The Berserker series is a series of space opera

Space opera

Space opera is a subgenre of science fiction that emphasizes romantic, often melodramatic adventure, set mainly or entirely in outer space, generally involving conflict between opponents possessing advanced technologies and abilities. The term has no relation to music and it is analogous to "soap...

 science fiction

Science fiction

Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...

 short stories

Short story

A short story is a work of fiction that is usually written in prose, often in narrative format. This format tends to be more pointed than longer works of fiction, such as novellas and novels. Short story definitions based on length differ somewhat, even among professional writers, in part because...

 and novel

Novel

A novel is a book of long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella. The latter supplied the present generic term in the late 18th century....

s by Fred Saberhagen

Fred Saberhagen

Fred Thomas Saberhagen was an American science fiction and fantasy author most famous for his Berserker series of science fiction short stories and S.F...

, in which robotic self-replicating machine

Self-replicating machine

A self-replicating machine is an artificial construct that is theoretically capable of autonomously manufacturing a copy of itself using raw materials taken from its environment, thus exhibiting self-replication in a way analogous to that found in nature. The concept of self-replicating machines...

s intend to destroy all life. These Berserkers, named after the human berserker

Berserker

Berserkers were Norse warriors who are reported in the Old Norse literature to have fought in a nearly uncontrollable, trance-like fury, a characteristic which later gave rise to the English word berserk. Berserkers are attested in numerous Old Norse sources...

 warriors of Norse legend

Norse mythology

Norse mythology, a subset of Germanic mythology, is the overall term for the myths, legends and beliefs about supernatural beings of Norse pagans. It flourished prior to the Christianization of Scandinavia, during the Early Middle Ages, and passed into Nordic folklore, with some aspects surviving...

, are doomsday weapons left over from an interstellar war

Interstellar war

In fiction, an interstellar war is a war between combatants whose respective headquarters lie in different planetary systems. It is a popular plot device in science fiction, especially in the space opera subgenre. An intergalactic war refers to war between combatants of different galaxies...

 between two races of extraterrestrial

Extraterrestrial life

Extraterrestrial life is defined as life that does not originate from Earth...

s. They all have machine intelligence, and their sizes range from that of an asteroid

Asteroid

Asteroids are a class of small Solar System bodies in orbit around the Sun. They have also been called planetoids, especially the larger ones...

, in the case of an automated repair and construction base, down to human size (and shape) or smaller. The Berserkers' bases are capable of manufacturing more and deadlier Berserkers as need arises.

The original Berserkers were designed and built as an Ultimate Weapon

Ultimate Weapon

Ultimate Weapon may refer to:* She, The Ultimate Weapon, a manga* Arrow: The Ultimate Weapon, a South Korean historical action film* "Ultimate Weapon" , a season 2 episode of Ben 10...

, by a race now known only as the Builders, to wipe out their rivals the Red Race, in a war which took place at a time corresponding to Earth's Paleolithic era. The Builders failed to ensure their own immunity from Berserker attack, or they lost those safeguards through an unknown malfunction that changed the Berserker programming, and they were exterminated by their own creation very shortly after the demise of the Red Race. The Berserkers then set out across the galaxy to fulfill their core programmed imperative, which is now, simply, to destroy all life wherever they can find it.

Background

The Berserker stories (published as novels and short stories

Short story

A short story is a work of fiction that is usually written in prose, often in narrative format. This format tends to be more pointed than longer works of fiction, such as novellas and novels. Short story definitions based on length differ somewhat, even among professional writers, in part because...

) describe humanity's fight against the Berserkers. The term "humanity" refers to all sentient life in the Milky Way Galaxy, emphasizing the common threat the Berserkers pose toward all forms of life. Homo sapiens

Human

Humans are the only living species in the Homo genus...

, referred to as "Earth-descended" or "ED" humans, or as "Solarians", are the only sentient species aggressive enough to put up a good fight. (Human beings are called "Earth-descended" because billions of them live on Mars, Venus, and hundreds of other planets across the Galaxy.)

Allies of the Earth-descended humans include the telepathic

Telepathy

Telepathy , is the induction of mental states from one mind to another. The term was coined in 1882 by the classical scholar Fredric W. H. Myers, a founder of the Society for Psychical Research, and has remained more popular than the more-correct expression thought-transference...

