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Book Review of Norstrilia

Norstrilia
Norstrilia
Author: Cordwainer Smith
Genre: Science Fiction & Fantasy
Book Type: Mass Market Paperback
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Paul Myron Anthony Linebarger wrote under the pseudonym "Cordwainer Smith." All of Smith's stories take place over the course of tens of thousands of years in a single future history.

"Norstrilia" takes place towards the latter end of the line, and is generally considered to be Smith's greatest work. The reader quickly learns the essentials (as Smith writes), the story, place and time. It's about Roderick Frederick Ronald Arnold William MacArthur Macban, the 151st. Rod McBan of the planet Old North Australia ("Norstrilia") makes the transition from young man to adult, makes a huge gamble in which he buys the Earth, and gets away alive. As Smith writes in the opening paragraph, "That's the story."

This book had was not available for many years, but was resurrected in the mid-'70s by Smith's widow.

Highly recommended for all fans of the golden age of science fiction. Science fiction writers often acknowledge Smith by making reference, for example, to a "P-MAL computer", or a "Linebarger non-gravitic drive."