Time Gladiator

Joe Mauser #4b

by Mack Reynolds, Frank Kelly Freas (Illustrator)

IT SEEMED AS IF EVERYONE WAS A SPY! The political situation in the 21st century was coming to the boil: one man, a scientist, held what might be the important key to ultimate power in the struggle between the three blocs: West-world, Sov-world, and Common Europe. The scientist, Auguste Bazaine, disappears, and each bloc accuses the other of kidnapping. There was only one way to settle the difference! So nine men were chosen to fight to the death in a trial by combat organised by the World Court. The winner will put his country on top. But when an American and a Russian meet face to face - the result is not what was expected!

Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction

192 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1964

About the author

Dallas McCord "Mack" Reynolds was an American science fiction writer. His pen names included Clark Collins, Mark Mallory, Guy McCord, Dallas Ross and Maxine Reynolds. Many of his stories were published in "Galaxy Magazine" and "Worlds of If Magazine". He was quite popular in the 1960s, but most of his work subsequently went out of print.

He was an active supporter of the Socialist Labor Party; his father, Verne Reynolds, was twice the SLP's Presidential candidate, in 1928 and 1932. Many of MR's stories use SLP jargon such as 'Industrial Feudalism' and most deal with economic issues in some way

Many of Reynolds' stories took place in Utopian societies, and many of which fulfilled L. L. Zamenhof's dream of Esperanto used worldwide as a universal second language. His novels predicted much that has come to pass, including pocket computers and a world-wide computer network with information available at one's fingertips.

Many of his novels were written within the context of a highly mobile society in which few people maintained a fixed residence, leading to "mobile voting" laws which allowed someone living out of the equivalent of a motor home to vote when and where they chose.

Reviews

[Bill · Rating 3 out of 5]

Time Gladiator by Sci Fi author Mack Reynolds is the 4th and final book in his Joe Mauser, Mercenary from Tomorrow series. Unfortunately, I read this one first and then sort of discovered the remaining 3 so I can't compare.

Dennis Land is a scholar working in the 21st Century (funny that I'm now reading Sci Fi books where the 21st Century is considered the Future). He lives in West World, basically North America, which has become highly structured; people ranked by class - Lower, Middle and Upper with gradations in between. Land is a Middle Middle and he studies the ancient Etruscans. As the story begins he is taking part in the Gladiator entertainments, basically wanting to test his knowledge of ancient weaponry. He survives the finals, along with another Tony Gonzales.

Oh, before I go on, the World is divided into West World, the former Communist countries and Common Europe, with the remaining countries part of Neut (neutral) regions. A scientist in Common Europe has come up with a design for an anti-missile system. This is problematic because all of the countries have renounced the use of nuclear weapons and any other technological weaponry. The fear is that if this scientist is allowed to develop his designs, it will end the Cold War peace.

Dennis is 'hired' by the Bureau of Investigation to find the scientist and bring him to the West. He is believed to be in Spain. The Eastern Bloc has sent their best spy to do the same. In Spain, the scientist will disappear and all of the 'blocks' decide that if peace is to be maintained, there must be a 'gladiator' type battle to stop the possible wars. This battle will be televised around the world and I guess maintain peace. Consider the Hunger Games on a smaller scale. Three champions from the three regions fight to the death. Dennis and the Russian make a deal to not kill each other and then to work to find the scientist.

So there is your story. It's kind of strange but moves along nicely and portrays this vision of the future very well. I have to say that overall I enjoyed it, even though the ending was kind of anti-climatic. The characters are all well - drawn, thoughtful and capable. Joe Mauser doesn't seem to play a very big role but I look forward to seeing what he's up to in the remaining 3 books. Worth checking out I think. But start at the beginning. (3.0 stars)

[Liedzeit Liedzeit · Rating 3 out of 5]

We are in the 21st century (the book was written in 1966) and we have four power blocks. The West-world, Sov-world, Common Europe and the neutral states. For a change it is Europe that seems to be a threat to peace and stability. There is a scientist who has developed an anti-anti-missile.

