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Vintage Treasures: The Trackers Series by David Gerrold

Vintage Treasures: The Trackers Series by David Gerrold

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Covers by Michael Herring

David Gerrold began his career as a screenwriter for Star Trek (the famous episode “The Trouble With Tribbles”), Land of the Lost, Babylon 5, Sliders, and others, but today he’s chiefly known as an author and novelist, with such works as the Hugo Award winning “The Martian Child” (made into a 2007 John Cusack film), The War Against the Chtorr series, Star Wolf, and most recently Hella, a 2020 adventure thriller set on a world where everything is monstrously huge (“hella big”).

Anyone with a career that rich has a few interesting tales, and one of the more intriguing is the saga of Trackers, the story of a colony planet of human, androids and reptilian hunters that bands together to “strike back against their vampire overlords and bring revolution to the stars.” In 1987, while he was serving as a story editor for Star Trek: The Next Generation, Gerrold left to develop a Trackers mini-series for CBS.

In April I was offered the opportunity [to] write and produce a four-hour science-fiction mini-series for CBS and Columbia Television. The series is called Trackers and the Executive Producer is Daron J. Thomas. If the mini-series is a hit, then a regular weekly SF TV series would be developed from it. This was a very difficult decision for me to make. Star Trek has always been a home to me… [but] now, it was obvious to me that it was time to leave home. Or as my agent put it: “You can’t turn down the chance to be the Great Bird of your own galaxy.”

Trackers was never produced, and instead Gerrold turned it into a two-volume series for Bantam Spectra, Under the Eye of God (1993) and A Covenant of Justice (1994).

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James E. Gunn, July 12, 1923 – December 23, 2020

James E. Gunn, July 12, 1923 – December 23, 2020

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Photo Courtesy of Gunn Center for Science Fiction Studies

 

Sad news for the science fiction and fantasy writing world.  James Edwin Gunn, writer, scholar, teacher and Science Fiction Grandmaster, died of congestive heart failure Wednesday December 23, 2020. 

James Gunn founded the University of Kansas Center for Science Fiction Studies, and from their site Center Director Chris McKitterick wrote:

The Center’s Associate Director, Kij Johnson, and I offer our deepest condolences to everyone who cared about Jim, whose lives he touched – and there were many – and whose careers he influenced, which amounts to almost everyone in our field today, whether they’re aware of his intellectual parentage or not.

McKitterick wrote for Michael Page’s biography (Saving the World Through Science Fiction: James Gunn, Writer, Teacher, and Scholar):

“He has taught so many teachers, scholars, and educators that his reach is immeasurable. Jim’s mentoring has shaped the genre into what we enjoy today, making him one of the most influential figures in SF. His is a life devoted to science fiction, and without him, the field would not be the same, nor the world as aware of both the peril and potential of human endeavor.”

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Vintage Treasures: The Macabre Reader edited by Donald A. Wollheim

Vintage Treasures: The Macabre Reader edited by Donald A. Wollheim

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The Macabre Reader (Ace, 1959). Cover by Ed Emshwiller

Today, December 21st, is the Winter solstice and the longest night of the year in the Northern Hemisphere. What to do with those long winter night hours? Curl up with a blanket, a warm beverage, and a good spooky book, of course.

My pick for tonight is Donald A. Wollheim’s The Macabre Reader, his 14th anthology, published as a paperback original in 1959 and never reprinted in the US. It’s still considered one of his finest anthologies, even today, and has both a fine reputation and the benefit of a good print run — meaning copies are still very inexpensive. There are plenty of reviews out there; here’s an excerpt from one of my favorites, by Dem Bones at Vault of Evil:

Thorp McClusky – “The Crawling Horror”: Hans Brubaker’s farmhouse comes under attack from a colourless jelly which devours rats, cats and cattle before turning [its] attention to human prey. His beautiful young wife Hilda and the local physician Dr. Kurt are the only people who believe his seemingly insane story and help him secure the place versus the shapeless creeping sludge. All is well until eighteen year old Bertha Brandt turns up on the doorstep in the middle of the night…

Zealia Brown Reed – “The Curse Of Yig”: Oklahoma, 1925. An ethnologists’ researches into snake lore amongst the Native Americans leads him to Guthrie Asylum… [and] the tragic history of settlers Walker and Audrey Davis, whose anxieties over her wiping out a nest of baby rattlers culminate in madness, manslaughter and monster births. A pulp classic with a killer ending, reputedly revised by H. P. Lovecraft.

