The Ballad of Lost C'mell by Cordwainer Smith

These rich immortals are served by the Underpeople, beings who look human but are modified animals. The rich take stroon, a substance secreted by genetically modified sheep which confers immortality on them. In Smith’s universe we meet scanners – spaceship pilots who, because of the strain of the Great Waste of space, must have their sensory organs surgically blocked. This series, left incomplete at Smith’s death, tells the story of mankind’s voyage out to the stars, humanity’s slide into decadence, the revolt of the Underpeople, and The Rediscovery of Mankind. All of his Science Fiction falls into a loosely connected series called The Instrumentality Of Mankind. He wrote a couple of straight novels and a textbook on psychological warfare, but is best known for his Science Fiction short stories and one SF novel. Smith himself was bilingual and many of his stories owe their structure to Chinese storytelling. He grew up in China, where his father was an advisor to Sun Yat Sen. Each time I do, I find something new.Ĭordwainer Smith was a professor at Johns Hopkins and a noted expert in psychological warfare. He is one of my all-time favorite SF writers and one whose stories I can read over and over again. It thrilled me then, and recently, many years later, I purchased a story collection called My Favorite Science Fiction Story.When you read author blurbs, the term “unique” gets tossed around a lot, as does “original.” One of writer who truly deserved those labels was Paul Myron Anthony Linebarger, better known to Science Fiction fans as Cordwainer Smith. It was anthologized in James Gunn's The Road to Science Fiction. I was given this story to read in a History of SF class in college. Genetic modification of animals to be humans in all but status 'The Ballad of Lost C'mell' seems mark the first appearance in SF of: The narrator relates how one forbidden relationship changed everything.įirst published in Galaxy magazine in 1962, 'The Ballad of Lost C'mell' marks a turning point in Science Fiction, as authors moved from space operas and gadget stories to socially relevant stories that were more than mere escapism.

The narrator of the story looks back on a time when society was stratified, where humans rule over animals genetically modified to be look, think, act, and most importantly, work like humans.

Landmark Science Fiction Story by Cordwainer Smith.

The Ballad of Lost C'mell by Cordwainer Smith