293:(1955, G. P. Putnam's Sons, New York), combining the stories "Okie", "Bindlestiff", "Sargasso of Lost Cities" and "Earthman, Come Home", is the longest book in the series. It describes the many adventures of New York under Amalfi, amongst a galaxy which has planets settled, at different periods of history, under loose control by Earth. After an economic collapse causes a galactic depression, New York ends up in a "Jungle", where Okie cities orbit a dying red giant star while waiting for work. Amalfi realises that the "Vegan Orbital Fort", a semi-mythical remnant of the previously dominant alien civilisation, is hiding among the Okies. His plan to stop the Vegans involves forcing the Okies to "march" on Earth, attracting the Vegan fort to join in the "march", and culminates in installing a
313:. With some of New York's spindizzies irreparably damaged, Amalfi convinces the New Yorkers that they must find a planet to call home. On their chosen planet, New York encounters the Interstellar Master Traders (IMT), a rogue city whose brutal sack of the planet Thor 5 damaged the reputation of Okies in general, and who have enslaved the local human population. In typical fashion, Amalfi swindles the IMT residents and sets their spindizzy engineers to fly the city off the planet, where they are destroyed by Earth Police ships.
110:
207:"), which leads to both a faster-than-light travel and effective shielding. Another project yields an "anti-agathic" drug, which stops aging. Wagoner is eventually convicted of treason by an oppressive regime, but not before he has sent out expeditions (in a later book, it is revealed that they succeed in establishing thriving colonies). Politically, the book clearly expresses a strong opposition to
239:
the Soviet one. However, this dictatorial power was broken by the spindizzy drive which becomes more efficient as more mass is affected, so that dissidents and malcontents have an easy way of escaping and going off into space. First factories, then eventually whole cities migrate from the economically depressed Earth in search of work; these space-wandering cities are called
306:. A mention of the "Battle of the Jungle" may mean that the Earth Police cleanup fleet then goes to the "Jungle" and destroys all that it finds there. Amalfi takes advantage of the vastly higher speed and size of the flying planet to destroy the Vegan Orbital Fort, then flies New York away before the Earth Police can catch them.
629:- Described as 'The sole City on the sleepy planetary capital of the system', and 'The place where old bureaucrats went to retire', Earth. All other Cities had by this time left the earth. Seat of operations of the Earth Police, and the Earth Government which regulates and polices the far-flung Okie cities.
238:
In the period in between the first and second parts, the Cold War ended with the peaceful merging of the
Eastern and Western blocs into a single, planet-wide Soviet-ruled dictatorship, which hardly made any perceptible change, as the West's political system had already become virtually identical with
412:
flight device. The drive also produces a "force field" barrier around the city that keeps in its atmosphere and heat. One unusual aspect of the drive is that the larger the mass inside the spindizzy field, the higher velocity it can achieve. In several stories in which planets were equipped with
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rather than its figurehead mayor. When the two cities meet again and come into conflict over
Scranton's bungling of a job, Chris is able to convince an influential friend in his old city to depose the city manager and end the conflict. Impressed, Amalfi elevates him to the newly created position of
350:. It will be possible to modify the future development of the fresh universes which will emerge from this singularity, and Amalfi directs the "New Earth" residents to compete with the alien culture (the Web of Hercules) in order to prevent their manipulation of the future of the universe.
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drive system on a small planet and using it to lead the march. When the march reaches Earth, a big fleet of armed Earth police ships appears from invisibility and summarily vaporises the marchers, with at least one loss in the police fleet, because it is recorded that the flying city
353:
As with the other books, a detailed description of the technologies used is provided, including cosmological calculus. While there are some continuity slips, the series presents a unified story of humanity's expansion across the galaxy and the birth of a new universe.
337:) (1959) follows the passage of Amalfi and the planet "He" undertaking the first intergalactic transit. In the less relativistically distorted space between the two galaxies, evidence of a collision between two universes is detected by the "Hevians" — a matter-
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device imagined by Blish in Cities in Flight. This device grows more efficient with the amount of mass being lifted, which was used as the hook for the stories—it was more effective to lift an entire city than it was to lift something smaller, such as a classic
538:
Blish's extrapolation was that if rotation combined with mass produces magnetism via gravity, then rotation and magnetism could produce anti-gravity. The field created by a spindizzy is described as altering the magnetic moment of any atom within its influence.
