INTERPLANETARY HUNTRESS

Gerry Carlyle #1

by Arthur K. Barnes

Read the classic, action-packed exploits of Gerry Carlyle, Interplanetary Huntress, on assignment from the London Interplanetary Zoo to capture the rarest alien lifeforms in the solar system – and "bring 'em back alive." Analog hailed them as, “Old-time space melodrama, pure entertainment and good fun.” The only fly in the ointment of this intrepid woman is pilot Tommy Strike, who's just as determined to prove no woman is his superior. Their battles with the most fearsome of otherworldly critters are nothing compared to their battle with each other!Though Gerry's exploits were unavailable for sixty years, her impact was such that she was not forgotten. "Gerry Carlisle [is] an adventuress of the first water appearing in a string of adventures by Arthur K. Barnes in Thrilling Wonder Stories. She traveled to distant planets to collect exotic specimens to bring to Earth's zoos," say the editors of the “Femme Pulp's Crime-Fighting Heroines" website.Forty years earlier Fantastic Universe magazine when the only collection of her adventures was gathered in book form sci-fi critics and reviewers thought Gerry was a wow! Glamorous Gerry Carlyle returns in Arthur K. Barnes' Interplanetary Hunter based on the stories that first appeared in the late thirties," crowed Hans Stefan Santesson. "Gerry, backed by the resources of the London Interplanetary Zoo, travels from planet to planet trapping rare alien life forms and bringing them all back alive. Her voice is an ice-water jet, and she is in general a personality that is rather rare in a field where swashbucklers and people of action are so often space tough-guys.”Go with Gerry Carlyle as she risks her life against 50 ft tall with prehensile, razor-edged, whip-like tongue used to wound or grab Human prey on Venus, mobile flame-burping Cacti on the dual world, and on Jupiter’s fifth moon, haystacks that turnout to be fiendish slave-masters. To bring herself, her crew and the creatures themselves “back alive.” An introduction about Gerry Carlyle, and pro and con letters from the magazines where the Interplanetary Huntress' adventures were first published. And a reply from Arthur K. Barnes to the nay-sayers.Plus the original illustrations from the 1956 first edition remastered!

Genres: Science Fiction

113 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1956

About the author

Arthur Kelvin Barnes was an American science fiction author who contributed heavily to pulp magazines in the 1930s and 1940s. Barnes was most noted for his vivid and believable portrayals of alien life. He was a member of the Mañana Literary Society. Several stories by Barnes were collaborations with the author Henry Kuttner, including several of the Hollywood on the Moon, Pete Manx, and Gerry Carlyle series of stories.

Reviews

[Craig]

Interplanetary Hunter (later occasionally retitled Interplanetary Huntress) is a fix-up novel that collects five stories that originally appeared in the pulp magazine Thrilling Wonder Stories 1937 - '46. Gnome Press released the first book version in 1956 with several terrific pages of illustrations by Ed Emshwiller that portrayed the creatures the hunters were after. The stories chronicle the adventures of Gerry Carlyle (and her assistant/boyfriend Tommy Strike) who mounts interplanetary expeditions for the London Zoo to capture alien life forms and bring them back to Earth to be put on display. Now, of course, that's no longer a socially acceptable pursuit, but in those days of Frank Buck and his "bring 'em back alive" credo it was a very popular and romantic idea. (The only other option under consideration apparently being to bring 'em back dead and stuffed.) Gerry was one of the great early female characters in the sf genre, and she excelled in what was seen as a man's game. She did seem to get into trouble a time or two and wait for Tommy to arrive and save the day, but she was quite the empowered female for those pre-Golden Age days. The stories are better written than much of the pulp fare that was extant at the time, and Barnes infused his characters with considerable wit and humor. It's been a very long time since I read the book, but I remember enjoying it immensely.

[Minifig]

Abandonado, motivos:

Se trata de un libro de 1956 y ha envejecido horrorosamente mal. Es una serie de relatos autoconclusivos (o eso creo, no lo he terminado) que dibujan un arco argumental común y que tienen lugar cada uno en un planeta distinto del Sistema Solar, siendo la aventura en cada planeta la caza de un peligroso animal.

Los protagonistas son Gerry Carlyle, la reina de los cazadores, una mujer dura y aguerrida, y Tommy Srtike, a quien ésta conoce durante una cacería en Venus. Este es el único relato que he terminado, así que no sé si Gerry y Tommy son pareja, pero supongo que sí, porque la aventura de Venus termina con un beso.

