as with the other clifford d. simak books i've read, the ideas behind the story are simply ingenious strokes of miracle on the page, they are the ideas that you've almost thought of, but never fully realized only understanding this when confronted with a book like out of their minds. in out of your minds, simak is playing with the idea that man's own imagination is rebelling against him, that we've created beings as we imagined them, from our fears and whimsies, our comic strips, and bumps in the night, and one day they all rebel and retaliate. horton smith (!!) is the protagonist. not a lot is revealed about him, and that plays into the final act of the book, explains why he is a the centre of the maelstrom.
so here's the thing, the ideas are great, and it's really fun, but i have trouble following simak's plot pacing choices. we spend a lot of time hanging out at a cave at the beginning, and by the end, i feel like he's rushing things a little. it doesn't help matters that i read john d. mcdonald's novel Planet of the Dreamerswhich handles similar ideas right afterward reading this, and out of their minds suffers in comparison, though i would say john d.'s ending is rushed as well. i will read more clifford d. simak but i think i have to start reading his more popular ones now. :)