The Macabre Reader contains stories and poems by H. P. Lovecraft, Robert E. Howard, Clark Ashton Smith, Donald Wandrei, Robert Bloch, Henry S. Whitehead, John Martin Leahy, and many others — all under a killer cover by Ed Emshwiller. It’s perfect for a snowbound winter night.

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Vintage Treasures: Threats… and Other Promises by Vernor Vinge

Vintage Treasures: Threats… and Other Promises by Vernor Vinge

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Threats… and Other Promises (Baen, November 1988). Cover by E. M. Gooch

Vernor Vinge is one of our greatest modern science fiction writers. He’s widely credited with introducing the singularity into modern parlance with his 1993 essay “The Coming Technological Singularity.” He’s won the Hugo Award five times, for his novels A Fire Upon the Deep, A Deepness in the Sky, and Rainbows End, and his novellas “Fast Times at Fairmont High,” and “The Cookie Monster.”

His first short story collection True Names … and Other Dangers appeared in 1987; it was followed quickly by Threats … and Other Promises in 1988. Both were paperback originals from Baen, and both were nominated for the Locus Award for Best Collection. The latter is remember today chiefly for the novella “The Blabber,” the first story in Vinge’s celebrated Zones of Thought universe, setting for much of his most popular fiction. I first learned about it from Alan Brown’s insightful review at Tor.com, here’s the bit that grabbed my attention.

“The Blabber” describes a human colony world settled by emigrants from the American Great Lakes region. Both Earth and this new colony are located in the “Slow Zone,” a region where travel and communications are limited to the speed of light, and superhuman intelligence is impossible. Beneath this region, in the “Unthinking Depths,” even human-level intelligence is impossible… The fringes of the galaxy are the “Beyond,” where the speed of light is no longer a limiting factor, and superhuman beings and intelligences live.

In “The Blabber,” the human colony, located just within the Slow Zone, is visited by a trading expedition from the Beyond, looking to trade advanced technology for cultural artifacts from the humans. The story is a bravura effort, mixing thoughtful scientific extrapolation with wonders that would be right at home in the space opera tales of science fiction’s pulp era. Vinge found a way to escape the bounds of rigid extrapolation, but in a way that was internally consistent. There is a joy and sense of wonder in “The Blabber” that I had not seen in Vinge’s work before. So when I heard that A Fire Upon the Deep would be set in that same universe, I looked forward to it with great anticipation. Anticipation that was rewarded in abundance.

If you’re like me and you like to sample authors with short fiction first, Threats…. and Other Promises is a great place to start. Here’s the complete Table of Contents.

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An Evocation of the Science Fiction Dream of Exploration: “The Star Pit” by Samuel R. Delany

An Evocation of the Science Fiction Dream of Exploration: “The Star Pit” by Samuel R. Delany

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Worlds of Tomorrow, February 1967, containing “The Star Pit” by Samuel R. Delany. Cover by Morrow

This is the first of what I hope will be an extended series of essays taking a closer look at some stories I either consider to be particularly good, or interesting for other reasons. Of necessity, each of these essays will go into some detail as to the plot of the stories – in most case, in my opinion, this will not “spoil” the stories, but I know that I am less spoiler-phobic than many, so tread carefully.

I remember reading “The Star Pit” as a teen, probably in Robert Silverberg’s exceptional reprint anthology Alpha 5. It was a story I liked then, and loved on a reread a few years later. I remember it as one of the great underappreciated novellas in SF. But it’s been quite a few years since my last read.

In fact this is a story with a decent history of anthologization and recognition over the years, so my term “underappreciated” is off base. It first appeared in Worlds of Tomorrow for February of 1967 – and as Worlds of Tomorrow was widely considered the “third-string” magazine in Fred Pohl’s editorship, behind sister magazines Galaxy and If, that could be regarded as “underappreciation,” though more likely it reflected the difficulty of fitting novellas into magazines. (Interestingly, the magazine ceased publication after the next issue (May 1967) before a brief (three issue) revival in 1970 and 1971.)

“The Star Pit” was a finalist for the 1968 Hugo for Best Novella, which went in a tie to “Riders of the Purple Wage” by Philip Jose Farmer and “Weyr Search” by Anne McCaffrey. It was in Judith Merril’s SF 12, the very last outing for her seminal series. Robert Silverberg anthologized it twice – not just in Alpha 5 but in the Arbor House Treasury of Great Science Fiction Short Novels. Gardner Dozois put it in his anthology with a similar title (and ambition) to Silverberg’s: Modern Classic Short Novels of Science Fiction. And Richard Lupoff chose it for What If? Volume 3, the third entry in his series of books highlighting the stories that he felt should have won the Hugo each year. (Unfortunately, the What If? series was cancelled after the first two books, and Volume 3 only appeared decades later from a small press.)

