Janissaries (novel)
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| Author | Jerry Pournelle |
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| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Genre(s) | Science fiction novel |
| Publisher | Ace Books |
| Released | 1979 |
| Media type | Print Paperback |
| Pages | 335 pp |
| ISBN | ISBN 0-345-40623-0 |
| Followed by | Janissaries II: Clan and Crown |
Janissaries is a novel by science fiction author Jerry Pournelle. It was originally published in 1979, and was illustrated by comic artist Bermejo.
The novel is the first book of Pournelle's Janissaries series. The following books are Janissaries II: Clan and Crown and Janissaries III: Storms of Victory.
Like King David's Spaceship, a novel in Pournelle's CoDominium Series, it is the story of a capable military leader undertaking campaigns on a backward planet.
Contents |
[edit] Overview without spoilers
In Janissaries, the leader is a United States Army officer from the Cold War period, Captain Rick Galloway, who along with his platoon-sized unit of soldiers primarily from the U.S. are abducted from a CIA-run operation against Cubans in the fictional tropical African country of Sainte-Marie by a flying saucer. The beings abducting them present themselves as rescuers from a hopeless situation where Galloway's unit is about to be overrun by Cubans in a night assault, the aftermath of which is expected to be the deaths of all. Afterwards, the human soldiers have the option of serving the aliens in a special situation involving a more primitive planet on which there are humans living in medieval conditions. The soldiers are expected to be able to use their superior weapons and tactics to conquer part of the planet.
[edit] Synopsis
In the midst of the Cold War, the CIA has recruited a number of soldiers to fight as U.S. proxies against communist Cubans in the fictional tropical African country of Sainte Marie. Nearly all of the soldiers are from the U.S. military, though some seem to be genuine soldiers of fortune. After some success, they suffer combat reversals and are on the run. Part of the group secures a hilltop for aerial evacuation, while others, too wounded to move quickly, but capable of fighting in place, have set an ambush at a crossroads to slow down the pursuing Cubans long enough for helicopters to arrive.
The fifty or so troops on the hilltop are commanded by Captain Rick Galloway, Lieutenant Andre Parsons, and highly experienced Sergeant Major Elliott. They hear the sounds of their comrades at the crossroads being overrun; it becomes clear that the Cubans will soon assault the hill. They are able to contact headquarters on the radio, but instead of the hoped-for rescue, they are told the helicopters will not be coming and are ordered to surrender to the Cubans.
They refuse the order and begin to prepare a hopeless defense. Then, a "flying saucer" approaches in the sky and lands. Captain Galloway enters the craft, then re-emerges and tells his men that it is a CIA aircraft. He orders everyone is to get aboard with all equipment. Some of the mercenaries had fled at the approach of the craft, but about thirty-five obey, since there is little other choice.
The craft, crewed by aliens, takes them to a base on the far side of Earth's moon. There, they are told by a human administrator, a representative of an interstellar confederation, called Agzaral, that their leaving Earth was permanent, and that they can either work for their putative rescuers, the Shalnuksis, or face an uncertain future in a civilization that has little use for unskilled humans. The Shalnuksis want the mercenaries to be take control of sufficient land on a primitive planet called Tran to grow a crop of medicinal or recreational plants, which they will trade with the Shalnuksis for necessities and luxuries. There are already humans there, in various states of civilization, all of them well behind that of 20th century Earth. With their modern weapons, they are told, they will be able to take over and live like kings.
The mercenaries are set down on Tran, and are joined by another Earthling, Gwen, the girlfriend of the spaceship pilot. She had become pregnant with the pilot's child, and since the slavemasters would not have allowed the child to live, she chose abandonment instead. Soon afterwards, Parsons leads a mutiny because he believes Galloway to be too soft for the task at hand. Galloway and Corporal Mason are banished, with Gwen electing to go with them. Parsons then takes the mercenaries and helps a local leader, Sarakos, invade and conquer the kingdom of Drantos.
Galloway's group encounter a small party of locals, led by a young woman named Tylara, who until recently has been a baroness of Drantos. She is fleeing with two companions back to her homeland, Tamaerthon, a few weeks journey away. Galloway decides to join them, and in due course gains his people a new home.
The Tamaerthans have a desperate problem. Due to adverse weather conditions, their recent harvest was poor, and many will starve in the coming winter unless something is done. Galloway organizes and trains the Tamaerthans to fight more effectively. Then, he leads them on a raid on an outpost of the neighboring, powerful empire established by humans kidnapped from ancient Rome. They obtain enough food to last the winter. Paradoxically, he manages to form an alliance with the local Imperial governor that will ensure there will be no reprisals for the raid. Tylara and Rick fall in love, and prepare to be married in the spring.
Then an opportunity arises to restore Tylara to her former position in Drantos, which will put Rick and his friends squarely in opposition to Parson and his men. Initially reluctant, Galloway comes up with a plan to end Sarakos's dominion over Drantos, restore his fiancée to her rightful place.
[edit] Notes
[edit] Confederation Technology
Confederation technology includes the all-important "phase drive", a kind of faster-than-light travel. Pournelle never explains what the drive is, or suggests a mechanism for how it works. Ships using it, however, vanish from "normal" space while under way. And while Confederation technology appears quite advanced, curiously enough it doesn't seem quite as advanced as one might expect from a civilization that had had space travel for over 5,000 years. Pournelle has Gwen talking about how the Confederation has become stagnant in its stability, however, so it might very well be a deliberate technological stagnancy. One reason why an independent space-going humanity might be a threat could be the unregulated and destabilizing effect an ever-advancing technology could pose.
[edit] Confederation Culture
The Confederation is an interstellar, and interspecies civilization that is rank with politics, intrigue, and corruption. The enslaved humans, bred for loyalty and obedience, comprise the primary armed force of the Confederation. They keep the peace between the various species. Earth is left untouched, primarily as a source of "wild" human genes for when the Confederation masters feel they need to breed initiative into their "tame" humans to keep them capable of their important tasks.
However, with Earth civilization become more and more capable of the beginnings of space travel, there is debate in the Confederation about what to do about it. Leave the "wild" humans alone? Bomb them back to the stone age to prevent them from upsetting the status quo? Or bring them forcibly into the Confederation and stifle their progress?
The Shalnuksis use of Tran is secret from the Confederation (officially), and is also illegal. Some of the humans who are aware of Tran also want to keep it secret so that if the Confederation decides to bomb Earth or bring it into the Confederation, there would at least still be a place where there are free humans.
[edit] Tran Culture
Tran culture at the time Galloway's mercenaries arrive runs the gamut from primitive nomadic tribes on the high deserts, all the way to a faux Roman Empire. In between are the Iron Age medievalists of Drantos and the Five Kingdoms, the mercantilists of Rustengo, and the Celtic warriors of Tamaerthon. There are other smaller groups in various places.
In order to make the planet habitable for humans, the Shalnuksis had originally scattered Earth flora and fauna in a fairly haphazard way, and the humans they brought in to cultivate surinomaz had their own plants and animals, and over time a kind of eclectic ecology had resulted.
One important thing about Tran is that as the secondary sun, called by the inhabitants such names as the Demon Sun and the Firestealer, approaches periastron, Tran's climate goes to extremes. Normally colder than Earth overall, Tran's polar icecaps melt nearly all the way, and the rising seas drown low-lying lands, causing many refugees. As the climate heats up, storms become more prevalent, but then later droughts take over. Many people die, and those who survive do so largely because they have access to caves and similar shelter where they have been able to store food in quantities enough to last until it is possible to harvest food once more.
Besides the cycle of Tran's double suns, there are also legends on Tran that say that those who deal with the "Demons" who appear with the "Demon Sun" are rewarded in the end with fire and destruction. Gwen is sure this is because the Shalnuksis make sure that Tran remains backward by bombing those with whom they trade after they had gotten all the surinomaz they are going to get. There is apparently at least one place where nothing grows that has a lake with a glass bottom (evidence of the use of nuclear weapons).
[edit] Incomplete Series
Unfortunately, this series was never completed after the last completed novel in the series, Janissaries III: Storms of Victory.
Pournelle is currently writing a new Janissaries novel, Mamelukes [1]. The first three chapters are available from his site.
[edit] Weapons of the Mercenaries
Rick Galloway's troops carry a number of different 20th century weapons.
[edit] Individual Weapons
- M1911 .45 cal semiautomatic pistol
- Browning 9mm Pistol (not further described, but is probably the Browning Hi-Power)
- M16A1 Rifle
- H&K Battle Rifle (not further described, but is probably the Heckler & Koch G3)
- Ingram Submachinegun
- Etc.
[edit] Crew Served Weapons
- Carl Gustav recoilless rifle
- 81mm mortar
- Medium Machine Gun (not further described but is probably the M1919 Browning machine gun)
[edit] Footnotes
- ^ www.jerrypournelle.com
[edit] External links
- The Janissaries publication history at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database
- Chaos Manor - http://www.jerrypournelle.com
