"Project: Earthsave (Perry Rhodan #38)" by Kurt Brand, translated by
Wendayne Ackerman
https://www.amazon.com/Project-Earthsave-Perry-Rhodan-38/dp/B000GZDVF0/

Book number thirty-eight of a series of one hundred and twenty-six space
opera books in English. The original German books, actually pamphlets,
number in the thousands. The English books started with two translated
German stories per book and transitioned to one story per book with the
sixth book. The German books were written from 1961 to present time,
having sold two billion copies and even recently been rebooted again. I
read the well printed and well bound book published by Ace in 1974 that
I had to be very careful with due to age. I bought an almost complete
box of Perry Rhodans a decade or two ago on ebay that I am finally
getting to since I lost my original Perry Rhodans in The Great Flood of
1989. In fact, I now own book #1 to book #103, plus the Atlan books.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perry_Rhodan

BTW, this is actually book number 46 of the German Pamphlets. There is
a very good explanation of the plot in German on this website of all of
the PR books. There is automatic Google translation available for
English, Spanish, Dutch, Japanese, French, and Portuguese.
https://www.perrypedia.de/wiki/Gesch%C3%A4fte_mit_Arkon-Stahl

In this alternate universe, USSF Major Perry Rhodan and his three fellow
astronauts blasted off in a three stage rocket to the Moon in 1971. The
first stage of the rocket was chemical, the second and third stages were
nuclear. After crashing on the Moon due to a strange radio
interference, they discover a massive crashed alien spaceship with an
aged male scientist (Khrest), a female commander (Thora), and a crew of
500. It has been over ten years since then and the New Power has
flourished with millions of people and many spaceships headquartered in
the Gobi desert, the city of Terrania.

Perry Rhodan and his 5,000 foot spherical spaceship with the Ganymede
spaceship travel to the Gonom system where the Springers, Mounders, and
Aras are meeting soon to decide if they want to destroy Terra. Perry
meets with Talamon, the Mounder whose fleet he did not destroy on
Aralon, and offers him most of the millions of ton of Arkon steel on the
planet Honur in the stripped spaceships. Several of the mutants are at
the meeting of the Springers, Mounders, and Aras, and are caught by the
Ara biochemical men. They run off in their spaceship gazelle but crash
on the planet Gom.

One has to remember that this book was written in German in 1962 and
translated to English in 1974. Many items that came about in the 1970s
and beyond such as cell phones are not reflected in the book. However,
commercial aircraft commonly traveling at Mach 3 are not available to
the public as talked about in the book. Niels Bohr's saying "Prediction
is very difficult, especially about the future" comes to mind.

Two observations:
1. The publisher should have put two to four of the translated stories
in each book. Having two stories in the first five books worked out
well. Just having one story in the book is too short and would never
allow the translated books to catch up to the German originals.
2. Anyone liking Perry Rhodan and wanting a more up to date story should
read the totally awesome "Mutineer's Moon" Dahak series of three books
by David Weber.
https://www.amazon.com/Mutineers-Moon-Dahak-David-Weber/dp/0671720856/

My rating: 4.4 out of 5 stars
Amazon rating: 0 out of 5 stars (0 reviews)

Lynn

Lynn McGuire wrote:

<snip>

> Perry Rhodan and his 5,000 foot spherical spaceship with the Ganymede
> spaceship travel to the Gonom system where the Springers, Mounders, and
> Aras are meeting soon to decide if they want to destroy Terra. Perry
> meets with Talamon, the Mounder whose fleet he did not destroy on
> Aralon, and offers him most of the millions of ton of Arkon steel on the
> planet Honur in the stripped spaceships. Several of the mutants are at
> the meeting of the Springers, Mounders, and Aras, and are caught by the
> Ara biochemical men. They run off in their spaceship gazelle but crash
> on the planet Gom.

This followup contains two parts. It begins with an enigmatic event in
Part I, followed by a look at fictional and non-fictional Orwellian
Double Think in Part II.

