The Key to Venudine / Mercenary from Tomorrow

Keys to the Dimensions

by Kenneth Bulmer, Mack Reynolds

Ace Double Paperback H-65 featuring:

The Key to Venudine by Kenneth Bulmer (122 pages)
Mercenary from Tomorrow by Mack Reynolds (131 pages)

Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction

253 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1968

About the author

Henry Kenneth Bulmer
aka:
Alan Burt Akers
Ken Blake
Ernest Corley
Arthur Frazier
Adam Hardy
Philip Kent
Bruno Krauss
Neil Langholm
Karl Maras
Manning Norvil
Charles R. Pike
Andrew Quiller
Richard Silver
Tully Zetford

Reviews

[Craig · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is one of the Ace Double volumes, a publishing curiosity extant from the early 1950s to the early 1970s, where two separate books are bound together but published back-to-back and in opposite orientation to one another in what was known as tête-bêche format. Each side had its own cover, so there were two fronts and no backs. This one was published in 1968 and was a great bargain for sixty cents. The Key to Venudine by Kenneth Bulmer is a book in his Keys to the Dimensions series, all nine of which had really neat, exotic-sounding titles; this one has a nice Kelly Freas cover, too. It's a humorous sword-and-planet adventure story about alternate worlds and extra-dimensional hijinks. Bulmer was a great storyteller, if not a gifted prose stylist. Mercenary From Tomorrow by Mack Reynolds is an expansion of a novella that was published in the April 1962 issue of Analog magazine with the title Mercenary. The cover for it was painted by Jack Gaughan. It was the first of his Joe Mauser stories, social satires that predicted reality television or revisited Roman bread and circuses depending on your viewpoint. It's a world in which warfare is sponsored and strictly regulated by giant corporations for purposes of entertaining and distracting the populace. It has interesting historical minutiae, and socioeconomic philosophy that I found of less interest, but there was plenty of action, too. The book was an enjoyable read on two fronts!

[Tentatively, Convenience · Rating 4 out of 5]

review of
Kenneth Bulmer's / Mack Reynolds's The Key to Venudine / Mercenary from Tomorrow
by tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE - July 13-17, 2018

Yet-another Ace double, a great source for science fiction that I might not find elsewhere. I got this one b/c it's got a Mack Reynolds story. I'd never read anything before from Bulmer. I started w/ the Bulmer to save the Reynolds for dessert. I see that in addition to The Key to Venudine Bulmer has written The Key to Irunium so there's a series implied — or, perhaps, a metaseries, united in an abstraction rather than by recurring characters. Dunno.

This had the initial appearance, at least, of being in the Sword & Sorcery category, a genre I've had little interest in, but, as is often the case, the 'sorcery' turns out to be technology that's unknown to most of the characters in the environment of the story. As such, a shotgun becomes a magic wand of sorts, a thunder stick, that sort of thing.

"For sorcery in general he had the general contempt of the fighting man. Metal and leather, a sword and an ax, a griff or vanca to bestride—these things a man could grapple with and master. But rumors of the Princess Nofret's sister fumed from a world he could never enter; let the fool Rodro marry into a witch family as he would." - p 6

W/o even intending to, I've probably read a fair amt of these bks w/ science-perceived-as-sorcery-or-at-least-unknown-&-not-understood-as-such-by-the-majority-populace. Just recently I read Greg Bear's Hegira, e.g.. (See my review here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... ) While I was reading this one, tho, it occurred to me that Mark Twain's A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court (1889) is the earliest example of the genre I can think of. That's another feather in Twain's cap. Of course, there might be an earlier example that I don't know of.

"Lai laughed, grimly. "A slang name for an almost unpronounceable real name. Slikitter—a fit word for the slimy devils. The blue fire is a paralysis device—"

""Like the palsy?" Fezius asked.

