#Norstrilia

[rhetoricandlogic]

Oops, I Just Bought a Planet: Norstrilia by Cordwainer Smith

Alan Brown Wed Jun 8, 2022 11:00am

In this bi-weekly series reviewing classic science fiction and fantasy books, Alan Brown looks at the front lines and frontiers of the field; books about soldiers and spacers, scientists and engineers, explorers and adventurers. Stories full of what Shakespeare used to refer to as “alarums and excursions”: battles, chases, clashes, and the stuff of excitement.

One of the lesser-known gems of the science fiction world in the mid-20th century is the work of author Cordwainer Smith. He brought an international flavor to a science fiction field that, for all its creativity, was deeply rooted in the culture and conventions of the United States. His stories of the Instrumentality of Mankind were intriguing, giving the reader science fiction tales with the storytelling conventions of fantasy and legend. And in the centerpiece of this future history, the novel Norstrilia, he brought young and naïve Rod McBan to the mysterious and dangerous planet called Earth.

As I recollect, the copy of Norstrilia I used for this review is the copy I bought about a year after graduating from college, and according to the title page is the third Del Rey edition, printed in 1978. That date would put my purchase in the Alaskan town of Sitka, a tiny seacoast community accessible only by air or water. There was only one bookstore in the tiny town, right across the main street from the Russian Orthodox church with its onion-dome spires. Fortunately for me, the store had a good selection of paperback science fiction that turned over regularly.

The work of Cordwainer Smith was not new to me when I found Norstrilia, as I had read some of his work in my dad’s Galaxy magazines during my youth. I had always found his stories intriguing, if a bit strange compared to the more straightforward adventures I was used to reading in Analog.

About the Author

Paul Myron Anthony Linebarger (1913-1966), who wrote science fiction under the name Cordwainer Smith, was an author and scholar who wrote influential works on psychological warfare and on East Asian politics. He was born in Wisconsin, and lived during his youth in the United States, Europe, Japan, and China, reportedly attending more than thirty schools. He spoke multiple languages, and attained a PhD at age 23. He began writing science fiction in college in the late 1920s, although his stories didn’t start appearing in the leading magazines until the late 1940s.

Commissioned as a lieutenant during WWII, Linebarger served in Army Intelligence in China and India, rising to the rank of major. He remained in the reserves, eventually attaining the rank of colonel. He was recalled to aid the British in a Malaysian guerrilla conflict, and recalled again during the Korean War. He was a professor at Johns Hopkins University, but is also reported to have been a behind-the-scenes advisor to the CIA and the US government.

Most of Linebarger’s science fiction work was set in a unique and evocative future history, the Instrumentality of Mankind. By using unusual terms and names without much explanation, he created the impression this universe was much larger than what appeared within the pages of the stories (I will have to dip into Linebarger’s other stories to find out what Mother Hinton’s Littul Kittons are, for example). This was a society that was anything but a utopia: so advanced that much of its science was akin to magic, with a hereditary ruling class, a brutal police state to enforce their will, space pilots called “scanners” whose brains were damaged by their work, and animals called the “underpeople” raised to human intelligence and near-human appearance, but treated as slaves. One of the programs of the Instrumentality was the Rediscovery of Man, which was intended to strengthen humanity and reduce stagnation by reintroducing disease and unrest to society. The human economy was dominated by stroon, a drug which extended life, and was only available from giant diseased sheep grown on the planet Norstrilia.

Linebarger’s body of science fiction work was not large, as he lived a busy life and died at the relatively young age of fifty-three. He wrote only a handful of novels, Norstrilia being the most widely known, and about three dozen short stories.

You can find some of Smith’s work on Project Gutenberg, including “The Game of Rat and Dragon,” one of his better-known stories, and some of his non-fictional works, including the seminal book Psychological Warfare.

Cordwainer Smith is not to be confused with Cordwainer Bird, a pseudonym sometimes used by science fiction author Harlan Ellison (the fact that a cordwainer is a kind of cobbler, and birds do not need shoes, amused Ellison). The use of this pseudonym was then made even more confusing when author Philip José Farmer began using the name for a fictional character in some of his own works.

The Lonely Protagonist

Rod McBan is a lonely protagonist, pulled out of his own world and culture with little to no notice, and thrust into a world he only dimly understands. And while reading Norstrilia, I realized that, while he is a lonely character, he is far from alone in the field of science fiction. The genre is full of characters who are orphaned, exiled, or just plain don’t fit in. When you consider that Linebarger spent his youth in many countries and dozens of schools, it is not surprising that he could skillfully depict someone who feels apart from his surroundings.

The frequency of lonely heroes in science fiction might be due to the prevalence of the familiar story structure known as the Hero’s Journey, which has appeared in literature throughout human history. One of the characteristics many mythical adventures share is the removal of the protagonist from the world they grew up in or are comfortable with. Looking through the books I have reviewed over the years for this column, I found that about a third of them feature a character that might fit the description of a lonely protagonist. Of course, being lonely does not mean that the characters are alone, as they encounter mentors, antagonists, guides, and love interests in the course of their journeys.

I’ve also noticed that many of the readers of science fiction share characteristics of loneliness with the fictional protagonists they follow. This type of character might be so popular because it speaks to the readers in a way they understand. Being a science fiction fan, especially when I was young, could be a lonely existence. For my own part, growing up in the 1950s through the 1970s, there were very few people I knew (other than my father and brothers) who were as enthusiastic about science fiction as I was. My intimate knowledge of Marvel comics, for example, was not something I mentioned to girls I wanted to date. In those days, choosing to be a science fiction fan was to choose something hard to share with others. And I’ve seen signs of this loneliness when I’ve met other fans.

That aspect of being a science fiction fan seems to be eroding in recent decades, as science fiction and comic book stories have come to dominate the entertainment business. You don’t have to wait to attend a science fiction club meeting or convention to find someone to discuss your favorite passions with—one of the positive aspects of social media is that it can bring together groups of people who enjoy the same things. I sometimes wonder if these changes in society might eventually have an impact on the literature of science fiction, and we might see fewer stories of isolated heroes and more stories about groups working in collaboration. Only time will tell…

Norstrilia

The book opens more like a fairy tale than a novel. While the story is science fiction, the form and narrative owe more to fantasy than the straightforward style of science fiction. Norstrilia begins by telling us, rather than showing us, what the story is about. This allows the author to introduce us to a great deal of backstory all at once, but because little of this information is explained, the reader is tossed into the literary equivalent of deep water, and must quickly learn to swim in this dense and sometimes inscrutable narrative.

We meet young Rod McBan, 151st of his name, who is on the cusp of inheriting the family ranch, the ominously named Station of Doom, where giant sickly sheep produce the precious drug called stroon. His inheritance is far from certain, however. Rod, unlike other Norstrilians, cannot spiek or hier telepathically (not reliably, anyhow). When he does hier, he can listen in to many people’s minds over wide distances. And when he spieks, he transmits powerful emotions, again over wide distances. In attempts to correct these deficiencies, he has had his childhood restarted a number of times, living those years over and over. Now, he must face what is called the Garden of Death, a trial that determines whether Norstrilians will be executed by drugs that kill them with happiness, or allowed to go on with their lives. His only friends are an old battle computer, hidden on the farm, which has educated him over the years, and his cousin Lavinia, one of the few people who is comfortable speaking to him with her voice in the old manner.

Rod’s trial board consists of three people, two local, and one surprisingly the Lord Redlady, a Commissioner of the Instrumentality. Redlady convinces the board that Rod’s different abilities are not a liability, but rather a gift. And he is allowed to live.

Rod’s survival angers an old childhood adversary, who is now a government official with the title of Onseck, a corruption of the ancient term Honorary Secretary. The Onseck has placed blocks on Rod’s inheritance of the Station of Doom. Rod visits his computer, which suggests that, working together, they could corner the market on stroon, making Rod richer and giving him more power over his destiny. They succeed beyond their wildest dreams, and after a long trading session, Rod finds himself not only the richest man in civilization, but also owner of the planet Earth.

