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Clifford D. Simak
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The Werewolf Principle Kindle Edition

by Clifford D. Simak (Author) Format: Kindle Edition
4.2 4.2 out of 5 stars 676 ratings
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His body hosting a pair of strange alien presences, an amnesiac space traveler returns home to an unrecognizable Earth

Many centuries in the future, a two-hundred-year-old man is discovered hibernating in a space capsule orbiting a distant star. Transported back to his home planet, Andrew Blake awakens to an Earth he does not recognize—a world of flying cars and sentient floating houses—with no memory whatsoever of his history or purpose. But he has not returned alone. The last survivor of a radical experiment abandoned more than a century earlier, Blake was genetically altered to be able to adapt to extreme alien environments, and now he can sense other presences inhabiting his mind and body. One is a biological computer of astonishing power; the other is a powerful creature akin to a large wolf. And Blake is definitely not the one in control. With his sanity hanging in the balance, Blake’s only option is to set out in frantic pursuit of his past, the truth, his destiny—and quite possibly the fate of humankind.
 
A bravura demonstration of unparalleled imagination, intelligence, and heart, The Werewolf Principle addresses weighty issues of genetic manipulation that are as relevant today as when the novel first appeared in print. One of the all-time best and brightest in speculative fiction, Grand Master Clifford D. Simak offers a moving, stunning, witty, and thought-provoking exploration of what it means to be human.
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  1. Print length
    225 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Sticky notes
    On Kindle Scribe
  4. Publisher
    Open Road Media Sci-Fi & Fantasy
  5. Publication date
    July 21, 2015
  6. File size
    3187 KB
  7. Page Flip
    Enabled
  8. Word Wise
    Enabled
  9. Enhanced typesetting
    Enabled
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Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

An amnesiac, 200-year-old man found in space discovers that he is possessed by both a computer and a wolf-like creature.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

A great book that deals with the philosophical meanings of humanity and identity. Even though the beginning may start you out thinking this is a werewolf tale, it is not. Andrew Blake is human, but he is also more than that. The internal dialogue between the main character's inner selves is brilliantly realized, and even has a bit of humor thrown in to help alleviate the inherent anxiety. The personalities found within the talking flying houses, with each room being unique, is amusing as well as memorable. I found this book to be imaginative and whimsical, and enjoyed the story. --Good Reads

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B00YTFT9ZE
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Open Road Media Sci-Fi & Fantasy (July 21, 2015)
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ July 21, 2015
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 3187 KB
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 225 pages
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.2 4.2 out of 5 stars 676 ratings

About the author

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Clifford D. Simak

Clifford D. Simak

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During his fifty-five-year career, Clifford D. Simak produced some of the most iconic science fiction stories ever written. Born in 1904 on a farm in southwestern Wisconsin, Simak got a job at a small-town newspaper in 1929 and eventually became news editor of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, writing fiction in his spare time. Simak was best known for the book City, a reaction to the horrors of World War II, and for his novel Way Station. In 1953 City was awarded the International Fantasy Award, and in following years, Simak won three Hugo Awards and a Nebula Award. In 1977 he became the third Grand Master of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, and before his death in 1988, he was named one of three inaugural winners of the Horror Writers Association's Bram Stoker Award for Lifetime Achievement.

Customer reviews

4.2 out of 5 stars
4.2 out of 5
676 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Karl Janssen
5.0 out of 5 stars Classic Simak sci-fi (not really about werewolves)
Reviewed in the United States on August 2, 2023
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For the last few years, I have been working my way through the complete works of American science fiction author Clifford D. Simak, and I’ve only got a few books left to go. I have to confess I was kind of avoiding The Werewolf Principle because of it’s title. Simak has a fancy for working mythical monsters from folklore and fantasy into many of his books (The Goblin Reservation, for example), not always successfully. It turns out, however, that The Werewolf Principle isn’t really about a werewolf, and it’s an excellent science fiction novel. The book was first published in 1967.

The story takes place on Earth about five hundred years in the future. Andrew Blake has no memory of his past or his identity. He was found in outer space, sealed inside a capsule, under suspended animation. Interstellar travel is not unusual in this distant future, but finding unidentified John Does in outer space certainly is. Blake is obviously a space traveler from Earth’s past, but how far in the past? He could possibly be centuries old. After a period of observation by doctors, Blake is discharged and granted a house in the suburbs of Washington, DC, complete with robot servants, in hopes that someday he will recover his memories. Instead of improving, however, Blake’s mental health seems to be deteriorating as he starts experiencing blackouts, hears voices in his head, and wakes up miles from home with no recollection of how he got there.