""Something like that. Science in Venudine is crude and backward. You people live by weapons, sword and armor, griffs and vancas; you know nothing of the wider world and the possibiliies of science—"" - p 32

Sooner or later, if it hasn't already happened, there'll be a novel where someone from the 21st century USA slips into an alternate time / space & tries to impress the locals w/ their smart phone only to realize that the network doesn't extend there as they're cut in 2 by a broadsword, self-contained technology. Have to correct that need for an external network & battery recharges & the like in smart phones. Get on it.

Sometimes those barbarians are refreshing in their directness:

""You have so little understanding of a noble's code—"

"Fezius exploded. "Wrap it up, you whining little pricess! My father was a Gavilan—I understand only too well the way the kings operate! I would decapitate all kings—aye, and queens and their broods too! Don't talk to me of honor!"" - p 37

"Fezius did not look up; but the image of the murdering holes above struck him with sudden force, forebodingly." - p 44

Until a few day before I read the above passage, the term "murdering holes" wdn't've meant anything to me but, coincidentally, my friend & neighbor had just come back from Italy where he'd visited a castle that had Murder Holes: the last line of defense in a castle before the courtyard is entered, holes in the ceiling above a space between walls thru wch boiling oil & other potentially fatal objects were dropped onto invader's heads. But what about the Slikitters?

"Rodro observed Fezius' sick look with jovial villainy. "So you don't like the look of our Slikitter friends, hey?" He laughed coarsely and his men laughed with him. "They'll tear you into pieces and have you for breakfast, Amra-spawn!" Everyone laughed." - p 52

Remember the 1st time your friends pushed you into a teleportation device & you didn't know what it was & how uncomfortable you felt as you dematerialized & rematerialized someplace light yrs away?

""Trapped!" shouted Fezius, springing to the steel gates and shaking them. "Trapped!"

"Then, as they stood there, a strange and weird sensation gripped them. Fezius felt heavier. He staggered. His stomach and bowels threatened to fall downward. He swallowed and his ears did funny things.

""The floor!" gasped Lai. "It's moving!"

""It's going—up!"" - p 60

Yes, it was an elevator. & all the times I've ridden in an elevator my ears have never told me a joke. I feel cheated. These barbarians get all the breaks. The next thing ya know, Fezius & Lai are in NYC. They sure do get around. All expenses pd too. Spoiled poodles.

"Alec said, "I should have thought that after riding one of your flying birds—what d'you call them, griffs?—a jaunt in a cab wouldn't worry you at all."" - p 88

"He'd like to go kragor hunting with them. That sorted out the men from the boys and friends from sycophants. Most men used a kragor-spear with wide wings, the famous quilloned kragor-spear of legend; but recently a new crop of young men, and chief among them Frezius himself, had taken up the lunatic-dangerous sport of kragor hunting with swords. You stand there with a sword, even a true blade like Peaceful, facing the slavering jaws and the twelve inch tusks of the kragor, tusks that could disembowel in a single flashing twist of the blunt head, and you'd know who your friends were." - p 89

Tragically, in the sequel to this, The Key to Kragor Hunting, Fezius was disembowled w/in the 1st few pages before his friends in the helicopter cd safely shoot the kragor w/ their high-powered rifles. Frezius won't be making that mistake again. But he's not dead yet in this bk so he might as well enjoy it:

"Wind brushed against Fezius's face. The wingbeats had straighened out now. The griff hadn't realized yet what had happened. She flew with a drunken amaze. The weight on her back, the thongs attacked to her fangs and pulling her up this way and that, the incredibly sharp and painful sting that nicked her flanks, all these impossible sensations remained still discrete. When she had sorted them out, made a picture of them, Fezius knew he was in for aerobatics such had never graced any flying academy of Venudine before." - p 104

A little etymology is, perhaps, apropos:

"The hippogriff, or sometimes spelled hippogryph (Greek: Ιππόγρυπας), is a legendary creature which has the front half of an eagle and the hind half of a horse.

