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= H._Beam_Piper =
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Introduction
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Henry Beam Piper (March 23, 1904 - ) was an American science fiction
writer. He wrote many short stories and several novels. He is best
known for his extensive Terro-Human Future History series of stories
and a shorter series of "Paratime" alternate history tales.
He wrote under the name H. Beam Piper. Another source gives his name
as "Horace Beam Piper" and a different date of death. His gravestone
says "Henry Beam Piper". Piper himself may have been the source of
part of the confusion; he told people the H stood for Horace,
encouraging the assumption that he used the initial because he
disliked his name. On a copy of 'Little Fuzzy' given to Charles O.
Piper, Beam's cousin and executor, he wrote "To Charles from Henry."
Biography
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Piper was largely self-educated; he obtained his knowledge of science
and history "without subjecting myself to the ridiculous misery of
four years in the uncomfortable confines of a raccoon coat." He went
to work at age 18 as a laborer at the Pennsylvania Railroad's Altoona
yards in Altoona, Pennsylvania. He also worked as a night watchman for
the railroad.
Piper published his first short story, "Time and Time Again", in 1947
in 'Astounding Science Fiction'; it was adapted for the radio program
'Dimension X' and first broadcast in 1951, and was re-produced for 'X
Minus One' in 1956. He was primarily a short story author until 1961,
when he made a productive, if short-lived, foray into novels. He
collected guns and wrote one mystery, 'Murder in the Gunroom'.
In 1964, his career apparently on the skids, and prevented by
reticence and his libertarian principles from asking anyone to assist
him with his financial difficulties, Piper committed suicide. The
exact date of his death is unknown; the last entry in his diary was
dated November 5 ("Rain 0930"), and according to his Pennsylvania
death certificate, his body was found on November 8. According to
Jerry Pournelle's introduction to 'Little Fuzzy', Piper shut off all
the utilities to his apartment, put painter's drop-cloths over the
walls and floor, and took his own life with a handgun from his
collection. In his suicide note, he gave an explanation that "I don't
like to leave messes when I go away, but if I could have cleaned up
any of this mess, I wouldn't be going away. H. Beam Piper."
Some biographers attribute his act to financial problems, others to
family problems; Pournelle wrote that Piper felt burdened by financial
hardships in the wake of a divorce, and the mistaken perception that
his career was foundering (his agent had died without notifying him of
multiple sales). Editor George H. Scithers, who knew Piper socially,
has stated that Piper wanted to spite the ex-wife he despised: by
killing himself, Piper voided his life insurance policy, and prevented
her from collecting.
An unpublished story, "Only the Arquebus", was missing after his
suicide; it is probable that he destroyed it along with many of his
personal papers.
His output was eventually purchased by Ace Science Fiction and
reprinted in a set of paperbacks in the early 1980s. Many of these
have since gone out of print, though his two best-known arcs were
again reprinted by Ace in 1998 and 2001. Late in his career, Piper
corresponded with Pournelle, who was the Ace editor who helped reprint
some of his novels.
Many of his earlier copyrights have been allowed to lapse, permitting
Project Gutenberg to distribute his work online.
Themes and hallmarks
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Piper's stories fall into two groups: stark space opera, such as
'Space Viking', or stories of cultural conflict or misunderstanding,
such as 'Little Fuzzy' or the 'Paratime' stories.
A running theme in his work is that history repeats itself; past
events will have direct and clear analogues in the future. The novel
'Uller Uprising' is the clearest example of this, being based on the
Sepoy Mutiny. A similar example is the very title of 'Space Viking',
although the novel is not a direct reinterpretation of a specific
historical precedent. A later theme in the book involves the takeover
of a planet in a manner reminiscent of the rise of Adolf Hitler.
Piper's characterization was rooted in the notion of the self-reliant
man, able to take care of himself and both willing and able to tackle
any situation that might arise. This is exemplified in a bit of
dialogue in his short story "Oomphel in the Sky" (1960):
He actually knows what has to be done and how to do it, and he's
going right ahead and doing it, without holding a dozen conferences
and round-table discussions and giving everybody a fair and equal
chance to foul things up for him.
