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Federation #1
Uller Uprising
The four-armed reptilian natives of the planet Uller revolt against the chartered company from the Terran Federation which rules them
201 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1952
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522 people want to read
About the author
H. Beam Piper
296 books242 followersHenry Beam Piper was an American science fiction author. He wrote many short stories and several novels. He is best known for his extensive Terro-Human Future History series of stories and a shorter series of "Paratime" alternate history tales.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 82 reviews
July 17, 2022
This is the first novel set in Piper's future history Federation sequence. It's a good military sf adventure, with political overtones informed by history. There's been a lot of critical speculation as to whether Piper was endorsing, condemning, or merely reporting the effects of imperialism/colonialism. It doesn't have the same humor or optimism or in-depth characterization of the self-reliant man as his better-known books like Little Fuzzy or Space Viking, but it's a quick, challenging read.
May 31, 2021
I'm kind of on the fence about this book. As a piece of military SF adventure from the Golden Age, it's pretty excellent and not nearly as clunky as many of Piper's contemporaries. Something about the whole story is a little off, though, and leaves a bad taste in my mouth. I'm not surprised to discover (after the fact) that the book is based in part on the Sepoy Mutiny in British-ruled India. What's unsettling is Piper's attitude toward colonialism and imperialism. At best, the case could be made (as is done in the introduction to the Gutenberg version) that Piper simply presents human nature as it always has been and as it is. However, the book reads as a full-on endorsement of imperialistic domination.
The hero who Piper would have us identify with is Carlos von Schlichten, proud Argentinian descendant of Nazi war-criminals. There is a token female character who begins the book standing up for "native rights" but she is quickly swayed to von Schlichten's "kill 'em all" attitude as soon as there's a whiff of danger. When the native Ullerans rebel, Piper makes no attempt whatsoever to identify with them or even explore the reasons behind their uprising. The "good" aliens are simply those who are loyal to the Terran Federation, and the "bad guys" are all presented as savage ingrates who won't admit that being colonized and absorbed into Terran culture is the best thing for them. By the second chapter, the Ullerans are simply referred to as "geeks" which, odd as it is for a fictitious race, becomes offensive pretty quickly.
I kept waiting for the other shoe to drop and for the natives to be presented in a different light than that seen by their human colonizers. That doesn't happen - once the uprising is inevitably stamped out and all those dirty heathens who dared to want political power on their own planet, the scum, no hint is ever given that their human overlords were ever in anything but the Right.
I don't know. Poe's Law states that it is impossible to create a parody of an extreme viewpoint that someone won't mistake for the real thing; possibly this was all some kind of subtle satire that I just didn't get. It reads as a shockingly amoral tale of might making right, and in the end I could easily picture Gene Roddenberry wanting to kick H. Beam Piper's ass.
The hero who Piper would have us identify with is Carlos von Schlichten, proud Argentinian descendant of Nazi war-criminals. There is a token female character who begins the book standing up for "native rights" but she is quickly swayed to von Schlichten's "kill 'em all" attitude as soon as there's a whiff of danger. When the native Ullerans rebel, Piper makes no attempt whatsoever to identify with them or even explore the reasons behind their uprising. The "good" aliens are simply those who are loyal to the Terran Federation, and the "bad guys" are all presented as savage ingrates who won't admit that being colonized and absorbed into Terran culture is the best thing for them. By the second chapter, the Ullerans are simply referred to as "geeks" which, odd as it is for a fictitious race, becomes offensive pretty quickly.
I kept waiting for the other shoe to drop and for the natives to be presented in a different light than that seen by their human colonizers. That doesn't happen - once the uprising is inevitably stamped out and all those dirty heathens who dared to want political power on their own planet, the scum, no hint is ever given that their human overlords were ever in anything but the Right.
I don't know. Poe's Law states that it is impossible to create a parody of an extreme viewpoint that someone won't mistake for the real thing; possibly this was all some kind of subtle satire that I just didn't get. It reads as a shockingly amoral tale of might making right, and in the end I could easily picture Gene Roddenberry wanting to kick H. Beam Piper's ass.
December 27, 2021
A rather disturbing military/imperialist story by Piper for sure. First published in 1952, this has aged well, outside of a few mentions of slide rules and such. This is the first book set in the universe-- the Terra Federation-- that Piper used for several novels. 500 hundred years into the 'Atomic age', Earth has survived two devastating nuclear wars and the north of the planet is a barren wasteland. The former nations of the global south formed a single government and now are colonizing the stars.
'The Company' was awarded two planets-- Uller, with an indigenous sentient species and an ice ball used only for mining. The story largely takes place on Uller. The Company is very similar to the East India Company, or more the Dutch V.O.C., as it has its own military owing to the fact that Earth is 6 months away. The indigenous residents of Uller were basically at a level of early feudalism on Earth and were easily conquered by Terra. After the conquest, many treaties were made with local rules, just like in colonial India, and just like the Sepoy Mutiny, the locals eventually rebelled.
The colonial mentality here is well represented, but hard on the eyes as well. The locals, most of them anyway, are known as 'Geeks', and life is cheep among the geeks. Slavery is still around and the Company employs many to mine the harsh polar environments. The 'geeks' are silicon rather than carbon based and can tolerate a much greater range of temperature and climate. Again, the parallels with British colonialism are readily apparent; the geeks serving aboard ships and such are referred to as coolies and treated as second class at best. Nonetheless, the Terrans are heavily out numbered on the planet and the revolt came out of the blue everywhere...
I am a little mixed, however, on this one. On the one hand, it is a fast, hardish military science fiction adventure; on the other, it is a parable of colonialism and how little we have learned about it. Worse, perhaps, the colonial mindset is not critiqued, but actually somewhat enforced here. There is, for example, one Terran group on the planet, something like a modern NGO, seeking to document the harsh treatment of the natives by the Company, but they are quickly brought around to the idea that the natives need some harsh discipline to keep them in line. Hence, very little reflection on colonialism itself. Given when this was written, I would have expected more, as much of the planet was still colonized at this time and India had only achieved independence a few years before.
So, if you are looking for a fast paced military adventure, you will probably enjoy this; if you are looking for colonial propaganda, you might really enjoy this. If you go in expecting to read a critique of imperialism, you will be disappointed. Piper can write and this is much better regarding gender than typical golden age SFF. It also serves as a good introduction to the Terran Federation that Piper wrote several novels in. 3 stars.
'The Company' was awarded two planets-- Uller, with an indigenous sentient species and an ice ball used only for mining. The story largely takes place on Uller. The Company is very similar to the East India Company, or more the Dutch V.O.C., as it has its own military owing to the fact that Earth is 6 months away. The indigenous residents of Uller were basically at a level of early feudalism on Earth and were easily conquered by Terra. After the conquest, many treaties were made with local rules, just like in colonial India, and just like the Sepoy Mutiny, the locals eventually rebelled.
The colonial mentality here is well represented, but hard on the eyes as well. The locals, most of them anyway, are known as 'Geeks', and life is cheep among the geeks. Slavery is still around and the Company employs many to mine the harsh polar environments. The 'geeks' are silicon rather than carbon based and can tolerate a much greater range of temperature and climate. Again, the parallels with British colonialism are readily apparent; the geeks serving aboard ships and such are referred to as coolies and treated as second class at best. Nonetheless, the Terrans are heavily out numbered on the planet and the revolt came out of the blue everywhere...
I am a little mixed, however, on this one. On the one hand, it is a fast, hardish military science fiction adventure; on the other, it is a parable of colonialism and how little we have learned about it. Worse, perhaps, the colonial mindset is not critiqued, but actually somewhat enforced here. There is, for example, one Terran group on the planet, something like a modern NGO, seeking to document the harsh treatment of the natives by the Company, but they are quickly brought around to the idea that the natives need some harsh discipline to keep them in line. Hence, very little reflection on colonialism itself. Given when this was written, I would have expected more, as much of the planet was still colonized at this time and India had only achieved independence a few years before.
So, if you are looking for a fast paced military adventure, you will probably enjoy this; if you are looking for colonial propaganda, you might really enjoy this. If you go in expecting to read a critique of imperialism, you will be disappointed. Piper can write and this is much better regarding gender than typical golden age SFF. It also serves as a good introduction to the Terran Federation that Piper wrote several novels in. 3 stars.
May 14, 2016
Some books hold up better than others in later years. I first read "Uller Uprising" in 1983. I was fifteen and viewed the world through the eyes of a fifteen year old. Then "Uller Uprising" was a terrific blood and thunder adventure novel. A little bit old fashioned, but that was okay. I loved the old adventure movies with Errol Flynn, John Wayne, Tyrone Power, Stewart Granger and Burt Lancaster and (at the time) "Uller Uprising" read like one of those great old Hollywood matinees. Sadly we all change. Times change and our perceptions and ideas change. It's inevitable.
So it's still a very effective military science fiction adventure novel. Piper was a pretty damn good writer from that era. Many feel that if he had hung on for just a few more years (he committed suicide in 1964) he would have finally experienced the success that he had pursued for so many years. His books are compact, fast moving, but intelligent with well thought out details and they're entertaining. This is still true and I can see why they appealed to my fifteen/sixteen year old self.
However I now see details in Piper's writings that I missed back then. Keep in mind that Piper was born in 1904 and was writing in the mid twentieth century. Racial relations and politics were very different from 2016. As a result there are definite racist aspects in his writing. In past reviews I have chided those readers who are incapable of reading older works and keeping the writer's opinions in perspective. One can't judge a novel written by a middle-aged man in 1900 by modern standards and I agree with this. However I am now going to dip my big toe in the pond of hypocrisy. Sorry.
The simple fact of the matter is that "Uller Uprising" is a good old fashioned, rousing, pro-imperialism science fiction novel. Based on the 1857 Indian Mutiny (or Indian Rebellion of 1857 if you prefer) in which the sepoys of the East India Company's army rebelled against the East Indian Trading Company in the territories controlled by that company. It was a horrific event in which tens of thousands lost their lives and resulted in the British taking over all of India and the dissolution of the East Indian Trading Company. Not surprisingly many Indians don't see it as a "mutiny" but as a failed rebellion and many there refer to the event as India's First War of Independence. Like anything involving Humans there are many opinions and strong feelings across the board. However Piper doesn't worry about perspective. In "Uller Uprising" the Humans are running things because they are more capable. End of discussion. The natives are ungrateful and a little stupid as well. They outnumber the Humans and help will take months to get to them. Luckily Piper's hero is a self-reliant man (a common theme that runs throughout Piper's works) and he sorts things out.
The novel ends with the rebellion crushed and Humans firmly in control. There is a hint that the rebellion is understood to indicate that things aren't as rosy and everyone thought and there will be some reform, but at a moderate and controlled pace. The important thing is that the better species won and all is right in the universe.
Okay. Well I didn't remember that part of the book when I last read it back in 1983. I am not a soft-headed politically correct individual, but even for me "Uller Uprising" makes me rather uncomfortable. I guess I'm as much a product of my time as Piper was of his. By 1953 the world was definitely changing. The United States Army has received one hell of a big black eye at the hands of the Chinese in Korea, the British Empire was pretty much a memory and there were definite indications that black Americans were no longer satisfied with their status as second or third class citizens. I can't help but wonder if forty-nine year old Piper was writing in reaction to the changing times. This is just speculation of course, but what isn't speculation is that "Uller Uprising" will warm the hearts of pro-imperialists across the world. It's still a very entertaining novel, but be prepared to be a little uncomfortable at times.
So does this make me a hypocrite?
So it's still a very effective military science fiction adventure novel. Piper was a pretty damn good writer from that era. Many feel that if he had hung on for just a few more years (he committed suicide in 1964) he would have finally experienced the success that he had pursued for so many years. His books are compact, fast moving, but intelligent with well thought out details and they're entertaining. This is still true and I can see why they appealed to my fifteen/sixteen year old self.
However I now see details in Piper's writings that I missed back then. Keep in mind that Piper was born in 1904 and was writing in the mid twentieth century. Racial relations and politics were very different from 2016. As a result there are definite racist aspects in his writing. In past reviews I have chided those readers who are incapable of reading older works and keeping the writer's opinions in perspective. One can't judge a novel written by a middle-aged man in 1900 by modern standards and I agree with this. However I am now going to dip my big toe in the pond of hypocrisy. Sorry.
The simple fact of the matter is that "Uller Uprising" is a good old fashioned, rousing, pro-imperialism science fiction novel. Based on the 1857 Indian Mutiny (or Indian Rebellion of 1857 if you prefer) in which the sepoys of the East India Company's army rebelled against the East Indian Trading Company in the territories controlled by that company. It was a horrific event in which tens of thousands lost their lives and resulted in the British taking over all of India and the dissolution of the East Indian Trading Company. Not surprisingly many Indians don't see it as a "mutiny" but as a failed rebellion and many there refer to the event as India's First War of Independence. Like anything involving Humans there are many opinions and strong feelings across the board. However Piper doesn't worry about perspective. In "Uller Uprising" the Humans are running things because they are more capable. End of discussion. The natives are ungrateful and a little stupid as well. They outnumber the Humans and help will take months to get to them. Luckily Piper's hero is a self-reliant man (a common theme that runs throughout Piper's works) and he sorts things out.
The novel ends with the rebellion crushed and Humans firmly in control. There is a hint that the rebellion is understood to indicate that things aren't as rosy and everyone thought and there will be some reform, but at a moderate and controlled pace. The important thing is that the better species won and all is right in the universe.
Okay. Well I didn't remember that part of the book when I last read it back in 1983. I am not a soft-headed politically correct individual, but even for me "Uller Uprising" makes me rather uncomfortable. I guess I'm as much a product of my time as Piper was of his. By 1953 the world was definitely changing. The United States Army has received one hell of a big black eye at the hands of the Chinese in Korea, the British Empire was pretty much a memory and there were definite indications that black Americans were no longer satisfied with their status as second or third class citizens. I can't help but wonder if forty-nine year old Piper was writing in reaction to the changing times. This is just speculation of course, but what isn't speculation is that "Uller Uprising" will warm the hearts of pro-imperialists across the world. It's still a very entertaining novel, but be prepared to be a little uncomfortable at times.
So does this make me a hypocrite?
July 22, 2008
Piper clearly has a thing about how native peoples are treated, which I was familiar with from Oomphel. This story was originally part of a set of novellas that were based on a seed idea written by Dr. Clark. He gave the writers two worlds to work with and they ran with it. Piper threw in the "Bengal uprising against English-held India" (as stated nicely in a very good introductory essay about Piper's work by John F. Carr). We are also introduced to the common theme of Piper's characters having a cocktail hour and smoking, something that is kind of both soothing and off-putting.
