As the title suggests, Tuf Voyaging collects numerous voyages of a man called Haviland Tuf, told in seven short stories. With the exception of the earliest story, they were all published in Analog Science Fiction and Fact.

In the first story, Tuf takes possession of the Ark, a so-called seedship by which he gains the technological means of far-reaching cloning and genetic manipulation. The ship vests him with enormous, almost absolute, power that Tuf uses to help out peoples in need (and to make a buck in the process). The issues he encounters are often of an environmentalist nature and involve interventions into fragile ecosystems, human as well as non-human, with often harrowing consequences. There are also religious facets to many of the stories.

The ideas are not exactly mind-bending, or even very original, but it's very easy to read and often highly entertaining. This is not least because of Haviland Tuf, who makes for a great protagonist and a very recognizable character. He sure is an odd one. He's huge (2.5m, if I remember correctly) and completely hairless. Cats are his most beloved creatures. He's a vegetarian and loves all things mushroom. He hates being touched by strangers. Initially, he's a trader, but inspired by his attempts to clone his cat, he starts to think of himself as an ecological engineer. He uses his ship's technology to help peoples, at least when able to afford his services.

Many of his quirks are very amusing. For one thing, he tends to take others ironically serious. He's also very quirky when it comes to language. Like pointing out subtle differences and inaccuracies in other people's speech (like "armada" instead of "army") or notices how peculiar some words are (like "crux" or "inkling"). He's also a master of disguise, or at least so he thinks.

If you enjoy the writing style of Iain Banks or the general mood of The Expanse, I'm sure you will find a lot to like about these stories. In its subject matter, it's very similar to Hard to Be a God by the Strugatsky Brothers. Be that as it may, sometimes we are looking for something familiar and entertaining, and for these times this book is a great pick.

The Plague Star (1985)
The first story of the collection, easily my favorite, is basically a Battle Royale scenario. The participants are Haviland Tuf, Kaj Nevis (the leader of the expedition and later armed with a powerful mecha suit), Jefri Lion (a retired soldier who now works as a research assistant), Rica Dawnstar (a mercenary bodyguard), and Anittas (a cyborg or cybertech). The trip was suggested by Celise Waan, who is an anthropologist and who in her research came across the strange "plague star". She, too, is part of the crew.

I very much liked how the story was preceded by the Prologue. We get to know that a strange disease haunts some some planet (whose name I forgot and in a time frame I cannot remember either). Celise Waan found that report and hypothesize that the star that brings the plague must actually be a spaceship. In fact, it turns out to be a so-called seedship of the Federal Empire, a very advanced human civilization long gone now. The ship belonged to their Ecological Engineering Corps and used for biological warfare. The enormous ship has long been abandoned, and for obvious reasons, it's extremely valuable.

Approaching the Ark (as the seedship turns out to be called), its automated defense system is activated and it severely damages Tuf's ship. This is when the deathmatch begins. Kaj Nevis commands Rica and Anittas to join him towards the Ark, while the rest of the group is presumably left to die on Tuf's ship. However, of course they also find a way to the Ark, where there is more fragmentation of the groups, until eventually it's pretty much every man (and woman) for himself (herself).

The character of Celise Waan is not exactly original, but Martin still succeeds tremendously in making you hate her guts. With all her talk of inconveniences and what she deserves, you really want her to die, soon and painfully. And even more so, when she sends out the poor little cat into its death. Tuf has to give it the coup de grâce himself. This is the moment when Tuf decides to go on his own, too.

I loved the scene when Anittas connects to the system. Neuromancer came out only one year earlier, so Martin may have been inspired by that, but I liked how here already there is the idea of gaining so much power as to basically turn into a god, a topic revisited many times throughout the other stories.

There is also an element of horror that I liked a lot. As it turns out, the ship holds numerous monsters, and as a final stroke of revenge (before his biological component dies) Annitas releases the beasts to roam freely on the ship. It's not exactly that from Jurassic Park (which was released only five years later), but I still liked the part with the T. rex. Some of the other monsters also reappear in later stories.

Meanwhile, Tuf acquaints himself with the ship's cloning mechanisms. He usess the advanced technology, to bring his cat back to life. I was a bit disappointed how the technology purely shines as the magic bullet, without Tuf having any sort of moral qualms about the idea of bringing back his cat.

Notwithstanding, I still liked the story very much. Not the least because of how terrifying the idea of diseases and cloning as part of war strategy really is. Certainly a great setup for the stories to come.

Loaves and Fishes (1985)
This is the story about the dangers of overpopulation and how genetic engineering may make a contribution to solve (or at least diminish) the issues.

Tuf arrives at the Port of S'uthlam, where he wants to make refurbishments and repairs of his newly acquired ship. However, unbeknowest to him, is arrival stirs the gridlocked negotiations in the political crisis that the planet currently, and mostly secretly, experiences. As Tuf is able to bring to light, the S'uthlamese goes through an explosion of population, mainly due to the religous beliefs preached by the Church of Life Evolving, according to which human reproduction will lead to a world of gods. Signs to the contrary are already visible. Through malnutrition, the S'uthlamese are unusually small and thin (as compared to other human populations) and the poorest already turn to cannibalism. In only little over 20 years, famine and war threaten.

This is probably the story that most clearly seeks to hold up a mirror to the real world, and I liked the story for that. More importantly, I very much enjoyed the conversations between Turf and Portmaster Tolly Mune, who is entrusted with the task of convincing Turf to sell his ship (as otherwise the political leaders see themselves forced to acqurie it by violent means).

Guardians (1981)
In this story, Tuf agrees to help out the people of Namor, a planet mostly consisting of water. They face expulsion from their planet, because of a vastly superior attacker. Actually, this opponent seems to part of Namor's own fauna (rather than an external force), though hitherto completely unknown. What is more, the attacker doesn't only strike in the water (with tentacle monsters), but also in the air (trough the "Fire-Balloons") and on the ground (trough the "Walkers").

