The Queen of Zamba
Encyclopedia
The Queen of Zamba is a science fiction
novel written by L. Sprague de Camp
, the first book of his Viagens Interplanetarias
series and its subseries of stories set on the fictional planet Krishna. It was written between November 1948 and January 1949 and first published in the magazine Astounding Science Fiction as a two-part serial in the issues for August and September 1949. It was first published in book form as a paperback by Ace Books
in 1954 as an "Ace Double" issued back-to-back with Clifford D. Simak
's novel Ring Around the Sun
. This version was editorially retitled Cosmic Manhunt and introduced a number of textual changes disapproved by the author. The novel was first issued by itself in another paperback edition under the title A Planet Called Krishna, published in England by Compact Books
in 1966. A new paperback edition restoring the author's preferred title and text and including the Krishna short story "Perpetual Motion
" was published by Dale Books in 1977. This edition was reprinted by Ace Books
in 1982 as part of the standard edition of the Krishna novels. The novel has been translated into German
, French
, Italian
and Czech
. An E-book
edition was published by Gollancz
's SF Gateway imprint on September 29, 2011 as part of a general release of de Camp's works in electronic form.
As with all of the "Krishna" novels, the title of The Queen of Zamba has a "Z" in it, a practice de Camp claimed to have devised to keep track of them. Short stories in the series do not follow the practice, nor do Viagens Interplanetarias works not set on Krishna.
with humanoid inhabitants but a medieval
culture. Disguising himself as a native Krishnan, Hasselborg goes after them, little-knowing he has entered a web of interplanetary intrigue, spying, and gun-running...
Anthony Fallon, the antagonist in The Queen of Zamba, would reappear in two later Krishna novels; as the protagonist of The Tower of Zanid
and as a minor character in The Swords of Zinjaban
.
genre, representing both a tribute to the Barsoom
novels of Edgar Rice Burroughs
and an attempt to "get it right", reconstructing the concept logically, without what he regarded as Burroughs' biological and technological absurdities.
As dated in the 1959 version of de Camp's essay "The Krishna Stories" and James Cambias's GURPS Planet Krishna (a 1997 gaming guide to the Viagens series authorized by de Camp), the Krishnan events of "The Queen of Zamba" take place in the year 2138, falling between "Perpetual Motion
" and "Calories
", and making it the third story set on Krishna in terms of chronology. The primary portion of the story is preceded and followed by scenes on Earth, each of which is over a decade removed from the main action.
called it "a tedious account of a private eye's quest through space for a runaway heiress," with "[t]he chase ... a pretty drab affair, without the wit and charm usually found in this author's work." Groff Conklin
characterized it as "a cops-and-robbers adventure," rating it "fast-moving and moderately sophisticated entertainment, bubble-light through not bubble-headed, and considerably below the author's best." Anthony Boucher
described the novel as "a fairly primitive and predictable adventure story which is 'science fiction' because it is said to happen on the remote planet Krishna."
More recent critics have struck much the same note. William Mattathias Robins called it "a simple detective adventure in an exotic setting." Colleen Power wrote more charitably that "[w]hile the novel seems dated, with its tough-talking detective slang and philosophy, [its] satire combines nicely with comic swordplay to present the reader with a short, light science fiction detective novel." She also pointed out that "the overwhelming concern ... to prevent modern technological humans from influencing or interfering with the normal development of native cultures" in it and the other Viagens novels "predat[es] 'Star Trek's' 'prime directive' by nearly twenty years." David Pringle
characterized it as "[l]ight-hearted planetary romance -- or fantasy in an ostensibly science fictional setting."
Both Boucher and Robins note the novel's primacy in the Viagens series, suggesting they see its primary significance in the establishment of the setting.
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 written by L. Sprague de Camp
L. Sprague de Camp
Lyon Sprague de Camp was an American author of science fiction and fantasy books, non-fiction and biography. In a writing career spanning 60 years, he wrote over 100 books, including novels and notable works of non-fiction, including biographies of other important fantasy authors...
, the first book of his Viagens Interplanetarias
Viagens Interplanetarias
The Viagens Interplanetarias series is a sequence of science fiction stories by L. Sprague de Camp, begun in the late 1940s and written under the influence of contemporary space opera and sword and planet stories, particularly Edgar Rice Burroughs's Martian novels...
series and its subseries of stories set on the fictional planet Krishna. It was written between November 1948 and January 1949 and first published in the magazine Astounding Science Fiction as a two-part serial in the issues for August and September 1949. It was first published in book form as a paperback by Ace Books
Ace Books
Ace Books is the oldest active specialty publisher of science fiction and fantasy books. The company was founded in New York City in 1952 by Aaron A. Wyn, and began as a genre publisher of mysteries and westerns...
in 1954 as an "Ace Double" issued back-to-back with Clifford D. Simak
Clifford D. Simak
Clifford Donald Simak was an American science fiction writer. He was honored by fans with three Hugo awards and by colleagues with one Nebula award and was named the third Grand Master by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America in 1977.-Biography:Clifford Donald Simak was born in...
