Science Fiction Piper, H. Beam: Terro-Human Future History Omnibus. v2, 26 Sep 2008

[HarryT]

This is something of a "monster book" - the complete (out of copyright) "Terro-Human Future History" series of H. Beam Piper.

The Terro-Human Future History is Piper's detailed account of the next 6000 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 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 adopted 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 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.

The books and stories in this omnibus edition are:

1. The Edge of the Knife (Short Story)
2. Omnilingual (Short Story)
3. Four-Day Planet (Novel)
4. Uller Uprising (Novel)
5. Naudsonce (Short Story)
6. Little Fuzzy (Novel)
7. Oomphel in the Sky (Short Story)
8. The Cosmic Computer (Novel)
9. Space Viking (Novel)
10. A Slave is a Slave (Short Story)
11. Ministry of Disturbance (Short Story)
12. The Keeper (Short Story)

The items are arranged in chronological order in the "Future History", not in the order in which they were written. Virtually all the books and stories are illustrated, hence the (very) large file. There are two additional books in the series - "Fuzzy Sapiens" and "Fuzzies and Other People" - which are still under copyright and hence not included in this omnibus. In reading order they should immediately follow "Little Fuzzy".

Please note that three of the items in this omnibus:

Little Fuzzy
The Cosmic Computer
Space Viking

are also available as separate downloads in this forum.

Anyway, hope people enjoy this. It's been a heck of a lot of work to create, but I'm very happy with the results. BD coped admirably even with a book of this size.

Enjoy!

[HarryT]

That was a ghastly book to create. Too many blooming pictures! Hope the end result is worth it - it is "classic" SF.

[Gibbo]

Originally Posted by HarryT

That was a ghastly book to create. Too many blooming pictures! Hope the end result is worth it - it is "classic" SF.

Thx harry for your great effort

[JWLaRue]

Most excellent. Piper's books are some of my most favorite. Now if we could only get the Lord Kalvan series as well.

Down Styphon!

-Jeff