Uller Uprising

Uller Uprising, by

Henry Beam Piper, John D. Clark and John F. Carr This eBook is for
the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions
whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms
of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at
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Title: Uller Uprising
Author: Henry Beam Piper, John D. Clark and John F. Carr
Release Date: October 5, 2006 [EBook #19474]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
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UPRISING ***

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Transcriber's Note:
Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that the U.S.
copyright on this publication was renewed.

H. BEAM PIPER
ULLER UPRISING

ACE SCIENCE FICTION BOOKS
NEW YORK
* * * * *
This Ace Science Fiction Book contains the complete text of the
original hardcover edition. It has been completely reset in a typeface
designed for easy reading, and was printed from new film.
PRINTING HISTORY Twayne edition/ 1952 Ace edition/ June 1983
Copyright © 1952 by Twayne Publishers, Inc. Copyright © renewed
1983 by Charter Communications, Inc. Introduction © 1952, 1983 by
Dr. John D. Clark New Introduction © 1983 by John F. Carr Cover art
by Gino D'Achille
* * * * *

Introduction to
ULLER UPRISING
by John F. Carr
With the publication of this novel, Uller Uprising, all of H. Beam
Piper's previously published science fiction is now available in Ace
editions. Uller Uprising was first published in 1952 in a Twayne
Science Fiction Triplet--a hardbound collection of three thematically
connected novels. (The other two were Judith Merril's Daughters of
Earth and Fletcher Pratt's The Long View.) A year later it appeared in
the February and March issues of Space Science Fiction, edited by

Lester Del Rey.
The magazine version, which was abridged by about a third, was
believed by many bibliographers to be the only version--and as a
novella it was too short for book publication. The Twayne version had
a small print run and is so scarce that few people have seen it. Those
bibliographers who knew of its existence assumed that both versions of
Uller were the same. It was through a telephone conversation with
Charles N. Brown, publisher of Locus and correspondent with Piper,
that I learned about the Twayne edition and its greater length. Brown
allowed me to photocopy his original, for which we owe him a debt of
thanks; because the Twayne version is not only novel length, but far
better than the shorter one that appeared in Space Science Fiction.
Probably the most surprising and interesting thing about the Twayne
edition is the essay that forms the introduction to that volume, and is
reprinted here. The essay is by Dr. John D. Clark, an eminent scientist
of the fourties and fifties and one of the discoverers of sulfa, the first
"miracle drug." It describes in great detail the planetary system of the
star Beta Hydri, and gives the names of those planets: Uller and
Niflheim. A publisher's note states that Clark's essay was written first,
and given to the contributors as background material for a novel they
would then write.
The fans of H. Beam Piper seem to owe a great debt to Dr. Clark. Uller
Uprising became the foundation of Piper's monumental Terro-Human
Future History; the first story where we encounter the Terran
Federation. In it we learn about Odin, the planet that will one day be
the capital of the First Galactic Empire; and humble Niflheim, which in
more decadent times will become a common expletive, a word meaning
hell. This is also where Piper introduced and explained the Atomic Era
dating system (A.E.). Uller Uprising is set in the early years of the
Terran Federation's expansion and exploration, an epoch of great
vitality. In "The Edge of the Knife" Piper compares this time of
discovery to the Spanish conquest of the Americas. This feeling of
vigor and unlimited possibilities runs through all the early Federation
stories: Uller Uprising, "Omnilingual," "Naudsonce," "When in the

Course--," and, to a lesser degree, in the late Federation novels, Little
Fuzzy, Fuzzy Sapiens, and Fuzzies and Other People. (See Federation
by H. Beam Piper for a good overview of this period.)
In these stories we see Terro-Humans at their best and at their worst:
Individual heroism and bravery in the face of grave danger in Uller
Uprising; Federation law and justice in Little Fuzzy and its sequels; and,
in "Omnilingual" and "Naudsonce," the spirit of science and rational
inquiry. Yet we also see colonial exploitation and subjugation in Uller
Uprising and "Oomphel in the Sky," the greed and corruption of
Chartered land companies in Little Fuzzy, and political corruption