The Dane Thorson stories are the most numerous of any series in the
Andre Norton SF canon. There are seven of these: the original four
written by Andre Norton herself, the fifth, REDLINE THE STARS, with
the collaboration of P.M. Griffin, and the sixth and the seventh,
DERELICT FOR TRADE and A MIND FOR TRADE, with the collaboration of
Sherwood Smith.

SARGASSO OF SPACE launches this closest look at Free Traders in the
Andre Norton books. This book is from 1955. It begins with the
protagonist, Dane Thorson, having just finished his time studying on
Earth submitting his personal data to the big computer that will
select the most appropriate employment for his talents, aptitude and
performance on exams. Some of his fellow students are present and end
up with the companies, large or small. However, Dane is destined for
greater adventure, so, of course, he's chosen as the new cargo
apprentice on a Free Trader, the Solar Queen.

There is his time fitting in to the crew, meeting the disparate
band of loners who man that ship. There are no women. This book was
written in the 50s and female sailors were not common concepts. In
addition this novel depicts the early days of this Terran outflow,
the time before the Free Traders became so very clannish. Dane's
superior, Van Rcyke, not only begins to train him in cargo handling,
but exposes him to some of the to be expected space mariners' tales:
the wandering NEW HOPE, the "Whisperers" and the legendary voyage
of Sandford Jones, first human allegedly to attempt galactic flight.

The story really starts rolling with the survey auction on Naxos.
The Queen and her crew bid everything they have on an unknown world.
When they start the tape outlining briefly their acquisition there's
some apprehension at once.

   "Limbo--" that was Rip wedged beside him. "Man, oh, man, that's
   no lucky name--that sure isn't." p. 32

Limbo has been partly burned off, but only partly. There have been
forerunners to humans in space, and in a very human like manner, it
seems, they've left evidence of their imperfectly harmonious
existence. The curious thing next happening is that the Queen now
receives a request for the transporting of an archaeological crew,
albeit a very suspicious band of archaeologists.

   "Up to now the Twin Towers are about the most important Forerunner
   find Federation Survey has ever made. They're on Corvo--standing
   right in the center of a silicon desert--two hundred feet high,
   looking like two big fingers pointing into the sky. And as far as
   experts have been able to discover, they're solid clear through--
   made of some substance which is neither stone nor metal, but which
   certainly has lasting properties. Rich was able to cover his slip
   pretty well, but I'm sure he'd not heard of them." p. 52

And, of course, our surprisingly uninformed archaeologists turn out
to be criminals more adept at operating the great installation on
Limbo than at keeping up with other Forerunner finds. This first
novel has plenty of adventure, thrill of space exploration and the
development of self-reliance by newer crew members.

The immediate sequel, PLAGUE SHIP, comes from 1956. It presents the
newly discovered world of Sargol with its feline Salariki. It also
shows the not always above board behaviour of the big companies. It
also quite graphically shows the consequence of human fear of and
offworld diseases. When the Queen's older crew fall sick, the ship
is listed as one to be destroyed on sight.

In a daring response, the crew seize the main Terran broadcast
station and present the audience with a real life drama, replete
with Dane's appeal for justice being interrupted by the Patrol.
Aroused popular opinion has its influence, and the problems are
resolved, on the condition the Solar Queen stay far from Terra for
quite some time to come.

It's an exciting and imaginitive tale with its keen depiction of the
warrior Salariki culture, gorp hunting, trade, chicanery by big
companies, the aftermath of previous atomic wars on Earth, and again
the growing self-reliance of younger people.

The result of the incidents in book two was the awarding of a mail
contract to the Queen. She is to run between the planets of Xecho and
Trewsworld. The third story, the 1961 VOODOO PLANET, begins on Xecko,
but swiftly moves to its neighbouring planet of Khatka. That African
colony is doing a lot of business with big game hunting. There is a
fair amount of politics going on there, with traditional psychic
knowledge being added to the mix. So, the some of the Solar Queen's
crew become caught up in this struggle. Tau, the ship's medic and a
man especially interested in the paranormal on many different worlds,
plays a great role here.

This tale is short, only some sixty pages long. It is focused on its
theme of an African like colony with the misuse of traditional
spirituality. However, it is better than EYE OF THE MONSTER in this
regard of stereotyping Africans or alien species reminiscent of
primitive Africans.

The fourth story, the 1969 POSTMARKED THE STARS, is more substantial,
and not only in the number of its pages. It begins with excitement
and with mystery as Dane sent to pick up a parcel almost misses
liftoff from Xecho for Trewsworld. His arrival is a surprise, as he's
already on board. However, the guy wearing Dane's face dies of the
stress of liftoff and the mystery remains. It is only intensified
when the Queen's crew realize they have some intelligently enhanced
animals aboard. There is another look at this Norton theme of
communication with animals that are more than animals. There's a look
at the settlement world of Trewsworld. There's again the issue of
corporate failure in ethics, and the humanitarian foundation funding
research that is highly questionable.

As I've said elsewhere, I was very struck on reading REDLINE THE
STARS (1993) by the evident change in technology that took place in
the intervening quarter of a century. I find it very interesting that
two scenes can be presented of the same future period, the very same
characters hardly aged at all, but one can detect the passage of time
in the writing of the stories.

There is, in my view, a lack of facility on the part of the one who
is helping our with the story. PCs and computer language are just
incidental technological change. However, this idea that because a
new (and up to date politicaaly correct female) crewmember comes on
board, Dane is going to revert to his insecure attitude as felt on
his very first day is quite a challenge to suspension of disbelief.
There's been the passage of a lot of time as recounted in four
stories. I didn't like the disaster theme of the book. It struck me
as an improbable disaster, and, in addition, I tend to prefer other
kinds of tales, anyway.

Four years later in 1997, DERELICT FOR TRADE appeared. This one, in
my view, is coming from a much superior co-author. She shows some
keen knowledge of the Norton corpus, has had fun considering details
of alien cultures and presents its plot, characters and tapestry of
cultural detail very well. It is my favourite of the three later
novels. It includes a closer look at the Kanddoyds and their so
delightfully polite bureaucracy with no one waiting impersonally
in long lines, but with no quicker service all the same. The setting
for much of the story is a space station shared by three main species
(Kanddoyd, human and Shver) and others. This allows for a variety of
fun, such as the eatery with varying gravity and that playing of the
bagpipes in heavy gee. There's also the introduction of the Rigellian
character, a female named Tooe and that new crewmember from last ish,
Rael, in my opinion, is handled better here, too. 

A MIND FOR TRADE, also from 1997, is less enjoyable for me because I
tend to prefer stories set in relatively normal environments, by
which I include such well described arteficial habitats as the space
station Garden of Harmonious Exchange, but do not include really
bizarre planets. No doubt there are really bizarre planets, but such
seem less likely to be haphazardly recipients of visits from heroes
of books I'm reading.

The later books may received enhanced comment here in the future.
And, I very much look forward to reading even more volumes in this
series. The Free Traders are one of the best Norton creations, in my
view. I'll draw this now to a close by reiterating remarks on the
high quality of these stories in the sense of portraying the wonder
of exploring space, the thrill of trade, the variety of cultures to
be encountered "out there", the open-mindednes, tolerance, diligent
effort to learn new things, the acquisition of self-reliance by the
younger crew members, as by so many growing Norton characters in
general, and Andre Norton's often captivating and inspired prose
rhythm. The Solar Queen stories are a great treat.


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