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Anthropol
ItOCOs an urgent assignment for Vernay?get control of the totalitarian government of Ujvila. Hard enough, but VernayOCOs also got to do it before Galactic-Military solves the problem its own by slamming in an invasion force and destroying half the planet.
The natives of Anthropol donOCOt like aliens and they donOCOt want Vernay. So itOCOs going to be a tough assignment.
One of the toughest of his career."
The natives of Anthropol donOCOt like aliens and they donOCOt want Vernay. So itOCOs going to be a tough assignment.
One of the toughest of his career."
143 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published September 1, 2012
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About the author
Louis Trimble
103 books4 followersLouis Preston Trimble (2 March 1917 - 1988) was an American writer and academic. His published work included science fiction, westerns, and mysteries, as well as academic non-fiction. He generally wrote as Louis Trimble, but used the pseudonym "Stuart Brock" for some of his work.
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October 22, 2024
This book is one half of an Ace Double edition from the 1960s, and unfortunately didn't quite grab me the way its partner on the other half of the binding did. Anthropol's setting is a distant future in which humanity has dispersed among the stars. We follow the main character - who is unfortunately not memorable enough or possessing enough of a personality for me to have held onto his first name - through an attempted coup of a planetary government that his bosses at The Federation would like to bring into the fold. He is known primarily by his last name, "Vernay," and is an agent of Anthropol. We follow Vernay through some interesting scenarios across the planet Ujvila as he and an agent from a competing agency (the Galactic Military) infiltrate and attempt to overthrow the local Ujvilan authoritarian, "feminist" government. I put feminist in quotes because, while this is how the book jacket describes the Ujvilans, I think "matriarchal" is a more appropriate tag. This is due to the fact that the women in question don't really seem to espouse any feminist values, this is just an upended patriarchal society with the exact same issues reversed. The female characters themselves tend to have stereotypically male character traits and physical appearance, which seemed like a confusing, unexplained aspect of this book. While Vernay and his counterpart in Gal-Mil, Lori, are about their various Ujvilan exploits, we are given a quick cross-section of an interesting world that feels familiar and - for the '60s - futuristic, complete with flying cars which are steered by rudder. As the book progresses, we are introduced to a wide range of characters who feel somewhat wooden, although it turns out at least some of this was done by Louis Trimble on purpose. I accept that Trimble was making a point with this aspect of his characters and it was used effectively as a plot device, but it's difficult to feel much for them other than ambivalence, which was part of my issue engaging with this book. The plot is a quick burn due to the condensed length of this book, and it was a fun time that allowed me a small window into the science fiction landscape of almost 60 years ago. These nuggets of enjoyment unfortunately didn't hold up towards the end of the story, and I was left feeling as though this book should've been significantly longer to sufficiently explain some of the questions I walked away with or much shorter to maximize the mystery and intrigue of the things I was wondering about or that didn't make sense to me.
Anthropol had a few issues that kept distracting me from the direction the author was trying to aim the reader and that brought me out of immersion in the story and world Trimble had created. I had quite a few questions that started cropping up more and more as I advanced through the last 20 pages or so of this novella. A few are detailed below (note that there are some spoilers here - feel free to skip to the last paragraph to see my conclusions and avoid these):
The rest of my issues with this novella are much more minor and less central to the plot, but irksome nonetheless. They appear to simply be oversights in the editing process where plot holes managed to creep in. Frustratingly, they mostly seem to be concentrated toward the very end of the book, becoming more distracting as I got closer to the finish line. This is unfortunate because it really grabbed my attention away from the events driving the plot at the very worst time: the climax.
First of these more minor issues is that at one point a race of aliens is introduced. They have a sort of artificial exoskeleton over their original bodies intended for camouflage and protection, as well as to allow them to breathe and communicate on a planet anathema to them. They are described as having fierce muscular strength and as being technologically just a few decades behind humanity. With this being the case, they sure are easy to kill despite specifically being described as durable and nearly impervious. They shrug off stun guns and (it's implied) other projectiles including bullets, which are for some reason not in fashion on Ujvila despite this never being explained. Apparently, even though these creatures keep their vital survival equipment in the heads of their exoskeletons, these heads are so easy to crack open that the main characters are able to do so with whatever kitchen implements they have on hand. This seems to be directly contradictory to everything we know about the aliens up to this point, and was further confused by the snap-decision to embrace violence by the main character after he and his agency have been described as mostly non-violent up to this point. Neither of these issues is ever explained as the book ends too suddenly, and both felt as though they were included for expediency so the author could wrap up the plot without having to explain too much more than he already had.
