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Title: A Slave Is a Slave
Author: Henry Beam Piper
Narrator: Edward Miller
Format: Unabridged
Length: 2 hrs and 26 mins
Language: English
Release date: 12-09-16
Publisher: Audioliterature
Genres: Sci-Fi & Fantasy, Sci-Fi: Contemporary
Publisher's Summary:
"A Slave Is a Slave" is a story by sci-fi master H. Beam Piper, published in 1962. A slave based society is overtaken by a bigger power that outlaws slavery...
"Something everybody owns, nobody owns, Mykhyl Eschkhaffar objected. 'Oh, no, Mykhyl; it will belong to everybody,' KhreggorChmidd told him earnestly. 'But somebody will have to take care of it for everybody. That,' he added complacently, 'will be you and me and the rest of us here'."
Thought provoking and exciting all at once! Is slavery a political monstrosity that can be wiped out, or is it a far more complex kind of monster, rooted inside the minds of slaves and masters?
©2016 Audioliterature (P)2016 Audioliterature
Members Reviews:
Excellent military sci fi - You can't save people from themselves
An immensely entertaining story by H. Beam Piper set several centuries after the events in SPACE VIKING. An Imperial Line Battle Unit (one capital ship, two transport cruisers, and four destroyers) is tasked with bringing the isolated planet Aditya into the Empire.
The planet was first colonized over a thousand years earlier. Five centuries later a Space Viking fleet came in and took over. The Imperial find themselves with a knotty problem - how do you save people who do not want to be saved?
Another Sci-FI Tale from H Beam Piper
Not one of Piper's better stories in my mind. Not badly written, just, not my cup of tea. Having read much of Piper's work, I am convinced that he was a bit of a social Darwinist at heart, and perhaps more than a little of a Fascist. He seems to always believe that might will win out, that force and determination will overcome all obstacles, and that the mass of humanity are little more than willful pawns in the game played between greater powers. That the cunning and guileful will always lead the masses, conversely, that the masses are always weak and in need of a powerful hand to guide them. The whole intricate concept of free will doesn't seem to enter into the equation, then again, it is after all just a story.
As I said, this isn't one of his better offerings in my opinion, then again, my opinion isn't what counts, yours is. Read it for yourself and decide.
More than one way to be enslaved
The Galactic Empire, emerging from a dark age, has forcibly annexed the planet Aditya. Their purpose is not to conquer, but to stop potential interplanetary wars, so they allow annexed planets to continue to rule themselves. They do impose one rule, however: slavery is not allowed. And Aditya is a slave planet: .1% of the people own the other 99.9%.
This marvelous little short story follows what happens as the Empire's representative, the inexperienced son of a politically well-connected rich family, goes about freeing the slaves, applying the high moral principles that he learned at university -- principles as firmly held as they are untested in practice.
Originally published in 1962. The military elemtent is minor, as is the scientific speculation. This story is a commentary on the socio-economics of slavery in its many forms.
Lovely HBP logic
A classic HBP sense of humor.
Entertaining and worth your time
The 59 page story written over 50 years ago is so apt for the current time when the wealthiest 1% of the world own about 39% of the wealth. Piper was not a university graduate and it shows. He has a cynical view of the university liberal.