What do you think?
Rate this book
Bibblings
An energy-providing ore, much needed by a federation of populated worlds, is present in abundance on a distant planet called Lodon-Kamaria. But no attempt has ever been made to mine and export the ore, because the Lodonites and the Kamarians are in a perpetual state of war. They can't even agree on the name of their planet.
Federation Headquarters sends in a diplomatic team to see what can be done. They touch down first in Lodon...and are shocked to find that the entire nation is mad. The army is a shambles, the leaders are as insane as those they try to lead, and the place is dangerous. The Lodonites have little or no awareness of what they're doing.
The diplomatic team retreats to Kamaria...where they find a sane, civilized nation with a disciplined army under the command of a capable general. So why haven't the orderly Kamarians been able to defeat the madmen they are fighting?
The answer comes soon enough, when the Kamarians gradually begin to go mad themselves. The Lodonites, however, have recovered their sanity and are beginning to rebuild their world. It's up to the diplomatic team to find the cause of this seasonal madness...even when they learn they are susceptible to it themselves.
Federation Headquarters sends in a diplomatic team to see what can be done. They touch down first in Lodon...and are shocked to find that the entire nation is mad. The army is a shambles, the leaders are as insane as those they try to lead, and the place is dangerous. The Lodonites have little or no awareness of what they're doing.
The diplomatic team retreats to Kamaria...where they find a sane, civilized nation with a disciplined army under the command of a capable general. So why haven't the orderly Kamarians been able to defeat the madmen they are fighting?
The answer comes soon enough, when the Kamarians gradually begin to go mad themselves. The Lodonites, however, have recovered their sanity and are beginning to rebuild their world. It's up to the diplomatic team to find the cause of this seasonal madness...even when they learn they are susceptible to it themselves.
- GenresScience Fiction
Audible Audio
First published November 6, 1979
1 person is currently reading
18 people want to read
About the author
Barbara Paul
100 books19 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author by this name in the Goodreads database.
Barbara Paul is an American writer of detective stories and science fiction. She was born in Maysville, Kentucky, in 1931 and was educated, inter alia, at Bowling Green State University and the University of Pittsburgh.
A number of her novels feature in-jokes: for example Full Frontal Murder borrows various names from the British TV series Blake's 7.
Barbara Paul is an American writer of detective stories and science fiction. She was born in Maysville, Kentucky, in 1931 and was educated, inter alia, at Bowling Green State University and the University of Pittsburgh.
A number of her novels feature in-jokes: for example Full Frontal Murder borrows various names from the British TV series Blake's 7.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
September 6, 2018
Fun sci-fi mystery fusion.
May 5, 2013
I found this title in a used book store for cheap. I picked it up for the art, which is classic 70s, and for the title, which was so ridiculous that I had to find out what it was all about. The bibblings turn out to be a central plot element and so half of the book is spent in dialogue around the subject and I quickly became sick of the word.
Bibblings is your typical 70s pulp sf novella. Minimal character development, minimal plot layout. The author introduces some interesting ideas along the way, but they are only presented as a vehicle for plot development, nothing more. E.g. the aliens of the story are a three-gendered race (m/f/neuter) in which the neuter members are clearly on the society's bottom rung. One of the human male crewmembers is mistaken for a neuter because . This crewmember is a stereotypically masculine male soldier-type, and the book fails to explore the implications of the threat to his sexuality or conception of self by being identified as not male and, to boot, as an inferior sex. Instead, Paul takes the Star Trek:TOS route in that the humans of this universe are so advanced that they could not possibly be insulted or challenged by an alien culture's differences. The differences are noted, discussed, and then we are moving along. Having read more nuanced explorations of the conception of gender and sexuality in sf, most notably in The Left Hand of Darkness, it was fairly disappointing to see such a rich moment in the story glazed over.
Though the book had some promising moments, it really failed to deliver in any meaningful way.
Bibblings is your typical 70s pulp sf novella. Minimal character development, minimal plot layout. The author introduces some interesting ideas along the way, but they are only presented as a vehicle for plot development, nothing more. E.g. the aliens of the story are a three-gendered race (m/f/neuter) in which the neuter members are clearly on the society's bottom rung. One of the human male crewmembers is mistaken for a neuter because . This crewmember is a stereotypically masculine male soldier-type, and the book fails to explore the implications of the threat to his sexuality or conception of self by being identified as not male and, to boot, as an inferior sex. Instead, Paul takes the Star Trek:TOS route in that the humans of this universe are so advanced that they could not possibly be insulted or challenged by an alien culture's differences. The differences are noted, discussed, and then we are moving along. Having read more nuanced explorations of the conception of gender and sexuality in sf, most notably in The Left Hand of Darkness, it was fairly disappointing to see such a rich moment in the story glazed over.
Though the book had some promising moments, it really failed to deliver in any meaningful way.
October 5, 2015
Speculative scenario sci-fi. Emissaries land on a planet and contact both societies on a world where a flock of birds that migrate from one side to the other once a year either cause stability and warfare (when they're there) or stupefied entropy and chaos (when they're not). Bizarre and unbelievable premise, but a good fast-paced action filled book, easy to read, entertaining.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews