The lurid covers of the pulp science fiction magazines of the early golden age often featured BEMs (Bug Eyed Monsters) grasping at near-nude young human females. In contrast to these images, most of the stories provided scant sexual content. John W. Campbell Jr., the renowned editor of Astounding, took great care to remove sexual material from his magazine. His assistant, Kay Tarrant, a religious Catholic, was given the task of purging any sex from stories before their publication. However, with or without sex, contact with alien species was and remains a central theme of science fiction. First and foremost is the concern about conflict between them and us. Happily, one prominent author of the golden age, L. Sprague de Camp, treated the contact theme as a source of humor.
De Camp was among the elite of golden age science fiction authors. Born in 1907, he was productive until he died in 2000. He worked together with Heinlein and Asimov at the Navy’s Material Laboratory in Philadelphia during WWII. Above is a photo of the three during that period. I leave it to the reader to figure out who is who (answer given in the next newsletter). A graduate of Cal Tech with a Master's Degree in mechanical engineering from Steven's Institute of Technology, de Camp spent most of his career as a writer. Graduating during the Great Depression, he encountered difficulty in obtaining a suitable engineering position. Being a voracious reader and a talented writer, he switched to writing both fiction and popular science. I found his autobiography, Time and Chance, published in 1997, of considerable interest not only because of his role in science fiction. Coming from a moderately wealthy family, he traveled widely in his youth and interacted with many well-known people of the time. He was also a careful student of linguistics and mastered many languages. In Time and Chance, he describes his attempts to bypass Campbell's prohibitions against sexual material.
In addition to the autobiography, I reread two of de Camp’s novels, Divide and Rule and The Queen of Zamba. Both deal with alien contact, the first with a technologically advanced species, the second with more primitive technology. Comic aspects involving misunderstandings and ingrained points of view play a role in both novels. Divide and Rule was one of his first published works. Despite this, it was enjoyable to read, though weak in character development. The Queen of Zamba, written in the 1940s, is more polished and the first book in his Viagens Interplanetarias series.
Divide and Rule is set on an Earth long under the dominance of an alien race called Hoppers. After the Hoppers took control, they studied human history and decided to split the world into small territories with feudal-type governments. The continuing conflicts between the feudal states thus prevented the humans from revolting. The main character, Sir Howard van Slyck, is a knight living in the New York region. At the start of the story, he is pretty content with his hierarchal position despite the annoyance of having to bow to the Hopper's will. The Hoppers, despite their superior technology, are somewhat comical. Individuals like Sir Howard also display humorous traits in their pretentious feudal strutting. Sir Howard's life becomes complicated when he encounters a female revolutionary out to defeat the Hoppers. Not very deep, but a fun read.
Victor Hasselborg is a private detective living in a future New York City. A wealthy person engages him to find and bring back his errant daughter. To accomplish this task, Victor will have to travel to the planet Krishna in another solar system. Interstellar travel is under the control of the Brazilian corporation Viagens Interplanetarias (Portuguese was one of de Camp’s languages). The inhabitants of Krishna are human-like and do not possess a machine-based technology. The Earth’s world government does not permit visitors to Krishna to bring any technology with them when circulating among the natives. Before leaving the Viagen Base on Krishna, a human is advised to disguise themselves as a native. Visitors are also told that they will be under local law and that the Viagens will not come to their aid. This setup gives de Camp lots of latitude in developing complicated situations for his characters. TheQueen of Zamba and all of its many follow-on stories allow sword play and romantic adventure to fit into a science fiction setting.
Fortunately, it is now relatively easy to retrieve much of the writing I have been discussing. The website SF Gateway provides links to sellers of golden age science fiction. Another method is to use the service scribd. For about $8.00/month, you can access a giant library of books, magazines, and podcasts. There is no limit on how many items you access or how long you use them. Scribd has been one of my primary sources of material. It also provides an app for IOS and Android devices. The Gutenberg project is another rich source, especially of out-of-print and out of copyright material.
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