American Science Fiction Five Classic Novels 1956-58 (113 page)

“Your Terran thought has a word for it and a theory for it —a theory that recurs on many worlds. It’s about the four orders of life: Plants, Animals, Men and Demons. Plants are energybinders—they can’t move through space or time, but they can clutch energy and transform it. Animals are space-binders— they can move through space. Man (Terran or ET, Lunan or non-Lunan) is a time-binder—he has memory.

“Demons are the fourth order of evolution, possibilitybinders—they can make all of what might be part of what is, and that is their evolutionary function. Resurrection is like the metamorphosis of a caterpillar into a butterfly: a third-order being breaks out of the chrysalis of its lifeline into fourth-order life. The leap from the ripped cocoon of an unchanging reality is like the first animal’s leap when he ceases to be a plant, and the Change World is the core of meaning behind the many myths of immortality.

“All evolution looks like a war at first—octopoids against monopoids, mammals against reptiles. And it has a necessary dialectic: there must be the thesis—we call it Snake—and the antithesis—Spider—before there can be the ultimate synthesis, when all possibilities are fully realized in one ultimate universe. The Change War isn’t the blind destruction it seems.

“Remember that the Serpent is your symbol of wisdom and the Spider your sign for patience. The two names are rightly frightening to you, for all high existence is a mixture of horror and delight. And don’t be surprised, Greta girl, at the range of my words and thoughts; in a way, I’ve had a billion years to study Terra and learn her languages and myths.

“Who are the real Spiders and Snakes, meaning who were the first possibility-binders? Who was Adam, Greta girl? Who was Cain? Who were Eve and Lilith?

“In binding all possibility, the Demons also bind the mental with the material. All fourth-order beings live inside and outside all minds, throughout the whole cosmos. Even this Place is, after its fashion, a giant brain: its floor is the brainpan, the boundary of the Void is the cortex of gray matter—yes, even the Major and Minor Maintainers are analogues of the pineal and pituitary glands, which in some form sustain all nervous systems.

“There’s the real picture, Greta girl.”

The feather-talk faded out and Illy’s tendril tips merged into a soft pad on which I fingered, “Thanks, Daddy Long-legs.”

Chewing over in my mind what Illy had just told me, I looked back at the gang around the piano. The party seemed to be breaking up; at least some of them were chopping away at it. Sid had gone to the control divan and was getting set to tune in Egypt. Mark and Kaby were there with him, all bursting with eagerness and the vision of ranks on ranks of mounted Zombie bowmen going up in a mushroom cloud; I thought of what Illy had told me and I managed a smile—seems we’ve got to win and lose all the battles, every which way.

Mark had just put on his Parthian costume, groaning cheerfully, “Trousers again!” and was striding around under a hat like a fur-lined ice-cream cone and with the sleeves of his metal-stuffed candys flapping over his hands. He waved a short sword with a heart-shaped guard at Bruce and Erich and told them to get a move on.

Kaby was going along on the operation wearing the oldwoman disguise intended for Benson-Carter. I got a halfhearted kick out of knowing she was going to have to cover that chest and hobble.

Bruce and Erich weren’t taking orders from Mark just yet. Erich went over and said something to Bruce at the bar, and Bruce got down and went over with Erich to the piano, and Erich tapped Beau on the shoulder and leaned over and said something to him, and Beau nodded and yanked “Limehouse Blues” to a fast close and started another piece, something slow and nostalgic.

Erich and Bruce waved to Mark and smiled, as if to show him that whether he came over and stood with them or not, the legate and the lieutenant and the commandant were very much together. And while Sevensee hugged Lili with a simple enthusiasm that made me wonder why I’ve wasted so much imagination on genetic treatments for him, Erich and Bruce sang:

“To the legion of the lost ones, to the cohort of the damned, 

To our brothers in the tunnels outside time,

Sing three Change-resistant Zombies, 

raised from death and 
robot-crammed,

And Commandos of the Spiders—

Here’s to crime!

We’re three blind mice on the wrong time-track,

Hush—hush—hush!

We’ve lost our now and will never get back,

Hush—hush—hush!

Change Commandos out on the spree,

Damned through all possibility,

Ghostgirls, think kindly on such as we,

Hush—hush—hush!”

While they were singing, I looked down at my charcoal skirt and over at Maud and Lili and I thought, “Three gray hustlers for three black hussars, that’s our speed.” Well, I’d never thought of myself as a high-speed job, winning all the races—I wouldn’t feel comfortable that way. Come to think of it, we’ve got to lose and win all the races in the long run, the way the course is laid out.

I fingered to Illy, “That’s the picture, all right, Spider boy.”

