Metodi Markov · Rating 5 out of 5]

Саймък рядко разочарова!

Леко е да се пътешества из неговите чудни светове, очаква ни винаги смислена и оригинална история, както и многобройни звездни и човешки герои, които бързо могат да ти станат близки и приятели.

С кеф я препрочетох, след толкова много време. И намирам този кратък роман за много човечен и добър, провокиращ читателя да се замисли както върху личното, така и върху фундаменталното.

Непреходна sci-fi класика!

P.S. Интересно е решението на илюстратора на българската корица да я увенчае баш с робота Никодим. 😀

[Paul Weiss · Rating 3 out of 5]

“The Ship was naked … to the concept of space …”

“… and to the concept of time, which is, in the final accounting, less understandable than space.”

SHAKESPEARE’S PLANET, like so many of Simak’s novels, is a space opera with both hard and soft sci-fi components – near light speed interstellar travel; time dilation; robotics and artificial intelligence; human evolution beyond the necessity for corporeal existence; cryogenic hibernation; the destruction of planet earth as a viable human habitat; interplanetary “portals” (we’d probably call them wormholes now); extraterrestrial species in a bewildering variety of humanoid and non-humanoid forms; and, of course, inter-species communication barriers.

Unlike the discussion of the ethics of bio-engineering contained in THE WEREWOLF PRINCIPLE, or the in-your-face commentary on right-wing racism and mob justice that was showcased in TIME IS THE SIMPLEST THING, if there were any intended subliminal messages or moral takeaways in SHAKESPEARE’S PLANET, I’m afraid I missed them. Nevertheless, as a simpler exploration of possible versions of “It is what it is” when it comes to human colonization in space, SHAKESPEARE’S PLANET is an enjoyable, if not particularly memorable, read.

Paul Weiss

[Craig · Rating 3 out of 5]

Shakespeare's Planet is a far-future space opera that Berkley/Putnam/SFBC released in 1976. It centers on Carter Horton, who spends a thousand years or so of interstellar transit in suspended animation and awakens to find he's the only human survivor. The planet he arrives on is home to some interesting aliens, a broken matter transmitter, and some very odd but pleasant natural features. His ship's computer, comprised of three different personalities, and a robot complete the cast until another human, Elayne, arrives. They all talk and debate and discuss philosophy and have a pretty nice time and a few adventures until some of them leave and the book ends. There's not much relating to Shakespeare; a former visitor to the planet took the name from an old book of plays he happened to have. There's not a lot of action, but it's an engaging and amusing entertainment. Not among Simak's best, but comfortable fun.

[David Sarkies · Rating 4 out of 5]

