Eando Binder (1904–1966)

review of
Eando Binder's Lords of Creation
by tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE - November 10-11, 2021

One of the earliest science fiction bks I read was Binder's Adam Link - Robot. Given that that was published in 1965, I probably read it when it came out so I might've been 11 yrs old. I think I read it around the same time that I read Isaac Asimov's more famous I, Robot from 1950 & the Asimov may've eclipsed the Binder as a robot story. This is the 1st Binder bk I've read since 1965, making there a 56 yr gap between readings of his work. Chances are that I've been influenced by thinking that I, Robot was a better story & that I, therefore, consigned Binder to a 2nd-rate writer category. Furthermore, it's rare for me to even come across his work.

"Jon Darm's footsteps sounded like the scrape of two mountains as he moved toward the nearest shelf. He bent, blew with his lips. A cloud of dust billowed around his head, blinding him. When he had rubbed his eyes clear, he looked at what lay revealed. It was a uniform glass cylinder; within it reposed a queerly intricate object, with tiny wheels and shiny surfaces.

"Though he did not know it, it was an exact model of a streamlined automobile of 1950.

"The others crowded up, peering over his shoulder eagerly. Jon Darm blew dust from another glass container. This held a book on whose front cover were words undecipherable to them. The book's leather covering showed only a slight crumbling at the edges.

"The 20th century people had done well to seal these things in glass that enclosed a sterile atmosphere of helium." - pp 6-7

"Jon Darm"?! I assume this is a take-off the French "gendarme", policeman. But they're in what was the US. French isn't generally spoken in the US so an etymology of the name "Jon Darm" as a distortion of "gendarme" might not even be intended by the author.

At any rate, here we are, the people of the future are about to open a suspended animation chamber in wch a 20th century scientist has placed himself esp so he can be revived in the distant future, expecting a fantastically sophisticated future but finding one devolved from his time.

"In his eagerness, old Sem Onger shuffled in first, committing the grave breach of preceding the chief without permission. Jon Darm took not notice, nor did the others. The spell of the place shoved matters of contemporary etiquette and tradition out of their minds." - p 10

"Then they staggered back as a blinding flash sprang from a cone-shaped wire coil, bathing the body for long seconds with tiny fingers of electricity. The electricity had been generated by a fourth falling weight, released in a long tube built in underneath the glass case, scraping its amber surface past roughened glass. Simple static electricity it was, produced by friction." - p 12

"Homer Ellory, of the year 1970, did not not at first believe he was in the far future. Just a moment before, he could swear it, he had passed into a dreamless sleep. There was dust around, so perhaps a few years had gone by, but he had a disgruntled feeling that it was still the 20th century." - p 13

At least the author doesn't have the future people speaking (or telepathically communicating) in 20th century English.

""Do you understand English?" he asked enunciating slowly and clearly. He knew immediately that they didn't, by their puzzled expressions, but he repeated the words anyway. A little louder, as if they were deaf.

"This time the oldest, white-haried man, who had listened, nodding dubiously. "Unstan lill," he said in clipped tones, grinning toothlessly. "Stuh ya lanid. Kn ree ya boos n messis rin ih ra." Sem Onger was trying to say: "Understand a little. Studied your language. Can read your books and messages written in rock."" - pp14-15

Ellory realizes there's no metal.

"The plow was of hard wood. The man's tool was of fire-chipped flint.

""Why does he not use an—an iron tool?" asked Ellory, concentrating all his recently acquired knowledge of the language.

""Iron?" echoed Sharina. "What is that 'iron?' "

""Iron—metal!" Ellory said, but again he used a word Sharina had taught him no synonym for in her tongue.

"He glanced around for a bit of metal to illustrate what he meant. His eyes grew wide as they swept over the shop, over everything.

