Tue 1 Aug 2023
A SF Diary Review: JOHN BRUNNER – Born Under Mars.
Posted by Steve under Diary Reviews , Science Fiction & Fantasy[5] Comments
JOHN BRUNNER – Born Under Mars. Ace G-664, paperback original, 1st printing, [October] 1967. Cover art by John Schoenherr. Reprinted several times. Serialized previously in two parts in Amazing Stories, December 1966–February 1967.
Ray Mallin is a Martian, and a space pilot whose last voyage brought him to the attention of three factions. After the colonization of Mars, the stars [?] were settled by two spheres of influence: the Bears in the north, the Centaurs in the south. The third group consists of Earthmen and Martians interested in improving the genetic structure of all mankind.
A stolen baby is the key, and [the way Martian society has developed] provides the means of getting him back again.
The science is that of sociology, The separate distinct cultures did not form by accident. But because certain traits are dominant in a society, [it should not be assumed that] all members of that society have that same trait.
The story itself is dreary, reflecting the dreariness of a stagnant Martian culture. Or is sociology itself not particularly interesting? A standard plot with a good point of view.
Rating: ***½
August 1st, 2023 at 9:15 pm
Brunner could be uneven, often brilliant, but sometimes indifferent more interested in the idea than the story.
August 1st, 2023 at 10:51 pm
Before he won a Hugo for STAND ON ZANZIBAR (1968), Brunner was a terribly prolific writer of what’s commonly (and disparagingly) called space opera, but at the time I enjoyed then a lot, and I read a lot of them, even though I knew that was exactly what they were. (Most of them were halves of Ace Doubles.)
When ZANZIBAR came out to all the acclaim that it did, it was hard for me to believe. He’d gone too far too fast for me. I tried to read it, several times, but I never got very far into it. (I realize that I am telling you my own limitations.) When the so-called “New Wave” came along, I kind of drifted away from science fiction for a while, and I never read much by John Brunner after that.
Maybe I ought to try, and from both before ZANZIBAR and after. If I do, you’ll read about it here, on this very same blog.
August 2nd, 2023 at 1:15 am
From Wikipedia:
Science fiction and fantasy novels
Galactic Storm (1951) (as Gill Hunt)
Threshold of Eternity, Ace D-335 (1959)
The 100th Millennium, Ace D-362 (1959); based on “Earth Is But a Star”, revised as Catch a Falling Star, Ace G-761 (1968)
Echo in the Skull, Ace D-385 (1959); revised as Give Warning to the World, DAW 112 (1974)
The World Swappers, Ace D-391 (1959)
The Brink, Gollancz (1959)
Slavers of Space, Ace D-421 (1960); revised as Into the Slave Nebula, Lancer (1968)
The Skynappers, Ace D-457 (1960)
The Atlantic Abomination, Ace D-465 (1960)
Sanctuary in the Sky, Ace D-471 (1960)
I Speak for Earth, Ace D-497 (1961) (as Keith Woodcott)
Meeting at Infinity, Ace D-507 (1961)
Secret Agent of Terra, Ace F-133 (1962); revised as The Avengers of Carrig, Dell (1969). Book 1 of the “Zarathustra Refugee Planets” series.
The Super Barbarians, Ace D-547 (1962)
The Ladder in the Sky, Ace F-141 (1962) (as Keith Woodcott)
The Dreaming Earth, Pyramid F-829 (1963); revision of 1961 serial “Put Down This Earth”
The Psionic Menace, Ace F-199 (1963) (as Keith Woodcott)
Listen! The Stars!, Ace F-215 (1963); revised as The Stardroppers, DAW 23 (1972)
The Astronauts Must Not Land, Ace F-227 (1963); revised in 1973 as More Things in Heaven, Dell (1973)
The Space-Time Juggler, Ace F-227 (1963); also published as The Wanton of Argus
Castaways’ World, Ace F-242 (1963); revised as Polymath, DAW UQ1089 (1974). Book 2 of the “Zarathustra Refugee Planets” series.
The Rites of Ohe, Ace F-242 (1963)
To Conquer Chaos, Ace F-277 (1964), DAW 422 (1981)
Endless Shadow, Ace F-299 (1964); revised as Manshape, DAW 498, (1982)
The Whole Man, Ballantine (1964); also published as Telepathist, Faber and Faber (1965)
The Martian Sphinx, Ace F-320 (1965) (as Keith Woodcott)
Enigma from Tantalus, Ace M-115 (1965)
The Repairmen of Cyclops, Ace M-115 (1965). Book 3 of the “Zarathustra Refugee Planets” series.