Secondly, there's no mention of religion in this book except as an afterthought and in passing, yet the characters use their equivalents of "hell" and "heaven" (Pluto and Aries) throughout. Why are these epithets transformed into planetary vocabulary? Why is Mars considered an equivalent to "heaven?" These are never explained even cursorily and it bugged me every time they were used because they seemed to be included simply to make the book feel futuristic. This was exacerbated by the tongue-tying and intentionally odd-feeling proper nouns scattered throughout (e.g. "Ujvila"). This felt like a low-effort way to make the book sound like it was in the future without actually having to think up much in the way of futuristic items, environments, and technologies which would've been more difficult to come up with and integrate into the book. Unfortunately, this veneer of futurism doesn't hold up to scrutiny and left me feeling disappointed that these verbal convolutions didn't have a more firm grounding to them to make them feel like they arose naturally. The contrived futuristic words end up feeling like they're crucial underpinnings to the setting rather than feeling as though they are derived from it, which was a shame and a missed opportunity in my eyes.
At one point a car is stolen at a very critical time to the plot, and it's very much needed to get the main characters where they need to be at a specific time to suit the author's pacing. This car doesn't require any sort of key or fob to activate and drive away, and it's implied literally anybody could take it for a joyride, provided he or she is in the driver's seat. As I thought about it this didn't make sense. The reason for this is, as Vernay described, these cars don't need keys because "only the privileged drove them; there was no problem with theft." Excuse me? This raises so many questions. Why would only the privileged be able to drive them if anybody can take them for a spin due to a lack of entry or activation key? Even if we accept that, why would there be no problem with theft? In my experience, when a society is so divided by class that the haves are lording it over the have-nots to the level we see in this book, that builds a lot of understandable resentment by those who are on the lower end of the societal ladder. Why would these frustrated, subjugated people not find some satisfaction in being able to steal a rich guy's car just to poke him in the eye with its loss? This didn't make sense to me, and upon reflection it makes even less sense than when I initially read this passage.
A character sees something horrific and "kept on screaming until I slapped her back to sanity." Really? You slapped her back to sanity? How is that representative of anything this book is trying to put forth, namely the main character's virtuous sense of equality and violence as a last resort? This character is displaying a tired old stereotype of the hysterical woman, which didn't age well and I'd argue probably felt offensive to the women of the '60s as well. Added to this, the character in question is a highly-trained military veteran in charge of guarding a high-ranking official. Her sudden and complete collapse into panic doesn't really fit with the rest of her personality to this point. And slapping her back to reality is just insulting and nonsensical. This, I believe, is the most dated part of the book, and it sure did not endear the main character to me. The fact that this happens in the latter portion of the book really made it difficult to hold onto a coherent image of who Vernay is. He seems to contradict himself in ways that are convenient to the plot but don't really make internal sense, lending more weight to my supposition that perhaps the author just wanted to wrap this up and get out while he was (marginally) ahead.
Lastly, a few extremely minor plot holes that I felt needed to be included simply because their timing was very, very distracting. One scene has characters struggling against each other in a darkened room. Eventually, the lights come on suddenly. But all the characters in this scene are occupied at the time, and all their locations are described immediately after the lights come on. None are mentioned as being near a switch or having done this, so how did the lights come on at this very important moment? In the epilogue
As I wrote this review, I considered subtracting a star from the overall rating as I listed out what turned out to be numerous issues with the plot. Some of these were central to the entire story and others of muddled up my images of the characters in a way that felt unintentional. However, I did really enjoy the book at points, and I found some of the ideas that Trimble came up with to be unique and fun. His 1960s-style futurism is big, shiny, chrome-plated, and undeniably exciting. I just wish some more intense editing had been done to really flesh out this book into something that was less distracting and more engaging. The lack of personality in most of the characters, the meandering and at times seemingly pointless plot points, and the unsatisfying ending were major problems. However, I tend to read these older books with rose-tinted glasses. I can't help it. Something about older sci-fi just makes me give some of these issues a pass. Maybe it's that I feel that these authors were blazing a necessary trail toward the modern sci-fi I enjoy so much today. Maybe it's that these flashy, high energy plots speak to me on a level I just don't understand yet. Maybe it's something else entirely that I have yet to put my finger on. What I do know is that my reviews are subjective, and I enjoyed this book despite the myriad small annoyances and confusion it threw at me throughout. I am similarly conflicted on who to recommend this to. I think for most, this tale wouldn't be particularly engaging due to the issues I mentioned. However, there is a slice of science fiction readers who will love this even more than I did. If you like the atmosphere and energy of the science fiction of this era and can manage to let go of some of the more dated-feeling sections, this book will really entertain you. Despite its flaws, it sure did entertain me and prompted an emotional reaction, which I'm sure was part of the author's goal.
