Space War Blues
Encyclopedia
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...
novel by American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
writer Richard A. Lupoff
Richard A. Lupoff
Richard Allen Lupoff is an American science fiction and mystery author, who has also written humor, satire, non-fiction and reviews. In addition to his two dozen novels and more than 40 short stories, he has also edited science-fantasy anthologies. He is an expert on the writing of Edgar Rice...
. It is a fixup of several previously published pieces, the longest of which, "With The Bentfin Boomer Boys On Little Old New Alabama," (afterwards “WTBBB”) first appeared in Harlan Ellison's
Harlan Ellison
Harlan Jay Ellison is an American writer. His principal genre is speculative fiction.His published works include over 1,700 short stories, novellas, screenplays, teleplays, essays, a wide range of criticism covering literature, film, television, and print media...
1972 anthology Again, Dangerous Visions
Again, Dangerous Visions
Again, Dangerous Visions is the sequel to the science fiction short story anthology Dangerous Visions, first published in 1972. It was edited by Harlan Ellison and illustrated by Ed Emshwiller....
. In his introduction to the novella, Ellison wrote: "It is so audacious and extravagant a story that it becomes one of the three or four really indispensable reasons for doing this book. Frankly, had no other story than this one been written for A,DV — the book would be worth reading." The story appeared on the final Nebula Award
Nebula Award
The Nebula Award is given each year by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America , for the best science fiction/fantasy fiction published in the United States during the previous year...
ballot for Best Novella of the Year
Nebula Award for Best Novella
Winners of the Nebula Award for Best Novella. The stated year is that of publication; awards are given in the following year.-Winners and other nominees:-External links:**...
.
Lupoff wrote the book over a period of almost eleven years. He began writing “WTBBB” in 1967, submitting the first three chapters of the 36000 word novella to Harlan Ellison. With Ellison’s encouragement, Lupoff expanded it to the 38000 word version which was turned in to Ellison in February, 1969. Henry Morrison, Lupoff’s agent, submitted this version to Dell, who became interested in publishing “WTBBB” as a possible stand-alone “slim” novel. Lupoff’s contract with Ellison prohibited any prior appearance of stories slated for Again, Dangerous Visions
Again, Dangerous Visions
Again, Dangerous Visions is the sequel to the science fiction short story anthology Dangerous Visions, first published in 1972. It was edited by Harlan Ellison and illustrated by Ed Emshwiller....
, and along with the delay in A,DV’s publication, the deal with Dell fell through.
In 1973, Lupoff wrote a pair of stories which, while directly related to each other, were tangential to the main storyline of “WTBBB.” These stories, “After the Dreamtime” and “Sail the Tide of Mourning,” were published in two sequential volumes of Robert Silverberg
Robert Silverberg
Robert Silverberg is an American author, best known for writing science fiction. He is a multiple nominee of the Hugo Award and a winner of the Nebula Award.-Early years:...
’s original anthology series New Dimensions. Both stories were on the final Hugo Award
Hugo Award
The Hugo Awards are given annually for the best science fiction or fantasy works and achievements of the previous year. The award is named after Hugo Gernsback, the founder of the pioneering science fiction magazine Amazing Stories, and was officially named the Science Fiction Achievement Awards...
ballot of their respective years, and "Sail the Tide of Mourning" was on the 1975 Nebula Awards
Nebula Award for Best Short Story
Winners of the '“Nebula Award for Best Short Story”'. The stated year is that of publication; awards are given in the following year. Winning titles are listed first, with other nominees listed below.-Winners and nominees:-External links:* *...
ballot. Another story, “The Bentfin Boomer Girl Comes Thru,” closer in style to “WTBBB,” was published by Ted White
Ted White (author)
Ted White is a Hugo Award-winning American writer, known as a science fiction author and editor and fan, as well as a music critic...
in Amazing Stories
Amazing Stories
Amazing Stories was an American science fiction magazine launched in April 1926 by Hugo Gernsback's Experimenter Publishing. It was the first magazine devoted solely to science fiction...
magazine. These pieces are inter-twined throughout the novel (see Contents below for a chapter-by-chapter breakdown.) After a succession of editors at Dell, a 70000 word version of the novel was finally published in paperback in June, 1978 with a hardcover reprint two years later by Gregg Press
Gregg Press
Gregg Press was founded about 1965 by Charles Gregg in Upper Saddle River, New Jersey to distribute in the United States the antiquarian reprints published in the UK by Gregg Press International....
