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The Cosmic Kalevala #1
Saga of Lost Earths
Book by Petaja, Emil
224 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1966
6 people are currently reading
134 people want to read
About the author
Emil Petaja
68 books12 followersEmil Petaja (1915 - 2000) was an American science fiction and fantasy writer whose career spanned seven decades. He was the author of 13 published novels, nearly 150 short stories, numerous poems, and a handful of books and articles on various subjects. Though he wrote science fiction, fantasy, horror, detective fiction, and poetry, Petaja considered his work part of an older tradition of "weird fiction." Petaja was also a small press publisher. In 1995, he was named the first ever Author Emeritus by the Science Fiction Writers of America.
Of Finnish descent, Petaja's best known works are comprised of a series of science fiction novels based on the Kalevala, the Finnish verse epic. Petaja's series brought him readers from around the world,[1] while his mythological approach to science fiction was discussed in scholarly publications.[2]
In a statement published in Contemporary Authors (Gale Research, 1984), Petaja commented, "My writing endeavors have mainly been to entertain, except for the factual material concerning Hannes Bok and fantasy art in general, which serves to indicate my enthusiasm for these subjects. My novels about the Finnish legendary epic Kalevala: The Land of Heroes spring from a lifelong interest in this fine poetic work. I own six translations of the Kalevala, as well as the work in the original. Both of my parents were Finnish."[3]
Of Finnish descent, Petaja's best known works are comprised of a series of science fiction novels based on the Kalevala, the Finnish verse epic. Petaja's series brought him readers from around the world,[1] while his mythological approach to science fiction was discussed in scholarly publications.[2]
In a statement published in Contemporary Authors (Gale Research, 1984), Petaja commented, "My writing endeavors have mainly been to entertain, except for the factual material concerning Hannes Bok and fantasy art in general, which serves to indicate my enthusiasm for these subjects. My novels about the Finnish legendary epic Kalevala: The Land of Heroes spring from a lifelong interest in this fine poetic work. I own six translations of the Kalevala, as well as the work in the original. Both of my parents were Finnish."[3]
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
March 9, 2016
I've had this book on my shelves for decades and finally decided to read it. I knew nothing of the Kalevala except that it's Finnish, so had no preconceptions of the characters. I enjoyed the blending of ancient myth and science fiction, but found Emil Petaja's writing style to be reminiscent of Lin Carter, which is not a compliment. Good concept but could be much better done.
June 21, 2023
As a very young sci-fi fan, Petaja's Kalevala-based fantasies were great favorites of mine. I loved the way he tied his futuristic adventures in with the sort of mythological tales that I loved, and the fact that it was an unfamiliar mythos - neither Norse nor Greco-Roman nor Middle Eastern, but not dissimilar to any of those - made it all the more intriguing.
January 21, 2020
Calling this book a 'saga' is a bit much... I don't think you can have a saga in 120 pages!
The main action is pretty standard far for the time... we are shown a sanitized world were everyone is happy because psychiatrist rule it and breed/medicate out all aggression and conflict.
The main character is the exception, or course, and is asked to go on a quest to stop an possible alien invasion.. but is it aliens, or the gods from the Kalevala come back?
I'm not at all familiar with Finnish folklore, so that was fun to see, but otherwise pretty basic story. The writing is rather choppy and there were a couple times i found myself looking back to make sure i didn't miss something.
The main action is pretty standard far for the time... we are shown a sanitized world were everyone is happy because psychiatrist rule it and breed/medicate out all aggression and conflict.
The main character is the exception, or course, and is asked to go on a quest to stop an possible alien invasion.. but is it aliens, or the gods from the Kalevala come back?
I'm not at all familiar with Finnish folklore, so that was fun to see, but otherwise pretty basic story. The writing is rather choppy and there were a couple times i found myself looking back to make sure i didn't miss something.
