Mars

Science fiction writers, including Poul Anderson, have written a lot about Mars and Martians. We recently referred to Mars here and here. Blog readers might notice that I am unfamiliar with some more recent versions, e.g., Moving Mars, the Mars Trilogy and The Martian. Comments and comparisons would be welcome.

Ray Bradbury's Mars stories divide into:

those included in The Martian Chronicles;
those not included;
one that has been in some editions but not in others (see Comments here).

However, it seems that all have now been gathered together. See here.

Science fiction is collaborative. It makes sense to compare Anderson's own versions of Mars and Martians, then to extend the discussion to cover all Martian fiction which is an extremely large subject.

For James Blish's Mars, see here.
For ERB's, see here.

Patriarchs And Patricians

In Latin:

pater, father;
patres, forefathers;
patricius, of the forefathers;
patricii, patricians, aristocrats.

Patres is plural of pater and patricii of patricius.

In Poul and Karen Anderson's King of Ys Tetralogy, St Martin says that his cousin, Sucat, will become Christ's patrician. Sucat is renamed "Patricius," in English "Patrick," and canonized, thus St Patrick.

In Poul Anderson's History of Technic Civilization, a star is named "Patricius." Thus, the star and its planets are the Patrician System.

In Larry Niven's Known Space future history, the kzinti are ruled by a Patriarch. In Poul Anderson's Man-Kzin Wars stories, Ulf Markham admires the kzinti and has a hereditary vote in the Wunderlander House of Patricians although only on federal matters. Election as a consul of his state would give him a say in who attends the House of Delegates. This sounds to me like Anderson's political thinking enriching the Wunderlander constitution in Niven's future history.

Markham leaks the hyperdrive to the kzinti. His excuse:

"'They would inevitably have gotten it. Only by taking part in events can we hope to exercise any influence.'" (The Man-Kzin Wars, p. 125)

A familiar argument: we can influence Apartheid by supporting it instead of sabotaging and ending it.

Two Biblical References

See here.

"What is man, that thou art mindful of him-?" (The Man-Kzin Wars, p. 77)

This verse gave Asimov an appropriate robot story title.

"'You win, you Judas...'" (p. 137)

Markham, here accused of treachery, had called Christianity "'A religion for slaves.'" (p. 44) Nevertheless, the Bible is part of us: no one wants to be called Judas or Pontius Pilate although we might identify with Doubting Thomas or Barabbas?

More on Markham later. Lunch and a walk now. Brevity is the soul of wit (I hope).

The Current Agenda

Ketlan has got another old laptop working for me so it seems that we are back in business. It is late so I am not sure how much will be done in what is left of today. I have continued to reread "Iron" by Poul Anderson and will post more about this story, then about Anderson's second and third Man-Kzin Wars stories while rereading them. I might also post a little more on Mars since this topic has recurred recently. I will definitely post about story-telling media and Superman on Comics Appreciation. (Links added later.)

While driving to Ketlan's cottage on the Marsh Estate, Lancaster, to collect the laptop, I found Laburnum Grove (see image) cordoned off by police conducting a murder investigation in one of the houses shown here. I occasionally mention notable events in the City of Lancaster so I thought that this qualified. The tower of the Priory Church, which we have featured before, can be seen in the background behind the tree.

Rereading "Iron"

Poul Anderson, "Iron" IN Larry Niven, Ed, The Man-Kzin Wars (London, 1989), pp, 27-177.

Ulf Reichstein Markham and Tyra Nordbo first appeared in Man-Kzin Wars stories written by Poul Anderson, then reappeared in the fictionally earlier although later-written Man-Kzin Wars stories of Jerry Pournelle and SM Stirling. I thought that Pournelle and Stirling had introduced Markham but that was just me getting confused between the publication history and the fictional chronology.

Markham respects the "'...valiant, loyal, disciplined...'" (p. 44) kzinti. This sounds like Anderson's Olaf Magnusson respecting the Merseians.

Dorcas Saxtorph accuses Markham of uttering "'...an intolerable racist insult.'" (p. 56) I missed it but maybe his generalization about flatlanders counts. Before that, they had been having an interesting discussion about society. In a healthy society, according to Markham, lesser persons accept guidance from superior persons for the longer term social good. For the leader, power and glory are not ends but means to:

"'...the organic evolution of the society toward its destiny, the full flowering of its soul.'" (p. 55)

Sounds patriarchal? The kzinti are ruled by a Patriarch. Markham uses obscure terminology:

"'...we are replacing living Gemeinschaft with mechanical Gessellschaft.'" (p. 55)

Juan Yoshii of the Rover crew wants "'To be a poet.'" (p. 60)

- like Jesse Nicol in Anderson's Harvest The Fire.

