Allen M. Steele > Quotes

“We make stupid mistakes when we're young; we do our best to make amends for them as we get older. We survive by learning; by learning we survive. Such is life. So be it.”
― Allen Steele, Coyote

“Look ... first and foremost, I'm a scientist. That means it's my responsibility to make observations and gather evidence before forming a hypothesis, not vice versa.”
― Allen Steele, Hex

“A long mission was ahead of them, and no one wanted to get on anyone else's nerves with unnecessary chatter.”
― Allen Steele, Hex

“Freedom does that to people, he realizes. Once you've tasted it, ou never want to let go.”
― Allen Steele, Coyote

“There's a difference between religion and faith," Chandi said, "Religion means you've accepted a set of beliefs even if those beliefs would appear to be irrational to anyone who doesn't buy into them. Faith means you've chosen to accept something that you've given yourself the chance to question.”
― Allen Steele, Arkwright

“The first thing you have to remember is that we count the days a bit differently. Having 39.6 more minutes each day, and 669 days—or sols, as we call ’em—in a sidereal period, meant that aresians threw out both Greenwich Mean Time and the Gregorian calendar in a.d. 2032, long before the Pax Astra took control of the near-space colonies, way before Mars declared its independence. The Zubrin calendar has twelve months, ranging from 48 to 66 sols in length, each named after a Zodiac constellation; it retroactively began on January 1, 1961, which became Gemini 1, m.y. 1 by local reckoning. The conversion factors from Gregorian to Zubrin calendars are fairly complex, so don’t ask for an explanation here; best to say that one of the first things newcomers from Earth have to realize is that April Fool pranks are even less funny at Arsia Station than they were back in Indiana.”
― Allen M. Steele, Sex and Violence in Zero-G: The Complete "Near Space" Stories, Expanded Edition

“Ten minutes later a small ship shaped like an elongated tear-drop rose from an underground hangar on the lunar surface. It was the Comet, super-swift craft of the Futuremen, known far and wide through the System as the swiftest ship in space. —Hamilton; Calling Captain Future (1940)”
― Allen M. Steele, Sex and Violence in Zero-G: The Complete "Near Space" Stories, Expanded Edition

“Space pirates were no new thing, to the System. There were always some corsairs infesting the outlaw asteroids or the wilder moons of the outer planets. —Hamilton; Outlaw World (1945)”
― Allen M. Steele, Sex and Violence in Zero-G: The Complete "Near Space" Stories, Expanded Edition

“Jeff’s quarters were small, but he’d done a lot with it over the last year and a half. The wall above his bed was covered with sheets of paper that he’d taped together, upon which he’d drawn an elaborate mural. Here was the Mars over which the Emperor had reigned: boat-like aircraft hovering above great domed cities, monstrous creatures prowling red wastelands, bare-chested heroes defending beautiful women with rapiers and radium pistols, all beneath twin moons that looked nothing like the Phobos and Deimos we knew. The mural was crude, yet it had been rendered with painstaking care, and was nothing like anything we’d ever seen before. That wasn’t all. On the desk next to the comp was the original Phoenix disk, yet Jeff hadn’t been satisfied just to leave it behind. A wire-frame bookcase had been built beside the desk, and neatly stacked upon its shelves were dozens of sheaves of paper, some thick and some thin, each carefully bound with hemp twine. Books, handwritten and handmade. I carefully pulled down one at random, gazed at its title page: EDISON’S CONQUEST OF MARS by Garrett P. Serviss. I put it back on the shelf, picked up another: OMNILINGUAL by H. Beam Piper. I placed it on the shelf, then pulled down yet another: THE MARTIAN CROWN JEWELS, by Poul Anderson. And more, dozens more… This was what Jeff had been”
― Allen M. Steele, Sex and Violence in Zero-G: The Complete "Near Space" Stories, Expanded Edition

“So long as he’s off in his own world, he’ll be happy. Make him comfortable, give him whatever he wants… within reason, at least… and leave him alone. I’ll keep an eye on him and will let you know if his condition changes, for better or worse.” “Hopefully for the better.” “Sure… but I wouldn’t count on it.” Karl stared straight at me. “Face it, chief… one of your guys is turning into a Martian.”
― Allen M. Steele, Sex and Violence in Zero-G: The Complete "Near Space" Stories, Expanded Edition

“Captain Future is dead!” The rumbling voice of the big green Jovian space-sailor rose above the laughter and chatter and clink of goblets, in this crowded Venusopolis spacemen’s café. He eyed his little knot of companions at the bar, as though challenging them to dispute him. One of them, a hard-bitten spacemen, a swarthy little Mercurian, shook his head thoughtfully. “I’m not so sure. It’s true that the Futuremen have been missing for months. But they’d be a hard bunch to kill.” —Hamilton; Outlaws of the Moon (1942)”
― Allen M. Steele, Sex and Violence in Zero-G: The Complete "Near Space" Stories, Expanded Edition

