Empire

Rating:
Summary: These stories are all excellent
Review: H. Beam Piper was one of the premier science-fiction authors of the 1960s, and should rightly be considered one of the all-time greats in that field. This book is a collection of his short stories, all but one set in his Terro-Human Future History. The edition I have (1981 Ace) starts out with a very nice chronology, and then continues with an excellent introduction by John F. Carr.

The following five stories are included in this book. 1) Edge of the Knife is chronologically the earliest of the Terro-Human Future History stories, and is set in 1973. It tells the story of Edward Chalmers, an American history professor who finds future history invading his consciousness. 2) A Slave is a Slave tells the story of the planet Aditya's absorption by the First Empire, and the path a planet of slaves and masters takes can be quite surprising. 3) Ministry of Disturbance is of Mr. Piper's greatest works. It tells the story of an ossified Empire, and the "great and dreadful changes" that are headed for it. 4) The Return is not actually part of the Terro-Human Future History, but is an excellent story. In the aftermath of the atomic wars, a group of scientists begin to reach out to fellow survivors, but what they find is full of surprises. 5) The final story is The Keeper, and it tells a story set during the Fifth Empire(!), when Terra is nearly forgotten and slipping into a new ice age. And in a small backwater village, a treasure is protected by its keeper, a man who doesn't even know what its significance is.

These stories are all excellent, and keep you on the edge of your seat. Piper took a somewhat Toynbean view of history, that is that civilizations rise, stagnate and fall, and then new civilizations rise from their ashes. It is this dynamic unfolding of his history that makes Piper's works so very fascinating.

I really enjoyed these stories, and recommend this book to you!

Rating:
Summary: Anthology of the distant period of Piper' s future history
Review: Not Piper's best, these stories carry a sort of gloominess. The feeling is that humanity is on the decline and decandence prevails at the center of human civilization, while decay has already claimed the less important worlds. An interesting story about a nearly forgotten Earth in a future Ice Age.

Rating:
Summary: Anthology of the distant period of Piper' s future history
Review: Not Piper's best, these stories carry a sort of gloominess. The feeling is that humanity is on the decline and decandence prevails at the center of human civilization, while decay has already claimed the less important worlds. An interesting story about a nearly forgotten Earth in a future Ice Age.

Rating:
Summary: Companion piece to Piper's _Federation_
Review: The "Terro-Human Future History Chronology" is not a story, but rather a timeline with approximate dates derived from Piper's stories, starting with the year 1 Atomic Era (A.E.) = 1942 A.D./C.E. - the calendar dates from the year the first atomic pile went into operation, and ending with a date from "Ministry of Disturbance".

John F. Carr's "Introduction" is interesting; among other things, he laments the third, lost Fuzzy novel, which was found after _Empire_'s release and published as _Fuzzies and Other People_, I'm thankful to say. For a discussion of other Piper material that went missing after his death in 1963, see Pournelle's introduction to the paperback edition of the Piper collection _Federation_. Piper's death at his own hand, believing (wrongly) that his career was finished and thus could no longer meet his obligations, left his estate in a tremendous tangle, hence the decades when his works were out of print. I can only hope that more "lost" drafts of Piper's work move into the "found" category. After a brief lament on Piper's death, Carr moves on to present an overview of Piper's Terro-Human Future History, of which the Fuzzy novels were only the best-known part, not the whole.

On to the 5 Piper stories comprising this book. Each is prefaced by a paragraph or two by Carr, clarifying where it falls in the timeline and providing a little commentary.

"The Edge of the Knife" predates the founding of the Federation, let alone the First Empire, but fits into this collection quite nicely. Professor Chalmers' memory occasionally works both ways; teaching his Modern History IV class in 1973, he begins drawing a comparison to an assassination that will not happen for another two months. (He once tried to get a copy of _Rise and Decline of the System States_ from the college library before remembering that it wouldn't be published until the 28th century.) He always meticulously records his memories of the future, but can't control when they'll crop up, something that's beginning to endanger him.

I wish I'd had a history teacher like him, with or without the two-way memory. He's neither a fool nor detached from reality; he became convinced of his future memories' reality only when those of the near-future passed under the knife-edge of the present to be verified in detail. When the college president tries to stampede him into resigning, Chalmers promptly invokes his tenure, then explains the situation to his lawyer over lunch. While Whitburn can't break him over a slip of the tongue, unfitness to teach - as in, "proving" Chalmers insane - *would* give Whitburn leverage.

"A Slave Is a Slave" takes place during the early years of the first Empire: the annexation of Aditya, a culture in which everyone is either a Lord-Master, or a slave. Into this society, the Empire has sent Count Erskyll, a young radical who for his first proconsulate assignment was sent to this backwater, where he couldn't possibly do much harm.

Right.

For an Aditya-like alien society - or is it? - read James White's _Federation World_. For a fuller treatment of some of Piper's relevant ideas, study Marduk in _Space Viking_.

"Ministry of Disturbance" follows His Imperial Majesty, Paul XXII through what, at first, appears to be a typical, mind-bogglingly dull day of routine reigning. (His consort has a day full of recording greetings for flower festivals across the galaxy to get through, and crazy old Harv Dorflay has uncovered yet another imaginary conspiracy against Paul's life.) "Routine", in fact, is the watchword for the empire of 2936 A.E.: all threats to the Empire's security are from within rather than without. Paul, in fact, is delighted at any sparks of energy and interest in his apathetic subjects. But what can he do? And is he as safe as he believes?

"The Return" was co-written by John J. McGuire. Like Burroughs' _Lost Continent_, this is a tale of civilized men exploring a continent ruined by war 200 years before - but this continent is North America, not Europe. This story focuses on the Fort Ridgeway team's first contact with the people of the Toon while seeking the microfilm records of the Carnegie Library, and like other Piper first contact stories, the mystery is to find out what makes these people tick - but here, both sides of that problem are presented.

"The Keeper", like uncounted generations before him, lives in a small house on a backwater planet where an ice age is coming on, protecting the Crown whose history none now remember. (He's a poor man - the Crown is his trust, not his treasury.) To him, the days when there were no woods but great buildings and many starships is almost a fairy tale - he and his people have forgotten that Earth was the first of humanity's worlds. But others remember, and have at last sought him out.

IRRELEVANT NOTE: Michael Whelan's cover painting _Empire_ for the 1981 Ace paperback edition reminds me of "The Gifts of Asti" in _The Book of Andre Norton_. The image is metaphorical rather than being taken from any scene in _Empire_.