As a result, his stories tend towards the heroic, and the conflict is
usually driven externally.
Piper was interested in general semantics. It is explicitly mentioned
in 'Murder in the Gunroom', and its principles, such as awareness of
the limitations of knowledge, are apparent in his later work.
Terro-Human Future History
============================
The Terro-Human Future History is Piper's detailed account of the next
6,000 years of human history. 1942, the year the first fission reactor
was constructed, is defined as the year 1 A.E. (Atomic Era). In 1973,
a nuclear war devastates the planet, eventually laying the groundwork
for the emergence of a Terran Federation, once humanity goes into
space and develops antigravity technology.
The story "The Edge of the Knife" (collected in 'Empire') occurs
slightly before the war, and involves a man who sees flashes of the
future. It links many key elements of Piper's series.
Most of the stories take place during the next millennium, during the
age of the two Federations. Most notable among these novels are the
three Fuzzy novels (starting with 'Little Fuzzy'), which concern the
recognition of a peculiar alien species as sapient, and the efforts of
the two species to learn to live together on the Fuzzies' home world
of Zarathustra.
The Federation collapses in the System States War and following
Interstellar Wars (a bit of which can be seen in 'The Cosmic
Computer'), leading to a lengthy interregnum, during which there is no
central human power. 'Space Viking' is set in this chaotic period.
The interregnum ends with the founding of the first Empire. At least
five empires rule humanity during the next four thousand years, but
only a handful of short stories (collected in 'Empire') depict this
period. Piper generally portrays these empires as benign, ruled by
enlightened despots.
Piper's future history resembles in some ways Isaac Asimov's
'Foundation Trilogy', and was probably influenced by it, especially
since both authors wrote for John W. Campbell.
Paratime
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A much shorter series of alternate history stories is Piper's Paratime
sequence, collected in 'Paratime', followed by the novel 'Lord Kalvan
of Otherwhen'. These stories concern the Paratime Police, a law
enforcement outfit from a parallel world which has learned how to move
between timelines. They jealously guard the secret, even as they mine
other worlds for their resources. Notably, it appears that humans are
in fact Martian refugees who escaped a calamity on their home planet
and migrated to Earth.
Unlike many alternate histories which focus on recent historical
events, these stories tend to focus on points of divergence far back
in the past. For instance, 'Lord Kalvan' involves a police officer who
is accidentally transported to a world where the ancestors of modern
Europeans failed to move into Europe. Instead, the nomadic tribes
migrated across Asia and into North America. The people living on the
eastern coast of North America in this novel settled the area from the
west, and still live in a medieval society.
Many readers point towards the short story "Genesis" (anthologized in
'The Worlds of H. Beam Piper') to suggest that the Terro-Human Future
History universe is in fact an alternate world in the Paratime
universe, where the Martians' escape from Mars resulted in their
forgetting their heritage and having to start over. However, in
several letters to friends and in an article published in a fan
magazine, Piper himself listed the true Paratime stories, and he never
identified "Genesis" as one. On the other hand, "He Walked Around The
Horses" is referenced in "Police Operation" so that is a sidebar story
to the series.
Similarly, Piper's story "Omnilingual" (1957), which concerns a
near-future scientific expedition to Mars under the aegis of an
international Earth government, may also be a Paratime story. The
scientists and scholars involved in this effort are found 'in medias
res' excavating the ruins of the advanced human civilization which had
been gradually destroyed on the fourth planet some 50,000 years
before. In "Omnilingual" there is no mention of the northern
hemisphere's thermonuclear devastation as a result of the
NATO/Communist "cold war" kindled into an orgy of extermination by the
impact of an antimatter meteorite, which was detailed by Piper in his
story "The Answer" (1959). Throughout the Terro-Human Future History,
that conflict and the destruction wrought across the nations of the
First and Second Worlds is pervasive as an explanation of the precise
manner in which the home planet's culture (by way of South America,
Australia, and South Africa in particular) comes to influence the
planets of Piper's Federation and Empire.
