APB-SAL is a blog about education, science, science education, fiction, science fiction, literature, literary stories, poetry, and anything else that strikes the blogger's fancy.
NOTE: This blog interrogates art. It rarely make moral proclamations. For that attend the church or politician of your choice. This blog concerns aesthetics, not propaganda. Consider this as interviews with books where the interviewer presents interviewees, so you get what you need to do your own thinking.
First appeared in D. McIlwraith's Weird Tales. Reprinted by Terry Carr, Peter Haining, Isaac Asimov, Martin Harry Greenberg, Joseph D. Olander, Al Sarrantonio.
Summary:
A man arrives in a foreign country although who he is and why is part of the mystery.
Discussion with Spoilers Galore:
While not the most stylistically impressive, there are four mysteries to unravel. A person cannot read it too quickly. If you get only one, you'll probably hate it. Two, it's okay. Three, you like it. Four, you might consider it a minor work of genius as Terry Carr apparently did by collecting it into a major fantasy anthology.
First is the displaced person and out feelings toward them. Most of humanity is bound to feel empathy toward this person. In fact, on the same year this story was published, the President signed the Displaced Person Act. However, this person admits to being the cause of the war. Does that erode the natural empathy a person might feel?
Second, the easiest, is that the displaced is Lucifer, but hold on to this or you'll dismiss prematurely. It refers to the war in Heaven in John Milton's Paradise Lost--a character most professors love and love to love to antagonize people of faith because his character is considered the better vs. God.
Third, remember when this written, the war that had just taken place. Who might Lucifer apply to?
Fourth, now that you have all the relevant information, which you can only get once you know who the player is, you'll need to reread. And on that reread, you'll note the careful balancing that Russell has put into play. The four surprises combine and it puts one in a weird place (hence, weird tale). It becomes a mirror for anyone's too quick response.
That Terry Carr was the first to reprint it a quarter of a century later suggests that few read the tale with the time and attention it deserves.
On my first attempts at cracking this book as a kid, I bounced off this chapter. When I did finally read it, I wasn't much taken by it. On the reread, I'm surprised not just by how much is implied, but also by the point of view: the people of Hobbiton.
Bilbo is "peculiar" and the unnamed narrator [narrators?] focuses on Bilbo's disappearance and "unexpected" return. Apparently if you disappear, you aren't expected to return. Moreover, there's disapproval of his being "well-preserved" despite his generosity. One senses jealousy--perhaps Bilbo is only generous with the poor, not with the narrator.
There's a throw-away comment about Frodo "still in his tweens, as the hobbits called the irresponsible twenties between childhood and coming of age at thirty-three."
This is a curiosity that can play a number of ways. They have a comparatively extended childhood. Do they need the longer childhood? Or do they have that simply because they can? Is it a comment on our extending childhood where earlier generations were expected to be adults at younger ages?
If we map this on to our own lives, we can divide the ages by, say, between 1.4 and 1.8 to get an approximation of translation of what the human ages might be. If "tweens" = teens, then 1.5 is probably the best choice, but it would depend on what Tolkien's age thought "coming of age" was. 18 is the age where one can drink alcohol and join the army, so does 33=18 (then ~1.8)?
The human age would put Bilbo between 55-70 when he decided on an heir and in his 60s or 70s for his grand party, so that would be a little odd to see some looking like a younger man at that age.
But it's also odd to be jealous of someone else's good fortune as these
villagers seem to be. The village's comments are as much a comment on
themselves as on Bilbo himself. Those who make negative comments tend
not to seem aware that negativity can reflect back on themselves.
[SIDE BAR: As I perform the calculations and compare them to the comments, I'm now leaning toward an age-converting factor between 1.6 and 1.8, so that Bilbo seeks an heir between 55-62, and throws a party between 62-70--when his youthful appearance might seem peculiar but perhaps not too shocking. However, Bilbo plans a permanent exit, so would that be 62 (1.8)? 70 (1.6)? or 79 (1.4)?
A little research reveals that life-expectancy for men in 1950s England [when and where the novel was finished] was around 65, so maybe 1.7 or 1.8 is the proper conversion factor. You'd want to exit before people think it's too strange (62-65). Choose an heir between 55-58. Come of age at 18 or 19. Become irresponsible from about 11 or 12 until coming of age. These feel about right. [ETA: Except when you get to Old Took who lives only to 130, which would only be 72, which doesn't seem an impressively old, so perhaps 1.4?]
