Space Opera Reader

Starfarers 11 - Vonda N. McIntyre

2010-02-25T22:16:00.000-08:00

"“Have you any idea,” he said, “how the leaders of the Sweep will react to Starfarer looming over them, after you have supplied it with nuclear missiles?” "

2.5 out of 5

http://www.bookviewcafe.com/Vonda-N.-McIntyre/Novels/Starfarers-Chapter-11

The Man Who Staked the Stars - Katherine MacLean

2010-02-22T18:26:00.000-08:00

Bryce check.

2 out of 5

http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/3/1/3/5/31356/31356-h/31356-h.htm

Polity Encyclopedia - Neal Asher

2010-02-20T22:06:00.000-08:00

Very cool - entries for various people, races and places etc. including a timeline at the end.

4.5 out of 5

http://www.panmacmillan.com/assets/Neal%20Asher%20Encyclopedia.pdf

Book Order - Neal Asher

2010-02-20T22:03:00.000-08:00

The author slots the books in order and chronology (for the novels).

3.5 out of 5

http://www.tor.com/index.php?option=com_fireboard&func=view&id=836&limitstart=0

Orbus - Neal Asher

2010-02-20T21:56:00.000-08:00

Orbus is an Old Captain hooper from Spatterjay. Rather crazy sadist at one time. He had a run in with the old war drone Sniper at one stage in a rather embarassing fashion.

So when Sniper is sick of being the Spatterjay Warden AI and decides to upgrade and take off on his own - who does he get teamed up with to investigate a Polity-Prador No-Man's Land dangerous situation with? Yep, Orbus. Plus the Ship AI that takes them there.

The story gets more complicated than spies and skirmishes, with more revelations about the Spatterjay virus, and also the political history of the Pradtor. Overon is the Third King - but a monster known as the Golgoloth was the Second. In Asher's Polity Universe, monsters are very, very real. So, sometimes are the leftovers of dead advanced alien races such as the Jain.

These aren't all the old 'friends' showing up, however. Note one Prador named Vrell, and the drone Thirteen and you have a Spatterjay reunion in space.

A book that gets better as it goes along, but again is perhaps a touch long.

Definitely inventive, though, in the usual twisted and dangerous fashion.

Sniper is easily one of the best robot characters ever. The other good thing is using the alien Prador as characters, and making them seem like they are of another species who are built and think differently. And of course lose different body parts when shot with railguns, missiles or laser!

3.5 out of 5

The God Engines - John Scalzi

2010-02-20T21:42:00.000-08:00

Power Lord Righteous.

3 out of 5

Master of the Moondog - Stanley Mullen

2010-02-20T06:00:00.000-08:00

"Here's to us then," she responded. "And to guts. You're dumb and delightful, but you do something to me I'd forgotten could be done. And maybe I'll change my mind even if you don't have the price. I think I'll kiss you. Big Ed is still a louse, and not only in the ring. He thinks he can out-wrestle me but I know all the nasty holds. I play for keeps or not at all. Keep away from me, kid."

Denver's imagination had caught fire. Under the combined stimuli of Darbor and Snowgrape Champagne, he seemed to ascend to some high, rarified, alien dimension where life became serene and uncomplicated. A place where one ate and slept and made fortunes and love, and only the love was vital. He smoldered.

"Play me for keeps," he urged."

3.5 out of 5

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/31327/31327-h/31327-h.htm

The Weatlh of Echindul - Noel Loomis

2010-02-20T05:43:00.000-08:00

Grow some legs. I'm off to Aphrodite with the loot.

2 out of 5

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/31326/31326-h/31326-h.htm

Starfarers 10 - Vonda N. McIntyre

2010-02-20T04:38:00.000-08:00

"“Feral!”

J.D. shook the reporter’s shoulder.

“Feral! Come out of it!” "

3.5 out of 5

http://www.bookviewcafe.com/Vonda-N.-McIntyre/Novels/Starfarers-Chapter-10

Let 'em Breathe Space - Lester Del Rey

2010-02-17T14:22:00.000-08:00

Seedy ship atmosphere is poison.

2 out of 5

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/31286/31286-h/31286-h.htm

One Purple Hope! - Henry Hasse

2010-02-17T14:16:00.000-08:00

Just buy the Josmian already.

2 out of 5

http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/3/1/3/0/31307/31307-h/31307-h.htm

Bride of the Dark One - Florence Verbell Brown

2010-02-17T14:05:00.000-08:00

Old flame, new flame debt cancellation.

3.5 out of 5

http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/3/1/3/0/31306/31306-h/31306-h.htm

The Skinner - Neal Asher

2010-02-16T07:21:00.000-08:00

The Skinner is one of Asher's best novels.

Here we get the story of the planet Spatterjay, and an extremely vile pair of mass murdering torturer war criminals trading in slaves to the Prador in the war.

The war drone Sniper is again one of the main characters, and this is a good thing. The book does shift viewpoints from the ECS agent Sable Keech (who is dead) to a man on a mission from a planet of a sentient Hornet Hive through some others at times, and this is well handled.

The Old Captains on Spatterjay have a history with one of their early number - Jay Hoop - the Skinner, now a monster. Keech has also been hunting down what remains of his band of criminals, at the cost of his life, now being basically a cyborg zombie. Yeah, robot space zombie. Pretty cool.

The Spatterjay virus infects you, and gives you long life and strength - but will also turn you into an insane monster without maintenance. Plus most of the fauna on the planet is incredibly deadly as a result of surviving in this sort of ecosystem.

With all this, and Prador renegades, mercenaries, historians and really big fish to deal with the Spatterjay planetary Warden AI has a lot to keep track of.

4 out of 5

Night Life - Tracey Rolfe

2010-02-15T03:49:00.000-08:00

Sleep pair short.

3 out of 5

The Ball of Farther-On Jones - Dirk Flinthart

2010-02-15T00:19:00.000-08:00

Interstellar swap extension First Contact spread.

3.5 out of 5

Privateer - Simon Brown

2010-02-14T23:40:00.000-08:00

Or space pirate, depending on how you look at it.

The captain of the Magpie is human, and his business is raiding and looting alien ships - the Calethar, a race powerful enough to challenge humans for control of space.

A young man is bored with hanging out on the local planet - a planet that happens to keep said captain in supplies and weapons for a share of his booty. His guardian arranges for him to get a berth - not necessarily such a great thing given Captain Kidron has a 10% casualty rate on average per voyage.

Plus, it is discovered that an ambitious Calethar leader has had a new ship built, one that outguns the Magpie. She has started raiding human colonies to try and draw out the Magpie out. So it is spare pirate space torpedo cat and mouse, and hope someone lives afterwards.

3.5 out of 5

Starfarers 09 - Vonda N. McIntyre

2010-02-14T20:25:00.000-08:00

"“You know, Victoria, if I agree to this, we’ll be at Tau Ceti without a complete test of the sails. Navigating will depend on a propulsion system that’s nearly experimental.”

“But you built them. You’re the best.”

“Yes. Except once you get beyond a certain size, solar sails are all different. You cannot know for sure how they’ll behave.” She tossed the module in the air and caught it.

“That’s the only copy of those numbers,” Victoria said. "

2.5 out of 5

http://www.bookviewcafe.com/index.php/Vonda-N.-McIntyre/Novels/Starfarers-Chapter-9

The Hub of the Matter - Christopher L. Bennett

2010-02-13T19:40:00.000-08:00

Network jam quantelope.

3.5 out of 5

Starfarers 09 - Vonda N. McIntyre

2010-02-11T18:00:00.000-08:00

“Much sooner. The string section we’re aiming for now is way to hell and gone out by the orbit of Mars. If you change the sails as we go around the moon, if we use the new solution... we’d only need one pass around the moon.”

“One!”

“Yes. We’d be aiming for the nearest point on the string.”

3.5 out of 5

http://www.bookviewcafe.com/Vonda-N.-McIntyre/Novels/Starfarers-Chapter-9

Torquing Vacuum - Jay Lake

2010-02-09T18:02:00.000-08:00

Flash brass shipcrime.

3.5 out of 5

http://clarkesworldmagazine.com/lake_02_10/

The origin of the Xeelee Universe - Stephen Baxter

2010-02-09T01:52:00.000-08:00

"The Xeelee, of course, continue to be very important for me. In my next story I posited humans in a four-dimensional cage, put there by more powerful off-stage aliens. Eventually I realised that if I made the aliens the Xeelee, I had the beginning and the end of a future history, which grew, organically, from that point. I suspect for much of my career I'll be referring back to elements of this story."

3 out of 5

http://www.stephen-baxter.com/articles.html#xee

The Xeelee Sequence Timeline - Stephen Baxter

2010-02-09T01:40:00.000-08:00

"A complete (as of July 2009) timeline for the ‘Xeelee Sequence’ of novels and stories."