* 'Paratime' (1981)
* 'The Complete Paratime' (2001)
* 'Lord Kalvan of Otherwhen' (1965, reprinted 1984), . (also published
as Gunpowder God by Sphere Science Fiction).
* Short stories: "Last Enemy"; "Time Crime" in two parts; "Temple
Trouble"; "Police Operation"; and according to some, "Genesis". "He
Walked Around The Horses" is referenced in "Police Operation" so that
is a sidebar story to the tale.
Federation series
===================
* 'Uller Uprising' (1952) (refers to the 1983 edition)
* 'Four-Day Planet' (1961) (refers to the 1981 edition: 'Four-Day
Planet/Lone Star planet')
* 'The Cosmic Computer' (1963, originally 'Junkyard Planet') (refers
to the 1983 edition.) Based on the short story "Graveyard of Dreams",
published in 'Galaxy Magazine' February 1958.
* 'Space Viking' (1963) (refers to the 1983 edition)
* 'Federation' (1981)
* 'Empire' (1981) (refers to the May 1983 Mass Market Paperback Ed.)
Fuzzy series
==============
# 'Little Fuzzy' (1962) ,
# 'Fuzzy Sapiens' (1964, originally 'The Other Human Race')
# 'Fuzzies and Other People' (1984)
Collections
=============
* 'The Complete Fuzzy' (1998) (pbk.)--collecting 'Little Fuzzy',
'Fuzzy Sapiens', and 'Fuzzies and other People'.
* 'The Fuzzy Papers' (September 1980) (pbk.) --collecting 'Little
Fuzzy' and 'Fuzzy Sapiens'.
* 'The Fuzzy Papers' (February 1977) ISBN ? (hdbk.)--collecting
'Little Fuzzy' and 'Fuzzy Sapiens'.
* 'The Worlds of H. Beam Piper' (1983)
Other novels
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* 'Murder in the Gunroom' (1953, not science fiction but rather a
murder mystery)
* 'Crisis In 2140' (1957, with John J. McGuire, half of Ace Double
D-227). This was first serialized in Astounding Science Fiction as
'Null-ABC', copyright 1953.
* 'Lone Star Planet' (1958, originally 'A Planet for Texans') with
John J. McGuire . The work is based on an essay by H. L. Mencken,
"[
http://www.mencken.org/text/txt001/mencken.h-l.1924.the-malevolent-jobholder.htm
The Malevolent Jobholder]" (from 'The American Mercury', June 1924).
In 1999, the novel won the Prometheus Award Hall of Fame Award for
Best Classic Libertarian SF Novel. This tongue-in-cheek tale features
a planet of Texans whose dinosaur-sized cattle have to be herded with
tanks, and whose system of government derives its character from
Mencken's essay.
* 'First Cycle' (1982), expanded by Michael Kurland from a Piper
outline.