Seriously though, the intro essay is really great and pretty much covers the themes that made me want to tear through the Terro-Human series—
In these stories we see Terro-Humans at their best and at their worst: Individual heroism and bravery in the face of grave danger in Uller Uprising; Federation law and justice in Little Fuzzy and its sequels; and, in "Omnilingual" and "Naudsonce," the spirit of science and rational inquiry. Yet we also see colonial exploitation and subjugation in Uller Uprising and "Oomphel in the Sky," the greed and corruption of Chartered land companies in Little Fuzzy, and political corruption in Four-Day Planet. These stories are about a living Terro-Human culture, not a utopia.
Seriously though, the intro essay is really great and pretty much covers the themes that made me want to tear through the Terro-Human series—
In these stories we see Terro-Humans at their best and at their worst: Individual heroism and bravery in the face of grave danger in Uller Uprising; Federation law and justice in Little Fuzzy and its sequels; and, in "Omnilingual" and "Naudsonce," the spirit of science and rational inquiry. Yet we also see colonial exploitation and subjugation in Uller Uprising and "Oomphel in the Sky," the greed and corruption of Chartered land companies in Little Fuzzy, and political corruption in Four-Day Planet. These stories are about a living Terro-Human culture, not a utopia.
September 4, 2024
This book is a thinly veiled excuse to talk about ethics of dropping atomic bomb to end a war wrapped in future wrapper- but scifi elements are very light.
We follow the events around the murder (poisoning) of the governor general of uller company- chartered by terran government. We follow different characters every chapter as the assassination leads to a planet wide war. As body count mounts everyone gets more desperate to stop the fighting. I’m sure you see where this is going…
Not badly done discussion but not what i wanted when i picked up military sf. Also this can be read as standalone
We follow the events around the murder (poisoning) of the governor general of uller company- chartered by terran government. We follow different characters every chapter as the assassination leads to a planet wide war. As body count mounts everyone gets more desperate to stop the fighting. I’m sure you see where this is going…
Not badly done discussion but not what i wanted when i picked up military sf. Also this can be read as standalone
June 3, 2018
Uller Uprising is a story about the military forces of a mining company on an extra-terrestrial planet using atomic bombs to put down a native rebellion. The story references are quite dated, perhaps understandably so since the novel was written not long after World War II. One of the main characters is an Argentine of Nazi heritage. There are references to Hitler, Luftwaffe, burp guns, bayonets, etc. The story itself is just so-so.
I heard a Librivox audiobook. Apparently H. Beam Piper's books are in the public domain. I've heard a number of Librivox audiobooks that were quite well read, unfortunately, in this case, the book was read by various readers and the reading was mostly amateurish. I was annoyed by mispronunciations and many instances of putting the emPHAsis on the wrong sylLABle. I suspect the quality of the reading may have affected my rating of the book.
I heard a Librivox audiobook. Apparently H. Beam Piper's books are in the public domain. I've heard a number of Librivox audiobooks that were quite well read, unfortunately, in this case, the book was read by various readers and the reading was mostly amateurish. I was annoyed by mispronunciations and many instances of putting the emPHAsis on the wrong sylLABle. I suspect the quality of the reading may have affected my rating of the book.
January 21, 2014
H. Beam Piper was one of the true unsung heroes of SF. who committed suicide in 1962 due to a lack of literary success.
This like most of his work deals more with philosophical issues and the fact that History endlessly repeating itself, the events in Uller Uprising following a similar pattern to the Indian Mutiny of the 19th Century against British rule. To lovers of the genre Piper is well worth searching out, you will be in for a pleasant surprise.
This like most of his work deals more with philosophical issues and the fact that History endlessly repeating itself, the events in Uller Uprising following a similar pattern to the Indian Mutiny of the 19th Century against British rule. To lovers of the genre Piper is well worth searching out, you will be in for a pleasant surprise.
February 24, 2012
One of Piper’s longer books. I know like many of his works it’s inspired from historical events, but as I don’t actually know anything about British/American colonial history (it’s kind of a blank spot for me), I can’t draw any comparison that way. Not my favorite work of Piper’s, but still enjoyable. Plenty of action, drama, heroes and heroines.
January 10, 2025
Now this is something I call world building. Published in 1952 it seems to be one of Piper’s early works. He describes a very alien intelligent reptilian race on a planet that is exploited by ”the Company”.
Another review describes the story as inspired by the Sepoy uprising (India 1857), I agree, it is a bit like the Sepoy uprising with a twist. And a very good twist indeed.
The book is available on standardebooks.org
Another review describes the story as inspired by the Sepoy uprising (India 1857), I agree, it is a bit like the Sepoy uprising with a twist. And a very good twist indeed.
The book is available on standardebooks.org
April 15, 2024
It's kinda weird reading a futuristic sci-fi written in 1952. Hiroshima and A-Bombs fresh on the mind of the author still. The hero of the story General Carlos Von Schlichten, even wears an eye monocle.
July 9, 2023
An interesting take on the issues surrounding xenophobia.
December 2, 2025
review of
H. Beam Piper's Uller Uprising
by tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE - December 1, 2025
Even tho I'd been hearing about H. Beam Piper for many yrs I didn't get around to finally reading something by him until the end of 2020, Little Fuzzy, & it seems more recent than that. I liked Little Fuzzy, it impressed me as sensitive & ecologically sound. Nonetheless, I didn't get around to reading anything else by him until September-October, 2025, when I read this. If I'd read Uller Uprising 1st I might not've had any interest in going further.
After the atomic bombings of Hiroshima & Nagasaki at the end of so-called 'World War II' there was so much horror & revulsion from many people around the world that the thought of any further such bombings was thoroughly rejected by scientists & science fiction writers. For many Americans, the thought of anything like that being done again was unconscionable. There were a few SF writers who were of a more militaristic stripe, like Robert A. Heinlein, who supported the arms race using nuclear weaponry - w/ the US being the 'winner'. & then there's Piper. This was written in 1952 & goes thru a series of rationalizations for genicodal atomic bombing. It's as if he's an apologist for the American military policy that led to the 1st atomic bombings.
Strangely, as I wrote in my review of William Barton's When Heaven Fell, I enjoyed reading it anyway:
"I read H. Beam Piper's Uller Uprising (1952). Piper's plot wasn't really that much different, invaders killing off the natives, glib rationalizations justifying extreme brutality - coupled w/ a love story involving a woman who's initially opposed to the military extremism but who falls in tove w/ the military boss & philosophically joins his side. But did I hate the Piper? No, I somehow found Piper's writing style to reveal some sort of real human in the author." ( https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... )
Not really being familiar w/ Piper I was glad to learn more from John F. Carr's introduction:
"With the publication of this novel, Uller Uprising, all of H. Beam Piper's previously published science fiction is now available in Ace editions. Uller Uprising was first published in 1952 in a Twayne Science Fiction Triplet—a hardbound collection of three thematically connected novels. (The other two were Judith Merril's Daughters of the Earth and Fletcher Pratt's The Long View.) A year later it appeared in the February and March issues of Space Science Fiction, edited by Lester Del Rey." - p v
I suspect that there's a common tendency among people to take things for granted as if they're naturally a part of their environment when, in fact, they're only temporarily here. People might've taken my movies on YouTube for granted &, then, VOILA!, the neo-fundamentalism took over & they were TERMINATED. Same thing goes for publishers: there're all these bks out & about but they may gradualy disappear. I'm fanatical about aRCHIVING some of them but my efforts are 'feeble' in contrast to those of institutions. My main distinction is that, of course, I have different priorities than the people making the decisions at libraries. E.G.: there was a woman named Helen Cyr in charge of the Film & Video Department at the Enoch Pratt Free Library in Baltimore who had amassed a knowledgable collection of 16mm films. When she died & was no longer there as a caretaker, the head of the library wanted to throw away the whole collection on the grounds that not-enuf-people-were-taking-them-out-anymore. That's a prioritizing of space over content. I wdn't throw away a collection of 16mm films on those grounds. Imagine throwing away Edison's recordings w/ the excuse that they're not in a currently in-use medium.