A lone man trapped on an alien planet
2 May 2012

I have been reading over some of the old science-fiction short stories that I wrote probably about 10 to 15 years ago (and no, they are not published, thank God) and I must admit that these stories are far inferior to some of the science-fiction that I have read recently. In a way they were my attempt at imagining what would be a good science-fiction television series but because making a television series is quite expensive, I put them down in book form instead. However, just because I look back at them and consider them to be of poor quality, it does not necessarily mean that they are unpublishable, they are simply unpublishable in their current form.
However, I mention this in contrast to this story which I thought was brilliant. The story is about a lone man who was frozen, placed in a sub-light ship, and then sent out into the galaxy to locate a suitable planet for colonisation. Unfortunately not everything went to plan in that the other three occupants of the ship all died leaving poor Carter Horton alone with a robot. However, as it turns out, he is not the only person on this planet as he meets an alien named Carnavore, and discovers that a human named Shakespeare had died just before he arrived.
In a way this is what I have come to expect of good science-fiction in that it is a means to explore, philosophically, where we as humans are headed. This is not the only story that I have read which involves a sub-light colony ship being sent out into space and then thousands of years later the inhabitant of the ship discovers that time has meant that he can no longer return home because his home no longer exists. In a way, the idea of space exploration that comes out in this story is that once you chose to do it then there will never be any going home. In a way it is like exploration of Earth, however there was never any leap frogging of technology in that when Captain Cook set sail from England for Australia, he did not arrive to discover that supersonic flight at been invented. This is why, in many cases, stories like this are speculative, and in a way it has only been in the Twentieth Century that such speculative looks into the future have come to the fore. It is strange that many of the pre-20th Century books do not deal with the future, but with the present, whereas now we deal with the present by looking into the future.
Simak, in this book, seems to explore alien life, and the aliens that he creates are truly alien. While Carnavore is a humanoid warrior alien, I actually quite liked him. He is a carnivore, but he is a friendly carnivore. It is suggested that he cannot be trusted, but it turns out that it is only when it comes to monsters that he shows his true colours, and it is because his people seek glory through killing, but not just any type of killing, but killing something that is a challenge, namely a monster. Then we have pond, and pond is probably the most alien of the creatures in this story, though I really do not want to go too deep into this character because it will give too much away.
In a way this story is a mystery. Carter Horton wakes up after what he believes to be 1000 years, and those around him, namely the ship and the robot Nichodemus, all believe that it is 1000 years. However, time dilation, as is determined by Einstein's theory, has a role to play. While one may travel for what they believe to be 1000 years, in fact time dilation means that it takes much longer to travel than we experience. It is like taking a train journey that our watch says takes only 20 minutes, however when we arrive at our destination we discover that in reality two hours have passed. I would suggest that the closest we can come to that is when we cross a time zone, however it is not the same because even if we cross a time zone, the time we take to travel does not change, however the theory of relativity says that the faster we go, the slower we experience time.
In a way as we read this book we are exploring a mysterious planet, but even then we are only exploring a small section of this planet. There is this character named Shakespeare, and we are led to believe that it is the Bard, but it actually is not (some commentators have seemed to have missed this). The reason he earns the name Shakespeare is because he has a book of the complete works of William Shakespeare. Then there is the gateway, the technological device that allows people to pass great distances to other habitable planets. However it still baffles me why Horton did not leave that way, but maybe because he chose to go with his ship rather than with the woman. Me, I probably would have gone with the woman because I see no reason why I would want to go with the ship (with the exception that the ship is an intelligent lifeform, and nobody seems to want to stay on this planet).
This is one of those really good books that I thoroughly enjoyed as I read, and in a way it wants to suck me into more books of it's style. I doubt there is a sequel, and there really does not need to be one. Instead, we move onto the next story with new characters set in new places. Still, I enjoyed this book and it is a shame not to know what became of Carter Horton or where those tunnels led.

[Ebenmaessiger · Rating 3 out of 5]

a ponderous, plodding, strangely compelling work. emblematic, id think, of a certain 70s sf aimlessness and uncertainty setting in for some, and therefore a messy stew, neither fully embracing its mystical talkiness nor rejecting its 'grand explorers' spaceoperatic origins, and most definitely having no clue how to merge the two.

[Иван Величков · Rating 5 out of 5]

Писана уж след „златния” период на автора, „Плаентата на Шекспир” по-скоро синтезира някой от по-ранните му идеи, като им придава плътност и един умерен по-философски стил, който идва с възрастта и опита. Може дори да се разглежда като продължение на „Резерватът на таласъмите”, въпреки че светостроенето е по-различно, както и самото бъдеще на човечеството.
Ще си позволя а отбележа три много въздействащи неща в романа.
1. Почти до самоя финал книгата навява едно тягостно чувство за скрита опасност, описано майсторски и постоянно присвиващо стомаха на читателя. Мистерията на Вонящото езеро, странното същество в куба, пулсиращата могила, руините, запечатаният портал, тъжната съдба на Земята и непонятното явление „Часът на бога” перфектно се вписват в атмосферата на отчаяние лъхаща от самата планета на която са заседнали главните герои и превръщат романа в доста напрегната мистерия, граничеща с литературата на ужаса.
2. Разхвърляните записки на Шекспир, самоанализите на главния герой и диалозите на тройния корабен мозък (дамата, монаха и учения) ненатрапчиво предават на произведението една морбидна филосовска аура, която те вглъбява още по-сериозно в пищните описания споменати по-горе.
3. Въпреки че накрая Саймък влиза в познатата от предишни по-големи произведения шаблонност, тук успява да контролира потока си от идеи и всяко нещо си идва на мястото в малко хаотичния, но определено логичен финал.
За самата книга.
Картър Хортън е космонавт предприел многовековно пътуване в сомния (терминът още не е наложен по време на написването на книгата). Когато корабът му се приземява на особена планета, той разбира, че е единственият оживял дългото замразяване. С помощта на корабния интелект и един робот тръгва да изпълнява мисията си, заложена преди векове и вече излишна. На планетата се среща с Хищника – извънземно същество, което е изяло предишния си „съквартирант” човек и останало само на планетата. През еднопосочният пространствен портал, поставен от неизвестна цивилизация, на планетата пристига млада изследователка. Четиримата (заедно с робота) ще разгадаят мистериите на „Планетата на Шекспир” и ще узнаят защо е запечатана и може ли да си заминат от нея.

[Deb Omnivorous Reader · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am going to contort myself a bit to not spoiler this plot because this is not a bad book and if you are going to enjoy it I think the pace Simak rolls his plot out for you will be a big part of your enjoyment. And you need to be into philosophising more than action or science.

If you are going to enjoy it...

I did not love it, I did not hate it. I found it to be a deeply, profoundly OK of a book.

It starts off with a really strong, classic science fiction theme: Carter Horton wakes up from suspended animation. He and three others were sent out by Earth to explore for planets suitable for colonisation. The ship they are travelling in has a composite, three human brains in gestalt to guide it, think 'brain in a box' or 'The ship who sang' type scenario.

Most of the events on the planet take place with Carter Horton and the ship robot Nicomedes as the main protagonists, with a bit of help from an alien and a walk in. Nicomedies, btw is a completely inconsistent character, in my opinion meant to be a 'baseline robot' he says of someone 'he gets on my nerves' has a short snappish temper and is entirely unrobot like. The planet they are on is Shakespeare's planet. Shakespeare was a human who used to live there but has recently died. When they land, they are greeted by a pretty interesting alien trapped on it called Carnivore, that is the name given him by Shakespeare, who shared the planet with him for many years.

Why were they trapped there?

Backstory: The Earth that Ship and it's crew left (around 2455, probably) was a different Earth to ours in 2024. There had been a major global collapse and social restructuring. Some time after Ship left, a lot of colony ships set out. Then they discovered these 'tunnels' which let them (and other species like Carnivore) travel between worlds. Unfortunately, there is no way to select a destination, it is just random travel and Carnivore, Shakespeare and later other travellers are all marooned on this planet since the tunnel is broken and there is no way to travel outward bound.

The concept of the tunnel reminded me a lot of Heinlein's Tunnel in the Sky, though he imagined rather more control.

There is not a lot of the science in this classic sci-fi, it is mostly philosophy really. A little argy bargy about travelling at the speed of light, time dilation, alien technology (the tunnels) and not much else.

There is not a lot of action either, a bit of desultory aimless, unsystematic exploring, but not a lot. As explorers Carter Horton, Nicodermis and their opinionated Ship are all rubbish. Ship does nothing but sit around and think about it's three pasts and current gestalt configuration. It has zero interest in anything else and is repetitious in it's extensive examination of itself, and so becomes zero interesting to the reader eventually. Carter wanders around the world like a wide eyed Kindy Kid on a day excursion to the park. He drinks flowing water without testing it, eats stuff from the world with no hint of caution. He shoves his hand in pools of unidentified fluids... He somehow survives all this idiotic behaviour in order to philosophise extensively at us, both through his own words and Shakespeare's which were written down in a printed book of the real Shakespeare's collected works.

Philosophy, philosophy, musing and maunderings...

We hear musings about peoples pasts, societies, personal beliefs and the affects of intelligent species on their environments.
And one's place in the universe.
How people became lost to their own sense of identity when they left Earth, as they could no longer identity their point of origin (? ok...)
Clifford seems fond of the idea that prehistoric humans had a 'gut feeling' that helped them survive but which was lost to civilised man as the civilised world is so less dangerous that the pre-industrialised one. That was a right ROFLOL moment, to be sure.

I did get bored with it at times, it was never so tedious to make me want to put it down or skim read (until, briefly, right at the end I was done with Ship by then), but I was not really invested or especially interested in the philosophising about the meanings of life, the universe and everything... (The answer is 42 anyway...)

Simak's musings have dated more than any other aspect of the book, and they are the most of the book. Anyone who enjoyed this novel seems to be someone who loved the hypotheticals and the musings. I was deeply meh about them.

