Entry to Elsewhen

by John Brunner

Contains three separate stories about military domination and about deliberate suppression of initiative within oppressed populations.

Host Age: How do you defeat an extra-terrestrial Terminator?

Lung Fish: A spaceship's crew learns the limitations of psychological manipulation.

No Other Gods But Me: Good will and genetic serendipity battle a conqueror's bravado.

Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction, Short Stories, Collections

172 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1972

About the author

John Brunner was born in Preston Crowmarsh, near Wallingford in Oxfordshire, and went to school at St Andrew's Prep School, Pangbourne, then to Cheltenham College. He wrote his first novel, Galactic Storm, at 17, and published it under the pen-name Gill Hunt, but he did not start writing full-time until 1958. He served as an officer in the Royal Air Force from 1953 to 1955, and married Marjorie Rosamond Sauer on 12 July 1958

At the beginning of his writing career Brunner wrote conventional space opera pulp science fiction. Brunner later began to experiment with the novel form. His 1968 novel "Stand on Zanzibar" exploits the fragmented organizational style John Dos Passos invented for his USA trilogy, but updates it in terms of the theory of media popularised by Marshall McLuhan.

"The Jagged Orbit" (1969) is set in a United States dominated by weapons proliferation and interracial violence, and has 100 numbered chapters varying in length from a single syllable to several pages in length. "The Sheep Look Up" (1972) depicts ecological catastrophe in America. Brunner is credited with coining the term "worm" and predicting the emergence of computer viruses in his 1975 novel "The Shockwave Rider", in which he used the term to describe software which reproduces itself across a computer network. Together with "Stand on Zanzibar", these novels have been called the "Club of Rome Quartet", named after the Club of Rome whose 1972 report The Limits to Growth warned of the dire effects of overpopulation.

Brunner's pen names include K. H. Brunner, Gill Hunt, John Loxmith, Trevor Staines, Ellis Quick, Henry Crosstrees Jr., and Keith Woodcott.
In addition to his fiction, Brunner wrote poetry and many unpaid articles in a variety of publications, particularly fanzines, but also 13 letters to the New Scientist and an article about the educational relevance of science fiction in Physics Education. Brunner was an active member of the organisation Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament and wrote the words to "The H-Bomb's Thunder", which was sung on the Aldermaston Marches.

Brunner had an uneasy relationship with British new wave writers, who often considered him too American in his settings and themes. He attempted to shift to a more mainstream readership in the early 1980s, without success. Before his death, most of his books had fallen out of print. Brunner accused publishers of a conspiracy against him, although he was difficult to deal with (his wife had handled his publishing relations before she died).[2]

Brunner's health began to decline in the 1980s and worsened with the death of his wife in 1986. He remarried, to Li Yi Tan, on 27 September 1991. He died of a heart attack in Glasgow on 25 August 1995, while attending the World Science Fiction Convention there


aka
K H Brunner, Henry Crosstrees Jr, Gill Hunt (with Dennis Hughes and E C Tubb), John Loxmith, Trevor Staines, Keith Woodcott

Winner of the ESFS Awards in 1980 as "Best Author" and 1n 1984 as "Novelist"..

Reviews

[Karl · Rating 3 out of 5]

DAW Collectors #26

Cover Artist: Jack Gaughan

24 September 1934 - 25 August 1995

This collection contains three 1950s short stories/novelettes expanded and modified from their original magazine form for this volume.

‘Lungfish’ (1957) concerning the effects on children growing up in the restricted stimulus deficient environment of a generation ship.

‘Host Age’, first published in New Worlds SF, 1955. A plague strikes a near future earth. An unusual burglary with no point of entry occurs destroying a medical research facility. It’s up to the doctor in charge of finding the cure to the Plague to piece together the puzzle.

) ‘No Other Gods But Me’, first published as 'A Time to Rend' in Science Fantasy, 1956 concerns Colin and Vanessa run into each other late at night in London — Colin had seen her before in Australia. But, Colin is recovering from a panic attack and its accompanying hallucinations so he doesn’t know if what he sees is real. After a bizarre experience together involving hypnosis and a mysterious man, they head in different directions. They meet again in America — Vanessa is married to a member of the creepy cult, ‘The Real Truth — an athropocentric religion which claims that man is the greatest thing in the universe, and anything you can conceive you can achieve. They slowly discover that their lives are being manipulated — the reader gets bored and asks repeatedly, why does this have to be the longest novella in the collection?

