Science Fiction: The Short Stuff discussion

The novella This World Is Taboo ran unopposed this month in the poll, which is how it won. Hey, I have no illusions my nomination could have withstood competition. I know I am probably the only Murray Leinster fan in our group.

The reason for that, I hypothesize, is because science fiction is only one of the genres Leinster wrote in, and perhaps it is fair to say it wasn't even his main one. I've read more Leinster adventure and western stories than I have SF by him. And who but me reads pulp adventure tales these days, or westerns for that matter? In fact, I'm going through an obscure collection of five of Leinster's adventure tales on my nightstand right now. They're really good. His SF is okay too.

The Genius Beasts & This World is Taboo first featured Leinster's novella as one half of an Ace double book in 1961. The story first appeared under the title "Pariah Planet" in Amazing Stories, July 1961.

Many people assume the two are the same story, but they're actually not quite. The difference is more than just in the title too. "Pariah Planet" has 34,091 words, but "This World is Taboo" has an additional 1,891 words sprinkled throughout the story, bringing the total to 35,932. The edits that add the words reportedly did a lot to make the story clearer and stronger. That's why I was so particular to nominate the longer novella.

According to AI, "Pariah Planet" by Murray Leinster tells the story of a medical officer named Calhoun, who investigates a planet gripped by fear of a group called "blueskins". These blueskins, survivors of a plague on the planet Dara, are ostracized and feared by the inhabitants of the planet Wield. Calhoun, accompanied by his tormal companion Murgatroyd, must navigate the xenophobia and paranoia to understand the situation and potentially help resolve the conflict. The novella explores themes of prejudice, social isolation, and the consequences of unchecked fear and hatred.

Sounds like a fun read to me!

I searched on "This World is Taboo" in Kindle, found there was a free copy available, and downloaded it.

It's an interesting story so far. I am two chapters, which is 25% of the story, in. The premise is that Med Ships visit worlds in order to help ensure the health status of member planets. This Med Ship has only one doctor and an intelligent pet called a tormal. It visits a world called Weald where this crazy fear of a plague (Covid anyone) runs rampant. The plague is believed to turn people's skin blue, thus great political hay can be made from making enemies of blue-skins.

(view spoiler)[The Med Ship leaves the world in some disgust to go try to help another world when a stowaway girl is discovered aboard. She won't tell the truth about why she wanted to leave Weald. (hide spoiler)] And so on it goes. It's an interesting story, well told, so far. I have no idea where it's headed.

I've just purchased the ebook for 99cents!

I am halfway through it now. It has taken a strange turn. It seems to be more about the Medic and the stowaway's relationship now. I don't think that's enough of a subject even for a 100-page novella. So I wonder what the next turn will be. It's set in a richly portrayed planetary system with lots of disputes going on. Leinster could take this anywhere.

Another surprise to me is how completely buried in SF tropes this story is. Leinster wrote in a lot of genres. I was expecting him to be a kind of jack-of-all-trades writer, master of none. But he really has the SF writing thing down.

I'm looking forward to reading this one at some point this month. The only Murray Leinster I've read is the story A Logic Named Joe, years ago when I was first starting to read science fiction, and gave it a solid 3 stars.

I've read The Runaway Skyscraper.

I have too, Rosemarie. I think that was the very first story Leinster published in the science fiction genre. It sure is a weird one. I liked that short story more than this novella, which I give three stars, meaning I liked it, but was not crazy about it. The story was okay, considering it was very early science fiction writing, but not something I can get too excited about or recommend. The story was 106 text pages long, about as long as a novella can be, and felt more like a novel to me.

Here's my review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

I've just finished reading it and rated it three stars. The action did pick up towards the end of the book. It's a perfect read for a hot summer day, and we've been having too many of those this summer.