Piper, H. Beam

Average customer rating:

Gripping
Still relevant.
Bracing adventure sf with an historical perspective
One of my all-time favorites
A Master Work

Space Viking
H. Beam Piper
Manufacturer: Ace
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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The Cosmic Computer
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ASIN: 0441777848

Customer Reviews:

Gripping.......2001-09-06

Lord Lucas Trask of Traskon lives on the Sword World of Gram, but is opposed to the Space Viking raids, on which numerous of the most talented Sword Worlders leave and never return. However, when his bride is killed a half-hour after their wedding, Lucas fits out a Space Viking ship and sets out for revenge. Sickened by the waste of the Space Viking life, he finds himself returning to his older convictions: that it is better to build than destroy. But, he finds that there are many who find destroying a simple and easy life, and what is the murderer of his wife up to? This is the story of one man's odyssey across the remains of the old Federation, his life, death and rebirth.

As I've said before, Mr. H. Beam Piper is probably one of the most underrated science-fiction authors ever. Here again, he produced a book with a fascinating milieu, populated by people who act consistently with their culture. I found the book to be quite gripping, proving impossible to put down as it rocketed towards the finale. I highly recommend this book to everyone!

Still relevant........2001-08-13

Though some of the technology is dated in Piper's books, the story, characters, writing and themes are perfectly fresh. "Space Viking" is a gripping space opera on surface but is also a great essay on the rights and responsibilities of citizens as well as a questioning of civilization itself. The only other science fiction books to address these concepts so well are Heinlen's "Moon Is A Harsh Mistress" and "Starship Troopers".

Bracing adventure sf with an historical perspective.......2000-07-11

A great, now semi-forgotten space opera classic. Space Viking has the sheer readability and forward momentum of good pulp science fiction but with an extra historical dimension lacking in most pulp. Or to put it another way, this could be the best Heinlein-style novel not written by Heinlein. Also could well have been an influence on Star Wars, but don't let that put you off. Set in the same ("Terro-Human") future history as Piper's Fuzzy novels, but after the breakup of the Federation. The stand-alone quality of Space Viking, plus the action and economy, put it a notch higher in my affection than the Fuzzy series. This was probably his best sf novel and should by rights be put back into print.

One of my all-time favorites.......1999-05-14

This book was one of the last Piper books that I read, after reading not only Lord Kalvan but also The Cosmic Computer. I enjoy not only Piper's Unique ideas on government and personal awareness, but his belief in the power of the individual. I must have read this book a dozen times, and I have loved every one of them.

A Master Work.......1998-08-24

I've been re-reading this book for 15 years and still find get something new from it each time. I judge all other sci-fi by this book and nothing has ever matched it. Jerry Pournelle once mentioned that he *attempted* to write a sequel to Space Viking but couldn't begin to match the details. The best part is that the reader never notices the acute attention to detail Mr. Piper must have paid to this . . you just enjoy the story. PS. no, I'm not related

Average customer rating:

Fuzzies are great
Dated, but a good yarn nonetheless
One great book, one mediocre book, one unfinished book
Three great books in one!
Classic SF... for the whole family.

Complete Fuzzy
H. Beam Piper
Manufacturer: Ace Trade
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0441005810

Book Description

More than three decades ago, H. Beam Piper's bestselling science fiction novel Little Fuzzy captivated readers everywhere. Now, all three of Piper's delightful books are available for the first time in one volume: Little Fuzzy, Fuzzy Sapiens and Fuzzies And Other People.

Customer Reviews:

Fuzzies are great.......2007-02-02

I have all the books on the Fuzzies, and love them all. H. Beam Piper really knows how to tell a story about these cute little Fuzzy Sapients. First time I read about them, I fell in love with Little Fuzzy and the whole clan.

Dated, but a good yarn nonetheless.......2007-01-31

The Complete Fuzzy is an anthology of Piper's three "Fuzzy" books: Little Fuzzy, Fuzzy Sapiens, and Fuzzies and Other People. The books center around Jack Holloway, frontier sunstone prospector on the colonial planet Zarathustra, and his new friends, a race of newly-discovered creatures dubbed Fuzzies. They're bipedal, roughly human-proportioned even though they're only about knee-height, covered in fur, and more intelligent than their evident lack of speech may indicate. The very possibility that these creatures are a race of sentient beings threatens the monopoly of the Chartered Zarathustra Company, a quasi-governmental entity that owns the planet Zarathustra outright, in the first of the three books. In the second, a group is kidnapping Fuzzies, and the race is on to find out who and why. In the last book, the Fuzzy kidnappers are on trial, and the prosecution hinges on testimony from the kidnapped Fuzzies. However, Fuzzies don't know how to lie, therefore the truth detection systems known as veridicators cannot be proven to tell when they are lying. On top of this, Little Fuzzy, the first Fuzzy ever found, is missing from a sunstone digging site, and presumed dead.