“Not long after that, I heard from one of the communications officers. Jeff had asked her to send a general memo to the other colonies: a request for downloads of any Mars novels or stories that their personnel might have. The works of Bradbury, Burroughs, and Brackett were particularly desired, although stuff by Moorcock, Williamson, and Sturgeon would also be appreciated. In exchange, Jeff would send stories and novels he’d downloaded from the Phoenix disk.”
― Allen M. Steele, Sex and Violence in Zero-G: The Complete "Near Space" Stories, Expanded Edition

“The three Futuremen who were Curt Newton’s faithful, lifelong comrades made a striking contrast to their tall, red-haired young leader. —Hamilton; The Comet Kings (1942)”
― Allen M. Steele, Sex and Violence in Zero-G: The Complete "Near Space" Stories, Expanded Edition

“This man was one of the great mysteries of the Solar System. Everyone had heard of him. Everyone had repeated tales of Captain Future’s incredible exploits as a scientist, as a space-farer, as the most audacious of all planeteers. Everyone knew his name and that of the three strange Futuremen who were his comrades. —Hamilton; Quest Beyond the Stars (1941)”
― Allen M. Steele, Sex and Violence in Zero-G: The Complete "Near Space" Stories, Expanded Edition

“Look, Arraj—it is a meteor!” cried the younger Martian excitedly. “And there’s a ship guiding it!” The two stared for a moment at the incredible spectacle. The expanding black spot was clearly a giant meteor, rushing now at tremendous speed toward Mars. And close beside the booming meteor rushed a dark spaceship, playing rays upon the great mass. The ship was propelling the meteor to Mars. —Hamilton; Captain Future’s Challenge (1940)”
― Allen M. Steele, Sex and Violence in Zero-G: The Complete "Near Space" Stories, Expanded Edition

“The little teardrop ship, the Comet, blasted at top speed toward the Earth and its summoning call. Captain Future thought somberly of the many times he had answered that call. Each time, he and the Futuremen had found themselves called on to battle deadly perils. Was it to be the same this time? “We can’t always win,” he thought grimly. “We’ve been lucky, but the law of averages eventually has to turn against us.” —Hamilton; The Triumph of Captain Future (1940)”
― Allen M. Steele, Sex and Violence in Zero-G: The Complete "Near Space" Stories, Expanded Edition

“King: “I see. From what your audience here on Earth has heard so far, you principally cover songs other people have written. Some of them quite old, in fact. Why aren’t you writing songs of your own, about Mars?” Pronzini: “Well, uh…” Smith: “We’re lazy.” (Laughter.) Mama: “Actually, I’m working on composing an epic twenty-hour opera inspired by old Lost in Space episodes. It’s tentatively entitled ‘Dr. Smith Unbound.’” Pronzini: “You’re a sick man, Joe.”
― Allen M. Steele, Sex and Violence in Zero-G: The Complete "Near Space" Stories, Expanded Edition

“How much science fiction have you read?” “A little. Not much.” “Well, lucky for you, I’ve read quite a bit.” He grinned. “In fact, you could say that’s why I’m here. I got hooked on that stuff when I was a kid, and by the time I got out of college, I’d pretty much decided that I wanted to see Mars.” He became serious again. “Okay, try to follow me. Although people have been writing about Mars since the 1700’s, it wasn’t until the first Russian and American probes got out here in the 1960’s that anyone knew what this place is really like. That absence of knowledge gave writers and artists the liberty to fill in the gap with their imaginations… or at least until they learned better. Understand?” “Sure.” I shrugged. “Before the 1960’s, you could have Martians. After that, you couldn’t have Martians anymore.” “Umm… well, not exactly.” Karl lifted his hand, teetered it back and forth. “One of the best stories on the disk is ‘A Rose For Ecclesiastes’ by Roger Zelazny. It was written in 1963, and it has Martians in it. And some stories written before then were pretty close to getting it right. But for the most part, yes… the fictional view of Mars changed dramatically in the second half of the last century, and although it became more realistic, it also lost much of its romanticism.” Karl folded the penknife, dropped it on his desk. “Those aren’t the stories Jeff’s reading. Greg Bear’s ‘A Martian Ricorso’, Arthur C. Clarke’s ‘Transit of Earth’, John Varley’s ‘In the Hall of the Martian Kings’… anything similar to the Mars we know, he ignores. Why? Because they remind him of where he is… and that’s not where he wants to be.” “So…” I thought about it for a moment. “He’s reading the older stuff instead?” “Right.” Karl nodded. “Stanley Weinbaum’s ‘A Martian Odyssey’, Otis Albert Kline’s ‘The Swordsman of Mars’, A.E. van Vogt’s ‘The Enchanted Village’… the more unreal, the more he likes them. Because those stories aren’t about the drab, lifeless planet where he’s stuck, but instead a planet of native Martians, lost cities, canal systems…” “Okay, I get it.” “No, I don’t think you do… because I’m not sure I do, either, except to say that Jeff appears to be leaving us. Every day, he’s taking one more step into this other world… and I don’t think he’s coming back again.”
― Allen M. Steele, Sex and Violence in Zero-G: The Complete "Near Space" Stories, Expanded Edition