There are no weapons really, but the blue prints are still existing of course.

So far so good. But the actual story is pretty lame. A history professor and fighter (Karate) is our hero. And his opponent from the Sov-world is even better. Gladiator fights? A caste system? I do not buy it.

At the end everything turns out to be different from what you expect (only, of course, if you have never read Reynolds before).

As always there is a lot of history. The solution to the world’s problems lies in space travel. Right. Somewhat surprisingly Reynolds does not seem to have a really optimistic view on the character of people. People are slobs because they like being slobs. And, Reynolds says, Marx agreed, who despised the Lumpen-Proletariat. Also, Reynolds (or one of his characters) thinks that Alexander was maybe not that great. He just had good generals and was lucky.

In an interesting passage the competent female has this to say: “I sometimes wonder about this complete elimination of coinage. For even the tiniest of purchase, you use your credit card. Can you imagine the number of telly-screens and computers involved in reading your card and deducting from you account, even, say the purchase of a single aspirin? Why not have at least minor coins?”

[Hannah Mc · Rating 3 out of 5]

Retro futurism at its best, bringing together a dystopian 21st century and the ancient practice of gladiator battle in the arena.

Plenty of twists and turns, spy’s and betrayals - an easy and short read.

[Tentatively, Convenience · Rating 3 out of 5]

review of
Mack Reynolds & Michael Banks's Sweet Dreams, Sweet Princes
by tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE - May 24, 2023

This is, maybe, the 23rd Mack Reynolds bk I've read. The last one might've been After Some Tomorrow (For the complete review go here: http://idioideo.pleintekst.nl/CriticA... ). If I understand correctly, this is one he wd've left unfinished when he died, finished by Banks. Dean Ing has done the same thing for other incomplete manuscripts. I'm glad, I always enjoy reading them. This is essentially another fracas novel, but instead of mercenaries there're gladiators. The premise is that the mercenary fracases were getting too large scale, too expensive to be sustainable, so the powers-that-be switched to gladiators as an alternative to keep the tranquilized boob-tube watchers pacified.

"The amphitheater covered an area of some ten acres, slightly more than seven hundred by six hundred feet. The arena itself, the fighting arena, was two hundred eighty by one hundrd seventy, surrounded by spacious and comfortable seating facilitis for approximately fifty thousand persons. On an occasion such as this they packed in more than double that." - p 1

I imagine that Reynolds, who seems to've always been a stickler for historical accuracy, did some research on gladiator fighting & the spaces & weapons used. Back in the near-future world of Reynolds's stories, there's the usual element of the rigid class structure & the participation in the fracases as a way of trying to raise one's status.

"Denny brushed it aside. "I'm only a Mid-Middle, myself."

""At that, we're probably the highest-ranking combatants to make the finals. Once in a while, you'll get some dilettante Upper who'll participate in the earlier eliminations, just for the glory of it—"

"Denny chuckled.

""—but most of the poor bastards out there are Lowers," Zero continued, "and Low-Lowers at that. Making their fling for a bounce in caste and some extra common shares to make life more bearable."" - p 20

There's still an opposition between the US (in its mutated form) & Russia (in ITS mutated form) in this near-future but it's been mostly taken care of by international arms restrictions & the like. Nonetheless, secret police continue.

"Yuri sat down and crossed his legs. He wondered vaguely what it was this time. The nature of the ministry for which he worked had changed considerably in the long decades since the Revolution. He wondered whether Felix Dzerzhinsky, the Pole who had organized the Cheka back in Lenin's day, would recognize the organization it had become. The name had changed, down through the years. Cheka, GPU, OGPU, NKVD, MVD, and this department and that department within the Komissiya, the MGB and KGB, but the heart and soul of the organization remained the same. The peasants who had once been purged in the millions were not tranquil, if indeed you could call them peasants any longer, and the military correlation of forces had stablizied after a fashion, but the ministry's function remained to repress dissent in Eastbloc and foment it elsewhere." - pp 38-39

About the development of gladiator matches out of the fracases:

"["]When you were a lad, Denny, just how big were the gladiatoiral meets?"