Futurist sci-fi writers are in the unenviable position of predicting future technologies. Even Arthur C. Clarke, one of the greatest, best-known, and most scientifically-grounded sci-fi authors of all time, wrote that by 2001 we would have a permanent outpost on the moon, manned missions to the outer planets, mind/machine interface, and artificial intelligence. Piper had an even greater disadvantage; his books were written in the 50's and early 60's. He never saw a man land on the moon (Spaceflight in general was only a few years old when he was first published). He never saw the technological marvel that is the integrated circuit, which revolutionized science fiction faster than the computers they were based on. Piper's works were written in an era of science fiction not far removed from Flash Gordon.

As an understandable consequence, some predictions of the future that are evident in The Complete Fuzzy are laughable. Virtually no one today can envision the future 600 years from now being anything remotely like Piper's books. Even though the world of Piper's future has interstellar travel, anti-gravity, and video communication, tobacco smoking is still a cultural pursuit, cocktail hour is a quasi-religious custom, gunpowder cartridges still power weapons, and zippers are a fashion statement. Computers are still largely mechanical devices taking up huge rooms. Voice is recorded on magnetic tape and recordings are transferred audibly across videoscreen connections at "sixty-speed", similar to dubbing. And the colonial worlds, of which the Fuzzy series deals mostly with the planet Zarathustra, are the new Wild West in the literal sense.

Piper also has a style of futurism similar to his contemporaries in that, even though there are alien races, humankind is the most intelligent and advanced race of anything discovered. Most of the science fiction written in Piper's time either takes this stance, or leave out alien races altogether, making space a vast empty playground for humans. Later generations scoff at this; our solar system is relatively new in the universe (Piper couldn't know this either) and we relatively new to this planet; odds are that any intelligent life we encounter in the cosmos will be more advanced than ourselves.

Regardless of this, there are some fundamental human stories that stand up through ages. People with power who don't want to lose it, people standing up for the little guy in the face of those who would exploit them and their world, and the fundamental human nature of greed. The "Wild West with anti-grav" setting of the stories seems cheesy now, but actually serves as an exciting backdrop for the action that takes place. It seems that no novel is complete anymore without armed conflict, whether between planes, ships, spaceships, or two men with six-shooters, and this is a place where Little Fuzzy doesn't disappoint. The three books together also shine as courtroom dramas, hingeing on questions that have yet to be answered in science-fact: what is the definition of sentient life? How do you test for sentience? And perhaps most importantly, what are the rights under law of a race of cute fuzzy intelligent beings?

And the Fuzzies are perhaps Piper's most darling creations: cute, intelligent, and totally innocent, with no knowledge of deception or evil (As a character in the books puts it, "You can't lie to your environment, and if you lie to yourself about it, it kills you"). There are also some very poignant comments on current affairs: "That was the trouble with being in an irresistible position for so long; you didn't expect resistance".

The books are dated; it's near impossible to write a sci-fi piece that stands up to 40 years of the kinds of technological advances we've had. It's possible the next generation of sci-fi readers, who grew up watching DVDs and listening to CDs and MP3s, will find this novel impossible to grasp due to its ancient technology. But for now, the generation that grew into the digital age rather than being born into it will find this a nostalgic look at the future that was.

One great book, one mediocre book, one unfinished book .......2005-05-17

3 books in one volume. The first book in the series is the best. Compelling characters,uplifting eco-friendly "people vs corporation" plot.

The excitement of finding that first sapient life, that we are not alone.. It strikes a universal chord. And the Little Fuzzys are so darn cute. That newness of finding and getting to know the "aliens" loses some of its luster over the next two books. I wouldn't recomend buying the "complete" unless you are already a big fan and need to replace your copies of the books.

While the actual plot is a little formulaic, the characters and situations are very believable. Unlike another reviewer who thought any advanced technological civilization would not have guns, liquor, or imperfections like obesity or old age..I feel it makes the characters and situations much more real. If all the "new" drugs of the past 500 years have not supplanted liquor, tobacco, or caffiene as the drug of choice... why would another 500 years change that.

Three great books in one!.......2005-03-30

H. Beam Piper (1904-64) 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. Among the wonderful books that Mr. Piper published during his all-too-short career were a series of three books set on the future world of Zarathustra. This book is a compilation of those three books.