"The first recorded mention of the hippogriff was made by the Latin poet Virgil in his Eclogues. Though sometimes depicted during the Classical Era and during the rule of the Merovingians, it was used by Ludovico Ariosto in his Orlando Furioso, at the beginning of the 16th century. Within the poem, the hippogriff is a steed born of a mare and a griffin—it is extremely fast and is presented as being able to fly around the world and to the Moon. It is ridden by magicians and the wandering knight Ruggiero, who, from the creature’s back, frees the beautiful Angelica." - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hippogriff

Now I'm not sayin' that the griff & the hippogriff are the same thing but there does seem to be a family resemblance.

********************************************

On to Mac Reynolds's Mercenary from Tomorrow. Judging by the title, one might think that this is of a similar ilk to The Key to Venudine but it's significantly different. After all, you can't judge a bk by its title.. or its cover.. or the font used.. or the paper used.. or who the publisher is.. or by what you had for breakfast this morning. It's the future. In the future you can't even judge a bk by its contents.

"Joseph Mauser spotted the recruiting lineup from two or three blocks down the street, shortly after driving into Kingston. The local offices of Vacuum Tube Transport, undoubtedly. Baron Haer would be doing his recruiting for the fracas with Continental Hovercraft there if for no other reason than to save on rents. The Baron was watching pennies on this one and that was bad.

"In fact, it was so bad that even as Joe Mauser let his sports hovercar sink to a parking level and vaulted over its side he was still questioning his decision to sign up with the vacuum tube outfit rather than their opponents. Joe was an old pro and old pros do not get to be old pros in the Category Military without developing an instinct to stay away from the losing side." - p 5

Yes, the wars in this future are industrially sponsored deadly competitions between business interests for wch mercenaries are hired. People are attracted to this kind of work in hopes of improving their class position. The general public is attracted to the fracases as entertainment.

This is as good a time as any to mention that this story is set in the same future world as Reynolds's Trample An Empire Down (read my review here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... ). In my review of that bk I quote an explanation of this future society: ""He said definitely, "The country's gone flat. No more wars, no more depressions, and with ultramation and computerization, practically nobody works. Practically everybody's on Guaranteed Annual Income. Even the space program has gotten into a rut, with nothing exciting going on. Practically everybody just sits around taking trank or drinking beer and watching Tr-D like a bunch of idiots. The whole country's in a mental slump.""

Some of the details in the 2 bks differ but they're close enuf for this one to be the 'prequel' to Trample An Empire Down. Class is more emphasized in this one:

"Born to command. His face holding that arrogant, contemptuous expression once common to the patricians of Rome, the Prussian Junkers, the British ruling class of the Nineteenth Century." - p 9

In this bk there's still a sham of a 2 party system:

"Joe said impatiently, "Max the politico-economic system we have today is an outgrowth fo what went earlier. The welfare state, the freezing of the status quo, the Frigid Fracas between the West-world and the Sov-World, industrial automation until useful employment is all but needless—all these were to be found in embryo more than fifty years ago."

""Well, maybe you're right, but you gotta admit, sir, that mostly we do things the old way. We still got the Constitution and the two-party system and ..."" - p 28

Whereas in Trample An Empire Down the so-called two-party system has merged into one party, the "Democratic Republicans". In Mercenary from Tomorrow, Joe, the main character, is trying to elevate his class status:

"Joe came to his feet, putting down his still half-full glass. "I'll make this epic story short, Max. As you said, the two actually valid methods of rising above the level in which you were born are in the Military and Religious Categories. Like you, even I couldn't stomach the latter."" - p 30

Joe has taken Max under his tutelage partially to try to make him less naive:

""Hey," Max said. "Don't get me wrong. What was good enough for Dad, is good enough for me. You won't catch me talking against the government."

""Hmm," Joe murmured. "And all the other cliches taught to us to preserve the status quo, our People's Capitalism."" - p 32

"Joe shook his head wearily. "Max, you have a lot to learn about People's Capitalism as a social system. Rank has its privileges, as it always had. Laws are, as ever, made to benefit those who own the country and run the country, not, as is popularly supposed, to benefit everyone. You've probably never heard of Anatole France; he once wrote about the impartiality of the law, pointing out that it was illegal for a millionaire to sleep under a braidge as it was for a poor man."" - p 86

We are all UNEQUAL under the LAW & THAT is its PURPOSE. How many people still don't get that? A millionaire isn't going to be sleeping under a bridge b/c (s)he's not desperate enuf to need to.

