Address: Centauri

Address: Centauri
Dust-jacket from the first edition
Author(s)	F. L. Wallace
Cover artist	Ed Emshwiller
Country	United States
Language	English
Genre(s)	Science fiction novel
Publisher	Gnome Press
Publication date	1955
Media type	Print (Hardcover)
Pages	220 pp
ISBN	NA
OCLC Number	1850623

Address: Centauri was written in 1955 by Floyd L. Wallace. It was published by Gnome Press, being sold for the low price of $3.00, and is based on a short story previously written by Wallace called Accidental Flight. The short story was published by Galaxy Publishing Corp. in 1952 and made and appearance in the magazine Galaxy Science Fiction. Both pieces of fiction are categorized in the Science Fiction Fantasy genre, while Address: Centauri is categorized more specifically as a Space opera. A Space opera is defined by The Science Fiction Handbook by M. Keith Booker and Anne-Marie Thomas as a “type of science fiction narrative involving stories of adventure, exploration, and conflict in outer space.”

About Address: Centauri

Plot

Earth is different now. It is filled with beautiful people, technology has been advanced in many fields, and Earth is perfect. Or is it? Not too far off from is earth is Handicap Haven, a place where they send all of earth’s little imperfections. Handicap Haven is actually an asteroid containing a medical facility that takes care of all of the mental and physical rejects. We are introduced to a motley crew of rejects from Earth, with disabilities ranging from loss of limb, rampant flesh-building organisms, inability to speak, and even to telepathic powers. These characters have endured lives filled with being ostracized from society and rejected because of circumstance. So they all come up with a plan to send the asteroid that they call home off to the star system Centauri

Characters

1. Jordan -He has broad shoulders and powerful arms, unfortunately this is where it ends. Jordan’s body stops just below his chest. A metal capsule holds his digestive organs. Jordan is also Docchi’s right-hand man.
2. Anti - Anti was once a gifted dancer, but was infected by a rampant flesh-building organism.
3. Docchi - Docchi was involved in a particularly messy lab experiment that ended in him being tossed in a tank of cold lightning fluid. He has lost all his shoulder muscle and most of his back muscle, which makes his arms only ornaments. Further than his physical limitations, Docchi is the leader of the group of misfits.
4. Nona - Nona is very beautiful, but she is and emotional retard and cannot speak because she is missing her larynx. Nona is also telepathic, and can influence electronic and gravitic systems.
5. Dr Cameron - He is a young doctor sent to Handicap Haven to address the problems. He later develops a relationship with Nona.

Bio of F.L. Wallace

Life

Floyd L. Wallace was born in Rock Island, Illinois in the United States on 16 February 1915. Not much else is given about his life except his publications. Different from most authors of his time, Wallace wrote through the 1950s and the early 1960s. He provided material for Gnome Press trough the 1930s, 1940s and early 1950s. He died on 26 November 2004.

Written Material

Novels

• Address: Centauri (1955)

Collections

• Paria del cosmo (1972)

Chapterbooks

1. Second Landing (2008)
2. Bolden's Pets (2009)
3. Student Body (2010)
4. Forget Me Nearly (2010)
5. Tangle Hold (2010)
6. Accidental Flight (2010)
7. The Impossible Voyage Home (2010)

Shortfiction

1. Hideaway (1951)
2. Accidental Flight (1952)
3. Delay in Transit (1952)
4. Student Body (1953)
5. Worlds in Balance (1953)
6. Tangle Hold (1953)
7. The Music Master (1953)
8. Seasoned Traveller (1953)
9. Forget Me Nearly (1954)
10. The Deadly Ones (1954)
11. The Impossible Voyage Home (1954)
12. The Man Who Was Six (1954)
13. Simple Psiman (1954)
14. Big Ancestor (1954)
15. End as a World (1955)
16. Bolden's Pets (1955)
17. The Assistant Self (1956)
18. Mezzerow Loves Company (1956)
19. A Little Thing for the House (1956)
20. Queen of Clothes (1957)
21. The Nevada Virus (1957)
22. Growing Season (1959)
23. Second Landing (1960)
24. Privates All (1961)

Science Fiction Background

H. Bruce Franklin defined Science Fiction as, “…the major non-realistic mode of imaginative creation of our epoch. It is the principal cultural way we locate ourselves imaginatively in time and space.” Really, Science Fiction started really being defined and focused on in the early 1940s through the 1950s. This was called the "Golden Age" of science fiction with influential authors like Ray Bradbury. Later there were more influential writers such as Isaac Asimov and George Orwell.

History of Science Fiction

Science fiction dates all the way back to 2nd Century AD where the Syrian writer Lucian’s wrote The True History In this story, “the author and a shipload of companions are wafted to the Moon, and the travelers observe an interplanetary battle fought to determine whether the empire of the Moon or of the Sun gets to colonize Venus.” But this story was not written to be Science Fiction, but Fantasy.Science Fiction was really changed in Europe where there were new ideas about the universe being represented in books. This was done by Johannes Kepler, who developed the basic laws of planetary motion, and wrote Somnium in 1634 to represent what living on the moon would be like. Moving in the ages we have many famous scientists who use writing in the genre to put their theories into words, such as New Atlantis, written by Francis Bacon in 1627. Also, Science Fiction was used to analyze society and improve it, such as Thomas More’s Utopia in 1516.

Famous science fiction authors

• Isaac Asimov(1920-1992) - Most famous Asimov works are I, Robot (1950) and The Foundation Trilogy (1951–1953). His most famous contribution to Science Fiction would have to be his Three Laws of Robotics:

1. A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.
2. A robot must obey orders given it by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.
3. A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law.

• George Orwell (1903–1950) – Two of his most famous books were Animal Farm (1945) and Nineteen Eighty Four (1949). Interestingly enough, George Orwell was just a penname. His real name was Eric Arthur Blair.

Reception of Book

Review by Gnome Press Science Fiction Odyssey

• “There is a great base here from which F.L. Wallace could have built a couple more books around our team’s efforts to establish their home and relations with the denizens of the Centauri system. It’s a real shame he didn’t as I really enjoyed the ride out there, and would have liked to tag along on some more adventures with Docchi, Nona, Anti and their interesting friends.”

References

• Bloom, Harold. Science Fiction Writers of the Golden Age. Chelsea House Publishers, 1994. eBook Collection (EBSCOhost). EBSCO. Web. 11 October 2011.
• Booker, M. Keith, and Anne-Marie Thomas. The Science Fiction Handbook. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell, 2009. Print.
• Franklin, H. Bruce Bruce. "Science Fiction: The Early History." Rutgers-Newark: The State University of New Jersey. Web. 11 October 2011. <http://andromeda.rutgers.edu/~hbf/sfhist.html>.
• "Isaac Asimov's "Three Laws of Robotics"" Auburn University. Web. 11 October 2011. <http://www.auburn.edu/~vestmon/robotics.html>.
• "Review: Address: Centauri « The Great Gnome Press Science Fiction Odyssey." The Great Gnome Press Science Fiction Odyssey. Web. 10 October 2011. <http://gnomepress.wordpress.com/2009/12/06/review-address-centauri/>.
• Ruff, Al Von. "Bibliography: Address: Centauri." Internet Speculative Fiction DataBase. 2011. Web. 9 October 2011. http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/title.cgi?9574>.
• Ruff, Al Von. "F. L. Wallace - Summary Bibliography." Internet Speculative Fiction DataBase. 2011. Web. 9 October 2011. <http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/ea.cgi?1259>.
• Wallace, F L. Address: Centauri. New York: Gnome Press, 1955. Print.