In Little Fuzzy (originally published in 1962), an aging prospector discovers that the planet is actually populated by a race of small, furry humanoids, which he names fuzzies. Little does he know that the discovery of *intelligent* humanoids on Zarathustra would void the charter of the company that owns it outright, and the Chartered Zarathustra Company is too powerful to be threatened with impunity.

In Fuzzy Sapiens (1964), the head of the now Charterless Zarathustra Company is shocked to find a fuzzy in his high-security apartment. Someone is kidnapping fuzzies, but why? This is going to get complicated.

In Fuzzies and Other People (written in 1964, but then lost after Piper's tragic suicide; found and published in 1984), the trial of the Fuzzy kidnappers is coming up, and all the friends of this newly discovered sentient race are hoping for a decisive conviction. However, the kidnappers' lawyer, Hugo Ingermann, has a few aces up his sleeve, the biggest ace being that a standard lie detected will now show when a Fuzzy is lying, making their testimony inadmissible. The biggest problem seems to be that Fuzzies do not understand the concept of lying, so now the race is on to find a Fuzzy that can lie.

I must admit that I was hoping for a little something extra in buying this book, a new introduction perhaps. But, I was disappointed. Even so, my copies of the original books were becoming worn-out, and it is nice to be able to get a new copy of these books.

H. Beam Piper was an excellent author, who was expert at creating new worlds with unique problems, that are nonetheless familiar seeming and realistically drawn. I have loved the Fuzzy stories for many years now, and keep rereading them over and over again. If you are a fan of excellent sci-fi from the 1950s and 60s, then I can guarantee that you will love this book!

Classic SF... for the whole family........2003-10-28

Capsule Description: A dispute over whether a small creature native to the planet Zarathustra is actually intelligent becomes a gripping drama in and out of the frontier planet's courtroom, in a trial whose outcome could mean life or death for an entire species. Written in a way that's suitable for virtually all audiences aside from very young children, with likeable characters, and starring the title character Little Fuzzy, who makes all of Lucas' attempts at cute sidekick characters look lame. A wonderful feel-good book.

Review: Take a good-hearted, crusty miner-type from any good Old West story -- especially the old miner who used to be a gunslinger -- and you've got Jack Holloway, prospecting for "sunstones" on the planet Zarathustra. Zarathustra's owned by the Chartered Zarathustra Company, so whatever you find there you sell to the Company, at the price the Company sets... but sunstones are valuable enough that even what the Company pays is well worth your while. But one day the independent loner comes home to find an odd, cute little creature has wandered into his house. It isn't long before he decides that "Little Fuzzy" is more than just an animal. What he doesn't think about, at least not at first, is this simple fact: a planet-wide Charter is awarded to a company only for planets which do NOT have a native sentient race. But when word of Jack's discovery reaches one of the Company's executives, they most certainly DO think about it... and get ready to do something about it, as well.

"Little Fuzzy" is one of the SF books that I can read to my kids. It has a warm, engaging prose style, and while there are one or two scenes that are scary or shocking, for the most part it's a story where people deal with each other as people. Even the opposition, in the person of the Zarathustra Company's executives, isn't painted in shades of black and white. It still remains an exciting book, with a number of unexpected twists, and very re-readable as well. I recommend buying "The Complete Fuzzy", which contains three Fuzzy novels in one, showing the evolution of the relationships that are started in the first, "Little Fuzzy".

The Fuzzy Papers
Average customer rating:

Finished by choice....

Absolutly involving

Wonderful stories, splendid illustrations

It is a very good book!

Pretty Good

The Fuzzy Papers
H. Beam Piper
Manufacturer: Ace
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 0441261949

Customer Reviews:

Finished by choice...........2003-04-26

When I was in the 6th grade my dad made me read this book and do a 5 page book report. I fought him for almost 2 months. When I finally did start to read it, I couldn't put it down. Now almost 10 years later I can't talk my mom out of his copy so I am getting my own.

Absolutly involving.......2003-02-28

Some have commented on the dated nature of H. Beam Piper's book, and I must agree, but that is part of the charm of older Sci-Fi. It seems that smoking and hard drinking are cool in Mystery, but unsavory for Sci-fi. The Fuzzy Papers is an involving, and riviting novel. I highly recomend it to fans of a good story. It has a light natured atmosphere, and is hard to put down. Please don't be put off by the name "Fuzzys" perhaps giving the image of Ewoks or such. They are a very well rounded, fleshed out, and alien character.