4 out of 5

http://www.stephen-baxter.com/articles.html#xeelee

Starfarers 08 - Vonda N. McIntyre

2010-02-06T15:54:00.000-08:00

"Griffith frowned at Infinity Mendez. He was not accustomed to being questioned by gardeners. Come to think of it, he was not accustomed to going to parties to which the gardeners were invited, either. It occurred to him that the starship’s extreme democracy had probably gone too far. The word “anarchy” came to mind, and gave him another opening against the expedition. "

3 out of 5

http://www.bookviewcafe.com/index.php/Vonda-N.-McIntyre/Novels/Starfarers-Chapter-8

Starfarers 07 - Vonda N. McIntyre

2010-02-06T15:43:00.000-08:00

"Feral pushed off and started interviewing people, setting the background for his story. Starfarer navigated from one star system to the next via cosmic string. But once it reached a destination, it required other methods of propulsion: primarily the sail. Cosmic string provided macronavigation, the sail, micronavigation, though it sounded strange to apply the term “micro” to distances measured in millions of kilometers.

The sail was slow, but near a star it was steady. It had the great benefit of operating without reaction mass or onboard fuel. It would propel the starship from its entrypoint into the star system to a point from which it could re-enter the twisted space-time of a cosmic string. The alien contact team had a small, fast explorer to use in traveling between Starfarer and a new system’s worlds. "

3.5 out of 5

http://www.bookviewcafe.com/index.php/Vonda-N.-McIntyre/Novels/Starfarers-Chapter-7

Starfarers 06 - Vonda N. McIntyre

2010-02-06T00:50:00.000-08:00

"“Good morning,” Stephen Thomas whispered.

“Good morning.” Victoria, too, kept her voice soft. “Is that how weasels screw?” "

3 out of 5

http://www.bookviewcafe.com/index.php/Vonda-N.-McIntyre/Novels/Starfarers-Chapter-06

Starfarers 05 - Vonda N. McIntyre

2010-02-05T23:54:00.000-08:00

"“I love it,” J.D. said. “It looks organic, somehow. But why do it like this? Not to conserve energy, surely.” While Starfarer still flew within the solar system, the sun would provide all the power it could possibly use. Once it clamped itself to the universe’s web of cosmic string, the problem would be to keep from being overwhelmed by the energy flux. "

3 out of 5

http://www.bookviewcafe.com/index.php/Vonda-N.-McIntyre/Novels/Starfarers-Chapter-5

Starfarers 03 - Vonda N. McIntyre

2010-02-05T19:22:00.000-08:00

"She passed Floris Brown, so far the only member of Grandparents in Space, accompanied by a member of the transport crew. "

2.5 out of 5

http://www.bookviewcafe.com/index.php/Vonda-N.-McIntyre/Novels/Starfarers-Chapter-4

The Snowbank Orbit - Fritz Leiber

2010-02-04T04:33:00.000-08:00

Titania station enemy dead.

3 out of 5

Prospector's Special - Robert Sheckley

2010-02-01T22:09:00.000-08:00

Venus robot rules.

2.5 out of 5

A War Of Stars - David L. Clements

2010-01-29T02:43:00.000-08:00

No, no they are trying to kill all of us, Gold Leader.

3.5 out of 5

Nova War - Gary Gibson

2010-01-27T00:51:00.000-08:00

Or, more importantly, how to stop one.

In a second book that is a bit better than the first, if again a little long, the major problem is that almost everybody wants to kill people and blow shit up.

The Shoal and their FTL capable antagonists want to blow up each other's star systems. The Bandati Hives wants to take each other out. They would also like one of the Magi ships to they can do big star boom, too. So would Lucas Corso's planet's delusional libertarian rump government.

Hugh Moss already has a ship that can blow up a star.

Seems the only person that doesn't want to rearrange any bits of local cosmology in a grand manner is Dakota Merrick. She is the one everyone wants, though, because she can communicate with the Magi ships and make them do stuff. Not that she hasn't killed plenty of people, however.

The whole torture and threats thing against her backfires in a big way when she learns that no, that wasn't the last Magi ship she got rid of - and it was actually kind of beaten up.

With people making with the big stellar fireworks display, Dakota wants to see what she can do to minimise the damage, and maybe just save the human race.

Again the sort of space opera we'd like to see more of.

3.5 out of 5 (call it almost 3.75)

The Night's Dawn Trilogy - Peter F. Hamilton

2010-01-17T04:23:00.000-08:00

The Reality Dysfunction

Space opera horror monster massive tome.

The start of a humongous trilogy, and with so many pages to fill Hamilton is able to come up with all sorts of stuff.

The Confederation is divided basically on religious grounds between those that use organic technologically to actually bond with computers and animals, and those that only use non-organic or electronic technology.

They still work together, but there are tensions.

Against this backdrop we have the invention of a doomsday weapon, interplanetary war, strange alien investigators, royalty, smartarse starship captains, sentient spaceships, the opening of death's door, nasty cults, wildly varying planets, royalty, and some really good booze.

A vastly entertaining epic, indeed.

4.5 out of 5

The Neutronium Alchemist

Possession organisation spread.

The numbers of those from beyond the grave continue to grow, and a famous gangster is among them, and he puts his 'organisational' talents to use, once he calms down a bit.

They also find that they can possess the sentient ships, gaining useful weaponry in the process.

Then there is the serious grudge-carrying escaped scientist and her superweapon.

Space battles and zombies and zombie space battles, if you like, although there is no lack of intelligence after possession, just a lot of desperate conflict going on as people learn about this problem and set out to try and do something about it.

4 out of 5

The Naked God

Possessed planet nicking problem means captain's alien deity quest.

With the propensity for large groups of possessed to take over planets and then piss off with them so no-one can take their bodies back from them becoming a serious problem, the alien Tyrathca may have led them to a solution.

In the past a serious space entity may have helped them out, and this is what our heroes want to try and find to see if it can do the same thing for them, while others try and deal with the crazed cult killers and other problems, and make some discoveries about the origins of the Confederation split into the bargain.

4 out of 5

4.5 out of 5

Darkship Thieves 1-2 - Sarah A. Hoyt

2010-01-15T23:26:00.000-08:00

The author reads the first two chapters of her novel. Pretty cool.

4 out of 5

http://darkshipthieves.com/audio/darkship1-2.mp3

Fee Of the Frontier - H. B Fyfe

2010-01-15T19:13:00.000-08:00

Martian gamble.

2.5 out of 5

http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/3/0/9/0/30901/30901-h/30901-h.htm

Grand Central Arena 32 - Ryk Spoor

2010-01-15T05:13:00.000-08:00

"Her face lit up with understanding. "I think you must be right, Simon. Remember when DuQuesne confronted the Molothos, how utterly freaked Orphan was? Remember what he said? Where a human being would have compared the chances to one in a million, the largest number Orphan could seem to think of in that situation was a hundred. As though only a lunatic would ever place a bet on something more than a hundred to one.""

3 out of 5

http://seawasp.livejournal.com/167171.html#cutid1

Grand Central Arena 31 - Ryk Spoor

2010-01-15T05:10:00.000-08:00

" Simon waggled a finger at her. "It is still a very real concept for understanding our world. The existence of the Arena and associated frames of reference merely shows that the relativistic effects are limited – special cases which will collapse if subjected to analysis from the point of view of the privileged frame, but only if they become relevant to the spacetime track of…" he saw the incomprehension in her eyes and stopped. "Sorry.""

3 out of 5

http://seawasp.livejournal.com/166642.html#cutid1

Grand Central Arena 30 - Ryk Spoor

2010-01-14T02:20:00.000-08:00

"Then another movement in shadow, a bit closer; this one stalked cautiously, smoothly into a slight clearing, and DuQuesne's heart seemed to drop straight into his boots. A centauroid body atop seven sharp-jointed legs, with a pair of jack-knife arms held curled and ready."

3.5 out of 5

http://seawasp.livejournal.com/165999.html#cutid1

Grand Central Arena 29 - Ryk Spoor

2010-01-13T04:21:00.000-08:00

""Yes. You're the doctor. That makes you in some ways the most crucial member of the crew; the longer we stay here – especially given the specifically dangerous conditions imposed on us by this 'Arena' – the more likely it is that some of us are going to get hurt, possibly very badly. Given that, it would be criminally irresponsible of me – or any of us – to permit you to be exposed to any more danger than we can reasonably avoid." He held up a hand to forestall an argument. "I am not saying we have to wrap you up in insulation and store you inside a box like a precious artifact; the fact is that with only seven functioning members of the team, we can't afford to have anyone who isn't kept busy most of the time. But you are not, and will not, be taking point on any serious exploration endeavors.""

3 out of 5

http://seawasp.livejournal.com/165171.html#cutid1

Grand Central Arena 28 - Ryk Spoor

2010-01-13T02:23:00.000-08:00

"DuQuesne gave a tight, cynical smile. "This whole place is set up to make us meet at this Nexus Arena, right? So I wouldn't put it past the builders or controllers of the Arena to make it force you to play the game, if you try to go to extremes to avoid it. Anything that can basically switch nuclear reactions on and off, and make the AISages shut down without causing a detectable bit of damage, can probably do other stupid physics tricks, like keep batteries from charging beyond a certain level.""

3.5 out of 5

http://seawasp.livejournal.com/164797.html#cutid1

Grand Central Arena 27 - Ryk Spoor

2010-01-12T04:42:00.000-08:00

"Oh my. That would, as the old saying goes, put the cat among the pigeons. Simon frowned at the implications. Ariane was in the position to make decisions for all humanity from the Arena's viewpoint? That could indeed be sticky. And did rather eliminate the quick solution to their dilemma of how to get home. "Can other individuals go their own way? That is, if Humanity were to join the Analytic, could individual humans choose to go join, well, the Liberated?"

2.5 out of 5

Before Egypt - E. K. Jarvis

2010-01-12T04:05:00.000-08:00

We got no pilesyptian.

1.5 out of 5

http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/3/0/9/3/30932/30932-h/30932-h.htm

Mars In the Fiction Of Leigh Brackett - Various Various

2010-01-09T02:21:00.000-08:00

Mars in the fiction of Leigh Brackett
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

4.5 out of 5

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mars_in_the_fiction_of_Leigh_Brackett

Jupiter In the Fiction Of Leigh Brackett - Various Various

2010-01-09T01:52:00.000-08:00

Jupiter in the fiction of Leigh Brackett
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

4.5 out of 5

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jupiter_in_the_fiction_of_Leigh_Brackett

Venus In the Fiction Of Leigh Brackett - Various Various

2010-01-09T01:47:00.000-08:00

Venus in the fiction of Leigh Brackett
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

4.5 out of 5

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venus_in_the_fiction_of_Leigh_Brackett

Eric John Stark - Various Various

2010-01-09T01:36:00.000-08:00

Eric John Stark
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

4 out of 5

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eric_John_Stark

Mercury In the Fiction Of Leigh Brackett - Various Various

2010-01-09T01:35:00.000-08:00

Mercury in the fiction of Leigh Brackett
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

4.5 out of 5

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercury_in_the_fiction_of_Leigh_Brackett

Hollow Of the Moon - Manly Wade Wellman

2010-01-08T02:43:00.000-08:00

Where'll you find a jungle girl, of course.

2.5 out of 5

http://www.archive.org/details/Super_Science_Volume_1_Number_2_

Castaway - Donald A. Wollheim

2010-01-08T02:40:00.000-08:00

Might be interstellar alien in them there wood.

3 out of 5

http://www.archive.org/details/Super_Science_Volume_1_Number_2_

Planet Stories 39 - Paul L. Payne

2010-01-08T00:49:00.000-08:00

A highly variable issue from the highly excellent Brackett story to the wretched Mullen tale. Of the two of his seen so far, easily the worst come across in the later part of the magazine, anyway. The first issue was very bad, and can get to some more in a library some time.

Coppel has a solidly entertaining Smith-Hamilton type story. Wedlake's is a short but satisfying man-against-space story.

Margaret St. Clair is so far easily the nastiest of the Planet Stories writers after several efforts.

Hamilton's story of a female telepathic agent on a desperate mission to save what is left of the Terran Defenders is a cut above.

Planet Stories 39 : Queen of the Martian Catacombs - Leigh Brackett
Planet Stories 39 : The Madcap Metalloids - W. V. Athanas
Planet Stories 39 : S.O.S. Aphrodite! - Stanley Mullen
Planet Stories 39 : The Starbusters - Alfred Coppel
Planet Stories 39 : Peril Orbit - C. J. Wedlake
Planet Stories 39 : Garden of Evil - Margaret St. Clair
Planet Stories 39 : Stalemate in Space - Charles L. Harness

Eric John Stark has to deal with plotting by the last of the serial immortals of Sinharat.

4.5 out of 5

Telepathic Booger, Doc.

2 out of 5

Space Pirate daughter.

1.5 out of 5

Lover-Girl Eridani hyperspace attack contraterrene planet bomb stellar kill.

3 out of 5

Detox fixing green girl cannibal meal.

3.5 out of 5

Telepathic agent battle planet destruction.

3.5 out of 5

2.5 out of 5

http://www.archive.org/details/Planet_St...

Stalemate In Space - Charles L. Harness

2010-01-08T00:42:00.000-08:00

Telepathic agent battle planet destruction.

3.5 out of 5

http://www.archive.org/details/Planet_St...

Garden Of Evil - Margaret St. Clair

2010-01-08T00:32:00.000-08:00

Detox fixing green girl cannibal meal.

3.5 out of 5

http://www.archive.org/details/Planet_St...

Peril Orbit - C. J. Wedlake

2010-01-08T00:27:00.000-08:00

Sun-caught suggestions.

3 out of 5

http://www.archive.org/details/Planet_St...

The Starbursters - Alfred Coppel

2010-01-08T00:25:00.000-08:00

Lover-Girl Eridani hyperspace attack contraterrene planet bomb stellar kill.

3 out of 5

http://www.archive.org/details/Planet_St...

S.O.S. Aphrodite! - Stanley Mullen

2010-01-08T00:21:00.000-08:00

Space Pirate daughter.

1.5 out of 5

http://www.archive.org/details/Planet_St...

The Madcap Metalloids - W. V. Athanas

2010-01-08T00:17:00.000-08:00

Telepathic Booger, Doc.

2 out of 5

http://www.archive.org/details/Planet_St...

The Brain Sinner - Alan E. Nourse

2010-01-07T23:51:00.000-08:00

Psi-High alien not, or freak.

2.5 out of 5

http://www.archive.org/details/Planet_Stories_Volume_6_Number_10_

The Space Between - Robert E. Gilbert

2010-01-07T23:47:00.000-08:00

Patrol? Plank in space?

2 out of 5

http://www.archive.org/details/Planet_Stories_Volume_6_Number_10_

Mirage For Planet X - Stanley Mullen

2010-01-07T23:43:00.000-08:00

Titan and Mars too.

1.5 out of 5

http://www.archive.org/details/Planet_Stories_Volume_6_Number_10_

Hagerty's Enzymes - A. L. Haley

2010-01-07T23:38:00.000-08:00

Robot want.

2 out of 5

http://www.archive.org/details/Planet_Stories_Volume_6_Number_10_

Planet Stories 44 - Jerome Bixby

2010-01-07T23:22:00.000-08:00

Overall this issue is bad, except for the Coppel story, which I like a lot. 2.69 only. Abernathy next best and then probably the Anderson is a little over the 2.5 mark.

Planet Stories 44 : The Rebel of Valkyr - Alfred Coppel
Planet Stories 44 : Death-Wish - Ray Bradbury
Planet Stories 44 : The Crowded Colony - Jerome Bixby
Planet Stories 44 : The Sky Is Falling - Henry Kuttner and C. L. Moore
Planet Stories 44 : Meem - Margaret St. Clair
Planet Stories 44 : Star Ship - Poul Anderson
Planet Stories 44 : Strange Exodus - Robert Abernathy
Planet Stories 44 : Patch - William Shedenhelm

'Against the mighty forces of the assembled star-kings, the army of Valkyr counted for almost nothing; but the savage fighting men of the Edge carried with them their talisman -- Alys Imperatrix, uncrowned sovereign of the Galaxy, Heiress of the Thousand Emperors...'

4 out of 5

Bottle vanish.

2.5 out of 5

All the way up, Beta Centauri too.

2.5 out of 5

Keeping the ship for after the Blow-Up.

2.5 out of 5

Desire contagion.

2.5 out of 5

Just kill your brother and fly us out of here, woman.

2.5 out of 5

Space parasite men.

3 out of 5

Mercury mold.

2 out of 5

1 out of 5

http://www.archive.org/details/Planet_St...

Patch - William Shedenhelm

2010-01-07T23:09:00.000-08:00

Mercury mold.

2 out of 5

http://www.archive.org/details/Planet_St...

Meem - Margaret St. Clair

2010-01-07T23:05:00.000-08:00

Desire contagion.

2.5 out of 5

http://www.archive.org/details/Planet_St...

The Crowded Colony - Jerome Bixby

2010-01-07T23:01:00.000-08:00

All the way up, Beta Centauri too.

2.5 out of 5

http://www.archive.org/details/Planet_St...

The Blue Bottle - Ray Bradbury

2010-01-07T22:53:00.000-08:00

Bottle vanish.

2.5 out of 5

http://www.archive.org/details/Planet_St...

Death-Wish - Ray Bradbury

2010-01-07T22:51:00.000-08:00

Bottle vanish.

2.5 out of 5

http://www.archive.org/details/Planet_St...

Planet Stories 42 - Paul L. Payne

2010-01-07T22:23:00.000-08:00

One good, one rubbish, and the rest right in the midle, with two fun novellas from Bennett and Graber.

Planet Stories 42 : The Rocketeers Have Shaggy Ears - Keith Bennett
Planet Stories 42 : Forever and the Earth - Ray Bradbury
Planet Stories 42 : The First Man on the Moon - Alfred Coppel
Planet Stories 42 : Madmen of Mars - Erik Fennel
Planet Stories 42 : Who Goes There? - Charles H. Davis
Planet Stories 42 : Flame-Jewel of the Ancients - Edwin L. Graber
Planet Stories 42 : Ultimatum - Roger Dee

A military science fiction short novel. This particular group gets forced down thanks to a busted up ship, and to try and survive on Venus.

This includes dangerous plans and screaming lizard-men, so they get plenty of chances to use their military skills.

3 out of 5

Futurist writing is tricky.

4 out of 5

First murderer only.

3 out of 5

Dirty trick save.

1.5 out of 5

Not even noticing when you smash the squid aliens.

3 out of 5

Despite the title, this is mostly a Doc Smith style adventure.

Super Galactic ships, anti-energy shields, an arms race, and more.

Of course, a big heroic bloke from the Stellar Guardians. No super powers though, but he does get to fight alongside etc. a good looking redhead.

