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Terro-Human Future History - H. Beam Piper's Terro-Human Future History

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From: Mich...@xenite.org (Michael Martinez)
Subject: WorldFAQ: H. Beam Piper's Terro-Human Future History
Date: 1998/11/28
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                            WorldFAQ:
            H. Beam Piper's Terro-Human Future History

-----------------------------------------------------------------
1].  Quick Reference

     Like many Science Fiction authors, Piper created a future
     universe where Humanity spread out from Earth to colonize
     the stars, and along the way they found some alien species
     which were intelligent and resourceful.  Piper's work
     influences the militaristic SF authors who are popular
     today, but he may be best known for his books about the
     Fuzzies.  Primary sources include Piper's short stories and
     novels (see Bibliography).

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2].  Printed Sources Bibliography

I only have a few of Piper's books and none from the original
imprints.  Some of the information given below is gleaned from
Piper bibliographies on the web (URLs listed below).  I've tried
to present the books in a somewhat chronological order based on
how Carr suggests they fit into the Atomic Era, but this is only
guesswork.

FOUR-DAY PLANET, Ace Books, 1961.

ULLER UPRISING, 1983 edition, Ace Books, ISBN 0-441-84292-5.
Original edition published by Twayne in 1952.
     The Terran Federation gets a taste of native dissatisfaction
     with its colonial ways.

     Note:  ULLER UPRISING was based on a historical incident
     of the 19th century, the Sepoy Rebellion in India.

     The original triplet may have contained "Daughters of
     Earth" by Judith Merril.

LITTLE FUZZY, Ace Books, 1962.
     A new sapient species is discovered on Zarathustra.  The
     Zarathustra Company tries to suppress the discovery so it
     doesn't lose control of the lucrative sunstone trade.

FUZZY SAPIENS (THE OTHER HUMAN RACE), Ace Books, 1964.
     Intrigue springs up after the Zarathustra Company loses
     control of the planet and a huge sunstone lode is discovered
     just as Fuzzies are being exploited in other ways.

FUZZIES AND OTHER PEOPLE, Ace Books, 1984, ISBN 0-441-26176-0.
     This is the third (and last) authentic Fuzzy novel.  Piper
     was unable to publish it in his lifetime and it went missing
     for 20 years before it was finally published.  More intrigue
     and legal maneuvering on Zarathustra.

FEDERATION, ed. John F. Carr, Ace Books, 1981, ISBN 0-441-23189-6.
     This is a collection of short stories (for which Carr
     inexplicably leaves out information concerning original
     publication).  Jerry Pournelle wrote a short Preface for
     this collection, and Carr wrote the previously mentioned
     Introduction in which he gives his arguments for why he
     feels Piper's work is critically undervalued.

     The stories are "Omnilingual" (set in AE 54), "Naudsonce"
     (set circa AE 650), "Oomphel in the Sky" (set in AE 809),
     "Graveyard of Dreams" (set in AE 894), and "When In The
     Course--" (set early in the First Federation period, but
     I'm not sure when).

     "Graveyard of Dreams" is a variation on the novel COSMIC
     COMPUTER but it ends differently from the novel.

     "When in the Course--" is unique.  It was published for the
     first time in FEDERATION, and was the original version (Carr
     conjectures) for "Gunpowder God", the story published in
     ANALOG that eventually became LORD KALVAN OF OTHERWHEN in
     the Paratime universe.

     I have been told that "Omnilingual" has connections to the
     Paratime story "Genesis", thus making the THFH a fourth-
     level civilzation in the Paratime universe.

THE COSMIC COMPUTER (JUNKYARD PLANET), Ace Books, 1963.
     The Merlin computer is created to help the Federation in its
     wars with rebellious worlds.

SPACE VIKING, serialized in Analog in 1962-63.  Published by Ace
Books in 1963, ISBN 441-77780-150.
     This is the story about Lucas Trask, who lived around the
     beginning of the 17th Century AE.  According to Carr, Piper
     named 55 planets and gave details about the structures and
     histories of 20 of them.