Wonderful stories, splendid illustrations.......2002-10-29

This book was created by Ace Books in 1980, and is a combination of two of the redoubtable H. Beam Piper's most popular science fiction books: Little Fuzzy (1962) and Fuzzy Sapiens (1964). Little Fuzzy tells the story of a small, furry humanoid's adventures among the humans sharing his world, and how he came to trouble the counsels of the wise and powerful. Fuzzy Sapiens picks up where Little Fuzzy left off, with man's increase in knowledge about the Fuzzy race, and all the surprises it has in store for humanity.

These wonderful stories, coupled with Victoria Poyser's splendid illustrations make for a great immersion into the world of Zarathustra and the Fuzzies. These are two great stories, both of which should be considered classics in the field of science fiction. So, if you are interested in the Fuzzies, and can get this book, then I highly recommend that you do so.

It is a very good book!.......1999-11-04

When I first read this book I was 13, I at first took me a while to understand it.... but once I got into it, it made a whole bunch of more sense, It is a funny, and a book that makes you think. H. Piper is a very good author. The Fuzzies are GREAT little guys, and are loveable the first time you read about them!

Pretty Good.......1999-10-03

I have read all of the 'Fuzzy' books,I really like it! They were the first books to get me into science fiction.

Average customer rating:

The previous reviewer is an abject illiterate
Fuel for the world's Lee Harvey Oswalds

A Planet for Texans
H. Beam Piper
Manufacturer: Wildside Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0809501422

Book Description

When the whole ornery state of Texas took off for a new planet more to their liking, New Texas was the result: a rough-and-tumble world where everyone packs a gun and it's legal to shoot politicians (if they deserve it)! But now these rugged and independent space pioneers are the targets of an expansive race of aliens. Is the Solar League's new ambassador tough enough to steer them back to Earth's embrace?

Customer Reviews:

The previous reviewer is an abject illiterate.......2007-03-26

..
That which rouses the ire of the damnfool in question is the central political theme in "A Planet for Texans."

Originally published in the magazine FANTASTIC UNIVERSE (Vol. 7, No. 3, March 1957), this novella was expanded by John J. McGuire and published as a short novel (LONE STAR PLANET) in 1958.

This work is a clear and obvious tribute to H.L. Mencken's classic essay "The Malevolent Jobholder" (from THE AMERICAN MERCURY, June 1924), in which Mencken proposed:

"...that it shall be no longer malum in se for a citizen to pummel, cowhide, kick, gouge, cut, wound, bruise, maim, burn, club, bastinado, flay, or even lynch a [government] jobholder, and that it shall be malum prohibitum only to the extent that the punishment exceeds the jobholder's deserts. The amount of this excess, if any, may be determined very conveniently by a petit jury, as other questions of guilt are now determined."

In 1999, the novel won the Prometheus Award, Hall of Fame Award for Best Classic Libertarian SF Novel. This tongue-in-cheek tale features a planet of Texans whose dinosaur-sized cattle have to be herded with tanks and helicopers, and whose system of government derives its character from Mencken's essay.

The protagonist is an insubordinate Terran junior diplomat who is appointed as ambassador to this cantankerously independent planet in the hope that he will be assassinated (as the previous ambassador had been), thereby justifying the forcible invasion and conquest of the Texans. The crux of the story is the trial of the previous ambassador's assassins - actually paid killers hired by an alien empire also planning invasion - under a legal system that considers the killing of a practicing politician to be justifiable homicide.

Anyone but a blank and drooling idiot would have recognized the tribute paid by Piper and McGuire in originating this story, and the saliva-spattered initial reviewer is invited to read the inspiration in Mencken's essay, which was compiled in THE MENCKEN CHRESTOMATHY (1949) and is prsently available freely online.

Withal, an interesting premise, carried out with typical '50s-style space opera ingenuity and light-hearted disrespect for government authority.
--

Fuel for the world's Lee Harvey Oswalds.......2007-01-22

Piper premised "A Planet for Texans" (APFT) on the idea that you have a right to murder with impunity any democratically elected politician you don't like, and he showed it in action on a planet settled by descendants of Texans. I have to wonder if Lee Harvey Oswald got his inspiration from reading APFT before he assassinated President Kennedy in the terrestrial Texas in 1963. APFT doesn't look that far removed in spirit from "The Turner Diaries," which inspired Timothy McVeigh to bomb the Murrah building in 1995.

