Henry Beam Piper (March 23, 1904 – ) was an American

science fiction writer This is a list of noted science-fiction authors (in alphabetical order): A *Dafydd ab Hugh (born 1960) *Alexander Abasheli (1884–1954) *Edwin Abbott Abbott (1838–1926) *Kōbō Abe (1924–1993) *Robert Abernathy (1924–1990) *Dan Abne ...

. He wrote many short stories and several novels. He is best known for his extensive Terro-Human Future History series of stories and a shorter series of "Paratime"

alternate history Alternate history (also alternative history, althist, AH) is a genre of speculative fiction of stories in which one or more historical events occur and are resolved differently than in real life. As conjecture based upon historical fact, altern ...

tales. He wrote under the name H. Beam Piper. Another source gives his name as "Horace Beam Piper" and a different date of death. His gravestone says "Henry Beam Piper". Piper himself may have been the source of part of the confusion; he told people the H stood for Horace, encouraging the assumption that he used the initial because he disliked his name. On a copy of ''Little Fuzzy'' given to Charles O. Piper, Beam's cousin and executor, he wrote "To Charles from Henry."

Biography

Piper was largely self-educated; he obtained his knowledge of

science Science is a systematic endeavor that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe. Science may be as old as the human species, and some of the earliest archeological evidence for ...

and

history History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the History of writing#Inventions of writing, invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbr ...

"without subjecting myself to the ridiculous misery of four years in the uncomfortable confines of a

raccoon coat A raccoon coat is a full-length fur coat made of raccoon pelts, which became a fashion fad in the United States during the 1920s. Such coats were particularly popular with male college students in the middle and later years of the decade. Pur ...

." He went to work at age 18 as a laborer at the

Pennsylvania Railroad The Pennsylvania Railroad (reporting mark PRR), legal name The Pennsylvania Railroad Company also known as the "Pennsy", was an American Class I railroad that was established in 1846 and headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was named ...

's Altoona yards in Altoona, Pennsylvania. He also worked as a night watchman for the railroad. Piper published his first short story, "Time and Time Again", in 1947 in ''

Astounding Science Fiction ''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 ...

''; it was adapted for the radio program '' Dimension X'' and first broadcast in 1951, and was re-produced for '' X Minus One'' in 1956. He was primarily a short story author until 1961, when he made a productive, if short-lived, foray into novels. He collected guns and wrote one

mystery Mystery, The Mystery, Mysteries or The Mysteries may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Fictional characters *Mystery, a cat character in ''Emily the Strange'' Films * ''Mystery'' (2012 film), a 2012 Chinese drama film * ''Mystery'' ( ...

, '' Murder in the Gunroom''. In 1964, his career apparently on the skids, and prevented by reticence and his libertarian principles from asking anyone to assist him with his financial difficulties, Piper committed suicide. The exact date of his death is unknown; the last entry in his diary was dated November 5 ("Rain 0930"), and according to his Pennsylvania death certificate his body was found on November 8. According to Jerry Pournelle's introduction to '' Little Fuzzy'', Piper shut off all the utilities to his apartment, put painter's drop-cloths over the walls and floor, and took his own life with a handgun from his collection. In his suicide note, he gave an explanation that "I don't like to leave messes when I go away, but if I could have cleaned up any of this mess, I wouldn't be going away. H. Beam Piper." Some biographers attribute his act to financial problems, others to family problems; Pournelle wrote that Piper felt burdened by financial hardships in the wake of a divorce, and the mistaken perception that his career was foundering (his agent had died without notifying him of multiple sales). Editor

George H. Scithers George H. Scithers (May 14, 1929 – April 19, 2010) was an American science fiction science fiction fandom, fan, science fiction author, author and editor. A long-time member of the World Science Fiction Society, he published a Science fiction ...

, who knew Piper socially, has stated that Piper wanted to spite the ex-wife he despised: by killing himself, Piper voided his

life insurance Life insurance (or life assurance, especially in the Commonwealth of Nations) is a contract between an insurance policy holder and an insurer or assurer, where the insurer promises to pay a designated beneficiary a sum of money upon the death ...

policy, and prevented her from collecting. An unpublished story, "Only the Arquebus", was missing after his suicide; it is probable that he destroyed it along with many of his personal papers. His output was eventually purchased by Ace Science Fiction and reprinted in a set of paperbacks in the early 1980s. Many of these have since gone out of print, though his two best-known arcs were again reprinted by Ace in 1998 and 2001. Late in his career, Piper corresponded with Pournelle, who was the Ace editor who helped reprint some of his novels. Many of his earlier copyrights have been allowed to lapse, permitting

Project Gutenberg Project Gutenberg (PG) is a Virtual volunteering, volunteer effort to digitize and archive cultural works, as well as to "encourage the creation and distribution of eBooks." It was founded in 1971 by American writer Michael S. Hart and is the ...

to distribute his work online.

