The Rediscovery of Man

Welcome to the strangest, most distinctive future ever imagined by a science fiction writer.

An insterstellar empire ruled by the mysterious Lords of the Instrumentality, whose access to the drug stroon from the planet Norstrilia confers on them virtual immortality.

A world in which wealthy and leisured humanity is served by the underpeople, genetically engineered animals turned into the semblance of people.

A world in which the great ships which sail between the stars are eventually supplanted by the mysterious, instantaneous technique of planoforming.

A world of wonder and myth and extraordinary imagination.

“Read this. Cordwainer Smith is timeless. - Terry Pratchett.Smith's instrumentality is the most complex and lyrical of all future histories, redolent with future antiquity. It is a history of a mankind transformed, oddly convincingly, by a relentless series of changes - war, genetic engineering, interstellar travel, immortality - and Smith's remarkable, rich prose gives shivery hints of a darkly imagined universe extending far beyond the boundaries of the stories. Lush, strange, unique, a treasure. - Stephen Baxter.”

Read this. Cordwainer Smith is timeless. - Terry Pratchett.

Smith's instrumentality is the most complex and lyrical of all future histories, redolent with future antiquity. It is a history of a mankind transformed, oddly convincingly, by a relentless series of changes - war, genetic engineering, interstellar travel, immortality - and Smith's remarkable, rich prose gives shivery hints of a darkly imagined universe extending far beyond the boundaries of the stories. Lush, strange, unique, a treasure. - Stephen Baxter.

Cordwainer Smith (1913-66) was the pseudonym used by American author Paul Myron Anthony Linebarger for his SF works.

Welcome to the strangest, most distinctive future ever imagined by a science fiction writer.An insterstellar empire ruled by the mysterious Lords of the Instrumentality, whose access to the drug stroon from the planet Norstrilia confers on them virtual immortality.A world in which wealthy and leisured humanity is served by the underpeople, genetically engineered animals turned into the semblance of people.A world in which the great ships which sail between the stars are eventually supplanted by the mysterious, instantaneous technique of planoforming.A world of wonder and myth and extraordinary imagination.

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