"The question caught Denny by surprise. "Why, I don't even remember . . ."

""Of course not. They're a fairly modern innovation. The fracases got to the point where it took whole divisions to fight one. They were approaching the level of the wars of the Twentieth Century, with a more formal set of rules. The country was being bled white, as Rome was once bled white to support its games. So we had to taper off the fracases, build up a considerably cheaper method of satisfying our mob and of accomodating those members of our society who fit the mold of the professional soldier—the man of action, as it were." - pp 72-73

Reynolds is excellent at class analysis.

""The scum!" she railed. "But it's just what you have to expect. A hereditary aristocrat! Have you ever heard in history of a hereditary aristocrat that was worth last year's credit card? Sure, sure, the first generation slugs its way to the top. He's an outstanding warrior, or possesses an unusually agile mind. Then the second generation comes along, inheriting the old boy's titles, position, and wealth, and he's a second rater. The the third, raised by his generation, is a molly. By the time you get to the fourth generation, you get the hemophilia of the Romanoffs, the withered arm of the Kaiser, and the chinless wonders of the Hapsburgs. Zen knows what their brains were like!"" - p 87

It appears that Yuri is Trotskyite, a secret group. I can't rejoice too much at that conisdering tha Trotsky's the one who suppressed the Kronstadt Rebellion, reputed partially to be about free speech for anarchists.

"["]Why, do you realize that at a reception the other evening I stood in a discussion in which several of the local politicians, members of the Premier's party, expressed the opinion that Trotsky lives on in Mexico."

"Startled, Yuri Malyshev looked at him a long moment befire quietly voicing the response, "And will never die."

"The other's eyebrows went up. "So. You are one of us."" - p 108

I wonder if the Trotshyite touch is from Banks & not in the original Reynolds ms.

"Of course, what was it that his last lover had told him, on the eve before he left for the national games? Yes, she'd said, "A woman wants to be wanted, Denny—why do you think we make men do all the work?"" - p 119

It wd be interesting to read a compilation of male comments on women as expressed thru fiction.

Denny & 2 others is forced into defending the West World's right to own a deadly weapon in a special combat against the "Pink Bloc". Their trainer for the fight-to-the-death is none other than the mercenary hero of previous fracas novels. Again, I have to wonder whether this is Banks touch or in the original.

"The position of Joe Mauser, the old pro, in all of this was not an enviable one. As advisor, he was at once coach, drill sergeant, and more. He would have far rather participated himself, but he held no illusions. Twenty years ago, yes, he would have taken his stand as one of the three—and proudly, for he had never been one to shirk his duty to his country, or to himself, despite his distatse for his chosen vocation. But the dealing of death is a young man's game, as Mauser well knew, and one does not become an old pro in the game of death by having illusions." - p 144

In organizing against the status quo the suggestion that the cell system be used for self-protection is proposed.

"he was nodding. "First of all, the cell system."

"She scowled. "The what?"

""The cell system. Five persons to a cell, one of whom is an elected leader. The nihilists, back in the Nineteenth Century, were the first to develop it, I believe. I can study up on the details and report. The general idea is that you know no one in the organization but the other four memebers of your cell. If you're captured, it is possible for you to betray only four people. If you are a police spy, you will learn the identity of only four people."" - p 225

"In Benjamin Franklin's day, so little reading material was available that each man capable of reading read everything he could hands to—including the so-called "inflammatory" pamphlets of Thomas Paine. But buy the Twentieth Century, not to speak of the Tweny-first, when for all practical purposes everyone could read, few did. Less than five percent of the population bought books, and they were usually devoted to sex or mayhem—preferably both." - p 228

"But above all, the average reader refused anything that proved hard to read, that moved too slowly." - p 229

& isn't that where we are today, but worse? How many people do you know who can & will read long & 'hard' works that aren't just about sex & mayhem?! Well, there's me.. & perhaps a few others I know of on Goodreads. I'm sure they're out there but we're in an extreme minority. In my personal experience, very few university professors qualify. I knew one professor who was trying to get a job teaching the writing of science fiction. Her qualifications? Well, she liked a particular SciFi TV show. That was enuf for her. Thank goodness it wasn't enuf for the people deciding whether to hire her.