The Complete Paratime (Ace Science Fiction)

Average customer rating:

A treat for Alternate Historicians
Policing Realities
Classic SF still worth reading
lateral time travel
Classic stories by a great author

The Complete Paratime (Ace Science Fiction)
H. Beam Piper
Manufacturer: Ace Trade
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0441008011

Book Description

From the creator of the Terrohuman Future History and the bestselling Fuzzy novels come all the classic Police Paratime stories in one volume. Includes the original Paratime, which introduced the elite time-traveling police force, and Lord Kalvan of Otherwhen, the story of a state trooper's conquest of a parallel Earth. The Complete Paratime is a grand science fiction experience.

Customer Reviews:

A treat for Alternate Historicians.......2007-05-30

Eric Meeks - Author of the Author Murders says:

I never knew this author before I read these stories but the premise of sliding sideways through timelines was a unique enough concept. It reminded me of the string theory of time whereby there are many alternations of the same timeline.

H. Beam Piper wrote a captivating storyline which held my attention throughout a week a reading and it usually takes me three weeks to finish a book. It's actually a collection of short stories centering on a single storyline and one main character.

Good police work, good science fiction all wrapped into one. I'll definitely look for more books by this author.

Eric Meeks
The Author Murders

Policing Realities.......2006-11-04

"The Complete Paratime" collects all the works from H. Beam Piper that deal with paratime, i.e. the existence of alternate universes and people either accidentally or purposefully crossing from one to another. This collection, published in 2001, contains a previous collection called "Paratime", which was published in 1981. The previous collection included five stories. Also included is the novel called "Lord Kalvan of Otherwhen" which was originally published in 1965 and itself was a collection of two previously published stories along with a new one.

"He Walked around the Horses" is Piper's first paratime story, and doesn't directly fit with the other stories collected in this book. This novelette was first published in April of 1948, and is the story of a British envoy to the court of Austria who vanished while en route from Vienna to Hamburg in 1809. The story is cleverly told as a series of statements from witnesses as being reported by the Minister of Police.

"Police Operation" is the first story to feature Verkan Vall, a Paratime policeman who in tracing someone, learns that they have broken the law by bringing along a pet from another time-line, which ultimately threatens to reveal the existence of paratime. This is another novelette which was first published in July of 1948, and it serves as a good introduction to the Paratime Police and Verkan Vall, both of which are present in the rest of the stories in this collection.

"Last Enemy" is perhaps the best of the stories in this collection. This novelette was first published in August of 1950. This novelette brings in the character of Dalla, and is an interesting story involving a time-line where reincarnation is considered an established fact. This is his only story which involves a Second Level time-line, which means a civilization nearly as advanced as that of the First Level. This story was nominated in 2001 for the Retro-Hugo for novelettes written in the year 1950.

"Time Crime" is the novella story, which was first published in February and March of 1955. The story involves a criminal slave ring operating out of the First Level. This is the longest individual story of the series, although the joining of the three Lord Kalvan stories did create one longer work. Much of this story deals with the First Level, which makes it very different than the other stories.

"Temple Trouble" is a novelette which was first published in April of 1951. In this story the Paratime Police are called in to help fix a problem with a commercial venture, only to find that there may be a bit more to the problem than they originally thought.

"Lord Kalvan of Otherwhen" is a novel created out of three pieces of shorter fiction. The first was called "Gunpowder God", in which Corporal Calvin Morrison is accidentally taken from the "Earth" time-line to a Fourth Level time line. There his knowledge of how to make Gunpowder makes him looked at as a powerful sorcerer, and a potential threat to the Paratime Police. This novelette was first published in "Analog" in November of 1964. The second part is "Down Styphon", which picks up the story where it was left off, and covers the war between Hostigos and Nostor. This novelette was first published in "Analog" in November of 1965. The last section, as far as I know, was never published apart from being the conclusion of the entire novel. Here Kalvan becomes the great King Lord Kalvan in pursuing his war against Styphon.

This is an interesting series of stories, and there is a good variety of themes explored in them as well. I would definitely recommend this to fans of Piper, as it is an interesting blend of science fiction and fantasy.

Classic SF still worth reading.......2006-08-26

H. Beam Piper's Paratime stories are considered today to be classic SF of the old school. This book prints all these stories, in chronological order, under one title at last. The best known story today is "Lord Kalvan of Otherwhen", and having read all these stories it is easy to see why it strikes such a positive note with many people - especially if you like war stories in parallel universes.

This book contains the following short stories and novellas:

He Walked around the Horses
Police Operation
Last Enemy
Time Crime
Temple Trouble
Lord Kalvan of Otherwhen

These are a fine collection of classic stories that are worth taking the time to read and they easily keep you entertained for the length of this book, and while they are dated to some degree (It would be hard to credit so many characters in one book which smoke today) they have not dated to the extent that they are no longer enjoyable.

lateral time travel.......2005-08-11

I first met H. Beam Piper in the pages of Analog in the mid-'60's. The 3 installments of the Pennsylvania State Trooper series are in this volume and their merit as storytelling is obvious.

