Lone Star Planet

Henry Beam PiperProject Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

3.6

Word count: 176K words
Chapters: 18

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.Lone Star Planet by John Joseph McGuire and H. Beam PiperAuthor: Piper, H. Beam, 1904-1964,Language: English, Class: PS: Language and Literatures: American and Canadian literature, Release Date: Dec 16, 2006

Editor's review

Lone Star Planet is a science fiction novel by H. Beam Piper and John Joseph McGuire, available as a public-domain eBook from Project Gutenberg. It has the typical pleasures of mid-twentieth-century science fiction: an alien-society setting, political satire, and adventure woven together, all in a compact, briskly paced package. Its strength lies in placing diplomacy, colonization, and local politics within a fictional planetary framework and handling serious issues in a light tone, so that the book entertains as genre fiction while also prompting reflection on institutions and the workings of power. It works well as an entry point to science fiction or as a supplement to genre reading, and will appeal to readers who enjoy political-allegory space stories. It is best suited to casual commuting or short bedtime reading; those expecting hard-SF technical detail or deep contemporary characterisation may find it less satisfying. Readers are advised to try the first few chapters to gauge the narrative style before deciding whether to read it through.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers who enjoy mid-twentieth-century science fiction and prefer space adventure with political satire
Readers looking for an English-language science fiction novel of moderate length and brisk pace to practise reading
General readers interested in alien-society settings and diplomatic power struggles
Science fiction fans supplementing public-domain classics and broadening their genre reading

Not a good fit for

Readers expecting hard-SF technical detail and rigorous scientific extrapolation
Literary fiction readers who prefer deep contemporary psychological characterisation
Beginning readers unaccustomed to English originals who need Chinese annotations for support

Reading tips

Read the first two chapters to get a feel for the narrative voice before deciding whether to read it straight through.
Read the alien political setting as allegory and note the author's teasing of institutions and bureaucracy.
Read in segments while commuting or before bed, and after each segment recall how far the main conflict has advanced.
If the English is difficult, start with a Chinese summary to grasp the framework, then return to the original for the dialogue.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

FAQ

Is this novel hard science fiction?

No. It leans more toward space adventure and political satire, focusing on the alien-society setting and plot momentum rather than rigorous technical extrapolation. If you expect plenty of scientific detail, you may find it unsatisfying; if you enjoy brisk satirical genre stories, it is a good fit.

Is the English original difficult to read?

On the whole it uses the language of popular fiction: sentences are not long, there is a good deal of dialogue, and the difficulty is moderate. Possible obstacles are political and diplomatic vocabulary and some period references. Reading a Chinese summary first to establish the framework and then returning to the original will make things much smoother.

Is it suitable as an introduction to science fiction?

It can serve as a supplementary introduction. It is short and briskly paced and conveys the pleasures of early science fiction, but it does not represent how contemporary science fiction is written. Reading it alongside one or two contemporary short-story anthologies will give you a fuller picture.

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About the author

Henry Beam Piper Author · American · 1904–1964

The American science fiction writer H. Beam Piper (1904–1964) was born in Altoona, Pennsylvania. Self-taught, he worked for many years for the Pennsylvania Railroad. He published his first science fiction story in 1947 and went on to write prolifically; 35 of his works are held in this collection. His best-known works include Little Fuzzy, Space Viking, Omnilingual, and The Cosmic Computer, as well as the Terro-Human Future History series. His fiction often centers on contact with alien civilizations, problems of linguistics and translation, interstellar politics, and future history, driving its plots through solid technical and social world-building and combining adventure with speculative reflection; his depiction of deciphering alien documents in Omnilingual is especially admired. He died in 1964. Public information about him is limited and biographical details remain sparse, yet his work still finds readers in English-language science fiction.