The Lotus Eaters (Weinbaum)
- The Lotus Eaters (Weinbaum)
Infobox short story |
name = The Lotus Eaters
author = Stanley G. Weinbaum
country = flag|USA
language = English
series = Ham Hammond
genre = Science fiction short story
published_in = "Astounding Stories"
publication_type = Periodical
publisher = Street & Smith
media_type = Print (Magazine)
pub_date = April 1935
followed_by = The Planet of Doubt "The Lotus Eaters" is a science fiction short story by Stanley G. Weinbaum originally published in the April 1935 issue of "Astounding Stories". "The Lotus Eaters" was Weinbaum's fifth published story, and is a sequel to "Parasite Planet".
Plot summary
A month after the events in "Parasite Planet", Hamilton "Ham" Hammond and Patricia Burlingame are married, and thanks to Burlingame's connections, the two have been commissioned by the Royal Society and the Smithsonian Institution to explore the night side of Venus. There they find a species of warm-blooded mobile plants with a communal intelligence that Burlingame nicknames Oscar. Oscar is very intelligent, quickly picking up English from Hammond and Burlingame.
The humans learn that the Oscar beings reproduce by releasing clear bubbles full of gaseous spores. When the bubbles burst, the spores come to rest on another Oscar being, eventually grow into another individual, and bud off. In “Parasite Planet”, the vicious, night-dwelling "Triops noctivivans" used these bubbles to attack Hammond and Burlingame, since the spores have a soporific effect on humans.
The humans are horrified to learn that, being plants, the Oscar beings have no survival instinct. Despite their greater-than-human intelligence, the Oscar beings react with indifference when the local trioptes attack and consume them. This prompts Burlingame to name their species "Lotophagi veneris" – the lotus eaters of Venus. Hammond and Burlingame barely escape the trioptes themselves after exposure to the spores leaves them almost catatonic.
Collections
"The Lotus Eaters" appears in the following Stanley G. Weinbaum collections:
* "The Dawn of Flame" (1936)
* "A Martian Odyssey and Others" (1949)
* "A Martian Odyssey and Other Classics of Science Fiction" (1962)
* "A Martian Odyssey and Other Science Fiction Tales" (1974)
* "The Best of Stanley G. Weinbaum" (1974)
* "Interplanetary Odysseys" (2006)
External links
* [http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks06/0601231h.html"The Lotus Eaters"] at Project Gutenberg of Australia.
Wikimedia Foundation.
2010.
Look at other dictionaries:
The Lotus Eaters — may refer to:* Lotophagi ( lotus eaters ), a race of people in Greek mythology from an island or peninsula near Northern Africa dominated by lotus plants. * The Lotus Eaters (television), a British television drama made by the BBC between 1972… … Wikipedia
Weinbaum — Stanley Grauman Weinbaum (* 4. April 1902 in Louisville (Kentucky); † 14. Dezember 1935) war ein US amerikanischer Science Fiction Autor. Obwohl er nur kurze Zeit als Autor aktiv war, hatte er einen starken Einfluss auf die Science Fiction.… … Deutsch Wikipedia
The Planet of Doubt — Infobox short story | name = The Planet of Doubt author = Stanley G. Weinbaum country = flag|USA language = English series = Ham Hammond genre = Science fiction short story publication type = Periodical published in = Astounding Stories publisher … Wikipedia
Stanley G. Weinbaum — Autres noms John Jessel Activités romancier, nouvelliste Naissance 4 avril 1902 Louisville (Kentucky) … Wikipédia en Français
Stanley G. Weinbaum — Infobox Writer name = Stanley Grauman Weinbaum birthdate = April 4, 1902 birthplace = Louisville, Kentucky deathdate = December 14, 1935 occupation = Novelist, short story author genre = Science fiction notableworks = A Martian Odyssey influences … Wikipedia
Stanley G. Weinbaum — Stanley Grauman Weinbaum (* 4. April 1902 in Louisville (Kentucky); † 14. Dezember 1935) war ein US amerikanischer Science Fiction Autor. Obwohl er nur kurze Zeit als Autor aktiv war, hatte er einen starken Einfluss auf die Science Fiction.… … Deutsch Wikipedia
Parasite Planet — Infobox short story | name = Parasite Planet author = Stanley G. Weinbaum country = flag|USA language = English series = Ham Hammond genre = Science fiction short story publication type = Periodical published in = Astounding Stories publisher =… … Wikipedia
Planetary series — The Planetary series of stories by Stanley G. Weinbaum is series of short stories, published in Wonder Stories and Astounding Stories in the 1930s, which are set upon various planets and moons of the Solar System.The stories are marked by… … Wikipedia
1935 in literature — The year 1935 in literature involved some significant events and new books.Events*Penguin Books publishes the first paperback book. *W. H. Auden enters a marriage of convenience with Erika Mann.New books*Maxwell Anderson Winterset *Enid Bagnold… … Wikipedia
Вейнбаум, Стенли — В Википедии есть статьи о других людях с такой фамилией, см. Вейнбаум. Стенли Вейнбаум Stanley Grauman Weinbaum … Википедия
