Cordwainer Smith: Short Fiction

Paul Linebarger

★★★★☆

Not so much a thematic collection as the three stories that have both entered into the public domain and already been transcribed at Project Gutenberg.

All three are solidly in the “here’s a weird idea” vein of science-fiction. Plot and characterization are just enough to explore, or at least express, the concept.

War No. 81-Q

Short, bird’s eye view of a “war” fought entirely using remote controlled drones…on a designated battlefield with a time limit, like a tournament, with spectators. So you want to settle your international disputes with violence. Why harm actual people?

Scanners Live In Vain

This came up in Analee Newitz’ recent book, Stories are Weapons, in part because Smith, under his real name of Paul Linebarger, literally wrote the book on Psychological Warfare. (Yes, Gutenberg has that one too!) Newitz draws a direct connection between the way a science-fiction story shows you the key elements of an alternate world, letting you connect the dots so the ideas feel more natural, and the way psy-ops do the same thing.

The story itself is very much worth reading. The main character is a “scanner,” a man who has had all his senses and emotional centers surgically cut off so that he can endure the “pain of space,” a neurological effect that prevents normal people from traveling across deep space except in suspended animation. Between missions, they can use a wire to literally reconnect to their humanity for short periods of time. He’s called up for an emergency meeting while “cranched,” a meeting that calls the scanners’ whole purpose into question. And he’s the only one there who’s in a state to understand how disastrously people would react to the course of action they choose.

I still think “cranch” sounds like an unholy combination of cranberry and ranch dressing, though.

The Game of Rat and Dragon

Not as serious a story as “Scanners…” but fun and still thought-provoking.

There’s something malevolent out in interstellar space preying on our starships. Something disrupted by bright flashes of light, but only detectable by telepaths – and it’s faster than human reflexes. Fortunately, not all telepaths are human.

This one starts off being very coy about the “Partners,” but manages to avoid “tomato surprise” territory by making the big reveal in the middle of the story, at the point where exposition gives way to plot. Let’s just say that Smith was a cat person.