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arts / rec.arts.sf.written / Father to the Stars

SubjectAuthor
* Father to the StarsMichael F. Stemper
+* Re: Father to the StarsRobert Carnegie
|`- Re: Father to the StarsMichael F. Stemper
`* Re: Father to the StarsDefault User
 `* Re: Father to the StarsMichael F. Stemper
  `- Re: Father to the StarsDefault User

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Father to the Stars

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From: michael....@gmail.com (Michael F. Stemper)
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Subject: Father to the Stars
Date: Tue, 22 Mar 2022 16:46:43 -0500
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 by: Michael F. Stemper - Tue, 22 Mar 2022 21:46 UTC

This is a collection of five stories featuring John Carmody. The
stories were written by Philip Jose Farmer over the years 1953-1961.

"The Night of Light" is set on the planet Dante's Joy, where the
sociopath Carmody is avoiding punishment for the murder of his wife.
It opens on the eve of "The Chance", during which most of the
native population sleeps, so as not to be affected by any of the
hallucinatory goings-on. Carmody doesn't sleep, and so experiences
waking nightmares. During one of these, he is forced to choose
between two sides. His choice seemingly sets the pattern for the
remainder of his life.

As "A Few Miles" begins, we find Brother Carmody engaged in monastic
pursuits, such as helping grow the crops that feed the monastery.
He is summoned by ?? and told that he is to immediately leave for
the planet "Wildenwooly". The Order of St. Jairus is not overly
bureaucratic, so he is not burdened by things like travel vouchers,
reservations, or authorizations. He doesn't even have enough
money for cab fare to the spaceport a few miles away. As he's
walking to said spaceport, he becomes involved in some events. In
the wake of these, he ends up being offered transport to
Wildenwooly, on the condition that he first provide invaluable
assistance in some zoological research on the planet "Feral".
"Ask, and it shall be given to you."
"Prometheus" opens with Brother Carmody about to start in on his
research support role. It involves avian-descended humanoids,
called "Horowitzes" after the first human to investigate them.
They turn out to be, in a sense, "supersaturated", and his
presence catalyzes their development into thinking, talking
people. The story turns Carmody into a blend of Moses and
Jesus. In turn, he: takes them on a trip to what must be thought
of as the Promised Land, gives them an extensive sermon (I don't
recall if he was standing on a hill or not), and finally
ascends into the heavens.

"Father" begins with Father Carmody and his bishop (Andre) on a
pace ship that has just unexpectedly dropped into normal space
enroute from Wildenwooly to Ygdrasil. They land on a planet that
bears superficial resemblance to those in Asimov's "Misbegotten
Missionary" or Spinrad's "Child of Mind", with all flora and
fauna living in complete balance, all female (at least the fauna)
and all 10,000 years old. The one (as far as they know) sentient
being on the planet refers to himself as "Father" and offers
God-like powers to priest and bishop. He'd also like to get off
the planet and roam around a bit.

"Attitudes" again starts shipboard, with Father Carmody playing
pinochle in the lounge. Tandem, one of the other players at the
table is a professional gambler, but their game is not for money.
When the ship briefly sets down on a primitive planet, Carmody
and Tandem go for a little walk. Tandem finds some of the
(non-human) locals engaged in a little game of chance and decides
to join in the fun.

===============

I've listed the stories in order of internal chronolgy, the way
that they are in the book. They weren't published in any sort of
order other than when Farmer thought "Hey, I could use Carmody
again for this story that I have in mind."

There are huge gaps between the stories in terms of Carmody's
development.

For instance, between the first two stories, Carmody returns to
Earth, gets psychiatric help, and is relieved of his sociopathic
nature. He then joins The Order of St. Jairus as a lay brother.
None of this is seen.

"Prometheus" ends with him starting the final leg of hist trip
to Wildenwooly. We never see him arrive, nor do we find out why
his order sent him there. It was apparently a useful trip for
him however, since while there he discerned his vocation for
the priesthood and got ordained. He must have been a reasonably
good one for his bishop to be taking him along on his journey
to Ygdrasil. What was the purpose of their trip? We'll never
find out.