Themes and hallmarks

Piper's stories fall into two groups: stark

space opera Space opera is a subgenre of science fiction that emphasizes space warfare, with use of melodramatic, risk-taking space adventures, relationships, and chivalric romance. Set mainly or entirely in outer space, it features technological and soci ...

, such as '' Space Viking'', or stories of cultural conflict or misunderstanding, such as ''Little Fuzzy'' or the ''Paratime'' stories. A running theme in his work is that history repeats itself; past events will have direct and clear analogues in the future. The novel ''Uller Uprising'' is the clearest example of this, being based on the Sepoy Mutiny. A similar example is the very title of ''Space Viking'', although the novel is not a direct reinterpretation of a specific historical precedent. A later theme in the book involves the takeover of a planet in a manner reminiscent of the rise of Adolf Hitler. Piper's characterization was rooted in the notion of the self-reliant man, able to take care of himself and both willing and able to tackle any situation that might arise. This is exemplified in a bit of dialogue in his

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 ...

"Oomphel in the Sky" (1960):

He actually knows what has to be done and how to do it, and he's going right ahead and doing it, without holding a dozen conferences and round-table discussions and giving everybody a fair and equal chance to foul things up for him.

As a result, his stories tend towards the heroic, and the conflict is usually driven externally. Piper was interested in general semantics. It is explicitly mentioned in '' Murder in the Gunroom'', and its principles, such as awareness of the limitations of knowledge, are apparent in his later work.

Major storylines

Terro-Human Future History

The Terro-Human Future History is Piper's detailed account of the next 6,000 years of human history. 1942, the year the first fission reactor was constructed, is defined as the year 1 A.E. (Atomic Era). In 1973, a

nuclear war Nuclear warfare, also known as atomic warfare, is a theoretical military conflict or prepared political strategy that deploys nuclear weaponry. Nuclear weapons are weapons of mass destruction; in contrast to conventional warfare, nuclear w ...

devastates the planet, eventually laying the groundwork for the emergence of a Terran Federation, once humanity goes into space and develops antigravity technology. The story "The Edge of the Knife" (collected in ''

Empire An empire is a "political unit" made up of several territories and peoples, "usually created by conquest, and divided between a dominant center and subordinate peripheries". The center of the empire (sometimes referred to as the metropole) ex ...

'') occurs slightly before the war, and involves a man who sees flashes of the future. It links many key elements of Piper's series. Most of the stories take place during the next millennium, during the age of the two Federations. Most notable among these novels are the three Fuzzy novels (starting with '' Little Fuzzy''), which concern the recognition of a peculiar alien species as sapient, and the efforts of the two species to learn to live together on the Fuzzies' home world of Zarathustra. The Federation collapses in the System States War and following Interstellar Wars (a bit of which can be seen in '' The Cosmic Computer''), leading to a lengthy

interregnum An interregnum (plural interregna or interregnums) is a period of discontinuity or "gap" in a government, organization, or social order. Archetypally, it was the period of time between the reign of one monarch and the next (coming from Latin '' ...

, during which there is no central human power. '' Space Viking'' is set in this chaotic period. The interregnum ends with the founding of the first Empire. At least five empires rule humanity during the next four thousand years, but only a handful of short stories (collected in ''

'') depict this period. Piper generally portrays these empires as benign, ruled by

enlightened despot Enlightened absolutism (also called enlightened despotism) refers to the conduct and policies of European absolute monarchs during the 18th and early 19th centuries who were influenced by the ideas of the Enlightenment, espousing them to enhance ...

s. Piper's future history resembles in some ways

Isaac Asimov yi, יצחק אזימאװ , birth_date = , birth_place = Petrovichi, Russian SFSR , spouse = , relatives = , children = 2 , death_date = , death_place = Manhattan, New York City, U.S. , nationality = Russian (1920–1922)Soviet (192 ...

's ''

Foundation Trilogy The ''Foundation'' series is a science fiction book series written by American author Isaac Asimov. First published as a series of short stories in 1942–50, and subsequently in three collections in 1951–53, for thirty years the series was ...

'', and was probably influenced by it, especially since both authors wrote for

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 ...

