In this bi-weekly series reviewing classic science fiction and fantasy books, Alan Brown looks at the front lines and frontiers of the field; books about soldiers and spacers, scientists and engineers, explorers and adventurers. Stories full of what Shakespeare used to refer to as “alarums and excursions”: battles, chases, clashes, and the stuff of excitement.
Today I’ll be looking at a book that somehow eluded me for decades, Alan E. Nourse’s Star Surgeon. In my youth, I’d read every one of Nourse’s books in our local library, but Star Surgeon wasn’t one of them. And while his work was reprinted from time to time, the books could be hard to find. I figured that, as a practicing physician, Nourse could deliver an effective medical tale, and it turns out I was right. And while I was surprised to find the book was a juvenile, that didn’t bother me, as a well-written juvenile can be just as compelling as any other novel.
I finally found a copy of Star Surgeon a few weeks ago at my favorite local used book store, a paperback reprint from Ace books in 1986. It has a fine cover painting from Don Dixon, which I thought was fairly generic at first, but if you look at the spaceship closely, it does have a combination starburst/medical caduceus on the tail fin. Star Surgeon first appeared in shorter form in Amazing Stories magazine in 1959. It was published as a novel later that same year. And it was reprinted by Scholastic Books in 1964, which was my first clue that the book was a juvenile. The book is sometimes confused with a book by the same title written by James White as part of his Sector General medical science fiction series.
I’ve previously reviewed one other book in this column that dealt with a doctor in space, a collection of Murray Leinster’s Med Service stories, Med Ship, put out by Baen Books a few years ago. That series focused on public health issues, and as Leinster was not a doctor, some of the stories hinged more on action and adventure than on the medical sciences.
About the Author
Alan E. Nourse (1928-1992) was a physician who also had a long and productive writing career. He wrote science fiction, mainstream fiction, and non-fiction books on science and medical issues, and penned a column on medical issues that appeared in Good Housekeeping magazine. I previously reviewed his juvenile novel Raiders from the Rings here, and his short story collection Tiger by the Tail here, and there is more information on the author and his work in those columns. Like many authors of his time, some of his work is out of copyright and available for reading on the internet for free on Project Gutenberg, including Star Surgeon.
Science Fiction for Juveniles and Young Adults
Science fiction has been written for younger readers, or juveniles, as long as the genre has existed. In fact, in more serious literary circles, there are those who would argue that the genre itself is juvenile in nature. There is a long article in the online Encyclopedia of Science Fiction on Children’s SF that discusses the history of children’s fiction in general and science fiction written for children in particular. Looking back over the years, I found that I have reviewed a few books written for younger children in this column, including The Runaway Robot by Lester del Rey and Revolt on Alpha C by Robert Silverberg, and The Fabulous Flight by Robert Lawson. I’ve reviewed most of Robert Heinlein’s teen boy-oriented juvenile series (see the latest of those reviews here). I’ve looked at another juvenile by Alan E. Nourse, Raiders from the Rings. And I did an overview of a number of the Stratemeyer Syndicate’s boy’s adventure books, which my father had saved from the 1920s and 1930s and which I grew up reading, including the Great Marvel series (here), the young inventor Tom Swift series (here), and adventurer Don Sturdy series (here). In those columns, I often discussed the topic of writing for younger readers.
In the last century, books for teen readers were often referred to as “Juveniles.” Today, if you go into a bookstore, you will find those books on shelves labeled as “Young Adult.” There are no hard and fast rules that put books into these categories, but there are some common features. The books for younger readers tend to be a bit shorter, with fewer (and younger) characters, simpler plots, a narrower vocabulary, and more straightforward settings. In the old juvenile days, the books generally avoided the topics of romance and sexuality, and books written for young boys often lacked female characters altogether. That has changed, and today’s young adult novels do not shy away from those issues. And especially in the days of juveniles, other than marketing, the line between those books and adult fare was blurry. There were many writers—Andre Norton being one of the most notable—who wrote books for adults that were very young-reader friendly. And if an older reader is looking for a relatively quick, straightforward tale, a book written for a younger audience can be just the right fit.