Yoshii asks:

"'In the centuries of spaceflight, how much true poetry has been written?'" (p. 60)

- and Nicol, en route to the outer Solar System, exclaims:

"'The inhuman may be what's mine, stars, comets, hugeness, a universe that doesn't know or care but simply and gloriously is - but humans are there -'" (Harvest The Fire, New York, 1887, p. 190).

Anderson, a novelist of the space age, also recognized the need for poetry.

Just after the purchase of the hyperdrive, mankind is on the verge of "'...great adventures,...the age of discovery that must come...'" (p. 45) This reminds us of:

"The world's great age begins anew...
"...it is enough that we are on our way." (The Van Rijn Method, New York, 1997, pp. 555, 556)

A red dwarf moving through the galaxy at over a thousand kilometers per second is nearly as old as the universe. (p. 65) Such Andersonian cosmic sf transcends Known Space and the Technic History and is also to be found, e.g., in the "Pride"/Tau Zero diptych.

"'Every explorer is an amateur by definition.'" (p. 46)

This reminds us of the opening and closing chapters of The Boat Of A Million Years, set respectively before Christ and in an indefinite future.

Does anyone do it better than Anderson?

History

Poul Anderson's Time Patrol series describes real historical events and processes. Anderson's History of Technic Civilization and Isaac Asimov's Foundation Trilogy describe such processes recurring on an interstellar scale in the future. Since the Technic History is just one of eight or nine future histories by Anderson, we can summarize this post so far by stating that, whereas Asimov presents a future, Anderson presents the past and several futures.

The Mule disrupts Seldon's psychohistorical Plan but the Second Foundation restores it. Neldorians disrupt recorded history but the Time Patrol restores it. Later Foundation novels reveal that Seldon's Plan is subordinate to a robotic plan for humanity. A later Time Patrol novel reveals that time criminals, like the Neldorians and the Exaltationists, are a lesser threat than temporal chaos. The Technic History presents a less implausible interstellar empire and less incredible preparations for its inevitable Fall.

Either the Time Patrol or the Technic History would be a better candidate for "Best SF Series Of All Time" although the Foundation Trilogy won a Hugo Award in this category.

Anderson contributed:

one novel to Robert E Howard's Conan series;
one US Robots story to Asimov's future history;
two stories to Asimov's "Isaac's Universe" series;
one chapter to Murasaki;
one War World story story to Jerry Pournelle's CoDominium future history;
three Man-Kzin Wars stories to Larry Niven's Known Space future history;
one story to Harlan Ellison's Medea series;
one story to Fred Saberhagen's Berserker series;
the concept, the Introduction and one story in A World Named Cleopatra.

We must soon return to the Man-Kzin Wars.

Picking Up The Threads

Where were we? I was reading Jerry Pournelle's and SM Stirling's third Man-Kzin Wars story, "In The Hall Of The Mountain King," realizing that I had not read it before. Pournelle's and Stirling's Man-Kzin trilogy is integrated with Poul Anderson's and I will probably reread the latter next.

However, when the laptop died, I temporarily stopped reading the Man-Kzin series becaue I had stopped being able to blog about it simultaneously. Also, wanting a change of genre, I instead reread Garth Ennis' graphic series, The Boys, which ingeniously integrates the fantastic concept of superheroes into an alternative twentieth century history of American business, politics and warfare. The Twin Towers still stand but not the Brooklyn Bridge. 9/11 happened but differently.

Ennis knows his comic book stuff and his real world stuff and also writes a lot of straight war fiction. Although he presents different genres in a different medium from the different perspective of an Ulsterman living in New York, Ennis' graphic fictions are comparable to Anderson's, Pournelle's and Stirling's militray sf - and he even wrote some sf in a Dan Dare revival. Common themes are military hardware, the experience of combat and the causes of conflicts. What more could we want?

Well, I would like an end to such conflicts but even then we would still have to study and read about military history. Larry Niven's ARM are out of order trying to suppress that history. The FTL interstellar scenarios of Anderson, Niven, Pournelle etc would at least ensure that humanity can survive even when weapons can wreck worlds.

Next, we must return to the Wars Against Men.

