- Paperback: 256 pages
- Publisher: Arrow Bks.; n.e. edition (6 May 1974)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0099086905
- ISBN-13: 978-0099086901
- Product Dimensions: 17.8 x 10.9 x 1.8 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 1,089,269 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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2nd impression edition paperback, vg+
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
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"Earthman, come home" is the third in James Blish's classic "Cities in Flight" Space Opera quartet, written about fifty years ago, which consists of
1) They Shall Have Stars (Cities in flight / James Blish)
2) A Life for the Stars
3) This book, "Earthman, Come Home"
4) A clash of cymbals
This series tells a "future history" epic, covering 2,000 years, in which machines called "Spindizzies" could lift not just starships, but entire cities, through space. Escaping the "Bureaucratic State" a totalitarian world state which had followed the West's gradual loss of the cold war, Earth's cities left the planet behind one by one, and sought a new freedom in the stars. These city spaceships became known as "Okie" cities: their inhabitants living long, almost immortal lives because anti-aging drugs have largely abolished death from natural death.
"Earthman, Come Home" is set some 1,700 years from now, and begins aboard the Okie city of New York, which had been the last of Earth's major citites to leave Earth in 3111 AD. The central character is John Amalfi, who has been Mayor of New York since shortly before the city left earth - in other words, he has been in office for about 600 years. (Not, incidentally "nearly 500" years as the publisher's synopsis wrongly states on the back cover of the book!)
As the story begins, New York is arriving at the yellow dwarf star with two inhabited planets. The city is hoping to trade use of it's enormous industrial capacity for raw materials, and stop long enough to clear out an infection in the hydroponic tanks which provide the citizens with food.
Unfortunately the two planets have been at war for a century. Their struggle had continued for decades without anyone else noticing, but Earth's police have just become aware of it, and order New York to leave the area. Which, because of the city's urgent needs, John Amalfi has no intention of doing ...
"Cities in Flight" is a classic SF series for good reason: both the series and this book are strongly recommended.
1) They Shall Have Stars (Cities in flight / James Blish)
2) A Life for the Stars
3) This book, "Earthman, Come Home"
4) A clash of cymbals
This series tells a "future history" epic, covering 2,000 years, in which machines called "Spindizzies" could lift not just starships, but entire cities, through space. Escaping the "Bureaucratic State" a totalitarian world state which had followed the West's gradual loss of the cold war, Earth's cities left the planet behind one by one, and sought a new freedom in the stars. These city spaceships became known as "Okie" cities: their inhabitants living long, almost immortal lives because anti-aging drugs have largely abolished death from natural death.
"Earthman, Come Home" is set some 1,700 years from now, and begins aboard the Okie city of New York, which had been the last of Earth's major citites to leave Earth in 3111 AD. The central character is John Amalfi, who has been Mayor of New York since shortly before the city left earth - in other words, he has been in office for about 600 years. (Not, incidentally "nearly 500" years as the publisher's synopsis wrongly states on the back cover of the book!)
As the story begins, New York is arriving at the yellow dwarf star with two inhabited planets. The city is hoping to trade use of it's enormous industrial capacity for raw materials, and stop long enough to clear out an infection in the hydroponic tanks which provide the citizens with food.
Unfortunately the two planets have been at war for a century. Their struggle had continued for decades without anyone else noticing, but Earth's police have just become aware of it, and order New York to leave the area. Which, because of the city's urgent needs, John Amalfi has no intention of doing ...
"Cities in Flight" is a classic SF series for good reason: both the series and this book are strongly recommended.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
When the cities left Earth, they exchanged a simple environment for one of constant, sometimes shattering, change. The Universe was littered with cultures in every conceivable stage of development. Only the iron hand of the germanium-backed economy and occasional interventions by the Earth police imposed some kind of order on the spaceways. Even John Amalfi never got used to the constant crisis of life on board an 'Okie' city. And he had been mayor of New York for nearly five hundred years now.
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