Then about 200 pages before the end, there is this wild, multispecies, insane burst of action. No explanation for any of it, but it is pretty weird and wonderful. Then it kind of ends, stuff happens, people philosophise, Ship continues its exhaustive and deeply unproductive examination of its own existential crisis.

I don't know what Simak was trying to do here; normally he has themes, things he is examining... this time I think it is all just word salad with a bit of philosophy dressing poured over the top, in a dish that is structurally sound.

I hate to say this about Clifford D. Simak, but, really, Meh.

[path · Rating 3 out of 5]

“Man has historically, I believe, looked upon the universe as something that came about through a purely mechanistic evolution that can be explained, at least in part, by the laws of physics and chemistry. But a universe so evolved, being no more than a mechanistic construct, never would make anything reasonably resembling complete sense” (213).

The title of the book is almost certainly a nod toward the “Infinite Monkey Theorem” in which a fabled roomful of monkeys at typewriters, given infinite time, would produce an infinite number of sentences, including the entire works of Shakespeare. Similarly, given the vastness of the universe and the vastness of time since its supposed inception, even simple materials and simple rules of physics and chemistry will bring about all things that have a non-zero chance of happening in the universe.

To any one or thing able to stand outside of the everything and look back, the totality may make some kind of sense, but to those of us in the everything, it likely will not. Locally, we will see pockets of coherence, localized order and sense that appears to reflect and provide some insight about the machinery of the universe, traceable to a Big Bang mechanical event that sets the physical and chemical trajectory that accounts for the universe, or at least the part of it that we know. And that is sort of the backdrop for a minimal story of a deep space traveler, the last human of his original crew who is revived on a remote, earth-like planet that is populated by a strange beast-like humanoid called “Carnivore” a sentient pond, a dragon suspended in a cube of time, and a shuttered way station for what is maybe a system of interstellar travel. And there is a cyclical “god-hour” event that causes a lot of psychic distress by shunting the narrator’s mind into a strange, universe-spanning, omniscient, view point.

The “god-hour” event around which the minimal story is based ultimately seems like a representation of sense or coherence that we consolidate in our rational concept of the universe, made in our image, consolidated in a god or gods or in science. Simak’s narrator, Horton, calls this god-hour as a call of “I-ness,” ultimately an egoistic view of the universe to which we attribute greater power of explanation, perhaps more than it merits. The story and the characters don’t line up or get explained in any conventionally coherent way, and I think this is the point. There probably is sense but we are too small and our field of vision too narrow to see it.

Not really among the best Simak I’ve read, but still a good way to spend some time. I always appreciate how Simak attunes to what humans and humanity adds to the universe. In this case, what we add is the bias of thinking about the universe as a reflection of ourselves when there is every reason to believe that it likely won’t be that. In that contemplation, Simak does help us think about vastness and variation and perhaps the humility that we ought to cultivate when facing it. And perhaps also, subversively, in accepting that humble respect for diversity on a grand and universal scale, we ought to see how the same respect can be paid locally to the circumstances that we live in everyday.

[Lea · Rating 4 out of 5]

I started out a bit prejudiced- this book looked so old and was tucked away in a corner of a dusty old bookstore, cloaked in a torn and cheesy sci-fi cover. But even if was a little bit dated it just kept getting better the more I read.
It reminded me a bit of the show 'Lost', in that there were tons of intriguing little mysteries that you just knew would be explained if you kept at it.
Alien biology, alien archeology, ancient philosophy and the ache of 'time' travel, mixed with just the right amount of science. It was, honestly, occasionally dated, but in the most amusing way possible. For example the occasionally heavy handed environmental philosophy just reeked of the 70's, but I've always been a fan of that particular mind-set, so it didn't bother me. Or the character Elayne, who shows up totally naked except for a pair of yellow shorts, a gun holster, white knee high boots and a rose tattooed on her breast. How deliciously 70's sci-fi -- I'm actually surprised that her image didn't show up on the cover art...
This book is full of carefully applied imagination- for example, the alien intelligence from the 'liquid' planet (known in the book as 'the (stinking) pond') was truly original.

**Thanks, Meghan, for the comment- if it weren't for that I might not have picked it back up. I'm glad I did. And I can't believe your dad read it to you- no wonder you are the way you are ;)

[Perry Whitford · Rating 3 out of 5]

'A ship, one man, one flat-footed stupid robot - Christ, what an expedition!'

