| Title | : | The Lani People |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | 1419168665 |
| ISBN-10 | : | 9781419168666 |
| Language | : | English |
| Format Type | : | Paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 196 |
| Publication | : | First published January 1, 1962 |
The Lani People Reviews
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Average 1950's - 1960's science fiction
The premise of this book is that in the distant future, humans have spread across the stars, meeting alien species, conquering and dominating them. All species not human, even sentient ones, are animals and therefore have no human rights. The hero of the novel is a veterinarian named Kennon who falls in love with an "animal." Kennon applies for a job that seems too good to be true. He asked a lot of questions in the inerview but inexplicably did not ask about the kinds of animals he would be treating or about the work itself. I don't mind a story being slow to get to the action if the story development is interesting. All this lengthy development section seemed to do was telegraph much of what was to happen in the novel. The only real suspense is in the details of how Mr. Bone will reach his forgone conclusion. There is a little bit of anti-free enterprise bias - the free traders can't be trusted where money is concerned. But it really doesn't matter, the human race as a whole doesn't look very attractive in this story. Mr. Bone was a science fiction author in the 1950's and 60's. He was nominated for a Hugo for one of his short stories. This novel however is no more than average. -
Despite the questionable plot and mediocre characters, it was a suprinsingly enjoyable read. It had decent writing and some good ideas. The ending had nothing special.
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I reread this in 2005, for the first time since it was new (to me), and it's not bad: "C+", an entertaining period-piece, if you can get past the bad science and pulpy prose.
The only thing I remembered about the book was the notorious cover, which is pure teenage-boybait (and why I've kept the book for 40 years). Artist (uncredited in the Bantam ed.) was Mitchell Hooks. You won't be surprised to learn that the cover art (and blurbs, at
http://www.trashfiction.co.uk/lani_pe...) are almost pure tease. Nothing in the contents would have shocked Kay Tarrant, John W. Campbell's Mrs. Grundy.
The setup is 1950's standard-SF: the Brotherhood of Man loosely governs the 6,000 human-settled worlds, which are linked by hyperspace (spindizzy) FTL spaceships and Dirac communicators. Humans have been in space for 5,000 years, but their culture is (surprise!) just like the USA in 1960.
Note that Bone's moral-philosophy lectures are pretty damn tedious. And you are likely to question whether a 4,000 year-old abandoned spaceship could really be fixed up (in secret, on nights and weekends) by a veterinarian and his Lani girlfriend.
Anyway, it's all of 152 pp. long, so it would make a practical (and free) ebook (available at Amazon & elsewhere). Worth a try. And the cover is killer!
My 2005 review, with links; some may still work?
http://www.infinityplus.co.uk/nonfict... -
Someone pointed this out to me because my name is in the title - of course, I *had* to read it. I was expecting a terrible pseudo-raunchy tale from the cover art on my copy.
Instead, I was pleasantly surprised by a science fiction tale that kept me interested with the thoughts of future space exploration and the morals and ethics we might be forced to apply if we go down certain paths.
I liked the story.
Take this with a grain of salt. I haven't read enough sci-fi to compare against other stories and I have a feeling that die-hard sci-fi fans may consider this mediocre, but it's a quick read, so I'd urge you to give it a try.
Note that it can be legally found for free online, so you don't even have to find a copy in a store! :) -
Moving to Park Ridge, Illinois in the middle of fifth grade and then again from one part of that town, and one school district, to another in sixth grade, was very disruptive. A poor country boy compared to the rich suburban sophisticates, I didn't fit in. Besides, my parents were left-leaning Democrats, Mom not even a real American, so I wore funny clothes and had many funny ideas. I was also falling swiftly behind in the height race, already being the smallest boy in class. Others were playing sports and beginning to flirt with girls. I was rejected for all teams and increasingly shy of girls unless they were very tall--freaks like me. Still, underneath I was normal, which is to say sex crazed--increasingly neurotically so as time went on.
