Venus is second to Mars in the sf imagination:
Wells' Martians invade Venus after Earth but we are not told the outcome;
ERB's Carson Napier tries to follow John Carter to Mars but lands on Venus by accident - later, another attempted Martian expedition lands on the Moon;
Stapledon's Martians invade Earth before Terrestrials invade Venus, then Neptune;
Lewis's Ransom visits Mars before Venus and later learns about conditions on the Moon;
there are Martians and Venerians in Heinlein's Adult and Juvenile Future Histories;
Anderson has several versions of Martians and one (?) of Venerians.
24 comments:
In point of fact, the overwhelming majority of colonial indentured laborers in the British colonies were volunteers, taking a risk and the prospect of hard work to get a chance of economic independence.
Which the survivors got, in the main - in 1776, 80% of the free population of the 13 Colonies were independent landowning farmers and their families, something only a daydream in England.
Most of the rest were self-employed artisans and small merchants, most of whom also owned land.
Kaor, Paul and Mr. Stirling!
Paul: In "Sister Planet" we see AQUATIC Venerians.
Mr. Stirling: I think the situation you described was possible in the 13 Colonies only because there was an open frontier ambitious and land hungry people from a technologically advanced and expansionist civilization could push into. Esp. if the only opposition they faced were scattered, wandering tribes of hunter gatherers at a neolithic level of technology.
Ad astra! Sean
Sean: note how many of Poul's settings were functionally similar to that period of American life.
Kaor, Mr. Stirling!
True, and not always on Earth, in Anderson's stories. Some of the colonized planets in the Technic series had that "functional similarity:" Hermes, Aeneas, Dennitza.
Anderson examined almost every possibility. In "Free Men Shall Stand," he speculated about what might have happened if the US had not expanded west of the Mississippi River, had not even PRECARIOUSLY gained New Orleans until the 1850's. Because NAPOLEON scaled down his ambitions, made the right decisions (that benefited him), and did not sell Louisiana to the US. All of which ended with him conquering Europe, founding a French Empire which also included the Spanish possessions in the Americas.
Instead of scattered Indian tribes and a weak, strife torn Mexico, the US was confronted by a powerful French Empire fully capable of fighting it on even or better terms. With the US restricted to the east bank of the Mississippi.
A very different world indeed!
Ad astra! Sean
Hence Carson being known as "Wrong-Way" Carson, or The Man Who Didn't Remember The Moon.
There's a writer's tradition -- I don't know whether it's true or not -- that Edgar Rice Burroughs started his Venus series in retaliation for Otis Albert Kline (a pulp writer of the time) doing one on Mars, after starting with 'planet stories' tales on Venus.
He invaded my planet, I'll invade his... 8-).
I think that is what happened. ERB and OAK submitted Venus stories for the same issue of ARGOSY so ARGOSY accepted the better-established name, ERB. Open competition.
Kaor, Mr. Stirling!
Alas, I never read either ERB's Venus stories or the works of Otis Albert Kline. It was ERB's Barsoom stories that I liked.
Ad astra! Sean
Sean: I've read more or less all of ERB's output that I could locate. Even THE GIRL FROM HOLLYWOOD, both versions.
Kaor, Mr. Stirling!
And that was commendable of you! I do recall one story I think was by ERB, one set in the future where an Ethiopian Empire clashed with American or European rivals. I think I liked it, but I can't recall the title.
Ad astra! Sean
Sean: "Beyond 30" or "The Lost Continent". First version in 1915; ERB imagined the First World War going on until European civilization collapsed, while the Western Hemisphere (the "Pan-American Union") cut off all contact with the Old World.
Kaor, Mr. Stirling!
That MIGHT have been the ERB story I read. But it was so long ago that I can't be sure. But I appreciate now having a name for that story. Thanks!
Ad astra! Sean
Kaor, Mr. Stirling!
I looked up THE LOST CONTINENT online, and I'm reasonably sure that was the ERB story I read so long ago. Again, thanks!
Ad astra! Sean
The intriguing title, BEYOND 30, was changed to THE LOST CONTINENT (which makes it sound like Atlantis) on later republication because it was thought that BEYOND 30 was too obscure.
ERB's two fictional futures are BEYOND 30 (non-series) and THE MOON MAID (sequel to the MARS series).
Kaor, Mr. Stirling!
From what I read, BEYOND 30 referred to the meridian line patrolled by the Navy of the Pan-American Union to prevent contact with the devastated European continent.
I erred a bit. Besides his Barsoom books I also have ERB's two THE LAND THAT TIME FORGOT books.
Ad astra! Sean
Paul: you're right -- "Beyond 30" is a much better title! But authors often get publishers changing their titles on them. It happened to Poul, too -- "War of the Wing-Men" substituted for "The Man Who Counts", for example.
Oops! I erred, my comment dated "11 January 2023 at 02:40" should have been addressed to Paul.
Sean
Sean,
I think three LAND THAT TIME FORGOT books unless maybe they're three in papareback but two in hatdback.
THE MOON MAID is three stories but two volumes in paperback and one in hardback!
Paul.
Kar, Paul!
Then I will have to look at my SFBC edition of the LAND books to see if it's the latter alternative.
Been seriously thinking of buying a copy of BEYOND 30. Maybe I should get the MOON MAID stories as well.
Ad astra! Sean
Of course, the MOON MAID coexists with Barsoom.
Very much. ERB was building an inhabited Solar System. His Barsoom, Amtor (Venus), the Moon, Pellucidar and Tarzan all coexisted and one guy went to an extra-solar planet by the same means as John Carter and Ulysses Paxton went to Barsoom.
Kaor, Paul and Mr. Stirling!
And I hope that, within a few years, we will start seeing a Solar System with more than one inhabited planet. Yes, I mean Elon Musk's plans for founding a colony on Barsoom!
Ad astra! Sean
Sean: perhaps we could petition to have the first Martian city named "Helium". (Instead of "Elonegoopolis"...8-).
Kaor, Mr. Stirling!
Ha! A good idea, one I like! ERB's Barsoom stories could easily be mined for new place names on Mars. And ERB himself should be commemorated on Mars, with a town or city named "Burroughs."
I just hope the Twitter imbroglio doesn't distract Elon Musk too much from his goal of getting to Barsoom!
Ad astra! Sean
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