The Rediscovery of Man - Cordwainer Smith, ebook, Temp
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The Rediscovery of Man [029-4.3]By: Cordwainer SmithSynopsis:The Rediscovery of Man The Complete Short Science Fiction ofCordwainer Smith is the second book in the"NESFA's Choice" series. It brings back into print all of the shortscience fiction of Cordwainer Smith, and includes two never beforepublished stories.The Rediscovery of Man includes all of Smith's short science fiction,including: "Scanners Live in Vain" "The Ballad of Lost C' mell" "TheDead Lady of Clown Town" "The Game of Rat and Dragon" "On the StormPlanet" It also includes an in-depth introduction to the works ofCordwainer Smith by John J. Pierce, a noted authority on Smith'swork.For a complete list of books available from NESFA Press, write to:NESFA Press PO Box 809 Framingham, MA 01701-0203Copyrights (con't) in "The Colonel Came Back from the Nothing-at-All"copyright 1979 by Genevieve Linebarger. First appeared in TheInstrumentality of Mankind."The Game of Rat and Dragon" copyright 1955 by Galaxy Publishing Co.First appeared in Galaxy, October 1956."The Burning of the Brain" copyright 1958 by Quinn Publishing Co. Firstappeared in Worlds of If, October 1958."From Gustible's Planet" copyright 1962 by Digest ProductionsCorporation. First appeared in Worlds of If, July 1962."Himself in Anachron" copyright 1993 by the Estate of Paul Linebarger.First appearance."The Crime and the Glory of Commander Suzdal" copyright 1964 byZiffDavis Publishing Co. First appeared in Amawf; Science Fiction, May1964."Golden the Ship Was Oh! Oh! Oh!" copyright 1959 by Ziff-DavisPublishing Co. First appeared in Amazing Science Fiction, April1959."The Dead Lady of Clown Town" copyright 1964 by Galaxy Publishing Co.First appeared in Galaxy, August 1964."Under Old Earth" copyright 1966 by Galaxy Publishing Co. Firstappeared in Galaxy, February 1966."Drunkboat" copyright 1963 by Ziff-Davis Publishing Co. First appearedin Ammazing Science Fiction, October 1963."Mother Hitton's Little Kittons" copyright 1961 by Galaxy PublishingCo. First appeared in Galaxy, June 1961."Alpha Ralpha Boulevard," copyright 1961 by Mercury Press, Inc. Firstappeared in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, June 1961."The Ballad of Lost C'mell" copyright 1962 by Galaxy Publishing Co.First appeared in Galaxy. October 1962."A Planet Named Shayol" copyright 1961 by Galaxy Publishing Co. Firstappeared in Galaxy, October 1961."On the Gem Planet" copyright 1963 by Galaxy Publishing Co. Firstappeared in Galaxy, October 1963."On the Storm Planet" copyright 1965 by Galaxy Publishing Co. Firstappeared in Galaxy, February 1965."On the Sand Planet" copyright 1965 by Ziff-Davis Publishing Co. Firstappeared in Amazing Stories, December 1965."Three to a Given Star" copyright 1965 by Galaxy Publishing Co. Firstappeared in Galaxy, October 1965."Down to a Sunless Sea" copyright 1975 by Genevieve Linebarger. Firstappeared in The Mu^wwe of Fantasy & Science Fiction, October 1975."War No. 81 -Q" copyright 1993 by the Estate of Paul Linebarger. Firstappeared in The Adjuant, Volume IX, No. 1, June 1928."Western Science Is So Wonderful" copyright 1958 by Quinn PublishingCo. First appeared in Worlds of If, December 1958."Nancy" copyright 1959 by Satellite Science Fiction. First appeared inSatellite Science Fiction, March 1959 (as"The Nancy Routine")."The life of Bodidharma" copyright 1959 by Ziff-Davis Publishing Co.First appeared in Fantastic, June 1959."Angerhelm" copyright 1959 by Ballantine Books. First appeared in StarScience Fiction #6."The Good Friends" copyright 1963 by Galaxy Publishing Co. Firstappeared in Worlds of Tomorrow, October 1963.Contents Introduction by John J. Pierce vii Editor's Introduction xvStories of the Instrumentality of Mankind No,No,NotRogov! 3 WarNo.81-Q (rewritten version) 19 Mark Elf 29 The Queen of the Afternoon41 Scanners Live in Vain 65 The Lady Who Sailed The Soul 97 When thePeople Fell 119 Think Blue, Count Two 129 The Colonel Came Back fromthe Nothing-at-All 155 The Game of Rat and Dragon 163 The Burning ofthe Brain 177 From Gustible's Planet 187 Himself in Anachron 193 TheCrime and the Glory of Commander Suzdal 201 Golden the Ship Was Oh! Oh!Oh! 215 The Dead Lady of Clown Town 223 Under Old Earth 289 Drunkboat327 Mother Hitton' s Littul Kittons 355 Alpha Ralpha Boulevard 375 TheBallad of Lost C'mell 401 A Planet Named Shayol 419 On the Gem Planet451 On the Storm Planet 475 On the Sand Planet 541 Three to a GivenStar 567 Down to a Sunless Sea 587vi The Rediscovery of Man Other Stories War No. 81-Q (originalversion) 613 Western Science Is So Wonderful 617 Nancy 629 The life ofBodidharma 641 Angerhelm 649 The Good Friends 667Introduction