Cycle of Fire

NY: Ballantine Books, 1957. First edition. A sort of interstellar Robinson Crusoe, Cycle of Fire follows the survival of human castaway Nils Kruger and his shipwrecked extraterrestrial companion Dar. As they travel across an unfamiliar planet, they learn to communicate and trust one another, eventually sharing critical knowledge that ensures the prosperity of Dar's species. This work falls firmly within the genre of hard science fiction, an areathat demands of its authors not only a galactic imagination but also a rigorous adherence to scientific fact. Indeed, the key piece of knowledge that promises salvation for Dar's people is the scientific method. Hal Clement saw hard science fiction as a competition between himself as the author and his readers, stating that the role of the reader is to find "as many as possible of the author's statements or implications which conflict with the facts as science currently understands them" while the author must "make as few such slips as he possibly can." Bound in red cloth over boards, which is lightly rubbed to corners and tips of spine. In a very good dust wrapper that is faded at the spine, lightly soiled, and shows some wear to the spine tips and front panel.