EMPIRE, ed. John F. Carr, Ace Books, 1981, ISBN 0-441-20557-7.
     This is a companion volume to FEDERATION and like the first
     collection contains an introduction by Carr that examines
     the Terro-Human Future History.  It contains five short
     stories, including one collaboration.  Carr once again omits
     bibliographical material but includes a timeline for the
     TFH.  But this timeline appears to be a reconstruction based
     on the footnote Carr attached to it: "The following dates
     are approximations suggested by data in H. Beam Piper's
     short stories and novels."

     "The Edge of the Knife" (originally published in Amazing
     Stories) actually takes place prior to the creation of the
     First Federation and it explains why the Federation was
     created.  "A Slave Is A Slave" takes place around the 22nd
     Century of the Atomic Era, when the Galactic Empire is still
     consolidating.  "Ministry of Disturbance" occurs in the 30th
     Century AE and is the "final" story in the history as far as
     Carr's chronology extends.  "The Return" is not a TFH story.
     "The Keeper" is about a time when there is a Fifth Empire,
     thousands of years after the First Empire.

The following books have been pointed out to me as fitting into the
Terro-Human series:

LONE STAR PLANET (also published as A PLANET FOR TEXANS), 1958.
Ace published this as part of a double volume with FOUR DAY PLANET
in 1979.  I've been told FOUR DAY PLANET is part of the Terro-human
Future History.  The same source is not convinced that LONE STAR
PLANET has any direct connection.
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3].  Visual Sources Bibliography

No known adaptations.
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4].  Related Materials Bibliography

Some authors have written additional Fuzzy novels.  I don't know
how similar to Piper's style these books are:

FUZZY BONES, William Tuning, Ace Books, 1981, ISBN 0-441-26181-7.

GOLDEN DREAM: A FUZZY ODYSSEY, Ardath Mayhar, 1982.

Carr has also made reference to a book he wanted to write (in
1981), THE PIPER PAPERS, to which he made reference in the note
prefacing "When In The Course--" in FEDERATION.  I have not seen
or heard of this book otherwise.

The role-playing game TRAVELLER, which had a group of worlds
called "Sword Worlds", may have been influenced by these books.

FIRST CYCLE, published posthumously, edited and expanded by
Michael Kurland.  The book apparently deals with two alien
races and does not directly involve the TH Federation.  It has
been suggested that Kurland based the story on background notes
which were intended to bring the history of the two races up to
the point where the humans were to interact with them.

Robert Woodward posted a message to rec.arts.sf.written
suggesting this story would have been part of a Twayne Triplet,
a sort of shared universe anthology series published in the
1950s.  He suggested Murray Leinster's "Second Landing" and
James Blish's "Get Out Of My Sky" would have completed this
triplet.  See above for connection between the Twayne
Triplets and Piper's future history.
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5].  Online References

     A)   News Groups

          None.  But Piper's works can be discussed in
          rec.arts.sf.written, alt.books, rec.arts.books, and
          alt.fan.created-worlds.

     B)   Mailing/Discussion Lists

          The Works of H. Beam Piper Discussion List
          http://ifrit.web.aol.com/mld/production/yiaaj4v9.html
          NOTE:  The mailing list has moved from the server
          listed on this page, but your request will be
          forwarded to the correct server, which I list below.

          Send email to LISTSERV@LISTS...@HOME.EASE.LSOFT.COM.
          In the body of the message put "SUBSCRIBE PIPER-L
          " (no quotes).

          To unsubscribe from the list:
          Send the command UNSUBSCRIBE PIPER-L in e-mail to
          LISTSERV@LISTS...@HOME.EASE.LSOFT.COM.