My "best friends" at this time and until high school were marginal characters like myself. Two of them, the Bloomdahls, were also "foreign"--Swedish in their case, Norwegian in mine--and unpopular. They also happened to be neighbors, just four blocks away from our home. While they did not share my interest in reading or in science fiction, they did share an interest in art. The older brother and I were even in the same French class, inspiring us to draw a cartoon, an ever-growing one, about the adventures of our Morman teacher, Mr. Kendrick, in his secret base in the middle of an extinct volcano on an island inhabited, for reasons never explained, only by beautiful Polynesian women--a concept I went on to expand as a single-spaced typed novel.
The influences on the Kendrick character were several. One, obviously, was the movie 'Dr. No' (1962), the first James Bond film. Another, less obvious, was Bone's 'The Lani People'.
I hadn't thought of this novel for years, but in order to recapture the past for the sake of GoodReads I've been going through page after page of Bantam Book covers, looking for familiar ones. The sight of the naked Lani People--all female and all, sadly, from the backside--brought back these deeply repressed memories. I don't remember the novel much, whether it was satirical or actually serious, but I certainly do remember the cover and how I obtained the thing.
Mr. Bloomdahl, my friends' dad and a loyal Svithiod, often took us to Chicago's Old Town which, back in the early to mid-sixties, was the sole foothold of the counterculture in Chicago. There were beats there and their descendants, the hippies. There were headshops, junk shops, hookah bars, cafes and new and used bookstores. I found this book in one of those places and, feeling anonymous, perhaps emboldened by the presence of friends, bought the science fiction novel with the sexiest cover. -
The central idea is interesting - that humanity has solved the problem of conflict within its own kind as it spreads throughout the galaxy by defining itself as a Brotherhood based on its own nature that then lets each component do what they will so long as they do not war with each other.
The problem is that everything is dependent on how you define humanity. What do you do with other borderline species who start to emerge as exploration and acquisition proceeds? They are legalistically classified as either human or animal and treated accordingly.
The Lani appear to be human in most respects although they have tails but a legal ruling has placed them on the wrong side. They are thus ripe for exploitation as a commodity under a family that long since seized their territory and has created a corporation out of their acquisition.
In fact, the corporation is quite responsible - at least, by the time of its third generation - with an appropriate approach to animal rights (the Lani are not going to be eaten if that's what you fear) with proper veterinary services (rather than medical services) and nutrition.
They are, however, slaves. As a didactic piece of science fiction the author is not stupid in working through the logic of the situation rationally and introducing intriguing complications centred on the tension between the rule of law and human feeling.
One of the disturbing (and very American) aspects of the novella is that the humanity of the Lani depends entirely on correct legal procedure (modelled perhaps on changes to the civil status of African-Americans over time). If classed as a commodity in law, you are a commodity.
Bones proves intellectually highly ambiguous on questions of right and wrong, accountability and transparency. Most modern readers (the book was published in 1962) may be not a little shocked by its working assumptions in places. The past is another country.
Unfortunately, all this interesting speculation is embedded in a not very interesting pulp story line that is devoid of psychological credibility at multiple levels. It is not badly written in places but the whole is pulp writing and characterisation unworthy of the thesis.
Many readers might be drawn to the fact that the Lani are a female race who walk around naked and are totally compliant with the wishes of their masters (there is a male element to the race but I won't go into that to avoid a spoiler). This might seem to be the sort of thing published in Playboy.
In fact, despite the moral ambiguities involved in what amounts to bestiality according to the laws of the Brotherhood, Bone does not seek to titillate in the least. The nature of the Lani is just a fact on the ground to be dealt with but also another aspect of the book that lacks credibility.
This is, overall, not a particularly good bit of science fiction - old-fashioned even when it was published - and its ideas might have been better explored in an article or book on philosophical ethics (where they might have some value).
However, it provides an unusual insight into how Americans thought in the early 1960s about commercial exploitation, imperialism and the role of the law of property in maintaining order and the difference of law and natural justice. The galactic justice system is certainly American.
