NOT using the
panel discussions of the most recent World Science Fiction Convention in San Jose,
CA in August 2018 (to which I be unable to go (until I retire from education)),
I would jump off, jump on, rail against, and shamelessly agree with the BRIEF
DESCRIPTION given in the pdf copy of the Program Guide. But not today. This
explanation is reserved for when I dash “off topic”, sometimes reviewing
movies, sometimes reviewing books, and other times taking up the spirit of a
blog an old friend of mine used to keep called THE RANTING ROOM…
Part 2 is here: https://faithandsciencefiction.blogspot.com/2018/12/slice-of-pie-sioux-spaceman-beware_9.html
Part 2 is here: https://faithandsciencefiction.blogspot.com/2018/12/slice-of-pie-sioux-spaceman-beware_9.html
I’m
not certain where the negative reviews came from of Andre (Alice Mary) Norton’s
SIOUX SPACEMAN.
“Having
each member of the trading team come from a different race/ethnicity…not to
mention putting Africo-Venusian…in charge of the base, was probably a pretty
bold move in 1960…her Chinese character…doesn’t really get the chance to break
out of stereotype…Norton also fails to have any women of note; women are
mentioned mainly in the context of battle spoils….A lot of authors would have
written a book in which Kade would end up as central to the Big Plan; in this
book, he’s just a guy who, if he is lucky, might get to be a cog in someone
else’s shiny machine.” – James Nicoll (https://jamesdavisnicoll.com/review/the-cover-is-misleading)
“…Norton
thought that Native Americans could be employed in such ventures because their
ancestry as nomads only a few generations earlier would enable to them to
relate to primitive races on other worlds…This is an idea that, as Norton
presents it, strikes me as racist…Yet, I know that some Native Americans remain
very much in tune with their ancestral customs and traditions, and there might
be some way of capitalizing on that — in a non-racist way. In addition, there
was a version of this employed in World War I and World War II — the “code
talkers” who used Native American languages in transmitting coded messages.” Patrick
T. Reardon (https://patricktreardon.com/book-review-the-sioux-spaceman-by-andre-norton/)
“Norton
doesn't give many specifics, but we learn that on Earth, the white Western
civilization bombed itself into extinction. When civilization rebuilt itself,
the Federation of Tribes emerged as a leader in a world dominated by Native
Americans, Africans, Latinos, and the Chinese…And it works. Sort of. For
reasons I wasn't clear about, the Styor lords decide to slaughter the horses
and murder the human Traders…he's let into a secret: despite the official
Policy of overlooking Styor brutality, there is a centuries-long Plan to
undermine the Styor empire…Would he like to join and spend his life working for
the eventual downfall of the Styor Empire and the freedom for mankind and for
all the peoples of the galaxy? Of course he would.” Stranger Than SF (https://strangerthansf.com/reviews/norton-siouxspaceman.html)
Andre
Norton was “the first woman inducted into the Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall
of Fame, among other awards (twice nominated for Hugo awards). She wrote for
over 70 years having over 300 titles published. I also found it interesting
that like another woman author S. E. Hinton, she was advised to publish under a
male’s name to increase her marketability to young boys, the main consumer of
fantasy…I found that it was well written, with excellent main character
development and well worth my investment of time for an enjoyable read of older
works of science fiction…The plot is, well, just a bit juvenile (after all it
was written with that reader in mind), but is sufficient to keep the reader
engaged.” Jacob at Red Star Reviews (https://redstarreviews.com/2017/05/11/a-word-from-the-father-andre-nortons-the-sioux-spaceman/)
Between
Norton, Nourse, Heinlein, Wollheim, Christopher, Asimov, and others; I started
my journey into science fiction (actually, I started with SPACESHIP UNDER THE
APPLE TREE and THE WONDERFUL FLIGHT TO THE MUSHROOM PLANET, and MISS PICKERLE
GOES TO MARS but I’ve already written about those here: https://faithandsciencefiction.blogspot.com/2012/11/possibly-irritating-essay-how-science.html
and here: https://faithandsciencefiction.blogspot.com/2016/09/possibly-irritating-essay-gateway.html.
I
fell in love with these writers and I work at pulling their books from the shelves
of “withdrawn” books whenever I can, as well as ordering some from online
sources.
My
question today is “Would these books pull today’s teens into SF?”
My
unequivocal answer is: “I’m pretty sure it could!”
The
most recent cover of the book is this one from 1978:
It’s
generic and while it was intended to be the fifth book in a series, all of
which had similar covers, it doesn’t particularly grab you the way these two do:
So,
branding would be necessary.
HOWEVER,
the story holds up. I just finished it and to tell you the truth, I think
whoever owns the estate could easily find a new author to complete the story with
this as first in the series. It’s a fast, powerful read and despite the fact
that there were no females in it AT ALL (Human, Styor, or Ikkinni – at least as
far as we know of the aliens), there’s no reason to think that all females in
the universe are dead or that Norton was embarrassed of being female. (The
WITCH WORLD books argue strongly to the contrary). She was writing to “get boys
to read”.
In
2016, a Guardian headline read, “[Boys] Read Less – And Skip Pages” (https://www.theguardian.com/education/2016/oct/22/the-truth-about-boys-and-books-they-read-less-and-skip-pages).
The trend began – you guessed it – in the 1960s.
I’m
going to end here now, but I’ll back at this next weekend.
Norton
was TRYING to do something about a disturbing trend. I can say that she DID
capture me and turned me into a lifetime reader – of science fiction. And she
was also trying to do something radical for the time – including NON-white main
characters (See above).
So,
for now…later!
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