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Vintage Treasures: The Sky is Filled With Ships by Richard C. Meredith

Vintage Treasures: The Sky is Filled With Ships by Richard C. Meredith

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The Sky Is Filled with Ships (Ballantine Books, 1969). Cover by Jerome Podwil

Richard C. Meredith died tragically young in 1979, at the age of 41. He left behind a body of work that’s still read and discussed today, including the Timeliner trilogy, We All Died at Breakaway Station (1969), which John Clute and Peter Nichols at the Encyclopedia of Science Fiction call “a bleak, well-crafted space opera in a kind of Alamo setting, where a scarred cyborg crew must withstand both external alien enemies and the devils of introspection,” and Run, Come See Jerusalem! (1976), a complex and effective alternate history set in a world where the Nazis were victorious.

Although he sold his first stories to Fred Pohl at Worlds of Tomorrow in 1966, rightly or wrongly I still think of Meredith as a Campbell writer. He bought his first copy of Astounding at the age of 13 and became an instant fan, faithfully purchasing every issue until John W. Campbell passed away in 1971.

Meredith’s debut novel was The Sky Is Filled with Ships, published as a paperback original by Ballantine Books in 1969 with a striking cover by Jerome Podwil. It was selected to be part of Singularity & Co’s “Save the Sci-Fi” digital reissue campaign in 2013, and that put it in the hands of a lot of modern readers. I was surprised to see that it held up well with them, and enjoys an impressive 4.51 rating at Goodreads. BJ Haun’s 4-star review is fairly typical.

The Sky is Filled with Ships might be my favorite book to come out of Singularity & Co’s “Save the Sci-Fi” campaign thus far. It’s an interesting little story that has some action, some space battles, some intrigue, and maybe a couple too many melodramatic bits.

The Sky Is Filled with Ships is 184 pages, and was originally priced at 75 cents. It has been out of print since 1969, though it’s available in ebook formats from Singularity & Co. See all of our recent Vintage Treasures here.

Imaro Series Tour Guide

Imaro Series Tour Guide

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Masthead 2020 Nov Dec Saunders Soul B

“Who am I? Who is my father? Where is my mother? Why do death and demons follow me wherever I go?” – Imaro in The Quest for Cush

Charles R. Saunders, the originator of Sword & Soul, passed away May this year (2020, Greg Mele covered a tribute for Black Gate). Saunders is most known for his Imaro tales chronicling an African-inspired “Conan the Barbarian” on the fictional continent of Nyumbani. Saunders also wrote of a heroine named Dossouye (separate series), amongst other characters. Over the years, Black Gate has reviewed the entire Imaro series and the book of associated stories called Nyumabi Tales (see list). The Goodreads Sword and Sorcery group honored his memory with a groupread, catalyzing this post. If you are looking for some buddies to share experiences while you read, then please join in (formally the Saunders group read goes through Dec., but discussions will continue beyond). This post serves as a tour guide for the series, clarifying transition from Book#1 to #2 per edition, provides Saunder’s own voice (excerpts) to capture the essence of Imaro’s Nyumbani, and reviews book availability.

Imaro Series Publication History:

The publication history also follows Imaro’s chronology as well. Links to Black Gate reviews included.

  1. Imaro: DAW 1981, Nightshade reprinted 2006 with story changes; Lulu 2014; 2008 Review by Howard Andrew Jones
  2. Imaro II: The Quest for Cush: DAW 1984, Nightshade reprinted 2006 with story changes 2008 Review by Ryan Harvey
  3. The Trail of Bohu: DAW 1985 & Lulu 2009 2009 Review by Bill Ward
  4. Naama War: Lulu 2010 2010 Review by Ryan Harvey, and 2009 coverage Howard Andrew Jones & John O’Neill
  5. Nyumbani Tales: Mvmedia, LLC 2018 2017 by Fletcher Vredenburgh
  6. The Warrior’s Way: unpublished collection mentioned in the 2017 introduction to Nyumbani Tales penned by Saunders (more on this below).