Anthropol had a few issues that kept distracting me from the direction the author was trying to aim the reader and that brought me out of immersion in the story and world Trimble had created. I had quite a few questions that started cropping up more and more as I advanced through the last 20 pages or so of this novella. A few are detailed below (note that there are some spoilers here - feel free to skip to the last paragraph to see my conclusions and avoid these):
The rest of my issues with this novella are much more minor and less central to the plot, but irksome nonetheless. They appear to simply be oversights in the editing process where plot holes managed to creep in. Frustratingly, they mostly seem to be concentrated toward the very end of the book, becoming more distracting as I got closer to the finish line. This is unfortunate because it really grabbed my attention away from the events driving the plot at the very worst time: the climax.
First of these more minor issues is that at one point a race of aliens is introduced. They have a sort of artificial exoskeleton over their original bodies intended for camouflage and protection, as well as to allow them to breathe and communicate on a planet anathema to them. They are described as having fierce muscular strength and as being technologically just a few decades behind humanity. With this being the case, they sure are easy to kill despite specifically being described as durable and nearly impervious. They shrug off stun guns and (it's implied) other projectiles including bullets, which are for some reason not in fashion on Ujvila despite this never being explained. Apparently, even though these creatures keep their vital survival equipment in the heads of their exoskeletons, these heads are so easy to crack open that the main characters are able to do so with whatever kitchen implements they have on hand. This seems to be directly contradictory to everything we know about the aliens up to this point, and was further confused by the snap-decision to embrace violence by the main character after he and his agency have been described as mostly non-violent up to this point. Neither of these issues is ever explained as the book ends too suddenly, and both felt as though they were included for expediency so the author could wrap up the plot without having to explain too much more than he already had.
Secondly, there's no mention of religion in this book except as an afterthought and in passing, yet the characters use their equivalents of "hell" and "heaven" (Pluto and Aries) throughout. Why are these epithets transformed into planetary vocabulary? Why is Mars considered an equivalent to "heaven?" These are never explained even cursorily and it bugged me every time they were used because they seemed to be included simply to make the book feel futuristic. This was exacerbated by the tongue-tying and intentionally odd-feeling proper nouns scattered throughout (e.g. "Ujvila"). This felt like a low-effort way to make the book sound like it was in the future without actually having to think up much in the way of futuristic items, environments, and technologies which would've been more difficult to come up with and integrate into the book. Unfortunately, this veneer of futurism doesn't hold up to scrutiny and left me feeling disappointed that these verbal convolutions didn't have a more firm grounding to them to make them feel like they arose naturally. The contrived futuristic words end up feeling like they're crucial underpinnings to the setting rather than feeling as though they are derived from it, which was a shame and a missed opportunity in my eyes.
At one point a car is stolen at a very critical time to the plot, and it's very much needed to get the main characters where they need to be at a specific time to suit the author's pacing. This car doesn't require any sort of key or fob to activate and drive away, and it's implied literally anybody could take it for a joyride, provided he or she is in the driver's seat. As I thought about it this didn't make sense. The reason for this is, as Vernay described, these cars don't need keys because "only the privileged drove them; there was no problem with theft." Excuse me? This raises so many questions. Why would only the privileged be able to drive them if anybody can take them for a spin due to a lack of entry or activation key? Even if we accept that, why would there be no problem with theft? In my experience, when a society is so divided by class that the haves are lording it over the have-nots to the level we see in this book, that builds a lot of understandable resentment by those who are on the lower end of the societal ladder. Why would these frustrated, subjugated people not find some satisfaction in being able to steal a rich guy's car just to poke him in the eye with its loss? This didn't make sense to me, and upon reflection it makes even less sense than when I initially read this passage.
A character sees something horrific and "kept on screaming until I slapped her back to sanity." Really? You slapped her back to sanity? How is that representative of anything this book is trying to put forth, namely the main character's virtuous sense of equality and violence as a last resort? This character is displaying a tired old stereotype of the hysterical woman, which didn't age well and I'd argue probably felt offensive to the women of the '60s as well. Added to this, the character in question is a highly-trained military veteran in charge of guarding a high-ranking official. Her sudden and complete collapse into panic doesn't really fit with the rest of her personality to this point. And slapping her back to reality is just insulting and nonsensical. This, I believe, is the most dated part of the book, and it sure did not endear the main character to me. The fact that this happens in the latter portion of the book really made it difficult to hold onto a coherent image of who Vernay is. He seems to contradict himself in ways that are convenient to the plot but don't really make internal sense, lending more weight to my supposition that perhaps the author just wanted to wrap this up and get out while he was (marginally) ahead.
Lastly, a few extremely minor plot holes that I felt needed to be included simply because their timing was very, very distracting. One scene has characters struggling against each other in a darkened room. Eventually, the lights come on suddenly. But all the characters in this scene are occupied at the time, and all their locations are described immediately after the lights come on. None are mentioned as being near a switch or having done this, so how did the lights come on at this very important moment? In the epilogue
As I wrote this review, I considered subtracting a star from the overall rating as I listed out what turned out to be numerous issues with the plot. Some of these were central to the entire story and others of muddled up my images of the characters in a way that felt unintentional. However, I did really enjoy the book at points, and I found some of the ideas that Trimble came up with to be unique and fun. His 1960s-style futurism is big, shiny, chrome-plated, and undeniably exciting. I just wish some more intense editing had been done to really flesh out this book into something that was less distracting and more engaging. The lack of personality in most of the characters, the meandering and at times seemingly pointless plot points, and the unsatisfying ending were major problems. However, I tend to read these older books with rose-tinted glasses. I can't help it. Something about older sci-fi just makes me give some of these issues a pass. Maybe it's that I feel that these authors were blazing a necessary trail toward the modern sci-fi I enjoy so much today. Maybe it's that these flashy, high energy plots speak to me on a level I just don't understand yet. Maybe it's something else entirely that I have yet to put my finger on. What I do know is that my reviews are subjective, and I enjoyed this book despite the myriad small annoyances and confusion it threw at me throughout. I am similarly conflicted on who to recommend this to. I think for most, this tale wouldn't be particularly engaging due to the issues I mentioned. However, there is a slice of science fiction readers who will love this even more than I did. If you like the atmosphere and energy of the science fiction of this era and can manage to let go of some of the more dated-feeling sections, this book will really entertain you. Despite its flaws, it sure did entertain me and prompted an emotional reaction, which I'm sure was part of the author's goal.
April 9, 2019
Fight the planet of the Feminists!
An interstellar agent is hired to subdue a planet before the Galactic Military (Gal Mil) goes in "Starship Troopers" style and destroys the world to save it.
At first you might think this is oppression, but the agency Anthropol is called in when there's big problems already. In this case said world is run by a vicious, gender based dictatorship. Women. Violent, militant women with a set of secret police, un-personing and work camps.
So this single Agent is sent in to somehow turn a world and leave them open to change before they get crushed by Gal-Mil. Sounds spacey James Bond and far fetched, but the story is good and somehow makes it remotely believable.
Good fun old story. Read in an Ace Double with "The Time Mercenaries"
An interstellar agent is hired to subdue a planet before the Galactic Military (Gal Mil) goes in "Starship Troopers" style and destroys the world to save it.
At first you might think this is oppression, but the agency Anthropol is called in when there's big problems already. In this case said world is run by a vicious, gender based dictatorship. Women. Violent, militant women with a set of secret police, un-personing and work camps.
So this single Agent is sent in to somehow turn a world and leave them open to change before they get crushed by Gal-Mil. Sounds spacey James Bond and far fetched, but the story is good and somehow makes it remotely believable.
Good fun old story. Read in an Ace Double with "The Time Mercenaries"
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews