An Uplift Classic: Aldair by Neal Barrett, Jr.
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Aldair in Albion and Aldair, Master of Ships (DAW Books, May 1976 and September 1977). Covers by Josh Kirby
My feature today is what I call an “honorary Sword & Planet series.” The Aldair series by Neal Barrett, Jr. (1929 – 2014) not only doesn’t have a human hero, but it’s set on Earth.
But it has the feel and charm and adventure that defines S&P fiction. It also has some great covers and illustrations by artists who worked on the Dray Prescot series. DAW did it right in those days. I just love their paperbacks of that time.
[Click the images for uplifted versions.]
Back covers for Aldair in Albion and Aldair, Master of Ships
The overall concept here deserves some mention. It’s one I love and wish I’d been able to get a first crack at.
Humans have left Earth, but before they left they raised various other species to sentience and gave them roughly human forms. There are sentient pigs, wolves, bears, cats, and many others.
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Startide Rising and The Uplift War by David Brin (Bantam and Bantam Spectra,
September 1983 and July 1987). Covers by Jim Burns and Michael Whelan
This is ground that David Brin later mined successfully with his Uplift series.
His Startide Rising, the first in that series, is a masterpiece. It was followed by The Uplift War in 1987.
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Breed to Come by Andre Norton (Ace Books, June 1981). Cover artist unknown
In tracing the idea back, the first example I’ve personally read was Breed to Come, by Andre Norton, written in 1972.
I can’t know that Barrett was influenced by Norton’s book but I suspect so. But he did fantastic work with the concept.
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Aldair, Across the Misty Sea and Aldair, the Legion of Beasts (DAW Books,
March 1980 and January 1982). Covers by Josh Kirby and Ken Kelly
The four books are pictured above. The first three have covers and illustrations by the noted Josh Kirby, whose style I’m very fond of. The last has cover and illustrations by Ken Kelly.
Aldair in Albion, 1976
Aldair, Master of Ships, 1977
Aldair, Across the Misty Sea, 1980
Aldair, the Legion of Beasts, 1982
The hero of the series is Aldair, a member of a sentient pig species. He’s relatively small and not a great warrior, but his bravery and intelligence are second to none. He becomes a great leader and I really liked his characterization.
Barrett’s storytelling is outstanding, too. His style, in fact, reminds me a little bit of Jack Vance’s work in the Tschai series, although I prefer Barrett personally.
I find Barrett to be criminally underappreciated. He was not a prolific author but a very talented one.
Charles Gramlich administers The Swords & Planet League group on Facebook, where this post first appeared. See all of his recent posts for Black Gate here.
I read the Aldair series ten or twelve years ago and greatly enjoyed it. I found it consistently lively and inventive.
yes, very much so
I’m surprised you didn’t mention the Underpeople of Cordwainer Smith. Their struggle to be granted full human rights is central to the SF Hall of Fame story, “The Ballad of Lost C’Mell” and “The Dead Lady of Clown Town.”
I didn’t really set out to do a comprehensive examination of the Uplift concept. Breed to Come was the 1st one I remember reading that built on the idea. I haven’t read these Cordwainer Smith stories. but if I do more research on the topic I’ll have to give them a look. and something else concerning Brin’s work, although Sundiver was set in the same Universe as Startide Rising, it was set much earlier in time. I have the feeling Brin was still working out his ideas there, which then really coalesced in Startide Rising.
Also, David Brin’s Sundiver was the first book in the Uplift series.
You’re right, I should have mentioned Sundiver, which I have read. It was Brin’s 1st novel I believe and was written in a different kind of style. The Uplift aspects of his series really came to the fore in Startide Rising, which I’ve read several times.
For an even earlier example of uplift, check out the Johnny Black stories of L.Sprague de Camp, “The Command” (1938), “The Incorrigible” (1939), “The Emancipated” (1940), and “The Exalted” (1940). Johnny Black is an uplifted black bear, but there are other uplifed animals in the series as well, notably the chmpanzee McGinty. The stories have never been collected in book form, and in some instances never reprinted after their initial appearance (in Astounding Science-Fiction), so it’s perhaps not surprising they get overlooked.
I’ve read some De camp but mostly his fantasy related stuff . I’m not familiar with these stories but if I ever trace the idea back to it’s origins I’ll have to get ahold of them
Thanks for another great article, Charles. The Aldair books sound intriguing and I’ll have to keep an eye out for them (and another Andre Norton book to put on my list). Brin’s “Startide Rising” does a great job of touching on the “politics” of uplift with earth being one of the few peoples who did not require the 10,000 years (if I recall correctly) of indentured servitude from its uplifted groups and how that clashes with the current system and the groups that want to keep it as it is. I’ve got the 3rd book, I’ll have to move it up on my very long TBR list. Thanks again.
Thanks, Jim. I appreciate it. I still have a couple of the later uplift war books to read myself.
Barrett is, I agree, underappreciated. It might be time for me to re-read “The Hereafter Gang.”
maybe in retirement I’ll have time to reread some of the stuff I love
You’re right about Barrett being under appreciated. He had a couple of other novels published by DAW, Stress Pattern (1974) and The Karma Corps (1984). The former is fun, the latter grim. Both are fine, quirky reads.
He also wrote through Darkest America and Dawn’s Uncertain light, which I really enjoyed