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Sci Fi Focus   >   Encyclopedia   >   James Blish
James Blish (1921-1975) was an American science fiction and fantasy author.

Although best known for his own original novels, Blish was also the first author to write novelizations of *STAR TREK TOS*.


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James Blish


Cities in Flight

By James Blish

Overlook TP
Released: 2004-10-26
Paperback (608 pages)

Cities in Flight
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Cities in Flight is an omnibus volume of four novels, originally published between 1955 and 1962, two of which are fix-ups of pieces that first appeared in various magazines in the early '50s. Despite having been conceived more than 50 years ago, and produced in episodic fashion, they stand head and shoulders above most SF available today.

In They Shall Have Stars, humankind's will to explore space is renewed with the advent of two discoveries: anti-gravity (the "spindizzy" machines) and the key to almost eternal life (anti-agathic drugs). By A Life for the Stars, centuries have passed and most of the major cities have built spindizzies into their bedrock and left earth, cruising the galaxy looking for work, much like the hobos of the Depression Era. Earthman, Come Home, told from the perspective of John Amalfi, the major of New York, was the first-written of the novels and--although not as tightly woven as the other segments--is still a masterly work. Blish gives the same weight and authority both to the sweeping cultural change wrought and suffered by the cities, and to the emotional growth of a man who is several hundred years old. We stay with Amalfi for the final episode, The Triumph of Time. New York is now planet-bound in the Greater Magellanic Cloud, but when Amalfi learns of the impending destruction of time itself, he is forced into space one more time, to take a last, desperate chance. The novel ends, literally, with a bang.

Despite the occasional, inevitable anachronism, such as vacuum tubes, Cities in Flight stands up remarkably well to modern reading. The novel's political and literary sophistication was unmatched in its time; there is very little to rival it even today. For most readers of a certain age, this was probably the first SF they encountered that was written from a mature standpoint and adult sensibility. The fact that Blish also manages to tell a fabulous, galaxy-spanning adventure tale makes this essential reading. --Luc Duplessis

Works of Art

By James Blish

NESFA Press
Hardcover (510 pages)

Works of Art
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This collection includes a number of Blish's greatest stories, including several from his "Cities in Flight" sequence, the original novella of "A Case of Conscience," "Surface Tension," (voted as one of the best stories ever by the Science Fiction Writers of America) and his great werewolf story, "There Shall Be No Darkness." It also features an essay in which he dissects the New Wave-from the point of view of someone who understood and appreciated modernist literature--and two poems.

A Case of Conscience (Del Rey Impact)

By James Blish

Del Rey
Released: 2000-09-05
Paperback (256 pages)

A Case of Conscience (Del Rey Impact)
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The citizens of the planet Lithia are some of the most ethical sentient beings Father Ramon Ruiz-Sanchez has ever encountered. True, they have no literature, no fine arts, and don't understand the concept of recreation, but neither do they understand the concepts of greed, envy, lust, or any of the sins and vices that plague humankind. Their world seems darned near perfect. And that is just what disturbs the good Father.

First published in 1959, James Blish's Hugo Award-winning A Case of Conscience is science fiction at its very best: a fast-paced, intelligent story that offers plenty of action while at the same time explores complex questions of values and ethics. In this case, Blish has taken on the age-old battle of good vs. evil. Lithia poses a theological question that lies at the heart of this book: is God necessary for a moral society? The Lithians are nothing if not moral. Not only do they lack the seven deadly sins, they also lack original sin. And without any sort of religious framework, they have created the Christian ideal world, one that humans would be eager to study and emulate. But is it too perfect? Is it in fact, as Father Ruiz-Sanchez suspects, the work of The Adversary? And what role does Egtverchi, the young Lithian raised on Earth, play? Is he an innocent victim of circumstance, or will he bring about the Dies Irae, the day of the wrath of God, upon the earth? The fate of two worlds hinges on the answers to these questions, and will lead to an ancient earth heresy that shakes the Jesuit priest's beliefs to their very core.

A Case of Conscience is a brilliant piece of storytelling, and it packs a lot into a scant 242 pages. Most readers will probably finish the book in one sitting, unable to stop until the spectacular denouement. But the questions posed by this little-known gem will stay with you for days afterward. --P.M. Atterberry

Star Trek: The Classic Episodes, Vol. 1 - The 25th-Anniversary Editions

By James Blish

Spectra
Released: 1991-08-01
Paperback (560 pages)

Star Trek: The Classic Episodes, Vol. 1 - The 25th-Anniversary Editions
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One-Shot

By James Blish

Wildside Press
Kindle Edition

One-Shot
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Spock Must Die! (Star Trek)

By James Blish

Spectra
Released: 1985-03-01
Mass Market Paperback (118 pages)

Spock Must Die! (Star Trek)
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Dr. Mirabilis

By James Blish

Avon Books
Paperback (272 pages)
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The Star Trek Reader I

By James Blish

E P Dutton
Hardcover (422 pages)
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JACK Of EAGLES.

By James. Blish

Faber & Faber,
Hardcover (256 pages)
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Star Trek 12

By James Blish

Spectra
Released: 1985-10-01
Mass Market Paperback
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