Short story series by Stanley G. Weinbaum
The Planetary series of stories by Stanley G. Weinbaum is a series of short stories, published in Wonder Stories and Astounding Stories in the 1930s, which are set upon various planets and moons of the Solar System.
The stories are marked by attention to the detail of the alien ecosystems with which Weinbaum equips his planets. Though only a few of the stories share protagonists, there is enough shared detail between the stories to show that they belong to a common fictional universe. The birdlike Martians of "A Martian Odyssey" and "Valley of Dreams", for instance, are mentioned in "Redemption Cairn", and "The Red Peri" and the Venusian trioptes of "Parasite Planet" and "The Lotus Eaters" are mentioned in "The Mad Moon". In Weinbaum's Solar System, in accordance with the then-current near-collision hypothesis, the gas giants radiate heat, enough to warm their satellites to Earthlike temperatures, allowing for Earthlike environments on Io, Europa, Titan, and even Uranus. Mars is also sufficiently Earthlike to allow humans to walk its surface (with training in thin-air chambers) unprotected.
The series includes the following ten titles, in publication order:
Solar System
Weinbaum's Solar System corresponds to the scientific Solar System as envisioned in the mid-1930s, with details supplied from Weinbaum's imagination. By 1934, the Solar System was known to consist of the Sun, nine planets, 26 moons, and a few thousand asteroids and comets. Unlike the Solar System as known today, Weinbaum's Solar System was full of life-forms, many of them intelligent; however, only the humans of Earth possessed the capacity for spaceflight (though there is evidence the Martians may have had it in the past). Weinbaum limited himself to planets and moons as settings, naming the following:
- Venus — Setting of Parasite Planet and The Lotus Eaters. Weinbaum's Venus rotates synchronously with its revolution, so that one side is scorched by the unremitting heat of the Sun, and the other remains in an eternal frozen night. Mild temperatures are only found in a narrow, planet-girdling "twilight zone". First (failed) expedition to Venus led by de Lancey. Later successful expeditions led by Crowly (U.S.) and Burlingame (U.K.). Portions of the twilight zone are claimed by the United States, United Kingdom, and the Netherlands. Human settlements include Erotia (American) and Venoble (British).
- Earth — Home of the only actively spacefaring civilization in the Solar System. As of the 22nd century, still divided into many independent, competing nations, including the U.S., U.K., Russia, France, Germany, Netherlands. Pacific War was fought here c. 2070, including the use of atomic bombs.
- Earth's Moon — Considered "arid and useless". Annexed by Russia.
- Mars — Setting of A Martian Odyssey and Valley of Dreams. A largely desert planet, consisting of orange deserts, grey plains covered with 'biopods', and criss-crossed by canals that feed water from the polar caps. First visited by the international (U.S./French/German) Ares expedition. Home to the intelligent Martians, the semi-intelligent barrel-creatures, the unintelligent pyramid builders, and the deadly dream-beast.
- Jupiter: Fifth planet from the Sun, three of whose four large moons are habitable, though Europa only barely so. Radiates sufficient heat to warm the inner moons well beyond the heat they receive from the Sun.
- Io — Setting of The Mad Moon. Two major settlements are Junopolis at the north pole and Herapolis at the south pole. Heated by both the Sun and Jupiter's own heat, the remainder of the moon is a fever-ridden wilderness. Home of loonies and slinkers. The pharmaceutical ferva is collected here.
- Europa — Setting of Redemption Cairn. Mostly airless, with the small amount of air there is collected in valleys on the Jupiter-facing side of the moon. The rocks are rich in deposits of protactinium.
- Ganymede — Setting of Tidal Moon. The moon is swept by periodic tidal waves that circle it every three months. The only surface vegetation, save at the poles, is the medicinal cree moss. Ganymede is chilly, with a temperature varying from 25 to 35 °F (−4 to 2 °C). The subpolar flood belt creates atmospheric disturbances that interfere with radio communication.
- Saturn
- Titan — Setting of Flight on Titan. A cold, snowy world buffeted by near-constant winds. Chief settlement is Nivia. Claimed by the United States.
- Iapetus — Mentioned as a cold world supporting life. (The Lotus Eaters)
- Uranus — Setting of The Planet of Doubt. Seventh planet of the solar system, warmed by internal heat. Has a solid, sub-atmospheric surface, with seas and continents perpetually shrouded in fog. The thick atmosphere limits visibility to fifty feet, muffles sound, and effectively impedes radio communications. First visited by Young in 2060, then by the Gaea expedition in 2100. Can only be reached by rockets based on Titan (Saturn system). Portions claimed by the United States; no settlements as of 2100.
- Pluto — Setting of much of The Red Peri. Ninth and most distant planet of the Solar System. First visited by Atsuki (unverified) and then by Hervey and Caspari. Larger than Earth and with a fifth again the gravity. Only human settlement was the pirate base of the Red Peri (2064-2080).
