Arnfeld looks in a window and sees his Martian ally, arms raised, held at gunpoint by four apparent Martians who, he deduces, are extra-solar metamorphs. He fires through the window...
I know that this is an early novel by Poul Anderson but there is too much Wild West stuff. Members of three intelligent species interact and, a lot of the time, they might as well be cowboys, outlaws and Indians. I find several pages where there is little worthy of comment. Arnfeld captures and uses an extra-solar hand weapon and theorizes that it generates a force-field that makes molecules fly apart. Poul Anderson's physics knowledge and hard sf writing are still here under all the gun fights and fisticuffs.
11 comments:
It's important not to think that things outside one's own range of experience are "unrealistic".
There have been plenty of times and places -- some of the places right now -- where casual violence can happen at any time.
Someone I know was arrested in Uganda by Idi Amin's secret police and stuffed into the trunk of a car; they drove away, intending to shoot him and throw his body into the Nile for the crocodiles, who Amin called his "rafikis" (buddies, in Swahili).
He worked his way free of the ropes, jimmied the lock on the trunk of the car from the inside, jumped out and walked 250 miles through the bush to the Kenyan border.
Oh, and he was nearly eaten by hyenas who caught him sleeping.
Melodramatic? Unrealistic?
Not to him!
Kaor, Paul!
Trying to catch up.
Stirling's comments, above, were far more interesting and POINTED than what I had been planning to write here. All I had in mind was asking if you were over thinking THE WAR OF TWO WORLDS? I would argue for accepting it as intelligent, well written action adventure science fiction. Not everything in such stories has to be "worthy" of comment.
Some stories should simply be enjoyed!
Ad astra! Sean
I'm in the middle of reading "When Violence Is the Answer".
A major point of the book is that if you are up against someone trying to kill you the only thing to do is inflict debilitating injury on that person as quickly as possible, and that it *can* happen in any society, not just in the 'wild west'.
I've had people try to kill me; not a lot of times, but more than once.
One (the first) still baffles me because I lost consciousness fully convinced that I was dying and was very surprised indeed when I woke up.
(And felt generally crappy, too. Losing consciousness while your head is held under water right after being slugged with what I think was a piece of pipe is -not- like going to sleep, let me tell you.)
A couple later were kill-or-be-killed situations... and you will note that I'm not dead.
It's all quite unpleasant, but it's part of life.
In a "state of nature" -- before civilization and the State -- the typical way for an adult human male to die was to be killed by another human, and it was common for females to, though not quite so much so.
This is standard for predatory social animals -- it's the same for wolves, for example.
Kaor, Mr. Stirling!
I remember how you discussed that incident here, in the past. That you were only passing thru and did not see who attacked you or why. I am simply glad you survived!
People who, like me, have never undergone such experiences, tend to be, IMO, too naive and optimistic about human beings. Too many think, because they are peaceful and their neighbors are peaceful, then the whole human race (and their societies) should be nice, mild, gentle, and easy going. Bull twaddle, of course! Such a peace is possible only because of the existence of the State and its monopoly of force and coercion.
Ad astra! Sean
Sean: everyone's peaceful until they have a reason not to be... or imagine a reason... or just are feeling combative.
Kaor, Mr. Stirling!
Absolute agreement! And the UK alone has plenty of very combatant people, such as those notorious football hooligans.
Ad astra! Sean
Fighting is scary, but it also has positive features in terms of emotion. Particularly if you win.
The evolutionary reasons for this are, I would think, obvious.
I've known people -- a mercenary who fought with Black Jack Schramm in the Congo, for instance -- who just find life unbearably boring if they don't get into a kill-or-be-killed fight now and then.
Personally I think this is taking things a bit far... 8-).
Kaor, Mr. Stirling!
I agree with your first point. As for the second, I also agree your mercenary friend was going a wee bit too far! (Smiles)
Ad astra! Sean
Sean: but you can see the evolutionary reasons for attitudes like that.
If you're going to fight anyway, you'll be better if you find it, ah... invigorating.
Kaor, Mr. Stirling!
Again, no objection. At the very least, if you are in a kill or be killed situation, it helps if ferocity makes you so invigorated you are more likely to win/survive.
Ad astra! Sean
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