Every Thing is Animated

Planet Stories, Spring 1942

Last month I blogged about the "The Infinites", a story published by Philip Dick in 1953. "The Infinites" (Planet Stories, May) depicted every planet and asteroid of the galaxy as being inhabited by living creatures. Searching for the origins of such beliefs, I recently read Conversations on the Plurality of Worlds. 

Who needs water? After summarizing the evidence from telescopic observations of the Moon, Fontenelle concluded that there was no water on the Moon. However, he claimed that since microscopic observation of Earthly rocks reveals that there are "worms" that eat rock, we should expect there to be rock-eating life on the Moon. Fontenelle wrote: "In short, every thing is animated; every thing is full of life." Having issued that grand assertion, Fontenelle was then quick to imagining intelligent beings on the Moon who gaze up at the Earth and contemplate visiting Earth.

original art by Alfonso Williamson

 Fantasy biology. What about life on other planets? Fontenelle next speculated about life on Venus. Might the surface of Venus be too hot for life? Not at all: given that Venus is closer to the Sun than Earth, Fontenelle simply imagined that the people of Venus must be experts in love and that "their climate is very favorable to their tender passion". Fontenelle admitted that iron, silver and gold would most likely melt on the surface of Mercury, but why should that prevent that planet from being peopled? Here is how Fontenelle described the people of Mercury: "Like most of the negroes, they are without memory; never reflecting; acting by starts and at random..."

In case you wonder if Fontenelle's imagination placed people everywhere in the universe, rest at ease. He actually drew the line at the Sun, proclaiming its hot surface unsuitable for life. 

original art
by Dave Seeley

But what about Mars and the outer planets? Fontenelle felt that Mars was the most uninteresting planet and he had little to say about the residents of the red planet. However, after describing the great distance of Jupiter from the Sun, he went on to state that the people of Jupiter's moons must greatly enjoy their view of the giant planet. As for Saturn, Fontenelle noted that conditions on that world (and its moons) must be quite cold, but that would only imply that its residents would be calm and deep thinkers, taking a whole day to reply to a simple question.

Writers of the 20th century, in search of new settings for their Sci Fi stories, went on to populate every part of the solar system including Uranus and Pluto. Which brings us back to Fredric Brown. In 1942 he published "The Star Mouse" and revealed to Earthlings the existence of an over-looked abode for alien life that is closer to Earth than the Moon!

creatures from the Moon visit Earth
Amazing Stories, February 1929

In Fredric Brown's "What Mad Universe" (1948), readers were treated to the depiction of a science fiction fan who fantasized about there being air-breathing aliens from the Moon who upon reaching Earth would enjoy smoking tobacco. I suspect that Brown was poking fun at the many science fiction stories that had been written about alien people from the Moon (for example, see "The Death of the Moon" and "Moon Plague"). By the late 1940s, when Arthur C. Clarke wrote "The Sentinel", it was clear that conditions on the Moon made it unlikely for there to be any "people" who had evolved on the Moon. Brown's 1950 story "Honeymoon in Hell" depicted the Moon as lifeless. However, as late as 1966 Philip Dick was still imagining the discovery of a "living plasma" on the Moon for his story "We Can Remember It for You Wholesale".

Space Rat!

Mitkey. For "The Star Mouse", Fredric Brown sent a mouse into space. Most science fiction inventors want to ride their newly devised spaceship into outer space, but poor Professor Oberburger, working in his basement, can't afford to build a big spaceship... so a mouse (Mitkey; his "wife" is Minnie) has to be the passenger for a trip to the Moon. However, a funny thing happens on the way to the Moon: Mitkey lands on an asteroid (Prxl). Earth's astronomers have never noticed this near-Earth asteroid because its residents have painted the surface of the asteroid black.

Prxl does not have an atmosphere, but it is populated by half-inch tall people who have advanced technology. In fact, the folks of Prxl long ago moved their asteroid into Earth orbit in an attempt to hide from other asteroid people who were raising havoc in the asteroid belt.

Professor Oberburger and Mitkey

When Mitkey arrives on Prxl, he gets the red carpet treatment, including a brain boost and implanted vocal cords. Suddenly Mitkey is as intelligent as a human and can tell the people of Prxl all about current events on Earth, most importantly, Professor Oberburger's rocketry work.

Concerned that humans might soon travel into space and discover Prxl, Mitkey is returned to Earth with a device that Mitkey can use to boost the intelligence of all the mice on Earth. This is intended to disrupt human civilization, giving the residents of Prxl several thousand more years of peace and quiet. However, when Mitkey returns to Earth his boosted intelligence goes away and so there is no war between intelligent mice and humans. Whew!

aliens from Xandor

Another early Sci Fi story by Brown (possibly his first) was "Not Yet the End", published in the Winter 1941 issue of Captain Future. This is an alien invasion story in which one-eyed Evil Aliens™ are in search of slaves. Brown's evil aliens are the Borg Xandor horde and they prowl the universe in their cube-shaped spacecraft, looking for slaves.

When a Xandorian spaceship arrives on Earth, they enter a city and abduct two monkeys from a zoo. Thinking that the monkeys are the degenerate remnants of the city-builders, they decide that there are no primates on Earth intelligent enough to serve as slaves and the Xandorian's depart from Earth. Thus, humans avoid being enslaved.

image source

Not expecting to find a science fiction story, but trying to understand how Brown came to write science fiction, I read "Armageddon" which was published in the August 1941 issue of Unknown Fantasy Fiction.