An exploratory spaceship from Earth takes a thousand years to find a suitable planet for life. Only one of the human crew survives the journey in cold storage, Carter Horton, a geologist. He has a telepathic relationship with the ship's three uploaded minds. The robot is called Nicodemus, an all-purpose droid.

They immediately find that they are not alone on Murak. They are greeted by a nasty looking alien with a skull for a face and large teeth called Carnivore. ("I welcome you," he said, "to this asshole of a planet.") What's more, he claims that Carter is not the first human visitor, that a man named Shakespeare had been before.

It's hard not to like Simak. He takes you to strange places with bizarre beings and asks all kinds of interesting questions in his work, on this occasion about friendship, time, different types of existence and the very nature of the universe itself.

I guess that's what most sci-fi writers do, but what separates Simak is the strange behaviour and offbeat dialogue of his characters, which tends to leave you with the impression that he's pulling your leg.

Shakespeare's Planet is a good example of his wonky and wonderful approach.

[Marvin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Carter Horton came to Shakespeare's Planet the hard way. He spent a thousand years in frozen sleep to arrive at the first planet away from Earth that can support life. Now he is stranded with Ship, his almost human transportation and Nicodemus, his android companion. Yet he was not the first human on the planet, William Shakespeare stumbled across it when he entered a strange tunnel. While long dead, Shakespeare is remembered by another stranded inhabitant called Carnivore, the creature that befriended Shakespeare and ultimately ate him. It appears to be a decent planet yet something is not quite right. In fact, it is very wrong.

This is the premise of Simak's excellent novel titled Shakespeare's Planet. Certainly more obscure than the classics, City and Way Station but almost their equal. Again Simak earns his title as the pastoralist of science fiction. While he is comfortable with spaceships, robots, and alien technology, it is the pastoral setting and the meanderings of his humans and aliens that carry the tale. Simak is fascinated with the question of where mankind is headed and what it will leave as its destiny but Simak finds that meaning hidden in individuals and their intimate interactions not in epic tales. There is no science fiction writer quite like Simak.

[D.M. Dutcher · Rating 2 out of 5]

A ship that's made up of three separate people land on a planet after a very long time. They thaw the only surviving member of the human crew and give him a multi-talented robot for company. Surprisingly they meet a big feral alien that greets them and speaks english, leading them to the remains of the human who lived with him, Shakespeare. A lot of weird images and complications follow.

The book is mostly people getting stuck on the planet (or only a few square miles of it, it seems,) finding weird stuff there, and reacting to it. There's a hastily wrapped up conclusion that doesn't make much sense and a lot of the book doesn't bother to explain much of anything. There's way too much philosophical rambling (The ship gets monologues for each of its three people, and Shakespeare despite being dead gets the same in his journal, without explaining how he got there) and not enough action or explanation (how did Shakespeare get there? How did people realize what his nature was? How did the "enemy" get there, and given how it was dispatched, why did the builders go to such weird lengths to contain it?)

The writing is a mixture of lyricism and clumsiness. Another yard sale sf book, better than the usual but still flawed.

[carlageek · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've been enjoying my nostalgia trip through Simak's catalogue, revisiting childhood favorites like They Walked Like Men and Way Station, and finding them just as much fun as I remembered and full of subtlety and craft that I hadn't recognized as a kid. Moving on to Simak that I hadn't read before, though, hasn't gone as well. Shakespeare's Planet is something of a concept in search of a story. It reaches in the direction of philosophical depth but doesn't quite get there, just scratching the surface of questions about consciousness and identity. It does so in fairly tedious passages where the protagonist experiences mind-stretching communication with an intelligence that is spread across all of space, or in equally tedious passages where three people whose minds have been imperfectly joined to form an intelligent spaceship comment on the protagonist's experiences like a sci-fi Greek chorus. There's also a peculiar sentient beast called Carnivore, a half-naked love interest, and a robot called Nicodemus who is part C-3PO, part Robot from Lost in Space. Meh.

