Expendable

Expendable is a science fiction novel by the Canadian author James Alan Gardner, published in 1997 by HarperCollins Publishers under its various imprints. It is the first book in a series involving the "League of Peoples", an assemblage of advanced species in the Milky Way galaxy. There is a "sub-series" involving just the character Festima Ramos, and sometimes the female Oar.

The novel introduces many concepts in Gardner's "League of Peoples" universe, such as the Explorer Corps, Sentient Citizens, and the League itself.

Backstory

Through the course of the novel, Gardner provides a framework, background, and conceptual structure for his future narrative. In this back-story, humanity attains a technology of "spacetime distortion" to create an effective "star drive", thus leaving the solar system to explore and colonize planets orbiting other stars. Through this exploration and colonization effort, humans come into contact with many different species of intelligent life, sometimes vastly different in nature, sometimes of a much higher state of technological and evolutionary development. The more advanced beings have forms that stretch the humans' definition of life: they can appear as "a cloud of red smoke, a glowing cube"or as nothing at all.

Expendable (short story)

"Expendable" is a science fiction short story by Philip K. Dick. It was first published in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, July 1953. The plot centers on an unnamed human being caught in the middle of the ongoing, million year conflict between the degenerate descendants of the insects (Earth's original inhabitants) and humans (the invading species).

Dick later explained where the inspiration for the story came from: "I got the idea when a fly buzzed by my head one day and I imagined (paranoia indeed!) that it was laughing at me."

References

  • Philip K. Dick. The Collected Stories of Philip K. Dick, Volume 1: The Short Happy Life of the Brown Oxford. Citadel Press. 1987. p 403.

  • Expendable (disambiguation)

    Expendable is a novel by James Alan Gardner.

    Expendable may also refer to:

  • "Expendable" (short story), a science fiction story by Philip K. Dick
  • The Expendables (2010 film), an action film by David Callaham and Sylvester Stallone
  • Millennium Soldier: Expendable, a video game
  • See also

  • The Expendables (disambiguation)
  • Podcasts:

    PLAYLIST TIME:

    Expendable

    by: Voltaire

    Expendable, I'm wearing red and I'm expendable You need me dead, I am dependable You need me live I'm not your guy Cause on the surface, where Spock and Kirk is It's almost certain that I'm gonna die Expendable am I
    Terrible, when it comes to shooting I'm just terrible I shot into 110 rebels and didn't hit a single guy I couldn't hit the Death Star while on the Death Star I'd probably shoot my foot and then I'd cry A terrible shot am I
    Back at the academy No one was as bad as me Though I tried my very best
    Make my teachers all irate Puke from everything I ate Got an F on every test
    Though it's selling what's my wish I broke the main deflector dish And they threw me out of class
    And they caught me raising heck Naked on the holodeck I thought there's no way I can pass
    And just when I thought that I was screwed They said "We've got the perfect job for you!" "You do?"
    "You'll be expendable You will wear red and be expendable Forgetting deck, you are dependable In fact you are the perfect guy If shields are down or we blow a warp core It's almost guaranteed you're gonna fry! Expendable..." "...am I"
    Back when I was just a teen Growing up on Tatooine Beggar's Canyon was my scene
    But my aim was really bad Shooting fools i almost had With my trusty T-16
    This made me a little stressed More than just a bit depressed Drowned my tears in Anchorhead
    There I met a man named Big Said he had the perfect gig To put me to the test
    And just when I thought that I was screwed He said "I've got the perfect job for you!" "You do?"
    "You will be terrible, when it comes to shooting you're just terrible You'll shoot at 210 Gungans and not a single one will die We'll get the last laugh on Palpatine's ass By building him an army of guys So terrible..." "...am I!"
    And that's how I became a red shirt And that's how I became a trooper And though apart we are pathetic Together we are super duper




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