Plot summary
Set in the Antarctic region of the planet Krishna, "Calories" focuses on a long pursuit of two Earthmen, Cuthwin ("Dinky") Singer and Earl Okagamut, by a numerous and well-equipped cohort of fanatical soldiers from the Krishnan theocracy of Nichnyamadze. In contrast to their pursuers, Singer and Okagamut are possessed of a minimum of equipment and supplies. The chase tests the endurance of both fugitives and hunters, with the latter slowly but surely overtaking the former.
In the end, however, the Krishnans halt and give up the chase, as Okagamut, who is of Inuit heritage, has calculated they must. Having determined the caloric requirements of the trip he knew that he and his companion, subsisting on dried meat, could complete the journey, while the soldiers, whose religion requires a vegetarian diet, could not. Worn out by the pursuit, they have no option but to return to more temperate climes or perish. The life-and-death clash the story was apparently building up to is precluded by Okagamut's display of cleverness.
Setting
The planet Krishna is de Camp's premier creation in the Sword and Planet 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. De Camp intended the stories as "pure entertainment in the form of light, humorous, swashbuckling, interplanetary adventure-romances—a sort of sophisticated Burroughs-type story, more carefully thought out than their prototypes." [4]
As dated in the 1959 version of de Camp's essay "The Krishna Stories", the action of "Calories" takes place in the year 2122 A.D., falling between the first part of "Finished" and Perpetual Motion , which would make it the second story set on Krishna in terms of chronology. [5] However, internal evidence indicates that it actually falls between The Queen of Zamba and the second part of "Finished", the attempt to break the Viagens embargo on advanced technology in the former being mentioned as recent news, while the characters show no knowledge of the equally notorious assault on the ban in the latter. This would date the story between the years 2138 and 2140, presumably about 2139, making it the fourth story set on Krishna.
The Queen of Zamba is a science fiction novel by American writer 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, Czech, and Polish. 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.
"Perpetual Motion" is a science fiction short story by American writer L. Sprague de Camp, part of his Viagens Interplanetarias series. It was first published under the title "Wide-Open Planet" in the magazine Future Combined with Science Fiction Stories in the issue for September–October, 1950. It first appeared in book form under the present title in the collection The Continent Makers and Other Tales of the Viagens, published in hardcover by Twayne Publishers in 1953, and in paperback by Signet Books in 1971. It was also included in the paperback edition of The Queen of Zamba 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. A trade paperback edition in which the story was paired with Richard Wilson's "And Then The Town Took Off" was issued by Armchair Fiction in May, 2013 as Wide-Open Planet & And Then The Town Took Off. The story has been translated into Portuguese, Dutch, and Italian.
The Hand of Zei is a science fiction novel by American writer L. Sprague de Camp, the second book of his Viagens Interplanetarias series and its subseries of stories set on the fictional planet Krishna. The book has a convoluted publication history.
The Hostage of Zir is a science fiction novel by American writer L. Sprague de Camp, the seventh book of his Viagens Interplanetarias series and the fifth of its subseries of stories set on the fictional planet Krishna. Chronologically it is the third Krishna novel. It was first published in hardcover by Berkley/Putnam in 1977, and in paperback by Berkley Books in 1978. A new paperback edition was published by Ace Books in 1982 as part of the standard edition of the Krishna novels. 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. The novel has also been translated into German and Czech.
Antarctic Conquest: the Story of the Ronne Expedition 1946-1948 is a 1949 science book by Norwegian-American Antarctic explorer Finn Ronne and science fiction writer L. Sprague de Camp, published in hardcover by G. P. Putnam's Sons. The role of de Camp, who was commissioned as a ghost writer to recast Ronne's manuscript into publishable form, is uncredited. Ronne's working title was reportedly "Conquering the Antarctic".
The Virgin of Zesh is a science fiction novella by American writer L. Sprague de Camp, the fourth book of his Viagens Interplanetarias series and the third of its subseries of stories set on the fictional planet Krishna. Chronologically, it is the fifth Krishna novel. It was originally published in the magazine Thrilling Wonder Stories for February 1953. It was first published in book form together with The Wheels of If in the paperback collection The Virgin & the Wheels by Popular Library in 1976. For the later standard edition of Krishna novels it was published together with The Tower of Zanid in the paperback collection The Virgin of Zesh & The Tower of Zanid by Ace Books in 1983. The first English language stand-alone edition was published as an E-book by Gollancz's SF Gateway imprint on September 29, 2011 as part of a general release of de Camp's works in electronic form. The novel has also been translated into German.
The Virgin of Zesh & The Tower of Zanid is a 1982 collection of two science fiction novels by American writer L. Sprague de Camp. Both works are part of his Viagens Interplanetarias series and of its subseries of stories set on the fictional planet Krishna. The collection was first published in paperback by Ace Books in February 1983, and reprinted in April of the same year. It was issued as the fourth volume of the standard edition of the Krishna novels, and its component parts were at the time of publication the fifth and sixth Krishna novels, chronologically. Afterwards, publication of The Bones of Zora (1983) put The Tower of Zanid seventh in order of chronology.
The Stones of Nomuru is a science fiction novel by American writers L. Sprague de Camp and Catherine Crook de Camp, the tenth book in the former's Viagens Interplanetarias series and the first in its subseries of stories set on the fictional planet Kukulkan. It was first published as a trade paperback by Donning/Starblaze Editions in September 1988, and as a mass market paperback by Baen Books in May 1991. 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. It has also been translated into Italian.
