Ring Around the Sun

by Clifford D. Simak
Ring Around the Sun is a sci-fi novel published in 1952. It's been on my "Unread Bookshelf" for a year or two now and I finally managed to blast through it this week. I think it's been said before that I'm a huge Stephen King fan. (Has it? Are you really?) He has stated that this book was a big influence on him writing the Dark Tower Series. Well, last weeks Lost episode reminded me I needed to reread the Tower series and then reminded me I still had this book kicking around. I figured since it is only 200 pages I really had no excuse.
It was good, though old school sci-fi really isn't my thing. The writing style is a little flat but the ideas are way ahead of their time for '52. The writing was not terribly descriptive which normally I would find annoying, however it didn't immediately bring to mind the "future" specific to the 50's either. It was much more archetypal. I could clearly see the influences on the Dark Tower. The main one being the idea that there is an Earth one second in front of us and another behind and so on stretching to infinity. Creating a ring round the sun. Unless you really dig the 50's sci-fi I wouldn't rush right out and buy it. However for King and Lost fans might be worth a perusal.