Space Opera Jones

cover art by Fred Haucke

At the end of last year I mentioned the Raymond Fisher Jones story "Noise Level" that was published in the December 1952 issue of Astounding Science Fiction. In the early 1950s, Jones was making the move towards publishing novels rather than remaining trapped in the pages of science fiction magazines.

Of his two novels published in book format in 1951, only one was a newly published work (The Alien). The other (Renaissance) had been previously published in the form of 4 serial installments in the July, August, September and October 1944 issues of Astounding. I suspect that The Alien was rather hastily constructed (possibly at the request of H. L. Gold) by expanding a shorter story (one that had been rejected by SF magazines such as Galaxy) to book length.

The god of Venus? Interior
art by William Kolliker

As far as I can tell, the first science fiction story published by Jones was called "Test of the Gods" and it was published in the September 1941 Astounding along with Isaac Asimov's famous story "Nightfall". Both "Test of the Gods" and "Nightfall" are built around alien beings on other planets and their religious beliefs.

Natives of Venus and Heaven World
These days, it is not likely that any science fiction story teller would try to write a tale about the religious beliefs of dinosaur-like natives living in the jungles of Venus. However, back in the "Golden Age" of science fiction, many authors tried their hand at a story about life on Venus (for examples, see both this and this).

Chariots of the Gods?

In "Test of the Gods" (which is mercifully short), Jones plays around with the idea that the Venusians would construct for themselves beliefs about a deity that was appropriate for the conditions under which they had to live in the jungle of Venus. At the core of Jones' story is the implicit assumption that "primitive" people, upon being visited by strangers arriving from the sky, would assume that the visitors were gods.

Ancient Aliens
When I first came across this idea in Chariots of the Gods?, I was amused. At the time, I was struggling to understand how people retained their beliefs in absurd ideas that were part of their religious indoctrination.

the Temple of Birth

As a young boy, I was astounded to find myself surrounded by millions of fellow Earthlings who preferred to retain belief in religious doctrine rather than adopt a science-based understanding of the universe. Imagine Jones when he left behind Salt Lake City and went out into the wider world. How did he adapt his religious cultural inheritance to the task of writing science fiction stories? In both The Alien and Renaissance, Jones gives the classic Sci Fi science vs. religion themes some attention.

the War of 1927

Jones was born in 1915. It is hard for me to imagine growing up with your early life having been shaped by relatives going off to fight a war on the other side of the planet and then returning home with fantastic war stories to tell. Jones reached his personal golden age of Sci Fi in 1927 and according to his autobiographical sketches, Jones was strongly influenced by the publication of War of the Worlds in Amazing Stories.

Look at that 1927 magazine cover from Amazing Stories (shown to the right). That is a pretty good visual summary of battle scenes in both The Alien and Renaissance; they are very much a part of the "rockets and ray-guns" tradition. The only questions are: 1) who is blasting who and 2) why?

E. E. Smith; master of intergalactic
adventure. Cover by Jack Gaughan.

Smith and Jones
The descriptions of battle scenes in The Alien and Renaissance could be easily interchanged with each other or other space adventures such as those written by E. E. Smith. Boom!

Having said that, these two novels are not only about blowing things up and someone like myself who does not enjoy military Sci Fi can simply skim through the battle scenes (hint: even as entire planets are reduced to rubble, the hero of the adventure will never be killed).

As much as I enjoy making fun of the Wild West shoot 'em up feel of many early outer space adventure stories, there are some interesting science fiction topics lurking in The Alien and Renaissance. Might there be hidden parts of the universe and might they suddenly be revealed to us? What would happen to human society if telepathy became possible?

a 1963 edition

Evil Aliens
In The Alien, an Evil Alien™ has taken control of the weak-minded masses of Earth. The Evil Alien™ wants to rule the universe, so he deploys a fleet of spaceships manned by his human minions. Once all of the impenetrable force shields and unstoppable ray guns have been deployed and unleashed, the story reads rather like a comic book that jumps from battle to battle in an attempt to hold the short attention span of young boys. As we race towards the thrilling conclusion, nothing need make sense as long as there are plenty of explosions and gee-wiz moments.

How popular was the kind of wild-ride space opera story that Jones wrote? We have data for Renaissance. Astounding editor Campbell tabulated reader responses and we are told that the first installment of Renaissance was ranked #1 among the stories in that issue of the magazine. And it wasn't even close; apparently Renaissance was the unanimous choice for best story.

Data from the Astounding Analytical Laboratory.

The Alien begins with the idea that 500,000 years ago there had been a "5th planet" at the orbital position of the asteroid belt. That planet had its own native life and a species of intelligent natives with written language.

Dang it all! We keep loosing
too many planets that way...

However, during a war, the civilization of the 5th planet had been destroyed. In fact, the entire planet was reduced to rubble. Sadly, astronomers have counted the asteroids and measured their sizes and even determined their composition. Apparently, there was no planet between Mars and Jupiter 500,000 years ago, but I don't hold that against Jones and the The Alien. It would be cool to discover evidence of "ancient aliens" and very cool to actually meet one.

Of course, in the dominant tradition of 20th century science fiction, technologically advanced aliens who have traveled half way across the universe are going to have one goal: to posses all the gold diamonds cute girls of the universe. And....

                                                        ...Don't Ask Why

Evil Aliens™ : they like cute Earth women.