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collision that reveals the cyclic nature of reality. An alien culture is also investigating this phenomenon, which will shortly accelerate to engulf all galactic space; in other words, the colliding universes will end in a transition from the
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praised the novel as "science fiction which deals with tomorrow on its own terms", citing Blish's "triumph of inventions, great and small", but concluded that despite the "brilliance" of the author's conceptions,
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describing the adventures of sixteen-year-old Chris deFord, born when the above process of migration had already been going on for a considerable time. When Chris goes to watch the imminent departure of
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secret police agency. In the final chapter he is heard to say "Bliss
Wagoner is dead", with the narrative noting that "as usual, he was wrong", as Wagoner's legacy will endure.
176:), incorporating the stories "Bridge" and "At Death's End", is set in the then near future (the book begins in 2013). In this future, the Soviet Union still exists and the
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Although Blish rarely defines how much time passes during each adventure, a late chapter implies that over three hundred years pass in the course of the novel. Reviewer
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Scientific research has stagnated, mainly because knowledge has become restricted. On the advice of scientist Dr. Corsi, Wagoner concentrates his attention on
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elements in its target, thus completely vaporizing its target. It efficiently and quickly destroys any Okie city which it is fired at. It was named after
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484:. This is taken to extremes in the final stories, where an entire planet is used to cross the galaxy in a matter of hours using the spindizzy drive.
144:. The stories cover roughly two thousand years, from the very near future to the end of the universe. One story, "Earthman, Come Home", won a Retro
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181:
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188:. Alaska's Senator Bliss Wagoner, head of the Joint Congressional Committee on Space Flight, is determined to do something about it.
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203:. This leads to one of two major discoveries which make interstellar space travel feasible: gravity manipulation (nicknamed the "
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city manager of New York and gives him the status of resident rather than passenger (and thus entitled to anti-agathic drugs).
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spindizzy drives, the speed of travel is so high only computers can react quickly enough to avoid collisions with stars.
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in 2004 for Best
Novelette. Since 1970, the primary edition has been the omnibus volume first published in paperback by
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152:. Over the years James Blish made many changes to these stories in response to points raised in letters from readers.
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After several adventures, Chris is fortunate to be transferred to the much more prosperous New York (or at least the
211:, at its peak during the time of writing. The main antagonist is Francis X. MacHinery, hereditary Director of the
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140:" novels. The series features entire cities that are able to fly through space using an anti-gravity device, the
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The Dirac communicator allows instantaneous communication across the width of a galaxy. It was named after
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The novella "Sargasso of Lost Cities", Blish's third "Cities in Flight" story, was originally published in
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contain the same assertion. Blackett's original formula was an attempt to correlate the known
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whose field had been measured indirectly. It was unusual in that it attempted to relate the
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described the novel as "a skillful mixture of human reality and technological fantasy".
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Bethé barrier: a sort of defensive barrier sometimes set up at an Okie city's limits.
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as a transistor metal in 1957-1958, after most of these books were published.
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Eventually, the city is projected out of the Milky Way galaxy, towards the
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theories. One project he has funded is the building of a "bridge" made of
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have been eroded more and more, until society eventually resembles the
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551:, these flying Okie cities are named (but many more are mentioned):
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108:
491:—principles contained in an equation coined by British physicist
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of large rotating bodies, such as the Sun, Earth, and a star in
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a man booking a ride in a computer-controlled taxicab spoke his
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824:(1947-05-17). "The Magnetic Field of Massive Rotating Bodies".
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581:- The main protagonist City about which the stories revolve.
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praised it as "a real, honest, pure, gee-whiz space opera."
612:(a false name used for itself by the Vegan orbital fort).
597:(only in a legend that was current among the Okie cities)
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often, including as a money metal, but it never mentions
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was used in at least two novels by Jesse
Franklin Bone,
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According to the stories, the spindizzy is based on the
767:"Index to Science Fiction Anthologies and Collections"
727:"Index to Science Fiction Anthologies and Collections"
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called the Bethé blaster operates by causing a fast
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834:(4046). 4 Crinan Street, London, United Kingdom:
535:, despite its rotation being similar to Earth's.
27:Series of novels and short stories by James Blish
458:to it, demonstrating computer voice recognition.
