I love the stories of Cordwainer Smith. There are some parallels with Herbert, but I would say that Herbert’s focus was more upon the future of ecology, while Smith’s were about the future of civil rights. Smith’s stories can be kind of dated in some respects while presenting many forward-thinking and downright freaky concepts. I’ve got three volumes of short stories from Gollancz which I’ve read: The Instrumentality of Mankind, Quest of the Three Worlds, and The Rediscovery of Man. But I still haven’t read Norstrilia, and I really should. He wrote in a specific future history timeline, so the shorts will probably help to make sense of the novel.
I definitely agree that he can be whimsical and serious. He knew that his settings could seem outlandish and fantastic, but he is perhaps the most empathic SF writer I have read.
YIKES