This collection is worthwhile mainly for ‘Lungfish’ (1957) which is an absolutely wonderful, engaging, though provoking, and well written read.

[Tomislav · Rating 3 out of 5]

This collection of three unrelated 1950s novelettes by British SF writer John Brunner was published in the US, in DAW #26 paperback in 1972. It states that all three were revised for that edition.

Host Age (1955, 1972) – Humanity is suffering from a fast and deadly plague. Inspector Thackery is investigating additionally unexplained deaths and disappearances; even as medical doctor Cecil Clifford loses a patient important to him – the wife of his old research doctor colleague. As the story develops, it appears someone or something is actively and violently thwarting the research towards a cure. In addition to the conceptual plot, Brunner added the character dimension of the unrequited romantic feelings of Dr. Clifford. (rated 4/5)

Lungfish (1957, 1958 as “Rendezvous with Destiny”, 1972) – As a generation ship approaches its destination star system, the inhabitants are almost entirely shipborn and lack the drive towards planetary destiny that the original crew held. The ship’s psychologist manipulates the society to force colonization forward. But are the shipborn even psychologically capable of planetary life? Parallels are drawn to the evolution of lungfish out of the sea. (rated 3/5)

No Other Gods But Me (1956 as “A Time to Rend”, 1966, 1972) – In a London cloudburst, American Colin Hooper meets Australian Vanessa Sheriff. Colin is on the rebound from a bad breakup with his ex-lover, and Vanessa is stranded in London after following a bogus opportunity there. But this story is more than boy-meets-girl, as they come into contact with a strange and seemingly supernatural figure trying to separate them. It is a conspiracy from an alternate universe, trying to conquer our own, using a contrived religious movement as a foothold. The alternate Earth is led by a powerful wizard-like character who sees them as possible ancestors of a rival to him, and they are helped by a rebel adept from that same world. I found the story long-winded and preposterously about the towering evil power of mind. (rated 2/5)

[Deedee · Rating 2 out of 5]

Review: Brunner took three of his novelettes originally published in science fiction magazines in the 1950s, revised them, and published them in this book. The three stories are completely separate and distinct from each other. One unifying theme was that of psychiatry as an exact science (!)
Host Age • (1956) • novelette
Our hero-physician treats victims of a new Plague, in between searching for a cure.
Lungfish • (1957) • novelette
A Generation Ship originating from Earth nears its destination. The plan: a new colony! The complication: inter-generational tension between the older “Earthborn” and the younger “Tripborn”.
No Other Gods But Me • (1956) • novelette
Adventure tale featuring the fifth dimension. I think the cover of a green humoniod shooting laser beams from his eyes was inspired by this story.
Overall: I enjoyed “Host Age”; the other two were OK “Golden Age” sci-fi. Recommended for Golden Age Science Fiction Aficionados.

[Mark Muckerman · Rating 2 out of 5]

REVIEW UPDATE (2020) - OH THE HORROR OF IT ALL!!!!
I just re-read this, and had absolutely ZERO recollection of having read it before. Imagine my surprise to see it in my Read Books list (complete with review). My 2 star rating hasn't changed, and I'll stand by my original review of overall disappointment. Perhaps most telling is the fact that this one is so bland and forgettable that not once did I ever think "hmmmm, this sounds familiar. . ."


I'm sorry, but I just can't recommend this one. At $0.70 in the used book bin it was a hell of a deal, but overall the book falls short of true enjoyment.

For the sake of nostalgia, and recognizing that this book is a collection of 3 novellas or short stories written WAY back in the day, the stories are good, if predictably formulaic for the SF of the era.

Unfortunately, like so many stories emerging in that era, this one doesn't stand the test of time and technology well. However, I can forgive that. What can't be forgiven is the poor writing: overly prosaic, missing clarity of imagery, and lacking the fluid connectivity that ties the best stories together. Like a shoddily built wall, it's a collection of decent stones stacked together, but without the mortar to hold them together and in alignment.

Not bad, but I'd also comment that the stories declined in quality and readability from 1 to 2 to 3, with the final story No Other Gods But Me, being a labor to even complete.

SUMMARY: You won't regret reading it, but you won't visit it again for a future re-read.