"There was not one scrap of metal visible anywhere!" - p 26

Think about it, eh? What wd yr life be like if there were no longer any metal in it? I think of Frank Zappa's song: "Who are the Brain Police?". Here's the 1st verse:

"Aahh-ah-ahahahaaa, aahh-ah-ahahahaaa
What will you do if we let you go home
And the plastic's all melted
And so is the chrome?
Who are the brain police?"

Waddaya make of that?

""Hello, 50th century! This is the day of July 4th, 1970, the 174th year of the existence of the United States of America.["]" - p 30

So says a msg from the past to the people of the future.. but, um, do you notice anything a bit odd about it?! It wd've actually been the 194th yr & not the "174th". Hhmm.. I thought: 'Well, maybe he was an immigrant who never learned the history of the US.' But, no:

"Otto Oscar Binder (August 26, 1911 – October 13, 1974) was an American author of science fiction and non-fiction books and stories, and comic books. He is best known as the co-creator of Supergirl and for his many scripts for Captain Marvel Adventures and other stories involving the entire superhero Marvel Family. He was prolific in the comic book field and is credited with writing over 4,400 stories across a variety of publishers under his own name, as well as more than 160 stories under the pen-name Eando Binder." - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Otto_Binder

Trash that theory. It's a simple enuf mistake, I suppose. Being not good at math might help it along. Gradually, the history of mankind's degradation is revealed.

""This is a translation of the writings of an unknown man two thousand years ago, and one thousand years after your time."

"He moved near to a candle and read.

""Mankind has lived too extravagantly. He has once raped Earth of its once-generous products. There was a limit he did not foresee in time.

""In this year of 3000 A.D., the last shreds of coal are being brough up from deep mines. Oil has been unknown for centuries. Of metals, many have become unavailable starting with the practical extenction of tin five hundred years ago.

""Iron and aluminum are plentifully distributed through the ground we walk upon, but in forms that out best science cannot break down save at prohibitive cost and labor."" - p 32

I can't really say that this qualifies much as a 'self-preventing prophecy' b/c the warning that's given is not really that believable (even though it was copyrighted 1966). John Brunner's The Sheep Look Up (1972) (see my review here: http://www.goodreads.com/story/show/344636-a-review-of-john-brunner-s-ecological... ) is much better. Maybe Binder's bk deserves some credit for being earlier than the Brunner.

Solar power had been known about for millenia. The more contemporary use of it was also nothing new as of the time of this novel's writing.

"Albert Einstein had a role to play in bringing the world’s attention to solar energy and its potential. In 1905, Einstein published a paper on the photoelectric effect and how light carries energy. This generated more attention and acceptance for solar power on a broader scale.

"The big leap toward the solar cells like the ones used in panels today came from the work of Bell Labs in 1954. Three scientists there, Daryl Chapin, Calvin Fuller, and Gerald Pearson, created a more practical solar cell using silicon."

- https://www.vivintsolar.com/learning-center/history-of-solar-energy

Obviously, wind power has been known about for humans for a long time too.

"People used wind energy to propel boats along the Nile River as early as 5,000 BC. By 200 BC, simple wind-powered water pumps were used in China, and windmills with woven-reed blades were grinding grain in Persia and the Middle East." - https://www.eia.gov/energyexplained/wind/history-of-wind-power.php

As such, while humanity is definitely exhausting oil & coal supplies, even in 1966 people were working on the problem. Also, hey!, metals are recylable.

"Metals are elements that start out as rocks (called ores). It takes lots of energy to mine them, grind them, and heat them up (smelting) to get just the part we want. For example, it takes eight tons of the ore bauxite to make one ton of aluminum. While this process is very energy intensive, the good news is... Almost All Metals are Recyclable!" - https://lessismore.org/materials/14-metal/

I don't mean to downplay human wastefullness & destructiveness. The Holy Ceiling Light knows what a problem it is. It's just that Binder's depiction of the problem is so oversimplified that one might think he's mainly a comic bk writer. OOPS!, yeah, right, he was.

