A City Near Centaurus

William R. DoedeProject Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

2.5

Word count: 29K words
Chapters: 3

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.A City Near Centaurus by William R. DoedeAuthor: Doede, William R., 1918-,Language: English, Class: PS: Language and Literatures: American and Canadian literature, Release Date: Dec 31, 2015

Editor's review

A City Near Centaurus is an English-language science fiction work by William R. Doede published in the mid-twentieth century, digitized by Project Gutenberg. It is catalogued under American literature as science fiction, and the text is short, carrying the kind of speculative interest common to the science fiction of its era: a city near Centaurus serves as the stage for imagining an alien society, its technological conditions, and the human situation. Its value lies in showing the narrative rhythms and concerns of early science fiction, allowing readers to see how Golden Age science fiction built distant worlds and handled the relationship between people and the unknown. As a public-domain eBook, it suits supplementary reading in the history of science fiction or short-form reading rather than readers seeking the rigorous world-building of contemporary hard SF. Note the marks of its time—the technological imagination, social structures, and characterisation all bear clear period features, which is precisely its value as a specimen of science fiction history.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers of mid-twentieth-century English-language science fiction interested in early SF
Teachers and organizers seeking short SF texts for classes or reading groups
SF fans who enjoy alien-city settings and can accept period style
Enthusiasts studying the evolution of the genre and collecting early SF texts

Not a good fit for

Readers who prefer the rigorous technical settings and complex world-building of contemporary hard SF
Readers who want a Chinese translation and are uncomfortable reading English originals
SF readers seeking long epic scope and deep character development

Reading tips

Read it as a short piece in one sitting to keep the overall setting in view.
Note the technological imagination and social structure, and record differences from contemporary SF.
Read alongside other Golden Age SF stories to observe how genre conventions formed.
If using it for discussion, prepare a few questions about the logic of the alien-city setting.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

FAQ

Is this a novel or a short story?

The available data show it is an English-language science fiction text in Project Gutenberg by William R. Doede, classified under American literature. No word count is given, but given its single-item format and the typical length of early magazine SF, it is closer to a short story or novelette. Do not approach it expecting a novel; reading it in one sitting makes the overall setting easier to grasp.

What does Centaurus in the title refer to?

Centaurus is a well-known southern constellation and the direction of the nearest star system to the Solar System. The title, "A City Near Centaurus," signals a setting on an alien world far from Earth. The data do not explain how the city works or who its inhabitants are; read the original to learn that, and do not assume a plot from the title.

Is this a good introduction to science fiction?

It can serve as supplementary material but is not necessarily the best starting point. As an early English-language SF work, its narrative style and speculative interests bear period features that may feel distant from contemporary reading habits. Readers with some SF experience and curiosity about early SF will gain more; complete newcomers might begin with more accessible contemporary works.

Comments

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About the author

William R. Doede Author · American · 1918–2007

William R. Doede (1918–2007) was an American science fiction writer. Public information about him is limited, and his work consists mainly of short science fiction, much of it published in the early 1960s in magazines such as Galaxy and Worlds of Tomorrow. His representative works include Jamieson, The God Next Door, A City Near Centaurus, and The Birds of Lorrane. His short stories often begin with ordinary situations and, through light speculative premises, touch on themes such as technology, faith, and alien civilizations, with the brisk pacing typical of early science fiction magazine fiction. Many of these works are now preserved and circulated as public-domain ebooks through Project Gutenberg, allowing this once-overlooked author to remain accessible to readers.