However, for the particular variety of space operatic "cool" that Jones was trying to produce, he needed a telepathic Bad Guy™. So not only do archeologists from Earth find remnants of an alien civilization in the asteroids, they find a living alien inside a super-duper alien space-age sarcophagus.

Why does this re-animated alien blast anyone who gets in his way of galactic domination? Well, you know, that is simply what Evil Aliens™ do.

First book edition by Gnome Press.

Sadly, there are no aliens, evil or otherwise, in Renaissance. The Sci Fi premise is this: while puttering about in his basement, an Earthly scientist invented a way to reach parallel universes. Due to the fact that the planets in these parallel universes have different vibrational frequencies, they exist as if stacked right on top of our universe and it is pretty easy to move from Earth to other planets in the parallel universes. However, the alternate universe planet that is easiest to reach from Earth (Kronweld) is not a paradise.

I think Jones was trying to suggest that Kronweld is a planet locked gravitationally to its star with one side always dark and one side burning under constant illumination. David Kyle seems to have had another idea when he made the Gnome Press cover painting shown to the right on this page.

Radioactive Radiation!

1967 Moewig edition

Jones never let actual science get in the way of telling a rousing Sci Fi adventure. According to Jones, due to the high levels of radioactivity on Kronweld, the residents cannot reproduce (otherwise, they are healthy). However, after being removed from the high-radiation environment of Kronweld for a few years, the residents regain the ability to have children.

You might wonder: why would anyone live on a world where radiation levels are so high that reproduction is impossible? Jones tells us that a thousand years ago there was a devastating series of wars after which the people of Earth turned against science and technology. However, "sorting centers" were created where each newborn baby of Earth is tested. Those newborns with genes that pre-dispose them to anti-social behavior are killed.

Pyramid Books edition

Eugenics
At the same time, the newborns with a genetic endowment that will make them creative and able to carry out scientific research are sent to the parallel alternative-dimensions world of Kronweld where it is their task to develop super-Hi Tek™ atomic technologies and Other Cool Stuff™ that will ultimately allow a scientific elite to take control of the ignorant masses of Earth and turn Earth into a post-scarcity paradise world. Ta-da!

Inside the Birth Temple
However, this "brilliant" plan has gone terribly wrong. Most residents of Kronweld have forgotten about the Birds and the Bees and they now believe that each new baby that arrives on Kronweld after passing through the trans-dimensional gate from Earth is a divine creation of God, being made in a miraculous burst of light.

1975 edition

Renaissance begins with a young Kronweld scientist (Ketan) who has discovered sexual reproduction and the fact that babies come from pregnant women. There is an amusing scene in the story during which the great and grizzled scientists of the Super-High Science Council of Kronweld (who have never seen a pregnant woman) are disgusted by the idea that they each began life by emerging from a woman's vagina rather than a pure and divine burst of light. After the distinguished scientists vomit, they call for the death of the heretical junior scientist.

Before ever being sent through the dimensional gate from Earth to Kronweld, Ketan was implanted with visions of the great Earthly scientist (now long dead) who set up the whole Kronweld project. Through his entire life, Ketan has had occasional mysterious visions of Earth.

the Karildex keyboard

Like a salmon returning to the stream of its birth, Ketan escapes from Kronweld by going through the dimensional gate to Earth in search of answers. He learns that forces have been gathering for centuries that are now ready to obliterate the silly "life is a miracle" rulers of Kronweld society, allowing the enlightened scientists of Kronweld to return to Earth and take their rightful place as the new leaders of Earth. The key technology from Kronweld that will turn Earth into a paradise is the Karildex, a gigantic computer that can collate everyone's wishes and opinions and then print out the optimal choice for every political decision.

Terra Sonderband edition 1959

Alien Life
As a biologist, it is amusing for me to see how Jones tried to explain "the secret of life". The resurrected alien in The Alien has been "living" for 500,000 years as a blob of "pure protoplasm". Under the right stimulation (in The Alien, Jones has a "ray" for every purpose) the alien protoplasm first forms cells then an embryo and then after six months a fully formed alien adult complete with all of its memories from its life of 500,000 years ago. Gee-wiz!

What was the home world of the Evil Alien™ in The Alien? It was not the destroyed 5th planet of our solar system. It was a distant exoplanet that is referred to as Heaven World. After 500,000 years, Heaven World is deserted and has no remaining atmosphere. However, the remnants of that ancient civilization remain on a nearby moon.

Pushy. Telepathy by brain tumor!

Telepathic Tumors!
We discover that not only are the aliens from Heaven World telepathic, but by transplanting their organ of telepathy into a human (our hero, Ketan), he can also have telepathic powers. Thus equipped, Ketan defeats the Evil Alien™ and even gets the girl (sorry, Renaissance takes place in the 1940s no sex zone, so don't expect any steamy romance).

In an extra-weird fictional biology twist, readers learn (Gee Wiz!) that the alien organs of telepathy are a type of cancerous growth that is grafted into the bodies of the aliens when they are children.

Hollywood Jones

Jones suggests to his readers that in the future, humans will learn to stop fighting brain cancer and make use of it to develop telepathic powers! That was a silly idea in the 1940s, but it was still used in The X-Files during the 1990s.

Related Reading: 1) a review of The Alien at
                                the MPorcius Fiction Log
2) Asimov's Stephen Byerley stories                  
3) "Dodkin's Job" by Jack Vance
4) "Kitsunegari", X-Files episode
5) My own story with a link between cancer and telepathy.

Next: Retro-SIHA 2020

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