<span class="SFPTagline"> From SCIFIPEDIA </span>

Clifford D. Simak (b. Clifford David Simak on August 3, 1904 in Millville, Wisconsin – d. April 24, 1988) worked as a newspaperman for most of his life, but wrote fiction on the side from 1931 forward, full time after his retirement.

Although his earliest work was unabashed space opera, his fiction would grow increasingly thoughtful and un-melodramatic with the passage of time, and much of his work was set in rural settings, not surprising given that his best known early work was the cycle of stories that were eventually collected as City (1952), in which humanity matures beyond the need for urban centers, thanks in part to the assistance of genetically enhanced dogs and self-aware robots. "Desertion," probably his best-known story, was part of this series.

Although Simak wrote several very fine novels, his short fiction is . . .