The Outer Game


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Space Merchants
Posted by Steve Devine on October 16, 1997 at 08:07:59:

TITLE: The Space Merchants
DEFINITION: Science Fiction Novel
CREATOR: Fred Pohl and Cyril Kornbluth
MAIN CATEGORY: Satire
ALTERNATIVE CATEGORIES: Speculation
RELATIONSHIP TO THE CORE WAVE: The plot revolves
around appearances vs realities, image makers vs image
consumers, and betrayers vs betrayed.


In this novel, the Planet Venus is a hell-world barely
capable of sustaining human life (obsoleted by modern
scientific knowledge, but irrelevant for plotting and
social impact) and covered with company-town style
corporate work farms and commissaries. The story
revolves around an earthman who is an advertising
executive assigned to make emigration to Venus sound
like something someone would ever want to do. He does
it. People migrate en masse, and a horrible
monstrosity of a society is created.

The fun begins when he rises the corporate ladder too
rapidly for some of his carnivorous colleagues. They
decide to get rid of him. But How? "Hey, i have an
idea! Let's shanghai him and drop him off on Venus
without any ID!"

Big fun ensues. He works like a slave, escapes and
lives like an animal, and plots to regain his place in
society, and atone for his horrible crime.

One of the ten best sci-fi booksI have read, and the
satire on an advertising driven economical society is
SEARING! Nothing is lost. Written in the fifties, it
is so horribly appropriate for the post
Reagan-Bush-Clinton era it is beyond scary.

MAIN QUOTE: None at this time, but feel free to add one if youve read it.
HIGHLIGHT QUOTES: See Above
HIGHLIGHT RECOMMENDATION: ?
DEEPER: ?
CONNECTIONS: Adbusters, Brazil
IMAGES AND CLIPS: nonesee above
ACCESS AND DISTRIBUTION: any used paperback book store
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