Previous SFF Author: Sarah Pinsker
Henry Beam Piper was an American science fiction author. He wrote many short stories and several novels. He is best known for his extensive Terro-Human Future History series of stories and a shorter series of “Paratime” alternate history tales.
Lone Star Planet by H. Beam Piper
Lone Star Planet (1957) is a fun science fiction murder mystery novella by H. Beam Piper. The murder occurs on a planet colonized in the future by the citizens of Texas who wanted to escape the intrusive United States government on Earth. They set up a system where there’s not much centralized government and it doesn’t have much authority, for they all agree on this tenet:
Keep a government poor and weak and it’s your servant;
Kat Hooper´s rating: 3 | H. Beam Piper | Audio, Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | 3 comments |
The Zarathustra Corporation owns and has been mining the planet of Zarathustra for years. They’re allowed to own the planet because it contains no sapient races. But when prospector Jack Holloway discovers a potentially sentient mammalian species, the Zarathustra Corporation may lose its charter and, therefore, the planet’s resources that they’ve been exploiting. What exactly are these little fuzzy creatures? Pets or people? It makes a big difference to Zarathustra Corporation.
I read H. Beam Piper’s 1962 Hugo-nominated novel Little Fuzzy in preparation for reading John Scalzi’s Fuzzy Nation,
Kat Hooper´s rating: 3 | H. Beam Piper | Audio, Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | 3 comments |
The Cosmic Computer by H. Beam Piper
Conn Maxwell is returning to his impoverished backwater home planet, Poictesme (a nod to James Branch Cabell), after years at the university where he studied computer science. The leaders of Poictesme sent him to school so that he could learn about MERLIN, a legendary supercomputer that is thought to be located somewhere near their planet. They believe that if they can find MERLIN, they will have the information and guidance they need to raise the economic power and status of Poictesme back to its former glory.
Kat Hooper´s rating: 3 | H. Beam Piper | Audio | SFF Reviews | 3 comments |
Science Fiction Super Pack #1 edited by Warren Lapine
Like the companion fantasy volume, Science Fiction Super Pack #1, edited by Warren Lapine, only has one story I didn’t think was good, and it’s a piece of Lovecraft fanfiction. H.P. Lovecraft‘s overwrought prose doesn’t do much for me even when Lovecraft himself writes it, and much less so when it’s attempted by imitators. And Lovecraft’s stories at least have something frightening that happens in them; these two stories (in this volume and the other) only have visions of aspects of the Mythos and crazy people ranting,
Mike Reeves-McMillan | Alfred Bester, Brenda Clough, C.L. Moore, Carole McDonnell, Edgar Pangborn, Edmond Hamilton, Frederik Pohl, H. Beam Piper, Harry Harrison, Isaac Asimov, Jack Williamson, Leigh Brackett, Marion Zimmer Bradley, Philip Jose Farmer, Philip K. Dick, Poul Anderson, R.A. Lafferty, Ray Bradbury, Stanley G. Weinbaum, Theodore Sturgeon, Walter M. Miller | Short Fiction | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
Previous SFF Author: Sarah Pinsker
We’re in total agreement David!
I felt just the same. The prose and character work was excellent. The larger story was unsatisfying, especially compared to…
Hmmm. I think I'll pass.
COMMENT Was I hinting that? I wasn't aware of it. But now that you mention it.... 🤔
So it sounds like you're hinting Fox may have had three or so different incomplete stories that he stitched together,…