Short stories
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* "The Answer" (1959)
* "Crossroads of Destiny" (1959)
* "Day of the Moron" (1951)
* "Dearest" (1951)
* "The Edge of the Knife" (1957)
* "Flight From Tomorrow" (1950)
* "Genesis" (1951)
* "Graveyard of Dreams" (1958)
* "He Walked Around the Horses" (1948), published in Kingsley Amis,
'The Golden Age of Science Fiction' (1981)
* "Hunter Patrol" (1959, with John J. McGuire) (1959)
* "The Keeper" (1957)
* "Last Enemy" (1950)
* "The Mercenaries" (1950)
* "Ministry of Disturbance" (with John J. McGuire) (1958)
* "Naudsonce" (1962)
* "Omnilingual" (1957)
* "Oomphel in the Sky" (1960)
* "Operation R.S.V.P." (1951)
* "Police Operation" (1948)
* "Rebel Raider" (1950)
* "The Return" (1954) (with John J. McGuire)
* "The Return" (1960) (with John J. McGuire) expanded version of the
original
* "A Slave is a Slave" (1962)
* "Temple Trouble" (1951)
* "Time and Time Again" (1947)
* "Time Crime" (1955)
* "When in the Course—" (1981)
Piper's Fuzzies in books by other authors
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* 'Fuzzy Bones', by William Tuning - Sequel to 'Little Fuzzy &
Fuzzy Sapiens' 1981
* 'Golden Dream', by Ardath Mayhar - based on works by H. Beam Piper
& William Tuning 1982
* 'Fuzzy Nation', by John Scalzi
* 'Fuzzy Ergo Sum', by Wolfgang Diehr
* 'Caveat Fuzzy', by Wolfgang Diehr (A sequel to 'Fuzzy Ergo Sum')
* 'The Fuzzy Conundrum', by John F. Carr and Wolfgang Diehr
Piper's "Terro-Human History" books by other authors
======================================================
* 'The Last Space Viking', by John F. Carr and Mike Robertson
* 'Space Viking's Throne', by John F. Carr and Mike Robertson (A
sequel to the 'Last Space Viking')
* 'The Way of the Sword-Worlds', by John F. Carr and Mike Robertson (A
prequel to 'Space Viking' involving Otto Harkaman, coming in 2021)
* ' Return of Space Viking', by John F. Carr (A direct sequel to
'Space Viking', confirmed by the author for late 2021 and is the
long-awaited book once announced by 'Jerry Pournelle')
* 'Rise of the Terran Federation', Edited by John F. Carr (A new
anthology due in 2016)
* 'Cosmic Computer Legacy: The Tides of Chaos', by Dietmar Wehr (A
sequel to 'Cosmic Computer')
* 'Space Viking Legacy: The Tanith Gambit', by Dietmar Wehr (A sequel
to 'Space Viking' released as an ebook in 2013)
* 'Space Viking Legacy: Book II: The Loki Gambit', by Dietmar Wehr
(released as an ebook in 2013)
* 'Prince of Tanith: A Space Viking Novel' (The Tanith Series)by Terry
Mancour (A sequel to 'Space Viking' on Amazon Kindle)
* 'Princess Valerie's War: A Space Viking Novel' (The Tanith Series
Book II) by Terry Mancour on Amazon Kindle
"Paratime" books by other authors
===================================
* 'Great King's War,' by John F. Carr and Roland Green
* 'Kalvan Kingmaker', by John F. Carr
* 'The Siege of Tos-Hostigos', by John F. Carr
* 'The Fireseed Wars', by John F. Carr
* 'Gunpowder God', by John F. Carr
* 'The Hos-Bletha Affair', by John F. Carr and Wolfgang Diehr
* 'Time Crime', by H. Beam Piper and John F. Carr (Carr expanded the
previous novella with a third act)
External links
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*
**
*
*
*
*
* [
http://www.hostigos.com/ John F. Carr's Lord Kalvan site]
*
*
[
https://web.archive.org/web/19990826112024/http://scifan.com/writers/pp/PiperBeam.asp
Bibliography] at SciFan
*
[
https://web.archive.org/web/20051215172538/http://home.dc.lsoft.com/scripts/wa.exe?A0=piper-l
Archives of the piper-l mailing list]
*
[
http://www.tor.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=blog&id=17194
2009 retrospective review of the Fuzzy series] by Jo Walton
* [
http://members.iglou.com/jtmajor/Viking.htm Lengthy
commentary/analysis by Joseph T Major on 'Space Viking'.]
*
*
[
https://web.archive.org/web/20100106134142/http://philsp.com/PastMasters/pastmasters_07.html
Past Masters - Piper at the Gates] by Bud Webster
* [
https://standardebooks.org/ebooks/h-beam-piper/the-cosmic-computer/
The Cosmic Computer] at [
https://standardebooks.org/ Standard Ebooks]
*
[
https://web.archive.org/web/20080105001546/http://www.h-beampiper.com/
The H. Beam Piper Memorial Site], accessed 7/13/2025
License
=========
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Original Article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H._Beam_Piper