This volume re-unites those three stories about Corporal Calvin Morrison, later Lord Kalvan, who but for the sideways time travel aspect is pretty much in a late medieval story, albeit in the Susquehanna River country of Pennsylvania -- at, least, in this new time-line.

Other (non-Kalvan) stories in this volume are an undiscovered joy, notably the first, "He Walked Around the Horses," which is one of the best SF short stories of this genre I've seen -- indeed, worthy of an Ursula LeGuin in its plotting and concept.

And it is an original concept: _lateral_ time travel, in which multiple histories exist on parallel timelines. So it can be that someone from modern Pennsylvania -- Cpl. Morrison of the Pennsylvania State Police -- winds up in a timeline in which the Aryan peoples migrated east across Asia and the Pacific rather than west into Europe, a civilization roughly equal to Europe ca. the Thirty Years' War. The scenery may be the same but the kingdoms may not be -- especially as the dominant religion has monopolized the formula for gunpowder.

This author was a master, really, and we shall not see his like again anytime soon.

Down Styphon!

Classic stories by a great author.......2004-09-18

This collection has all of H. Beam Piper's stories in the Paratime universe. The Paratime universe is a setting of a bunch of parallel Earths, basicly an infinite number of Earths. This allowed Piper to create settlings for his stories which familiar to the reader while allowing him to do almost anything he wanted.

The most famous story in this Universe is "Lord Kalvin of Otherwhen." It is the story of a Calvin Morrison, a Pennsylvannia State Policeman, who ends up in one of the parallel universes where the technology level is very medieval. This gives the hero an advantage in saving the day.

H. Beam Piper was a very skilled writter. His stories an interesting and entertaining. All of the stories are fun, and well written. If you enjoy classic science fiction, then you'll this collection.

Average customer rating:

Last Enemy
H., Beam Piper
Manufacturer: Aegypan
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 1603129898

Book Description

The last enemy was the toughest of all -- and conquering him was in itself almost as dangerous as not conquering. For a strange pattern of beliefs can make assassination an honorable profession!

Average customer rating:

from my wish list
A great book
Holds up quite well, nearly 50 years later

Murder in the Gunroom
H. Beam Piper
Manufacturer: Old Earth Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 1882968026

Customer Reviews:

from my wish list.......2007-02-12

I looked for this for a long time and finally found it. Thank you. This author never disappoints, even though some of his attitudes are old-fashioned. But then, so am I.

A great book.......2004-05-28

Jefferson Davis Rand is a well-know private investigator with a well-known hobby - antique gun collecting. When a grieving widow comes to his office to have him help with the sale of the antique guns from her late husband's collection, Jeff quickly realizes that there's been foul play, and that he needs to get to the bottom of it. Yep, he's quite right, Mr. Fleming was indeed murdered with one of his own handguns, but can Jeff stay alive long enough to figure out who did it?

H. Beam Piper (1904-64) is largely forgotten today, but if he is remembered at all, it is for his wonderful science fiction stories. However, in 1953, Mr. Piper tried his hand at mystery writing, and this is the results of his labor. Overall, I found it to be a good solid mystery, appearing to be of the same generation as Ellery Queen. That is to say, it does show its age, but nonetheless it is a very good exciting mystery.

If you are a fanatical fan of H. Beam Piper (like me!), then you really should try to get this book - with its confident hero, doing what it takes to make things right, it's classic Piper. If you are a mystery fan, then I would recommend this book to you as a great work of 1950s mystery writing in the old style. Either way, it's a great book, one that I highly recommend!

Holds up quite well, nearly 50 years later.......2001-07-09

Having read almost all of Piper's science fiction and enjoyed it, I was curious about his one mystery novel. I'd seen references to it for years, but never actually saw the book. I finally acquired it several years back, though it sat on my shelf until last week. I had put off reading it, because I was afraid it might disappoint, compared to favorites like "Lord Kalvan", or that it would seem terribly dated. I needn't have worried. The writing was crisp, the characters interesting, and the gun lore fascinating. In short, it has held up as well as many other books from the '50s that are still popular, such as Stout's Nero Wolfe. It's a shame Piper didn't live to publish the sequel or to explore the mystery genre further.

The Old Earth edition included interesting biographical and bibliographical info on Piper, and it was nicely printed on good quality paper.

