Planetary romance: Difference between revisions

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{{short description|Subgenre of science fiction focussing on adventures on alien planets}}

A particular sub-genre of science fiction heavily influenced by Eastern Adventure Stories and [[Edgar Rice Burroughs]]. It was usually set either on Mars or Venus, where Earth took the role of the British in colonial occupation stories (see [[Talbot Mundy]]), or in the decaying days of the Galactic Empire. It was the mainstay of the pulp magazine [[Planet Stories]] and one of its leading practitioners was [[Leigh Brackett]].

{{More citations needed|date=November 2023}}

[[File:Imagination 195308.jpg|thumb|Cover of ''Imagination'', August 1953]]

{{Fantasy}}

'''Planetary romance'''<ref name=aste>[[Allen Steele]], ''Captain Future - the Horror at Jupiter'', [https://books.google.com/books?id=lWdCEAAAQBAJ&dq=%22planetary+adventure%22&pg=PT195, p .195]</ref> (other synonyms are '''sword and planet''',<ref>{{Cite book |last=Dozois |first=Gardner |title=[[Old Venus]]: A Collection of Stories |date=2015 |publisher=Random House Publishing Group |isbn=978-0-8041-7985-0 |editor-last=Martin |editor-first=George R. R. |editor-link=George R. R. Martin |pages=xiii |language=en |chapter=Return to Venusport |quote=the Planetary Romance, also called Sword and Planet stories |author-link=Gardner Dozois |editor-last2=Dozois |editor-first2=Gardner |editor-link2=Gardner Dozois |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/oldvenus0000unse_j7e9/page/n15/mode/2up <!-- Also available at https://books.google.com/books?id=oJBoBAAAQBAJ&pg=PT8, though without proper pagination -->}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last1=Caryad |first1=<!-- None; mononymous --> |url= |title=Wanderer am Himmel: Die Welt der Planeten in Astronomie und Mythologie |last2=Römer |first2=Thomas |last3=Zingsem |first3=Vera |date=2014 |publisher=Springer-Verlag |isbn=978-3-642-55343-1 |pages=78 |language=de |trans-title=Wanderers in the Sky: The World of the Planets in Astronomy and Mythology |chapter=Ein geplatzter Traum |trans-chapter=A Shattered Dream |quote=Das Subgenre der ''Sword-and-Planet''-Romane (oder ''Planetary Romance'') [The subgenre of ''Sword-and-Planet''-novels (or ''Planetary Romance'')] |author-link2=<!-- No article at present (January 2023); editor for Phantastische Medien, Wikidata Q126753 --> |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=y_WJBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA78}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Duncan |first=Randy |title=Encyclopedia of Comic Books and Graphic Novels |date=2010 |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing USA |isbn=978-0-313-35747-3 |editor-last=Booker |editor-first=M. Keith |pages=204 |language=en |chapter=Fantasy |quote=The protagonist of "sword and planet", sometimes referred to as "planetary romance," fantasy, is [...] |author-link=<!-- probably not the same person as [[Randy Duncan]] --> |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GRfOEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA204}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last1=Jones |first1=Howard Andrews |title=Books and Beyond: The Greenwood Encyclopedia of New American Reading |last2=Rhodes |first2=Robert |date=2008 |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing USA |isbn=978-0-313-07157-7 |editor-last=Womack |editor-first=Kenneth |editor-link=Kenneth Womack |pages=978 |language=en |chapter=Sword and Sorcery Fiction |quote=a genre that some call ''sword and planet'' and that others describe as ''planetary romance'' |author-link=Howard Andrew Jones |author-link2=<!-- probably not one of the people listed at [[Robert Rhodes]] --> |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eOPNEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA978}}</ref> and '''planetary adventure'''<ref>{{cite web|author=John|title=Masters of Science Fiction: Edgar Rice Burroughs & Alex Raymond|url=https://www.librarypoint.org/blogs/post/masters-scifi-burroughs-raymond|date=June 26, 2018|access-date=June 26, 2018|website=Library Point}}</ref>) is a subgenre of [[science fiction]] or [[science fantasy]] in which the bulk of the action consists of adventures on one or more exotic alien planets, characterized by distinctive physical and cultural backgrounds. Some planetary romances take place against the background of a future culture where travel between worlds by [[Spacecraft|spaceship]] is commonplace; others, particularly the earliest examples of the genre, do not, invoking [[flying carpet]]s, [[astral projection]], or other methods of getting between planets. In either case, it is the planetside adventures that are the focus of the story, not the mode of travel.<ref>See [http://www.jessesword.com/sf/view/169 Science Fiction Citations: Planetary Romance] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080108231759/http://www.jessesword.com/sf/view/169 |date=2008-01-08 }}; and John Clute, "Planetary Romance", in ''Encyclopedia of Science Fiction'', ed. John Clute and Peter Nicholls, 1995, {{ISBN|0-312-13486-X}}.</ref>

A significant precursor of the genre is [[Edwin L. Arnold]]'s ''[[Lieut. Gullivar Jones: His Vacation]]'' (1905).<ref name=esf/>

In ''[[Science Fiction: The 100 Best Novels]]'' (1985), editor and critic [[David Pringle]] named [[Marion Zimmer Bradley]] and [[Anne McCaffrey]] as two "leading practitioners nowadays" for the planetary romance type of science fiction.<ref>David Pringle, ''[[Science Fiction: The 100 Best Novels]]: An English-language Selection, 1949–1984'', London: Xanadu Publ., 1985. p. 17. Pringle does not include any Bradley or McCaffrey novels. Introducing his selections, he says, "I admit to blind spots—for example, I have little affection for the type of sf story which has been called 'planetary romance{{'"}}.</ref>

==Comparison with other subgenres==

''[[The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction]]'' mentions two caveats as to the usage of the term. First, while the setting may be in an alien world, if "the nature or description of this world has little bearing on the story being told," as in ''[[A Case of Conscience]]'', then the book is not a planetary romance. Second, [[hard science fiction]] tales are excluded from this category, where an alien planet, while being a critical component of the plot, is just a background for a primarily scientific endeavor, such as [[Hal Clement]]'s ''[[Mission of Gravity]]'',<ref name="esf">{{Cite web |title=SFE: Planetary Romance |url=https://sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/planetary_romance |access-date=2023-08-08 |website=sf-encyclopedia.com}}</ref> possibly with embellishments. [[Allen Steele]] writes that while the label "[[space opera]]" has been posted on any story away from Earth, it stands apart from "planetary romance", which he describes as a "close cousin" of "space opera".<ref name=aste/>

[[File:Planet stories 1947fal.jpg|thumb|Cover of ''Planet Stories'', Fall 1947.]]

== See also ==

* [[Planets in science fiction]]

* [[Soft science fiction]]

* [[Hard science fiction]]

== References ==

{{reflist}}

==External links==

* [http://www.sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/planetary_romance Planetary romance] on [[The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction]]

{{Science fiction}}

{{Fantasy fiction}}

{{Film genres}}

[[Category:Planetary romances| ]]