The Little Worlds of H. Beam Piper

I've got a new column up on Kirkus Reviews this morning. This week, I'm looking at the career of H. Beam Piper, a science fiction writer who was active between the 1940s and 1960s, famously known for a book called Little Fuzzy.

I first came across Little Fuzzy because of John Scalzi's reboot, Fuzzy Nation. (My review is here  — given that I wrote it six years ago, I'm a little afraid of how terrible my writing was) Before Scalzi's novel came out, I picked up Piper's, (it's in the public domain, so it's a free ebook) and found it to be an interesting read. Scalzi takes the story in a different direction, but both are well worth picking up and reading.

Go read The Little Worlds of H. Beam Piper over on Kirkus Reviews.

Sources:

• Mike Ashley. Gateways to Forever: The Story of Science-Fiction Magazines from 1970 - 1980. Ashley's book, as always, is an exhaustive, interesting read into the history of the genre, and provides some good background on the time that Piper was writing.
• John Carr. H. Beam Piper: A Biography. This is an exhaustive resource on Piper and his work. Carr goes in detail, often day by day, talks to friends and family, examines letters, and so forth.
• Paul Carter. The Creation of Tomorrow: Fifty Years of Magazine Science Fiction. Carter's book provides some good background and a couple of interesting points on Piper's career.
• Adam Roberts. The History of Science Fiction. Roberts provides some good background on where Piper fit into the larger history of SF.