Being incredibly rich turns out to bring problems of its own. The Onseck attempts to murder Rod with a genetically engineered bird, and there are rumors of kidnapping plots. The Lord Redlady appears to help, and convinces Rod to go to Earth. But to slip Rod past those who wish to harm him, they must ship him as cargo. So, in a sequence replete with body horror, an intelligent ape in Redlady’s service amputates Rod’s head, freeze-dries the rest of his body, and packs him up in a small box. When Rod is reconstructed, to protect him, he is molded into the form of an underperson descended from a cat, and married to the famously lovely courtesan, C’Mell. This reconstruction leads to additional dangers, as Rod retains a sense of privilege that could get him killed for violating the rigid laws that apply to underpeople. A servant from his ranch, Elanor, accompanies Rod to Earth, and agrees to have her body reformed into an image of his, throwing off the efforts of those seeking him. Lord Redlady, while he does everything in his power to ensure all Rod’s wishes for his trip to Earth are granted, also has his own agenda, as do the underpeople, whose leader, the mysterious E’telekeli, meets with Rod and gives him aid.

I won’t continue the recap further, as I don’t want to reveal spoilers (although I will say that Elanor finds she prefers life as a young man who resembles the richest man on Earth to being a female servant on Norstrilia…). Rod’s journey through the culture of Earth is absolutely fascinating, with many interesting asides. This culture is by no means a utopia, and is even ugly and cruel. But despite its dark and whimsical aspects, it also feels very real and plausible. Without being heavy-handed, the book deals with issues of free will, duty, diversity, racism, slavery, and the very nature of what makes a person. The journey tends to wander, but always in directions I found fascinating. And in the end, when Rod returns to Norstrilia, we are given a heartwarming ending that, in only a couple of lines, also becomes absolutely heartbreaking.

Final Thoughts

Cordwainer Smith is a writer who should not be forgotten. His work was rich and fascinating, and unlike the output of many other writers of his era, his tales have aged like a good whiskey. Norstrilia is available in a number of formats, and a few years ago, the NESFA Press put out The Rediscovery of Man, a collection of his short works.

And now, I look forward to hearing your thoughts on Smith’s work and his legacy. Are you as captivated by the Instrumentality of Man as I am?

[vintagegeekculture]

“Space is a Province of Brazil”

A lot of 1950s science fiction novels predicted Brazil would become a super-power, either the only one remaining on earth, or a rival to the Soviet Union and United States.

This is mainly because the cold war should more accurately be divided into two halves, and in the earlier, more frightening phase of the cold war in the 50s and 60s, atomic war was taken as an absolute inevitability. If so, it stood to reason that southern hemisphere countries like Brazil would be the ones to take the lead in space travel right afterward, as the Northern Hemisphere destroys itself. The best example of this is John Wyndham’s future history, “The Outward Urge” (also known as “The Troons of Space,” as it is an intergenerational story of the Troon Family). In that one, Brazil becomes a world power after the atomic wars. The bolsterous, self confident Brazilians in that one proclaim that “Space is a province of Brazil.”

Another example would be L. Sprague de Camp’s “Viagens Interplanetarias” or Planet Krishna stories, where Brazil’s rise is due (once again) to an atomic war that cleared the northern hemisphere, drugs from the Amazon Rain Forest, its position on the Equator allowing it to take the lead in space travel. The series gets its name from the Interplanetary Travel Company in Portuguese.

Australia, another southern hemisphere country, becomes a world power in a lot of future histories, but not as often as Brazil does. A good example of this would be Cordwainer Smith’s Norstrilia, a planet colonized by Australia that keeps alive the way of life of Australian rural sheep ranchers.

[toskarin]

Tusk and ring, did you happen to find some artists that you liked recently on soundcloud?

recently would be significantly understating how long ago I found these guys, but they're cool

norstrilia doesn't really upload there anymore, but that's where I originally found them. closely connected to Pastel World, which I also first was introduced to through soundcloud

[tekaihau]

Gotta say, edible + long bath + Norstrilia is really doing it for me right now

[spearhafoc]

The Apex Society #25 Page 10

There have been so many episodes of my podcast since I last posted a webcomic page. So many.

We did one on Hyperion, one on Flatland, one on Red Plenty, one on The Stainless Steel Rat, one on Norstrilia, one extra-length episode on Doc Savage, one on an obscure French scifi book called Star (Psi Cassiopeia) and one on Who Goes There? (The basis for the movie The Thing).