Captain Glayne and friends of course also have a villainous criminal overlord to deal with.

Plenty of fun to be had here.

3 out of 5

2 out of 5

http://www.archive.org/details/Planet_St...

Ultimatum - Roger Dee

2010-01-07T22:17:00.000-08:00

Martian envoy's Venusian ending.

3 out of 5

http://www.archive.org/details/Planet_St...

Who Goes There? - Charles H. Davis

2010-01-07T22:13:00.000-08:00

Not even noticing when you smash the squid aliens.

3 out of 5

http://www.archive.org/details/Planet_St...

Madmen Of Mars - Erik Fennel

2010-01-07T22:10:00.000-08:00

Dirty trick save.

1.5 out of 5

http://www.archive.org/details/Planet_St...

The First Man On the Moon - Alfred Coppel

2010-01-07T22:07:00.000-08:00

First murderer only.

3 out of 5

http://www.archive.org/details/Planet_St...

Planet Stories 50 - Jack O'Sullivan

2010-01-07T21:23:00.000-08:00

A consistent issue at 2.85 due to the lineup, but no standouts, with Coppel coming closet with a story more reminiscent of the mood of Poul Anderson's Duel On Syrtis.

Planet Stories 50 : The Incubi of Parallel X - Theodore Sturgeon
Planet Stories 50 : Sanctuary Oh Ulla! - J. T. McIntosh
Planet Stories 50 : The Inhabited Men - Margaret St. Clair
Planet Stories 50 : The Star-Fool - Gordon R. Dickson
Planet Stories 50 : Last Night Out - Milton A. Rothman
Planet Stories 50 : Tydore's Gift - Alfred Coppel
Planet Stories 50 : The Watchers - Roger Dee
Planet Stories 50 : Vengeance on Mars - Jerome Bixby
Planet Stories 50 : Hospitality - J. W. Groves
Planet Stories 50 : Lord of a Thousand Suns - Poul Anderson

Gateway in some giantesses.

3 out of 5

Double traitor stop.

2.5 out of 5

Planted talking after death.

2.5 out of 5

Specimen collector pieces.

2.5 out of 5

Canopan bar removal.

3 out of 5

On the wrong end of Martian subtlety.

3.5 out of 5

'We leave you to destroy yourselves, as you will, because man is one of the rare failures of the Galactic Urge.'

3 out of 5

We flamed him, Hale.

3 out of 5

Sleep goad.

2.5 out of 5

Immortal Survey.

3 out of 5

1.5 out of 5

http://www.archive.org/details/Planet_St...

Lord Of A Thousand Suns - Poul Anderson

2010-01-07T21:14:00.000-08:00

Immortal Survey.

3 out of 5

http://www.archive.org/details/Planet_Stories_Volume_5_Number_2_

Hospitality - J. W. Groves

2010-01-07T21:08:00.000-08:00

Sleep goad.

2.5 out of 5

http://www.archive.org/details/Planet_Stories_Volume_5_Number_2_

Vengeance On Mars - Jerome Bixby

2010-01-07T21:06:00.000-08:00

We flamed him, Hale.

3 out of 5

http://www.archive.org/details/Planet_Stories_Volume_5_Number_2_

The Watchers - Roger Dee

2010-01-07T21:03:00.000-08:00

"We leave you to destroy yourselves, as you will, because man is one of the rare failures of the Galactic Urge."

3 out of 5

http://www.archive.org/details/Planet_Stories_Volume_5_Number_2_

Tydore's Gift - Alfred Coppel

2010-01-07T21:00:00.000-08:00

On the wrong end of Martian subtlety.

3.5 out of 5

http://www.archive.org/details/Planet_Stories_Volume_5_Number_2_

Last Night Out - Milton A. Rothman

2010-01-07T20:56:00.000-08:00

Canopan bar removal.

3 out of 5

http://www.archive.org/details/Planet_Stories_Volume_5_Number_2_

The Star-Fool - Gordon R. Dickson

2010-01-07T20:53:00.000-08:00

Specimen collector pieces.

2.5 out of 5

http://www.archive.org/details/Planet_Stories_Volume_5_Number_2_

The Inhabited Men - Margaret St Clair

2010-01-07T20:45:00.000-08:00

Planted talking after death.

2.5 out of 5

http://www.archive.org/details/Planet_Stories_Volume_5_Number_2_

Sanctuary Oh Ulla - J. T. McIntosh

2010-01-07T20:40:00.000-08:00

Double traitor stop.

2.5 out of 5

http://www.archive.org/details/Planet_Stories_Volume_5_Number_2_

The Incubi Of Parallel X - Theodore Sturgeon

2010-01-07T20:37:00.000-08:00

Gateway in some giantesses.

3 out of 5

http://www.archive.org/details/Planet_Stories_Volume_5_Number_2_

Sea-Kings Of Mars - Leigh Brackett

2010-01-07T06:51:00.000-08:00

Novel

Number of words : 45000
Percent of complex words : 6.4
Average syllables per word : 1.4

READABILITY INDICES

Fog : 9.2
Flesch : 73.4
Flesch-Kincaid : 7.2

: The Sword Of Rhiannon - Leigh Brackett

SETTING

Jekkara

Martian City.

Madam Kan's

Dodgy bar in Jekkara.

Old Town

Suburb of Jekkara. Old Jekkara, with its docks of stone and marble still standing in the dry and dust-choked harbor, was old beyond any Earth conception of the world.

New Town

Suburb of Jekkara. The New Town of Jekkara, the living town down by the canal, had been old when Ur of the Chaldees was a raw young village.

Tomb Of Rhianon

Where Penkawr finds the sword, and Carse ends up travelling back in time.

Sark

Ancient Martian city.

Khondor

Ancient Martian city.

White Sea

Where Carse is taken prisoner and made to row.

Black Banks

Off the White Sea.

Caer Dhu

Dhuvian city.

CHARACTERS

Matt Carse

"Archaeologist, renegade, looter of tombs."

Pankawr of Barrakesh

Finds The Sword of Rhiannon, and wants to give it to Carse.

Rhiannon

A Quiru. "...the Cursed One, whose sinful pride had caused some mysterious catastrophe." and "...sinned by teaching too much wisdom to the Dhuvians."

Boghaz Hoi

A Valkisian. "...big, fleshy and soft-looking, a Martian who wore a kilt that looked ridiculously scanty on his fat figure. His face was moonlike, creased and crinkled in a reassuring grin"

Scyld

A Sark slaveship captain.

Lady Ywain

Sark princess and slaver. "She stood like a dark flame in a nimbus of sunset light. Her habit was that of a young warrior, a hauberk of black mail over a short purple tunic, with a jeweled dragon coiling on the curve of her mailed breast and a short sword at her side. Her head was bare. She wore her black hair short, cut square above the eyes and falling to her shoulders. Under dark brows her eyes had smoldering fires in them. She stood with straight long legs braced slightly apart,"

King Garach

Sark ruler and Yvain's father.

Callus

Scyld's slaveship whip man.

Jaxart

Khond slave.

Shallah

A Swimmer.

Naran

Her mate.

Lorn

Slave, of the Sky Folk, wings crippled.

Rold

Ruler of the Sea-Kings in Khondor.

Emer

Rold's sister. A seer.

Ironbeard

Rold's admiral.

S'San

Dhuvian travelling on the Sark slave ship.

Thorn of Tarak

One of the Sea-Kings.

Hishah

A Dhuvian.

FOOD

Thil

Martian alcoholic drink.

WEAPONS

Proton-gun

Deadly hand weapon.

The Sword of Rhiannon

Ancient Quiru blade, made by its namesake.

PLACES

Valkis

Martian Low-Canal City.

Barrakesh

Martian Low-Canal City.

Kahora

Martian city.

Phobos

Moon of Mars.

ORGANISATIONS

Earth Police Control

After Carse.

The Wise Ones

Three Swimmer elders and judges.

The Sea-Kings

An alliance to the West that opposes Sark.

RACES

Quiru

Hero-gods who were human yet superhuman, who had had all wisdom and power.

Sark

Slavers. Rule east, north and south of the White Sea.

Khond

People of Khondor.

Swimmers

Ancient Martian Aquatic people, Halflings.

Skyfolk

Ancient Martian winged people, Halflings.

Dhuvians

The Serpents, Halflings. Masters of Ancient technology.

TECHNOLOGY

Krypton-lamp

Runs using krypton, the element.

PLOT

Matt Carse is a tomb raider, and stumbles across a dodgy acquaintance who has beaten him to this one and found the Tomb of Rhiannon, and the Sword within. He wants to sell it to Carse because he will be able to flog it more easily and for a better price. Carse takes the sword and finds the Tomb - but is sent back in time to that of Sark and the Sea-Kings.

He is taken for a Khond spy and falls in with Bolgaz the rogue, who wants the Sword, and will try and use Carse to try and save himself from Sark slavers, but no luck. They end up manning the oars on Lady Ywain's ship, which also harbours a Dhuvian. Carse is a wild-card in the situation, and no-one is quite sure of him as he does not fit in politically. He engineers an uprising, and also has an 'I hate you, kiss me now' chemistry with Ywain. the warrior princess of Sark.

