Jon Crocker  12-31-2020
03:40 UT
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Thanks for the image! I hadn't seen that one before.
From the
travellermap.com website, there are two planets named Tanith, and
another two named Marduk, but only the one near Tanith is 'official'.
Speaking
of Tanith, Space Viking has a gppd line,from the battle at Audhumla -
"Gehenna with this fooling around! I'll fix the expurgated
unprintability!" Because Space Vikings in combat would not use 'darn',
'shucks', or 'gee whiz'.
I hope everyone had a good Christmas,
and has a better new year - we were running errands today and saw a sign
"The first rule of 2021 is don't talk about 2020" and I think that
about sums it up.
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David "PiperFan" Johnson 12-28-2020
01:12 UT
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~
Tim Tow wrote:
> Interesting, although there is no official Traveller
> universe planet named Styrphon yet, there are a lot of
> Piper references in the Traveller RPG
Yes. I've seen several Terro-human Future History references but this is the first Traveller tag I've seen of a Paratime name.
> Another one is the megacorp Hortalez et Cie is named
> after a Spanish shell company that was created to funnel
> funds to the colonists during the American Revolution.
(Huh!
I never knew that, though I've long wondered--off-topic a bit
here--about that odd-seeming name, probably since Hortalez was listed as
the "bonding agent" on the mercenary repatriation bond printed in the Across the Bright Face adventure.)
> Marc Miller has said that H. Beam Piper's stories were
> among the inspiration for Traveller.
The "Sword Worlds Subsector" in the Spinward Marches supplement let that cat out of the bag. . . . Later, in Travellers' Digest #20, there was even a Tanith, in the Borderland subsector of the Trojan Reach:
Tanith 2721 A589342-B Ni Lo 105 As M3D M5D
Though it would seem Aslan ihatei had overrun the Space Viking base at that point. ;)
Down Styphon!
David
--
"I
don't know what plans you have for a next story project, but the
world-picture you've been building up in the Sword Worlds stories, or
Space Viking stories, or whatever you designate the series, offers some
lovely possibilities." -- John W. Campbell (to H. Beam Piper)
~
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Tim Tow 12-27-2020
14:35 UT
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Interesting, although there is no official Traveller universe planet
named Styrphon yet, there are a lot of Piper references in the Traveller
RPG as well as other cultural/historical references (in jokes). The
patron name is an nice. Another one is the megacorp Hortalez et Cie is
named after a Spanish shell company that was created to funnel funds to
the colonists during the American Revolution. Marc Miller has said that
H. Beam Piper's stories were among the inspiration for Traveller.
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David "PiperFan" Johnson 12-27-2020
03:58 UT
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Down-Styphon Starport from Classic Traveller Supplement 6: 76 Patrons
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David "PiperFan" Johnson 12-27-2020
03:57 UT
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~
Down-Styphon Starport?
Was looking for info on Mike Gilbert's Down Styphon! miniatures wargame:
https://www.fantasygamesunlimited.net/product/down-styphon/
and stumbled across "Down-Styphon Starport" mentioned in a patron encounter on p. 33 of the Classic Traveller role-playing game supplement 76 Patrons:
https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/80148/
There were multiple contributors to 76 Patrons so it's not obvious who was the Piper fan, or why it is they also borrowed this guy's name either:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helmut_Dantine
In Traveller's
Imperium campaign, the surface components of starports "are frequently
called Down (as in Regina Down Starport) or Downport. Orbital facilities
are . . . often called Highport. . . ." The "Down-Styphon" construction
here is therefore a bit unconventional in its effort to remain true to
Piper's original battle cry.
(Image to follow.)
Cheers,
David
--
"Oh,
my people had many gods. There was Conformity, and Authority, and
Expense Account, and Opinion. And there was Status, whose symbols were
many, and who rode in the great chariot Cadillac, which was almost a god
itself. And there was Atom-bomb, the dread destroyer, who would some
day come to end the world. None were very good gods, and I worshiped
none of them.” - Calvin Morrison (H. Beam Piper), ~Lord Kalvan of
Otherwhen~
~
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David "PiperFan" Johnson 12-23-2020
03:15 UT
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~
From the Archives: "The Genesis of 'Paratime'"
Here's
another message from the old PIPER-L mailing list. This time it's John
Carr explaining why Beam's yarn "Genesis" appeared in the collection
~The World of H. Beam Piper~ instead of the ~Paratime!~ collection,
which would have been his preference. (John was responding to a
discussion about the never-ending debate over whether Paratime and the
Terro-human Future History yarns are all part of the same setting.)