“But this kind of paralogia always finds an audience, and it keeps the tax-free contributors rolling in.”
― Allen M. Steele, Sex and Violence in Zero-G: The Complete "Near Space" Stories, Expanded Edition

“Joan Randall ran into his arms. Tears of joy glimmered in her eyes as her soft face lifted to his. In this moment, she did not look like the cool, alert girl agent of the Planet Police who had shared more than one dangerous adventure with Curt Newton. “Captain Future, I knew you’d come back!” she cried. “Everyone said you’d met death out there in interstellar space, but I knew you’d return some day!” —Edmond Hamilton; Outlaws of the Moon (1942)”
― Allen M. Steele, Sex and Violence in Zero-G: The Complete "Near Space" Stories, Expanded Edition

“This was what Jeff had been doing all this time: transcribing the contents of the Phoenix disk, word by word. Because he knew, in spite of his madness, that he couldn’t stay on Mars forever, and he wanted to leave something behind. A library, so that others could enjoy the same stories that had helped him through a dark and troubled time. The library is still here. In fact, we’ve improved it quite a bit. I had the bed and dresser removed, and replaced them with armchairs and reading lamps. The mural has been preserved within glass frames, and the books have been rebound inside plastic covers. The Phoenix disk is gone, but its contents have been downloaded into a couple of comps; the disk itself is in the base museum. And we’ve added a lot of books to the shelves; every time a cycleship arrives from Earth, it brings a few more volumes for our collection. It’s become one of the favorite places in Arsia for people to relax. There’s almost always someone there, sitting in a chair with a novel or story in his or her lap. The sign on the door reads Imperial Martian Library: an inside joke that newcomers and tourists don’t get. And, yes, I’ve spent a lot of time there myself. It’s never too late to catch up on the classics.”
― Allen M. Steele, Sex and Violence in Zero-G: The Complete "Near Space" Stories, Expanded Edition

“As always, the pictures on the wardroom walls caught my eye: framed reproductions of covers from ancient pulp magazines well over a hundred years old. The magazines themselves, crumbling and priceless, were bagged and hermetically sealed within a locker in the Captain’s quarters. Lurid paintings of fishbowl-helmeted spacemen fighting improbable alien monsters and mad scientists which, in turn, menaced buxom young women in see-through outfits. The adolescent fantasies of the last century—“Planets In Peril,” “Quest Beyond The Stars,” “Star Trail To Glory”—and above them all, printed in a bold swath across the top of each cover, a title… CAPTAIN FUTURE Man of Tomorrow”
― Allen M. Steele, Sex and Violence in Zero-G: The Complete "Near Space" Stories, Expanded Edition

“He took the pilot chair and headed the Comet across the zone toward the computed position of the invisible asteroid. “They’ll surely see us approaching!” Ezra warned. “The Magician of Mars will be taking no chances, Cap’n Future!” “We’re going to use a stratagem to get onto that asteroid without him suspecting,” Curt informed. “Watch.” —Hamilton; The Magician of Mars (1941)”
― Allen M. Steele, Sex and Violence in Zero-G: The Complete "Near Space" Stories, Expanded Edition

“Faith is a great thing. The trick is keeping it. Dad”
― Allen Steele, Arkwright

“Well, it’s no secret that life at Arsia Base was rough. Always will be rough, or at least until someone gets around to terraforming Mars, which is wild-eyed fantasy if you ask me. But even if you disregard the sandstorms and scarcity of water, the extremes of heat and cold and… well, just the utter barrenness of that world, it’s still a hell of a place to live for any extended period of time. I guess the worst part was the isolation. When I was station manager we had about fifty men and women living in close quarters in a cluster of fifteen habitats, buried just under the ground. Most of these folks worked either for Skycorp or the Japanese firm Uchu-Hiko, manufacturing propellant from Martian hydrocarbons in the soil which was later boosted up to the Deimos fuel depot, or were conducting basic research for NASA or NASDA. The minority of us were support personnel, like myself, keeping the place operational. A lot of us had signed on for Mars work for the chance to explore another planet, but once you got there you found yourself spending most of your time doing stuff that was not so much different than if you had volunteered to live underground in Death Valley for two years. For the men working the electrolysis plant, it was a particularly hard, dirty job—working ten- or twelve-hour shifts, coming back to the base to eat and collapse, then getting up to do it all over again. The researchers didn’t have it much easier because their sponsoring companies or governments had gone to considerable expense to send them to Mars and they had to produce a lifetime’s worth of work during their two years or risk losing their jobs and reputations.”
― Allen M. Steele, Sex and Violence in Zero-G: The Complete "Near Space" Stories, Expanded Edition