Joe is the "old pro" bucking against the established inherited power of the upper classes:

"Balt Haer said in amusement, "Thanks for your opinions, Captain. Fortunately, our staff had already come largely to the same conclusions. Undoubtedly, they'll be glad to hear your wide experience bears them out."

"He took this as it came, having been through it before. The dilettante amateur's dislike of the old pro. The amateur in command who knew full well he was less capable than many of those below him in rank." - p 47

I'm reminded of Clint Eastwood's character in the movie Heartbreak Ridge (1986) about the invasion of Grenada in wch Eastwood conflicts w/ his commanding officer who had no battle experience, who had come from a supply position. Of course, one doesn't have to be in the military for such a conflict, working for museums will do just as well — it just isn't life & death. & then there's romance:

"Joe was fascinated by her furious attack. He said, "Then what would you say was the purpose of the fracases, Doctor . . . ?"

""Circuses," she snorted. "The old Roman games, all over again, and a hundred times worse. Blood and guts sadism. The quest of a frustrated peron for satisfaction in another's pain. Our Lowers of today are as useless and frustrated as the Roman proletariat, and potentially they're just as dangerous as the mob that once dominated Rome. Automation, the second industrial revolution, had elminated for all pratical purposes the need for their labor. So we give them blood and circuses. And every year that goes by the circuses must be increasingly sadistic, death on an increasing scale, or they aren't satisfied. Once it was enough to have fictional mayhem, cowboys and Indians, gangsters, or G.I.'s versus the Nazis, Japanese or Commies, but that's passed. Now we need real blood and guts."" - p 54

"A great breakthrough in the realm of violence was the spate of gangster films in the Thirties, launched by Scarface, that tale of Al Capone and the beer baron rivals of Chicago. The Dillinger era followed, when Baby Face Nelson, Pretty Boy Floyd, the Barker Boys, Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow were immortalized to the point where the movie-goer was hard put to decide who was the villain, who the hero, bank robber or F.B.I. agent.

"The movie moguls had soon found that it was easy to create a prime demand for the film depicting violence and death, combat and murder. Even the production supposedly devoted to the youngest of children, must needs have its terrifying elements of violence. Bambi must be chased by the hunters and dogs through the forest fire" - p 83

Violence is a way of getting people involved emotionally. It's a sign of a no-talent moviemaker when thye can't make a movie w/o it. As far as kid's movies go, check out the violence & horror level of Pirates of the Caribbean & compare it to Disney movies of 40 or 50 yrs before. When I become WORLD DICTATOR only my movies will be easily available. Anything else will have to be fought for the right to witness in a death match.

But what about elections? What really puts the Rump of the present & the future in power?:

"For it was all very well that the electorate decided by majority vote who was to lead the nation, but the nominations were made by a handful of professional politicians who represented the great wealthy families, the corporations, in short, the real powers that were. In theory, a Rockefeller's vote was worth no more than that of a janitor working in one of the skyscrapers owned by that family, but that was the theory, not the actuality." - p 74

How does someone become president of the US? 1st, they have to be rich. Doesn't that tell you something right there? Let's consider the Electoral College:

"The Electoral College is a process, not a place. The founding fathers established it in the Constitution as a compromise between election of the President by a vote in Congress and election of the President by a popular vote of qualified citizens.

"The Electoral College process consists of the selection of the electors, the meeting of the electors where they vote for President and Vice President, and the counting of the electoral votes by Congress.

"The Electoral College consists of 538 electors. A majority of 270 electoral votes is required to elect the President. Your state’s entitled allotment of electors equals the number of members in its Congressional delegation: one for each member in the House of Representatives plus two for your Senators." - https://www.archives.gov/federal-regi...