Paratime

A much shorter series of

stories is Piper's Paratime sequence, collected in ''Paratime'', followed by the novel ''Lord Kalvan of Otherwhen''. These stories concern the Paratime Police, a law enforcement outfit from a parallel world which has learned how to move between timelines. They jealously guard the secret, even as they mine other worlds for their resources. Notably, it appears that humans are in fact Martian refugees who escaped a calamity on their home planet and migrated to Earth. Unlike many alternate histories, these stories tend to focus on points of divergence far back in the past. For instance, ''Lord Kalvan'' involves a police officer who is accidentally transported to a world where the ancestors of modern Europeans failed to move into Europe. Instead, the nomadic tribes migrated across Asia and into North America. The people living on the eastern coast of North America in this novel settled the area from the west, and still live in a medieval society. Many readers point towards the short story "Genesis" (anthologized in '' The Worlds of H. Beam Piper'') to suggest that the Terro-Human Future History universe is in fact an alternate world in the Paratime universe, where the Martians' escape from Mars resulted in their forgetting their heritage and having to start over. However, in several letters to friends and in an article published in a fan magazine, Piper himself listed the true Paratime stories, and he never identified "Genesis" as one. On the other hand, "He Walked Around The Horses" is referenced in "Police Operation" so that is a sidebar story to the series. By the same token, in spite of Piper's lack of explicit stipulation, "

Omnilingual "Omnilingual" is a science fiction short story by American writer H. Beam Piper. Originally published in the February 1957 issue of ''Astounding Science Fiction'', it focuses on the problem of archaeology on an alien culture. Synopsis An expeditio ...

" (1957) — which concerns a near-future scientific expedition to Mars under the aegis of an international Earth government — may also be a Paratime story. The scientists and scholars involved in this effort are found ''

in medias res A narrative work beginning ''in medias res'' (, "into the middle of things") opens in the midst of the plot (cf. ''ab ovo'', ''ab initio''). Often, exposition is bypassed and filled in gradually, through dialogue, flashbacks or description of pa ...

'' excavating the ruins of the advanced human civilization which had been gradually destroyed on the fourth planet some 50,000 years before. In "Omnilingual" there is no mention of the northern hemisphere's thermonuclear devastation as a result of the

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...

Communist Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a s ...

"cold war" kindled into an orgy of

extermination Extermination or exterminate may refer to: * Pest control, elimination of insects or vermin * Genocide, extermination—in whole or in part—of an ethnic, racial, religious, or national group * Homicide or murder in general * "Exterminate!", t ...

by the impact of an antimatter meteorite, which was detailed by Piper in his story "The Answer" (1959). Throughout the Terro-Human Future History, that conflict and the destruction wrought across the nations of the

First First or 1st is the ordinal form of the number one (#1). First or 1st may also refer to: *World record, specifically the first instance of a particular achievement Arts and media Music * 1$T, American rapper, singer-songwriter, DJ, and rec ...

and Second Worlds is pervasive as an explanation of the precise manner in which the home planet's culture (by way of South America, Australia, and South Africa in particular) comes to influence the planets of Piper's Federation and Empire.

Published works

Terro-Human Future History

Federation series

* ''Uller Uprising'' (1952) (refers to the 1983 edition) * ''Four-Day Planet'' (1961) (refers to the 1981 edition: ''Four-Day Planet/Lone Star planet'') * ''The Cosmic Computer'' (1963, originally ''Junkyard Planet'') (refers to the 1983 edition.) Based on the short story "Graveyard of Dreams", published in ''Galaxy Magazine'' February 1958. * '' Space Viking'' (1963) (refers to the 1983 edition) * ''

Federation A federation (also known as a federal state) is a political entity characterized by a union of partially self-governing provinces, states, or other regions under a central federal government (federalism). In a federation, the self-governin ...

'' (1981) * ''

'' (1981) (refers to the May 1983 Mass Market Paperback Ed.)

Fuzzy series

# '' Little Fuzzy'' (1962) , # ''Fuzzy Sapiens'' (1964, originally ''The Other Human Race'') # ''Fuzzies and Other People'' (1984)

Collection

* ''The Complete Fuzzy'' (1998) (pbk.)--collecting ''Little Fuzzy'', ''Fuzzy Sapiens'', and ''Fuzzies and other People''. * ''The Fuzzy Papers'' (September 1980) (pbk.) --collecting ''Little Fuzzy'' and ''Fuzzy Sapiens''. * ''The Fuzzy Papers'' (?) ISBN ? (hdbk.)--collecting ''Little Fuzzy'' and ''Fuzzy Sapiens''.

Paratime

* ''Paratime'' (1981) * ''The Complete Paratime'' (2001) * ''

Lord Kalvan of Otherwhen ''Lord Kalvan of Otherwhen'' is a 1965 science fiction novel by American writer H. Beam Piper; it is part of his Paratime series of stories, and was expanded by John F. Carr to form the Kalvan series (with some installments co-written by Carr a ...

'' (1965, reprinted 1984), . * Short stories: "

Last Enemy "Last Enemy" is a science fiction short story by American writer H. Beam Piper, and is a part of his Paratime The Paratime series written by H. Beam Piper and subsequently by John F. Carr consists of several short stories, one novella, and o ...

"; "Time Crime" in two parts; "Temple Trouble"; "Police Operation"; and according to some, "Genesis". "He Walked Around The Horses" is referenced in "Police Operation" so that is a sidebar story to the tale.

Other novels

* '' Murder in the Gunroom'' (1953, not science fiction but rather a murder

) * ''Crisis In 2140'' (1957, with

John J. McGuire John Joseph McGuire (August 25, 1917, in Altoona, Pennsylvania – August 1, 1981) was an American author of science fiction. He frequently wrote with H. Beam Piper Henry Beam Piper (March 23, 1904 – ) was an American science fiction writ ...

A Planet for Texans ''A Planet for Texans'' (also published as ''Lone Star Planet'') is a science-fiction novel written by Henry Beam Piper and John Joseph McGuire. It was first published in the March 1957 issue of ''Fantastic Universe'' as ''Lone Star Planet'' an ...

'') with

. The work is a clear and obvious tribute to H.L. Mencken's essay
The Malevolent Jobholder
(from ''The American Mercury'', June 1924), in which Mencken proposed

...that it shall be no longer ''
malum in se ''Malum in se'' (plural ''mala in se'') is a Latin phrase meaning ''wrong'' or ''evil in itself''. The phrase is used to refer to conduct assessed as sinful or inherently wrong by nature, independent of regulations governing the conduct. It is di ...
'' for a citizen to pummel, cowhide, kick, gouge, cut, wound, bruise, maim, burn, club,
bastinado Foot whipping, falanga/falaka or bastinado is a method of inflicting pain and humiliation by administering a beating on the soles of a person's bare feet. Unlike most types of flogging, it is meant more to be painful than to cause actual injury ...
, flay, or even lynch a overnmentjobholder, and that it shall be '' malum prohibitum'' only to the extent that the punishment exceeds the jobholder's deserts. The amount of this excess, if any, may be determined very conveniently by a petit jury, as other questions of guilt are now determined.

In 1999, the novel won the Prometheus Award, Hall of Fame Award for Best Classic Libertarian SF Novel. This tongue-in-cheek tale features a planet of Texans whose dinosaur-sized cattle have to be herded with tanks, and whose system of government derives its character from Mencken's essay. The protagonist is an insubordinate junior diplomat who is appointed as ambassador to this cantankerously independent planet in the hope that he will be assassinated (as the previous ambassador had been), thereby justifying the forcible invasion and conquest of the Texans. The crux of the story is the trial of the previous ambassador's assassins—actually paid killers hired by an alien empire also planning invasion—under a legal system that considers the killing of a practicing politician to be justifiable homicide. * ''First Cycle'' (1982,

Michael Kurland Michael Joseph Kurland (born March 1, 1938) is an American author, best known for his works of science fiction and detective fiction. Kurland lives in San Luis Obispo, California. Writing career Kurland's early career was devoted to works of sc ...

expanded this from a Piper outline)

Short stories

* " The Answer" (1959) * "Crossroads of Destiny" (1959) *
Day of the Moron
(1951) * "Dearest" (1951) * "The Edge of the Knife" (1957) * "Flight From Tomorrow" (1950) * "Genesis" (1951) *
Graveyard of Dreams
(1958) * "

He Walked Around the Horses "He Walked Around the Horses" is a science fiction short story by American writer H. Beam Piper. It is initially based on the true story of diplomat Benjamin Bathurst, who mysteriously disappeared in 1809. It was first published in the April 1948 ...

" (1948), published in Kingsley Amis, ''The Golden Age of Science Fiction'' (1981) * "Hunter Patrol" (1959, with

) (1959) * " The Keeper" (1957) * "

" (1950) * "The Mercenaries" (1950) * "Ministry of Disturbance" (with John J. McGuire) (1958) * "Naudsonce" (1962) * "

" (1957) * "Oomphel in the Sky" (1960) * "Operation R.S.V.P." (1951) * "Police Operation" (1948) * "Rebel Raider" (1950) * "

The Return The Return may refer to: Print media * ''Nostoi'' or ''Returns'', a lost poem in ancient Greek, thought to have been completed in the sixth or seventh century BC *The Return, a 1987 children book by Sonia Levitin * ''The Return'' (de la Mare n ...