The “werewolf principle” is a phrase of scientific jargon coined by Earth’s Space Administration to describe a project involving the bioengineering of humans for space exploration. Through genetic manipulation, scientists have figured out a way to create human explorers that can transform into alien species in order to adapt to the varying conditions on other worlds—gravity, atmosphere, climate, radiation, etc. This is a concept Simak had explored previously in his novel City. There it is just one futuristic concept among many, but here in The Werewolf Principle it is the main focus of the book. Simak really explores this idea fully, following it to unexpected ramifications that lead to a constantly surprising, entertaining, and thought-provoking sci-fi thriller. I will refrain from further discussion of the book’s interesting plot points, however, so as not to spoil any surprises for the reader.

When Simak is in full-on science fiction mode (not fantasy), his stories have a satisfying logic to them. He has a knack for exploring visionary concepts through down-to-earth stories that render the unbelievable believable. Unlike most of Simak’s fiction, this novel is not set in the American Midwest, but nevertheless Simak does take time for some of his trademark scenes of rural life, treks through wilderness, fishing trips, and the like. His visions of the future may be technologically advanced, but he always stresses man’s relationship to nature as a necessity that must be cherished and protected through the centuries.

In the last couple pages of this novel, there is a surprise twist that I could’ve done without, but this book kept me fascinated for 99.5% of it’s length, so in my opinion it still merits a five-star rating. Amid Simak’s prolific and diverse output of works, The Werewolf Principle is a pleasant surprise and one of his better novels.
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Eli van EK
4.0 out of 5 stars Great sci-fi in the truest classical sense
Reviewed in the United States on April 2, 2021
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Houses that travel like planes and park like cars in designated parking lots! It is a mark of great science fiction read that you discover some new fascinating idea in it. This was the thing I kept coming back to in this book. It’s so simple, so clever, I loved it. There are several other clever ideas not all entirely new to me, but you can easily see that Sinaki was a giant in his field. This is my first read by him and represents another, how have I never read this author before?

The story is quite ingenious and uses its clever plot, which I’ll not spoil, to examine some grand ideas about humanity, including what makes a being human, what makes up a human being, and does separating those parts make one in-human. They are big ideas and they are well explored here and in clearer language them I sometimes find in great sci-fi.

The one misstep for me in the ending. It’s not pivotal to the plot but if your a purest read no further.

****SPOILER ALERT****

I was looking for a romantic ending right up until the last two pages but the reveal was a little to pat. A sacrifice for love would have suited me better. Also it jams up the whole blending into one plot and philosophical point.

Also the realization of home and extension of humanity. Call me cynical but the book spent a long time arguing we’re not that worth it. And again really jamming the whole blending point. It was a weird ending. I’d be very curious to know how we got there, if it was the author’s original vision.

****SPOILER ENDS****

the final pages aside this was a real treat. Highly recommended.
One person found this helpful
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Robert P Gelms
5.0 out of 5 stars Howling At The Moon ist Verboten
Reviewed in the United States on November 13, 2018
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I See a Bad Moon Risin'
By Bob Gelms

Cue music: William Tell Overture

Cue Announcer: CLIFFORD SIMAK!!!!!…A fiery rocket, with the speed of light, a cloud of dust and a hearty CLIFFORD SIMAK AWAY!!!!!!! Return with me now to those thrilling days of yesteryear, CLIFFORD SIMAK RIDES AGAIN!!!!!!

I have no problem admitting that I’m a nerd and I like to have nerdy fun. When I was in high school I read a number of Clifford Simak’s novels. I truly enjoyed them. They were stand-outs. I admit that some of the more cerebral parts, I didn’t “get.”

Well, a long time goes by and about six months ago I bumped into one of his books, Way Station. It was being released in electronic form. In fact, almost his whole catalogue was converted to electronic editions; I bought four of them, having it in the back of my mind to expose the great Clifford D. Simak to the readers of 365ink. I reviewed the brilliant novel, Way Station, about three months ago.

Today we will be looking at a towering novel packed with so many ideas you might have to read it slowly. It’s The Werewolf Principle.

Don’t let the title lead you down the primrose path of deceptive deduction. All is not what it seems. There are surprises around every corner. What I didn’t “get” in high school relating to both of these novels, became abundantly clear when reading them as an adult. (The same thing happened to me with The Catcher in the Rye, but that’s a story for another day.) For me, then, reading Clifford Simak’s novels as an adult became something of a peak experience.

Far, far into the future, an experiment was carried out as a result of two scientific theories becoming reality: the capability to travel to distant stars and the capacity to manufacture android/human hybrids. Two were made and inserted into one of the capsules.

Many centuries into the future, one of the hybrids was found orbiting a distant star near Antares in the constellation of Scorpios. He was in suspended animation in one of the escape pods from his ship, was sent back to Earth in this state and revived in Washington DC. The only thing he remembered was his name, Andrew Blake, and general information about Earth, its people and customs.

Andrew Blake was something of a celebrity, a returning astronaut from the very distant past. He hooks up with a powerful Senator and eventually falls in love with his daughter. There is a catch in all this. There always is.

Before Blake was sent into the galaxy, he was genetically altered to adapt to alien surroundings. In this way, he could live on an alien world for a few years changing himself to look like them then return to his ship and download from his brain all the information he had absorbed. Any alien characteristics would be deleted. It sure looked good on paper.

Here’s the catch.

He had visited two remarkable alien civilizations and downloaded all the information he was exposed to. But all did not go according to plan. Somehow, Blake ended up with two alien presences in his brain. One was an astonishingly powerful biological computer. The other one was a little more primitive both in thought and behavior, a kind of shape shifter whose favorite form looked like, but wasn’t, a wolf.

Of course, Blake was there as well and sometimes all three consulted with one another in the silence of Blake’s mind. Can you say, “Telephone call for Carl Jung.”

Blake wonders if there is any chance of living as a human when there are three beings living inside his body and he’s not psychotic. Blake, himself, is living under a mild self-induced illusion that he is human, which he’s not. He’s only partially human. He is very uncomfortable living on Earth and interacting with full humans who can only think about 100,000 times slower that he does.

The Werewolf Principle is an ingenious, wildly inventive and creative treatise on the philosophy of being human. What makes a human? Are you any less human if you are missing an arm? What if your arm is artificial? What if you heart is artificial? How much of you has to be artificial for you not to be considered human anymore? 60%, 52%, 40%?

What if you start out artificial and gradually add biological parts? What if the only biological part of you is your brain? That will be a reality in a few hundred years. Chew on that one for a while.

Clifford Simak’s, The Werewolf Principle, is a thought provoking story about where we are going as a race of people and by that I mean the human race. The plot drives forward like a speeding truck and you’ll find yourself rooting for the characters. I had the best time reading it and I am sure you will too.
43 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

S. Moiseev
5.0 out of 5 stars Perhaps a little naive at times, but has a nice plot
Reviewed in Canada on February 23, 2023
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Most times I enjoyed C. Simak's writing and this one did not disappoint.
Technology, as sci-fi goes, is well-imagined. However, expecting newspapers and public payphones several hundred years in the future was a bit off - the novel had been written definitely before the Internet age (quite excusable). So, some concepts would be hard to comprehend for the younger reader.
Flow is very nice and characters are well-developed.
Made for an enjoyable read.
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DaveLon
4.0 out of 5 stars Good not great read.
Reviewed in Canada on May 1, 2023
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Good read with excellent writing.
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Pibbsworth Zwischenlanken
3.0 out of 5 stars The ending sucks
Reviewed in Canada on November 5, 2023
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This book has some interesting ideas, though shows its age. I was struck by the lack of swearing, frequent monologuing and gendered anachronisms. I would probably still recommend it.

The ending was too much, though.
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ytteb
5.0 out of 5 stars Don't let the title put you off
Reviewed in Canada on September 19, 2021
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Simak always surprises.
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Ian
3.0 out of 5 stars 60's Era Sci-Fi With Things to Say
Reviewed in Canada on February 26, 2023
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Considering that he's such a major name in science fiction, I haven't read a lot of Clifford D Simak's work ( that I recall - an important caveat). "Way Station" certainly; "Good Night, Mr. James"- which was turned into a particularly scary episode of The Outer Limits. I suspect I've read more of his short stories in anthologies but don't remember them by title. So it's past time I paid attention to this author.

"The Werewolf Principle" is an inventive, if mildly dated tale about a man who's not sure who (or how many) he is, exactly. Our protagonist is found floating in a suspended animation capsule around an alien world. He's returned to Earth and revived but can't say who he is and no record can be found. Later he experiences curious blackouts, after which he can't account for his actions.

Some of the themes Simak deals with are the morality of genetic engineering and the individual cost of exploration/expansion. He also gets a bit cosmological, dropping hints of a guiding intelligence in the universe but that idea is not fully developed.

For short novel there's a fair amount to it. My one complaint would be that the ending was pat and predictable. Still a pleasant enough tale and well told.
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