[Antoni · Rating 3 out of 5]

De acuerdo: El planeta de Shakespeare no es Ciudad, ni tan siquiera Estación de tránsito. Pero la novela mala no es. Entretenida, sí; con ideas interesantes interesantes, también; un clásico de la Golden Age, pues seguramente no. Se adelanta a Gateway (por un año) y a Stargate (es obvio) en la confección de un elemento para viajar (azarosamente o no) por el universo y algunos personajes resultan atrayentes (a mí Carnivore me ha gustado mucho). No creo que se le pueda pedir mucho más. Quizás el desenlace no sea de lo más rimbombante, de hecho acabe siendo un poco wtf!, pero el Simak de siempre está ahí: con su interés por la pérdida de identidad, con su lado humanista y defensor de la vida sencilla, arraigada a la tierra y a la naturaleza. Lo cierto es que la he devorado y la he disfrutado. Me ha entretenido y eso ya es mucho, cosa que no pasa con algunos de los brillantes premios de scifi de hoy en día. Pues eso, que he venido aquí a defender a Simak y a los de la vieja escuela, que si alguién abrió camino fueron ellos. Un saludo.

[Mel · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really liked this one. It was so odd. Nothing happened. There wasn't a huge deal of character development. But it was such an interesting little snippet that could have gone in a dozen different ways and been cliched and none of the happened. It was sort of a slice of life, but life so bizarre it took away all the familiar trappings. Delightfully strange and unique.

[Ubik 2.0 · Rating 4 out of 5]

aggiornamento vecchio libro letto chissà quando

[Randy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not since Hyperion have I seen a menagerie of characterizations from The Pond water creature, intelligent albino slugs, Shakespeare's skull, Carnivore, Horton Hears a Who and his worm-hole galloping girlfriend. I liked it way better than Way Station!

[Selia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Бях забравила какво удоволствие е да се потопиш в света на Клифърд Саймък

[Mateo Tomas · Rating 3 out of 5]

I would say 3.5 out of 5.

Interesting setup. Its more about the philosophy of what is life and human contribution then plot. Character and resolution of plot seem like an afterthought. And Simack has a knack for the most mundane names for his characters. And some cool ideas, even though they often seem random or dont get alot of backstory.

Best bits ...

Unwet water...The God Hour..Uncontrollable portal travel. His robots are always 1000 or 10,000 years old. Dragon stuck in time cube.

Above average adventure with more pondering than action.

[Christian Schwoerke · Rating 3 out of 5]

Shakespeare’s Planet is another in a long line of Simak novels that entertains the idea of life and things beyond our human ken. In nearly all of his novels, there are attempts to represent a merging of intelligences/minds/personalities—alien and human—to suggest greater, even spiritual, possibilities. The mind meld in Shakespeare’s Planet is the sometimes comic conflation of three human’s personalities that work together, disembodied, as a single entity, the guiding force of an exploratory space ship over 1000-years old. This was not the novel’s chief concern, but it is an aspect of the novel that most intrigued me.

The primary plot concerns Carter Horton—sole survivor of a hibernating crew of colonists—as he muddles his way through a set of conundrums, beginning with the fact that colonization on this far-flung, human-habitable planet can’t take place. Before resorting to thoughts of once more flying into deep space, Horton begins to explore the planet and discovers a lone warrior alien—on a quest via wormholes to find and kill a worthy alien adversary—who had become stranded on the planet. The alien is able to speak English because he was for a long while companion to another human who lived and died on the planet. Both Shakespeare and the warrior found that the wormhole was stopped up, sealed from use as an exit, which Horton and his robot confirm.

While they explore for other possibilities on the planet, a human, female “wormhole cartographer” from some world other than Earth appears via the wormhole. Horton and she find that there is another vastly larger alien presence on the planet, which danger turns out to be the reason the planet’s wormhole had been plugged by some intergalactic guardian agency. When the alien warrior sacrifices his life to end the threat, the wormhole is found to once more work in both directions.

As with all of Simak’s books, the action and even the urgency are temperate, kept in check by the author’s sense of wonder and possibility. Horton and the cartographer part ways, and the three-minded space ship leaves Shakespeare’s Planet for further exploration of what might lie beyond. . .

[Maureen · Rating 3 out of 5]

my first clifford d. simak read -- i got it and cemetery world at the same time, and since this one had "from the author of cemetery world" on the cover, i thought i'd save it for later, and start here. the book starts abruptly, and it takes a while before the sf world starts to gel.. however once i understood the milieu i'd been dropped into, the story fell into its natural rhythms and made sense to me in its fantastic way -- the opposite effect from jonathan lethem's gun, with occasional music, which i recently read, and couldn't help being distracted by discordance i felt the sf effects brought to his story. the sf elements serve the story here, and very effectively. for some reason i am reading a lot of books lately that stop and philosophize, and this is more of the same. there are two major strands here: the main narrative adventure part of the story, and then the philosophical flip side represented by the three faces of the Ship. i wasn't blown away, but i am intrigued.