ANYWAY, for me, these SF writings are precious & important & I'm thankful to Ace for republishing them.
"Probably the most surprising and interesting things about the Twayne edition is the essay that forms the introduction to that volume, and is reprinted here. The essay is by Dr. John D. Clark, an eminent scientist of the fourties and fifties and one of the discoverers of sulfa, the first "miracle drug." It describes in great detail the planetary system of the star Beta Hydri, and gives the names of those planets: Uller and Niflheim. A publisher's note states that Clark's essay was written first, and given to the contributors as background material for a novel they would then write." - p vi
That's interesting, right? How many novels are written w/ that sort of challenging genesis?!
"Uller Uprising is modeled after an actual event in human history; in this case the Sepoy Mutiny (a Bengal uprising in British-held India brought about when rumors were spread to native soldiers that cartridges being issued by the British were coated with animal fat. The rebellion quickly spread throughout India and led to the massacre of the British Colony at Cawnpore.)" - p vii
Way back when I saw an issue of Soldier of Fortune, the magazine ostensibly for mercenaries, in wch an advertisement appeared for bullets coated w/ pork fat. As I understood it, it was the belief of Moslems that if they were killed by such a bullet they wd be rendered impure &, thus, unfit to enter paradise. At the time, I didn't realize that this was probably rooted in the Sepoy Mutiny incident.
""however, he did not envision or try to create a system of ethics that would end all of humanity's problems. The best he could offer was his model of the self-reliant man: The man who "actually knows what has to be done and how to do it, without holding a dozen conferences and round-table discussions and giving everybody a fair and equal chance to foul things up for him."" - pp vii-viii
That's one way of thinking about it. I can even relate to it, having done some primitive labor organizing & having had my efforts sabotaged by some completely phony political activists. I knew what to do & these phonies did everything they cd to make sure it didn't happen. I, & everyone whose interests I was working for, wd've been better off w/o their input. Nonetheless, this "self-reliant man" is a bit of a myth & in his application of power he instigates a massacre of dubious justifiability.
"Piper died a bitter man, a failure in his own mind, shortly before his death he believed he could no longer earn a living as a writer without charity from his friends or the state." - p viii
I can relate to that, too. I'm 72 & certainly a person who's accomplished an extraordinary amt in contrast to most people. Nonetheless, by far the general attitude toward me is that I deserve no accolades or awards, I'm too controversial. As such, while I provided material for a recent bk the publisher refused to even give me a contributor's discount - instead expecting me to pay an outrageous full price for my copy. Her profit was all, my benefit, despite my being a contributor, was to be nothing. Such an attitude is common for the 'entitled'. Fortunately, I DO have friends who give me money & food & they've made my life much more survivable than it wd be otherwise. I don't, however, consider it to be "charity". I consider it to be friends helping me in defiance of a society that they know plays against me (& themselves) w/ loaded dice. Piper committed suicide. I can definitely relate to that.. but I'm holding out. I'm sorry he committed suicide. Quite a few people I know have done so in the last 5 yrs. The sensitive are always the victim of the brutal but some of us are even more stubborn than they are. I wish us all luck.
Into the novel:
"No human had ever set foot on the surface, or breathed the air of Niflheim. To have done so would have been instant death; the air was a mixture of free fluorine and fluoride gases, the soil was metallic fluorides, damp with acid rains, and the river was pure hydrofluoric acid. Even the ordinary spacesuit would have been no protection; the glass and rubber and plastic would have disintegrated in a matter of minutes. People came to Niflheim, and worked the mines and uranium refineries and chemical plants, but they did so inside power-driven and contragravity-lifted armor, and they lived on artificial satellites two thousand miles off-planet." - p 2
Clark set quite a challenge for the novelists! Such an environment is extremely harsh for the human characters!
The idea of using nuclear bombing is introduced in connection w/ mining on Niflheim where it's presented as a tool rather than a weapon of mass-destruction.
"["]I never even heard of nuclear bombs being used for mining till I came here, though."
""Well, if this turns out as well as the other job, three months ago, it'll be something to see," he promised. "These volcanoes have been dormant for, oh, as long as a thousand years; there ought to be a pretty good head of gas down there. And the magma'll be thick, viscous stuff, like basalt on Terra. Of course, this won't be anything like basalt in composition—it'll be intensely compressed metallic fluorides, with a very high metal-content. The volcanoes we shot three months ago yielded a fine flow of lava with all sorts of metals—nickel, beryllium, vanadium, chromium, iridium, as well as copper and iron."" - p 4
The cultural differences between Terran colonizers & the native population of Uller are depicted in such a way as to present the natives as more barbaric. No doubt this was part of the British colonizers' justification for their rule too - as well as almost every other colonizer.
"The three Terrans looked at them gravely. A double-dozen heads was standard payment for an attack in which no Terran had been killed. Ostensibly, they were the heads of the ringleaders: in practice, they were usually lopped from the first two-dozen prisoners or over-age slaves at hand, without regard for whether the victims had ever heard of the crime which they were expiating. If the Extraterrestrial's Rights Association were really serious about the rights of these geeks, they'd advocate booting out all these native princes and turning the whole planet over to the Company." - p 40
The pejorative "gook" may've originated as military slang as early as the beginning of the 20th century. "Geek" is, presumably, Piper's spin-off from that.
""Yes, geek ingratitude's an old story to all of us," Blount agreed. "You stay on this planet very long and you'll see what I mean."
""You call them that, too?" she asked, as though disappointed in him. "Maybe if you stopped calling them geeks, they wouldn't resent you the way they do. You know, that's a nasty name; in the First Century Pre-Atomic, it designated a degraded person who performed some sort of revolting public exhibition. . . ."" - p 45
There's a history of warring on Uller that provides a background for the roles people are playing now:
""We had something pretty bad happen here, too," he said. That Konkrook Fencibles rabble of Prince Jaizerd's mutinied, along with the others; they got into the hospital and butchered everybody in the place, patients and staff. The Kragans got there too late to save anybody, but they wiped out the Fencibles. Jaizerd himself was the only one they took alive, and he didn't stay that way very long."" - p 116
Eventually the story gets to the rationalizations for genocide & self-justifying ponderings.
"There had been a hundred and fifty thousand people in that city, even if their faces were the faces of lizards and they had four arms and quartz-speckled skins. What fraction of them were now alive, he could not guess."
[..]
"The next time, it will come easier, and easier still the time after that. After you drop the first bomb, there is no turning back, any more than there had been after Hiroshima." - p 186
As much as much of this was extremely repulsive to me, I still liked the bk. Go figger. For the record, I think that the atomic bombings of Japan were horrible atrocities & that it was mainly civilians who suffered from them. I dearly hope that there's never any nuclear warfare but I'm sure that there are megalomaniacs who'd revel in such malignant power.