, aimed primarily at libraries.
According to the author's preface in the first edition, Lupoff was very open to changes in the book's content and title (first New Alabama Blues, then New Alabama Spacewar Blues, and finally Space War Blues, when the cover designer complained that the title was too long.) A manuscript reader for Dell described the book as "unutterable bilge" and claimed the only intelligible part was a little prefatory note by an imaginary "Uncle Dudley." When Jim Frenkel
James Frenkel
James Raymond Frenkel is a Senior Editor, editing science fiction, fantasy, mysteries, thrillers, historical fiction and other books for Tom Doherty Associates . He has edited numerous award-winning authors such as Vernor Vinge, Joan D. Vinge, and Frederik Pohl , Andre Norton, Loren D...
, the last of the four Dell editors who worked with the novel, asked Lupoff to remove the "Uncle Dudley" sections, he readily agreed.
Frenkel
James Frenkel
James Raymond Frenkel is a Senior Editor, editing science fiction, fantasy, mysteries, thrillers, historical fiction and other books for Tom Doherty Associates . He has edited numerous award-winning authors such as Vernor Vinge, Joan D. Vinge, and Frederik Pohl , Andre Norton, Loren D...
wrote about the novel’s style in his introduction to the hardcover reprint: “…there are no fixed rules of grammar, spelling, or punctuation in the book, save for the unwritten rule that the inconsistency in all of the above is recognizably different and consistent within each narrative thread…” The thread with the greatest divergence from standard English is the “WTBBB” sections. For example:
’nifykin look outha portole sreely pretty, sreely pretty, lookna Port Upotoi swinging roun thole mudball, thole goodole place, it’s maybe not the prettiest place na whole universe but nobody ever said it was, it was home though m that counted frole lot that swat Leander Laptip saw outha portole:
These divergences are apparently an attempt to represent (orthographically) vernacular English of the southern states of the USA.
Publishing History
- Dell (ISBN 0-440-16292-0), June 1978, paperback (cover by George Barr)
- Gregg PressGregg PressGregg Press was founded about 1965 by Charles Gregg in Upper Saddle River, New Jersey to distribute in the United States the antiquarian reprints published in the UK by Gregg Press International....
(ISBN 0-8398-2596-X), May 1980, hardcover, photographic reprint of the first edition (includes a new introduction by James R. FrenkelJames FrenkelJames Raymond Frenkel is a Senior Editor, editing science fiction, fantasy, mysteries, thrillers, historical fiction and other books for Tom Doherty Associates . He has edited numerous award-winning authors such as Vernor Vinge, Joan D. Vinge, and Frederik Pohl , Andre Norton, Loren D...
, editor of the first edition)
Publication of the various sections:
- "With the Bentfin Boomer Boys On Little Old New Alabama" (written 1967-1969) (originally published in Again, Dangerous VisionsAgain, Dangerous VisionsAgain, Dangerous Visions is the sequel to the science fiction short story anthology Dangerous Visions, first published in 1972. It was edited by Harlan Ellison and illustrated by Ed Emshwiller....
, ed. Harlan EllisonHarlan EllisonHarlan Jay Ellison is an American writer. His principal genre is speculative fiction.His published works include over 1,700 short stories, novellas, screenplays, teleplays, essays, a wide range of criticism covering literature, film, television, and print media...
, Doubleday, 1972) - "After the Dreamtime" (written 1973) (originally published in New Dimensions IV, ed. Robert SilverbergRobert SilverbergRobert Silverberg is an American author, best known for writing science fiction. He is a multiple nominee of the Hugo Award and a winner of the Nebula Award.-Early years:...
, Signet, 1974) - "Sail the Tide of Mourning" (written 1973) (originally published in New Dimensions 5, ed. Robert SilverbergRobert SilverbergRobert Silverberg is an American author, best known for writing science fiction. He is a multiple nominee of the Hugo Award and a winner of the Nebula Award.-Early years:...
, Harper & Row, 1975) - "The Bentfin Boomer Girl Comes Thru" (written 1974) (originally published in Amazing StoriesAmazing StoriesAmazing Stories was an American science fiction magazine launched in April 1926 by Hugo Gernsback's Experimenter Publishing. It was the first magazine devoted solely to science fiction...
