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Neptune in fiction

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Refer to caption
"A City on Neptune" byFrank R. Paul.Back cover ofAmazing Stories,March 1941.

Neptunehas appeared in fiction since shortly after its 1846 discovery, albeit infrequently. It initially made appearances indirectly—e.g. through its inhabitants—rather than as asetting.The earliest stories set on Neptune itself portrayed it as arocky planetrather than as havingits actual gaseous composition;later works rectified this error.Extraterrestrial lifeon Neptune is uncommon in fiction, though the exceptions have ranged from humanoids to gaseous lifeforms. Neptune's largest moonTritonhas also appeared in fiction, especially in the late 20th century onwards.

Neptune[edit]

Neptunewas discovered in 1846 and has only made occasional appearances in fiction since then;[1][2][3][4]in the catalogue ofearly science fictionworks compiled byE. F. BleilerandRichard Bleilerin thereference worksScience-Fiction: The Early Yearsfrom 1990 andScience-Fiction: The Gernsback Yearsfrom 1998, Neptune appears in 9 (out of 2,475) and 18 (out of 1,835) works respectively,[5][6]compared to 194 forMars in fictionand 131 forVenus in fictioninThe Gernsback Yearsalone.[7]Brian Ashwrites inThe Visual Encyclopedia of Science Fictionthat "Neptune has been largely overlooked in the genre",[3]and Richard L. McKinney describes it as "unexplored territory" inThe Greenwood Encyclopedia of Science Fiction and Fantasy.[8]The Encyclopedia of Science Fictionattributes this in part to its relatively late date of discovery,[1]Brian Stablefordwrites inScience Fact and Science Fiction: An Encyclopediathat its remote location was a significant factor,[9]andscience fiction scholarGary Westfahlposits that the presumed-harshenvironmental conditions of the planetmade it unappealing for writers to use it as asetting.[2]

Early depictions[edit]

The first time Neptune was mentioned in a work of fiction—then called "Leverrier's planet" after astronomerUrbain Le Verrierwhose orbital calculations led tothe planet's discovery—was in the 1848 novelThe Triumphs of WomanbyCharles Rowcroftwhere an inhabitant of the planet visits Earth.[9]Neptune was usually omitted in the subgenre of works visiting multiple locations in theSolar Systemthat appeared in this time, though it did make some indirect appearances in works not otherwise set there.[9]Supernaturalcommunication with its inhabitants appears inMarie Corelli's 1892 novelThe Soul of Lilith.[9][10]In the 1897 short story "The Star"byH. G. Wells,animpact eventcauses Neptune toturn into a starand puts it on a collision course with Earth.[9][11]InRobert William Cole's 1900 novelThe Struggle for Empire: A Story of the Year 2236,described by science fiction scholarE. F. Bleileras the firstspace operaand by Westfahl as the first appearance of agalactic empire,the vicinity of Neptune is the site of a battle between theBritish Empirethat has come to rule the Solar System and the forces of a rival empire centered onSirius.[9][12][13]

Refer to caption
Henrik Dahl Juve's "The Monsters of Neptune"illustrated byFrank R. Paulon the cover ofWonder Stories Quarterly,Summer 1930

Early works incorrectly depicted Neptune as asolid planet,and several stories thus include human expeditions to its surface.[2]The earliest story where Neptune itself directly appears as a setting is the 1929 short story "A Baby on Neptune"byClare Winger HarrisandMiles J. Breuer,where the planet is covered in ice.[3][9]It also appears in the 1930 short story "The Monsters of Neptune"byHenrik Dahl Juve,this time with a tropical climate.[2]Alien lifeon Neptune, while uncommon,[14]appears in some stories;[2]"A Baby on Neptune" features gaseous lifeforms and "The Monsters of Neptune" grotesque creatures, while Neptune in the 1932 novelThe Vanguard to NeptunebyJ. M. Walshis populated byhumanoids.[2][3]In the 1930 short story "The Universe Wreckers"byEdmond Hamilton,the former inhabitants of Neptune have left the planet for its moon Triton due toenvironmental changes.[9][15]The concept of Neptune turning into a star from "The Star" was reused in the 1932 short story "Raiders of the Universes"byDonald Wandrei,although in this case it then proceeds to leave the Solar System rather than heading towards its center.[9][16]

The most significant appearance of Neptune in fiction in this era is in the 1930 novelLast and First MenbyOlaf Stapledon,[1]which outlines thefuture historyof humanity through several billions of years and various sequential species from the First Men to the Eighteenth.[17]In the story, Neptune becomes humanity's refuge in thefar futurewhen the Sun expands.[1][2][4][8]This plot point would later reappear in the 1934 short story "Twilight"byJohn W. Campbelland its 1935 sequel "Night".[9][14]After this however, says Stableford, Neptune "retreated into obscurity again aspulp science fictiongrew more sophisticated ".[9]

Later depictions[edit]

[Gardner Dozois] didn't mind that there were elephants on Neptune, or that they breathed oxygen, or that they could speak English, or that they could forage and find food—but it bothered the hell out of him that I'd given Neptune a solid surface when everyone knows it's a gas giant, so I had to insert a sentence explaining that.

