Publications: Reviews

THE SEEDLING STARS by James Blish

Gollancz SF Collectors’ Edition 2001 185pp £9.99

The Seedling Stars was first published in 1957, but isn’t quite the novel it first appears to be. Rather, it is more of a “fix-up” -- a collection of linked stories (or separate stories later made to link) that nevertheless forms a coherent and unified whole.

Many of the novels of A E van Vogt (1912-2000) are prime examples of the fix-up. Books like Moonbeast (1967) and Quest for the Future (1970) were constructed from stories first published in the 1940's, and, when read in their original versions, seem to have no connections whatsoever. As well as making the best use of his own work, van Vogt effectively invented the "fix-up" as a literary form in science fiction, and demonstrated considerable ingenuity in the actual fixing-up of originally unrelated material.

And James Blish (1921-75) was also a master of the form. His novels They Shall Have Stars (1957) and Earthman, Come Home (1955) were built from a range of short stories, only some connected, and which in their turn formed part of the epic all-time favourite space-opera series Cities in Flight.

The Seedling Stars is also a fix-up, and takes place on a  much smaller scale. The basic idea turns a classic sf theme on its head. Expeditions are usually sent out to find new planets suitable for "terraforming" -- making planets habitable for humans by altering their climates, etc. Blish’s book concerns humans who have no choice but to adapt to the planets on which they find themselves marooned. In the process they have to decide on what the very nature of humanity is. And it certainly doesn’t involve “human” shape or size.

The best-known story in The Seedling Stars is probably “Surface Tension” --  which chronicles the long drawn-out struggle for supremacy between the descendants of planetary colonists, and -- well, just in case you haven’t come across this piece before, I won’t say any more. Suffice to say, nothing is what it seems, and “Surface Tension” contains one of the most unforgettable revelation of reality scenes in the literature.

World-altering stuff!  

Copyright (c) 2001 John Howard