The James White Information Site

Something of Value

First published
1985

40,000

Mission statement: “. . . The primary purpose of the Federation is to seek out the intelligent races of the galaxy and bring them to this place of safety before they perish in some natural catastrophe or in some unnatural manner devised by themselves. [They] will grow in knowledge and in numbers and, in the fullness of time, they will intermingle and share in the fruits of their respective cultures.”

Ergo: This non-Hospital Station, etc Galactic Federation intends the Dyson sphere living space to be a paradisical Shaangri-La – writ large. Jim admired Lost Horizon (1933), the classic novel by James Hilton which intriduced ‘Shangri-La’ to the mundane world. More specifically, he deals with the problem of how those Master-and-Slave Teldians can be made to fit into the New Worlds Order.

Synopsis by
Graham Andrews

In magazines

Title Published as Language Editor Date
Analog Science Fiction and Fact, February 1985 cover
Analog Science Fiction and Fact, February 1985 English Stanley Schmidt February 1985
Urania (collana) 1012, 22 December 1985 cover
Urania (collana) 1012, 22 December 1985 Qualcosa Che Vale Italian Gianni Montanari 22 December 1985

In James White's books

Title Type Year
Federation World, Del Rey, 1988 cover
Federation World Fix-up novel 1988
Publication notes

Analog, February 1985. Federation World

Data sources
James White Information (original site). Synopsis by Graham Andrews.
ISFDB title record (CC BY 4.0).