---
Subject: The Genesis of "Paratime"
From: John F. Carr
Date: Sat, 20 Dec 2003 16:48:14 EST
THE GENESIS BACKSTORY
The reason "Genesis" was not included in "Paratime" was that I did not have a
copy of the story until after the book was published. For me, it was the
most elusive of all of Beam's stories; this was in the late 70s, long before the
Internet simplified finding out-of-print and rare magazines and books.
If I would have had a copy of "Genesis," I would have included it in the
"Paratime" anthology; I'm still unhappy that Ace never offered me the opportunity
to rectify that situation when they republished "Paratime" as part of the "The
Complete Paratime" without my knowledge. (If they had, I would have not
included the novel "Lord Kalvan of Otherwhen," but instead the three novellas,
including the never-published "Hos-Hostigos." There are subtle differences in
the novellas and some 'new' material in the opening of "Hos-Hostigos." This,
along with an updated introduction, would have made for a much more interesting
and historically significant book...
Of course, it was cheaper to use the old plates of the two books and slap a
new title on it...
According to Beam's Log Book (which lists and dates story sales, but not when
they were written), "Genesis" was 'sold' on October 11, 1951 by Fred Pohl,
Beam's agent at the time. However, this book many have been making the rounds
for a number years before selling. For example, "Hunter Patrol" (one of the
McGuire collaborations) was written previous to 1955 (there's no mention of it
in the diaries of that year) so we know it took at least 4 years to sell after
the Piper and McGuire breakup in 1955. Thus, we can only speculate when it
was written, but everything about it points to it as the Paratime 'origin'
story.
As to why Beam didn't include it in the "Paratime List" he sent to the
Browns, there are several possible explanations. 1.) By this time, he'd begun to
associate the Paratime stories with Verkan Vall. 2.) Recent astronomical
evidence had begun to throw water on the 'Martian origins' concept. So, in his own
mind, he no longer 'saw' "Genesis" as part of the Paratime series.
I included "He Walked Around the Horses" in "Paratime" both because it was a
great little yarn and because the central element is referred to in "Police
Operation." If I would have had a copy, I would have opened "Paratime" with
"Genesis."
As far as "The Worlds of H. Beam Piper," that was an add-on book. The titles
for the first three collections originated with Jim Baen, and after he left
to co-found Tor Books with Tom Doherty, Ace approached me for the rest of the
stories which had been 'lost' during the transition. After the first three
contracted books were done, I still had enough stories left for another book
(this is about the time a fan sent me a photocopy of "Genesis") so I contacted Ace
and sent them a proposal. The other collections were selling very well so
they said yes. I didn't include or withhold any stories because of my plans for
"The Worlds of H. Beam Piper," in fact, I included "The Return" in "Empire"
both because it was one of my favorite Piper short stories and because the book
would have been too short without it.
John F. Carr
-----
John's original message is available here:
https://web.archive.org/web/20080310071011...l&T=0&F=&S=&P=11275
Cheers,
David
--
"Lord Kalvan is a Martian." - Jackson Russell, H. Beam Piper Mailing List and Discussion Forum, July 6, 2015
~
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David "PiperFan" Johnson 12-20-2020
02:00 UT
|
~
Hello Piper Fans!
Once again it's time to pay the annual fee
($US53) which keeps this mailing list and forum archive free of
advertisements and enables features like image posting. You can support
this shared resource by making a contribution in an amount of your
choice using the PayPal link at the top of the Discussion Forum page.
(You don't need a PayPal account to make a donation, just a credit
card.)
I'll be paying the fee again this year, regardless of any
contributions, but I do use this annual ritual as an indicator of
interest in Piper-related discussion at Zarthani.net. So I hope you'll
take advantage of this opportunity to express your interest in continued
Piper-related discussion.
Thanks in advance for whatever amount of support you choose to provide.
Have a merry solstice holiday, however you celebrate it, and best wishes for the New Year.
David
--
"I always was a present-peeker [on] New Year's. . . ." - Elaine Karvall (H. Beam Piper), ~Space Viking~
~
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