Check them out here: what-mad-universe.pinecast.co

[infactforgetthepark]

[Free eBook] The Best of Cordwainer Smith by Cordwainer Smith [Vintage Classic Science Fiction]

The Best of Cordwainer Smith by the late Cordwainer Smith, the sfnal writing pseudonym of scholar Paul Linebarger, edited by J. J. Pierce, is a collection of vintage science fiction stories, free for a limited time courtesy of publisher Phoenix Pick Press.

This is their featured Free Ebook of the Month offer for March and was originally published in 1975 by Ballantine Books as part of their Ballantine's Classic Library of Science Fiction line. A bonus freebie from February is also still offered, the fantasy Earth Magic by Alexei & Cory Panshin, as well as a tie-in discount to another Smith novel.

The collection contains a selection of Smith's short stories and novelettes from the 1950s and 1960s in his Instrumentality of Mankind future setting where humanity has colonized a number of other planets, plus two essays by editor Pierce about the author and the Instrumentality universe. Several stories have been much-translated, and one of the novelettes was nominated for the Retro Hugo Award which recognizes early sfnal work from before the awards' creation.

Offered DRM-free worldwide through the month of March and probably until April 3rd (the offer usually rotates on the first Tuesday of each month), available directly from the publisher.

Free for a limited time through March directly @ the publisher's special promo page (DRM-free ePub & Mobi bundle available worldwide in return for your valid email address; follow the instructions on the page to reset the suggested cart price to $0.00 during checkout)

There's also a discounted tie-in offer for $2.99 of a reprint of Cordwainer Smith's 1975 novel Norstrilia, a dystopian planetary adventure in the Instrumentality of Mankind universe, originally published by Ballantine Books (now a Penguin Random House imprint). This has previously been offered free and also in a number of other tie-in sales, so you might already have a copy.

Description Cordwainer Smith was one of the original visionaries to think of humanity in terms of thousands of years in the future, spread out across the universe. This brilliant collection, often cited as the first of its kind, explores fundamental questions about ourselves and our treatment of the universe (and other beings) around us and ultimately what it means to be human.

In “Scanners Live in Vain” we meet Martel, a human altered to be part machine—a scanner—to be able withstand the trauma space travel has on the body. Despite the stigma placed on him and his kind, he is able to regrasp his humanity to save another.

In “The Dead Lady of Clown Town” we get to know the underpeople—animals genetically altered to exist in human form, to better serve their human owners—and meet D’Joan, a dog-woman who will make readers question who is more human: the animals who simply want to be recognized as having the same right to life, or the people who created them to be inferior.

In “The Ballad of Lost C’mell” the notion of love being the most important equalizer there is—as first raised in “The Dead Lady of Clown Town”—is put into action when an underperson, C’mell, falls in love with Lord Jestocost. Who is to say her love for him is not as valid as any true-born human? She might be of cat descent, but she is all woman!

And in “A Planet Named Shayol” it is an underperson of bull descent, and beings so mutilated and deformed from their original human condition to be now considered demons of a hellish land, who retain and display the most humanity when Mankind commits the most inhumane action of all.

[believerindaydreams]

proposition: it would be extremely funny to do an Instrumentality of Mankind/Doctor Who universe merge because then Gallifrey would be covered in giant sheep

hey, nobody can prove the Timeless Child isn't from Norstrilia

[goobergunch]

Cover by John Schoenherr, 1964.

[cmrosens]

If anyone's not discovered Cordwainer Smith, would really rec his novel NORSTRILIA (1975) - this prompt kinda reminded me of this novel, where there's planet hopping to avoid crises and horrific things have happened, and also a utopia was created but then deliberately dismantled because humanity can't survive without disharmony, thrills and a little bit of chaos. Some of the short stories are heart wrenchingly sad.

Humanity “solved“ the climate crisis by simply moving to another planet, a technique they perfected as time moved on and other planets died. Almost 5 millenia later, researchers realize that the vacuum between the stars has warmed up by 0.1 K.