 "Carmpans", a subtle and mysterious species incapable of direct aggression

Aggression

In psychology, as well as other social and behavioral sciences, aggression refers to behavior between members of the same species that is intended to cause humiliation, pain, or harm. Ferguson and Beaver defined aggressive behavior as "Behavior which is intended to increase the social dominance of...

. The first stories in the series are related by an individual Carmpan, the "3rd Historian", who seeks to chronicle life in the Galaxy and the struggle against the Berserkers.

The first story, "Without a Thought" (1963), was basically a puzzle story, in which the protagonist

Protagonist

A protagonist is the main character of a literary, theatrical, cinematic, or musical narrative, around whom the events of the narrative's plot revolve and with whom the audience is intended to most identify...

 faces a problem of simulating intelligence to fool an enemy trying to determine whether there was any conscious being present on a spaceship

Spacecraft

A spacecraft or spaceship is a craft or machine designed for spaceflight. Spacecraft are used for a variety of purposes, including communications, earth observation, meteorology, navigation, planetary exploration and transportation of humans and cargo....

.

Saberhagen came up with the Berserker as the rationale for the story on the spur of the moment, but the basic concept was so fruitful, with so many possible ramifications, that he used it as the basis of many stories. A common theme in the stories is of how the apparent weaknesses and inconsistencies of living beings are actually the strengths that bring about the killer machines' eventual defeat.

The second story introduces "goodlife": human traitor

Treason

In law, treason is the crime that covers some of the more extreme acts against one's sovereign or nation. Historically, treason also covered the murder of specific social superiors, such as the murder of a husband by his wife. Treason against the king was known as high treason and treason against a...

s or collaborator

Collaboration

Collaboration is working together to achieve a goal. It is a recursive process where two or more people or organizations work together to realize shared goals, — for example, an intriguing endeavor that is creative in nature—by sharing...

s who cooperate with the Berserker machines to stay alive for a while. Later stories involve the qwib-qwib, an anti-Berserker berserker.

Books

• Berserker (collection, 1967) collects the stories
  • "Without a Thought" (first appeared as "Fortress Ship" in Worlds of If, Jan 1963)
  • "Goodlife" (first appeared in Worlds of Tomorrow
    Worlds of Tomorrow (magazine)
    Worlds of Tomorrow was an American science fiction magazine published from 1963 to 1967, after it was merged into If. It briefly resumed publication in 1970 and 1971. The magazine was edited by Frederik Pohl in its first period of publication, and by Ejler Jakobsson in the second. It has published...
    
    , Dec 1963)
  • "Patron of the Arts" (first appeared in Worlds of If, Aug 1965)
  • "The Peacemaker" (first appeared as "The Lifehater" in Worlds of If, Aug 1964)
  • "Stone Place" (first appeared in Worlds of If, March 1965)
  • "What T and I Did" (first appeared in Worlds of If, April 1965)
  • "Mr. Jester" (first appeared in Worlds of If, Jan 1966)
  • "Masque of the Red Shift" (first appeared in Worlds of If, Nov 1965)
  • "Sign of the Wolf" (first appeared in Worlds of If, May 1965)
  • "In the Temple of Mars" (first appeared in Worlds of If, April 1966)
  • "The Face of the Deep" (first appeared in Worlds of If, Sep 1966)
• Brother Assassin (collection, 1969)
  • (A shorter version first appeared in Galaxy Science Fiction
    Galaxy Science Fiction
    Galaxy Science Fiction was an American digest-size science fiction magazine, published from 1950 to 1980. It was founded by an Italian company, World Editions, which was looking to break in to the American market. World Editions hired as editor H. L...
    
    , 1967)
• Berserker Wars (collection, 1981)
  • "Stone Place" (first appeared in Worlds of If, March 1965)
  • "The Face of the Deep" (first appeared in Worlds of If, Sep 1966)
  • "What T and I Did" (first appeared in Worlds of If, April 1965)
  • "Mr. Jester" (first appeared in Worlds of If, Jan 1966)
  • "The Winged Helmet"
  • "Starsong" (first appeared in Worlds of If, Jan 1968)
  • "Some events at the Templar Radiant" (first appeared in Destinies, May-Aug, 1979)
  • "Wings out of Shadow" (first appeared in Worlds of If, March–April, 1974)
  • "The Smile" (first appeared in Algol
    Algol (fanzine)
    Algol: The Magazine About Science Fiction was published from 1963-1984 by Andrew Porter. The name was changed to Starship in 1979.It won a Hugo Award for Best Fanzine in 1974, in a tie with Richard E. Geis' Science Fiction Review; and received five other nominations for the Hugo ....
    