[David · Rating 2 out of 5]

Shakespeare's Planet, by Clifford D. Simak

The chapters of Shakespeare's Planet are short, sometimes only two pages. The writing is good. Simak's use of vocabulary, grammar and sentence structure suggest an erudite person. However, younger readers may find the prose a bit old-fashioned. I suspect this is a reflection of his background: he was born in 1904, in Wisconsin. He was raised in the northern Midwest and seems to have spent nearly all his life there, dying in Minneapolis in 1988. He was most active as a sci-fi and fantasy author from the early 1930's to the 1980's (Wikipedia). Shakespeare's Planet was one of Simak's last novels, copyrighted in 1976.

At first, each chapter seems to be told from the perspective of a different character. However, partway through the book the more common third person omniscient narration becomes dominant.

The first chapter is told in a rather grandiose style. It refers to the three entities, formerly human, who sacrificed their bodies and allowed their minds to become part of a space ship. They become unified into one mind on occasion, which was the intent, but in conversation with one another they lament that they are not unified often enough. They are the ship that brings Carter Horton, the main character, to Shakespeare's planet where he becomes marooned. Much of the rest of the book is a mystery story, since the few other people that Horton meets are also marooned and are trying to understand how and why they got trapped on the planet.

Although the book is called Shakespeare's Planet, the man named Shakespeare is dead by the time the story begins, and we learn about him mostly through flashbacks and his own cryptic journal. Chapter 2 is one such flashback which describes Shakespeare's death, accompanied by his alien friend, Carnivore. It is written in the same grandiose style as the first chapter and is quite sensational, since it deals with Carnivore's promise to eat Shakespeare at the moment of his death.

Sci-Fi Themes
Chapter 7 deals with the issue of unmanned, robotic expeditions into space. Simak says there is a sine qua non, a humanness, that cannot be replicated through robots. In the light of his own very sophisticated robot character in this novel, it is not very convincing. It is also not believable from a scientific point of view. NASA has used many unmanned probes over the years and they are no where near as sophisticated as Nicodemus, the robot character in Shakespeare's Planet. (I would guess that the vast majority of NASA's probes were less sophisticated in their programming than the computer you're using to view this, right now.) Still, perhaps Simak is tapping into our enthusiasm for manned space exploration. According to Micah McDunnigan (sciencing.com), automated space probes "do not capture the human imagination or ignite the same kind of excitement that a human physically exploring space does." Afterall, can you imagine Star Trek without a crew?

By Chapter 13, Simak has mentioned several times the concept of racial memory. Apparently, Simak thinks that there is such a thing. The idea has been used by other authors, too, including Piers Anthony in Orn (1970). In Orn, the title character has a great deal of precise information that he has inherited from his ancestors. It isn't clear that Simak would go that far.

Two characters in Shakespeare's Planet, Shakespeare and Carnivore, have arrived, not by ship, but by a space-time tunnel system. Unfortunately, they too are marooned on the planet, because the mechanism is either broken or disabled. The tunnels are very much like those in Stargate SG-1 (TV series by MGM, 1997-2007), even to the extent of having undecipherable control panels and unpredictable destinations. In both cases, they were built by an advanced race who have since disappeared. “I suppose the tunnel builders had some way of knowing where they were going. They may have had a system that could allow them to pick a correct Destination, but, if so, we have failed to find it.” (p.85) I wondered if the idea for the "Stargate" film and TV series came from the writers/producers reading Shakespeare's Planet, but I found older references to similar concepts in the sci-fi literature (Wikipedia ("Stargate (device)"), so it's not clear where the idea for Stargate originated.

The Nature of Humanity
In Chapter 22, Simak talks about the (eventual) failure of socialism and communism. He moans about the failure of mankind, our need to spoil every planet we find, as earth was despoiled. He calls this the sickness of humankind and talks about the overuse of resources, economic collapse, et cetera. He asks, are we doomed to move like an invading swarm of locusts across the galaxy, across the universe? Is the galaxy, indeed the entire cosmos, doomed to be destroyed by us? Or, will the day come when the universe will simply slap us down – not in anger, but in annoyance?

