[New post] Generation Ship Short Story Review: Leigh Brackett’s “The Ark of Mars” (1953)
Joachim Boaz posted: " This is the 9th post in my newly resurrected series of vintage generation ship short fiction reviews. Not every short story I read for this series fits my definition of a generation ship. If you choose to read the story before my review, know that I disa"
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New post on Science Fiction and Other Suspect Ruminations
This is the 9th post in my newly resurrected series of vintage generation ship short fiction reviews. Not every short story I read for this series fits my definition of a generation ship. If you choose to read the story before my review, know that I disagree with its inclusion in SF Encyclopedia's entry and understand why it was excluded from Simone Caroti's original list. And that's okay! I enjoy mapping the territory with all its swampy bayous, hidden coves, and dead ends.
As a reminder for anyone stopping by, all of the stories I'll review in the series are available online via the link below in the review.
You are welcome to read and discuss along with me as I explore humanity's visions of generational voyage. And thanks go out to all who have joined already. I also have compiled an extensive index of generation ship SF if you wish to track down my earlier reviews on the topic and any that you might want to read on your own.
Previously: Otto Binder's "Son of the Stars" in the February 1940 issue of Famous Fantastic Mysteries, ed. Mary Gnaedinger. You can read the story online here.
Next Up: TBD
Frank Kelly Freas' cover art illustrating Leigh Brackett's "The Ark of Mars" in Planet Stories (September 1953)
Leigh Brackett's "The Ark of Mars" first appeared in Planet Stories (September 1953), ed. 2.5/5 (Bad). You can read it online here. "Ark" was combined with an expanded "Teleportress of Alpha C" (1954) and released as the fix-up Alpha Centauri or Die! (1963).
Let's get the obvious out of the way. As I mentioned above, this is not a generation ship story despite its inclusion in the SF Encyclopedia's entry on the theme. While mothers and children are brought on board a massive vessel secretly constructed on Mars for a journey to an Earth-like planet orbiting Alpha Centauri, the voyage lasts a mere five years. Children might be born on the ship but will only spend a short portion of their lives on board. All of the action of the plot revolves around launching the vessel and Mars' last attempt to stop the trip immediately as it sets off. Few of the distinctive hallmarks of generation ship stories are present -- there's no generational strife between those born on the ship and their elders, no conceptual breakthrough as the "true" nature of the world is revealed, etc. Instead, the ship is a glorified covered wagon, symbolic of Brackett's identification of a primitivist masculine drive (with adjacent spouses) to trek West, rather than new social system to explore.
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