, ed. Ted WhiteTed White (author)Ted White is a Hugo Award-winning American writer, known as a science fiction author and editor and fan, as well as a music critic...
, March 1977)
Note: Chapter 10 (“Our Own Little Mardi Gras”) was previewed in Heavy Metal
Heavy Metal (magazine)
Heavy Metal is an American science fiction and fantasy comics magazine, known primarily for its blend of dark fantasy/science fiction and erotica. In the mid-1970s, while publisher Leonard Mogel was in Paris to jump-start the French edition of National Lampoon, he discovered the French...
, August 1977.
Contents
- "Sailing the Dark with the Bentfin Boomer Bappa Zappa Kid" (introduction by Harlan EllisonHarlan EllisonHarlan Jay Ellison is an American writer. His principal genre is speculative fiction.His published works include over 1,700 short stories, novellas, screenplays, teleplays, essays, a wide range of criticism covering literature, film, television, and print media...
) - "And I Awoke — Was This Some Kind of Joke?" (preface by Richard A. LupoffRichard A. LupoffRichard Allen Lupoff is an American science fiction and mystery author, who has also written humor, satire, non-fiction and reviews. In addition to his two dozen novels and more than 40 short stories, he has also edited science-fantasy anthologies. He is an expert on the writing of Edgar Rice...
)
- Chapter 1. By His Own Speech (First part of “After the Dreatime”)
- Chapter 2. Beneath the Pelican Banner (New material)
- Chapter 3. Call It Yurakosi (New material)
- Chapter 4. Disappearing in Other Parts (Second part of “After the Dreamtime”)
- Chapter 5. At Elmina Castle (New material)
- Chapter 6. Last Night at Letohatchie (First part of Chapter 1 of “WTBBB”)
- Chapter 7. Empty Places on Both Sides (Third part of “After the Dreamtime”)
- Chapter 8. On the Ground (Final part of “After the Dreamtime”)
- Chapter 9. Up Crikkingwood Stairs (Second part of Chapter 1 of “WTBBB”)
- Chapter 10. Our Own Little Mardi Gras (First part was new material, second part was the final part of Chapter 1 of “WTBBB”)
- Chapter 11. From the Bizonton Pylon (Chapter 2 of “WTBBB”)
- Chapter 12. The Bright Side of N’Yu-Atlanchi (Chapter 3 of “WTBBB”)
- Chapter 13. Aboard the Starship Theodore Bilbo (Chapter 4 of “WTBBB”)
- Chapter 14. Into the Exoneurobiology Section (Chapter 5 of “WTBBB”)
- Chapter 15. Into the Great Hall (Chapter 6 of “WTBBB”)
- Chapter 16. To the Nation We Know (First part of Chapter 7 of “WTBBB”; the “Uncle Dudley” part was removed)
- Chapter 17. With the Mourning Tide (First part of “Sail the Tide of Mourning”)
- Chapter 18. Aboard the Starship Jimmie-O (Chapter 8 of “WTBBB”)
- Chapter 19. Aboard the Starship Oginga Odinga (Chapter 9 of “WTBBB”)
- Chapter 20. Home from the Stars (Chapter 1 of “The Bentfin Boomer Girl Comes Thru”)
- Chapter 21. At the Gran Houmfort Nationale (Chapter 10 of “WTBBB”)
- Chapter 22. Artists in Their Studio (Chapter 2 of “The Bentfin Boomer Girl Comes Thru”)
- Chapter 23. Across the Cislunar Vacuum (Chapter 11 of “WTBBB”; the “Uncle Dudley” part was removed)
- Chapter 24. Celebrities in the Streets (Chapter 3 of “The Bentfin Boomer Girl Comes Thru”)
- Chapter 25. A Distant Pearl-Tinted Horizon (Chapter 12 of “WTBBB”)
- Chapter 26. The Lower Half of Hir Face (Chapter 13 of “WTBBB”)
- Chapter 27. His Sweetheart’s Loving Arms (Chapter 14 of “WTBBB”)
- Chapter 28. Each on the Cheek (Final part of “Sail the Tide of Mourning”)
Note: the narrative voice
Point of view (literature)
The narrative mode is the set of methods the author of a literary, theatrical, cinematic, or musical story uses to convey the plot to the audience. Narration, the process of presenting the narrative, occurs because of the narrative mode...
of the chapters formed from “After the Dreamtime” was changed from first person to third