The Night of Puudly - 3

Crying Jag - 4

Instalment Plan - 3.5

Condition of employment - 3.5

Project Mastodon - 3.5

A quaint little collection of short stories by a great and massively overlooked writer. Simak writes some excellent short fiction, and all his stories are often rich with ideas, but I wouldn't say any of the stories here are among his best. The title story is easily the weakest, but isn't a bad read and I found it to be vaguely reminiscent of Blade Runner.

There are some truly cracking ideas though. Aliens coming to earth to seek sadness as a source of intoxication? All the skills and trades of the world available as a plug and play device for robots? Building a nation in a time before man and travelling forward to establish diplomatic relations with future states?

Great stuff, great ideas and very enjoyable, but not as well written or developed as other Simak stories. ( )