Part I. "Science Fiction: Messenger of Light" by Ackerman

Ackerman's Ace opens with a guest editorial from "Mr Perry Rhodan"
himself, the inimitable Clark Darlton. In it, Darlton discloses a
science-fictional event known (?only in Germany?) as "The Battle of
Bonn."
Apparently it involves "judge and jury?" Thank you in advance to
anyone who can shed some light on it. Here's the pertinent excerpt from
Darlton's guest editorial:

Do you realize that you probably wouldn't be reading
PERRY RHODAN today if it weren't for Forry Ackerman? I don't
refer solely to the fact that he went from publisher to
publisher for years and despite turndown after turndown had
the faith in the eventual success of PERRY to carry on as
his agent till he found the publisher with the foresight to
sign up the life story of the Peacelord. No, I am referring
to something far more serious that happened at a much earlier
period. I am recollecting something that most of you are
probably completely unaware of, the crisis in /all/ German
science fiction magazine publication that arose many years
ago in what was called "The Battle of Bonn". It was quite a
nonsense. It is too long a story to go into here (although
I think it should be told in its entirety in a future issue
of PR because of its relevance) but the fact is that Forry
Ackerman in very large part was responsible for the
salvation in very large part was responsible for the
salvation of modern science fiction in Germany. At a time
when blind, ignorant, prejudiced forces who did not
understand the meaning, tradition and value of science
fiction sought to have it banned in Germany, Forry Ackerman
acted: he reached out his hand and his heart and his mind
6000 miles across the ocean and presented a document to the
judge and jury which was substantially responsible for the
exoneration of the specious charges against science
fiction. Forry's contribution was called "Science Fiction:
Messenger of Light" and its exact value to the cause
cannot ever be properly evaluated or overestimated. It is
not too much to say that there might be no popular s.f. in
Germany today, the World SF Con might never have been held
in Heidelberg, the saga of PERRY RHODAN might never have
captivated Germany and spread throughout the world, if
Forry Ackermann had not lent his inspired support when it
was most needed.

Part II. Fictional and Non-Fictional Doublethink

The "Project: Earthsave" story's second scene starts with:

The courier for the Galactic Traders had come to probe
the Clan Chief Talamon.
Talamon's clan was quite impressive. He had over 200
fighter ships at his disposal. That Talamon still possessed
them and was still alive was something he had Perry Rhodan
to thank for.
And the courier asked him, what did he make of Perry Rhodan?
"A great deal!" answered Talamon without deliberation, yet
he maintained his best poker face.
This answer the courier had least expected. He appeared to
be shocked. Talamon grinned at him good-naturedly and with a
trace of pity.
"But, Talamon, that cannot be your true attitude!"
Then Talamon moved his 13 hundred pounds of live
weight with an agility which none might have thought him capable
of. His poker face disappeared; instead he was now menacing
and his deep bass voice bellowed at the courier so that it
resounded within the confines of the cabin: "What do you want me
to do, consider Perry Rhodan as just a passing meteor-a little
falling star? Do you know that your question is an impertinence?
Have you forgotten already how Perry Rhodan leashed the Arkonide
robot fleet to come thundering through space at us? I, Talamon,
was at the brink of destruction with my entire fleet! Do you
take that for nothing, courier? And whoever can equal what
Perry Rhodan has done-is he to be considered a nothing?"
The courier recoiled like a singed worm. Talamon observed
this and ignored it. He let the fellow simmer a bit. He was
going to have to come clean and confess why no expense and
effort had been spared to seek him, Talamon, personally at a
distance of 2000 light-years from Arkon. He might have done so
more cheaply by use of hyperspace communication."Alright, courier
-what do you want? Out with it! What am I supposed to do? And
what are the Springers ready to pay for it?"
"I come from Siptar," said the courier.
"Will that one never die?" growled Talamon, intimating
that Siptar was the oldest of the clan chieftains among the
Springers.
"Before that I was with Vontran, Talamon. Siptar and
Vontran have lost many supporters and kinsmen on Goszul's
Planet..."
"So?" The squarishly built, green-skinned Talamon grinned
and waited.
"There is a persistent rumour concerning the bomb explosion
on Goszul's Planet during the great gathering of the clans. It
is said that this Perry Rhodan had a finger in it..."
Talamon's unrestrained laughter silenced the courier. Tears
ran down the green-hued cheeks of the Mounder. The longer
Talamon laughed, the more disconcerted the courier became-and
irritated, until finally he lost his temper and shouted:
"What's there to laugh about?"
Abruptly, Talamon calmed down. "True," he conceded to
the courier, "this is no laughing matter. The catastrophe on
Goszul's Planet has been a terrible thing but to try to link
Perry Rhodan to it... Look, courier, I'll put it to you this
way: Before when you asked me what I made of Perry Rhodan-how
much importance, in other words, did I attach to him-I said
'very much'. That didn't sit very well with you; but like it
or not, there is no other answer. Perry Rhodan is a factor
that all of us must reckon with."
"Then you brought in your rumour and I laughed. Do you
have any idea of why I laughed? Because with your stupid
rumour you unconsciously admitted that the Springers attach
a great deal of importance to Perry Rhodan. Now, does it make
sense?"

