The Pirates of Ersatz, Murray Leinster

Pirates are often romanticized. I am not immune to the romantic image of the wild pirate who commands exciting adventures of misdeed and violence. Pirates, however, suffer from under representation in literature. I refer to the myth and lore, not the reality. They are better in stories than in real life. Certainly there's the great movies, The Pirates of the Carribean and a few other choice films that have dazzled. Thus, whenever I see the word 'pirates' somewhere in the title, I grab it. The Pirates of Ersatz is science fiction. It is freely available online at Gutenberg.org.

Thus far, early on in my reading of this short novel, it is action packed. But surprisingly, what's more interesting is the character rather than the plot.

The main character, Bron Hoddan, lives in a Utopian society. However, the people of that culture are described as having a majority of psychopaths because they have nothing to do. I can't imagine that: life in a society where all the needs are furnished, is bored. I suppose the idea is that the struggle is a necessary part of a happy life. But, the author makes no suggestion of this.

He fought against his upbringing and culture. He is from a planet, called Zan, which is piratical. He didn't like being a pirate. It was simply too boring. So, he decided to become an electrical engineer and live on Walden (I'm sure this is a nod to Thorreau's walden). He invents a device that allows the society to extract energy without using carbon. They reject his invention on the basis that it creates change (an interesting perspective that applies to our current dependence on fossil fuels): The law accused him of a crime which will put him away for a long time. He manages to escape. The prison apparently is poorly outfitted to cage a rebellious inmate. He flees to a sanctuary at an embassy, successfully. It is there that the ambassador explains to Hoddan why it is his invention was rejected:

"You proposed to improve a technical process in a society which considers itself beyond improvement. If you'd succeeded, the idea of change would have spread, people now poor would have gotten rich, people now rich would have gotten poor, and you'd have done what all governments are established to prevent."

Back to character: he is from a pirate planet, but tries to escape. But he is to return to that planet (I'm guessing at this point).

The ambassador then goes on to explain why the people of Walden are so bored:

...the whole purpose of civilization is to take the surprises out of life, so one can be bored to death? That a culture in which nothing unexpected ever happens is what is called its Golden Age?

My criticism of such a philosophy is that such a state as that can only be possible in the most unimaginative people. The imagination is what takes us to these surprises. However, the problem with Hoddan is his urge to use his imagination to technologically improve the planet he is on. So, perhaps imagination is stifled, which in itself would make living in such a culture dystopic.

An interesting bit about the future of genetics:

We humans were designed for something like that. We prefer foodstuffs containing familiar amino compounds. Our metabolism was designed around them. And since our geneticists have learned how to put aggressiveness into the genes of terrestrial-origin plants--why nowadays they briskly overwhelm the native flora wherever they are introduced.

These days, with the jungle seen as an important part of the earth's ecosystem, it is ghastly to imagine a machine designed to go through it so carelessly, leaving behind loose tilled soil, ready for planting.

The uncrated machjine was a jungle polow. It was a powerful piece of equipment which would attack jungle on a thirty-foot front, knock down all vegetation up to trees of four-foot diameter, shred it, loosen and sift the soil to a three-foot depth, and leave behind it smoothed, broken, pulverized dirt mixed up with ground-up vegetation ready to break down into humus. Such a machine would clear tens of acres in a day and night, turning jungle into farmland ready for terrestrial crops.

The people are basically a sci-fi version of early American settlers. They'd been taken for fools, having had junk sold to them instead of the equipment they needed for an easy settling. He therefore takes it upon himself to play the role of Robin Hood, the pirate, by stealing and buying with the proceeds the equipment that these settlers need.

In Leinster's future, women are really nothing more than mates for the men. Their only thoughts are on finding the best marriage possible. They do not make repairs, lead, engineer, or do anything useful. He looks at women as like mice that get onto a ship. His grandfather critisizes Hoddan for having a woman on his pirate ship, and Hoddan replies:

"They get on," said Hoddan, wincing, "like mice. You've had mice on a ship, haven't you?"

It's funny that in Leinster's science fiction fantasy, things like loot: gold, gems, etc., are of such importance. Consider that there are entire asteroids made of platinum and entire planets where atmospheric pressure is so great that it turns carbon into diamonds. If ever there comes a day when the distances between distant stars can be overcome as trivially as a car trip across a major nation, then getting our precious metals and stones will be equally trivial.

All of the characters in this book are as three dimensional as a sheet of paper. There's nothing at all. The actions are wooden and dull. The bits and pieces here and there that are interesting make a poor case for reading this book. I don't recommend wasting your time. Stephen King mentioned in his book about writing that reading bad books is a part of reading. Well, that was a bad book.