Bien, el libro es horrible: aventuras aburridas y previsibles, peligros obvios y jerga pseudotecnológica para justificar todo tipo de deus ex machina.

Pero lo peor del relato es el tremendo machismo que rezuma: Gerry Carlyle es, por supuesto, una joven esbelta y tremendamente hermosa. Su dura fachada es resultado de desenvolverse en un mundo de hombres, por lo que debe comportarse tan dura y valientemente como ellos, dejando de lado su sensibilidad femenina.

No poder dar libertad a su naturaleza femenina la haría objeto de lastima si llegara a saberse, pero ella esconde su verdadera naturaleza por lo que, obviamente, su rudeza e independencia la hacen irritante y odiosa. Por suerte para ella, ahí está Tommy Strike para salvarla cuando se encuentra en un apuro que ella no puede resolver, y ganarse el beso final…

… y aquí lo he dejado.

[James]

There's a nice undercurrent of humor in these tales, and a strong attempt to keep up with the latest in late-1930s science...I fear I was expecting more from Gerry Carlyle, though. She often takes a backseat in her own adventures to the utterly uninteresting he-man Tommy Strike, who turns out to be her love interest for reasons that pass understanding. The big problem, though, from a 2020 perspective, is Gerry's occupation: bringing back live specimens of interplanetary monsters for the London Zoo. She and her fearless but faceless crew figure out lots of ingenious ways to knock out and kidnap dangerous beasties on Venus and elsewhere...and in the 1930s it was cutting-edge humanitarianism to "bring'em back alive" rather than "shoot'em dead and stuff'em," but our interpid, never-say-die heroine is nevertheless dashing off to exotic worlds to invade habitats. This is apparently the late 20th or early 21st century, and in addition to space travel throughout the solar system, there's mass media of some kind...but Gerry isn't rocketing around to film nature documentaries that could be seen by billions...she's stealing living beings from their native biomes to stuff them in some simulacrum on Earth, to be stared at by tourists. It's just hard to cheer her on, gutsy and determined though she is.

[Jonathan Lidbeck]

"Tommy Strike stepped out from under the needle-spray antiseptic shower that was the Earthman's chief defense against the myriad malignant bacterial infections swarming the hothouse that is Venus."

With that shotgun-blast of an opening sentence, the interplanetary man of action springs into his first adventure: capturing a Venusian primate for a tough Earth woman client. Can Strike protect his crew from a man-eating dinosaur, a tribe of fish-faced primitives, a giant ball of protoplasm, and more sinister creatures deep in the marshy forests of Venus? Can he save the day with only his wits, his cathode bolt gun, and his tobacco pipe? Can he change the tough, proactive, independent hunter Gerry Carlyle into a soft, quivering, docile and affectionate girl... with a single musky kiss? All these are answered, and just in the first chapter.

Further chapters undoubtedly offer more explosive adventures on other worlds, but this reader found himself not quite man enough to venture deeper into space with Tommy Strike.

[Wayne]

This book was a collection of short stories abou Gerry Carlyle, the best live-catch hunter in the solar system. These stories were wrtten in the 1950's, and it shows. The stories weren't bad, but the science, the social values, the style... It was a different time. They're sexist and somewhat anti-sexist, all at the same time. I'm glad I read the book, but I doubt I'll ever read it again.

There was one really interesting thing though. I have a strong suspiciion that "The Energy Eaters" story was the inspiration for the "Trouble with Tribbles" episode of the original Star Trek.

[Tom Britz]

This book is a series of stories written between 1937 and the late '40's about a female "hunter" that brings back live animals from around the solar system. Yes, most of the planets have life. These stories are a bit dated, but still fun. There is humor and adventure and good ol' space opera goodness. This volume holds 5 of the 7 total stories about Gerry Carlyle and her intrepid band of adventurers. Nary a bit of high literary value in the bunch, just some good fun.

[Tom Fury]

Pretty much a great 50s Sci-Fi movie in literary format. Hunting expeditions to the planets of our solar system, in order to gain specimens for an interplanetary zoo. The author has designed cool alien monsters for a variety of conditions on different planets and even a rogue comet. There is also futuristic technology (from a 50s standpoint) such as a self-lighting cigarette. Just a really fun read.

[Michael]

Decent pulp scifi.

[Velvetink]

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