This Crowded Earth

By Robert Bloch

This is a classic science fiction novel by Robert Bloch. It tells the story of an overpopulated Earth and its perilous problem of diminished resources. However, the government have a plan. Will it work? Find out in this wonderful example of prophetical science fiction.
This work is part of our Vintage Sci-Fi Classics Series, a series in which we are republishing some of the best stories in the genre by some of its most acclaimed authors, such as Isaac Asimov, Harry Harrison, and Robert Sheckley. Each publication is complete with a short introduction to the history of science fiction.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Vintage Sci-Fi Classics
• Release date: Mar 16, 2018
• ISBN: 9781528781893

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THIS

CROWDED EARTH

BY

ROBERT BLOCH

Copyright © 2017 Read Books Ltd.

This book is copyright and may not be

reproduced or copied in any way without

the express permission of the publisher in writing

Contents

An Introduction to the History of Science Fiction

1. Harry Collins—1997

2. Harry Collins—1998

3. President Winthrop—1999

4. Harry Collins—2000

5. Minnie Schultz—2009

6. Harry Collins—2012

7. Michael Cavendish—2027

8. Harry Collins—2029

9. Eric Donovan—2031

10. Harry Collins—2032

11. Jesse Pringle—2039

12. Littlejohn—2065

An Introduction to the

History of Science Fiction

The origins of the literary genre of science fiction continue to be hotly debated. Some scholars cite recognisable themes as appearing in the first known work of recorded literature, the Epic of Gilgamesh, (2000 BCE). Science fiction writer, Pierre Versins (1923-2001), argues that this ancient Sumerian epic poem should be included in the genre due to how it deals with the subjects of human reason and the quest for immortality. It also contains a flood scene that can be seen as resembling apocalyptic science fiction. However, other experts in the field prefer to limit the genre’s scope to the period following the Scientific Revolution in the 17th century, claiming that it was only possible to write science fiction once certain major discoveries in astronomy, mathematics, and physics had been made. Wherever we decide to put the pin in the timeline, it is clear that many of the tropes of what is generally considered to be science fiction have sparked the imagination since the early days of literature.

One such theme is that of the space ship. A form of this kind of technology can be found in the Hindu epic poetry of India. In the Ramayana (5th to 4th century BCE) Amazing machines called Vimana travel into space, underwater, and even have advanced weaponry that can destroy cities. Time travel was also foreshadowed in such works as Mahabharatha (8th and 9th centuries BCE) in which a king travels to heaven and on his return finds that many ages have passed in his absence.

The Syrian-Greek writer Lucian (c. CE 125–after CE 180) uses the themes of space travel and alien races to act as mechanisms of satire in True History to make comment on the use of exaggeration within travel literature and debates. These themes are however mainly utilised for comic effect, and as Bryan Reardon, a translator of Lucian comments, it is an account of a fantastic journey – to the moon, the underworld, the belly of a whale, and so forth. It is not really science fiction, although it has sometimes been called that; there is no ‘science’ in it.

Some elements of the genre can also be identified within One Thousand and One Nights (Arabian Nights) (8th-10th century CE) where themes of cosmic travel and immortality appear. Combine this with first millennia tales from Japan, such as Nihongi (720 CE) in which a young fisherman visits an undersea kingdom, staying for three days, only to return home to find himself three hundred years in the future, and it is easy to see that many literary cultures developed themes of what could be called proto-science fiction.

In the 16th century humanist thinker Thomas More (1478-1535) wrote Utopia (1516) in which he describes a fictional island with a perfect society that he uses to espouse his views on political philosophy. This tale gave the name to the Utopia motif that became a theme in sci-fi writing and together with its antithesis, ‘dystopia’, is still used widely in the genre – most notably in George Orwell’s classic work Nineteen Eighty-Four (1949).

The 17th and 18th centuries brought with them the ‘Age of Reason’, and a new found interest in scientific discoveries spawned fiction that more closely resembles modern science fiction. Johannes Kepler’s Somnium (The Dream 1634) about a voyage to the moon, is a notable example of this, with influential figures such as Carl Sagan and Isaac Asimov citing it as the first true work in the genre. Other works from this era with recognisable tropes are Shakespeare’s The Tempest (1610-11) containing a prototype for the ‘mad scientist story’, Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels (1726) with its descriptions of alien cultures, and Louis-Sébastien Mercier’s L’An 2440 (1771) which gives a predictive account of life in the 25th century.

Some authors, such as Brian Aldiss (born 1925) in his book Billion Year Spree (1973), claim that Mary Shelly’s Frankenstein (1918) is actually the first seminal work to which the label SF can be logically attached. Although generally found under the heading ‘Gothic Horror’, its use of futuristic technology and its exploration of the human condition from an outsider’s viewpoint, find it blurring the lines between the genres.

The late 19th century saw the arrival of two undeniably classic authors of sci-fi, Jules Verne (1828-1905) and H. G. Wells (1866-1946). The former produced popular scientific romances such as Journey to the Centre of the Earth (1864) and Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea (1869). These classic tales of adventure captured the public imagination and brought him great commercial success, making him what L. Sprague de Camp called the world’s first full-time science fiction novelist. As opposed to Verne’s romantic adventures, Wells tended to use the mechanisms of the genre to provide himself with tools for making social commentary and rarely delved into the hard science of the technology he created. For example, in his classic tale The Time Machine (1895) the technicalities of the machine itself are largely glossed over in favour of the didactic points on English society he intends to make. The difference between these two giants of the genre typifies a debate that continues to this day about how to strike the right balance between exciting story telling and a social message. This time period also found several other notable writers dipping into the genre, with authors such as Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (1859-1930), Rudyard Kipling (1865-1936), and Charlotte Perkins Gilman (1860-1935), also making valuable contributions.

The early 20th century saw a critical period in the history of science fiction with the birth of the pulp magazines Amazing stories, Weird Tales, Astounding Stories, and Wonder Stories, among others. It was the work of Hugo Gernsback (1884-1967), writer and editor, in setting up Amazing Stories in 1926 that really spearheaded the movement. He encouraged his authors to produce stories of scientific realism intended to both entertain and inform their readership. This publishing of magazines solely devoted to the genre led to the birth of the ‘Golden Age of Science Fiction’ in the 1940s and 1950s. Under the editorship of John W. Campbell Jr. Astounding Science Fiction had a stable of pioneering authors such as Robert A. Heinlein (1907-1988), Isaac Asimov (1920-1992), and Arthur C. Clarke (1917-2008). It was characterised by hard science fiction stories that celebrated scientific achievement and progress. This format of short story magazines was continued with publications such as Astounding stories and Galaxy, and still continues today with magazines such as Asimov’s Science Fiction and Strange Horizons.

The second half of the 20th century saw sci-fi becoming evermore mainstream and accepted as a reputable literary genre. Work’s such as Frank Herbert’s (1920-1986) Dune (1965), with its complex interweaving of future galaxies, political intrigue, and religion, did much to raise its respectability. It was during the 1960s that a new movement appeared. Dubbed ‘The New Wave’ it stretched the genre, approaching topics such as sexuality and contemporary political issues, as in J. G. Ballard’s (1930-2009) cautionary tales of future societies. It was this movement that inspired the change in direction of science fiction in the film industry, where it started exploring worrisome futures like those portrayed in Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) and A Clockwork Orange (1971).

Following on from ‘The New Wave’ was ‘Cyberpunk’ with authors such as William Gibson (born 1948) focussing on themes of an imagined underworld of the future and the ‘punks’ that inhabited it.

All of these developments of have given modern science fiction a diverse canon from which to draw. At the beginning of the 21st century, the genre shows no sign of disappearing, and the popularity of both novels and short story magazines online is a testament to its enduring appeal.

This work is part of our Vintage Sci-Fi Classics Series, a series in which we are republishing some of the best stories in the genre by some of its most acclaimed authors. Enjoy.

THIS

CROWDED EARTH

BY

ROBERT BLOCH

ILLUSTRATOR FINLAY

The evils of long and dangerous years finally erupted in blood.

1. Harry Collins—1997

The telescreen lit up promptly at eight a.m. Smiling Brad came on with his usual greeting. Good morning—it’s a beautiful day in Chicagee!

Harry Collins rolled over and twitched off the receiver. This I doubt, he muttered. He sat up and reached into the closet for his clothing.

