Randall Garrett
Today, December 16, marks a number of birthdays, but I want to focus on one, Randall Garrett’s, and mention two others, Arthur C. Clarke’s and Phillip K. Dick’s.
Garrett (b. 1927) is a particular favorite of mine. He wrote both novels and short stories, as well as reviews of classic science fiction in poetry form. Garrett isn’t well remembered today, and to the extent that he is, he’s known for the Lord Darcy stories, which mix magic and mystery in an alternate timeline.
The two stories I want to look at today are “Despoilers of the Golden Empire” and “The Horror Out of Time”. “Despoilers” was written as a result of one of John W. Campbell’s (in)famous challenges, specifically whether there had been supermen in the past. Campbell maintained that there was historical evidence to support that suppositions.
The result was “Despoilers of the Golden Empire”. It concerns a man in a society in which gold is the ultimate form of power. The man leads an expedition to a place he believes is full of gold. Because he is low on funds, he takes off without a complete crew. The story concerns the trials the man and his soldiers encounter as they try to bring down an empire and steal the gold. Garrett handles the combat scenes well. The last line puts a different spin on what came before, especially the names of some of the characters. I’ll be researching the basis of this one.
“Despoilers of the Golden Empire” was first published in the March 1959 issue of Astounding Science Fiction and most recently appeared in the Randall Garrett Megapack.
The next story, “The Horror Out of Time”, is a Lovecraftian pastiche that can hold its own with the best of them. After a volcanic eruption causes an island to rise from the sea floor, and a young man on a passing ship takes advantage of the opportunity to explore while the crew makes some repairs. He finds a fortress that was used as a temple, complete with altar. The theological implications of the last line are something I’m going to be thinking about for a while. I’m not sure how I feel about the twist at the end.
“The Horror Out of Time” was published in the March 1978 issue of F&SF. Its most recent appearance was in Acolytes of Cthulhu, edited by Robert M. Price.
Arthur C. Clarke (b. 1917) is well-known and needs no introduction. I didn’t read any of his work today, but I am wanting to work one or two of his novels into the queue. I read The Fountains of Paradise in middle school and am thinking about rereading it.
Phillip K. Dick
The other significant birthday today is that of Phillip K. Dick (b. 1928). Again, I didn’t read any of his work. I’ve got a healthy selection of his novels and short stories, and I’m planning on reading some later this week.
A number of his works have been adapted to film, to varying degrees of success. The best-known of these are Bladerunner, which was based on the novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? and The Man in the High Castle, currently running as an on-going series. My favorite novel of his (that I’ve read) is Time Out of Joint.
Dick was a master of the they’re-out-to-get-me school of fiction, where reality was always somewhat fluid. It’s been a number of years since I’ve read any of his work, and I’d like to revisit it.
That original appearance of “Despoilers” in Astounding was accompanied by a letter by Garrett (in the magazine’s letter column). That explained Garrett’s liberties in telling the tale as if it were written for Planet Stories. Does your reprint copy have that letter?
No! Just an afterward of Garrett relating his conversation with Campbell that inspired him to write it. I wasn’t aware of the letter. Thanks for the heads-up. I’ll check my collection, and if I don’t have that issue, I’ll look for it on archive.org. And the story does read like it was written for Planet Stories. Which is probably why I enjoyed it so much.