They head for Khondor, where the leader Rold's sister, a seer, foretells bad things because of Sark - and the influence of Rhiannon upon him does not help anyone into trusting him. It is Rhiannon's fault that the Dhuvians have Quiru technology and it is this which makes Sark impregnable. However, because of his time in the Tomb, Carse has actual contact with the mind of Rhiannon - which can speak through his body, so this is both good and bad. It gives the Sea-Kings an opportunity to take down Sark's forcefield through Rhiannon's help, and initiation a more just society.

This accomplished, Carse realises he should go home, even though he rather likes the ancient past. Ywain, an outcast and alive and free on sufferance asks to go with him, as she has no place left and didn't like her home anyway. Carse agrees, and they take the time trip through the Tomb back to his Jekkara.

4.5 out of 5

The Treasure Of Ptakuth - Leigh Brackett

2010-01-07T00:53:00.000-08:00

Short Story

Number of words : 6000
Percent of complex words : 7.3
Average syllables per word : 1.4
Average words per sentence : 11.5

READABILITY INDICES

Fog : 7.5
Flesch : 73.0
Flesch-Kincaid : 5.9

SETTING

Ptakuth

Ancient Martian city with advanced technology that can confer immortality, so the legend goes and truth reveals.

CHARACTERS

Terence Shane

Earthman adventurer.

Thaldrek of Ved

Martian adventurer.

Zendra Challoner

Shunni goddess-queen leader, only half Shunni.

Harold Challoner

Zendra's father. Apparently became a god and suicided, after he led a previous expedition to Ptakuth.

PLACES

Atlantis

Ancient legendary city on Earth.

Phobos

Moon of Mars.

ORGANISATIONS

Martian Archaeological Foundation

Terry Shane's employer.

RACES

Shunni

Martian barbarians.

PLOT

Terry Shane is an adventurer hired by the Martian Archaeological Foundation to find Ptakuth. He has a rival, in Indiana Jones style, and one somewhat dodgier.
They run into Zendra Challoner and some Shunni warriors. She is half Shunni, and her father found Ptakuth - and died, because: ""This much I can say, Shane; tell it to the men of the Martian Foundation, and let them make what good they can of it. The cyclotron fired hydrogen bullets against a screen of yttrium. Using rubidium filters, the scientists of Ptakuth generated a ray with a wonderful property; the property of making the human bloodstream radio-active with a gamma-principle. This gamma element in the blood gave a power of regeneration to the body cells, but most of all, being in itself a germ-destroying element, it made the human body immune to all disease. You can see how this would extend the life span.

"The tragedy was that the ray destroyed whatever mysterious center of the brain it is that controls sleep. Imagine, Shane; a lifetime of several centuries, with never a moment's relaxation in sleep, never a quiet time of darkness and rest. Every second of every day lived to the uttermost. Ptakuth went mad! Like Challoner, it destroyed itself, and the rest of the world said it was cursed. Ptakuth was shunned."

There's another flaw that Shane's rival Thaldrek understands. Stand in there too long, and you die. Shane has to keep this from happening both to Zendra, and himself.

3.5 out of 5

The Veil Of Astellar - Leigh Brackett

2010-01-06T23:10:00.000-08:00

Novelette

Number of words : 11000
Percent of complex words : 5.4
Average syllables per word : 1.4
Average words per sentence : 10.7

READABILITY INDICES

Fog : 6.4
Flesch : 79.6
Flesch-Kincaid : 4.8

: The Veil Of Astellar - Leigh Brackett

SETTING

The Veil : The Veil Of Astellar - Leigh Brackett

A ship swallowing region.

Jekkara : The Veil Of Astellar - Leigh Brackett

Martian City

Madame Kan's : The Veil Of Astellar - Leigh Brackett

Notorious Jekkaran bar.

Astellar

Small hidden world of space vampire aliens.

CHARACTERS

Stephen Vance-Jay Goat : The Veil Of Astellar - Leigh Brackett

Spaceman, changed by his encounter in the Veil, originally from Beverly Hills, California. Now three hundred years old.

Missy : The Veil Of Astellar - Leigh Brackett

Dead woman.

Brad : The Veil Of Astellar - Leigh Brackett

Passenger on the Queen Of Jupiter. Partner of Virgie.

Virgie : The Veil Of Astellar - Leigh Brackett

Passenger on the Queen Of Jupiter, has a baby.

Gallery : The Veil Of Astellar - Leigh Brackett

Black Irish sensitive.

Shirina : The Veil Of Astellar - Leigh Brackett

Astellarian leader and recruiter of Vance. "She, and her race, had no need of clothing. Their lazy, sinuous bodies had a fleecy covering that wasn't fur or feathers or tendrils but something of all three. They had no true color. They changed according to light, in an endless spectrum of loveliness that went far beyond the range you humans know.

Now, in the dark, Shirina's aura glowed like warm pearl. I could see her face, faintly, the queer peaked triangular bones covered with skin softer than a humming-bird's breast, the dead-black, bottomless eyes, the crest of delicate antennae tipped with tiny balls of light like diamonds burning under gauze."

Flack : The Veil Of Astellar - Leigh Brackett

Man who became an Astellarian.

ORGANISATIONS

Interworld Space Authority Headquarters : The Veil Of Astellar - Leigh Brackett

Travel administrators.

FOOD

Thil : The Veil Of Astellar - Leigh Brackett

Martian booze.

Desert-cactus brandy : The Veil Of Astellar - Leigh Brackett

Obviously Martian booze.

VEHICLES

Queen Of Jupiter : The Veil Of Astellar - Leigh Brackett

Passenger ship.

CONCEPTS

Getak : The Veil Of Astellar - Leigh Brackett

A gambling game.

TECHNOLOGY

Rosson deflectors : The Veil Of Astellar - Leigh Brackett

Allow ships safer passage through the Asteroid Belt.

X-Crystals : The Veil Of Astellar - Leigh Brackett

Psi-amplifiers in the Veil.

PLOT

Vance was human, once until he entered the Cloud of Astellar. Now over 300 years old he helps lure people to Astellar so their life forces can be drained, keeping the Astellarians alive. Doing so on Mars, he influences the liner Queen of Jupiter back to Astellar. However, a passenger, Virgie on board has a locket belonging to his long dead lover named Missy, and bears a resemblance. He earlier gave his name to her as J. Goat. Indeed, a second time around as Virgie's influence on him leads him to attack the Astellarians and destroy the means to renew his own longevity.

4 out of 5

Water Pirate - Leigh Brackett

2010-01-06T20:50:00.000-08:00

Short Story

Number of words : 6000
Percent of complex words : 6.6
Average syllables per word : 1.4
Average words per sentence : 12.6

READABILITY INDICES

Fog : 7.67
Flesch : 72.5
Flesch-Kincaid : 6.3

: Water Pirate - Leigh Brackett

SETTING

In 2418

Valkis

Martian city.

Teka Desert

Mountainous dry area out from Valkis.

CHARACTERS

Johan Gray

Chief of Special Duty of the Convoy Fleet.

Jaffa Gray

His son and investigator.

Lhara

A warrior-girl of Kesh.

Lhar

Her brother.

Rha

An alien from Vhila, a golden swimmer from a water-world with three suns.

ORGANISATIONS

Trans-Galactic Convoy Fleet

Shipping protection group.

PLACES

Kesh

Martian barbarian dryland state.

VEHICLES

Kallman two-seater

Small flying craft.

TECHNOLOGY

Ultra-visor

Display mechanism.

WEAPONS

Paralysis Gun

Non-lethal sidearm.

Heat Gun

Lethal sidearm.

PLOT

Rha, an alien from a water-world has taken Lhara's brother hostage. She finds Jaffa Gray, son of a powerful administrator, and paralyses him, wanting to use him. She finds out Rha is more than a bandit, being an alien scientist wanting to save his amphibious people, under siege on their own world. He too wants to use Jaffa's ability to sway his father for help. Jaffa decides that his cause is worthy enough to forgive his crimes, and offers to intercede.

3.5 out of 5

Eventide - Chris Roberson

2010-01-02T00:26:00.000-08:00

Ancient space-time engine iteration.

4 out of 5

Dreamers' Life - Stephen Baxter

2010-01-02T00:10:00.000-08:00

Dropping the early life hammer.

3.5 out of 5

Dust - Paul J. McAuley

2010-01-01T23:12:00.000-08:00

Nano symbiosis.

3 out of 5

Lehr Rex - Jay Lake

2010-01-01T22:10:00.000-08:00

Broken Spear machine mind Ray Gun.

3.5 out of 5

Starfarers 03 - Vonda N. McIntyre

2010-01-01T20:12:00.000-08:00

"One of the orcas surfaced beside her and blew, exhaling explosively and drawing in a deep breath. Its dorsal fin cut the fog in swirls. The whale raised its head above water and looked at her. Unlike ordinary humans, the orcas — and the divers — could see equally well in water and in air. It spoke to her in phrases beyond her vocabulary. She could recognize the tone. If she had been a young orca, or a diver child, the tone would have been patient. But she was an outsider, she was an adult, and she was tediously slow.