[Alien · Rating 2 out of 5]

3 von Brunners Novellen aus den 50ern. Eine Story des Originals fehlt (mal wieder) in der Übersetzung von Heyne.
Leider auch wieder kein Hilight. Brunner hat echt eine Menge Zweitklassiges geschrieben.

Enthält:
Die Epidemie (Host age / 1956) Arzt Clifford ist stark im Stress wegen einer neu aufgetauchte Seuche, an der jeder 10. erkrankt und jeder 100. stirbt. Die Symptome sind unzählig, der Erreger ist extrem kompliziert und wandelt sich ständig.
> Die "beste" der 3 Novellen

Die Lungenfische (Lungfish / 1957) Nach 40 Jahren kommt das Kolonistenraumschiff an, noch rechtzeitig, denn eine mutierte Alge gefährdet das Lebenserhaltungssystem. Mehr Sorgen macht aber, dass die Schiffsgeborenen, die ja die Kolonisten stellen sollen, so komisch sind. Emotionslos und undurchschaubar.
> Völlig unplausibel.

Die Welt der Telepathen (No Other Gods But Me / 1956) Nach der Trennung wurde er schizophren und depressiv. In London traf er in einem Regensturm eine australische Schauspielerin, sie wurden hypnotisiert und fanden sich in einem Vorratsraum wieder. Sie flohen. Ein mysteriöser Mann warnte sie, sie müssen sich trennen und verschwinden, sie seien in großer Gefahr.
> Die Handlung wird zunehmend bescheuerter. Nicht zu Ende gelesen

[Erik Graff · Rating 3 out of 5]

A collection of three pieces by one of my favorite science fiction writers.

[Tentatively, Convenience · Rating 3 out of 5]

review of
John Brunner's Entry to Elsewhen
by tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE - September 16, 2013

This is one of those bks that I mostly read for fun & that I have very little to say about. Brunner being my new favorite SF author I'm still in the process of 'discovering' him. These 3 novellas or short stories or whatever are the earliest writings I've read by Brunner yet. Brunner was born in 1934, "Host Age" "first appeared in New Worlds SF, copyright 1955"; "No Other Gods But Me" "first appeared in shorter and substantially different form (under the title A Time to Rend) in Science Fantasy, copyright 1956"; & "Lungfish" "first appeared in Britain in Science Fantasy, copyright 1957". "All three stories have been completely revised by the author for the present book" ("FIRST PRINTING, OCTOBER 1972") - back of title page In other words, Brunner wd've been no older than 21 when he wrote "Host Age", no older than 22 for "No Other Gods but Me", & no older than 23 for "Lungfish". I think that qualifies as precocious.

"Host Age" is about a plague & time travel, future intergalactic war n'at. I'd like to read the story in its original form & cf it w/ this rewritten one. Entertained.

"Lungfish" is an exaggerated Generation Gap story in wch children born on a spaceship, the Tripborn, are hugely from their astronaut parents, the Earthborn. This was probably my favorite of the 3 stories. I took very few notes about any of these stories - in this case calling my own attn to the use of the word "eatable" as opposed to "edible". Is that another British vs 'American" thing?

As for the Tripborn vs the Earthborn: the Tripborn are the generation expected to leave the ship upon arrival at the habitable destination.. HOWEVER, the parents's expectations are to be thwarted:

"As it has been explained to me, there is an analogy between leaving the ship and the process of birth. A child must relinquish the warmth and security of the womb. Those who have grown up in the starship must likewise be compelled to move to another stage of existence." - p 68

"But an excuse could certainly be contrived. Doubtless, to the Tripborn, the behavior of the Eartborn must be as peculiar as theirs was to their seniors.

"Their parents?

"An ancient cliché occurred to him: generation gap!" - p 70

Again, I'd like to see the wording of the original story. I imagine that the term "generation gap" didn't exist in it. I vaguely remember the term becoming in vogue around the time of the rewriting of this story - maybe in the late 1960s or early 1970s. I don't know whether the term even existed in the 1950s when the story was originally written. Thus, it's humorous that Brunner has his future star-travelers refer to it as an "ancient cliché".