I think you could say that the core idea of this story is to find an explanation that accounts for many diverse and surprising facts. Where do they come from so suddenly and can it really be a coincidence that they appear all at the same time? Why don't they fight against each other?

The story is very passive, as most that happens is told by Turf watching video recordings. There were two things that I very much liked, though. The pressures of finding a timely solution in the face of extinction, and the eventual resolution of the oerall mystery. The theory may not exactly be obvious, as otherwise Tuf would have come up with it earlier, but it does account for the strange phenomena that occured in recent times.

Ideas about what it means to be intelligent and conscious, hive minds, telepathy, and the manipuation of mind where exciting enough to make this worth a read. Oh, and this also marks the first use of the psi powers of cats, a deus ex machina that Martin uses numerous times in the stories to come.

Second Helpings (1985)
This is more or less a direct continuation of "Loaves and Fishes". As announced earlier, Tuf returns to S'uthlam (from which he had to flee earlier) in order to pay his debt (or the first half of it) for the repairs of his ship five years earlier. This time, the story revolves around the side-effects that his earlier interventions into the planet's ecosystem had had.

Soon after his return, Turf realizes that he became something like a celebrity among the S'uthlamese. This is due to a popular movie adaptation of his earlier visit, a tale that depicts how he initiated an era of prosperity, Tuf's Flowering, among taking other freedoms of artistic expression. Paradoxically, the dangers of famine are even more imminent now, as the people (ignorant to the dangers) gained a very optimistic outlook on their future.

Tuf is forced to again fiddle with the planet's ecosystem. The unpleasant truth is that variety in their cultivations are a luxury that they can no longer afford, and that even following this strict regime they will end up with a famine in a century's time (not to mention unpleasant yet inevitable changes to their hitherto beautiful environment), unless they also change their beliefs about reproduction.

I very much liked this theme of side-effects as well as dictating (or recommending) necessary changes to another culture's beliefes. There is also the idea whether there should be a right to force them to change their ways, which I thought was a very interesting form of paternalism. Certainly among the best stories of the collection.

A Beast for Norn (1976)
In the oldest story of the collection, Tuf is confronted with the futuristic version of cockfights, a custom he obviously doesn't approve of. At the beginning of the story, Tuf is approached by Herold Norn, who represents the Norn House of Lyronica. This House is the lowest-ranking participant in the bestial battles of the Bronze Arena. In order to better their standing, he seeks to convince Tuf to sell him a more competitive beast.

This was an amusing little story. While the outcome may be predictable, I thought it was a very well written and thought-through plot. Naturally, Tuf starts to sell monsters to other parties, too, and with a considerable increase in price to boot. Eventually, no one gained anything - with the exception of Tuf. In order to end this vicious circle, the most powerful House shoots the bolt by paying Tuf money to no longer offer any trades. As it turns out, because of environmental factors, their expensive purchases are soon no longer worth a dime. Brilliant.

Call Him Moses (1978)
Possession of the seedship almost gives Tuf absolute power, so it was to be expected to have a story which focuses entirely on religious themes. This is the one.

The story opens with Tuf being in a bar and enjoying his mushroom wine with Dax on his lap. Out of the blue, he is attacked by a man (Jaime Kreen). He is able to defend himself, not the least because of his cat's telepathic abilities, breaks both arms of his attacker, and eventually acquires him as slave. This arrangement is to remain in place until Kreen is able to repay his debt (bail, damages of Tuf's clothes and the bar, the wine, the troubles he caused). He offers the man to repay his debt by answering questions. As it turns out, Tuf is made responsible for the enslavement not just of himself, but of his whole people.

Kreen comes from the planet Charity. In recent events, a man called Moses lead a religious movement to gain control over the planet. His people were the original settler on the planet. For religious reasons, they decided to give up their technology-oriented life and turn to nature. Other people came and build the City of Hope, and even among the original settlers many turned to the conveniences that it promises. Moses and his people were not happy about that.

He stages himself as the prophet and orchestrates the Ten Plagues familiar from the biblical tales. So, the people of Hope soon find their water turned to blood, plagues of frogs, lies, flies, locusts, and eventual darkness (he skipped pestilence of livestock, boils, thunderstorm, and death of firstborn).

Obviously, this form of biowarfare looks a lot as if supported by Tuf. He's innocent this time, and even offers his help in the matter (for the "cost price", of course). He emerges as God himself (or at least a god more powerful than what most peoples in history came up with), and demonstrates to Moses what really devastating plagues look like, first for real and later only as deterring simulations.

To be honest, I felt the story was a bit lazy. The necessities to develop the core of the story, the demonstration of power in the form of plagues, were already at place before the story even began, and the theme is already familiar from this little book of Christian dogma. I did enjoy the interactions of Tuf and Kreen, though. Tuf is ruthless in bringing to account everything that Kreen consumes during his stay on the Ark. So, while he works on his debt by doing little jobs throughout the day, he has the running expenses for food, air, shelter, and even the use of the toilet (including information where the toilet is). It's silly, but it's fun.

Manna from Heaven (1985)
I have to say that this was my least favorite story in the collection. Not because it's bad, but because it's very similar to the fourth story. Again Tuf travels to S'uthlam, and again he is confronted with problems very similar to his two earlier stays on that planet. There is a war now, but I have to admit I didn't really care too much for that. The outcome was also very predicable. For a moral point of view, the extreme form of paternalism and Tuf's firm stand on the issue are interesting (approaching the problem as a god, as he says), but I've felt I've read this before. I don't think I would have missed much if I had skipped this story.

Rating: 3.5/5