Robert A. Heinlein
Born Robert Anson Heinlein in Butler, Missouri, on July 7, 1907, the third child of Rex Ivar Heinlein, an accountant, and Bam Lyle Heinlein. Moved to Kansas City as an infant; attended Central High School and Kansas City Junior College. In 1925 entered the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland. Served as a midshipman on the U.S.S.
Lexington
(1929–32) and on the U.S.S.
Roper
, later promoted to lieutenant, but was forced to retire in 1934 after contracting tuberculosis. Married Leslyn MacDonald in 1932 (his first marriage, to Elinor Curry in 1929, ending quickly in divorce). Moved to Los Angeles in 1934 and became involved in Upton Sinclair’s End Poverty in California movement; ran unsuccessfully for California State Assembly as an EPIC candidate in 1938. Published his first story, “Life-Line,” in
Astounding Science Fiction
in 1939 (also completed a novel,
For Us, the Living
, published posthumously in 2003). Joined the Los Angeles Science Fiction League, and began hosting gatherings of the Mañana Literary Society—an informal group of science fiction writers including Leigh Brackett, Ray Bradbury, L. Sprague de Camp, Henry Kuttner, and C. L. Moore. Traveled to New York in 1940, meeting John W. Campbell Jr., L. Ron Hubbard, and others, and in 1941—already established as a leading writer for
Astounding—
was guest of honor at World Science Fiction Convention in Denver
.
Volunteered for active duty after Pearl Harbor but was turned down; worked as a civil service engineer in the Aeronautical Materials Lab at the Philadelphia Navy Yard (1942–45), recruiting Isaac Asimov and others as coworkers. Returned to Los Angeles and to writing after the war, selling stories to
The Saturday Evening Post
and beginning a series of juvenile novels for Scribner’s with
Rocket Ship Galileo
(1947), followed by
Space Cadet
(1948),
Red Planet
(1949), and others. Moved to Colorado Springs, Colorado, in 1948, after a divorce; married engineer Virginia Gerstenfeld. (Their jointly designed ultramodern house was featured in
Popular Mechanics
in 1952.) Began work with Alford Van Ronkel on screenplay for
Destination Moon
(loosely based on
Rocket Ship Galileo
), filmed in 1949–50. Reworked earlier magazine serials into such novels as
Beyond This Horizon
(1948) and
Sixth Column
(1949), and wrote new novels
The Puppet Masters
(1951),
Double Star
(1956),
The Door into Summer
(1957), and
Starship Troopers
(1959), initially rejected as a juvenile because of its violence. Concentrated exclusively on novels after 1959.

Gained cult following beyond the science fiction community with
Stranger in a Strange Land
(1961). Final juvenile
Podkayne of Mars
(1963) was followed by
Glory Road
(1963),
Farnham’s Freehold
(1964), and
The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress
(1966). Moved to Santa Cruz, California, in 1966. Later novels included
I Will Fear No Evil
(1970),
Time Enough for Love
(1973),
The Number of the Beast
(1980),
Friday
(1982),
Job: A Comedy of Justice
(1984),
The Cat Who Walks Through Walls: A Comedy of Manners
(1985), and
To Sail Beyond the Sunset
(1987). Moved for last time to Carmel, California, in 1987; died there on May 8, 1988, of emphysema and congestive heart failure. Was posthumously inducted into the Science Fiction Hall of Fame in 1998.

Alfred Bester
Born Alfred M. Bester in New York City on December 18, 1913, the second child of James J. Bester, who owned a shoe store, and Belle Bester (née Silverman), a Russian immigrant. Graduated from the University of Pennsylvania, where he played on the football team, in 1935; studied law at Columbia for two years. In 1936 married Rolly Goulko, an actress and later advertising executive. Published his first story, “The Broken Axiom,” in
Thrilling Wonder Stories
in 1939, winning a prize for best amateur contribution. Wrote thirteen more stories for the magazine by 1942, when he followed his editors Jack Schiff and Mort Weisinger to DC Comics; contributed scripts and outlines for
Superman
,
Batman
,
Green Lantern
, and
Captain Marvel
, also working on the Lee Falk comic strips
The Phantom
and
Mandrake the Magician
. In 1946, began writing radio scripts for
The Shadow
,
Charlie Chan, Nick Carter, Nero Wolfe
, and other programs, shifting to television in 1948, most notably with
Tom Corbett: Space Cadet.
Returned to science fiction beginning in 1950, publishing stories in
Astounding Science Fiction
and
The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction
and his first novel,
The Demolished Man
, in
Galaxy
magazine in 1952 (book, 1953); it won the first Hugo Award. Attended gatherings of the Hydra Club, meeting Isaac Asimov, James Blish, Anthony Boucher, Avram Davidson, Judith Merril, Theodore Sturgeon, and others. In 1953 published “
Who He?
” (later reprinted as
The Rat Race
), a novel about the television industry. With the proceeds of the film rights, moved with Rolly to England and then Italy, where he wrote articles on European television for
Holiday
magazine, and finished
The Stars My Destination
, his third novel (first published in England as
Tiger! Tiger!
, 1956, then in the U.S. in 1957; adapted as a graphic novel in 1979 and 1992). In 1957, delivered lecture “Science Fiction and the Renaissance Man” at the University of Chicago. Published
Starburst
, a collection of stories, in 1958 (later collections included
The Dark Side of the Earth
, 1964, and
Starlight
, 1976). Adapted his story “Fondly Fahrenheit” for television as
Murder and the Android
(1959). Became a regular contributor to
Holiday
and then senior editor from 1963 to 1971, when the magazine folded. Went on to write novels
The Computer Connection
(1975; serialized as
The Indian Giver
and published in the United Kingdom as
Extro
),
Golem
¹⁰⁰
(1980), and
The Deceivers
(1981). Moved to Ottsville, Pennsylvania, in the early 1980s; died of complications from a broken hip on September 30, 1987, in nearby Doylestown. His unpublished early thriller
Tender Loving Rage
appeared posthumously in 1991, followed in 1998 by an unfinished novel,
Psychoshop
(completed by Roger Zelazny). In 2001 he was inducted into the Science Fiction Hall of Fame.

