Alien Inside and Out
How to make friends with a BEM
When we lived in New York City in the early 1970s, we had a friend who was a recent immigrant from Cuba. One problem we had with him and his wife was that they were one hour late every time we had them over to dine with us. Realizing that time was viewed differently by our friends, we got the brilliant idea of inviting them an hour earlier than we wanted them to arrive. Therefore I was pretty surprised as I was getting dressed to hear the doorbell ring. It was, of course, just exactly the time we had invited them to dinner. Our fellow humans can be difficult to predict, even if we think we know them well. What about real aliens?
Stanley G. Weinbaum achieved early fame as a science fiction author for his 1934 story A Martian Odyssey. He wrote it because he was annoyed by how writers treated their alien characters. While they might look exotic, for the most part, they seemed to act like humans. The Bug-Eyed Monster types even appeared to have a strong interest in pursuing human females. The Martian character, Tweel, was definitely not human either in looks or actions. Jarvis, one of the first Earthmen to explore Mars, encounters Tweel after his rocket crashes. To survive, he has to work with the alien. He quickly learns that Tweel's actions do not seem to make sense and is thus confronted with a severe communication problem. Weinbaum earned his reputation with the tale, which has since been lauded as the first science fiction story to produce an interesting alien character.
Tragically, Weinbaum died at the age of 33 from lung cancer in 1935. In his short writing career, he produced numerous stories that are still well worth reading. He is even honored by having his name attached to a lunar crater.
Weinbaum's novel, The Black Flame, is one of my favorites. I even possess a Fantasy Press hardcover, published in 1948. Thomas Connor, a convicted murderer, is executed for his crime. However, it turns out that in the far future, the means of his execution occasionally causes the preservation and survival of the individual. Thus Conner is restored to life long after an apocalyptic atomic war has destroyed civilization. The world is now a kind of utopia controlled by a group of near immortals led by The Master. While The Master is no tyrant, his monopoly of the techniques of life extension treatments incited the development of a rebel group desiring his overthrow. Connor becomes involved in the conflict. Connor's life is further complicated by a developing relationship between himself and the Black Flame, who is also the Master's sister. While the story contains a lot of action, it also explores the moral nature of the society and the future of the human race. Also notable is Weinbaum's discussion of an atomic bomb and the exploitation of atomic energy. Trained as a chemist, Weinbaum was well acquainted with the physics of his age. Of course, his methods of releasing the energy of matter are pure fiction, not at all like what has come to pass. Also, critics have given credit to Weinbaum for the strength of his female characters, unusual for the science fiction of the period.
Following the rating system discussed in the last newsletter, my rating of The Black Flame is: Story 4, Writing 3, Ideas 4, Plausibility 3. The scale runs from 1 to 5, with 5 the highest value.
The Martian Odyssey is available in the book The Best of Stanley G. Weinbaum. That book, as well as The Black Flame, are both sold as ebooks on Amazon.
If you have any favorites from the golden age of science fiction, please let me know in the comments. In the meantime, do enjoy some good reads that will tell you how the future was.