Way Station

The premise is that a single human has been chosen as the manager of a galactic teleportation station. He is the only person on earth who is in contact with the broader community of interstellar life. On the outside, he lives a peaceful existence walking through the countryside and chatting with his best friend the postman, but secretly he is in daily contact with strange creatures from all over the galaxy.

The book was written at the height of the cold war, and Simak portrays an earth society on a seemingly inevitable course to nuclear annihilation. The protagonist, Enoch Wallace, discovers that the galactic community of which he is the sole human participant is also on the brink of a destructive crisis.

Simak portrays a universe where god exists as a sort of higher lifeform, and is somehow made accessible by technology. The nature of that technology, in keeping with the old SF adage, is indistinguishable from magic. My strident atheism is mollified by the broader knowledge that this idea was codified by Arthur C Clarke, a non-believer of the highest order. In "Way Station", the access to the deity could also be seen as metaphorical. Either way, I don't think this book is describing a universe where we would find god if we ventured out to the stars, but if you are that way inclined you might interpret it that way.

I greatly enjoyed this book which was published the year after I was born. I get such a warm feeling of nostalgia from discovering the ideas of mid-century science fiction. It was a fertile time and I think its more concise forms of storytelling are preferable in a lot of ways to the longer form styles in vogue today. Simak also portrays simple but lasting virtues: friendship and tenderness are precious; peace is something to strive for; violence and death are bad things, even if you are forced to resort to them for the greater good.

Also, get rid of your guns, you insane Americans.

I look forward to reading Simak's other famous work "City".

Enoch Wallace took part in the American Civil War. Today, he lives on his family's farm a solitary existence, and doesn't look to have aged a day. Wallace is responsible for a way station, a stop over point on a galactic transport network that brings him visitors from far and distant planets.

Enoch is a very likeable character. A simple man, he brings an air of personal responsibility. He believes in solving problems on his own means, and keeps a certain honour about himself. Not perfect, by far, but he always strives to learn, having grasped alien languages and branches of advanced off-world mathematics. Very little phases him, and the relationship he has with aliens tends to be one of friendship and comradeship - rarely is he hung up on appearance. Enoch is a wonderful ambassador for the human race.

The story starts following two viewpoints - Enoch and his day to day life, and a CIA operative who has been watching him for many years. Enochs life is simple, and uncomplicated until the operative interferes, kickstarting a series of events that increase in complexity until a crescendo is reached.

The number of books with a genuine "happy ending" that doesn't feel contrived are few and far between. This is one of them, and happily goes on my pile of books to read on a rainy day, or when in a less than superb mood. It's honestly uplifting.