Gustible - under the rubric of [$_SELF]

Yes, I am a fan of Cordwainer Smith’s fiction. Hence the name of this blog. It is from a short story entitled “From Gustible’s Planet”. This tale was first published in 1962, in “Worlds of If“.

Cordwainer Smith was the nom de plume of Paul Linebarger – lots of information on his life and work can be found at the website run by his daughter – cordwainer-smith.com.

Regarding the tale told in “Gustible’s Planet”. It is not one of Smith’s best stories – certainly not the most lyrically written. Gustible’s planet refers to a planet that was discovered by one Angary J. Gustible, shortly after the four thousandth anniversary of the opening of space. Turns out Gustible’s planet is inhabited by a group of highly intelligent, telepathic beings, who look a great deal like four foot high ducks with opposable thumbs. And who have a deep and abiding interest in earth food – gastronomes by inclination, albeit with rather catholic tastes.

The story evolves from there – I am not about to spoil the ending – suffice to say that the denouement is completely bizarre, and completely in keeping with Smith’s sense of the strange.

Why did I choose gustible to become my online avatar ? Hard to say, exactly. The name somehow crept into my consciousness – I associate it closely with Linebarger’s universe (of which I am very enamoured), I love duck (do read the story), it is easily pronounceable, it works for me. Those are reasons enough.

Of Linebarger’s other work a couple of stories stand out for me. “When the People Fell” – for the single minded purpose, the steely resolve, and again the deep weirdness that tells the story of how the Goonhogo took Venus. You may want to read the story, and then look at this photo-essay in National Geographic. Uncanny, isn’t it ?

My other favourite – there are many more, but this one I really like – is “Drunkboat”: “the saddest, maddest, wildest story in the whole long history of space”. Read what happened to the ripped, gypped and dipped man at Outpost Baiter Gator. Lean how the love of Elizabeth conquered Space-Three. Learn to fear and love the Instrumentality of Mankind.

The image below is a scan of the cover of my personal copy of “The Instrumentality of Mankind”. The cover illustrates Rambo’s journey into Space-Three.

Instrumentality of Mankind

As a take-away – wonder and respect the vision of someone who managed to envision a mode of government, yes the very Instrumentality I spoke of, that may have merit beyond the stupidity and built-in limits of democracy.

Cordwainer Smith’s fiction is freely available at Amazon.com.