Multiple Genres

Poul Anderson wrote fantasy, historical fiction, detective fiction, science fiction, non-fiction and poetry, including a perfect haiku in an sf novel. Some of his fantasy and sf has historical settings.

A supernatural or extraterrestrial being should not make its frst appearance on the last page of a historical novel unless the text has built towards such a conclusion. A medieval monk can display detective skills but again should not do so for the first time on the last page. (All such generalizations are vulnerable to a writer doing something original that works.)

History past and future is a single process as Poul Anderson shows in his time travel novels and in The Boat Of A Million Years. Also, history might be not only Terrestrial but also galactic. Anderson's Terran Empire is modeled on the Roman Empire and incorporates remnants of an Ancient interstellar civilization. In Larry Niven's Known Space future history:

Terrestrial human beings are mutated Pak breeder colonists of a former Slaver food planet;
Slaver artifacts and even a live Slaver are retrieved from statis fields;
Jerry Pournelle and SM Stirling add another live Slaver and a tnuctipun rebel;
Anderson adds a tnuctipun weapon comprising an enclosed black hole.

Past and future interact as do sf writers.

Through Space With HG Wells And His Successors

Copied from here.

In The War Of The Worlds by HG Wells, Martians invade Earth and Venus.

In Star-Begotten by Wells, Planetarium Club members discuss cosmic rays and Martians before one of their number summarizes and criticizes The War Of The Worlds, mistakenly attributing it to "'...Conan Doyle, Jules Verne, one of those fellows...'" (New York, 1975, p. 48), then proposes instead Martianization of human beings by cosmic rays.

In the Ransom Trilogy by CS Lewis, a scientist visits Mars and Venus, in the latter case as the spearhead of a planned demonic invasion. Lewis parenthetically comments that "...Mr Wells' Martians [are] very unlike the real Malacandrians..." (Voyage to Venus, London, 1978, p. 7).

In The War Of Two Worlds by Poul Anderson, Martians militarily conquer Earth but are being covertly manipulated by extrasolars.

In "Soldier From The Stars" by Anderson, humanoid extrasolars conquer Earth economically by selling their superior military services to the highest bidder among Terrestrial governments.

Later, I will add a few more alien invasions but I think that this is a neat progression through Wells, Lewis and Anderson. See here.

Through Time With Mark Twain, HG Wells And Their Successors....

Copied from here.

...mainly including Poul Anderson, of course.

The anonymous "Missing One's Coach" presents a visit to a historical period that might be a dream.

Mark Twain's Connecticut Yankee experiences instantaneous "transposion of epochs" to Arthurian Britain and returns to the nineteenth century by Merlinian suspended animation.

In The Time Machine by HG Wells, the Time Traveler and his dinner guests discuss "time travelling" before the Time Traveler demonstrates his model Time Machine which does not move anywhere but, remaining stationary on the Earth's surface, undergoes extreme time dilation in either temporal direction while also unaccountably becoming both invisible and intangible.

In "The Dark Tower" by CS Lewis, five men discuss "time travelling" and agree that it is impossible before one of their number demonstrates his chronoscope which displays scenes not, as they initially think, from the past or future but from an alternative timeline.

In the Time Patrol series by Poul Anderson, timecycles, resembling modenized Time Machines, instantaneously change their spatiotemporal coordinates, thus neither moving nor dilating but disappearing and appearing.

In The Corridors Of Time by Poul Anderson, "time travelers" really do travel through time because they walk or drive down corridors whose lengths extend along the temporal axis.

In The Dancer From Atlantis by Anderson, a space-time vehicle does not remain stationary on the Earth's surface but moves across it "...while traveling through time." (London, 1977, p. 32)

In There Will Be Time by Anderson, some mutants can "time travel"/dilate invisibly and intangibly without needing a time machine and one of their number gives Wells the time travel idea.

In The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffeneger, mutant time travel is instantaneous but involuntary.

In Bid Time Return by Richard Matheson and two Time novels by Jack Finney, travel to the past and back to the present is a learned skill.

In "The Flight of the Horse" by Larry Niven, time travel is scientifically impossible so it takes explorers into a fantasy past where they find not extinct species but mythical beasts.

This is not and cannot be a complete list of time travel fictions but it does cover most of the possibilities and presents a conceptual sequence:

time travel is possible with machines - but there are different kinds of machines;
time travel is possible without machines - but in different circumstances;
time travel is impossible but time viewing is possible with a machine;
time travel is impossible so it is fantasy, not sf.