[Traveller OOB] Space Viking
It turns out that Space Viking by H. Beam Piper, the 1962 novel that is one of the principal inspirations for Traveller, is available online for free courtesy of Project Gutenberg. I'm three chapters in and so far, except for the occasional reference to air cars and space travel, it could be set in the middle ages. A baron is marrying the daughter of another baron, the duke is making a bid for the throne, and a second son is angry because he isn't getting what he thinks is his due.
Like a lot of older SF novels the prose is spare and moves the story along quickly. Characteriztion is broad and it's almost a complete sausage-fest. The only female character so far is the bride, who averages one line of dialogue per chapter, and the references to armies and warship crews are archaicly gendered--fighting men, etc.
On the other hand, there are a few touches that feel curiously modern. The angry second son crashes the wedding, having deluded himself into believing the baron's daughter really loves him and is being forced into the marriage. When she rejects him he of course blames her, calling her a lying harlot. Exactly the kind of entitled misogyny I read about on tumblr every day up here in the twenty-teens. And Piper gives her the agency to reject him herself, instead of having the groom (our protagonist) or her father do it for her.
Asimov's Foundation was a big disappointment to me, but I'm enjoying Space Viking so far.
Like a lot of older SF novels the prose is spare and moves the story along quickly. Characteriztion is broad and it's almost a complete sausage-fest. The only female character so far is the bride, who averages one line of dialogue per chapter, and the references to armies and warship crews are archaicly gendered--fighting men, etc.
On the other hand, there are a few touches that feel curiously modern. The angry second son crashes the wedding, having deluded himself into believing the baron's daughter really loves him and is being forced into the marriage. When she rejects him he of course blames her, calling her a lying harlot. Exactly the kind of entitled misogyny I read about on tumblr every day up here in the twenty-teens. And Piper gives her the agency to reject him herself, instead of having the groom (our protagonist) or her father do it for her.
Asimov's Foundation was a big disappointment to me, but I'm enjoying Space Viking so far.