I am aware that these gaps in Carmody's development are only
artifacts of the way that the stories were written. None the
less, leaving the reader wondering what happened in between
them makes them seem more real. Kind of like the Vanilla Needle.

I doubt that any of these will ever be nominated for a
retro-retro-Hugo. But, they're enjoyable reads.

<http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/pl.cgi?13306>

--
Michael F. Stemper
Deuteronomy 24:17

Re: Father to the Stars

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Subject: Re: Father to the Stars
From: rja.carn...@excite.com (Robert Carnegie)
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 by: Robert Carnegie - Tue, 22 Mar 2022 22:59 UTC

I don't recall reading these stories. I did wonder
what "Father to the Stars" would amount to!
You've explained that well, and you provided
enough detail of each story to be interesting,
without giving away too much.

A question or two: evidently this setting considers
"sociopath" a disease to treat, not how some people
just are? And possibly, a way out of a murder charge?

Re: Father to the Stars

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From: michael....@gmail.com (Michael F. Stemper)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.written
Subject: Re: Father to the Stars
Date: Wed, 23 Mar 2022 08:19:24 -0500
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 by: Michael F. Stemper - Wed, 23 Mar 2022 13:19 UTC

On 22/03/2022 17.59, Robert Carnegie wrote:
> I don't recall reading these stories. I did wonder
> what "Father to the Stars" would amount to!
> You've explained that well, and you provided
> enough detail of each story to be interesting,
> without giving away too much.

Thank you.

> A question or two: evidently this setting considers
> "sociopath" a disease to treat, not how some people
> just are? And possibly, a way out of a murder charge?

It's not explicitly stated, but it seems that they do
have effective treatment for sociopathy, as can be seen
by Carmody's changed personality between "The Night of
Light" and "A Few Miles". The entire sequence of him
returning to Earth, turning himself in, getting cured,
and joining the Order of St. Jairus happened between
those two stories, so we never see them. What's left
out is almost more interesting than what's shown.

It's very consistent with Catholic teachings on repentance
and forgiveness, which is nicely done for somebody who
(per wikipedia) "... became an agnostic at the age of 14".

By the way, the word "sociopath" doesn't appear in the
text anywhere. I used it in my writeup after reading up
on the difference between psychopath and sociopath.

--
Michael F. Stemper
Deuteronomy 24:17

Re: Father to the Stars

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Subject: Re: Father to the Stars
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 by: Default User - Thu, 24 Mar 2022 03:20 UTC

On Tuesday, March 22, 2022 at 4:46:48 PM UTC-5, Michael F. Stemper wrote:
> This is a collection of five stories featuring John Carmody. The
> stories were written by Philip Jose Farmer over the years 1953-1961.

Does one of those feature an alien creature attaching an egg to his chest?

Brian

Re: Father to the Stars

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Subject: Re: Father to the Stars
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 by: Michael F. Stemper - Thu, 24 Mar 2022 16:57 UTC

On 23/03/2022 22.20, Default User wrote:
> On Tuesday, March 22, 2022 at 4:46:48 PM UTC-5, Michael F. Stemper wrote:
>> This is a collection of five stories featuring John Carmody. The
>> stories were written by Philip Jose Farmer over the years 1953-1961.
>
> Does one of those feature an alien creature attaching an egg to his chest?

The second one, "A Few Miles", portrays that. It's the reason
that he got transport off-planet.

--
Michael F. Stemper
The FAQ for rec.arts.sf.written is at
<http://leepers.us/evelyn/faqs/sf-written.htm>
Please read it before posting.

Re: Father to the Stars

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 by: Default User - Fri, 25 Mar 2022 03:01 UTC

On Thursday, March 24, 2022 at 11:57:16 AM UTC-5, Michael F. Stemper wrote:
> On 23/03/2022 22.20, Default User wrote:

> > Does one of those feature an alien creature attaching an egg to his chest?
> The second one, "A Few Miles", portrays that. It's the reason
> that he got transport off-planet.

Yeah, I think read that collection a long time ago.

Brian

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