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By Crom: A Pair of Perrys (Conan)

By Crom: A Pair of Perrys (Conan)

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I have talked about Conan pastiches in a couple of prior Black Gate posts; and I’ve linked to them at the bottom of this one. Here’s something from one of them:

From 1982 through 2003, eight authors (though primarily four) cranked out 43 new Conan novels for Tor. At two per year, the quality varied wildly, as you can imagine. John M. Roberts’ Conan the Rogue is an homage to Dashiell Hammett’s Red Harvest and one of my favorite Conan books. Steve Perry’s Conan the Indomitable is one of the worst fantasy books I’ve ever read (even though it is a direct sequel to Perry’s Conan the Defiant, which I mostly liked.)

So, let’s take a look at those two Steve Perry books. I think that Ryan Harvey may hold Roland Green in less esteem than he does Perry, but I suspect it’s a close call. I think that Perry was the Tor author cranking out Conan books just for the money. On the whole, they’re bad, and I recommend everyone else ahead of him. Though I don’t recommend Green much, if ever. I talk about the books, and Conan writers, who I like, in the other posts below. You can see what I consider good about them. I don’t think Perry respected the character, or cared about the quality of the plot. Having said that, Conan the Defiant wasn’t too bad as a sword and sorcery paperback. Unfortunately, its follow-up was tripe.

Conan the Defiant

Conan the Defiant is the second of the five novels which Perry wrote in the Tor Series. In William Galen Gray’s chronology it is the fourth Conan tale (following Conan of Venarium, “Legions of the Dead” and “The Thing in the Crypt”), and taking place before Sean Moore’s Conan the Hunter.

The young Conan comes upon a lone priest being waylaid by five bandits. Impressed with the stranger’s skill with a wooden staff, the Cimmerian wades in and helps the man dispatch his opponents. Cengh, a priest of the Suddah Oblates, is later murdered, sending Conan on a quest of justice for his short-time friend.

In typical Conan fashion, he beds Elashi, a desert-bred warrior maiden, as well as Tuanne, a beautiful zombie. Yep, a zombie. Being the irresistible stud he is, the trio engage in threesomes all along their trek to the bad guy’s castle. This one seems to rate higher than normal on the Conan adolescent fantasies scale.

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A Tale of Horrific First Contact: The Sentience Trilogy by Terry A. Adams

A Tale of Horrific First Contact: The Sentience Trilogy by Terry A. Adams

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Covers by James Gurney, Richard Hescox, and Stephan Martiniere

Every time an author completes a trilogy, we bake a cake at the Black Gate rooftop headquarters. Given how long some big fantasy trilogies take to wrap up, we’ve learned patience over the years. Even so, we rarely have have to wait 27 years, as dedicated fans did for Terry A. Adams popular Sentience trilogy.

It opened with Sentience, Adams’ debut novel, which made quite a splash in 1986.  It was nominated for the Locus Award for Best First Novel; Locus magazine said “Adams writes with an elaborate, intricate prose … [and] weaves an elegant tale that makes for fascinating reading,” and Voya called it “an exciting story, well told and well written…. An excellent SF thriller by a new writer.” John Clute at The Science Fiction Encyclopedia describes the series this way:

Begins in the conflict between “true” humans and D’Neerans, who are human telepath, and builds into a Space-Opera sequence involving new races and challenges to their female telepath protagonist, who saves several worlds. They are told in a skittish but engaging style designed to give some sense of a telepath’s way of thinking.

Ken Richards gave the first book a 4-star review at Goodreads. Here’s an excerpt from his more detailed review.

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Vintage Treasures: Saraband of Lost Time by Richard Grant

Vintage Treasures: Saraband of Lost Time by Richard Grant

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Saraband of Lost Time (Avon, March 1985). Cover by Jim Burns

Richard Grant has had a fine career as an American fantasy writer, with works such as Rumors of Spring (1986), Views from the Oldest House (1989) and the Philip K. Dick Award winner Through the Heart (1991). But his career began with his 1985 debut Saraband of Lost Time, a science fiction novel that was a Locus Award nominee for Best First Novel and received an Honorable Mention from the Philip K. Dick Award jury.

Saraband received a lot of attention at the time. In his Books column in F&SF Algis Budrys called “one of the most engaging first novels in years… a piece of cultured prose which by its nature confers importance on its cast of characters and on their activities.”

But what do modern readers make of it? It has generally positive reviews at Goodreads; Tom Britz calls it “a far reaching future tale of environmental changes [that] jumped around to different characters as it tried to make sense of this future world.” And in a 4-star review, Avis Black sums up by saying,

Grant is one bizarre writer, and Saraband is his best and most (relatively speaking) accessible novel.

But Geoff Clarke found it took a second reading to really appreciate it.

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