Jayaprakash Satyamurthy
Knivesout no more
A few weeks back, I was fortunate enough to locate a second-hand copy of Cordwainer Smith's only full-length SF novel, Norstrilia.
Smith (the SF pen name of US foreign policy adviser Paul Linebarger) was one of the most unusual writers to ever grace the genre. In my opinion, he belongs to the ranks of SF's most creative literary and conceptual trail-blazers, like Alfred Bester and Theodore Sturgeon.
His entire opus consists of a few dozen short stories and this novel, all of which are conceptually linked within an over-arcing future history of mankind. A future history is nothing unique in SF - Robert Heinlein did it right in the thick of Campbell's Golden Age, and many other authors, including James Blish and Larry Niven have weighed in with their own future histories.
However, Smith's future history is conceptually the opposite of these, even though it shares the same sweeping expanse and sense of extraploation. Rather than chronicling our outward journey to the stars, Smith examines a far-future human race attempting to rediscover its own humanity.
Smith's style is again unique in SF, and elsewhere. He grew up in China, and his knowledge of Chinese writing found expression in a number of unique literary devices, such as the masterfully ironic preface to Norstrilia that outlines the plot - and then adds that the details follow.
So what is Norstrilia about? To give you a complete background, I'd have to summarise nearly all his short stories first. Suffice it to say that Rod McBan has just inherited the biggest landholding in the planet called Norstrilia - Old North Australia - where ten-ton sheep secrete an immortality drug, called stroon. In a world of telepaths, McBan's own mental powers are wildly erratic and largely dormant. Hounded by powerful enemies, he turns to an old family computer for a way out. And what a way out it is! In one crowded night, McBan, aided by the computer, performs a series of financial maneuvers that make him the richest boy in the universe, and the owner of Manhome, Old Old Earth itself.
He now flees to Earth where he finds various forces working to either preserve or exploit him. Anyone who has read the short stories will have a chance to revisit several old friends here, including C'mell the beautiful cat-derived girly-girl.
The story of how McBan escapes his foes and returns to a safe, prosperous life on his home world encompasses a wealth of fascinating details that play on some very large topics, including the ultimate fate and nature of humanity.
Those details are why you should hunt this book down and read it for yourself - there's the sheer inventiveness - at least one whole new idea each page - the marvellously original and idiosyncratic prose style and, most of all, the memorable characters. There are few SF novels that bear such a weight of literary and conceptual excellence - and are still such fun to read.
Unavailable for long periods of time, the book is now available in its entirety in at least two current editions I know of - one from Gollancz and the other from the NESFA press.
PS I hate it when they retitle books - it's not the first time I've bought one only to discover I already have it under another name.