The Tower of Zanid is a science fiction novel by American writer 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 Science Fiction Stories for May 1958. It was first published in book form in hardcover by Avalon Books, also in 1958, and in paperback by Airmont Books in 1963. It has been reissued a number of times since by various publishers. For the later standard edition of Krishna novels it was published together with The Virgin of Zesh in the paperback collection The Virgin of Zesh & The Tower of Zanid by Ace Books in 1983. 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. The novel has also been translated into Italian and German.
The Continent Makers is a science fiction novella by American writers L. Sprague de Camp, part of his Viagens Interplanetarias series. It was first published in the magazine Thrilling Wonder Stories in the issue for April, 1951. It first appeared in book form in the collection The Continent Makers and Other Tales of the Viagens, published in hardcover by Twayne Publishers in 1953, and in paperback by Signet Books in 1971. It has also been translated into Portuguese, Dutch, and Italian.
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. Set in the future in the 21st and 22nd centuries, the series is named for the quasi-public Terran agency portrayed as monopolizing interstellar travel, the Brazilian-dominated Viagens Interplanetarias. It is also known as the Krishna series, as the majority of the stories belong to a sequence set on a fictional planet of that name. While de Camp started out as a science fiction writer and his early reputation was based on his short stories in the genre, the Viagens tales represent his only extended science fiction series.
The Prisoner of Zhamanak is a science fiction novel by American writer L. Sprague de Camp, the eighth book of his Viagens Interplanetarias series and the sixth of its subseries of stories set on the fictional planet Krishna. Chronologically it is the fourth Krishna novel. It was first published in hardcover by Phantasia Press in 1982, and in paperback by Ace Books in April 1983 as part of the standard edition of the Krishna novels. 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. The novel has also been translated into German.
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 novel as well. It was first published in paperback by Baen Books in February 1991. 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.
The Bones of Zora is a science fiction novel by American writers L. Sprague de Camp and Catherine Crook de Camp, the ninth book of the former's Viagens Interplanetarias series and the seventh of its subseries of stories set on the fictional planet Krishna. Chronologically it is the sixth Krishna novel. It was first published in hardcover by Phantasia Press in 1983, and in paperback by Ace Books in August, 1984 as part of the standard edition of the Krishna novels. 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. The novel has also been translated into German.
"The Animal-Cracker Plot" is a science fiction short story by American writer L. Sprague de Camp, a story in his Viagens Interplanetarias series. It is the second (chronologically) set on the planet Vishnu, and the first to feature the interstellar con-man Darius Koshay. It was first published in the magazine Astounding Science-Fiction in the issue for July, 1949. It first appeared in book form in the collection The Continent Makers and Other Tales of the Viagens, published in hardcover by Twayne Publishers in 1953, and in paperback by Signet Books in 1971. The story has been translated into Portuguese, Dutch, and Italian.
"The Galton Whistle" is a science fiction short story by American writer L. Sprague de Camp, a story in his Viagens Interplanetarias series. It is the first (chronologically) set on the planet Vishnu. It was first published, as "Ultrasonic God," in the magazine Future Combined with Science Fiction Stories in the issue for July, 1951. It first appeared in book form under the present title in the collection The Continent Makers and Other Tales of the Viagens, published in hardcover by Twayne Publishers in 1953, and in paperback by Signet Books in 1971. It also appeared in the anthologies Novelets of Science Fiction, The Good Old Stuff, and The Good Stuff. The story has been translated into Portuguese, Dutch, and Italian.
"The Inspector's Teeth" is a science fiction short story by American writer L. Sprague de Camp, part of his Viagens Interplanetarias series. It is the first (chronologically) set on Earth, and a linchpin tale in the sequence, showing how the interstellar political system forming the background of the rest of the series was established. It was first published in the magazine Astounding in the issue for April, 1950. It first appeared in book form in the collection The Continent Makers and Other Tales of the Viagens, published in hardcover by Twayne Publishers in 1953, and in paperback by Signet Books in 1971. It also appeared in The Best of L. Sprague de Camp, and Anthropomorphic Aliens: An Interstellar Anthology. The story has been translated into Portuguese, Dutch, Italian and German.
"The Colorful Character" is a science fiction short story by American writer L. Sprague de Camp, part of his Viagens Interplanetarias series. It was first published in the magazine Thrilling Wonder Stories in the issue for December, 1949. It first appeared in book form in the collection Sprague de Camp's New Anthology of Science Fiction, published simultaneously in hardcover by Hamilton and in paperback by Panther Books in 1953.
"Finished" is a science fiction short story by American writer L. Sprague de Camp, part of his Viagens Interplanetarias series. It was first published in the magazine Astounding Science Fiction in the issue for November, 1949. It first appeared in book form in the collection The Continent Makers and Other Tales of the Viagens, published in hardcover by Twayne Publishers in 1953 and in paperback by Signet Books in November, 1971.
GURPS Planet Krishna is a role-playing game supplement published by Steve Jackson Games (SJG) in 1997 that helps a gamemaster design a GURPS campaign using the Viagens Interplanetarias science fiction setting of L. Sprague de Camp.