For "Armageddon", Brown sends readers off to Cincinnati for a performance by Gerber the Great (a magician) at the Bijou theater. The story is about young Herbie, who just got a new water pistol before Gerber the Great's stage show. Herbie's dad gives him a whipping for misbehavior: filling his water pistol with Holy Water during a stop at the Cathedral.

Although Herbie gets whipped, he actually saved the world from destruction by the Devil: a squirt of some Holy Water from his pistol dispatched the Devil and saves Humanity.

interior art for "Armageddon"

The Devil suddenly shows up during Gerber the Great's magic act because at that moment, on the other side of the planet, an ancient prayer wheel stopped turning, releasing the Devil from some sort of captivity.

When Gerber the Great is transformed into the Devil, flames appear, particularly on the magic pigeon box being held by Herbie. Herbie draws his water pistol and tries to put out the flame, splashing Holy Water on the Devil and saving the world from Armageddon.

Now having read several stories by Fredric Brown, I've had my fill of mini-asteroidal aliens, Mitkey the talking mouse, the Devil and the rest of Brown's retinue of fantasy characters. Maybe Brown wrote some interesting science fiction in later decades?

cover art by Ed Emshwiller

The Spring 1942 issue of Planet Stories also held "Black Fiar of the Flame", by Isaac Asimov. Asimov tried to get that story published in 1939, but it was repeatedly rejected by editor John Campbell. Asimov had a strong interest in history and had he not established a working relationship with Campbell, Asimov might never have written his famous positronic robot and Foundation stories. I don't enjoy fictional politics, so "Black Fiar of the Flame" is a tough slog for me, just as reading his earliest Foundation stories was. Similarly, I find Asimov's first robot story, "Robbie", to be almost unreadable. Only after years of mentoring by Campbell did Asimov begin writing the types of science fiction stories that appeal to me.

I have to wonder if Fredric Brown also got better at writing science fiction with practice. 

interior art for "Earthmen Bearing Gifts"

Such was the case with Jack Vance who began publishing stories such as "The Star King" in the 1960s. Thus, I could not resist sampling Brown's 1960 story "Earthmen Bearing Gifts". I'm a sucker for telepathy stories, so how does "Earthmen Bearing Gifts" measure up? The story involves telepathic Martians, but I'll hold my nose and try to focus on the telepathy.

I've seen Brown praised as a master of the very short story. "Earthmen Bearing Gifts" is very short. It recycles the same plot device that is found in "What Mad Universe": using a powerful burst of energy to probe the composition of a distant planetary body. In this case, an atomic bomb is sent to Mars from Earth in order to learn about Mars and its atmosphere. 

In the Ekcolir Reality.

The Last Martian. At the same time, the telepaths of Mars are eagerly awaiting the imminent arrival of Earthlings on Mars. Sadly, Brown provides no explanation of the physical basis of the telepathy that allows the Martians to "read the thoughts" of Earthlings who are millions of miles away. 😢

The Martian's are anticipating good relations with humans. The Martians are experts in social science and they hope to get help from Earthlings for rebuilding the infrastructure of their ancient civilization. 

Only one Martian city remains with about 1,000 residents. The atomic bomb from Earth accidentally and improbably lands on the last remaining Martian city, putting an end to the telepathic Martians.

cover art by Tim White

So there we have it. I should not have gotten my hopes up thinking that maybe Brown would have something interesting to say about telepathic aliens. I suppose some people might view "Earthmen Bearing Gifts" as "clever" and enjoy the sudden "twist" at the end, but I was not amused. 

This (above) is the third of a set of blog posts about Fredric Brown and the "stuff" that he published in Sci Fi magazines and how Sci Fi fans reacted. How would I characterize his "stuff"? When science fiction was assembling as a distinct literary genre it had a core set of plot elements that were frequently included in stories: space travel, time travel, alternate dimensions or parallel universes, space aliens, the ingenious scientist/inventor, the heroic spaceship captain, etc. 

In the Ekcolir Reality

Brown was able to treat the already-existing plot elements of science fiction in much the same way that a child uses a set of building blocks, pushing them around into new configurations. I suspect that Brown was more comfortable when writing in the domain of detective/crime fiction where he did not have to worry about science or technological details. 

At a young age, Isaac Asimov's father did not want his son wasting time with trash magazines. Isaac created the idea that if a magazine had the word "science" in the title then it must be educational. With the mentoring of John Campbell, Asimov was pushed towards making his own stories more than just entertaining pulp "stuff". When pushed to invent new Sci Fi plot elements such as the Laws of Robotics and the fictional science of Psychohistory, Asimov was able to make interesting additions to the science fiction genre. 

everything is animated

Brown's humor was a welcomed contribution to Sci Fi, a genre where far too many stories are dreadfully dull and relentlessly serious. However, with no connection to the domains of science and technology, Brown was not going to come up with interesting new fictional science or future technology. When I read the science fiction stories of Fredric Brown I get the uneasy sensation that he was more interested in mocking the science fiction genre than expanding it. If anyone has a copy of "The Robot, the Girl, the Poet, and the Android", I'd be interest to know what it was about.

Related Reading: an entire website devoted to old fantasies about life in our Solar System -  and "Sinister Barrier", published in the first issue of Unknown

Next: even crystal skulls are animated; the 2021 SIHA awards

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