Mike Resnick,on selling the 2002 short story "The Elephants on Neptune"toAsimov's Science Fiction[18]

Once more became known about Neptune through advances inplanetary science,fiction writers began portraying it more accurately as agaseous planet.[2]ThusAlexei Panshin's 1969 short story "One Sunday in Neptune"depicts a voyage into Neptune's atmosphere[2]andAlex Irvine's 2003 short story "Shepherded by Galatea"featuresresource extractionin the atmosphere.[9]In the 1969 novelMacroscopebyPiers Anthony,Neptune is converted to aworld ship,[1]and in the 1997 filmEvent Horizonthe titular spacecraft is adrift in Neptunian orbit.[4]The planet also appears inJack Williamson's 1985 short story "At the Human Limit",Gregory Feeley's 1986 short story "Neptune's Reach",the adventures ofcomic booksuperheroSuperman,the television seriesDoctor Who,and thevideo gameDescent.[4][8][9]

Triton[edit]

Neptune's largest moonTritonwas discovered less than a month after the planet.[9]A few works in the 1930s depicted humans going to Triton, looking for minerals inRoman Frederick Starzl's 1932 short story "The Power Satellite"and a permanent home inJohn R. Pierce's 1930 short story "The Relics from the Earth".[2]In the 1950s, the moon appeared inMargaret St. Clair's 1950 short story "The Pillows"andAlfred Bester's 1956 novelThe Stars My Destination—albeit called "Lassell" in the latter, after its discovererWilliam Lassell.[1][2]In the late 20th century it started receiving more attention from science fiction writers than Neptune itself.[9]The main such work isSamuel R. Delany's 1976 novelTriton(a.k.a.Trouble on Triton: An Ambiguous Heterotopia) which depicts future societies living there.[2][19]Gordon Eklund's 1989 novelA Thunder on Neptuneis partially set on Triton and features anexobiologicalexpedition to Neptune.[9][20][21]In the 1994 novelNeptune CrossingbyJeffrey Carver,an alien on Triton helps humanity avert animpact event.[8]

See also[edit]

A photomontage of the eight planets and the MoonNeptune in fictionUranus in fictionSaturn in fictionJupiter in fictionMars in fictionEarth in science fictionMoon in science fictionVenus in fictionMercury in fiction
Clicking on a planet leads to the article about its depiction in fiction.

References[edit]