Orcas were easily bored."

http://www.bookviewcafe.com/Vonda-N.-McIntyre/Novels/Starfarers-Chapter-3

Leigh Brackett's Future History - Connecting the Stories : An Examination

2010-01-01T00:24:00.000-08:00

LEIGH BRACKETT'S FUTURE HISTORY - Connecting the Stories: An Examination

It is well known that Leigh Brackett has a group of stories that share a common setting, and that those are based on the planets of the Solar System, primarily on Venus and Mars.

However, there is much other SF included in 50+ short stories and ten novels.

I thought it might be interesting to see what work might coherently fit in one Future History, even if it was never explicitly stated. I haven't seen anything written talking about the interstellar and other stories in general, whereas there are good articles at Wikipedia about the planetary romance era.

Very few dates are given in Brackett stories, so this is an attempt at division into rough periods, in order. There is no mention of medical technology or lifespans given for humans, either, at least insofar as they may differ from the known range of readers of the times.

ELIMINATION OF WORK

Firstly, there are definitely a small number of works that definitely do not. The novel The Long Tomorrow and its on-Earth postapocalyptic lost technology religious setting definitely does not.

Secondly, the short story The Tweener has a soldier return from a Mars that is empty apart from some small rabbit-like native animals, that are actually discovered to be sentient. This is not relevant.

Thirdly, The Citadel of Lost Ages is set on a future earth that astronomical calamity has caused to have a Darkside and a Lightside, like Mercury. There is no evidence of such directly in any work. It is in fact somewhat Planet of the Apes-like, Darkside notwithstanding, with hybrid beastmen running the planet, and humans as slaves. An outsider enters with forgotten knowledge, a trove of past human technology including atomic power. Nothing is mentioned of spacefaring or starship technology. Therefore it is extremely unlikely this story is relevant.

Fourthly, her last story, 'Mommies and Daddies' has a near future Earth dystopia ravaged by a drug destroyed populace and their abandoned children. Or at least the American part of this world is. This certainly does not fit with the rest of the Future History. Given these multiple bad times on Earth stories all do not seem to fit at all, it is presumably deliberate on her part.

Fifthly, Runaway is obviously out thematically with its investigation of the psychological destabilisation of an accountant. Content makes this certain: "He knew that Venus was important because it produced very large amounts of uranium, thorium, germanium, and a lot of other things that Earth was using up too fast. And that was all he knew, except that people had to live there under domes, and that it never rained."

CREATIVE MYTHOGRAPHY

If you want to believe in this exercise, the greatest problem is the lack of explicit reference to the interstellar travel at the same time that there is intense focus on the local Solar System, so you have to get past that in a handwaving manner. Brackett of course was American, so you could perhaps assume that the Solar System chroniclers have the same intense inward looking focus that Americans do. The colonisation does have an American flavour. That is, making the happenings around other stars analogous to international affairs as far as interest goes for the average denizen of either at the time. There may also be author notes or mostly forgotten conversations that render this particular exercise moot, but these are unlikely to ever come to light to trouble us, given the passing of multiple decades already. Spaceports are mentioned often, without detailing the types of ships they serve. Certainly starships are given names like Stellar and Starflight.

ONE MILLION YEARS BC

Some background is given of Martian ancient history:

There is a reference to the Quiru living a million years ago or so, which sounds like an extremely rough ballpark figure. Rhiannon was a Quiru, see The Sword of Rhiannon. "The Quiru, said the myths, had for that sin crushed Rhiannon and locked him into a hidden tomb. And for more than a million years men had hunted the Tomb of Rhiannon because they believed it held the secrets of Rhiannon's power."

ANCIENT SEA-KINGS AND OTHER WEIRD TALES

1) Mars

Much later, on a far wetter Mars the Dhuvians ruled an empire as seen in Sea-Kings of Mars. As told to Matt Carse:""You know at least that since long ago there have been human peoples on our world and also the not-quite-human peoples, the Halflings. Of the humans the great Quiru, who are gone, were the greatest. They had so much science and wisdom that they're still revered as superhuman.
"But there were also the Halflings-the races who are manlike but not descended of the same blood. The Swimmers, who sprang from the sea-creatures, and the Sky Folk, who came from the winged things-and the Dhuvians, who are from the serpent.""

An alien race with advanced technology was also living in the City of Shandakor, as per The Last Days of Shandakor. While not a million years in the past, tens of thousands of years it would have taken Mars to dry out.

Also The Thinkers, as mentioned in Shadow Over Mars also likely also were around tens of thousands of years in the past: "But these Thinkers have done a lot of good from time to time."
Mak nodded. "Sure. Theoretically at least they guide the viewpoint of Mars-when they feel like bothering. It has to be some big important split, like the inter-hemispheric war back in Sixty-two Thousand and Seven, when the Sea Kings had trouble."

As did the Prira Cen: "Ancient things. Things deeply buried, nearly forgotten, clouded by superstition and legend. Forty thousand years—" from The Sorcer of Rhiannon.

The serially immortal Ramas had also existed since long in the past as talked about in Queen of the Martian Catacombs/The Secret of Sinharat. The Rama Berild talks of just one relationship:"'Delgaun has had me for a thousand years, and I am weary of him. So very weary!'" Given they are the last of their people, they must have existed a lot further back in the past.

2) Earth

Brackett appears to have liked Robert E. Howard and Abraham Merritt. As far as Howard goes, from The Jewel Of Bas: "He gave them a lament, one of the wild dark things the Cimmerians sing at the bier of a chief and very appropriate to the occasion" and "The priests of Dagon, of all the temples of Atlantis, spoke against me. I had to run away. I roamed the whole earth before the Flood, carrying the Stone."

Her husband of course was a writer for Weird Tales, so these are likely a small nod towards a favored writer. A further nod to the Weird Tales boys: "Ciaran, because he was a gypsy and a thief and had music in him like a drunkard has wine, had heard it, deep in the black forests of Hyperborea where even gypsies seldom go." The Jewel Of Bas is itself set on a hidden world in the Solar System.

Lord of the Earthquake is an Abraham Merritt style adventure where two men enter a portal that takes them back twelve thousand years in the past to Ancient Mu. So a tribute by story type, with Brackett of course injecting one of her favored hardboiled misfit-types in the character of Coh Langham. There may even ben a Doyle influence : "I devoured Burroughs, Haggard, Balmer and Wylie, Doyle's unforgettable "Maracot Deep," with this exploration of the deep in a submarine. The same applying to 'Out Of the Sea', with its attack on the USA by human created sea monsters.

The horror story The Tapestry Gate also has an otherworldly portal contained therein, but is utilised in an horrific vein, as opposed to fantasy adventure.

So Brackett has linked Mu, Atlantis, Cimmeria, Hyperborea and Lovecraftian Elder Gods in to the ancient background of her work.

3) Venus

There were no advanced technological or even literate cultures on Venus, so any history as yet known is limited to fragmented oral traditions, divulged grudgingly, if remembered at all, such as those of the Moon Cult.

4) Mercury

A much harsher place than Venus, aliens such as Shannach, long-lived, may have been there in the past, but not literate natives, so nothing is known.

RIO BRAVOS

There is no reason, in a creative mythography sense, that the adventures of sheriff John T. Chance in protecting his town along with his friends cannot be included here, or even James Beckwourth's frontier work. There is actually no direct mention of the historical 19th century at all that I am aware of in her stories other than these.

L.A. CONFIDENTIAL

As goes the Wild West, the same for the mean streets of 1940s USA and the crooks, cops, dicks, dames and other unfortunates in the following: No Good from a Corpse, Stranger At Home, Murder Is Bigamy, Red-Headed Poison, Murder in the Family Design for Dying, I Feel Bad Killing You, No Star Is Lost and The Misfortune Teller or even the late fifties in The Tiger Among Us, An Eye For an Eye, and So Pale, So Cold, So Fair. The sixties are represented by Silent Partner and The True Death of Juanito Rodriguez.

THEY WALK AMONG US

The 1950s saw aliens with starfaring capability come into contact with humans who discovered what they were, but only in isolated incidents. Wisely, they appeared to have kept away from the big cities. Possibly due to the prevalence of too many smart investigators in places like Los Angeles that may have discovered them eventually and blown the whistle.

In 1950, a local Newhale reporter discovers the Hrylliannu using the area to bring people to Earth in The Queer Ones. In fact, there is even a hybrid child produced, but they cover their tracks well. This year also saw a Pennsylvania farmer and his children encounter joyriding alien children in The Truants. Parents from both worlds were happy for no-one to know about this.

Cornwall in 1952 sees earthman Michael Trehearne discover he is of Varddan extraction in The Starmen Of Lyrdis. As such he possesses the mutant gene to allow him to survive their particularly exacting form of interstellar travel, over which they have a monopoly. As we see here, and with later human ingenuity on display, the Varddans are far from the only people with interstellar travel technology, so they rapidly become of little interest, barely a curiosity. Those that require genetic quirks to survive space travel are not going to be able to compete with the crews of ships that do not, by sheer weight of numbers.

THE COMING OF THE TERRANS

A detailed examination of the colonisation era of the Inner Worlds is beyond the scope of this article (see the Wikipedia articles), but the collection above does give some dates:

There were conflicts and uprisings on Mars that were pro-native. The Martians were more technologically advanced and capable than the native Venusians, so did not suffer the same wars and brutal colonialist programs of slaughter and military action.