    , Summer/Fall 1977)
  • "The Adventure of the Metal Murderer"
  • "Patron of the Arts" (first appeared in Worlds of If, Aug 1965)
• Berserker Throne (1985)
• Berserker Blue Death (1985)
• Berserker Base (1985), an anthology with several guest writers; Saberhagen wrote the connecting interludes.
  • "Prisoners' Base" by Fred Saberhagen
  • "What Makes us Human" by Stephen Donaldson
  • "Friends Together" by Fred Saberhagen
  • "With Friends Like These" by Connie Willis
  • "The Founts of Sorrow" by Fred Saberhagen
  • "Itself Surprised" by Roger Zelazny
  • "The Great Secret" by Fred Saberhagen
  • "Deathwomb" by Poul Anderson
  • "Dangerous Dreams" by Fred Saberhagen
  • "Pilots of the Twilight" by Ed Byrant
  • "Crossing the Bar" by Fred Saberhagen
  • "A Teardrop Falls" by Larry Niven
  • "Berserker base" by Fred Saberhagen
• Ultimate Enemy (collection, 1987)
  • "The Smile" (first appeared in Algol, Summer/Fall 1977)
  • "Pressure" (first appeared as "Beserkers Prey" in Worlds of If, June 1977)
  • "The Annihilation of Angkor Apeiron" (first appeared in Galaxy, Feb 1977)
  • "Inhuman Error" (first appeared in Analog
    Analog Science Fiction and Fact
    Analog Science Fiction and Fact is an American science fiction magazine. As of 2011, it is the longest running continuously published magazine of that genre...
    
    , Oct 1974)
  • "Some events at the Templar Radiant" (first appeared in Destinies, May-Aug, 1979)
  • "Starsong" (first appeared in Worlds of If, Jan 1968)
  • "Smasher" (first appeared in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction
    The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction
    The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction is a digest-size American fantasy and science fiction magazine first published in 1949 by Mystery House and then by Fantasy House. Both were subsidiaries of Lawrence Spivak's Mercury Publications, which took over as publisher in 1958. Spilogale, Inc...
    
    , Aug 1978)
  • "The Game" (first appeared in The Flying Buffalo's Favorite Magazine, May–June 1977)
  • "Wings out of Shadow" (first appeared in Worlds of If, March–April, 1974)
• Berserker Attack (limited edition collection, 1987)
  • "Masque of the Red Shift" (first appeared in Worlds of If, Nov 1965)
  • "In the Temple of Mars" (first appeared in Worlds of If, April 1966)
  • "Brother Berserker"
  • "Smasher" (first appeared in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, Aug 1978)
• Berserker's Planet (1991)
• Berserker Lies (collection, 1991)
  • "The Machinery of Lies"
  • "Masque of the Red Shift" (first appeared in Worlds of If, Nov 1965)
  • "In the Temple of Mars" (first appeared in Worlds of If, April 1966)
  • "Brother Berserker"
  • "Smasher" (first appeared in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, Aug 1978)
• Berserker Man (1992)
• Berserker Kill (1993)
• Berserker Fury (1997)
• Shiva in Steel (1998)
• Berserker Star (2003)
• Berserker Prime (2003)
• Rogue Berserker (2005)

Some of the collections have duplicate stories.

Historical and literary analogy

Some of the early Berserker stories constitute a science fiction retelling of the events around the Battle of Lepanto (1571)

Battle of Lepanto (1571)

The Battle of Lepanto took place on 7 October 1571 when a fleet of the Holy League, a coalition of Catholic maritime states, decisively defeated the main fleet of the Ottoman Empire in five hours of fighting on the northern edge of the Gulf of Patras, off western Greece...

.