Four-Day Planet
Average customer rating:

Piper's attempt at a Heinleinian "juvenile"

Four-Day Planet
H., Beam Piper
Manufacturer: Aegypan
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 1598186353

Book Description

Four-Day Planet

Four-Day Planet . . . where the killing heat of a thousand-hour "day" drives men underground, and the glorious hundred-hour sunset is followed by a thousand-hour night so cold that only an Extreme Environment Suit can preserve the life of anyone caught outside.

Fenris isn't a hell planet, but it's nobody's bargain. With 2,000-hour days and an 8,000-hour year, it alternates blazing heat with killing cold. A planet like that tends to breed a special kind of person: tough enough to stay alive and smart enough to make the best of it. When that kind of person discovers he's being cheated of wealth he's risked his life for, that kind of planet is ripe for revolution.

Customer Reviews:

Piper's attempt at a Heinleinian "juvenile".......2006-11-24

H. Beam Piper apparently wrote this novel in imitation of Robert Heinlein's "juvenile" novels from the same period, in that it features a teenaged boy as the narrator of a crisis on the stereotypical misgoverned "colony planet." It works okay for a quick read, but like Heinlein's similar efforts it hasn't aged all that well.

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Brilliant, Delightful And Sometimes Haunting Science Fiction Great
What is the definition of a person in law?
An excellent work of science fiction
Worth writing a script about
There is Little Wrong with "Little Fuzzy"

Little Fuzzy
H. Beam Piper
Manufacturer: AudioRealms
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Audio CD

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Null-ABC

ASIN: 0809562715

Book Description

The chartered Zarathustra Company had it all their way. Their charter was for a Class III uninhabited planet, which Zarathustra was, and it meant they owned the planet lock stock and barrel. They exploited it, developed it and reaped the huge profits from it without interference from the Colonial Government. Then Jack Holloway, a sunstone prospector, appeared on the scene with his family of Fuzzies and the passionate conviction that they were not cute animals but little people. An 1 disc MP3-CD Edition.

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H. Beam Piper's classic science ficiton novel of the discovery of another sentient race -- the Fuzzies -- and the one man who fought to prove them mankind's equal. Highly recommended, Little Fuzzy is considered H. Beam Piper's masterpiece.

Customer Reviews:

Brilliant, Delightful And Sometimes Haunting Science Fiction Great.......2006-04-27

Although quite short, the fast-paced, truly moving, and often very comedic "Little Fuzzy" is one of my choices for science fiction literature's truly great novels. The wit, the charm, and the brilliant characters will all stay with the reader long after the final page of this first of H. Beam Piper's Fuzzy Sapiens series.

Zarathustra is a planet classed as uninhabited, which means the entire planet can be owned by a corporation, which it is, by the Zarathustra Company, which enjoys a high profit by mining the resources-rich planet. One day gem prospector Jack Holloway comes across a member of a previously undocumented species - a tiny, golden-furred little biped who he dubs 'Little Fuzzy', and shortly thereafter encounters Little Fuzzy's family. The fuzzies are cute, adorable, and often hilarious, and they're also quite socially advanced, including in the use of tools they themselves make. Holloway is convinced, and soon some of his human friends are too, that the Fuzzies are fully sentient and entitled to all the rights of any other sentient species.

Which means the Fuzzies would be the owners of their own planet, and the Zarathustra Company's deed would be automatically null and void.

The unscrupulous Zarathustra Company is determined not to see that happen, at any costs.

And thus we enter into a meeting of the science fiction novel, the legal courtroom drama, and an indepth examination of ethics. The book skillfully tackles these subjects seriously without forsaking the fun, playful side of its other main facet, represented so well by the gregarious Fuzzies themselves. I would say that there's heavy corporate satire at work in much of the book, but I belive satire is supposed to be an exxageration of the 'real' world, and sadly, I can see a corporation behaving this way if this kind of thing were to happen some day off in the future. Although the book is often a ride of wonder and fun, things can get very heavy and dark at times, including a plot thread dealing with the death of a Fuzzy. The courtroom scenes are a pinnacle of their type, not just for science fiction but for any novel.

An excellent tale; extremely recommended.

What is the definition of a person in law?.......2005-06-16

What happens when an obviously sapient species is discovered on a human colony planet - but the usual rules of thumb used to separate people from animals in law don't apply?

In the Federation, there really isn't a legal definition of sapience, just a handy criterion of talk-and-build-a-fire intended to keep greedy speculators, sadists, and other lowlifes from claiming they couldn't tell that an obviously inhabited planet *was* inhabited. Zarathustra is legally a Class-III planet with no native intelligent species, so the Chartered Zarathustra Company essentially owns it outright, and makes a *lot* of money on its resulting monopoly on sunstones, not to mention a long list of assorted exports the CZC extracts from Zarathustra's virgin ecology.