H. Beam Piper's Uller Uprising
by tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE - December 1, 2025
Even tho I'd been hearing about H. Beam Piper for many yrs I didn't get around to finally reading something by him until the end of 2020, Little Fuzzy, & it seems more recent than that. I liked Little Fuzzy, it impressed me as sensitive & ecologically sound. Nonetheless, I didn't get around to reading anything else by him until September-October, 2025, when I read this. If I'd read Uller Uprising 1st I might not've had any interest in going further.
After the atomic bombings of Hiroshima & Nagasaki at the end of so-called 'World War II' there was so much horror & revulsion from many people around the world that the thought of any further such bombings was thoroughly rejected by scientists & science fiction writers. For many Americans, the thought of anything like that being done again was unconscionable. There were a few SF writers who were of a more militaristic stripe, like Robert A. Heinlein, who supported the arms race using nuclear weaponry - w/ the US being the 'winner'. & then there's Piper. This was written in 1952 & goes thru a series of rationalizations for genicodal atomic bombing. It's as if he's an apologist for the American military policy that led to the 1st atomic bombings.
Strangely, as I wrote in my review of William Barton's When Heaven Fell, I enjoyed reading it anyway:
"I read H. Beam Piper's Uller Uprising (1952). Piper's plot wasn't really that much different, invaders killing off the natives, glib rationalizations justifying extreme brutality - coupled w/ a love story involving a woman who's initially opposed to the military extremism but who falls in tove w/ the military boss & philosophically joins his side. But did I hate the Piper? No, I somehow found Piper's writing style to reveal some sort of real human in the author." ( https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... )
Not really being familiar w/ Piper I was glad to learn more from John F. Carr's introduction:
"With the publication of this novel, Uller Uprising, all of H. Beam Piper's previously published science fiction is now available in Ace editions. Uller Uprising was first published in 1952 in a Twayne Science Fiction Triplet—a hardbound collection of three thematically connected novels. (The other two were Judith Merril's Daughters of the Earth and Fletcher Pratt's The Long View.) A year later it appeared in the February and March issues of Space Science Fiction, edited by Lester Del Rey." - p v
I suspect that there's a common tendency among people to take things for granted as if they're naturally a part of their environment when, in fact, they're only temporarily here. People might've taken my movies on YouTube for granted &, then, VOILA!, the neo-fundamentalism took over & they were TERMINATED. Same thing goes for publishers: there're all these bks out & about but they may gradualy disappear. I'm fanatical about aRCHIVING some of them but my efforts are 'feeble' in contrast to those of institutions. My main distinction is that, of course, I have different priorities than the people making the decisions at libraries. E.G.: there was a woman named Helen Cyr in charge of the Film & Video Department at the Enoch Pratt Free Library in Baltimore who had amassed a knowledgable collection of 16mm films. When she died & was no longer there as a caretaker, the head of the library wanted to throw away the whole collection on the grounds that not-enuf-people-were-taking-them-out-anymore. That's a prioritizing of space over content. I wdn't throw away a collection of 16mm films on those grounds. Imagine throwing away Edison's recordings w/ the excuse that they're not in a currently in-use medium.
ANYWAY, for me, these SF writings are precious & important & I'm thankful to Ace for republishing them.
"Probably the most surprising and interesting things about the Twayne edition is the essay that forms the introduction to that volume, and is reprinted here. The essay is by Dr. John D. Clark, an eminent scientist of the fourties and fifties and one of the discoverers of sulfa, the first "miracle drug." It describes in great detail the planetary system of the star Beta Hydri, and gives the names of those planets: Uller and Niflheim. A publisher's note states that Clark's essay was written first, and given to the contributors as background material for a novel they would then write." - p vi
That's interesting, right? How many novels are written w/ that sort of challenging genesis?!
"Uller Uprising is modeled after an actual event in human history; in this case the Sepoy Mutiny (a Bengal uprising in British-held India brought about when rumors were spread to native soldiers that cartridges being issued by the British were coated with animal fat. The rebellion quickly spread throughout India and led to the massacre of the British Colony at Cawnpore.)" - p vii
Way back when I saw an issue of Soldier of Fortune, the magazine ostensibly for mercenaries, in wch an advertisement appeared for bullets coated w/ pork fat. As I understood it, it was the belief of Moslems that if they were killed by such a bullet they wd be rendered impure &, thus, unfit to enter paradise. At the time, I didn't realize that this was probably rooted in the Sepoy Mutiny incident.
""however, he did not envision or try to create a system of ethics that would end all of humanity's problems. The best he could offer was his model of the self-reliant man: The man who "actually knows what has to be done and how to do it, without holding a dozen conferences and round-table discussions and giving everybody a fair and equal chance to foul things up for him."" - pp vii-viii
That's one way of thinking about it. I can even relate to it, having done some primitive labor organizing & having had my efforts sabotaged by some completely phony political activists. I knew what to do & these phonies did everything they cd to make sure it didn't happen. I, & everyone whose interests I was working for, wd've been better off w/o their input. Nonetheless, this "self-reliant man" is a bit of a myth & in his application of power he instigates a massacre of dubious justifiability.
"Piper died a bitter man, a failure in his own mind, shortly before his death he believed he could no longer earn a living as a writer without charity from his friends or the state." - p viii
I can relate to that, too. I'm 72 & certainly a person who's accomplished an extraordinary amt in contrast to most people. Nonetheless, by far the general attitude toward me is that I deserve no accolades or awards, I'm too controversial. As such, while I provided material for a recent bk the publisher refused to even give me a contributor's discount - instead expecting me to pay an outrageous full price for my copy. Her profit was all, my benefit, despite my being a contributor, was to be nothing. Such an attitude is common for the 'entitled'. Fortunately, I DO have friends who give me money & food & they've made my life much more survivable than it wd be otherwise. I don't, however, consider it to be "charity". I consider it to be friends helping me in defiance of a society that they know plays against me (& themselves) w/ loaded dice. Piper committed suicide. I can definitely relate to that.. but I'm holding out. I'm sorry he committed suicide. Quite a few people I know have done so in the last 5 yrs. The sensitive are always the victim of the brutal but some of us are even more stubborn than they are. I wish us all luck.
Into the novel:
"No human had ever set foot on the surface, or breathed the air of Niflheim. To have done so would have been instant death; the air was a mixture of free fluorine and fluoride gases, the soil was metallic fluorides, damp with acid rains, and the river was pure hydrofluoric acid. Even the ordinary spacesuit would have been no protection; the glass and rubber and plastic would have disintegrated in a matter of minutes. People came to Niflheim, and worked the mines and uranium refineries and chemical plants, but they did so inside power-driven and contragravity-lifted armor, and they lived on artificial satellites two thousand miles off-planet." - p 2
Clark set quite a challenge for the novelists! Such an environment is extremely harsh for the human characters!
The idea of using nuclear bombing is introduced in connection w/ mining on Niflheim where it's presented as a tool rather than a weapon of mass-destruction.
"["]I never even heard of nuclear bombs being used for mining till I came here, though."
""Well, if this turns out as well as the other job, three months ago, it'll be something to see," he promised. "These volcanoes have been dormant for, oh, as long as a thousand years; there ought to be a pretty good head of gas down there. And the magma'll be thick, viscous stuff, like basalt on Terra. Of course, this won't be anything like basalt in composition—it'll be intensely compressed metallic fluorides, with a very high metal-content. The volcanoes we shot three months ago yielded a fine flow of lava with all sorts of metals—nickel, beryllium, vanadium, chromium, iridium, as well as copper and iron."" - p 4
The cultural differences between Terran colonizers & the native population of Uller are depicted in such a way as to present the natives as more barbaric. No doubt this was part of the British colonizers' justification for their rule too - as well as almost every other colonizer.