"The craft was strange, like no airplane Ellory had ever seen. Two wide, triangular wings supported a torpedo-shaped cabin, all of shiny white metal. There were no engines apparent, or propellor, but little orange spurts of flame came from the back wing-edges. It was unmistakably a rocket-type aircraft, product of advanced science." - p 34

When I was a kid in the '50s, they called them "storks". One of them delivered me to my parents in a sling.

Olig-fucking-archy. Ya just can't get away from it sometimes.

"Now stunned, he realized the true picture—oligarchy, in its most advanced form. The whole Stone Age world a feudal backyard! The favored few, in Antartica's ten cities, supported in luxury, idleness perhaps, by the gifts of food and labor from their primitive subjects.

"In return—nothing! Not even one plowshare. It was the most one-sided social system in the history of mankind," - p 45

Ellory gets pissed. So what does he do? Use his scientific mind to make weapons. Some people just don't have any imagination.

""No again, angel. But I'm going to arm those troops with metal weapons!"

"Metal weapons, iron ores, from the oxide-heaps in the ruins of New York!" - p 53

""You have advanced warfare, Humrelly!"

"Ellory stopped whirring the blade suddenly.

"Advanced warfare . . .

"Ironically, that was to be his first mark in this Stone Age era. Arming one tribe of warring people with a new and murderous weapon, to spill more blood among their enemies! Depressed at the thought, Ellory lowered the blade." - p 58

Oh, well, the best-laid plans of men.. & what? At least Humrelly got to cause a huge amt of deaths before he got caught.

""I suppose my fate, as arch-conspirator, is—the ultimate?"

"She shrugged. "There will be a trial. If you hadn't attacked like a madman, you would have earned leniency. When the attack came, I told the gunners to save you."

""For the hangman!" muttered Ellory bitterly. "What happened to the others? Jon Darm—"

""Another chance for him. But his city goes. There will be the usual hunt after a revolt—a few cities burned down, Outlanders chased to the hills, here and there. The usual lesson. Down in our safe little world, we will gossip about it for a while."" - p 95

Never a dull moment, might as well throw in some climate change.

""Earth's axis hasn't tilted," Ellory said thoughtfully. The sun was low on the horizon. "But climate has changed radically since my time, Lady Ermaine."

"She nodded. "Emergence from the last Ice Age."

""Of course!" Ellory snapped his fingers. That theory had been gaining ground in 1970, he recalled. Slowly but surely, the average temperature was rising, from the minimum of the Ice Age twenty-five thousand years or so ago. Massachusetts had been a bitter land to the Puritans of 1700. Boston had been comparatively balmy in 1970. Now, in 5000 A.D., those latitudes were Floridian." - p 100

Hence, the finger-snapping. Sometimes ya just have to let the spirit flow thru you.

"Days passed swiftly. Ermaine told first of the rise of Antarka. "A thousand years ago—eleven hundred years to be exact—civilization was at its lowest ebb. And you may know in part, Humrelly, your age ended about 3000 A.D. A thousand years of that wasteful era left nothing for the following. No ores, coal or oil. Mankind dropped to the bottom.

"For nine hundred years—savagery. Only a legend remained of the strange land to the south, blessed with buried treasures. Your age, luckily, could not brave the icy breath of Antarka. We've found ruins though, of abortive mining camps. They tried and failed."" - pp 104-105

What can I say? I'm sorry. If it helps ameliorate my guilt, consider my living conditions at the time.

""You skipped showing us the lowest level of all," Ellory reminded Ermaine, the Lady of Lillamra, the next day, already guessing the reason. "What's down there—your Outland slaves?"

""Servants," she corrected blandly. "Their living quarters." She looked at his grim face. "Come," she said reluctantly.

"The lowermost level, resting a mile down on bedrock, though only slightly dank, made Ellory mutter the word, "Dungeon!"

"It was well lighted, however. Neat rows of tiered little houses, with sodded areas, spread in all directions. The air was just as fresh here as above. Shifts of workmen returning and leaving did not show signs of maltreatment. They looked well-fed, well taken care of.