" (1954) (with John J. McGuire) * "The Return" (1960) (with John J. McGuire) expanded version of the original * "A Slave is a Slave" (1962) * "Temple Trouble" (1951) * "Time and Time Again" (1947) * "Time Crime" (1955) * " When in the Course—" (1981)

Collections

* '' The Worlds of H. Beam Piper'' (1983)

Piper's Fuzzies in books by other authors

* ''Fuzzy Bones'', by

William Tuning Orville William Tuning (June 21, 1935 in Ottumwa, Iowa – April 18, 1982 in Santa Barbara, Californiahttp://www.sfbooklist.co.uk/authorst.htmwas an American author of science fiction and a member of the Society for Creative Anachronism (SCA). He ...

- Sequel to ''Little Fuzzy & Fuzzy Sapiens'' 1981 * ''Golden Dream'', by Ardath Mayhar - based on works by H. Beam Piper &

1982 * ''Fuzzy Nation'', by

John Scalzi John Michael Scalzi II (born May 10, 1969) is an American science fiction author and former president of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America. He is best known for his ''Old Man's War'' series, three novels of which have been nom ...

* '' Fuzzy Ergo Sum'', by Wolfgang Diehr * ''Caveat Fuzzy'', by Wolfgang Diehr (A sequel to ''Fuzzy Ergo Sum'') * ''The Fuzzy Conundrum'', by

John F. Carr John Francis Carr (born December 25, 1944) is an American science fiction editor and writer as well as the executor of the literary estate of H. Beam Piper. Career Carr was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and raised in San Diego, California ...

and Wolfgang Diehr

Piper's "Terro-Human History" books by other authors

* ''The Last Space Viking'', by

and Mike Robertson * ''Space Viking's Throne'', by

(A sequel to the ''Last Space Viking'') * ''The Way of the Sword-Worlds'', by

(A prequel to '' Space Viking'' involving Otto Harkaman, coming in 2021) * '' Return of Space Viking'', by

(A direct sequel to ''Space Viking'', confirmed by the author for late 2021 and is the long-awaited book once announced by '' Jerry Pournelle'') * ''Rise of the Terran Federation'', Edited by

(A new anthology due in 2016) * ''Cosmic Computer Legacy: The Tides of Chaos'', by Dietmar Wehr (A sequel to ''Cosmic Computer'') * ''Space Viking Legacy: The Tanith Gambit'', by Dietmar Wehr (A sequel to ''Space Viking'' released as an ebook in 2013) * ''Space Viking Legacy: Book II: The Loki Gambit'', by Dietmar Wehr (released as an ebook in 2013) * ''Prince of Tanith: A Space Viking Novel (The Tanith Series)by Terry Mancour (A sequel to ''Space Viking'' on Amazon Kindle) * ''Princess Valerie's War: A Space Viking Novel (The Tanith Series Book II) by Terry Mancour on Amazon Kindle

"Paratime" books by other authors

* ''Great King's War,'' by

and Roland Green * ''Kalvan Kingmaker'', by

* ''The Siege of Tos-Hostigos'', by

* ''The Fireseed Wars'', by

* ''Gunpowder God'', by

* ''The Hos-Bletha Affair'', by

and Wolfgang Diehr ''The Paratime Trilogy'' * ''Time Crime'', by H. Beam Piper and

(Carr expanded the previous novella with a third act)

References

Jo Walton Jo Walton (born 1964) is a Welsh and Canadian fantasy and science fiction writer and poet. She is best known for the fantasy novel ''Among Others'', which won the Hugo Award, Hugo and Nebula Awards in 2012, and ''Tooth and Claw (novel), Tooth ...

Lengthy commentary/analysis by Joseph T Major on ''Space Viking''.
*

by Bud Webster
The Cosmic Computer
a
Standard Ebooks

The H. Beam Piper Memorial Site

Books by Piper, H. Beam
Project Gutenberg. {{DEFAULTSORT:Piper, H. Beam 1904 births 1964 deaths 1964 suicides 20th-century American male writers 20th-century American novelists 20th-century American short story writers American alternate history writers American male novelists American male short story writers American science fiction writers Novelists from Pennsylvania People from Altoona, Pennsylvania Pulp fiction writers Suicides by firearm in Pennsylvania

Biography

Themes and hallmarks

Major storylines

Terro-Human Future History

Paratime

Published works

Terro-Human Future History

Federation series

Fuzzy series

Collection

Paratime

Other novels

Short stories

Collections

Piper's Fuzzies in books by other authors

Piper's "Terro-Human History" books by other authors

"Paratime" books by other authors

References

External links