"The three Terrans looked at them gravely. A double-dozen heads was standard payment for an attack in which no Terran had been killed. Ostensibly, they were the heads of the ringleaders: in practice, they were usually lopped from the first two-dozen prisoners or over-age slaves at hand, without regard for whether the victims had ever heard of the crime which they were expiating. If the Extraterrestrial's Rights Association were really serious about the rights of these geeks, they'd advocate booting out all these native princes and turning the whole planet over to the Company." - p 40
The pejorative "gook" may've originated as military slang as early as the beginning of the 20th century. "Geek" is, presumably, Piper's spin-off from that.
""Yes, geek ingratitude's an old story to all of us," Blount agreed. "You stay on this planet very long and you'll see what I mean."
""You call them that, too?" she asked, as though disappointed in him. "Maybe if you stopped calling them geeks, they wouldn't resent you the way they do. You know, that's a nasty name; in the First Century Pre-Atomic, it designated a degraded person who performed some sort of revolting public exhibition. . . ."" - p 45
There's a history of warring on Uller that provides a background for the roles people are playing now:
""We had something pretty bad happen here, too," he said. That Konkrook Fencibles rabble of Prince Jaizerd's mutinied, along with the others; they got into the hospital and butchered everybody in the place, patients and staff. The Kragans got there too late to save anybody, but they wiped out the Fencibles. Jaizerd himself was the only one they took alive, and he didn't stay that way very long."" - p 116
Eventually the story gets to the rationalizations for genocide & self-justifying ponderings.
"There had been a hundred and fifty thousand people in that city, even if their faces were the faces of lizards and they had four arms and quartz-speckled skins. What fraction of them were now alive, he could not guess."
[..]
"The next time, it will come easier, and easier still the time after that. After you drop the first bomb, there is no turning back, any more than there had been after Hiroshima." - p 186
As much as much of this was extremely repulsive to me, I still liked the bk. Go figger. For the record, I think that the atomic bombings of Japan were horrible atrocities & that it was mainly civilians who suffered from them. I dearly hope that there's never any nuclear warfare but I'm sure that there are megalomaniacs who'd revel in such malignant power.
Read
July 13, 2022This is written as an adventure story with the first part of the story setting up the second portion. I question the cavalier way of both using atomics as a weapon and of the racial derogatives even though both were fictional devices and provide a look at the cultural conceptions of the period. Neither distracted from the story and its strength stands historical scrutiny better than many books published at the time.
September 11, 2010
At times I enjoy going into by stack of books and picking one of the “oldies” out and re-reading them. Recently I was in the mood for a good space opera and while browsing thru I bumped into the Uller Uprising by H. Beam Piper; score!!!
Uller Uprising is Mr. Piper’s futuristic retelling of the Indian Mutiny (1857 CE for those that are interested). As with India in 1857; Uller is a corporate world where the native (silicon based life with four arms and looking like a lizard) is “guided” by the Uller Corporation. The similarities between Uller and India circa 1857 include Pax Terra, the use of a corporate military to protect the company’s interest, and the natives not being as advanced as humans and the relationship between humans and Ullerans.
I’ll open up by saying this is a solid 4.5 book (sorry if you’re a fan of Pipers and like this one, there’s others he did that I prefer and I tend to factor that into my ratings a little). While parts of the story are dated a little; particularly the technology and human social structure, this takes nothing away from the story. Focus is on telling the Human/Uller relationship and the uprising of the Ullerans against the humans. This was done outstandingly by using the Indian Mutiny and manipulating it for a space opera. What makes this more amazing is Mr. Piper developed this story at an age when he couldn’t access the internet to pull his “history” together but rather by knowledge or by educating himself. When you merge this with his light coating of politics you have a plot that few can beat (for those not familiar, most Piper books discuss politics in various forms. In my opinion Mr. Pipers works became the foundation for most modern political science fiction). The characters are interesting but not dominating or “memorable”. Von Schllichten is a stereo-type hero in many ways with good foils to work with. Btw, for those not familiar, there’s a young Major Falkenberg mentioned in here. As a tribute to his appreciation of H. Beam’s work, it’s reported Mr. Pournelle reused the name for his main character. Having written this and knowing rating systems don’t permit half stars, I’ll round down to 4 stars because none of the characters were as strong as I like and the fact that I’d rather read Space Viking, Four Day Planet, or the Lone Star Planet by Mr. Piper.
Uller Uprising is Mr. Piper’s futuristic retelling of the Indian Mutiny (1857 CE for those that are interested). As with India in 1857; Uller is a corporate world where the native (silicon based life with four arms and looking like a lizard) is “guided” by the Uller Corporation. The similarities between Uller and India circa 1857 include Pax Terra, the use of a corporate military to protect the company’s interest, and the natives not being as advanced as humans and the relationship between humans and Ullerans.
I’ll open up by saying this is a solid 4.5 book (sorry if you’re a fan of Pipers and like this one, there’s others he did that I prefer and I tend to factor that into my ratings a little). While parts of the story are dated a little; particularly the technology and human social structure, this takes nothing away from the story. Focus is on telling the Human/Uller relationship and the uprising of the Ullerans against the humans. This was done outstandingly by using the Indian Mutiny and manipulating it for a space opera. What makes this more amazing is Mr. Piper developed this story at an age when he couldn’t access the internet to pull his “history” together but rather by knowledge or by educating himself. When you merge this with his light coating of politics you have a plot that few can beat (for those not familiar, most Piper books discuss politics in various forms. In my opinion Mr. Pipers works became the foundation for most modern political science fiction). The characters are interesting but not dominating or “memorable”. Von Schllichten is a stereo-type hero in many ways with good foils to work with. Btw, for those not familiar, there’s a young Major Falkenberg mentioned in here. As a tribute to his appreciation of H. Beam’s work, it’s reported Mr. Pournelle reused the name for his main character. Having written this and knowing rating systems don’t permit half stars, I’ll round down to 4 stars because none of the characters were as strong as I like and the fact that I’d rather read Space Viking, Four Day Planet, or the Lone Star Planet by Mr. Piper.
February 7, 2013
Well thought out species and planet creation, some annoying tropes of 40's-50's sci-fi (smoking and cocktails, main male character seldom flustered or shocked, female characters referred to as girls, never women nor by name - except the lead characters), and quite an ingenious retelling of the historical Sepoy Mutiny (1857 colonial India) 600 years into the Atomic Era, 21 light years from Earth.
The introduction by John Carr tells us that the novella itself has had an interesting history and the novella itself opens with a scientific treatise of the book's setting: the planet Uller in the Beta Hydi, discussing its geologic, atmospheric, and environmental composition and the effects on the evolution of sentient beings.
Creating "future histories" is a time-honored and has a proud tradition in the genre. H. Beam Piper's early contribution to the form is uniquely detailed and ... visceral. This quick read has power and will elicit real emotions.
I believe there is a free edition of this book on Project Gutenberg. Give it a try. At the least you'll get a kick out of one of the earliest uses of the term "geek" - and might even be upset by its meaning and casual use - discover why the native word for Humans is "Suddabit" - and groan at the derivation - and even support the native desire to Znidd Suddabit! What've you got to lose?
The introduction by John Carr tells us that the novella itself has had an interesting history and the novella itself opens with a scientific treatise of the book's setting: the planet Uller in the Beta Hydi, discussing its geologic, atmospheric, and environmental composition and the effects on the evolution of sentient beings.
