 First edition | |
| Author | Poul Anderson |
|---|---|
| Cover artist | Johannes Regn |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Science fiction |
| Publisher | Doubleday |
Publication date | 1965 |
| Media type | Print (hardback & paperback) |
| Pages | 274 |
| OCLC | 1801279 |
The Star Fox is a science fiction novel by Poul Anderson, first published in 1965. It was nominated for the Nebula Award for Best Novel in 1965. [1]
The novel is a fixup of the stories "Marque and Reprisal", "Arsenal Port" and "Admiralty", originally published in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction from February to June 1965.
The Star Fox is set during a period of conflict between humanity and an alien race named the Aleriona, specifically, the conflict between the wily Gunnar Heim and his Alerionian adversary, Cynbe ru Taren, the Aleriona "Intellect Master of the Garden of War" who has been trained in the ways of human thought to the extent that he is alienated from his own race. Heim begins as a privateer in his illegally outfitted ship the Fox II (named after his old military ship, the Star Fox), waging a one-man war on the Aleriona who ultimately forces Earth into conflict, as he realises that the Alerionan desire to rule all other species is almost impossible to defeat. Throughout the novel, Heim and Cynbe develop a grudging respect for each other's skills, culminating in a tragic final conflict.
It is typical of Anderson's work that both Gunnar Heim and Cynbe are depicted sympathetically and honourably, in a manner not dissimilar to the depiction of Dominic Flandry and his Chereionite adversary Aycharaych in his "Terran Empire" stories. Anderson also makes a scathing comment on the anti-Vietnam War movement in his introduction of a pacifist group named "World Militants for Peace". Freedom, as Anderson sees it, may come from the expansion of humanity into space, particularly with regard to the planet of New Europe. Unlike Anderson's Mirkheim, which is inhabited by intelligent life, or the barely tolerable Rustum from Orbit Unlimited , New Europe is Earth-like and filled with native life-forms, albeit non-sentient.
The Libertarian Futurist Society says the novel espouses libertarian themes and the book was inducted into the Prometheus Award Hall of Fame by the Society in 1995. In the same year, Anderson won the main Prometheus award for his novel The Stars Are Also Fire. [2]
Gunnar Heim also appears in Anderson's 1974 novel Fire Time .
The Prometheus Award is an award for libertarian science fiction novels given annually by the Libertarian Futurist Society. L. Neil Smith established the award in 1979, but it was not awarded regularly until the newly founded Libertarian Futurist Society revived it in 1982. The Society created a Hall of Fame Award in 1983, and also presents occasional one-off Special Awards.
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Fire Time is a science fiction novel by Poul Anderson, first published in 1974. It was nominated for the Hugo Award for Best Novel in 1975.
Learning the World is a science fiction novel by British writer Ken MacLeod, published in 2005. It won the 2006 Prometheus Award, was nominated for the Hugo, Locus, Clarke, and Campbell Awards that same year, and received a BSFA nomination in 2005. Since the book's publication MacLeod has written two short stories set in the same universe, "Lighting Out" and "Who's Afraid of Wolf 359?".
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The Powers of the Earth is a 2017 libertarian hard science fiction novel by Travis J I Corcoran. It is his debut novel, and the first release in the Aristillus Series. The novel was funded by a 2017 Kickstarter campaign that raised $18,000.