On a US government website the Electoral College is described as "a compromise between election of the President by a vote in Congress and election of the President by a popular vote of qualified citizens". I think that's an understatement. Basically, democratic elections are a sham b/c they can be undermined by an Electoral College vote against the citizen's own decisions. Wd we have a blustering arrogant privileged moron like Rump as president otherwise?

Reynolds obviously reads history & has a great way of interpolating it into a plot:

"["]For instance, did you know that rockets were in use, long, long before the turn of the Nineteenth Century into the Twentieth? They were invented by the Chinese, who used these so-called arrows of flying fire against the Mongols as far back as 1232 A. D." - p 98

Another great Reynolds bk. He may've been popular in his day but he seems all-but-forgotten by now. I hope to change that.

[Al Philipson · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've read this pair before, but it must be forgettable, because I don't remember anything about them from my last read (or I'm getting dotty in my old age?). They're both Novellas of around 30,000 words (est.) each. This in an era when 50,000 words comprised a "novel" and 100,000 words was a "blockbuster" novel (thick paperback). Let's take them one at a time:

The Key to Venudine (4 stars):
A fantasy involving multiple dimensions, flying giant birds (used as mounts by our intrepid hero and his bucolic sidekick), princesses, evil Barons, strange monsters, and a dip into our humble dimension. Getting from one to another requires a "door" and sensing and opening those doors is a gift only given to a few "witches". Suffice to say that this is the main reason for the conflict in the story. The characters are well-developed and sympathetic. The action moves right along. And the women are attractive (while, oddly enough, the "hero" isn't).

The main complaint I have is with the ending. Not all the plot threads are wrapped up and the hero does a couple of things that are completely out of character (although there's a woman involved -- of course).

Other than that, I enjoyed the story and recommend it.

Mercenary from tomorrow (2.5 stars):
A hard science fiction story.

Okay, the story is a bit strained and artificial. It's really nothing more than a "short" story, but the author piled in some flashbacks and other business to flesh it out. And it shows (slows down the main plot). The premise is quite a stretch (corporations duking it out on battlefields using pre-20th-century weapons), but that's what fiction is about.

There's really only one real plot here, plus a minor sub-plot. The flashbacks are kinda interesting, but I wasn't impressed (or not in the mood?). In a socially stratified world, our hero has fought his way from the lower-lower class up to the middle-middle via the military (mercenaries), one of the few ways to change status. And yes, he's spent quite a bit of time in hospitals along the way. Now, he thinks he's got a way to jump two classes and get into the upper class (and make some wealth along the way). We don't find out what that scheme entails until almost the end and quite frankly, I didn't think the fleshed-out journey was worth the trip. It could have been written using half the words, but then it wouldn't have appeared in this Ace Double.

[James · Rating 2 out of 5]

Two sixties pulp fiction titles slapped together with two covers.

The Key to Venudine by Bulmer is another one of his multiverse works, jumping between a feudal planet, New York city and an alien planet. It's slightly tongue in cheek, what can you say about an axe-wielding barbarian called Oag Offa? It's pretty much straight action with very little in between.

Mercenary from Tomorrow by Mack Reynolds is as serious as a heart attack, Joe Mauser tries to increase his caste in the highly stratified society of future America. And while they have hover cars, they don't seem to have the internet or Google, finding obscure facts is difficult. It also assumes a world with too many people, 1968 was the last year that was a reasonable assumption. A fair amount of action with some political preaching thrown in.

A couple of OK stories from the late sixties, they are short, an interesting dive into old pulp.

[Benjamin Grigorov · Rating 2 out of 5]

Both reads kind of unsatisfying…
Key to Venudine was more action packed and goofy. I had fun reading it but the super fast pacing and flat characters made things feel mostly inconsequential.
Mercenary from Tomorrow had a lot more depth overall, owing mostly to the strong protagonist of Joe Mauser. However, in the last 20 pages it drops off hard and doesn’t do much with what I thought was a very intriguing buildup.
Both stories have their enjoyable moments but neither quite fulfills its potential in the end.

[Steven]

Kenneth Bulmer / Mack Reynolds