Creating "future histories" is a time-honored and has a proud tradition in the genre. H. Beam Piper's early contribution to the form is uniquely detailed and ... visceral. This quick read has power and will elicit real emotions.
I believe there is a free edition of this book on Project Gutenberg. Give it a try. At the least you'll get a kick out of one of the earliest uses of the term "geek" - and might even be upset by its meaning and casual use - discover why the native word for Humans is "Suddabit" - and groan at the derivation - and even support the native desire to Znidd Suddabit! What've you got to lose?
June 1, 2020
This is a sci-fi revolt book from the perspective of colonial powers. Unfortunately for this book, we have tomes of this subject in the books of our very real histories. The perspective is not inspiring, nor is the plight of the colonizers. It also holds too close to the sepoys's rebellion against the East Indian Trading Company in 1857.
Although it fit well in the pulp culture of 1952, it feels very aged by modern standards.
The positives are: it is fast paced, full of thunder, and has a well thought out ecosystem.
The negatives are: it misses in the dynamic of race relations, tends to infantilize woman (even though HBP was known for creating strong female protagonists), and turns a horrific real event (1857 revolt in India) into entertainment. Race relations boil down to, humans run things because they are more capable and the natives are ungrateful and stupid.
Though there is some great world, or universe, building, and the story moves along with plenty of action, the plot and characters seem to be dialed in by Piper.
Although it fit well in the pulp culture of 1952, it feels very aged by modern standards.
The positives are: it is fast paced, full of thunder, and has a well thought out ecosystem.
The negatives are: it misses in the dynamic of race relations, tends to infantilize woman (even though HBP was known for creating strong female protagonists), and turns a horrific real event (1857 revolt in India) into entertainment. Race relations boil down to, humans run things because they are more capable and the natives are ungrateful and stupid.
Though there is some great world, or universe, building, and the story moves along with plenty of action, the plot and characters seem to be dialed in by Piper.
March 14, 2014
Uller Uprising is one of Piper's early books. It involves the occurrences on a planet with a native species which is silicon based, and far different culturally then humans.
Strife between the humans and the Ullerans has existed since the Chartered Uller Company was licensed to exploit the resources of the planet. This comes to a head because of a native misunderstanding of the humans.
The books is wonderful. Tons of action, strong characters, and best of all, it is totally plausible. Piper based the story on the Sepoy Mutiny. In fact if you read this book, you should also read The Red Fort by James Leasor. The Red Fort is about the East India Company and the Sepoy Mutiny, and will show you how Piper adapted real historical events to build an exciting novel.
March 5, 2017
I can't say that I really like this story. It is not written badly, but the perspective is Machiavellian and pro-Imperialism, which is not something I can agree with. That does not make it a bad book, but it does mean I don't care for it. The plot takes place on the Planet Uller, where the Terro-Human Uller Company (see East India Company) is in the process of 'civilizing' the native four-armed lizard men. They have allies and detractors among the natives. The detractors stage a rebellion, and the Humans respond with total war to put it down. I'm not against fighting a war with all you got, but I sympathize with any group whose home has been invaded and, despite consequential improvement in their standard of living, are still vassals. So, I give this book 2 stars and call it a Conflicted Viewpoint Read.
July 16, 2016
Classic Midcentury SF
For those easily offended by a retrograde political subtext, this is not the book for you. Indeed, if you take this sort of thing seriously, you might even be triggered. But it is a classic. Interesting world building, crisp writing, and a quick pace. And it is not a doorstop.
Kindle formatting is a bit wonky.
For those easily offended by a retrograde political subtext, this is not the book for you. Indeed, if you take this sort of thing seriously, you might even be triggered. But it is a classic. Interesting world building, crisp writing, and a quick pace. And it is not a doorstop.
Kindle formatting is a bit wonky.
March 3, 2017
I have but one observation to add to the excellent reviews by Jared Millet and Checkman (the gist: very well-written military caper but the crypto-fascist bent is troubling). Here it is: I found it odd or maybe even a bit lazy on the author's part that wars in the far future, with routine interstellar spaceflight to boot, are fought using what is essentially WWII-style tactics and equipment.
December 16, 2012
Piper always felt that the past would continue to repeat in the future, and this story follows that concept. The Sepoy Mutiny was a terrible conflict, and Piper's twist into the future was a truly enjoyable read.
October 14, 2014
Maybe it's the sixty-odd years of continued war in the shadow of the atomic genie, maybe it's my pacifist up-bringing. While I know that love blooms ever among the worst ugliness of this world, I just don't find a colonial nuclear war of subjugation a good setting for a love story.
March 11, 2015
1984 grade B
(My note = Don't read)
(My note = Don't read)
July 23, 2019
The background of the novel is that in 1942, the year the first fission reactor was constructed, is defined as the year 1 A.E. (Atomic Era). In 1973, a nuclear war devastates the planet, eventually laying the groundwork for the emergence of a Terran Federation, after which humanity goes into space and develops antigravity technology (called contragravity). Most of the new power now lay in Earth’s southern hemisphere in formerly third world countries. Explorers have continued the tradition of naming planets after creatures from mythology, but have run out of Greek and Roman names, hence the names of the planets in this book all come from the Norse tradition.
Earth has expanded and is exploiting the resources of other planets. On Uller, where the lifeforms have a naturally higher silica rate, leading to accelerated petrification, the Uller Company rules in a Roman-esque colonization over the native population. The Ullers (or geeks as the humans on planet call them) are four armed, bipedal, lizard-like creatures with dense silca infused skin. Their technology before the human’s landed was rooted in the Iron Age, and are ruled by a collection of warring kings, who seem to care little for the welfare of their own people. The Uller company, there to gain natural resources, does little to help and are often an easy target for power hungry kings and prophets to blame all of their problems on.
As you might have guessed, there is an uprising. It is on par with the Sepoy Mutiny of 1857, where the native Indian population attacked British forces after a lie was spread about them by various insurgent elements. The main focus of the book focuses on the surviving humans trying to stay alive on a hostile planet where millions of aliens are howling for their deaths. Only superior technology is on their side, but then they get a nasty shock.
There is an interesting introduction to this novel giving detailed scientific descriptions of the two planets involved in the story: Uller, the silicone world, and Niflheim, the flourtine world where no life could evolve. Later on in the timeline the name Niflheim becomes a stand in for Hell. What is also interesting is that the introduction is written by Dr. John D. Clark, a prominent scientist of the 40s and 50s and one of the key discoverers of sulfa drugs- which were the “miracle drug” and near cure-alls before discovery of antibiotics. According to the note, the essay was written first as a hypothetical and then given to Piper to work off of.
Earth has expanded and is exploiting the resources of other planets. On Uller, where the lifeforms have a naturally higher silica rate, leading to accelerated petrification, the Uller Company rules in a Roman-esque colonization over the native population. The Ullers (or geeks as the humans on planet call them) are four armed, bipedal, lizard-like creatures with dense silca infused skin. Their technology before the human’s landed was rooted in the Iron Age, and are ruled by a collection of warring kings, who seem to care little for the welfare of their own people. The Uller company, there to gain natural resources, does little to help and are often an easy target for power hungry kings and prophets to blame all of their problems on.
As you might have guessed, there is an uprising. It is on par with the Sepoy Mutiny of 1857, where the native Indian population attacked British forces after a lie was spread about them by various insurgent elements. The main focus of the book focuses on the surviving humans trying to stay alive on a hostile planet where millions of aliens are howling for their deaths. Only superior technology is on their side, but then they get a nasty shock.