"No Other Gods but Me" has 2 of the recurring Brunner tropes that I've now noted too many times for me to want to enumerate them anymore: steam cars & hypnotism: "Colin found he had been deceived into obedience; found, too, that that disc was no flate plate of featureless luminance, as he had formerly assumed. There was motion on its surface, spiral motion, as though from its edges a river of light were pouring into a whirlpool at its center. Fascinated against his will, he tried to follow the streaming pattern, tracing time after time from edge to center, edge to center, edge to center . . ." (p 95)

"He felt in a pouch on the girdle that held his robe together and produced a mirror of polished metal no larger than his palm. Deftly he held it up to Colin's face so that the flame of the nearest candle was reflected in it, then set to twisting it in a repeated spiral. The bright light flickered to the center, vanished, reappeared at the edge, spun inward again. Colin felt a spasm of alarm at recognizing the same rhythm as was kept by the hypnotic white discs in the temples of the Real truth; then he relaxed, realizing he had nothing to fear from Ishimu." - p 149

"No Other Gods but Me" is also one of the few stories I've read so far by Brunner where I cd imagine it as someone else's story: in this case, one by R. A. Lafferty.

Entranced, Colin has visions of the class warfare in the alternate world to his own:

"Scenes of misery gave place to a vision of luxury. In a sandy, hot country that he thought might correspond to the Egypt of his own world, fine white houses belonging to adepts basked under a steel-blue sky, just out of earshot of the cries from the fruit groves, the bucket pumps, the threshing floors where slaves were being whipped to work, which the mind of one of their masters could have disposed of in a minute. Again, on an island where luxuriant palms adn gorgeous flowers abounded, there was a palace with hundreds upon hundreds of rooms, lavishly decorated, tiled with marble, jasper, and mother-of-pearl . . . and all empty, awaiting the whim that might bring Telthis here to escape the northern winter, while slaves were packed head to foot on beds like racks in a foul-smelling barracks beyond the hill."

[..]

"And everywhere there spied and probed the viceroys of Telthis. However jealous they might be of his supreme power, it was in their interest as well as his to stamp out any hint of originality, for originality might lead to rebellion." - p 150

"[O]riginality might lead to rebellion!" Indeed. How often do people think of originality in this way? &, yet, considering how utterly against it this society seems to be, how hell-bent this society seems to be on stamping out that Rara Avis, the fear of originality seems to be rooted in a fear of CHANGE, ie: rebellion against the Status Quo. &, why not? For Absolute Power Corrupts Absolutely:

""Known? Known what?"

""That Telthis was wrong!" Kolok exploded. "You do have the power—you must have it, though you've never learned to use it! And Telthis believed it would only appear in your children. There is still hope, do you understand? There is still hope of defeating him if I can instruct you in time—"

"Colin put up his hands as though to ward off the flow of words. "No!" he said harshly. "No, after what I've seen in your world, I don't want the power! It's too much for anyone to be trusted with!"" - pp 156-157

Another sign of the updating of the story from the 1950s to the early 1970s:

""Does it matter?" Colin countered. "The thing is to get him down!" And, hastily improvising, he added, "He's a war victim, you know, Vietnamese. A Good kid, but after what he went through, sort of—uh—crazy sometimes . . ."" - p 169

Having just turned 60 less than 2 wks ago & noting that Brunner died just shy of turning 61, I'm once again reminded of my own mortality & wondering if my own prolific work as a film & video maker, as a writer, as a (d) composer, as a Low Classical (M)Usician, as a performer, as an IMP ACTIVIST, will ever be acknowledged & rewarded before I, too, kick the bucket. Thank the holy ceiling light that Brunner, at least, seems to've gotten recognition in his lifetime. Otherwise, I might never have the vast body of his work to keep me going in this, my time of dark need.

[Joachim Boaz · Rating 2 out of 5]

Full review: https://sciencefictionruminations.com...

"This collection contains three 1950s short stories/novelettes expanded and modified from their original magazine form for this volume. Although two of the three are average/bad, ‘Lungfish’ (1957) remains one of my favorite short stories of all time and proved very influential for later science fiction stories concerning the effects on children growing up in the restricted stimulus deficient environment of a generation ship…

(2/5) ‘Host Age’, first published" [...]

[Matthew Reads Junk · Rating 4 out of 5]

The first two stories were exceptional. The middle one about a generational gap among life-ship crewmembers is a great idea that should really be expanded into a full novel. The first story is an interesting time-travel twist, and the third one is just a confusing mix of pseudo-psychic garbage.

[Josh Kallos · Rating 4 out of 5]

The last story in this fucking rules

[Sol]

For "Lungfish"

[SciFiOne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Grade B. Short novel.

[James Henderson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Three short novels by the late John Brunner. Challenging and imaginative sf as always.