However--and this could be just an invented cultural thing--the 111th birthday sounds like the quinceañera, a commonly and publicly celebrated birthday (along with Frodo's coming of age at 33), so while it may be near the end, it seems many do get to celebrate this age.]
All of this talk of prolonged youth brings up a question that isn't properly addressed: How do hobbits live so long? What or who protects them?
I've always felt the villagers were the rubes back home that never left to fight in a world war (as Tolkien had, reluctantly, in WWI) and now looked upon the youth returning home with disapproval--not just at war, but their venturing into the grander world for any reason. Peter Jackson addressed some of this in his WWI documentary, They Shall Not Grow Old:
First appeared in Writers of the Future 36, edited by David Farland.
What happens when you cross George R. R. Martin's famed Game of Thrones series with Mercedes Lackey (and other writers born out of Marion Zimmer Bradley's Sword and Sorceress series)? This tale.
Long ago, the priestess Thonia with the Phoenix of Dembia created peace and trade until she and the phoenix lay down and burned up in flames, leaving only an egg. Now, despite viewing many rituals, Melana, one of the sacred band of Protectors of the Egg, has not seen anything happen in her lifetime. Only if peace is threatened did the egg hatch. Usually, her band protected only one egg, but now there are two. And, of course, the peace will break, and so too will the eggs break open.
This feels like it could be part of something larger--a novel, perhaps. The pacing luxuriates in its world-creation (and yes, the characters, being essential beings in this milieu, are as much world-building as character-building. The tension is subtle and slow-burning (based on love in a manner I can't recall seeing--fascinating).
One suspects that this story may have been written to fill a gap missing from this collection of tales--that of a world-building nature, pitting one fantasy culture against another. Writers of the Future contestants, take heed?
Jody Lynn Nye has collaborated with Anne McCaffrey and Robert Lynn Asprin on several novels, and her solo novels include have the Mythology, the View from the Imperium and the Taylor's Ark series.
As the officers visit Commodore Travers on Cestus III, Travers request tactical people as he has an interesting problem. When they beam down they find the colony outpost destroyed. After they find life a mile away, they are immediately under attack.
Analysis with spoilers:
Kirk believes the messages he'd received from the Commodore were faked. Red shirt dies. Meanwhile, Enterprise is under attack. If they lower shields to beam up officers, they would be vulnerable to attack, so Kirk orders shields up and retreats.
Kirk dashes and tumbles to an artillery depot. When Sulu's attacks against alien vessel are ineffectual, Kirk advises them warp away. Spock believes, when the aliens are moving, he must join Kirk. They fire a type of grenade that causes aliens to beam away and flee. Kirk decides to search for survivors. Enterprise returns.
Survivor explains ruthlessness of the aliens in battle even though the colonists tried to surrender. He also states that they never sent the Enterprise any messages. Kirk concludes that the Enterprise was lured to be destroyed in order invade their space. The Enterprise pursues.
Spock and Kirk debate over the need for retaliation. Kirk is decided that they must be destroyed. They pass a system that stops them both. The Metrons have stopped both. Federation ship captain must fight the Gorn ship captain. The losing captain's ship will also be destroyed.
The scenario matches the common saying where kings, presidents, and tyrants should fight the wars.
The battle here differs from Brown's. There is no barrier. The Gorn is a lizard (as opposed to a tendriled roller) and stronger if slower than Kirk. Kirk believes he is smarter, but the Gorn listens in as Kirk records his plans. Kirk hunts for weapons while the Gorn builds them. Kirk drops a boulder and thinks he has the Gorn, but it rises. Kirk flees into a trap. Kirk escapes but is exhausted.
The Metrons tell the Enterprise that Kirk is done for and to prepare to die. Nonetheless, Kirk dashes down hill. Meanwhile, the Enterprise watches on screen and suddenly, they understand the Gorn might have been defending their own space against the human invaders.
Meanwhile, Kirk invents gunpowder as the Gorn approaches. Kirk succeeds but decides against killing the Gorn. The Metrons free both parties without killing. Enterprise zapped back toward home.
Quotes:
Spock: "Doctor, you are sensualist." McCoy: "You bet your pointed ears I am."
McCoy: "We appeal to you in the name of civilization. Put a stop to this." Metron: "Your violent intent and actions demonstrate you are not civilized."
Kirk: "We're a most promising species as predators go."
Notes:
Red shirt zapped.
