Customer Reviews

Lord of Tranerica

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Once upon a time, there was a science fiction magazine called _Dynamic Science Stories_. It cannot be said that it was influential in any way, for it folded after only two issues. But the first issue (February, 1939) had one claim to fame. It published a complete short novel by Stanton Coblentz called _Lord of Tranerica_. The novel wasn't published in book form until 1966, when Avalon picked it up. The Avalon edition was somewhat modernized. For example, it contains references to transistors-- an invention unknown in 1939. It is not usually listed as one of Coblentz's better books by critics. Nevertheless, I found it to be surprisingly good.

The hero and heroine are a twentieth century couple who are scooped up off a hilltop by a dimensional computer and whisked to the late twenty-fifth century, where they find themselves in the hands of the rather childish dictator of Tranerica (what used to be North and South America). Naturally, he wants the girl, and he finds her boyfriend to be a nuisance.

The world they are inhabiting seems to be a rough anticipation of some of Mack Reynolds's "Year 2000" stories. It is highly automated. Factories, fooderies, courts, police, and ministers are all robotic. People live in complexes called "hives." There is no more money, but people still gamble with colored pebbles on the "jigger races," a kind of demolition derby. Most people are assigned numbers by the State, but there is a population of "numberless" members of an underground movement. Jobs are few, but they are avidly sought by many people, who find their enforced leisure time boring. Any expression of nonconformist ideas is a criminal offense. Undercover robots with recording devices police the public for such violations.

The hero becomes separated from the heroine and quickly joins the underground movement to overthrow the dictator who is forcing himself on the heroine. The story moves predictibly but crisply and is fairly good fun.

Many years ago, I remember that my P.E. 101 coach at Birmingham-Southern said that many of our health problems in the modern world came from increased leisure time-- time that was being filled with sedintary pastimes (such as watching TV) rather than active ones (such as sports). This warning was made before the advent of computers and video games. Still, I believe that some leisure activities are healthy. And I'm not sure that I would eradicate _all_ automation from Coblentz's society. The fully automated mills, for example, might be a good thing. And food processing plants could be developed that produced more nutritious and flavorful meals.