August 30, 2013
Well, at least Petaja's Norse science fiction books are different. It wasn't the Burroughs' type of lost earths that I was hoping for. Petaja's attempt to blend his own Finnish mythology with SF reads like something from the pulp magazines of the 1930's. The pseudo-futuristic jargon didn't work for me. However, the alien influence is credible and makes a good challenge for the hopeful hero. That was what I liked.
October 1, 2015
In the future following World War 3, where society is chemically subdued to avoid violent inclinations, Carl Lempi must embrace his urges and mythologyto become the incarnation of a hero of old and save the world. This was quite a fun and engaging read.
August 13, 2017
Clever adaptation and use of the Finnish Kalevala - two more to read before I do a full review
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August 11, 2024Probably the first fantasy that I read - certainly the first one that that I bought(a slim paperback).
April 30, 2016
Two novellas:
1) Saga of Lost Earths: A nobody from the future becomes a somebody (some-deity?) of the ancient past. 2) The Star Mill: I think there was something to do about spaceships before the generic saga hero's quest continued, this time visiting a witch.
For a week I carried this book around, dreading reading it--reading every phone/tablet, magazine, newspaper, and ingredient list I could see instead of opening the book. It's not that it was bad in any clearly obvious sense, it's just that I could summon no motivation to want to continue with it. It's like it infected a deep malaise in me while reading it.
I didn't connect with the story, and the author's heavy-handed, constant insistence that "the Finns believe" this or that made it difficult for me to maintain focus. I didn't like that its sci-fi credentials consisted entirely of a future city intro chapter (which played no further role in the story) and the occasional future food eaten around a campfire... in the amazingly sparsely populated area just outside of the uniform world mega cities. Without the intro chapter and with the future food replaced with say, venison jerky, the book could have been billed simply as fantasy. Oh yeah, there was a "space-cold wind" that blew across the tundra once too... as if I was being reassured that, despite my senses, I was in fact reading science fiction.
I don't mean to say that sci-fi and fantasy can't coexist, it's just that the one doesn't need the other in these retellings, at all. The sci-fi wrapper on these stories was a marketing gimmick to trick
to trick a sci-fi reader into reading modernized mythology (which many likely have interest in anyway, and some don't appreciate the unnecessary relabelling).
I actually borrowed a translation of the Kalevala and found it much more engaging (and unassuming) than 'Saga of the Lost Earths'. I will not consider reading similar stories from this author.
1) Saga of Lost Earths: A nobody from the future becomes a somebody (some-deity?) of the ancient past. 2) The Star Mill: I think there was something to do about spaceships before the generic saga hero's quest continued, this time visiting a witch.
For a week I carried this book around, dreading reading it--reading every phone/tablet, magazine, newspaper, and ingredient list I could see instead of opening the book. It's not that it was bad in any clearly obvious sense, it's just that I could summon no motivation to want to continue with it. It's like it infected a deep malaise in me while reading it.
I didn't connect with the story, and the author's heavy-handed, constant insistence that "the Finns believe" this or that made it difficult for me to maintain focus. I didn't like that its sci-fi credentials consisted entirely of a future city intro chapter (which played no further role in the story) and the occasional future food eaten around a campfire... in the amazingly sparsely populated area just outside of the uniform world mega cities. Without the intro chapter and with the future food replaced with say, venison jerky, the book could have been billed simply as fantasy. Oh yeah, there was a "space-cold wind" that blew across the tundra once too... as if I was being reassured that, despite my senses, I was in fact reading science fiction.
I don't mean to say that sci-fi and fantasy can't coexist, it's just that the one doesn't need the other in these retellings, at all. The sci-fi wrapper on these stories was a marketing gimmick to trick
to trick a sci-fi reader into reading modernized mythology (which many likely have interest in anyway, and some don't appreciate the unnecessary relabelling).
I actually borrowed a translation of the Kalevala and found it much more engaging (and unassuming) than 'Saga of the Lost Earths'. I will not consider reading similar stories from this author.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews