Why Space Viking? Because, really: you should be reading more H. Beam Piper. I wish more people had done it when he was alive.
And so, adieu to First Lensman.
12 thoughts on “Book of the Week: Space Viking.”
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Why Space Viking? Because, really: you should be reading more H. Beam Piper. I wish more people had done it when he was alive.
And so, adieu to First Lensman.
Comments are closed.
Piper is one of my favorite authors, and Space Viking is my favorite book of his.
Agreed. Space Viking is flawed, but it is a truly great book.
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Mew
I would vote for Lord Kalvan of Otherwhen as Piper’s best, but, yeah, Space Viking rocks.
The Fuzzy books, of course, are what most remember Piper for ..
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Uller Uprising has probably fared the worst, the whole thing is, at this point, almost hopelessly politically incorrect .. which is a great reason to have it on your shelf..
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Mew
I have to wonder if “A Slave is a Slave” would be regarded as even more politically incorrect if more people knew about it.
The Fuzzy books, of course, are what most remember Piper for …
I must admit that I much prefer William Tuning’s take on the Fuzzies, Fuzzy Bones, over Piper’s own novel Fuzzies and Other People.
We do not speak of Fuzzy Nation.
For the past three decades or so, Jerry Pournelle has had permission from Piper’s estate to do an authorized sequel, Space Viking’s Return.
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I don’t think he’s ever gonna do it, though.
I’m .. really not seeing a way “Space Viking’s Return” could be both true to the source material and written to be palatable for current readers.
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The reason I’m somewhat pessimistic on the future of the West, at this point, is too few twentysomethings even recognize the *possibility* of going a’viking..
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Mew
Apparently, John F. Carr got ahold of the story Pournelle abandoned and wrote it, after first writing a sequel of his own. That, and there are some unauthorized sequels that other people have written.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Viking#Sequels
and currently free on Kindle. I read it about 35 yrs ago…time for a re-reading…
H. Beam Piper goes great with Traveller.
I had the pleasure of playing in a Traveller campaign that was based on Uller Uprising, Cosmic Computer, The Fuzzy stories and Six Gun Planet (complete with gun-toting coyote-aliens and Super-Bourbon) back around 1980. What a blast.
His Paratime stories are great too.
You just can’t go wrong with H. Beam Piper.
Pardon, that should read Lone Star Planet, not Six Gun Planet.
Sheesh.