Lack of Understanding
In Chapter 18, Simak suggests, through the character Horton, that things that cannot be understood by the characters might be understood by an archaeologist, but that gets Simak off the hook. He does not have to explain the artefacts that the characters have discovered, and so, does not give evidence that would tip off the reader to the mystery of the characters' predicament. This is, afterall, a science fiction mystery.

The ending of Shakespeare's Planet is disappointing. It becomes very philosophical--too philosophical. All the characters seem to be thinking a little too much. It's very existential and some of it is difficult to understand. Furthermore, the great mysteries about Shakespeare’s planet are never really solved. However, you will be pleased to know that as the book finishes everyone ends up in his rightful place, and the good works continue with renewed hope.

[Jeffrey Anderson · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting book. When I was a teenager I saw this book in Book Villa in Huntsville and coveted it, alas it was to be many years before I finally got around to buying a copy of it. I really enjoyed Ring Around the Sun by Clifford D. Simak and this book is equally fascinating. Telling of a brief few days in the long life of Carter Horton during his visit to an unknown world he comes to think of as Shakespeare's Planet. What an interesting cast of characters and story to go along with it. I look forward to more of Simak's work. Currently though I've started reading PopCo and I'm completely fascinated by it so far, so more on that book later.

[Paul Pope · Rating 5 out of 5]

A little bit Asimov, a scoop of Bradbury, and a sprinkling of Clive Barker.
A lone voyager seeking an earth-alternative planet (in a biologic ship with a collective consciousness) finds that he can never return home. So whiling his time on this planet he discovers a locked space tunnel, a sentient pond, and an alien hunter.
Sadness, loss, melancholy…and only slim hope for any future.
A great story line filled with philosophy, theology, and the complexities of time. Loved it.

[Stephen Poltz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Though not considered one of Simak’s better works, I still loved “Shakespeare’s Planet”. Another short novel, it represents to me how many of the authors of the golden age of SF were able to flesh out a story around a simple concept without bloating up into huge epic novels. In this story, Simak sticks with his common devices of helpful but slightly annoying robots and aliens that are not simply anthropomorphisms of common earth creatures, putting them into a story that I couldn’t help but think was a deconstruction of Shakespeare’s “The Tempest”. The result was thinner than the other works of his that I’ve read, but nonetheless still satisfying...

For my full review, visit my blog: http://itstartedwiththehugos.blogspot...

[Neil MacNeill · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good sci-fi books like this one transcend the genre and delve deep into the issues of what it means to be human, questioning our ability to empathize or even clearly communicate with other species. Laced with philosophical questions as it is, Shakespeare's Planet also has a compelling and satisfying plot. Although most of the characters are not fully drawn, we grow to understand their prejudices and motivations as the story progresses. This was not an easy read, mostly due to the interactions of the three minds that control the Ship. But it was all worthwhile. Like the best from Asimov, Clarke and Heinlein, this story will stay with me for quite some time.

[Gregg · Rating 3 out of 5]

Typical Simak. A human, a robot and an organically-intelligent ship land on a distant planet thousands of light years away from Earth and meet a primitive monstrosity who shows them the last friend he had: Shakespeare. Whose bones are mounted above his dwelling. Now everyone's stranded, including a later, bare-breasted woman, unless the teleportation gate can be fixed. Meanwhile, there's this mysterious cosmic force overpowering them every evening. Entertaining--more so than it sounds. For the record, I read most of this on airplanes, the Staten Island ferry, and the NY subway system.

[Ghislain · Rating 5 out of 5]

Like many others, I picked it up used, in a sale some years ago. It has become one of my fetish books of all time. It has that Simak trademark pastorale feel to it. Be warned: it's not an action-packed read. It is very contemplative. You discover things at the same time as the characters and there's a lot that is left purposedly unexplained (not for sequel reasons, just because of the nature of the things) but that actually adds to the satisfaction the books brought me. It's the kind of books you can think about again and again and reread.

[Erik Graff · Rating 3 out of 5]

Clifford D. Simak's works are often quite distinctively quirky and funny in their own odd way. This is a good example of his work.