Bestiary
(All entities mentioned are nonsentient animals unless otherwise noted)
- Barrel-beast — Semi-sentient beings with barrel-shaped bodies, four legs and four tentacles, and apparently a collective consciousness, which build anthill-like structures of mud and clay. (A Martian Odyssey)
- Biopod — Crawling plant-animals found on the Martian plains; of various forms, but some resemble green grass blades with two legs. (A Martian Odyssey)
- Bladder-bird — Three-foot gliding creature on Europa, capable of brief excursions out of Europa's shallow atmosphere using air stored in their balloon-shaped bladders. (Redemption Cairn)
- Chains — Animals on Uranus, black, about six feet tall and eight feet long, with three pairs of legs. Each creature forms a separable segment of a chain of the animals, neurally linked as long as they remain in contact but capable of independent survival. Thought to be the larvae of some flying animal in the Uranian atmosphere. (The Planet of Doubt)
- Crystal crawler — A silicon-based crystalline moss-like organism found on Pluto, with various forms specialized to devour specific elements (e.g., aluminum, iron, or carbon). (The Red Peri)
- Doughpot — Amorphous, amoeba-like white protoplasm that devours anything it touches. (The Parasite Planet)
- Dream-beast — A black, tentacled predator on Mars that attracts its prey by projecting a telepathic image of something the prey desires; much like an Anglerfish. (A Martian Odyssey)
- Duster — Hawk-sized but highly fragile moth-like flying animals on Venus that feed on clouds of pollen in the skies. (Parasite Planet)
- Friendly tree — Weak, Sluggish cold-blooded plant on Venus that is still enough to allow one to rest on its branches. (Parasite Planet)
- Gamma Rorqual — Warm-blooded animal found on Ganymede, resembling a whale with a long spike-like tooth. (Tidal Moon)
- Hipp — Hippocampus Catamiti ("Seahorse of Ganymede"). Twenty-foot-long "sea-horse" on Ganymede that serves as a riding mount for human settlers.
- Ice-ant — 3-inch long egg-like animal on Titan that builds domes of ice. (Flight on Titan)
- Jack Ketch tree — Carnivorous plant on Venus that traps life in its dangling, noose-like tendrils. (Parasite Planet)
- Knife-kite — Birdlike predator on Titan, the size of a large pterodactyl with a 3-foot-long (0.91 m) beak for impaling prey. Glides rather than flies on Titan's continual winds. (Flight on Titan, The Mad Moon)
- Land leet — Tentacled organism that copies the genetic code of whatever it devours; thus using its prey's adaptations as its own. Found on Ganymede. (Tidal Moon)
- Loony — Lunæ Jovis Magnicaput ("big-head of Jupiter's Moon"). A large-headed, long-necked, native of Io; their ancestors created a now-extinct civilization. They behave in a fashion befitting a psychotic or a schizophrenic as perceived by humans. (The Mad Moon)
- Lotus Eater — Lotophagus Veneris ("Lotus-eater of Venus"). A sentient plant, with a collective mind existing on the dark side of Venus. Most exobiologists believe it to be further along the evolutionary scale than man; as they have evolved to the point where they know all the secrets of the universe - and hence, no longer have a reason to exist, have accepted extinction.
- Martian — Intelligent beings resembling ostriches with an 18-inch long, flexible beak and four-fingered hands. Martians were the founders of a civilization now in its last decline. (A Martian Odyssey, Valley of Dreams)
- Nympus — (Plural nympus.) Intelligent native of Ganymede, with short legs lacking knee joints, long arms joined to their bodies like webs, and heads expanding at the top like mushrooms. (Tidal Moon)
- Parcat — A three-legged, domestic animal found on Io, with two small arms in front and one which they use to hop in the back. Parcats, like parrots, are capable of imitating human speech. (The Mad Moon)
- Pharisee — A carnivorous Venusian tree closely resembling the Friendly tree, but capable of attacking its prey with impaling spikes (Parasite Planet)
- Pyramid monster — Silicon-based animal on Mars that builds pyramids out of 'bricks' that are its excreta and produces small, hollow crystalline spheres that are its spores or eggs. (A Martian Odyssey)
- Slinker — Mus sapiens ("wise mouse"). A semi-sentient, Demon-like species native to Io, builders of miniature colonies that somewhat resemble cities. Vicious, mischievous and incredibly opposed to Humankind, the Slinkers are the biggest problem for Human Colonists on Io. (The Mad Moon)
- Threadworm — Nematoidus Titani. Semi-sentient worm-like animal, with a single eye on a stalk and one fang, capable of hypnotizing its prey with a horrific buzzing noise that vibrates through the ice and paralyzes its intended kill. Always found among the ruins of an ancient Titanian civilization, of which this species may be the creator. (Flight on Titan, The Mad Moon)
- Titanian — Semi-sentient species native to Titan, about four feet long and resembling a seal or large slug. Adapted to endure cold by having a streamlined surface on its skin. (Flight on Titan)
- Triops — Triops noctivivans; plural trioptes[1] The "three-eyed dweller in the dark". A semi-intelligent three-eyed, four-legged creature dwelling in the shadowed parts of the Mountains of Eternity and on Venus' dark side; thought to be related to the native Venusians. (Parasite Planet, The Lotus Eaters)
- Uniped — A large Venusian animal that leaps on a single foot and uses a ten-foot beak to impale prey. (Parasite Planet, The Mad Moon)
- Venusian — Four-legged intelligent native of Venus, with three eyes and a largely unintelligible speech. (Parasite Planet)
- Whiplash tree — Tree with elastic limbs on Titan, capable of delivering a stinging blow when touched. (Flight on Titan)