The 1st printing of this was in October, 1986. I find it prescient in its predictions about credit cards.

""You know, this system of credit cards is undoubtedly one of the greatest aids to keeping track of one's people that has ever been devised. For everything you purchase, you must submit your credit card.["]" - p 240

In this day & age I like businesses that accept cash only - but how much longer will they be able to do that?

"The Gracchi brothers attempted to initiate changes to turn their fellow citizens back into men. Denny, you're our historian. What was the final destiny of the Gracchi?"

"Denny said slowly, "They were killed by a mob. Their opposition promised the Roman proletariat even greater reforms, more free handouts—more bread and bigger circuses, I suppose. And the mob killed the Gracchi."" - p 265

"The Gracchi brothers were two brothers at the start of the late Roman Republic: Tiberius Gracchus and Gaius Gracchus. They served in the plebeian tribunates of 133 BC and 122–121 BC, respectively. They have been received as well-born and eloquent advocates for social reform who were both killed by a reactionary political system; their terms in the tribunate precipitated a series of domestic crises which are viewed as unsettling the Roman Republic and contributing to its collapse." - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gracchi...

The Wikipedia entry is significantly different from the version presented in this bk. I don't know wch is more accurate.

[Neil · Rating 4 out of 5]

An accidental gladiator in a dystopian 21st Century America has to fight for his life.
A Russian spy with storied ancestry is given a mission.
A scientist develops a plan to disrupt the balance of power throughout the world.
This 1960s pulp paperback novel exceeded my low expectations, and if I'd read the blurb the story would've been ruined, or at least some of the surprises removed.
I loved the slang the author stubbornly stuck to, even though it sounded clunky and awkward at first. It seemed slightly old-fashioned or out of place, which fit the retro-futurism of the story.
The story itself has plenty of twists and turns and some great foreshadowing. And yet the ending satisfied and surprised me.

[Skjam! · Rating 3 out of 5]

In the early 21st Century, the United American State has become a caste society. The Upper 1% have most of the wealth and power, while the Lower 90% have been automated out of jobs and must subsist on the People’s Capitalism, a welfare state that keeps them drugged and entertained. The most popular form of entertainment is gladitorial combat on the telly. Corporate disputes, regional quarrels, and even international kerfuffels that would previously lead to war are now settled by fracas in the arena.

Dennis “Denny” Land is somewhat atypical for a gladiator. He’s actually a Mid-Middle class college history professor, specializing in Etruscanology. As part of his studies, he became interested in ancient weapons, and researched them by participating in an amateur gladiatorial club. When the National Games started, the Upper who was the official head of the club decided he wanted the glory of club participation, so voluntold Denny for the qualifiers. And you don’t go against the Uppers. A combination of skill (Denny’s also a black belt in karate), luck, and people taking dives before he could has gotten Denny to the National finals.

An impromptu team-up with fellow finalist Jesus “Zero” Gonzales allows Denny to survive the finals and become a champion. Hello, fame! Unfortunately, the Upper who’s the head of his department at the university is displeased by Denny taking the spotlight, cuts his research stipend, and puts the professor on indefinite suspension.

Meanwhile, in the Soviet Complex, Colonel Yuri Malyshev is summoned to the headquarters of his security organization in Budapest. He briefly meets the head of his organization, who is stone drunk before noon, before being directed to the underling who does all the practical work. It seems that a Belgian scientist currently living in Common Europe, Auguste Balzin, has developed an anti-anti-missile system that could change the balance of power. To keep it out of the wrong hands, Yuri must get this scientist into Sov-World control.