1998 The Beast-Jewel of Mars
2016 Mars Minus Bisha
2024 The Last Days of Shandakor
2031 Purple Priestess of the Mad Moon
2038 The Road to Sinharat

Queen of the Martian Catacombs would happen around these times as mention is made of the Shanga trade in that story: "Stark realized now what secret vice Kala sold here. Shanga – the going back – the radiation that caused temporary artificial atavism and let men wallow for a time in beasthood. It was supposed to have been stamped out when the Lady Fand's dark Shanga ring had been destroyed. But it still persisted, in places like this outside the law." So the later Stark stories Black Amazon of Mars and Enchantress of Venus should all be in this range, them or their expanded versions.

In Cube From Space, there is an encounter with representatives of two interstellar capable alien races:"I am Crom. I was king once, in a land called Yf. And they are the Rakshi. The time came when we had to fight them, we humans, because we couldn't take any more."

THE BIG JUMP OUTWARDS

Things changed considerably when the Cochrane Company make the breakthrough to discover a method of fast interstellar travel thanks to their engineer Ballantyne and his drive (The Big Jump). The failure of Barnard II as a colony and exploitation site because of the Transurane was never going to deter further exploration. Nor was the fact that prototypes will have problems. "... whole robot-shift for the drive had bugs in it. The relays won't take the load. Rip it out and rebuild it ..." Even though the Cochranes may lost the taste for it, others would not.

PLANETARY SURVEY

The Preliminary Planetary Survey revisits Barnard II in How Bright the Stars: "It was a hellish world to be wandering on, this second planet of Barnard's Star."... "Man had finally made the Big Jump outward, with the Wenz-Boroda FTL (faster-than-light) drive, and the exploration of the galaxy had begun." The more stable starship propulsion technology had made this possible. Men could also live on Barnard II if they wanted to, but as Jerry Baird discovers, it is still pointless. The galaxy is a hostile environment, in general, but has countless other stars to explore.

Here man has been concentrating on nearby reachable neighbourhood stars, such as Altair in The Woman From Altair. One of the spacemen here actually brings back a wife from one of the Altairan planets, to tragic consequences.

GALACTIC SURVEY

So succesful has man been at least with the ability to explore, if not the usefulness of end targets even getting to stars and planets without name so many have been visited. The Galactic Survey era shows the technology has been developed to enable ships to push past the nearby sites such as Barnard's Star, Proxima and Alpha Centauri, etc.

During The Shadows tired and disillusioned Exploration Team leader Barrier finds the remnants of a race destroyed by astrological catastrophe, and their faithful doglike servants. "Maybe there enough worth in us that here and there some little world will give us another chance. Anyway, it's nice to know there's one place where we have some friends.""

An explicit reference to a far away settlement is givein in Come Sing the Moons of Moravenn. The planet in this story has a topaz colored star in the vicinity of the Vela Spur, which could mean it is up to thousands of light years away.

However, things do change, as should have pleased Barrier greatly. There is a Galactic Union out there, and races involved in this organisation do come into contact with Earth and the Solar System. In fact, in All the Colors of the Rainbow Mintakan weather engineers on Earth have a violent encounteer with nowheresville USA racist rednecks. As the engineer Flin notes: "It was his first big job on his own responsibility, with no superior closer than Galactic Center, which was a long way off." Racism has always been in existence in the Solar System, but such recidivism again is not going to deter the benefits of expansion and exploration.

Sometimes though, it takes some special people becoming involved to sort some planets out. To whit, Simon Ashton and Eric John Stark in The Ginger Star: " A newly discovered, newly opened world called Skaith that hardly anyone had ever heard of, except at Galactic Center. Skaith was not a member of the Union but there had been a consulate. Someone had called to the Union for help, and Ashton was the man who went to see about it."

Stark leaves from Pax to head for Skaith. In Last Call From Sector 9G we find operatives at Galactic Center: "The city was beautiful. Its official name was Galactic Center, but it was called The Hub because that is what it was, the hub and focus of a galaxy. It was the biggest city in the Milky Way. It covered almost the entire land area of the third planet of a Type G star that someone with a sense of humor had christened Pax. The planet was chosen originally because it was centrally located and had no inhabitants, and because it was within the limits of tolerance for the humanoid races." ... "He was remembering how he had seen it when he was fresh from Earth, for the first time—the supreme capital, beside which the world capitals were only toy cities, the heart and center of the galaxy where the decisions were made and the great men came and went."

Note that in All the Colors of the rainbow there are Mintakan engineers working on Earth. In Last Call From Sector 9G: "BAYA sat on the bed and watched him pack. She was from one of the worlds of Mintaka, and as humanoid as they came".

The Galactic Center and Pax and the Federation of Worlds would appear to be the same. In fact this hard to find until New Year's eve gives the greatest detail on the interstellar setting of any of the work, so is important from that point of view.

INTERPLANETARY WARS

Even though expansion can take off some of the population pressure, resources are still an issue, and wars still happen. Mars is particularly water-poor when looking to rapidly increase population by colonisation.

While not a war, Water Pirate is certainly about resources. "It was early in 2418 that the Solar System realized that there was a Water Pirate. The great tanker ships, carrying water to the rich dry-world mines and colonies, began to vanish from the space-lanes, with their convoys. The Trans-Galactic Convoy Fleet, which for two hundred years had kept the space-ways safe, was suddenly helpless."

The Earth-Venus War saw Mars neutral in No Man's Land In Space, and Mars also fought against the Jovians with Earth and Venus as seen in Outpost On Io.

Mars fought a World War in 2504, then became embroiled in an Interplanetary conflict later in the 26th century and tried a disguised sneak attack on Venus, which was foiled in Interplanetary Reporter.

In A World Is Born: "who had conceived this plan of building a new world for the destitute and desperate veterans of the Second Interplanetary War". It is not clear if this is meant to refer to one of the past wars, as a well understood by veterans term, or a completely new conflict. It is possible that the Second Interplanetary War meant is referenced in Thralls Of the Endless Night, with a documentary discovery: "Treaty of Alliance between the Sovereign Earth and the Union of Jovian Moons, providing for Earthly colonization and development of the said Moons, and mutual aid against Aggressor Worlds.
A single sheet fell out of the bundle. "...have taken the precaution of Halm, the treaty secretly in a ship of colonists, in care of the captain who knows nothing of its nature. It has been rumored that our mutual enemy, the Martio-Venusian Alliance, may try to intercept it, possibly with the aid of hired pirates. This would, as you know, mean war. It is my prayer that the treaty will safely..."

STABILIZATION AND DESPERATION

Alpha Centauri or Die shows a Solar System government either disillusioned with interstellar travel, or perhaps having more jackboot clad reasons. They do not want the people to have the freedom to travel and communicate in an uncontrolled fashion. This is explained by the bitter would be escapees: "But damn them all eternally, even so. Because of them all the Stabilization Acts had passed. Trade Stabilization. Population Stabilization. Crop Stabilization. The busy minds of the experts working. Take the manned ships out of space and there can't be any trade wars or any other kinds of wars. The worlds can't get at each other to fight. Stop expansion outward to the stars and eliminate the risks, the economic upsets that attend every major change, the unpredictable rise and shift of power. Stabilize. Regulate. Control. We may lose a few unimportant liberties but think what well gain. Security for all, and for all time to come! And the dark ships of the Government will keep you safe.
...
The populations of the Solar System had been carefully figured to the last decimal point and portioned out among the planets according to food- and employment-potential, so that nowhere was there a scarcity or an overplus, and nobody's individual whim was allowed to upset the balance. If you wanted to change your residence from one sector or one world to another, the red tape involved was so enormous that men had been known to die of old age while waiting for a permit."

If this sort of control is extended and expanded, then the consequences could easily appear in 'Retreat To The Stars'. The 40th century shows a more extreme Soviet-like political structure in the Tri-State, compared to the more extreme right-wing colonialism or American style capitalistic expansion of earlier times. In Retreat To the Stars there are a few rebels on an asteroid base still resisting state control. They are desperately building a starship to escape. The implication here is that starfaring technology is government controlled.

With a Future History of many centuries, cycles of political ideologies and experiments would not be at all surprising. Few dates are given in Brackett stories, so the Alpha Centauri or Die/Ark of Mars situations could have been followed by relaxing restrictions and great expansionism again, cycling around again until the 40th century.

For example, A Peace and Happiness doctrine backed up by actual brainwashing technology saw President Hilton rule the Federation of Worlds in Child Of the Sun. 'There was no way out ahead, either. Mercury was there, harsh and bitter in the naked blaze of the sun. The ships of Gantry Hilton, President of the Federation of Worlds, inventor of the Psycho-Adjuster, and ruler of men's souls, were herding him down to a landing at the lonely Spaceguard outpost." The Unregenerate rebels have almost lost completely and are also looking for a place to flee. "Unregeneracy was almost dead in the inhabited worlds." Falken and Moore do so, and find an immensely powerful stellar energy being using a small world as a plaything, and hope to use him to help them survive Hiltonist oppression.

Two thousand years between The Coming of the Terrans and Retreat To the Stars leaves a lot of time for things to change and plenty of chronological slots for the above to fit in.

On analysing the stories in this way, it does appear there is good evidence to include most of them in a coherent Future History.