"Ellory was forced to admit, inwardly, that it wasn't the grinding sort of slavery that spotted past history with black pages." - p 111

I've heard of the white pages & the yellow pages - but the "black pages"? Do the black pages have white lettering? If not, I reckon they might be hard to read.

"Earth's grand total of two billions in 1970, then, had sunk to a mere two hundred million, through the Dark Time. These two hundred million were dominated by the ten million of Antarka. Every nine months, two thousand Outlander youths were brought to Antarka, to work for an average of thirty-five years before natural death.

"Ellory darted his eyes about the Outlander community suddenly. He saw no children playing in the park areas, although women's faces peered dully from windows.

"Ermaine saw his glance.

""They have no children. They are all sterilized. It is trouble enough raising our own children. Their women, among other things, are nursemaids for our babies."" - pp 112-113

Aw, that's just not fair.

"Various great balls were in progress. Orchestras—of Commons, Ellory learned—ground out music that even to his untrained ear was mediocre. A monotonous four-four rhythm dominated every theme. Their dancing was stilted, less appealing even than the most savage prancing would have been. Ellory grinned to think what a sensation a swing-band of his time would cause here." - p 114

A swing band? Yes, that wd be nice. Or how about Spike Jones & the City Slickers? ( https://youtu.be/OimVcs10STc ) Then again, well, since this reviewer lives in the 21st century, I might recommend some 21st century music: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL8WCNx2gamebqvi2912j6r-ysthl_fqeI .

""Not so fast!" laughed Ellory. "First I have to determine some of its properties. What type of radioactivity is it? I know it's set off somehow by light-photons, but what radiation does it give off?"

"In the next few days, they were busy for long, exciting hours. Ellory beat a bit of gold to extreme thinness between smooth calfskins and suspended two leaves of it from a copper wire. He held this simple electroscope before a bit of the glowing wax. The leaves did not fly apart.

""Hm—no beta rays. No electrons given off," he mused." - p 131

Hhmm.. Did you try killing anyone w/ it? Or sticking it in an ATM? B/c you know what they say: If you cain't monetize it & ya cain't weaponize it, it ain't worth shit!!

""I'm going out again—empire building!"

[..]

""With guns this time!" Ellory went on. "There are hundreds of these machine guns down there, rifles too. Thousands of them. And thousands of rounds of ammunition!"" - p 145

Yep, Thank God that the man from the 20th Century has arrived in the future to save the world!

OK, you may've noticed a tad of sarcasm throughout this review. I love science fiction & I appreciate most works that people have written regardless of whether I don't really think they're that great. BUT, if all SF were like this, I probably wdn't read much of it.… (altro)

This was one of the 1st, if not THE 1st robot bk I ever read. I probably read it when it was hot-off-the-presses in 1965 when I was 11 or 12. I don't remember it at all except for a sortof warm fuzzy feeling associated w/ having read ANYTHING that I liked at that age. I've never heard of the author since. On the front cover, Issac Asimov promotes the bk by saying: "The robot-with-emotion has rarely been so well-handled." Even though that's probably just hype I think it's interesting b/c just how many entire novels had been written by them about the "robot-with-emotion"? It doesn't seem like it cd've been that many!… (altro)

Best known for their “Adam Link” stories, Eando Binder (the pen name from the brothers Earl and Otto Binder) provide a fairly standard sci-fi potboiler in this novel. Thane Smith, a writer who pens articles debunking flying saucers, is actually an agent for the intergalactic Vigilantes, who monitor the Earth to keep it safe from predatory aliens. One such group, the dwarf-sized Vexxans, are discovered scouring the globe for mysterious radioactive “Seeds” of unknown power. The plot is pretty standard stuff and the characterization is rather dated, but the writing is entertaining enough to move the reader along. While hardly the best sci-fi available, the book can provide a few hours of undemanding entertainment for fans of the genre.… (altro)