The Pirates of Ersatz

Hoddan, in trouble, has to take on a mundane job. However, that doesn't last long, given the situation. Piratical behaviour also runs in the family. When he discovers a large group of travelling destitute people he realises some organised swashbuckling can actually boost the economy. Along with blades, here you have stun-pistols and spaceships: "Good fight, eh?" bellowed an ancient, long-retired retainer with a wine bottle in his hand. "Good fight!" agreed Thal. "Good plunder, eh?" bellowed the ancient above the heads of younger men. "Like the good old days?" "Better!" boomed Thal. -- There was a singular pause in the clangings and clashings of weapons on the floor. Then one man popped up and hurled a knife. The clang of its fall was a very lonely one. Don Loris fairly howled at him. "Idiot! Think of the Lady Fani!" The Lady Fani suddenly smiled tremulously. "Wonderful!" she said. "They don't dare do anything while you're as close to me as this!" "Do you suppose," asked Hoddan, "I could count on that?" "I'm certain of it!" said Fani. "And I think you'd better." "Then, excuse me," said Hoddan with great politeness. He swung her up and over his shoulder. With a stunpistol in his free hand he headed down the hall. -- A little bit of a serious side to the Errol Flynn antics to provide the people with resources to be able to survive and prosper. 3.5 out of 5

This novel is probably one of Murray Leinster's most popular science fiction stories. It was serialized in _Astounding_ as "The Pirates of Ersatz" in 1959, was favorably reviewed, and was a Hugo nominee for best novel of the year. It is one of Leinster's most frequently reprinted books. I don't really believe that it is-- or ever was-- anything more than a competently written space opera, but it is still great fun to read. Leinster was reportedly an admirer of Gilbert and Sullivan operettas, and I believe that it's fair to say that _The Pirates of Zan_ is a comic novel with many of the characteristics of a Gibert and Sullivan play. To begin with, all of the characters are broadly comic. The hero is a descendent of space pirates trying to make a living as an honest engineer who runs afoul of respectable authorities on a respectable planet. He becomes a pirate in order to survive as an inventor. On the way, he encounters an unscrupulous banker, his horribly proper daughter, bumbling policemen, a suave and crafty ambassador, a warlord on a feudal planet, his delightfully ruthless daughter, assorted soldiers and cutthroats, a shipload of naive pilgrims, a company of lawyers with flexible ethics, and --near the end-- his buccaneer grandfather. The plot is pure Gilbert and Sullivan, also. The amiable hero gets into one series of scrapes after another; but with a bit of cleverness and luck, he perseveres, and everyone lives happily ever after. There are plots, there are threats, and there are fights; but nobody in the novel suffers more than unconsciousness from a stun gun or rage at being foiled. We enjoy the novel because we instinctively know that everything will turn out all right. The novel also contains some broad satire in the vein of Gilbert and Sullivan. Much of the satire involves an inversion of expected social roles. Pirates, it is argued, serve a benevolent purpose. They shock complacent and stagnent cultures into making social reforms, and they stimulate the economy. "Rebels and crackpots and revolutionaries," the ambassador tells the hero, "prevent hardening of the arteries of commerce and furnish wholesome exercise to the body politic"(22). Indeed, it is the respectable people-- bankers, politicians, and lawyers-- who cheat the helpless. The main reason that _The Pirates of Zan_ is similar to a Gilbert and Sullivan operetta, however, is its lightness of tone. One of the techniques that Leinster uses to maintain this tone is dialogue that tellingly reveals the character's personality: "Deploreable!" said the ambassador mildly. "I don't mean outlawry is deplorable, you understand, or defiance of the government, or being disreputable. But trying to use one's brains is bad business! A serious offense! Are your legs all right now?"(18) "I need not say," said the Lady Fani with dignity, "that I thank you very much. But I do say so."(68) The bearded man said coldly: "I can understand that. The hearts of the rich are h