Star Surgeon
Dal Timgar should be on top of the world. After all, he has just become the first member of an alien species to graduate from medical school on what has become known as Hospital Earth. Ever since they made contact with the star-spanning Galactic Confederation, the people of Earth, have become vital, if still provisional, members of that polity because of their advanced approach to medicine. Nourse has a lot of fun painting a picture of an Earth that has been transformed and shaped around his own medical profession. Cities are organized around their hospitals, and the society is dominated by the Black Service of Pathology, the Blue Service of Diagnosis, the Green Service of Medicine, the Red Service of Surgery, and the Auxiliary Services. Myself, I did find it a bit hard to believe that a planet cut off from the larger galactic society could develop medical capabilities that somehow eluded the efforts of hundreds of other worlds, but in the end, I was willing to accept it. There’s also the fact that, in a quirk common in adventure books written for boys in that era, while you can infer the presence of females in these societies, you will not find them mentioned.
Dal is a native of the planet Garv (a world of traders), and is small, four-fingered, and covered with fur. He and his people are paired with small creatures that give them a kind of low-level telepathy, and the ability to manipulate the emotions of others. Dal’s symbiont is Fuzzy, a ‘pleomorph’ with no fixed cellular structure. Dal’s education has been championed by Black Service Doctor Thorvald Arnquist, a kindly and open-minded physician. And during his training, Dal has befriended Frank “Tiger” Martin, a young doctor in the Green Service. The next stage in Dal’s career will be a stint on a General Practice Patrol ship, in his case, Lancet. Service on these ships as a probationer is a kind of roving internship, and a successful tour will be required for Dal to become a full-fledged Star Surgeon in the Red Service of Surgery, and wear a silver star on his collar.
But before he can report to his ship, Dal is summoned to a hearing led by Doctor Hugh Tanner, a large, red-faced, and frequently angry man in the Black Service who is concerned that the success of a doctor from another species will undercut the value of Earth to the Confederation, and hurt Earth’s chances of becoming a full member of the organization. But Tanner fails to prevent Dal’s assignment to Lancet. There, Dal is delighted to find his friend Tiger will be serving with him, but is then concerned upon finding that the third member of their team will be young Blue Doctor Jack Alvarez, who is a protégé of Doctor Tanner.
Lancet is a fully automated ship, managed by the three young doctors by consensus. I found it hard to accept the lack of a ship’s crew, but travel times between stars are measured by hours or days, not weeks or months, so they are never too far from help, which would come in the form of larger hospital ships crewed by fully qualified doctors and staffs. I found it even harder to accept the idea that there is no one person in charge of their ship, something that doesn’t square with my own military experience. As the two humans are affected initially by space sickness, Dal runs the ship for the first two weeks, thereby gaining some respect from his teammates. Jack quickly grows to dislike Fuzzy, who he sees as an unnecessary pet. Fuzzy responds to his hostility by biting him.
The first major crisis Lancet faces is a call to assist in an experimental organ transplant gone wrong, attempted by a race, the bear-like Moruans, whose grasp exceeded their reach. Dal is unwilling to perform surgery himself, and calls for help from a hospital ship. Doctor Tanner responds instead, summoned by Jack. Tanner successfully completes the surgery, but accuses Dal of malpractice. Only an intervention by Tiger prevents Dal’s immediate disgrace.
As their voyage continues, Fuzzy gets into the medical supplies and nearly dies, and Jack’s attitude toward him softens. Then the three encounter a Garvian trading ship, and Dal saves his crewmates from being fleeced by a sharp trader—another bonding experience. Despite their differences, the three young doctors learn to work as a team. As they faced other medical challenges, I did wonder about the wisdom of letting three interns wander the stars without experienced supervision, but must admit that the structure does create some strong opportunities for drama among a small cast of characters.
The three doctors meet their biggest challenge so far when they get a call from the previously unknown occupants of planet VII of the red giant star 31 Brucker. The monkey-like Bruckians are suffering from a virulent, fatal, and incurable plague that is spreading rapidly through the population. The young doctors, eager to prove their worth by handling this crisis themselves, identify a virus they think is the culprit, but their intervention does more harm than good. They are facing a medical mystery that involves a twist I didn’t see coming, and which I found quite clever and satisfying. And there was yet another encounter with the antagonistic Doctor Tanner that they have to survive… I’ll leave the resolution of the book for everyone to read for themselves, as it is a quick and enjoyable read that I strongly recommend (and as I pointed out above, you can download and check it out for free).
Final Thoughts
Alan E. Nourse was a capable and entertaining science fiction writer who had a knack for making his tales accessible to younger readers. He is not remembered today nearly as well as he deserves to be, and his stories for the most part have held up very well over time. Star Surgeon is among the best of his works, and his medical experience gives the book a sense of energy and realism.
And now, I look forward to hearing from you, especially if you have read Star Surgeon or other works by Nourse. And if you haven’t, I’d be interested in recommendations for any other tales of medical science fiction that you’ve enjoyed.
