Planetary series

The Planetary series of stories by Stanley G. Weinbaum is series of short stories, published in Wonder Stories and Astounding Stories in the 1930s, which are set upon various planets and moons of the Solar System.

The stories are marked by attention to the detail of the alien ecosystems with which Weinbaum equips his planets. Though only a few of the stories share protagonists, there is enough shared detail between the stories to show that they belong to a common fictional universe. The birdlike Martians of "A Martian Odyssey" and "Valley of Dreams", for instance, are mentioned in "Redemption Cairn", and "The Red Peri" and the Venusian trioptes of "Parasite Planet" and "The Lotus Eaters" are mentioned in "The Mad Moon". In Weinbaum's Solar System, in accordance with the then-current near-collision hypothesis, the gas giants radiate heat, enough to warm their satellites to Earthlike temperatures, allowing for Earthlike environments on Io, Europa, Titan, and even Uranus. Mars is also sufficiently Earthlike to allow humans to walk its surface (with training in thin-air chambers) unprotected.

The series includes the following ten titles, in publication order:

Title Published in Publication Date Setting Fictional date Main characters Other
"A Martian Odyssey" Wonder Stories July 1934 Mars early 2000s Dick Jarvis, Tweel
"Valley of Dreams" Wonder Stories Nov. 1934 Mars early 2000s Dick Jarvis, Tweel sequel to "A Martian Odyssey"
"Flight on Titan" Astounding Stories Jan. 1935 Titan 2142* Tim and Diane Vick
"Parasite Planet" Astounding Stories Feb. 1935 Venus late 21st century Hamilton Hammond, Patricia Burlingame
"The Lotus Eaters" Astounding Stories Apr. 1935 Venus late 21st century Ham & Pat Hammond sequel to "Parasite Planet"
"The Planet of Doubt" Astounding Stories Oct. 1935 Uranus 2100 Ham & Pat Hammond sequel to "The Lotus Eaters"
"The Red Peri" Astounding Stories Nov. 1935 Pluto ca. 2080 Frank Keene, Peri Maclane
"The Mad Moon" Astounding Stories Dec. 1935 Io 2112 Grant Calthorpe, Lee Neilan
"Redemption Cairn" Astounding Stories Mar. 1936 Europa 2111 Jack Sands, Claire Avery
"Tidal Moon" Thrilling Wonder Stories Dec. 1938 Ganymede 2083 Ben Amherst, Carol Kent posthumous publication completed by Stanley Weinbaum's sister Helen

Chronology

*Dates in Flight on Titan are inconsistent with themselves and the rest of Weinbaum's planetary stories. The principal date given is 2142, and the main story takes place in the following year; however, 2030 is referred to within the story as if it were a recent date, and references to the events in Flight on Titan in other stories indicate that they must have taken place before both The Lotus Eaters and The Mad Moon, i.e. in the 21st and not the 22nd century.

Solar system

Weinbaum's solar system corresponds to the scientific solar system as envisioned in the mid-1930s, with details supplied from Weinbaum's imagination. By 1934, the solar system was known to consist of the Sun, nine planets, 26 moons, and a few thousand asteroids and comets. Unlike the solar system as known today, Weinbaum's system was full of life-forms, many of them intelligent; however, only the humans of Earth possessed the capacity for spaceflight (though there is evidence the Martians may have had it in the past). Weinbaum limited himself to planets and moons as settings, naming the following:

Characters

Bestiary

(All entities mentioned are nonsentient animals unless otherwise noted)

Places

Spaceships

Things

References

  1. According to Hamilton Hammond. In correct Latin usage, however, the plural should be triōpes. Likewise, noctivivans is an error for the more correct noctivivens.
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