Visitors—particularly feminine ones—were always exclaiming over the advantages of Harry’s apartment. So convenient, they would say. Everything handy, right within reach. And think of all the extra steps you save!

Of course most of them were just being polite and trying to cheer Harry up. They knew damned well that he wasn’t living in one room through any choice of his own. The Housing Act was something you just couldn’t get around; not in Chicagee these days. A bachelor was entitled to one room—no more and no less. And even though Harry was making a speedy buck at the agency, he couldn’t hope to beat the regulations.

There was only one way to beat them and that was to get married. Marriage would automatically entitle him to two rooms—if he could find them someplace.

More than a few of his feminine visitors had hinted at just that, but Harry didn’t respond. Marriage was no solution, the way he figured it. He knew that he couldn’t hope to locate a two-room apartment any closer than eighty miles away. It was bad enough driving forty miles to and from work every morning and night without doubling the distance. If he did find a bigger place, that would mean a three-hour trip each way on one of the commutrains, and the commutrains were murder. The Black Hole of Calcutta, on wheels.

But then, everything was murder, Harry reflected, as he stepped from the toilet to the sink, from the sink to the stove, from the stove to the table.

Powdered eggs for breakfast. That was murder, too. But it was a fast, cheap meal, easy to prepare, and the ingredients didn’t waste a lot of storage space. The only trouble was, he hated the way they tasted. Harry wished he had time to eat his breakfasts in a restaurant. He could afford the price, but he couldn’t afford to wait in line more than a half-hour or so. His office schedule at the agency started promptly at ten-thirty. And he didn’t get out until three-thirty; it was a long, hard five-hour day. Sometimes he wished he worked in the New Philly area, where a four-hour day was the rule. But he supposed that wouldn’t mean any real saving in time, because he’d have to live further out. What was the population in New Philly now? Something like 63,000,000, wasn’t it? Chicagee was much smaller—only 38,000,000, this year.

This year. Harry

Reviews for This Crowded Earth

[isabelx_21 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I listened to this 1950s science-fiction novella as an audiobook. It starts with Harry Collins describing his unbearable life in the hellishly overcrowded Chicago of 1997, following which he has a breakdown and is sent to a mental hospital. While he is there he stumbles upon a mystery, but it is years before he fully understands what is going on.The solution to the overcrowding is novel but to say more would be a big spoiler, and I enjoyed Harry's investigations in the early parts of the book more that the later part.

[carl_alves_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

The premise of this novel is that because of severe overcrowding, life on the planet has become miserable and unsustainable in the long run. The ridiculous solution is that all future children are going to be injected with something during pregnancy that will make them small, on average three feet in height. This causes all sorts of problems, among them a war between the naturalists, who are of normal height, and the yardsticks, those born small. The yardsticks win out but face other issues including short lifespans and a gradual dying out of the species.This is a novel with a crazy amount of flaws in logic. What saves it is that it is still entertaining. Among the flaws, the concept that the best solution for overcrowding is to make people smaller is just stupid. Also, the author is way off in his premise in claiming that at a population of seven billion, the planet would be way overcrowded, which obviously isn’t true since we are above those levels. The author also lacks any sort of imagination about how future commuting issues could be solved by using technology and telecommuting. In the story, war is obsolete because there are atomic fusion bombs that are too dangerous, and therefore nobody is willing to fight anymore. That is a laughable premise. The danger of weapons has done little to prevent violence around the world. There are so many similar things where the author didn’t think things through or lacked imagination. For instance, the yardsticks are concerned about their females delivering normal sized children until a naturalist says this can be accomplished by C section. This is hardly a novel concept, but it was treated as such in the story. As I said, the story does have some entertainment value and on that basis is worth reading despite all of the flaws.Carl Alves – author of Reconquest: Mother Earth

[gregorio_roth · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

An interesting story about the future and its horrors.

[desertgrandma_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Interesting free download to my kindle from feedbooks.com. Only one Bloch novel available at present, hopefully more to come in the near future. Question: what if you had a plan to alleviate overcrowding by downsizing people, instead of controlling population? What would be the end result? Written in 1958, I found this an engrossing read.