's novel Ring Around the Sun
Ring Around the Sun (novel)
Ring Around the Sun is 1953 novel by Clifford D. Simak. It tells the story of an "alien" invasion and how they attempt to sap Earth economy by introducing disruptive devices at a ridiculously low price, like the Forever Car....
. This version was editorially retitled Cosmic Manhunt and introduced a number of textual changes disapproved by the author. The novel was first issued by itself in another paperback edition under the title A Planet Called Krishna, published in England by Compact Books
Compact Books
Compact Books was an imprint of Roberts and Vinter , publishers of New Worlds magazine. They published detective novels by authors Hank Janson and Hilary Brand and a science fiction list edited by Michael Moorcock.-History:...
in 1966. A new paperback edition restoring the author's preferred title and text and including the Krishna short story "Perpetual Motion
Perpetual Motion (short story)
"Perpetual Motion" is a science fiction short story written by L. Sprague de Camp, a story in his Viagens Interplanetarias series. It was first published under the title "Wide-Open Planet" in the magazine Future in the issue for September-October, 1950...
" was published by Dale Books in 1977. This edition was reprinted by Ace Books
Ace Books
Ace Books is the oldest active specialty publisher of science fiction and fantasy books. The company was founded in New York City in 1952 by Aaron A. Wyn, and began as a genre publisher of mysteries and westerns...
in 1982 as part of the standard edition of the Krishna novels. The novel has been translated into German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
, French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
, Italian
Italian language
Italian is a Romance language spoken mainly in Europe: Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City, by minorities in Malta, Monaco, Croatia, Slovenia, France, Libya, Eritrea, and Somalia, and by immigrant communities in the Americas and Australia...
and Czech
Czech language
Czech is a West Slavic language with about 12 million native speakers; it is the majority language in the Czech Republic and spoken by Czechs worldwide. The language was known as Bohemian in English until the late 19th century...
. An E-book
E-book
An electronic book is a book-length publication in digital form, consisting of text, images, or both, and produced on, published through, and readable on computers or other electronic devices. Sometimes the equivalent of a conventional printed book, e-books can also be born digital...
edition was published by Gollancz
Victor Gollancz Ltd
Victor Gollancz Ltd was a major British book publishing house of the twentieth century. It was founded in 1927 by Victor Gollancz and specialised in the publication of high quality literature, nonfiction and popular fiction, including science fiction. Upon Gollancz's death in 1967, ownership...
's SF Gateway imprint on September 29, 2011 as part of a general release of de Camp's works in electronic form.
As with all of the "Krishna" novels, the title of The Queen of Zamba has a "Z" in it, a practice de Camp claimed to have devised to keep track of them. Short stories in the series do not follow the practice, nor do Viagens Interplanetarias works not set on Krishna.
Plot and storyline
Victor Hasselborg, a twenty-second century private eye, is hired by a Syrian businessman to track down his missing daughter Julnar Batruni, who it turns out has run off with adventurer Anthony Fallon. Immediate complications ensue when Hasselborg finds himself falling for Alexandra, Fallon's abandoned wife. Discovering that the fugitives have gone off-planet, he tracks them to the planet Krishna, an Earth-like world of the star Tau CetiTau Ceti
Tau Ceti is a star in the constellation Cetus that is spectrally similar to the Sun, although it has only about 78% of the Sun's mass. At a distance of just under 12 light-years from the Solar System, it is a relatively close star. Tau Ceti is metal-deficient and so is thought to be less likely to...
with humanoid inhabitants but a medieval
Middle Ages
The Middle Ages is a periodization of European history from the 5th century to the 15th century. The Middle Ages follows the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 and precedes the Early Modern Era. It is the middle period of a three-period division of Western history: Classic, Medieval and Modern...
culture. Disguising himself as a native Krishnan, Hasselborg goes after them, little-knowing he has entered a web of interplanetary intrigue, spying, and gun-running...