There is an interesting introduction to this novel giving detailed scientific descriptions of the two planets involved in the story: Uller, the silicone world, and Niflheim, the flourtine world where no life could evolve. Later on in the timeline the name Niflheim becomes a stand in for Hell. What is also interesting is that the introduction is written by Dr. John D. Clark, a prominent scientist of the 40s and 50s and one of the key discoverers of sulfa drugs- which were the “miracle drug” and near cure-alls before discovery of antibiotics. According to the note, the essay was written first as a hypothetical and then given to Piper to work off of.
June 2, 2019
I grew up reading old SF. And even at the time I noticed some of the, shall we say, old-timey aspects (so much sexism!). But it had been a while since I've gone back and my goodness, this was a lot.
I mean, he was clearly trying on race. As in everyone's race was called out, and they were all excitingly multi-ethnic (I believe North America and Europe had been destroyed so only the southern hemisphere nations were around to get on into space, but this wasn't called out in the story itself. However that fits with the Exciting Ethnicities everyone had.) This also lead to some pretty wincy moments for the modern reader, as some South Africans who wouldn't probably get ships named after them (like this guy, who if I'm not mistaken also got a ship in The Rolling Stones.)
I think he was trying on gender equality, but that was even less successful. There seemed to be an all-female communication branch of the military (which I mentally dubbed "Space Secretaries"), the members of which were referred to as "girl captain" or "girl sergeant". Which I felt like was an attempt... but one that didn't quite work.
Apart from that, how was it? It was basically a military story and I really, really could have done with a map, as the place names (and alien names) were pretty similar, and I honestly lost track of who was who a few times. Overall probably 2.5 stars; I did get through it, and didn't hate it, but there were some pretty painful stretches. (Also the smoking? Did I mention the smoking? Everyone smoked. They drank too, but the smoking! in spaceships! about blew my mind.)
I mean, he was clearly trying on race. As in everyone's race was called out, and they were all excitingly multi-ethnic (I believe North America and Europe had been destroyed so only the southern hemisphere nations were around to get on into space, but this wasn't called out in the story itself. However that fits with the Exciting Ethnicities everyone had.) This also lead to some pretty wincy moments for the modern reader, as some South Africans who wouldn't probably get ships named after them (like this guy, who if I'm not mistaken also got a ship in The Rolling Stones.)
I think he was trying on gender equality, but that was even less successful. There seemed to be an all-female communication branch of the military (which I mentally dubbed "Space Secretaries"), the members of which were referred to as "girl captain" or "girl sergeant". Which I felt like was an attempt... but one that didn't quite work.
Apart from that, how was it? It was basically a military story and I really, really could have done with a map, as the place names (and alien names) were pretty similar, and I honestly lost track of who was who a few times. Overall probably 2.5 stars; I did get through it, and didn't hate it, but there were some pretty painful stretches. (Also the smoking? Did I mention the smoking? Everyone smoked. They drank too, but the smoking! in spaceships! about blew my mind.)
June 9, 2025
There are some books that are bad because they are badly written; some are bad because of the ideas expressed therein. The Uller Uprising manages to be both. It starts off seemingly well with a discussion about alternative biochemistries, until you notice this part was not written by Piper himself but by a chemist. The actual novel is about Terrestrial colonists putting down a rebellion by the native inhabitants of an exoplanet. It has the usual 1950s SF cliches e.g. there were 2 atomic wars after WWII which have left Earth's northern hemisphere uninhabitable. However, the southerners, instead of being reduced to irradiated barbarism, mange to develop FTL travel and start colonising other people's planets. The protagonist is a monacle-wearing descendant of a Nazi who fled to Argentina (I am not joking). A naive Earth woman at first sympathises with the native Ullerans, but soon learns the error of her ways after they kill a few humans. With the help of a collaborating Ulleran nation, the Terrestrials eventually crush the rebellion, but not after being forced to use a nuclear weapon. Because such weapons are by now very obsolete, no-one at first knows how to make one until they find the recipe in a porn novel (I am not joking). The whole thing is apparently based on the so-called Indian Mutiny (tellingly, now known as the Indian War Of Independence). There is no understanding of the idea humans have no right to colonise planets which have their own intelligent natives. A terrible book.
January 14, 2022
H. Beam Piper was an autodidact. He read history extensively and many of his books are based on actual historical events, rewritten as Science Fiction. Uller Uprising is probably the best example of this as large parts of the novel are derived from the Indian Mutiny (also known by several other names) of 1857-1859. But you don't need to know anything about the Indian Mutiny to enjoy this novel.
The story is extremely well written, is plotted very well, and is an enjoyable read. The form and writing are very much of the time. The first iteration was Ullr Uprising in 1953. So as it conforms to the literary conventions of S.F. of that period, and was one of the first stories he wrote, by modern standards it is shallow and two dimensional. There is little in the way of character development and even what there is, is often rushed and doesn't hold up to any close inspection. Even compared with the best of his contemporaries in the 1950's, such as Heinlein and Asimov, this novel falls short.
But take it as what it is, a jolly good romp with fast action, black and white portrayals of the two sides, and no pretensions, it is still a good way to while away a couple of hours.
Despite all it's faults, I recommend this book.
The story is extremely well written, is plotted very well, and is an enjoyable read. The form and writing are very much of the time. The first iteration was Ullr Uprising in 1953. So as it conforms to the literary conventions of S.F. of that period, and was one of the first stories he wrote, by modern standards it is shallow and two dimensional. There is little in the way of character development and even what there is, is often rushed and doesn't hold up to any close inspection. Even compared with the best of his contemporaries in the 1950's, such as Heinlein and Asimov, this novel falls short.
But take it as what it is, a jolly good romp with fast action, black and white portrayals of the two sides, and no pretensions, it is still a good way to while away a couple of hours.
Despite all it's faults, I recommend this book.
November 29, 2023
A sci-fi novel that is a full-blown defense of British colonialism. After I had finished it, I confirmed that the events in the novel were based upon the Sepoy Uprising in India, but as I said, I merely confirmed it. I identified the justifications for colonialism early in the text and I realized it was the Sepoy Uprising once it started. There is no depth here. The characters merely react to the events, and there is even an ethnic/racial slur for the natives that the more liberal characters abhor but begin to use by the end of the rebellion. There is an overarching theme of history repeating itself, and the idea that the galactic civilization is repeating patterns that led, after WWII, to WWIII and nuclear holocaust, so I am not sure how much Piper is painting a negative portrait or a justification. I assume it is rather balanced. Still, with such limited character development, I don’t think that any “balance” is coming through.
June 5, 2025
One of the least interesting works of science fiction I have ever read. Basically 1950s military fiction. It's all 50 ton this, 90 mm that, and endless troop movements. At one point I thought it read like a transcript of someone's wargame, and by curious coincidence, a few pages later Piper mentions kriegspiel - but I don't think anyone was playing sci-fi wargames in the 50s. Towards the end there is one interesting "twist" in the story - a work of fiction found in the libraries turns out to play an important role. But this twist is predicated on a future in which information is scarce. I guess the future must have seemed that way to Piper - one in which the only technological progress is using hyperdrives and "countergravity" to improve the movement of 1950s artillery.
But I won't give it one star because there's some interesting world-building in the introductory chapter, even if that material is largely unused in the rest of the story.
But I won't give it one star because there's some interesting world-building in the introductory chapter, even if that material is largely unused in the rest of the story.
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