Other than a weak member of the exploitative family, even the capitalist villains are not presented as particularly villainous because they can plead ignorance. They can plead ignorance because they have a legal ruling that means that they do not have to answer further moral questions.
If there is a moral force to the book, it is that it is necessary to ask over time certain questions even of the forces that hold society together although, in this case, the questioning does not come from moral commitment but from the dialectic between desire (the love bit) and racial moral bias.
Although it is a pulp novel about morality, it is hard to say exactly what morality emerges out of it. The final mood is one of pragmatic optimism American-style yet no one seems to come out of this with a strong sense of absolute right and wrong. The Lani are to be saved by lawyers in the end.
It is hard not to see this slight novel as something indirectly struggling with the emergent civil rights problem in America and with the role of American capitalism in commercially-based imperial exploitation but the author wants his cake and to eat it.
The implication is that he wants changes in behaviour but he wants it to come slowly, driven from above by enlightened progressive people who must work hard to keep the core framework of free enterprise, limited government and democracy in place. All very Cold War, in fact.
I would love to have seen a Marxist take the same problem and produce his or her version of the story given Marxism's equally ambiguous approach to ethics. I suspect the outcome would have been a lot more bloody as the Lani tried to liberate themselves and were crushed under foot. -
Medical science fiction is nothing new, longstanding examples being Leinster's "Med Ship Man" stories and White's "Sector General" series.
However, a science fiction story that centers around a veterinarian is a novelty to me.
I found the situations and characters absolutely enthralling. It's been a long time since a book made such a positive impression upon me, I could hardly put it down. -
A great read...
I just finished reading The Lani People. It was a terrific book. When was it written? Wow! Wow! Doesn't show age. -
So I read this book, long, long ago, back when I was a teenage boy. I mean, heck, there were naked ladies on the cover. It was one of the handful of science fiction novels that graced the bookshelves in my home.
And what I remembered from that time was: skin, tails, and a story about what it meant to be called "human".
Then it popped back into my head last week for some reason or another, and I decided to see if Project Gutenberg had a copy. Lo and behold! Out of copyright now, the novel is indeed in the public domain, and it was just one click away to find a copy installed on my ebook reader.
It's a story set in a galaxy of incredibly species-ist humanity, with thousands of worlds settled and with extermination being a prime tool of the terraforming process. Our protagonist is a veterinarian hired by a livestock company to help keep their product healthy. One of their products (and the focus of the story) is the Lani people, who are, ostensibly, non-human but humanoid, with long prehensile tails and a disdain for clothing. Clearly intelligent, and easily able to converse with their "owners," this whole situation is clearly a slavers delight.
The story is the story of the Lani People's origin and the truth of their genetic link to humanity.
It's great. The images still tickle my fancy. I'm also a white guy miles away from actual slavery. Does this story treat the concept of slavery with the care that modern sensibilities demand? Probably not. It doesn't treat women very well either, which is unfortunate. Some other reviewer mentioned how odd it seemed that with thousands of years and thousands of planets, this society seemed to be living in 1960. And _that_, my dear readers, is _exactly_ the feel of this book. It's not bad; it's fun in its own way. But it's _definitely_ 60s material.
I truly hope humanity never finds its way to the bigoted ends that this novel posits. By all means, let's all live naked, but it's _life_ that should be respected as we travel the stars, not just humanity.
4 of 5 stars. -
First off, the story-line is profound, and all the more these days, the year 2021 ... and with that, let me suggest that the cover description on GoodReads is not even close in describing the story.
"The Lani People" is not a potboiler, a heaving bosom, bodice-ripper ... but the story of a relatively decent man, a veterinarian, hired by an interplanetary "businessman" to care for the "animals," a species determined by the courts to be "aliens," i.e. NOT HUMAN, which makes them fair game for exploitation by "humans."