     C)   Web sites

          The Unofficial H. Beam Piper Web Page
          http://kuoi.asui.uidaho.edu/~kamikaze/piper.html

          SF Author List: H. Beam Piper
          http://www.catch22.com/~espana/SFAuthors/SFP/Piper,HB.html

          H.Beam Piper: Bibliography
          http://kuoi.asui.uidaho.edu/~kamikaze/piper_biblio.html

     D)   Online services

          No special forums.

          NOTE:  There is now a Message Board Directory
          which provides links to individual Web-based
          boards, message board providers, and large
          indexes of boards.  Some of these indexes
          include Science Fiction and Fantasy boards
          and may contain content of interest to people
          who read the WorldFAQs.  The Message Board
          Directory is located at:

          http://www.xenite.org/mb_direct.htm

     E)   IRC

          None.

     F)   Comprehensive lists of resources

          None.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
6].  Description

     The Terro-Human future history takes place on numerous
     worlds, but perhaps the one which is best known is
     Zarathustra, a lonely planet mined for its sunstones,
     fossilized jellyfish-like marine creatures whose remains are
     considered valuable jewely.  Zarathustra, like other early
     colonies, is controlled by a corporation that has a license
     to run everything: they own the police, the courts, the
     transportation system, and the economy.

     The "universe" was actually created for a Twayne Science
     Fiction Triplet, a book containing three related novels
     written by separate authors.  The Twayne book is quite rare
     but John F. Carr published Piper's contribution in the Ace
     paperback ULLER UPRISING.  Many of the planets in Piper's
     universe have names drawn from Norse mythology.  The
     patterns seems to have been set by the introductory essay
     written for the Twayne Triplet by Dr. John D. Clark.

     Piper invented a timeline for his universe which he called
     "Atomic Era".  It starts in 1942 of the current era, when
     Enrico Fermi brought the first "atomic pile" online.  The
     timeline immediately departs from known history, showing how
     dated Piper's work is (it stems from the 1950s and 1960s).
     He gives the first unmanned rocket launch in AE 29 (1971),
     the rocket is named "the Kilroy".  The first Lunar base is
     supposedly completed in 1974, and the first Mars expedition
     should have landed in 1996.  If only history had progressed
     so quickly indeed!

     There are two Terran Federations, the first of which is
     replaced relatively quickly, followed by a period of anarchy
     after the Second Federation gradually disinegrates in a
     series of centuries' long rebellions and interstellar wars.
     A new human civilization, launched before the demise of the
     Second Federation, arises on the "Sword Worlds".  The Sword
     Worlds give rise to Space Vikings, but their fate is much
     like the fate of the Vikings of old Earth: to gradually fade
     away and eventually be absorbed in the new civilization that
     arises.  Ultimately, a galactic empire is formed.

     Piper's worlds are developed on extrapolations of socio-
     economic principles.  e.g., Zarathustra is colonized because
     of the sunstones, and everything in the Fuzzy stories seems
     to revolve around the brilliant socio-economic design of the
     colony, even as it passes into a self-governing status
     (necessitated by the legal recognition of the sapience of
     the Fuzzies, which is determined in a classic criminal trial
     story that may seem a bit unsophisticated by modern readers'
     standards).

     John Carr's introduction to FEDERATION is probably the most
     exhaustive examination of the series that can be easily
     found, and certainly is much too lengthy to be summarized
     here.  The book should be easy to find in the United States
     at least.  According to Jerry Pournelle's Preface to
     FEDERATION, Piper had an extensive collection of notes with
     some maps and a timeline.  In 1981 these notes were still
     missing, along with a manuscript for the "third" Fuzzy
     novel.  That manuscript at least was found and published in
     1984, but my Piper scholarship is faulty.  I don't know if
     anyone came forward with the notebook and maps.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
7].  Maintainer Information

FAQ owner: Michael Martinez 
Last Updated:  June 21, 1998

Additional information (knowingly or unknowingly) provided by:
Paul Ciszek 
Frnacis A. Ney, Jr. 
Pendragon 
Mike Van Pelt 
Robert Woodward 
Jason Zavoda 
--------------------------End of WorldFAQ------------------------

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