Whipping Star

infobox Book |
name = Whipping Star
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author = Frank Herbert
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country = United States
language = English
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genre = Science fiction novel
publisher = G. P. Putnam's Sons
release_date = 1970
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media_type = Print (Hardcover & Paperback)
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isbn = ISBN 0-839-82648-6
preceded_by =
followed_by = The Dosadi Experiment

"Whipping Star" (1970) is a science fiction novel by Frank Herbert. It is the first full-length novel set in the ConSentiency universe established by Herbert in his novelette "The Tactful Saboteur". The main theme of the novel is the difficulty of simply communicating with a truly alien species.

Plot summary

In the far future, humankind has made contact with numerous other species: Gowachin, Laclac, Wreaves, Pan Spechi, Taprisiots, and Caleban (among others) and has helped to form the ConSentiency to govern among the species. After suffering under a tyrannous pure democracy which had the power to create laws so fast that no thought could be given to the effects, the sentients of the galaxy found the need for a Bureau of Sabotage (BuSab) to slow the wheels of government, thereby preventing it from legislating recklessly.

In "Whipping Star", Jorj X. McKie is a "saboteur extraordinary", a born troublemaker who has naturally become one of BuSab's best agents. As the novel opens, it is revealed that Calebans, who are beings visible to other sentient species as stars, have been disappearing one by one. Each disappearance is accompanied by millions of sentient deaths and instances of incurable insanity.

Ninety years prior to the setting of "Whipping Star", the Calebans appeared and offered jumpdoors to the collective species, allowing sentients to travel instantly to any point in the universe. Gratefully accepting, the sentiency didn't question the consequences. Now Mliss Abnethe, a psychotic human female with immense power and wealth, has bound a Caleban (called Fanny Mae) in a contract that allows the Caleban to be whipped to death; when the Caleban dies, everyone who has ever used a jumpdoor (which is almost every adult in the sentient world and many of the young) will die as well.

The Calebans begin to disappear one at a time, leaving our plane of existence (or exiting "our wave") to save themselves. As all Calebans are connected, if all were to remain in our existence, when Fanny Mae died, all Calebans would die. As each Caleban exits, millions of the ConSentiency are killed or rendered insane. McKie has to find Mliss and stop her before Fanny Mae reaches, in her words, "ultimate discontinuity", but he is constrained by the law protecting private individuals by restricting the "ministrations" of BuSab to public entities.

McKie succeeds in saving Fanny Mae by opening a jumpdoor into space which shunts a large interstellar cloud of (presumably) hydrogen into her stellar body, rejuvenating her from her torture at the hands of the Palenki henchmen hired by Mliss Abnethe.

Related works

The Whipping Star was followed in 1977 by Herbert's "The Dosadi Experiment". While "The Dosadi Experiment" is not exactly a sequel to "Whipping Star" it takes place in the same imaginary universe and has the same main character, Jorj X. McKie.

Main characters

*Jorj X. McKie - BuSab Saboteur Extraordinary - Human
*Bildoon - BuSab Director - Pan Spechi
*Fanny Mae - Caleban
*Mliss Abnethe - wealthy female - human