In the Berserker stories	In history
Berserkers	Ottoman Turks Ottoman Empire The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...
Venus	Venice Venice Venice is a city in northern Italy which is renowned for the beauty of its setting, its architecture and its artworks. It is the capital of the Veneto region...
Esteel	Spain Spain Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...  (cf. Espania)
Austeel	Austria Austria Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
Stone Place	Lepanto Battle of Lepanto (1571) The Battle of Lepanto took place on 7 October 1571 when a fleet of the Holy League, a coalition of Catholic maritime states, decisively defeated the main fleet of the Ottoman Empire in five hours of fighting on the northern edge of the Gulf of Patras, off western Greece...
Johann Karlsen	Don John of Austria
Felipe Nogara	Philip II of Spain Philip II of Spain Philip II was King of Spain, Portugal, Naples, Sicily, and, while married to Mary I, King of England and Ireland. He was lord of the Seventeen Provinces from 1556 until 1581, holding various titles for the individual territories such as duke or count....
Mitchell Spain	Miguel Cervantes
Ships with C-plus cannon	Galleass Galleass The galleass developed from large merchant galleys.Converted for military use they were higher and larger than regular galleys. They had up to 32 oars, each worked by up to 5 men. They usually had three masts and a forecastle and aftcastle. Much effort was made in Venice to make these galleasses... es

In addition, the novel Berserker Fury is a space version of the Battle of Midway

Battle of Midway

The Battle of Midway is widely regarded as the most important naval battle of the Pacific Campaign of World War II. Between 4 and 7 June 1942, approximately one month after the Battle of the Coral Sea and six months after Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor, the United States Navy decisively defeated...

. The "island" planet was called 50/50 (halfway or "midway" between the edge of Berserker controlled space and the human base of Port Diamond

Pearl Harbor

Pearl Harbor, known to Hawaiians as Puuloa, is a lagoon harbor on the island of Oahu, Hawaii, west of Honolulu. Much of the harbor and surrounding lands is a United States Navy deep-water naval base. It is also the headquarters of the U.S. Pacific Fleet...

), spaceships involved were named after the U.S. ships (Stinger for USS Hornet

USS Hornet (CV-8)

USS Hornet CV-8, the seventh ship to carry the name Hornet, was a of the United States Navy. During World War II in the Pacific Theater, she launched the Doolittle Raid on Tokyo and participated in the Battle of Midway and the Buin-Faisi-Tonolai Raid...

, Venture for USS Enterprise

USS Enterprise (CV-6)

USS Enterprise , colloquially referred to as the "Big E," was the sixth aircraft carrier of the United States Navy and the seventh U.S. Navy ship to bear the name. Launched in 1936, she was a ship of the Yorktown class, and one of only three American carriers commissioned prior to World War II to...

, etc.), and the battle used almost exactly the same tactics, among other similarities. For example the fighters stationed at 50/50 are stated to be no match for the Berserker Void

A6M Zero

The Mitsubishi A6M Zero was a long-range fighter aircraft operated by the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service from 1940 to 1945. The A6M was designated as the , and also designated as the Mitsubishi A6M Rei-sen and Mitsubishi Navy 12-shi Carrier Fighter. The A6M was usually referred to by the...

 fighters. 'Starsong' in Berserker Wars was a fairly obvious adaptation of 'Orpheus and Eurydice'.

Adaptations

• A board game
  Board game
  A board game is a game which involves counters or pieces being moved on a pre-marked surface or "board", according to a set of rules. Games may be based on pure strategy, chance or a mixture of the two, and usually have a goal which a player aims to achieve...
  
   based on the series was produced by Flying Buffalo Inc in 1982.
• A comic book
  Comic book
  A comic book or comicbook is a magazine made up of comics, narrative artwork in the form of separate panels that represent individual scenes, often accompanied by dialog as well as including...
  
   adaptation is being created by Fan-Atic Press.

See also

• Berserker probe
• Self-replicating machine
  Self-replicating machine
  A self-replicating machine is an artificial construct that is theoretically capable of autonomously manufacturing a copy of itself using raw materials taken from its environment, thus exhibiting self-replication in a way analogous to that found in nature. The concept of self-replicating machines...
  
  
• Inhibitors (Alastair Reynolds)
• Starweb
  Starweb
  Starweb is a play-by-mail game of strategy and diplomacy invented in 1976 by Rick Loomis. The game has won a number of awards over the years Starweb is a play-by-mail game of strategy and diplomacy invented in 1976 by Rick Loomis. The game has won a number of awards over the years Starweb is a...
  
  
• Mass Effect
  Mass Effect
  Mass Effect is an action role-playing game developed by BioWare for the Xbox 360 and Microsoft Windows by Demiurge Studios. The Xbox 360 version was released worldwide in November 2007 published by Microsoft Game Studios...
  
  
• The Doomsday Machine (Star Trek)

External links

• http://www.berserker.com/
• http://www.berserkerfan.org/ - The Taj: Official Fan Site of Fred Saberhagen's Berserker Universe