Anthony Fallon, the antagonist in The Queen of Zamba, would reappear in two later Krishna novels; as the protagonist of The Tower of Zanid
The Tower of Zanid
The Tower of Zanid is a science fiction novel written by L. Sprague de Camp, the sixth book of his Viagens Interplanetarias series and the fourth of its subseries of stories set on the fictional planet Krishna. Chronologically it is the seventh Krishna novel. It was first published in the magazine...
and as a minor character in The Swords of Zinjaban
The Swords of Zinjaban
The Swords of Zinjaban is a science fiction novel written by L. Sprague de Camp and Catherine Crook de Camp, the eleventh book of the former's Viagens Interplanetarias series and the eighth of its subseries of stories set on the fictional planet Krishna. Chronologically it is the eighth Krishna...
.
Setting
The planet Krishna is de Camp's premier creation in the Sword and PlanetSword and planet
Sword and Planet is a subgenre of science fantasy that features rousing adventure stories set on other planets, and usually featuring Earthmen as protagonists. The name derives from the heroes of the genre engaging their adversaries in hand to hand combat primarily with simple melee weapons such as...
genre, representing both a tribute to the Barsoom
Barsoom
Barsoom is a fictional representation of the planet Mars created by American pulp fiction author Edgar Rice Burroughs, who wrote close to 100 action adventure stories in various genres in the first half of the 20th century, and is now best known as the creator of the character Tarzan...
novels of Edgar Rice Burroughs
Edgar Rice Burroughs
Edgar Rice Burroughs was an American author, best known for his creation of the jungle hero Tarzan and the heroic Mars adventurer John Carter, although he produced works in many genres.-Biography:...
and an attempt to "get it right", reconstructing the concept logically, without what he regarded as Burroughs' biological and technological absurdities.
As dated in the 1959 version of de Camp's essay "The Krishna Stories" and James Cambias's GURPS Planet Krishna (a 1997 gaming guide to the Viagens series authorized by de Camp), the Krishnan events of "The Queen of Zamba" take place in the year 2138, falling between "Perpetual Motion
Perpetual Motion (short story)
"Perpetual Motion" is a science fiction short story written by L. Sprague de Camp, a story in his Viagens Interplanetarias series. It was first published under the title "Wide-Open Planet" in the magazine Future in the issue for September-October, 1950...
" and "Calories
Calories (story)
"Calories" is a science fiction short story written by L. Sprague de Camp, a story in his Viagens Interplanetarias series. It was first published under the title "Getaway on Krishna" in the magazine Ten Story Fantasy in the issue for Spring, 1951...
", and making it the third story set on Krishna in terms of chronology. The primary portion of the story is preceded and followed by scenes on Earth, each of which is over a decade removed from the main action.
Reception
Early reviewers of the Ace edition were not terribly impressed by the book. J. Francis McComasJ. Francis McComas
Jesse Francis McComas was an American science fiction editor. McComas wrote several stories on his own in the 1950s using both his own name and the pseudonym Webb Marlowe....
called it "a tedious account of a private eye's quest through space for a runaway heiress," with "[t]he chase ... a pretty drab affair, without the wit and charm usually found in this author's work." Groff Conklin
Groff Conklin
Edward Groff Conklin was a leading science fiction anthologist. He edited 40 anthologies of science fiction, one of mystery stories , wrote books on home improvement and was a freelance writer on scientific subjects as well as a published poet...
characterized it as "a cops-and-robbers adventure," rating it "fast-moving and moderately sophisticated entertainment, bubble-light through not bubble-headed, and considerably below the author's best." Anthony Boucher
Anthony Boucher
Anthony Boucher was an American science fiction editor and author of mystery novels and short stories. He was particularly influential as an editor. Between 1942 and 1947 he acted as reviewer of mostly mystery fiction for the San Francisco Chronicle...
described the novel as "a fairly primitive and predictable adventure story which is 'science fiction' because it is said to happen on the remote planet Krishna."
More recent critics have struck much the same note. William Mattathias Robins called it "a simple detective adventure in an exotic setting." Colleen Power wrote more charitably that "[w]hile the novel seems dated, with its tough-talking detective slang and philosophy, [its] satire combines nicely with comic swordplay to present the reader with a short, light science fiction detective novel." She also pointed out that "the overwhelming concern ... to prevent modern technological humans from influencing or interfering with the normal development of native cultures" in it and the other Viagens novels "predat[es] 'Star Trek's' 'prime directive' by nearly twenty years." David Pringle
David Pringle
David Pringle is a Scottish science fiction editor.Pringle served as the editor of Foundation, an academic journal, from 1980 through 1986, during which time he became one of the prime movers of the collective which founded Interzone in 1982...
characterized it as "[l]ight-hearted planetary romance -- or fantasy in an ostensibly science fictional setting."
Both Boucher and Robins note the novel's primacy in the Viagens series, suggesting they see its primary significance in the establishment of the setting.
External links
- "A Planet Called Krishna" - a book review by Simon McLeish