  1. ^abcdefLangford, David;Stableford, Brian(2021)."Outer Planets".InClute, John;Langford, David;Sleight, Graham(eds.).The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction(4th ed.).Retrieved2021-11-04.Neptune, like Uranus, makes only relatively rare sf appearances except as part of a Grand Tour.
  2. ^abcdefghijklWestfahl, Gary(2021)."Outer Planets".Science Fiction Literature through History: An Encyclopedia.ABC-CLIO. pp. 485–487.ISBN978-1-4408-6617-3.since these worlds have reasonably been viewed as cold and inhospitable, they have generally been underutilized as settings for science fiction stories.
  3. ^abcdAsh, Brian,ed. (1977)."Exploration and Colonies".The Visual Encyclopedia of Science Fiction.Harmony Books. pp. 83–84.ISBN0-517-53174-7.OCLC2984418.Neptune has been largely overlooked in the genre
  4. ^abcdCaryad; Römer, Thomas; Zingsem, Vera (2014)."Unergründlich, unbekannt"[Unfathomable, Unknown].Wanderer am Himmel: Die Welt der Planeten in Astronomie und Mythologie[Wanderers in the Sky: The World of the Planets in Astronomy and Mythology] (in German). Springer-Verlag. p. 282.ISBN978-3-642-55343-1.
  5. ^Bleiler, Everett Franklin(1990)."Motif and Theme Index".Science-fiction, the Early Years: A Full Description of More Than 3,000 Science-fiction Stories from Earliest Times to the Appearance of the Genre Magazines in 1930: with Author, Title, and Motif Indexes.With the assistance ofRichard J. Bleiler.Kent State University Press.p. 904.ISBN978-0-87338-416-2.
  6. ^Bleiler, Everett Franklin;Bleiler, Richard(1998)."Motif and Theme Index".Science-fiction: The Gernsback Years: a Complete Coverage of the Genre Magazines... from 1926 Through 1936.Kent State University Press. p. 668.ISBN978-0-87338-604-3.
  7. ^Westfahl, Gary(2022)."Venus—Venus of Dreams... and Nightmares: Changing Images of Earth's Sister Planet".The Stuff of Science Fiction: Hardware, Settings, Characters.McFarland. p. 165.ISBN978-1-4766-8659-2.
  8. ^abcdMcKinney, Richard L. (2005)."Jupiter and the Outer Planets".InWestfahl, Gary(ed.).The Greenwood Encyclopedia of Science Fiction and Fantasy: Themes, Works, and Wonders.Greenwood Publishing Group. pp. 449–450.ISBN978-0-313-32951-7.
  9. ^abcdefghijklmnopStableford, Brian(2006)."Neptune".Science Fact and Science Fiction: An Encyclopedia.Taylor & Francis. p. 328.ISBN978-0-415-97460-8.
  10. ^Bleiler, Everett Franklin(1990)."Corelli, Marie".Science-fiction, the Early Years: A Full Description of More Than 3,000 Science-fiction Stories from Earliest Times to the Appearance of the Genre Magazines in 1930: with Author, Title, and Motif Indexes.With the assistance ofRichard J. Bleiler.Kent State University Press. pp. 160–161.ISBN978-0-87338-416-2.
  11. ^Bleiler, Everett Franklin(1990)."Wells, H[erbert] G[eorge] (1866–1946)".Science-fiction, the Early Years: A Full Description of More Than 3,000 Science-fiction Stories from Earliest Times to the Appearance of the Genre Magazines in 1930: with Author, Title, and Motif Indexes.With the assistance ofRichard J. Bleiler.Kent State University Press. p. 802.ISBN978-0-87338-416-2.
  12. ^Bleiler, Everett Franklin(1990)."Cole, Robert W.".Science-fiction, the Early Years: A Full Description of More Than 3,000 Science-fiction Stories from Earliest Times to the Appearance of the Genre Magazines in 1930: with Author, Title, and Motif Indexes.With the assistance ofRichard J. Bleiler.Kent State University Press. pp. 147–148.ISBN978-0-87338-416-2.
  13. ^Westfahl, Gary(2021)."Galactic Empires".Science Fiction Literature through History: An Encyclopedia.ABC-CLIO. pp. 309–311.ISBN978-1-4408-6617-3.
  14. ^abStableford, Brian(1999)."Neptune".The Dictionary of Science Fiction Places.Wonderland Press. p. 212.ISBN978-0-684-84958-4.Very few alternativersal versions of Neptune—even among those reported in the earliest days of imaginative exploration—feature an active ecosphere, the principal exceptions being located in two notable alternativerses in which Neptune became a significant refuge for human life following the expansion of the senescent sun.
  15. ^Bleiler, Everett Franklin;Bleiler, Richard(1998)."Hamilton, Edmond [Moore] (1904–1977)".Science-fiction: The Gernsback Years: a Complete Coverage of the Genre Magazines... from 1926 Through 1936.Kent State University Press. p. 163.ISBN978-0-87338-604-3.
  16. ^Bleiler, Everett Franklin;Bleiler, Richard(1998)."Wandrei, Donald A[lbert] (1908–1987)".Science-fiction: The Gernsback Years: a Complete Coverage of the Genre Magazines... from 1926 Through 1936.Kent State University Press. pp. 472–473.ISBN978-0-87338-604-3.
  17. ^Ashley, Mike;Clute, John(2022)."Stapledon, Olaf".InClute, John;Langford, David;Sleight, Graham(eds.).The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction(4th ed.).Retrieved2023-04-30.
  18. ^Resnick, Mike(2002)."Millennium Philcon Diary".Once a Fan...Wildside Press LLC. p. 121.ISBN978-1-59224-019-7.
  19. ^Nicholls, Peter(2023)."Delany, Samuel R".InClute, John;Langford, David;Sleight, Graham(eds.).The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction(4th ed.).Retrieved2023-12-26.
  20. ^Fraknoi, Andrew(January 2024)."Science Fiction Stories with Good Astronomy & Physics: A Topical Index"(PDF).Astronomical Society of the Pacific(7.3 ed.). p. 13.Archived(PDF)from the original on 2024-02-10.Retrieved2024-03-16.
  21. ^Geis, Richard E.(Summer 1990). Fratz, D. Douglas (ed.)."A Thunder on Neptuneby Gordon Eklund ".Quantum.No. 37. p. 16.ISSN0198-6686.
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