Then one day Jack Holloway, a freelance sunstone prospector, comes home to find his door open - and a tiny creature, no more than two feet tall and covered in golden fur, in his shower stall. Being an independent-minded bachelor of a certain age doesn't mean one can't get lonely, and Jack's inclined to let the gutsy little guy hang around. Jack names him "Little Fuzzy", and quickly notices that his new friend is bright. So bright that he doesn't need to be shown things twice. So bright that he can generalize.

So bright that he can not only use tools Jack makes for him, but brought some of his own with him.

He and the rest of his hunter-gatherer family just don't seem to be able to talk, and they haven't mastered fire yet. The scientists working for the CZC are soon tasked quietly with "proving" that Fuzzies aren't sapient, and when one group tries to "confiscate" the little family living with Jack, there's a tragedy: Leonard Kellogg stomps one of the female Fuzzies to death, and Jack shoots another of the invaders dead.

The main conflict, though, isn't the shootout but the subsequent pair of criminal cases, which the chief justice of the planet opts to try together almost in the form of a lawsuit since the resolution of either would prejudice the verdict of the other: Leonard Kellogg's trial for the murder of a sapient being, and Jack's trial (where his defence is that he was attempting to prevent someone else's murder). As Jack's lawyer Gus Brannhard puts it, this *is* a lawsuit, in a way, with the CZC's charter hanging in the balance.

Really great story, with a crackerjack legal circus at the end and a lot of Fuzzies throughout (who're much better at having fun than humans are, for all that they're little guys in a very big dangerous world).

IRRELEVANT NOTE: Michael Whelan's Fuzzy cover paintings are famous. However, one point that's sometimes overlooked is that the only human in the group on the cover of *this* book - "Pappy" Jack Holloway - has been depicted by Whelan as a likeness of Piper himself.

An excellent work of science fiction.......2002-10-15

The planet of Zarathustra sleeps quietly, the outright possession of the Chartered Zarathustra Company. However, something is about to wake it up. When Jack Holloway, a lone prospector out in the bush discovers a small humanoid race that might just be sapient, the company trembles. The company's claim to the planet is based on its classification as a Class III uninhabited planet, and the company is too big to be threatened with impunity.

But, the first of the little humanoids (Fuzzies) discovered knows nothing about charters and the law. Little Fuzzy joins Pappy Jack, and discovers a whole new world, a world full of fun and adventure. These are the adventures of Little Fuzzy, and his turning upside-down of a whole world!

This book was originally published in 1962, but is every bit as good today as it was back then. The story starts out a bit slow, but it picks up speed, and by the end you find that you can't put it down! H. Beam Piper was an author whose suicide tragically cut short what would have been a full and brilliant career. If you like good science fiction, set in a realistic and believable milieu, then I highly recommend this book to you.

Worth writing a script about.......2000-04-26

I first read the Fuzzy stories over 30 years ago, at which time I began drafting a screenplay based on the Gashta (Fuzzy) saga. It lay in a notebook until a few months ago when I renewed my commitment to bringing the story of Little Fuzzy to the masses. The script now resides on my laptop where it is being polished while I await word on the legal aspects of carrying out my dream... to see Little Fuzzy join (if not lead) the ranks of Gremlins, Ewoks and other sapient furry beings everywhere. Is the world ready for "Little Fuzzy"? let me hear from you...

There is Little Wrong with "Little Fuzzy".......2000-04-25

Little Fuzzy is written by H. Beam Piper and is the first in a series of many books on the fuzzys. The Plot of the book is simple enough, old man finds little furry people, old man keeps little furry people, old man trys to get little furry people recognized as sapient life forms. If you can get past the first 2 pages of scientific mumbo jumbo that has nothing to do with the story the you will be fine. The book is great! I generaly do not read sci fi, but I made an exception for little fuzzy, and you should to!

Average customer rating:

Same book as Crisis in 2140

Null-ABC
H. Beam Piper
Manufacturer: Wildside Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 1557429200

Book Description

There's some reaction these days that holds scientists responsible for war. Take it one step further: What happens if "book-learnin'" is held responsible...? A startling science fiction novel by H. Beam Piper (author of the classic LITTLE FUZZY) and John J. McGuire!

Customer Reviews:

Same book as Crisis in 2140.......2007-05-06

The is the same book as Crisis in 2140, Copywritten in 1952 as part of an Ace double with Gunner Cade by Cyril Judd. It is badly dated though a quick read and interesting for Piper fans.

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