by JohnJ.Pierc e It's trite to say, of course, but there has never been anotherscience fiction writer like Cordwainer Smith.Smith was never a very prolific SF writer, as evidenced by the factthat nearly all of his short fiction can be encompassed in a singleomnibus volume like this. He was never a very popular writer, asevidenced by the fact that most of his work has usually been out ofprint. Nor has he been a favorite of the critics, as evidenced by thefact that few citations to his SF can be found in journals like ScienceFiction Studies.It is impossible to fit Smith's work into any of the neat categoriesthat appeal to most readers or critics. It isn't hard science fiction,it isn't military science fiction, it isn't sociological sciencefiction, it isn't satire, it isn't surrealism, it isn't post modernismFor those who have fallen in love with it over the years, however, itis some of the most powerful science fiction ever written. It is thekind of fiction that, as C. S. Lewis once wrote, becomes part of thereader's personal iconography.You may have already read the story of Paul Myron Anthony Linebarger(1913-66), the man behind Cordwainer Smith, who grew up in China,Japan, Germany, and France, and became a soldier, diplomat, andrespected authority on Far Eastern affairs.He was the son of Paul Myron Wentworth Linebarger, a retired Americanjudge who helped finance the Chinese revolution of 1911 and became thelegal advisor to Sun Yat-sen. It was Sun himself who gave young Paulhis Chinese name Lin Bah Loh, or "Forest of Incandescent Bliss." (Hisfather had been dubbed Lin Bah Kuh, or"Forest of 1,000 Victories.") In time, the younger Linebarger becamethe confidant of Chiang Kai-shek, and, like his father, wrote aboutChina. Still later, he was in demand at the Department of AsiaticPolitics at Johns Hopkins University, where he shared his own expertisewith members of the diplomatic corps. And that isn't counting hisyears as an operative in China during World War II, oras a "visitor to small wars" thereafter, from which he became perhapsthe world's leading authority on psychological warfare.He wrote the book on psychological warfare under his own name, as withall his non-fiction. But he was very shy about his fiction. He wrotetwo novels, Ria and Carola, both unusual due to their femaleprotagonists and international settings, under the name Felix C.Forrest, a play on his Chinese name. But when people found out who"Forrest" was, he couldn't write any more.He tried a spy thriller, Atomsk, as Carmichael Smith, but was found outagain. He even submitted a manuscript for another novel under hiswife's name, but nobody was fooled. Although Linebarger wrote at leastpartial drafts of several other novels, he was never able to interestpublishers, and it appears he never really tried that hard. He mighthave had a distinguished, if minor, career as a novelist it is an oddcoincidence that Herma Briffault, widow of Robert Briffault, to whosenovels of European politics Frederik Pohl would later compare Ria andCarola, had in fact read Carola in manuscript; only she compared it tothe work of Jean Paul Sartre!Yet it isn't only a matter of happenstance, of opportunities elsewheredenied, that Paul M. A. Linebarger became a science fiction writer. Infact, he was writing SF before he wrote anything else. From his earlyteens, he turned out an incredible volume of juvenile SF, under titleslike"The Books of Futurity" some bad imitations of Edgar Rice Burroughs,others clumsily satirical or incorporating Chinese legends or folklore.One of these efforts contained, as an imaginary "review," the genesisof"The life ofBodidharma," published over 20 years later in its finalform. At the age of 15, he even had an SF story published"War No. 81- Q," which appeared in The Adjutant, the official organ ofhis high school cadet corps in Washington, DC, in June 1928. Becausehe used the name of his cousin, Jack Bearden, for the hero, Beardendecided to get back with a story of his own,"The Notorious C39"; but Bearden's story actually made it into AmazingStories. More than 30 years later, Linebarger rewrote"War No. 81-Q" for his first collection of Cordwainer Smith SFstories. You Will Never Be the Same, but it didn't make the cut.Throughout the 1930s and 1940s, Linebarger continued to write shortfiction some SF, some fantasy, some contemporary or Chinese historical.The manuscripts, including those of the earliest Cordwainer Smithstories, were eventually bound in a red-leather volume now in the handsof a daughter living in Oregon. Most of these stories were apparentlynever submitted for publication, but Linebarger did send two of thefantasies "Alauda Dalma" and"The Arche...
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