Way Station (novel)

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Way Station
1964 Macfadden Edition cover
Author	Clifford D. Simak
Country	United States
Language	English
Genre(s)	Science Fiction
Publisher	Doubleday
Publication date	1963
Media type	Print (Hardcover & Paperback)
ISBN	NA

Way Station is a 1963 science fiction novel by Clifford D. Simak, originally published as Here Gather the Stars in two parts in Galaxy Magazine in June and August of 1963. Way Station won the 1964 Hugo Award for Best Novel.

1 Plot summary
2 Awards and nominations
3 Film, TV or theatrical adaptations
4 Notes

[edit] Plot summary

Enoch Wallace, an American Civil War veteran, is chosen by an alien called Ulysses to administer a way station for interplanetary travel. Wallace is the only human being who knows of the existence of these aliens, until almost a hundred years later, when the US government becomes aware of and suspicious about his failure to age or die. At the same time, a powerful artifact sacred to the aliens for whom Wallace works is stolen, and Wallace becomes convinced that the Earth is about to be consumed by a nuclear war.

The novel has a number of subplots that erupt from nowhere and are finally drawn together at the end:

The government is very interested in him and spies on him for an indeterminate time.
His closest neighbors are a psychotic family whose daughter is a deaf mute. She heals warts, birds and butterflies and is the total antithesis of her clan.
Adopting an alien math, he computes that the world will go to war and predicts nuclear suicide.
He has a gun he never uses but one day he goes into the cellar and there's an elaborate gun range operated by alien technology that inserts you into a hunt for alien beasts.
The Talisman—the galaxy’s connection to the universal spiritual force—is lost, and the 'great co-fraternity of the galaxy' is beginning to break down as a result.
His ghostly support system which he created years ago collapses on him.
He is left with the choice of allowing the earth to destroy itself in war or call down a galaxy sponsored "dumbing down" that would last for generations but avert the looming war.

This novel uses a somewhat archaic voice, and some of the grammar is difficult to follow:

"Somewhere, he thought, on the long backtrack of history, the human race had accepted an insanity for a principle and had persisted in it until today that insanity-turned-principle stood ready to wipe out, if not the race itself, at least all of those things, both material and immaterial, that had been fashioned as symbols of humanity through many hard-won centuries."
"I've been figuring for years how to get it told, but there's no way of doing it."

The book is overall rewarding and presents an interesting view of the cold war and basic human drives for violence and peace through science fiction's eyes.

[edit] Awards and nominations

Way Station won the 1964 Hugo Award for Best Novel.
Way Station placed 27th in the 1966 Astounding/Analog All-Time Poll^[1]
Way Station placed in a tie for 25th (with Rendezvous with Rama by Arthur C. Clarke) in the 1987 Locus All-Time Poll^[2]
Way Station placed in the 1998 Locus All-Time Poll^[3]