Denny, at somewhat loose ends, is surprised when he’s summoned to the Octagon in what used to be Washington, D.C. It turns out that Zero’s day job is secret agent, and Denny’s particular set of skills and circumstances make him an ideal candidate for the mission of recruiting Balzin. Balzin, it seems, is a big Etruscan history buff. He also has a weakness for pretty women, so the team is rounded out with Bette Yardborough, a capable agent as well as eye candy.

The plan falls apart almost immediately after Denny meets Balzin. In the excitement, Balzin disappears, and the West, the Sovs, and Common Europe all accuse each other of having him. The Neut-World countries are also interested. Only one thing for it! A three-way gladiatorial combat with three teams of three men entering, and one team leaving.

One of the Sov-World team is Yuri, and when he and Denny meet, there’s a surprise in store….

Despite the title, there’s no time travel or other time wackiness going on in this novel, which was originally serialized in Analog in 1964. There are gladiators, though.

One of the big themes of the book is that West-world and Sov-world are mirror images. While the West has its rigid castes, the Soviets have Party membership, which is now hereditary rather than optional or earned. Both societies have become stagnant with little in the way of scientific progress. (They do have tap-to-pay credit card screens, however.) Common Europe seems a little more vital, but it is led by hereditary strongman The Gaulle.

Bette is all for change, and secretly belongs to The Sons of Liberty, one of those armchair rebellion groups. The difficulty of pulling off a revolution in a society where the majority of people don’t read anything “hard” or want to rock the boat is emphasized. The Lowers might not have good lives, but they’re not suffering, exactly.

There are a number of twists and reveals, so the story does not end anywhere near where you might have thought it would from the opening chapters. This is both a good point and a weakness, the latter because it makes a lot of what our protagonists have done seem like wasted effort and sacrifice.

The politics have dated this book severely, despite some of the underlying points still being relevant. This may make the story less appealing to younger readers who aren’t familiar with the world situation in the 1960s. People with a good grasp of the relevant history should be okay.

There’s just a bit of future slang in the story, which is mostly applied to sneaking dirty words past the puritanical editorial standards of the day.

Content note: Several people die in gladiatorial combat. It’s not over-described. Drug and alcohol abuse. Outdated ethnic terms. Classism. Bette is mostly judged on her appearance, while the men tend to be judged according to accomplishments.

This is a middling science fiction book, competently written, but of its time. Most recommended to gladiator fans.

[Thomas · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reynolds, Mack. Time Gladiator. Joe Mauser No. 3. 1966. Gateway-Kindle, 2011.
Mack Reynolds might be the poster child for hack pulp genre writers of the ‘50s and ‘60s, except that he has more to say than most of them and his career extended through the 1970s and had a posthumous revival in the 1980s. He wrote dozens of short stories under several different names and in several different genres. It was hard to find an Ace-double without one of his novellas. He wrote some space opera, but socio-economic science fiction was his forte. Most similar science fiction writers of his time had a conservative, libertarian, or reactionary bent, but Reynolds was a card-carrying lefty, who grew up in a Marxist household and worked for many years for the Socialist Labor Party. His fiction reflects his fascination with utopian and dystopian political theory. Time Gladiator is no exception. It has nothing to do with time travel, by the way, but is set in an alternate postwar world in which the dangers of nuclear war have been meliorated by a ban on all post-1900 weapons and a tradition of solving diplomatic disputes with single or team combat with bladed weapons. It you thought Mockingjay was original, think again. Our hero is a history professor with a specialty in Etruscan culture and an expertise in martial arts and ancient weapons. Before he knows it, he drafted into an espionage game where he must use his martial arts skills to help maintain the balance of power. The book has its faults, in particular, a tendency to long-winded political lectures, but what else do you expect from one who grew up calling all his friends “comrade”? 3.5 stars.

[Charles · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wasn't enamored of this one and I've never read any more books by Reynolds, although I've read some of his short stories. Definitely not a terribly good effort to my thinking.

[Peter · Rating 2 out of 5]

Enjoyed this in my youth - bit dated now in some ways

[Sean Brennan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not as memorable as the previous books in the series. In fact I was far more interested in the matters concerning the actual Revolution which were discussed in the last 10 pages.