James Blish
Born James Benjamin Blish in East Orange, New Jersey, on May 23, 1921, the only child of Asa Rhodes Blish, an advertising manager, and Dorothea Schneewind Blish, a pianist. While still in high school edited fanzine
The Planeteer
(six issues, 1935–36) and began attending meetings of the Futurian Society in New York, where he met Isaac Asimov, Cyril Kornbluth, Frederik Pohl, and others. Published first science fiction story, “Emergency Refueling,” in
Super Science Stories
in 1940. Majored in zoology at Rutgers, graduating in 1942. Drafted into the army, he served as a medical technician at Fort Dix, New Jersey. Started at Columbia University in 1944, switching from zoology to literature; did not complete his M.A. degree, but later revised his thesis on Ezra Pound and sold it to
The Sewanee Review
, where it appeared in 1950. After the war, wrote stories for
Western Action
,
Crack Detective Stories
, and
Super Sports
along with science fiction, trying to earn a living as a freelance writer; worked for trade magazines, including
Frosted Food Field
and
Drug Trade News
, and as a reader for a literary agency. Edited little magazines
Renascence
(1945–46) and
Tumbrils
(1945–50). Married literary agent Virginia Kidd in 1947; they would have two children. Published novels
Jack of Eagles
(1952),
The Duplicated Man
(1953, with Robert Lowndes, as a magazine serial), and
The Warriors of Day
(1953, originally serialized as
Sword of Xota
, 1951), and the first of his “Okie” stories (1950–53), later much expanded in the “Cities in Flight” series of novels:
Earthman, Come Home
(1955),
They Shall Have Stars
(1956),
The Triumph of Time
(1958),
A Life for the Stars
(1962), and
Cities in Flight
(omnibus, 1970). In 1953 moved with Virginia to Milford, Pennsylvania, where he would cofound the Milford Science Fiction Writers’ Conference; wrote fifteen scripts for the television series
Captain Video.
In 1955 learned to fly and joined the Civil Air Patrol; took job as science editor and public relations counsel for drug company Pfizer. Published story collections
The Seedling Stars
(1957),
Galactic Cluster
(1959), and
So Close to Home
(1961), and novels
The Frozen Year
(1957),
VOR
(1958), and
A Case of Conscience
(1958), the latter winning a Hugo Award and earning him an invitation as guest of honor at the eighteenth World Science Fiction Convention (Pittsburgh, 1960). From 1962 to 1968 worked in public relations for the tobacco industry. Wrote novels
Titan’s Daughter
(1961),
The Star Dwellers
(1961), and
The Night Shapes
(1962). In 1964 married Judith Ann Lawrence; published historical novel
Doctor Mirabilis
and essay collection
The Issue at Hand
(both 1964). Underwent major surgery after a diagnosis of tongue cancer. Published novels
Mission to the Heart Stars
(1965),
A Torrent of Faces
(1967, with Norman L. Knight),
Welcome to Mars
(1967),
The Vanished Jet
(1968), and
Black Easter
(1968); also produced a dozen lucrative volumes of
Star Trek
episode adaptations (1967–75) and a
Star Trek
novel,
Spock Must Die!
(1970). Moved to England in 1969. During the 1970s, published new story collections, including
Anywhen
(1970), and novels
The Day After Judgment
(1971),
And All the Stars a Stage
(1971),
Midsummer Century
(1972), and
The Quincunx of Time
(1973). A special issue of
The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction
devoted to Blish appeared in 1972. Died from lung cancer at Henley-on-Thames on July 30, 1975.