"Black Sheep Astray" is a science fiction

short story A short story is a piece of prose fiction that typically can be read in one sitting and focuses on a self-contained incident or series of linked incidents, with the intent of evoking a single effect or mood. The short story is one of the oldest ...

by American writer Mack Reynolds. It is one of thirteen narratives included in the collection'' Astounding: John W. Campbell Memorial Anthology'', a special tribute by ''

Astounding SF ''Analog Science Fiction and Fact'' is an American science fiction magazine published under various titles since 1930. Originally titled ''Astounding Stories of Super-Science'', the first issue was dated January 1930, published by William C ...

''authors to the memory of science fiction and fantasy magazine editor

John W. Campbell John Wood Campbell Jr. (June 8, 1910 – July 11, 1971) was an American science fiction writer and editor. He was editor of ''Astounding Science Fiction'' (later called ''Analog Science Fiction and Fact'') from late 1937 until his death ...

. In terms of plot, "Black Sheep Astray" is the last in a sequence of near-future stories set in

North Africa North Africa, or Northern Africa is a region encompassing the northern portion of the African continent. There is no singularly accepted scope for the region, and it is sometimes defined as stretching from the Atlantic shores of Mauritania in ...

, which also includes ''

Black Man's Burden ''Black Man's Burden'' is a science fiction novel by American writer Mack Reynolds. It is the first in a sequence of near-future stories set in North Africa, which also includes ''Border, Breed nor Birth'' (1962), " Black Sheep Astray" (1973), an ...

'' (1961-2), ''

Border, Breed nor Birth ''Border, Breed nor Birth'' is a science fiction novella by American writer Mack Reynolds. It is the second in a sequence of near-future stories set in North Africa, which also includes '' Black Man's Burden'' (1961-1962), " Black Sheep Astray" ( ...

'' (1962), and ''

The Best Ye Breed ''The Best Ye Breed'' is a science fiction novella by American writer Mack Reynolds. It is the third in a sequence of near-future stories set in North Africa, which also includes ''Black Man's Burden'' (1961-1962), ''Border, Breed nor Birth'' (1 ...

'' (1978). "Black Sheep Astray" and the North Africa series have been called a "notable exception" to the indirect treatment of racial issues in 1960s science fiction magazines.Langford, David, Peter Nicholls, and Brian Stableford.
Race in SF
" ''

The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction ''The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction'' (SFE) is an English language reference work on science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and f ...

'', 3d edition (online). Ed. John Clute, David Langford, and Peter Nicholls. 2012. par. 3. Web.

Plot

Sociologist Dr. Homer Crawford, for many years a

tyrant A tyrant (), in the modern English usage of the word, is an absolute ruler who is unrestrained by law, or one who has usurped a legitimate ruler's sovereignty. Often portrayed as cruel, tyrants may defend their positions by resorting to rep ...

of North and most of Central Africa, under the name of ''El Hassan'', faces a military coup led by his closest supporters, Bey-ag-Akhamouk and Elmer Allen, who believe Crawford is an impediment to Africa's progress because he opposes foreign aid and investment in the region. Promised a pension and safe passage if he submits, Crawford leaves Africa to retire to Switzerland with his wife Isobel and three sons Tom, Cliff, and Abraham. After thwarting an assassination attempt by army officers on board his aeroplane, he makes it safely to Switzerland. Once there, his son Abraham reminds him that many of El Hassan's detractors (who include Abraham himself) were merely responding to his unwillingness to move from a dictatorship to a democratic government. Six months later, a now frustrated semi-alcoholic Crawford learns of a counter-coup in Africa by a dissident army cabal led by his old arch-enemy Abd-el-Kader. Most of the

junta Junta may refer to: Government and military * Junta (governing body) (from Spanish), the name of various historical and current governments and governing institutions, including civil ones ** Military junta, one form of junta, government led by ...

that deposed him have been shot, but Elmer Allen has managed to make it through to meet Crawford in Switzerland. Realizing that Abd-el-Kader will revoke his progressive programs, Crawford decides to contact his closest associates and return to North Africa in disguise. Allen and Abraham decide to accompany him. The group rendezvous with Crawford's associates in an afforestation project in what was Southern Algeria. Crawford reveals that his plan for a counter-coup consists of a guerrilla campaign to divert Abd-el-Kader's troops so that Abraham has time to organize the country's youth to form a new political organization against the ruling colonels. When Abraham expresses surprise at the plan, Crawford explains that his time has passed, and that now it is up to the next generation to revolt against the status quo. In a flashback of his last conversation with Isobel, we learn that Crawford does not believe he will survive the revolution this time around.

Major themes

Black Sheep

As with ''Black Man's Burden'', ''Border, Breed nor Birth'', and ''The Best Ye Breed'', the title "Black Sheep Astray" plays on a Rudyard Kipling poem;Price, George W. "Mack Reynolds and Politics.
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in this case, as the story's epigraph ("We're little black sheep/Who've gone astray,/ Baa-aa-aa!") indicates, on the

refrain A refrain (from Vulgar Latin ''refringere'', "to repeat", and later from Old French ''refraindre'') is the line or lines that are repeated in music or in poetry — the "chorus" of a song. Poetic fixed forms that feature refrains include the vi ...

of " Gentlemen Rankers." A gentleman ranker is a person of privilege who, despite his education, serves as an enlisted man, usually because he has disgraced himself or transgressed his society's mores, and so is considered a "

black sheep In the English language, black sheep is an idiom that describes a member of a group who is different from the rest, especially a family member who does not fit in. The term stems from sheep whose fleece is colored black rather than the more comm ...

The continuous revolution

The need for a continuous and "endless" social revolution against the status quo is a recurrent theme in Reynolds' work (see, for instance, the short story "Utopian"). In "Black Sheep Astray," Crawford's "third world revolution" also becomes a "second generation of continuing revolution" when he acknowledges that the young Abraham and his associates must create their own agenda to solve North Africa's present problems.Smith, Curtis C. ''Welcome to the Revolution: the Literary Legacy of Mack Reynolds''. San Bernardino, CA: Borgo, 1995. 71. (10). (13).

References

External links

*{{isfdb title, id=97587, title=Black Sheep Astray 1973 short stories Science fiction short stories