Il pianeta della sfida

by William E. Cochrane, Marzia Iori (translator)

L'oggetto più grande dell'universo conosciuto è l'Albera Gigante di Kylemurre, che gli scalatori professionisti considerano una " vetta di grado sei " . Per gli abitanti del pianeta il chilometrico albero rappresenta Dio, ma per alcuni terrestri privi di scrupoli bisogna distruggerlo a tutti i costi. Tre uomini cercheranno di impedirlo con ogni mezzo a loro disposizione, ma per farlo rischieranno di scatenare le forze di un ambiente alieno e pieno di insidie. Il mistero, intanto, rimane inquietante: chi o che cosa è, veramente, il grande albero che sovrasta un mondo?

Copertina di Vicente Segrelles.

Genres: Science Fiction

168 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published February 1, 1980

About the author

William Eugene Cochrane (30 January 1926 – 4 March 1993) was a science fiction writer, who also published as Leo Paige and S. Kye Boult.

Reviews

[David Bedno]

Take a tree. No, wait, take a tree that's 4200 meters tall. Obviously it's on an alien planet, so set it in the future. Now set some political intrigue set around said tree, plant some protagonists, a villain, and some natives, who would, of course, worship a tree that tall. And, finally, because what else would you do with a tree that tall, have them climb it.

This isn't a deep novel. Nor is it ground-breaking (although I'm not sure how many other SF climbing novels there are). But it's a fun little book with climbing as a background, and a reasonably self-consistent world built around it. It's firmly entrenched in my library on the "comfort reading" shelf.

[Peter]

While cleaning a closet I found some old issues of Analog from the 60's and 70's. My attention of course was diverted from cleaning to checking out these forgotten issues I had in the bottom of a box. There were plenty of big name writers in the group, but there were also plenty of lesser knowns and now unknowns. I was drawn in by the cover art for this serialization, starting with the June 1979 issue, showing three climbers making their way up an enormous tree, with a menacing tree creature of some sort lurking in the branches above. I was reminded of what I thought when I first received this issue in the mail back when I was an young teenager "Wow, a giant tree, that's awesome!" I didn't get around to reading it back then, I think I was working on Dune, or some Jack Williamson at the time. This issue also has a short story by Alfred Bester and a novellette by Larry Niven, so this one had a lot of competition at the time.

So I'll check it out now. I'm not sure why William Cochrane has been forgotten so completely in so short a time. I'm guessing it's because he wasn't as prolific as Simak, Pohl, or any of the other top authors. He doesn't even have a wikipedia entry. I had to check my old copy of the Sci-Fi encyclopedia to find out more info on him. Apparently he wrote a number of stories for Analog, but just two novels, and I can't seem to find any info on if he's been included in any anthologies at all. Guess it's just the problem with sci-fi, as the science advances much of the fiction becomes very much out of date.

So I don't have the actual book version of this novel, just the serialization in Analog. I've never seen the paperback version, and it looks like there was only one edition. When I come across a book that's now out of print I'm always reminded of that Bradbury story where the authors spirits actually disappear when their last copy is destroyed.

Update - Finally got around to finishing this. Not bad, but not good. It takes about two thirds of the story to get to the actual giant tree. Up to then, it's just one long detailed description after another. How is the expedition being aid for, who is going, why climb this tree, what are the manners and regulations of the "Mountain Marines". Blah blah blah, lets see some action. A few good scenes of climbing combined with wooden characters and bad dialog. Meeh...

[Garick Cooke]

Cochrane also published under the pseudonym S. Kye Boult (he was an engineer, and one of the projects he worked on was the Skybolt missile). His fix-up novel Solo Kill, under the Boult pseudonym, is probably better-known than this one. Class Six Climb was originally serialized in Analog, and then issued as a paperback. There are many SF novels and stories featuring giant trees, including Alan Dean Foster's Midworld and Philip Jose Farmer's The Stone God Awakens, so this is nothing new, and unfortunately, despite some cool ideas, not a very good example of its type. The text is rife with problems large and small.

Small: A team of "mountain marines" features largely in the plot; which annoys me, because marines are by definition amphibious--so the term is an oxymoron. I would have preferred "mountain commandos" or something equivalent. A small thing, which could have been excused, except--

Large: The author spends over a hundred pages developing several characters and then does nothing with them. They are simply abandoned mid-way.

Also: This should have been a fast-paced adventure. But it isn't. The action scenes, which come way too late in the book IMO, are perfunctory. (As an aside, the technical aspects of climbing gear and procedure seem to be well-done, but I'm in no position to judge them, not being a climber myself.) He also seems to want to write an ecological / cultural novel about the natives, but the ecology of the tree is not well-developed, and the natives are given short shrift. This sort of thing has been done much better in novels like Dune or The Tuvela.

All of which sounds rather harsh, in retrospect, given that Cochrane's full-time job was engineering, not writing. He had a limited output which we must assume was a labor of love; what might he have accomplished given more time to devote to his avocation? I have for some years wanted to read his short story "The Horus Errand," which was also published in Analog, and I will probably look for that one after writing this review.

UPDATE: Finally read "The Horus Errand" (1974), which can be found online. The concept is reminiscent of Zelazny's earlier Lord of Light--that is, the idea of futuristic, technologically aided reincarnation--but, where Zelazny was interested in big-picture ideas, Cochrane is interested in the details; this novelette is, in fact, a police procedural with SF concepts. And it's well done. In fact, despite being published earlier, I found the writing here more polished than in either Solo Kill or Class Six Climb. I might now seek out some of his other novelettes. "Weather War" sounds intriguing.

[Kevin Phyland]

The Giant Tree of Kyle Murre is the pinnacle of climbing achievement. Considered the hardest vertical climb, of some 4600 metres, it has become the centre of a plot to wrest control of the planet from the protectorate status it has currently. Captain FitzRoi, an agent provocateur, has been inserted into a climbing group in order to create a disruption which will necessitate intervention from the Procyon military, waiting in the system. Among the remaining three climbers is Dr. Elden Barr, an anthropologist and climber, who has been secretly informed of FitzRoi and is there to monitor. The other two climbers are in the dark as to the plot. They are Jessica Van Horn, a wealthy scion and expert mountaineer, and experienced guide Arden Barth. He is arrogant and impatient but qualifies for the climb by way of a wealthy patron. The climbers must have native Kyle Murrian guides who know and worship the Tree and they are superb judges of the climbers. FitzRoi makes a move early however, and sets explosive charges around the young Tree growing away from the base, coercing a native guide to take him solo to the top of the Tree. The remaining climbers wake to find he has a long headstart but his speed and impatience are fighting against Treelore. The race to the summit begins. Along the way we meet the dangerous denizens of the cloud layer Tree and other obstacles. Climbing lapses occur and a satisfying denouement is constructed. Despite the overt sexism it is a nice piece of climber porn on a SFnal stage, William E. Cochrane’s book is worth a look.

[Dan Carey]

I first read this when it was serialized in Analog magazine back in the late '70s. I didn't remember most of the plot, but there were scenes and images that have stuck with me for 40 years. And the plot fit well with my current tree obsession, so I was thrilled to find a used copy available. I was a little less thrilled with the actual writing, though. My tastes and understanding of literature have definitely expanded since I was a teenager. Now I noticed how roughly the characters are rendered; how inconsistently they behave; how burdened the story is by the layers of climbing detail. So it satisfied a sense of nostalgia, but little else.

[Brian Kwong]

I enjoyed this book. I was at a loss at the motivation of one of the characters as the plot took off. the ending also made the whole story pretty moot and anticlimactic. of you love Sci fi and climbing this is a great book.