REFERENCES

Leigh Brackett (ology)
The Coming of the Terrans - Leigh Brackett
The Halfling and Other Stories - Leigh Brackett
The Eric John Stark Saga - Leigh Brackett
The Solar System - Leigh Brackett
Sea-Kings of Mars
Martian Quest: The Early Brackett - Leigh Brackett
Lorelei Of the Red Mist: Planetary Romances - Leigh Brackett
The Big Jump
The Starmen Of Lyrdis
Planet Stories Summer 1955
Leigh Brackett Summary Bibliography
Leigh Brackett Solar System
Mars in the Fiction of Leigh Brackett
Venus in the Fiction of Leigh Brackett
Mercury in the Fiction of Leigh Brackett
Jupiter in the Fiction of Leigh Brackett

Grand Central Arena 26 - Ryk Spoor

2009-12-31T08:05:00.000-08:00

"Thanks a lot for nothing. Were you going to take pictures of my dissection after they finished gutting me?""

3.5 out of 5

http://seawasp.livejournal.com/162947.html

Grand Central Arena 25 - Ryk Spoor

2009-12-31T07:25:00.000-08:00

"Ariane shook her head. "I can't afford to trade my crew, even if it was something our people permitted, which we don't."

3 out of 5

http://seawasp.livejournal.com/162670.html#cutid1

Last Call From Sector 9G - Leigh Brackett

2009-12-31T02:40:00.000-08:00

Novella

Number of words : 21000
Percent of complex words : 7.1
Average syllables per word : 1.4
Average words per sentence : 10.6

READABILITY INDICES

Fog : 7.1
Flesch : 76.2
Flesch-Kincaid : 5.3

: Last Call From Sector 9G - Leigh Brackett

SETTING

Pax : Last Call From Sector 9G - Leigh Brackett

Capital of Galactic Center

The Hub : Last Call From Sector 9G - Leigh Brackett

Major city there.

Senya Dik : Last Call From Sector 9G - Leigh Brackett

Sister planet to Nanta Dik, in Sector 9G.

CHARACTERS

Lloyd Durham : Last Call From Sector 9G - Leigh Brackett

An ex-agent and current drunk.

Hawtree : Last Call From Sector 9G - Leigh Brackett

An administrator in charge, uses his influence to prevent Dik requests to the Federation getting heard.

Susan Hawtree : Last Call From Sector 9G - Leigh Brackett

His daughter, and a love of Durham's, involved in the accident that wrecked his career.

Morrison : Last Call From Sector 9G - Leigh Brackett

Hawtree's parter, who oversees Universal Mineral operations in Sector 9G.

Baya : Last Call From Sector 9G - Leigh Brackett

Durham's Mintakan girlfriend.

Willa Paulsen : Last Call From Sector 9G - Leigh Brackett

Durham's ex-fiancee.

Varnik : Last Call From Sector 9G - Leigh Brackett

A dodgy joint proprietor in on trying to set Durham up with Baya.

Wanbecq-ai : Last Call From Sector 9G - Leigh Brackett

Female Nantavan agent out to get Durham.

Wanbecq : Last Call From Sector 9G - Leigh Brackett

Her male partner.

Jubb : Last Call From Sector 9G - Leigh Brackett

Ruler of Senya Dik.

Karlovic : Last Call From Sector 9G - Leigh Brackett

Terran consul in league with Jubb, wanting to get evidence against Hawtree.

TECHNOLOGY

Servall : Last Call From Sector 9G - Leigh Brackett

Robot domestics. Durham and Hawtree had them, the models differ.

Bitter Star : Last Call From Sector 9G - Leigh Brackett

A created being that is an energy absorber, sucking in all around it until things freeze.

PLACES

Mintaka : Last Call From Sector 9G - Leigh Brackett

A star.

Nanta Dik : Last Call From Sector 9G - Leigh Brackett

World in Sector 9G where Durham's mission takes him.

VEHICLES

Margaretta K : Last Call From Sector 9G - Leigh Brackett

Ship to Nanta Dik Durham has been booked for.

Varney : Last Call From Sector 9G - Leigh Brackett

A tug of Morrison's.

RACES

Senyans : Last Call From Sector 9G - Leigh Brackett

People of Senya Dik. Have four legs.

Nantans : Last Call From Sector 9G - Leigh Brackett

People of Nanta Dik.

Darkbirds : Last Call From Sector 9G - Leigh Brackett

Senyan aliens able to go insubstantial and stun on contact, they are not made of matter, and are a creation.

ORGANISATIONS

Universal Minerals : Last Call From Sector 9G - Leigh Brackett

Rapacious mining company basically looting the Sector, with Hawtree providing the interference.

Federation : Last Call From Sector 9G - Leigh Brackett

Political organisation of worlds in the galaxy.

PLOT

Lloyd Durham is a broken down ex-agent on Galactic Center, living with little in a cheap apartment, having blown his job and his fiancee, and a possible relationship with the woman he really loves thanks to a vehicular accident. Susan Hawtree is the daughter of a high ranking diplomat, who summons Durham for a mission. This lands him in the middle of something very serious.

First, Nantavan agents are after him, and then Senyan darkbirds - and Susan gets in the middle when she comes to say goodbye to him, little realising he isn't going home, but on a mission for her father. Nanta Dik and Senya Dik are the two inhabited worlds in Sector 9G.

Unknown to Durham he was supposed to get drunk and blab his mission, helping to start a war between the two worlds. This would be to the advantage of Universal Minerals, a mining company run by Morrison, with Hawtree as his partner running diplomatic interference and allowing him to get away with anything. The two Dik worlds have been in conflict in the past, so are manipulable.

Durham takes his mission seriously, and when he works it out thanks to talking with the Nantavan agents, and the Senyan leader he realises he should flip, and try and hang his boss and partner, and hopefully keep Susan alive. The Senyan planet is problematic in that they are not oxygen breathers.

One of the angles that Morrison had taken was rumours about a destructive force that legend said had terrorised the Nantavans in the past. Little does Morrison know that this is real, and the leader of the Senyans knows how to control it. Or hope he does. Because it is one giant energy drain, leaving those it affects frozen - and it can devastate planets.

With Morrison's agents and men able to provoke armed conflicts between Senyans of different sympathies. The Terran consul Karlovic, who has been working with the Senyans to try and work out who was the dodgy diplomat preventing their requests for aid from the Federation, must work with Durham. Their only choice now is to appeal to Jubb to unleash the Bitter Star, as the only thing that can stop Morrison. Before their air runs out. Of course, it may also destroy everything if they get it wrong and the darkbirds can't or won't control it.

4.5 out of 5

Planet Stories 71 - Jack O'Sullivan

2009-12-31T02:06:00.000-08:00

An amazingly pleasant New Year's eve surprise. The only Leigh Brackett story I know nothing about, and I am pointed towards it by Tinkoo's Variety SF! http://variety-sf.blogspot.com/

Didn't believe my eyes until I saw it the third time. So thanks also to Gerard Arthus via archive.org.

This is the very last issue of Planet Stories - and considerably higher quality than the wretched first.

The letter column Vizigraph certainly has a rather different end of an era tone compared to the others. One poor unfortunate letter published about a guy resubscribing!

However, if you have to end, the Brackett story is a great way to go out, and also quite helpful for what I have been working on. This story of interstellar corruption, exploration, and strange created beings is certainly one of her best.

Planet Stories 71 : Planet Stories 71 - Jack O'Sullivan
Planet Stories 71 : Out of the Iron Womb! 0 Poul Anderson (aka Holmgang)
Planet Stories 71 : Once a Starman - Joe L. Hensley
Planet Stories 71 : Image of Splendor - Lu Kella
Planet Stories 71 : The Brides of Ool - M. A. Cummings
Planet Stories 71 : Dust Unto Dust - Lyman D. Hinckley
Planet Stories 71 : Alien Equivalent - Richard R. Smith
Planet Stories 71 : Last Call from Sector 9G - Leigh Brackett

Bo-Valeria psychotech wrench.

3 out of 5

Is the drug.

2.5 out of 5

Venus dame revolution.

3.5 out of 5

Gilk murder.

3 out of 5

Seedy city.

2.5 out of 5

Martian bet.

3 out of 5

Darkbird Bitter Star Mining Company scam freezeout.

4.5 out of 5

2.5 out of 5

http://www.archive.org/details/Planet_Stories_Volume_6_Number_11_

Last Call From Sector 9G - Leigh Brackett

2009-12-31T01:31:00.000-08:00

Darkbird Bitter Star Mining Company scam freezeout.

http://www.archive.org/details/Planet_St...

The Alien Equivalent - Richard R. Smith

2009-12-30T19:08:00.000-08:00

Martian bet.

3 out of 5

http://www.archive.org/details/Planet_Stories_Volume_6_Number_11_

The Brides Of Ool - M. A. Cummings

2009-12-30T19:03:00.000-08:00

Gilk murder.

3 out of 5

http://www.archive.org/details/Planet_Stories_Volume_6_Number_11_

Image Of Splendor - Lu Kella

2009-12-30T18:59:00.000-08:00

Venus dame revolution.

3.5 out of 5

http://www.archive.org/details/Planet_Stories_Volume_6_Number_11_

Once A Starman - Joe L. Hensley

2009-12-30T18:54:00.000-08:00

Is the drug.

2.5 out of 5

http://www.archive.org/details/Planet_Stories_Volume_6_Number_11_