Not only is this episode based on Fredric Brown's "Arena", it also alludes to Murray Leinster's "First Contact" as a kind of framing device with slightly different outcomes (Enterprise instantly transported back into familiar space as opposed to swapping ships.
First appeared in John W. Campbell, Jr.'s Astounding. Reprinted in several major retrospectives by Groff Conklin, Carol Mason, Patricia Warrick, Anthony Cheetham, Stephen V. Whaley, Stanley J. Cook, Bonnie L. Heintz, Frank Herbert, Donald A. Joos, Jane Agorn McGee, Brian W. Aldiss, Harry Harrison, Edward L. Ferman, Barry N. Malzberg, Robert Silverberg, Isaac Asimov, Martin H. Greenberg, David Drake, Charles G. Waugh, Edel Brosnan, Debbie Notkin, Roger Stewart, Garyn G. Roberts, Winston Engle, John Gregory Betancourt, Ian Watson, Ian Whates. Filmed as a Star Trek episode by the same name.
Summary:
After spotting an Outsider scouter beyond Pluto's orbit, Carson almost crashes into a planet. The g-forces cause him to black out. He awakes, naked, on a blue-sand planet--not even a planet, but a hemisphere bordered by force fields.
A voice enters his mind and tells him he must destroy the alien that is rolling in the sand. Roller, he calls his enemy. Carson makes a telepathic link with the Roller to make peace but fails. The Roller only wants to fight.
Analysis:
They cannot get at each other directly, but by the Roller's killing and throwing a lizard, they learn the projectiles work fine. Carson has the stronger throwing arm and forces the Roller back. Carson, already parched, has a gash in his leg. He tries to patch it with local vegetation, but that only seems to make it worse. Meanwhile, the Roller has constructed a catapult. He manages to destroy it, but he is weakening. It makes another.
Later, he discovers that the Roller's de-legged lizard is actually alive. It was lack of consciousness that allowed through the barrier. Carson uses this information to cross the barrier and hopes the Roller throws a rock at him to revive him through pain. The Roller obliged Carson bides his time to attack.
Some interesting comparisons/contrasts with the Star Trek episode:
The human is the stronger party in the story, the Roller more agile.
No barrier in the TV episode. This also leaves them nothing but older, primitive technologies; whereas in the story, the barrier becomes a kind of technological tool if not a direct weapon.
The story's lizard who is something of an indirect ally in the story becomes the enemy in Star Trek (although perhaps they are later allies--or at least, no longer enemies).
The Trek episode works better as anti-war theme--both because the captains have a go and because Kirk chooses not to continue the fight to the death.
However, what works better for the story was the importance of the little guy. SF is full of important, epic characters. Here, the little guy gets his chance at the limelight.
The future nuclear war was once a common trope in SF. Although threats remain, it hasn't seized the consciousness of the contemporary SF writer. Or maybe they feel all that needs to be said, has been.
This 1946 story had to be one of the earliest examples. Clarke brings the war home to England where twenty bombs alone hit London. You might say this has spoilers, but as the story has no plot or character, I'm not sure how it can be.
GOOD FREND FOR IESUS SAKE FORBEARE,
TO DIGG THE DVST ENCLOASED HEARE.
BLESTE BE YE MAN YT SPARES THES STONES,
AND CVRST BE HE YT MOVES MY BONES.
Here the irony pointed out is that no curse, forthrightly stated, is carried out. However, a far greater curse has befallen England, irrevocably changing life and its environment.
This clever little war story follows Nico as he battles the lizard men. Each step along the way he peels back another layer of what's actually going on. As Nico becomes more battle-prepared, he becomes more machine until he's unwittingly part of Ouroboros:
Perhaps this gives something away. Perhaps not. I saw it coming but still appreciated the craftsmanship and shift of style toward the abstract and mechanical until we're looking back at ourselves with new eyes.
While a war broke out on Earth, destroying everything, Atreus and his wife died on the moon. Now they have been resurrected by their lunar AI computers (their “children”) they’d left to rebuild. Atreus immediately recognizes it to be too good to be true. Angry at being manipulated only to save their children--his wife is only the good aspects he remembered--and at their not yet recreating Earth as commanded, he refuses to communicate with the North Koreans coming in to attack the moon. Unlike the Koreans, the lunar inhabitants are unarmed, but Hypatia has a plan.
Torgersen has gone on to publish a number of stories at Analog. He does a good job reinvigorating old SF tropes and updating them. The emotion, however, feels over the top, and the story acknowledges this. Perhaps it might have been better if the story had brought us to where he is, progressively.