And here's non-fictional Doublethink:

Welcome to a Science-Fiction Planet

How George Orwell's Doublethink Became the Way of the World:
David Barsamian interviews Noam Chomsky

Barsamian: I've got a little puzzle for you. It's in two parts.
Russia's military is inept and incompetent. Its soldiers have very
low morale and are poorly led. Its economy ranks with Italy's and
Spain's. That's one part. The other part is Russia is a military
colossus that threatens to overwhelm us. So, we need more weapons.
Let's expand NATO. How do you reconcile those two contradictory
thoughts?

Chomsky: Those two thoughts are standard in the entire West. I just
had a long interview in Sweden about their plans to join NATO. I
pointed out that Swedish leaders have two contradictory ideas, the
two you mentioned. One, gloating over the fact that Russia has proven
itself to be a paper tiger that can't conquer cities a couple of
miles from its border defended by a mostly citizens' army. So,
they're completely militarily incompetent. The other thought is:
they're poised to conquer the West and destroy us.

George Orwell had a name for that. He called it doublethink, the
capacity to have two contradictory ideas in your mind and believe
both of them. Orwell mistakenly thought that was something you could
only have in the ultra-totalitarian state he was satirizing in 1984.
He was wrong. You can have it in free democratic societies. We're
seeing a dramatic example of it right now. Incidentally, this is not
the first time.

Danke,

--
Don.......My cat's )\._.,--....,'``. https://crcomp.net/reviews.php
telltale tall tail /, _.. \ _\ (`._ ,.
tells tall tales.. `._.-(,_..'--(,_..'`-.;.'

On 2022-07-27, Don <g@crcomp.net> wrote:

> Ackerman's Ace opens with a guest editorial from "Mr Perry Rhodan"
> himself, the inimitable Clark Darlton. In it, Darlton discloses a
> science-fictional event known (?only in Germany?) as "The Battle of
> Bonn."

I for one have absolutely no idea what this refers to.

> Talamon's unrestrained laughter silenced the courier. Tears
> ran down the green-hued cheeks of the Mounder.

BTW, what the translation calls "Mounders" are "Überschwere" in
German, literally "superheavies". Some poetic license there.

--
Christian "naddy" Weisgerber naddy@mips.inka.de

On 7/27/2022 12:01 PM, Christian Weisgerber wrote:
> On 2022-07-27, Don <g@crcomp.net> wrote:
>
>> Ackerman's Ace opens with a guest editorial from "Mr Perry Rhodan"
>> himself, the inimitable Clark Darlton. In it, Darlton discloses a
>> science-fictional event known (?only in Germany?) as "The Battle of
>> Bonn."
>
> I for one have absolutely no idea what this refers to.
>
>> Talamon's unrestrained laughter silenced the courier. Tears
>> ran down the green-hued cheeks of the Mounder.
>
> BTW, what the translation calls "Mounders" are "Überschwere" in
> German, literally "superheavies". Some poetic license there.

Hey, I like the Mounders name. A seven foot tall guy who weighs 1,300
lbs and is mobile will look like a mound of stuff.

Lynn