The Swords of Zinjaban

Introduction

The Swords of Zinjaban is the latest in our series laid on the planet Krishna, an Earthlike satellite of the star Tau Ceti. Krishna harbors an intelligent species of humanoids enough like Earthmen so that an enterprising member of one race can disguise himself as a member of the other. The Terrans who live on Krishna must cope with cultures that range from primitive to medieval and with an interplanetary organization that forbids the introduction of 22nd-century technology into this comparatively primitive world.

An earlier novel, The Hostage of Zir, introduces Fergus Reith, a travel agent who, though inexperienced, finds himself shepherding a dozen erratic sightseers on the first guided tour of Krishna. Along the way the Regent of Dur, a quasi-medieval state, traps Reith for political reasons into marriage with a native princess. From the clutches of the Regent and the embraces of his bride, Reith escapes and returns to Novorecife, the Terran spaceport and complex.

In the following novel, The Prisoner of Zhamanak, the Terran community is aroused by the news that a social scientist, Dr. Alicia Dyckman, has been imprisoned by a Krishnan ruler. Alicia, beautiful and brilliant but headstrong and hot-tempered, is rescued by Percy Mjipa, a Terran consular employee of African origin. When the fugitives finally reach Novorecife, Alicia meets Fergus Reith, and the two fall precipitately in love.

The Bones of Zora opens over a year later when, after a passionate but stormy marriage, Reith and Alicia are newly divorced. Reith undertakes to assist a French paleontologist on Krishna's first fossil-hunting expedition; while, unknown to Reith, Alicia is guiding a rival scientist to the same area. Thrown together, Reith and Alicia become lovers. Each contemplates remarriage; but Alicia's contentiousness causes so many quarrels and problems that in the end, Reith sadly decides that they would have no chance of happiness together. Grieving, Alicia departs for Earth, planning to undergo drastic 22nd-century psychotherapy to improve her tempestuous personality.

The present story begins twenty Terran years later. Reith, now a well-established tour manager, has aged but little, because medical science has tripled the human life span. Alicia, seeming not to have aged at all, returns to Krishna as a motion-picture executive, to assist in making the first feature film on the planet.

While the Terrans on Krishna are of various national origins, the official language of the Viagens Interplanetarias, the Brazilian-dominated interstellar transport system, is Portuguese. For those interested in pronunciation, we have placed a short scholium at the end of the novel, explaining our suggested renderings of some of the exotic names in the story.

—L. Sprague de Camp Catherine Crook de Camp