The Altar on Asconel, Ace M-123 (1965) (serialised as “The Altar at Asconel”)
The Day of the Star Cities, Ace F-361 (1965); revised as Age of Miracles, Ace (1973), Sidgwick & Jackson (1973)
The Long Result, Faber & Faber (1965), Ballantine U2329 (1966), Penguin 2804 (1968)
The Squares of the City, Ballantine (1965), Penguin 2686 (1969)
A Planet of Your Own, Ace G-592 (1966)
The Productions of Time, Signet (1967), Penguin 3141 (1970), DAW 261 (1977)
Born Under Mars, Ace G-664 (1967)
Quicksand, Doubleday (1967), Bantam S4212 (1969), DAW 1245 (1976)
Bedlam Planet, Ace G-709 (1968), Del Rey (1982)
Stand on Zanzibar, Doubleday (1968), Ballantine 01713 (1969), Arrow (1971), Millennium (1999), Orb (2011)
The Evil That Men Do, Belmont (1969)
Double, Double, Ballantine 72019 (1969)
The Jagged Orbit, Ace Special (1969), Sidgwick & Jackson (1970), DAW 570 (1984), Gollancz (2000)
Timescoop, Dell 8916 (1969), Sidgwick & Jackson (2972), DAW 599 (1984)
The Gaudy Shadows, Constable (1970), Beagle (9171)
The Wrong End of Time, Doubleday (1971), DAW 61 (1973)
The Dramaturges of Yan [uk], Ace (1972), New English Library (1974), Del Rey (1982)
The Sheep Look Up, Harper & Row (1972), Ballantine (1973), Quartet (1977)
The Stone That Never Came Down, Doubleday (1973), DAW 133 (1984), New English Library (1976)
Total Eclipse, Doubleday (1974), DAW 162 (1975), Orbit (1976)
Web of Everywhere, Bantam (1974), New English Library (1977). Also published as The Webs of Everywhere, Del Rey (1983)
The Shockwave Rider, Harper & Row (1975), Ballantine (1976), Orbit (1977)
The Infinitive of Go, Del Rey (1980), Magnum (1981)
Players at the Game of People, Del Rey (1980)
The Crucible of Time, Del Rey (1983), Arrow (1984)
The Tides of Time, Del Rey (1984), Penguin (1986)
The Shift Key, Methuen (1987)
Children of the Thunder, Del Rey (1989), Orbit (1990)
A Maze of Stars, Del Rey (1991)
Muddle Earth, Del Rey (1993)
Spy
Max Curfew Series[8]
A Plague on Both Your Causes, Hodder & Stoughton (1969). Also published as Backlash, Pyramid T-2107 (1969)
Good Men Do Nothing, Hodder & Stoughton (1971), Pyramid T2443 (1971)
Honky in the Woodpile, Constable (1971)
Collections
No Future in It, Gollancz (1962). Doubleday (1964), Panther (1965), Curtis (1969)
Times Without Number, Ace F-161 (1962); revised and expanded Ace (1969)
Now Then!, Mayflower-Dell (1965). Also published as Now Then, Avon (1968)
No Other Gods But Me, Compact F317 (1966)
Out of My Mind, Ballantine (1967); abridged variant, NEL (1968)
Not Before Time, NEL (1968)
The Traveler in Black, Ace Special (1971); revised and expanded by one story as The Compleat Traveller in Black, Bluejay (1986)
From This Day Forward, Doubleday (1972), DAW 72 (1973)
Entry to Elsewhen, DAW 26 (1972)
Time-Jump, Dell (1973)
The Book of John Brunner, DAW 177 (1976)
Interstellar Empire, DAW 208 (1976); a collection of a novella and two “Ace Double” halves: The Altar on Asconel, “The Man from the Big Dark” and The Space-Time Juggler (under the title of The Wanton of Argus)
Foreign Constellations, Everest House (1980)
The Best of John Brunner, Del Rey (1988)
Victims of the Nova, Arrow (1989). Complete Zarathustra Refugee Planets series. Omnibus of Polymath, Secret Agent of Terra and The Repairmen of Cyclops
The Man Who Was Secrett and Other Stories, Ramble House (2013)
August 2nd, 2023 at 7:01 pm
If you never read it SQUARES OF THE CITY is a very good Brunner novel that works as a thriller and SF.
August 2nd, 2023 at 9:21 pm
Of Brunner’s pre-1969 career, I haven’t read half of them, but close to it. I remember buying SQUARES OF THE CITY brand new when it first came out, intending to start reading it the next day but I didn’t nor the day after that, and it’s still in a box somewhere, never once been opened.
A sad story, I know, but true.