To Pay the Piper by James Blish
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"To Pay the Piper" by James Blish is a science fiction novel written in the mid-20th century. Set against the backdrop of a post-apocalyptic Earth ravaged by biological warfare, the story delves into themes of survival, societal breakdown, and the consequences of human actions on both personal and global scales. The narrative centers around a re-education project aimed at adapting humans to the toxic surface environment, exploring the moral quandaries associated with
such an initiative. The plot follows Dr. Samuel Carson, a medical director involved in the Re-Ed Project, which is tasked with training soldiers to return to the surface. The crux of the story involves the clash between military authority and the desperate wishes of civilians, who long to reclaim their former lives on the surface. A significant character, Secretary Hamelin, argues for the inclusion of civilians in the re-education programs, leading to tensions as the military bureaucracy endeavors to control the narrative and prevent chaos. As the story unfolds, the stakes rise with the introduction of mutated diseases that threaten all lives, and a conspiracy develops when it becomes apparent that Hamelin may be an enemy agent. The novel culminates in a tense resolution that forces the characters to confront the price of survival in a world transformed by war. (This is an automatically generated summary.)
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About this eBook
| Author | Blish, James, 1921-1975 |
|---|---|
| Illustrator | Orban, Paul, 1896-1974 |
| Title | To Pay the Piper |
| Series Title | Produced from Worlds of If Science Fiction, February 1956 |
| Credits |
Produced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at www.pgdp.net |
| Reading Level | Reading ease score: 74.6 (7th grade). Fairly easy to read. |
| Language | English |
| LoC Class | PS: Language and Literatures: American and Canadian literature |
| Subject | Science fiction |
| Subject | Short stories |
| Subject | United States -- Fiction |
| Subject | Apocalyptic fiction |
| Subject | Biological warfare -- Fiction |
| Category | Text |
| eBook-No. | 59415 |
| Release Date | May 2, 2019 |
| Copyright | Public domain in the USA. |
| Downloads | 297 downloads in the last 30 days. |
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