622:And one city which is not described as flying:
495:. Several other Blish stories involving novel
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650:, and appears as the nickname for fictional
132:novels and short stories by American writer
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469:Dillon-Wagoner Graviton Polarity Generator
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29:
42:Cover of the first omnibus edition, 1970.
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260:, he is kidnapped and brought with it.
170:(1956) (also published under the title
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325:A Clash of Cymbals/The Triumph of Time
7:
365:suffered from its inadequate story.
275:John Amalfi. Scranton is run by the
116:Two Complete Science-Adventure Books
691:"Hugo Award Winners from the 2000s"
591:) IMT = Interstellar Master Traders
393:The mesotron rifle is a hand-held
25:
931:Large Magellanic Cloud in fiction
222:Reviewing a later edition, the
180:is still ongoing. As a result,
584:Thorium Trust's Plant Number 8
1:
443:. In the real world, silicon
471:, known colloquially as the
18:Spindizzy (Cities in Flight)
936:1950 science fiction novels
921:Science fiction book series
128:is a four-volume series of
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333:(published in the U.S. as
790:"Galaxy's 5 Star Shelf",
756:, January 21, 1968, p.G15
634:References in other works
267:portion of it), a major "
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888:: CS1 maint: location (
715:ISFDB publishing history
521:magnetic field reversals
311:Greater Magellanic Cloud
926:American bildungsromans
836:Nature Publishing Group
750:"Pick of the Pockets".
182:Western civil liberties
961:Avon (publisher) books
811:, July 1959, pp. 96-98
793:Galaxy Science Fiction
456:social security number
258:Scranton, Pennsylvania
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941:American novel series
661:The Execution Channel
648:Confederation Matador
513:electromagnetic field
435:: the story mentions
382:explosion in all low-
215:, which has become a
168:They Shall Have Stars
162:They Shall Have Stars
112:
452:A Life for the Stars
423:The Quincunx of Time
369:Fictional technology
247:A Life for the Stars
233:A Life for the Stars
951:Fiction set in 2018
946:Fiction set in 2013
906:Technovelgy article
844:1947Natur.159..658B
796:, May 1955, p. 115.
618:(Pennsylvania, USA)
587:Gravitogorsk-Mars (
509:gravitational field
335:The Triumph of Time
302:destroyed a police
291:Earthman, Come Home
285:Earthman, Come Home
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805:"In the Balance",
672:Test Shot Starfish
670:is also a song by
475:, is a fictitious
331:A Clash of Cymbals
199:on the surface of
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610:Lincoln, Nebraska
606:Bradley - Vermont
547:In the year 2010
433:Transistor metals
410:faster-than-light
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92:Publication place
76:Adventure fiction
31:Cities in Flight
16:(Redirected from
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668:Cities in Flight
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83:Publication date
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838:: 658–666.
656:Ken MacLeod
654:devices in
652:Heim Theory
595:Los Angeles
209:McCarthyism
134:James Blish
52:James Blish
915:Categories
777:2014-10-11
737:2014-10-11
701:2008-06-21
678:References
574:Pittsburgh
556:Buda-Pesht
418:Paul Dirac
388:Hans Bethe
348:Big Crunch
339:antimatter
300:Buda-Pesht
173:Year 2018!
150:Avon Books
146:Hugo Award
860:0028-0836
640:spindizzy
603:(England)
601:Liverpool
570:(Germany)
558:(Hungary)
482:spaceship
473:spindizzy
463:Spindizzy
437:germanium
402:spindizzy
295:spindizzy
265:Manhattan
205:spindizzy
156:The books
142:spindizzy
868:20239729
616:Scranton
527:and the
511:and the
344:Big Bang
217:de facto
178:Cold War
119:in 1953.
58:Language
876:4133416
840:Bibcode
564:- Congo
441:silicon
363:Triumph
346:to the
304:monitor
201:Jupiter
62:English
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866:
858:
827:Nature
543:Cities
505:Cygnus
404:is an
197:Ice IV
48:Author
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525:Earth
273:Mayor
241:Okies
103:Print
68:Genre
890:link
864:PMID
856:ISSN
646:and
638:The
533:Mars
467:The
408:and
400:The
269:Okie
138:Okie
848:doi
832:159
658:'s
529:Sun
523:on
213:FBI
917::
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