[manfrommars2049]

The Planet Buyer, Cordwainer Smith, Sphere, 1975. Covers: Bruce Pennington. Serialized in Galazy Magazine, 1964. Later expanded and incorporated into Norstrilia. via CoolSciFiCovers

[protytwo]

If you like science fiction short stories and / or the science fiction of the Forties and Fifties you should be aware of NESFA Press. They are the publishing project associated with the New England Science Fiction Association. In addition to publishing books to celebrate their annual Boskone convention guest of honor, they have a series called NESFA’s Choice, that celebrates short fiction and novels by their favorite classic SF authors that have fallen out of print. NESFA Press books are quality hardback books, and frequently form definitive editions of an authors work; such as when they reprinted Cordwainer Smith’s novel Norstrilia, which corrected previous editions, and included an appendix of the bridging material written by Smith when the novel was at one point published as two separate paperbacks. In February 2020 they will be publishing a companion volume of Zenna Henderson’s short fiction that didn’t appear in the collection of People stories they published in 1995.

[vintagegeekculture]

Gray Morrow.

[richmondflyingsquirrels]

everyone is sleeping on cordwainer smith when he was one of the best scifi writers of all time

[fanlit]

Norstrilia: The only novel set in the "Instrumentality of Mankind" universe https://t.co/utpWOGO7HD #SFF https://t.co/HfFw0rbh0Y

[paperbackben]

Norstrilia

[infactforgetthepark]

[Free eBook] Norstrilia by Cordwainer Smith [Award-Winning Classic Science Fiction]

Norstrilia by Cordwainer Smith, a pseudonym for the late Paul Linebarger, is his vintage classic science fiction novel, free for a limited time courtesy of publisher Phoenix Pick Press.

This is their featured Free Book of the Month for September, and was originally published in parts as two novels, the Hugo Award-finalist The Planet Buyer in 1964, followed by The Underpeople in 1968, before being reunited in the author's original one-volume form in 1975 from Ballantine Books, which won Japan's 1988 Seiun Award for Best Translated Long Story and has placed twice on Locus Magazine's All-Time Best SF Novel lists.

The story takes place in the author's “Instrumentality of Mankind” future history setting where a vigorous central government arising from a post-apocalyptic Earth has expanded into space and then stagnated, setting up the conditions for the revival of humanity from its increasingly sterile dysfunction. This adventure is heavily influenced by the Chinese classic novel Journey to the West, starring the misfit scion of an ancient family on the only planet where a precious immortality drug is cultivated, who runs afoul of enemies whose machinations force him to flee to Earth for safety, where his wealth quickly makes him a target for the potentially more dangerous schemes of assorted crooks and revolutionaries.

Offered through October 5th (the monthly freebie rotates on the first Tuesday), available DRM-free worldwide directly from the publisher.

Available @ the publisher's dedicated promo page (ePub & Mobi bundle available worldwide, requires valid email address but no payment info; follow the instructions on the page to reset the cart price to $0 before checking out).

As a special bonus offer on the sale page, two reprint collections of classic science fiction stories are discounted to just $2.99 each: The Best of Cordwainer Smith edited by J. J. Pierce (originally published in 1975 by Ballantine Books, and placed 2nd on the annual Locus Award listings for Best Single Author Collection) and The Best of Edmond Hamilton edited by his wife the late Leigh Brackett (1977 from Ballantine), a notable science fiction author in her own right and scriptwriting contributor to the Star Wars film franchise.

Description Welcome to Old North Australia, or Norstrilia, the only planet that has "stroon," a substance that indefinitely delays aging in humans. Stroon is cultivated from huge, deformed sheep farmed by the wealthiest estate owners to ever exist in all of humanity's existence.

Rod McBan is the last of one of the oldest and most honorable families on Norstrilia. But he himself has shortcomings that would normally have led to his death under the strict laws governing population control on a planet where immortality is cheap and imperfect citizens are ruthlessly "culled" to make way for more productive members of society.

But even McBan's vaunted stature in the society is not enough to save him from the basest of human emotions—jealousy—as the enmity of a former friend forces him to escape to Earth, where McBan's unprecedented fortune quickly makes him a magnet for all manner of crooks and revolutionaries.