The writing is not at the top of the heap, but hats off to the writer for taking the American scenario of slavery and Jim Crow, 1962, and exposing it for what it is - a great evil, a horror and a crime, engendered and supported by "laws" and greed. The author explores the mindset of the "owners" - some utterly cruel, some still with a conscience, but all devoted to money, to the bottom line, to profits and power.
The central figure is attracted to the beauty of Lani women, but remembers they're just animals, and his own conditioning, centuries worth, keeps a barrier between an obviously intelligent being and a human. But love happens - and it's love that opens the eyes, the mind and the heart, to the possibilities of some other reality, a world-view in which the Lani are not animals, but descendants of early human colonists, and fully and wonderfully human.
It's a thoughtful story, full of danger, lust, and love, a good looking man, and a beautiful "lady" ... heck, aren't those the pillars of any good adventure story? And some good sci-fi gobbledygook, plenty of "advanced tech," space flight faster-than-light, and all the rest. It's a good read, worth the time, especially so in the light of #BLM and #CRT. -
A cute, fun, little story, I don't regret reading. Unfortunately the characters are shallower than your average instagram model, which is a real deal breaker for me... unless, of course, the story isn't about the characters, and is instead about faux-catgirl smut and shenanigans. Unfortunately, it's not about that either. The book plays it straight and clean, and the cardboard cut-outs for characters only hold up the story because of the interesting concepts presented by the author. Which still isn't enough to get a good review from me. Some reviewers say the story isn't dated at all, but things like data tapes and phones with wires existing 6000 years in the future gave me a different impression entirely.
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A Story Affirming the Dignity of the Human Person.
Bone's story directly confronts issues such as eugenics, colonialism, social engineering and slavery in a way that's remarkably life-affirming, and in the spirit of, if not the form and language of the Catholic tenets of the Dignity of the Human Person, the sanctity of human life, and just maybe even a little of St. John Paul II's Theology of the Body, again in a kindred spirit kind of way, not an explicit or probably even intentional manner. All while reminding me, of all things, a little bit of Tenchi Muyo (and I guarantee you, alao unintentionally). The character of Copper utters some of the most inadvertently profound statements I've read in sci-fi. -
Pulp fiction (not the movie) Sci-Fi published in the early 1960s. Among other dated ideas, J.F. Bone writes that the Brotherhood of Man governs the 6,000 human-settled worlds and the Lani women did not cause issues during subjugation. Hum... One other thing doesn't change in the future is capitalist villains.
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A perfect example of, "you can't judge a book by its cover". Not the worst book that I've ever read but certainly not the best. I actually purchased this book to give to someone named Lani. But, I was curious so I downloaded the free audiobook from Amazon.
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I really liked the book, but the einding came a bit quick and too easy.
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Pretty good little read.
Bit dated. Bit misogynistic, - but not for the time it was written.
Themes: slavery ; human dignity; love.
Would take the trouble with the author again -
It was interesting. But the ending in my opinion was very lacking. I wouldn't recommend this book to anyone. There wasn't a payoff to this book at all. More of a fairly tale than a Scfi story.
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Enjoyable mid-1960s SF. I'm sure the people who bought based on the description on the jacket (I presume this is what is reproduced by Goodreads) and the spicy-hot cover (which isn't, but don't try an image search for it at work) were really disappointed.
A recently graduated veterinarian signs up for his first contract, and is perturbed to find that the "animals" he's looking after are nearly-human women. Naked ones at that. (No, no action take place "on screen", as it were.) Our Hero remains fairly cheerfully repressed throughout, which, speaking as a cheerfully repressed person myself, made me happy.
An element of the plot involving is handled really well.
I think the animal rights crowd would enjoy this one, and read more into it than intended. Struck me as more of a thought experiment by the author.
3.3/5. Freely available off of Project Gutenberg. Without the spicy cover illustration. -
Classic science fiction for all the good and bad that entails. A progressive meaning message that just comes across as painfully backwards today.
Beyond that it was serviceable but not particularly notable. -
The Lani People by Jesse F. Bone (2000)
