About this title: In less than a century, 50 percent of the human race fled the aged and autocratic Terra, settling wherever they could establish a world of their own choosing. The following centuries result in hundreds of independent new civilizations--too independent for an ambitious Terran government out to conquer an empire.
Note: This is a general synopsis. Each listing is described below.
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: A Torquil book/ Dodd Mead & Company
Description: Very Good. B000NPGE66 moderate cover wear, Book Club edition, 6 short black ink marks on 1st page ** INTL BUYER-additional postage may be required. read more
Edition: Paperback Ed.
Publisher: Panther, London
Date Published: 1964
Description: VG. 144, wrapper tight with small abrasion on front and slight crease on back wrapper. He had created undreamed power for Man-and doomed Earth to the terror of The Great Explosion. read more
Binding: Mass-market paperback
Publisher: Carroll & Graf Publishers, New York
Date Published: 1993
ISBN-13:9780881849912ISBN:088184991X
Description: New. No dust jacket as issued. (012707) Mass Market Paperback is brand new in Near Mint condition. Mass market (rack) paperback. Glued binding. Audience: General/trade. read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Dodd, Mead And Company
Description: Fine in Fine jacket. Size: 8vo-over 7¾"-9¾" tall; Book in excellent condition. DJ has tears and chips. DJ spine is a bit faded. Book is clean and tight. read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Avon
Date Published: 1975
ISBN-13:9780380003167ISBN:0380003163
Description: Fair. Paperback. Fair condition. 160 pages. Pages are clean though lightly tanned. Title page feels slightly loose from binding though all pages are attached. Cover has edge wear, rubbing and light scratches. read more
Binding: Softcover
Publisher: Pyramid Books 1963
Date Published: 1963
Description: ISBN. Mass Market Paperback. First Pyramid Printing. Tight sound unmarked copy in Good to very good condition with some browning to the edges of the interior pages.. read more
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
Publisher: Panther
Date Published: 1964
Description: Good. Unread, but browned copy of a rare edition of this Russell classic. This is the copy in the Amazon scan for the Panther Books edition Free, automatic1st class upgrade for books under 14 ounces. Free Priority upgrade to all domestic orders over $20.00. Satisfaction guaranteed. read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Dennis Dobson, London
Date Published: 1966
Description: Fine in Fine jacket. London: Dennis Dobson, 1966. Third impression. Expanded from the short story "And Then There Were None" (1951), this is regarded as one of Russell's best works. The story of an earth ambassador's attempts to contact a group of rugged individualists who colonized other planets. Black buckram binding, with silver lettering. A fine copy in a fine dust jacket. read more
Description: Very Good. This is the SF Rediscovery series; First Equinox printing softcover; clean and tight; no marks (other books in this series also available) read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: The Science Fiction Book Club
Date Published: 1963
Description: Very Good in Very Good jacket. 5" x 7.5" H/B. 203 pages, condition is Very good, minor edge wear to the DJ. An owners initials to the flyleaf. read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: New York: A Torquil Book Distributed by Dodd, Mead & Company,
Date Published: [1962]
Description: Octavo, boards. First U.S. edition, trade (earliest) issue. "Slickly told; picaresque; satisfying. "-Anatomy of Wonder (1987) 3-321. "Perhaps Russell's best. "-Pringle, The Ultimate Guide to Science Fiction, p. 142. Anatomy of Wonder (1995) 3-153. A fine copy in very good dust jacket with shallow chip at lower front corner tip, short tears along top and bottom edges, several with small internal tape reinforcements, some dust soiling to front and rear panels, and clipped price. The trade issue ... read more
Edition: First Edition Thus
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Torquil / Dodd Mead [1962], New York
Date Published: 1962
Description: Very Good in Good jacket. First US trade edition. VG or better copy in a lightly soiled Dust Wrapper with a 1/2" tear to the front panel and a 1/2" triangular chip from the bottom of the rear panel. [This trade edition is uncommon]. read more
"A very entertaining book, perfectly skewering the notion of a pompous military-industrial society attempting to impose it's idea of progress upon an unreceptive universe. Here's a spoiler: they fail miserably and hilarity ensues. I would be genuinely surprised if this wasn't an inspiration for Red Dwarf on some level - there's more than a little of technician 10th class Harrison (and his beloved space-bike) in Dave Lister. Read this book. Or don't. That's freedom!"
"Mildly amusing, but I much prefer the serious treatments of pacifistic anarchism given by LeGuin in several of her writings, particularly The Dispossessed."
"An old favorite, always enjoyable. A little reminiscent of the "Retief" series by Keith Laumer.
400 years after the discovery of a faster-than-light drive causes a mass exodus from Earth, Earth sends out a huge spaceship to begin the process of picking up the pieces and forging them into a new Empire.
But the descendants of the fringe groups that escaped Earth so long ago have other ideas...
A wry and funny book, with Russell's characteristic anti-authority viewpoint. It's a pity that he only created three alternate societies in this book; it's a small gem, and an undisputed SF classic. It also has a warm heart, an essential niceness to it that is all too rare in modern SF. The world and creed of the Gands is likely to stay with you for a long, long time.
Gordon R. Dickson's Dorsai series explored the idea of the varigation of humanity from a biological and spiritual viewpoint. In A Planet Called Treason (later poorly rewritten as simply Treason), Orson Scott Card took the biological angle much further. The remarkable Cordwainer Smith also used similar themes of wild variation among far-flung branches of humanity, although the concept was not central to his work.
Eric Frank Russell didn't take the biological route. The people on distant planets are still quite human in every way. Rather, their culture is different - in the first two cases, a comic exaggeration of an already existing human trait.
It's a lovely book. When you're finished, you'll wish there was more.
Incidentally, the final section was also released separately as a short story "...And Then There Were None"."
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