The Stones of Nomuru

Infobox Book |
name = The Stones of Nomuru
title_orig =
translator =


image_caption = first edition of "The Stones of Nomuru"
author = L. Sprague de Camp and Catherine Crook de Camp
illustrator =
cover_artist =
country = United States
language = English
series = "Kukulkan"
genre = Science fiction novel
publisher = Donning Co.
release_date = 1988
english_release_date =
media_type = Print (Paperback)
pages = v, 215 pp
isbn = ISBN 0898656788
preceded_by =
followed_by = The Venom Trees of Sunga

"The Stones of Nomuru" is a science fiction novel written by L. Sprague de Camp and Catherine Crook de Camp, the tenth book in the former's "Viagens Interplanetarias" series and the first in its subseries of stories set on the fictional planet Kukulkan. It was first published as a trade paperback by Donning/Starblaze Editions in 1988, and as a mass market paperback by Baen Books in 1991. It has also been translated into Italian.

Plot

Kukulkan, a planet of the star Epsilon Eridani, is inhabited by intelligent dinosaur-like creatures possessed of a civilization far older than Earth's. Due to the natives' inherent conservatism and an environment deficient in fossil fuels, its technology has not advanced beyond edged weapons and steam-driven vehicles. The Kukulkanians, or "Kooks" as they are known among Terrans, are honest, honor-bound, and dull in personality. Terrans have obtained land for a colony by treaty, and the colonists, comprised primarily of descendants of North American, Russian, and Chinese settlers, co-inhabit the planet in a somewhat uneasy relationship with the natives.

Terran archeologist Keith Salazar’s excavation of the ancient Kukulkan city of Nomuru is endangered by the plans of the avaricious Conrad Bergen to develop the site. Their dispute is complicated by rivalry over Kara Sheffield, Salazar’s former wife, and an invasion of the lands of the civilized Kukulkanians by the Chosa nomads. To preserve his dig and advance his suit, Salazar must avoid being murdered by Bergen, bestir the civilized natives to battle the nomads, and manipulate his superior at the museum funding him in order to secretly supply Terran weapons to his allies.

The cultural level of the aboriginal race places the Kukulkan stories firmly within the Sword and Planet genre, though the non-humanoid inhabitants are an unusual feature. The Kooks' rational and dispassionate observations allow the authors to present a rather arch perspective on the comparatively less stable Earthlings.

Problematic placement in the "Viagens" series

The status of the Kukulkan novels as part of the "Viagens" series has been disputed on three grounds.

The first objection is that the "Viagens Interplanetarias" is never actually mentioned in the novels. This difficulty is explicable; as the Terran settlements on Kukulkan are well-established they are not dependent on the space organization for support as are Terrans on other worlds. The fact that all the action in the Kukulkan novels takes place on-planet also lessens the likelihood of "Viagens" involvement.

The second objection is that the novels portray a future in which Americans, Russians and Chinese appear prominent, while the Brazilians usually portrayed as the dominant Earth society go unmentioned. This difficulty has also been rationalized; emigrant societies are more commonly drawn from struggling countries than affluent ones, and America and Russia, at least, are no longer great powers in the "Viagens" future. Therefore it is reasonable for these nations, and not the prosperous Brazil, to have sent settlers to Kukulkan.

The third objection is that the name of the planet Kukulkan appears to violate the naming system previously established for the planetary system of Epsilon Eridani, which according to the introduction and title story of "The Continent Makers and Other Tales of the Viagens" utilized the names of Norse gods like Thor, not Mayan gods like Kukulkan. This discrepancy remains unresolved, but since no "Viagens" story is actually set on any of the Norse worlds, the identification of their star as Epsilon Eridani is perhaps best regarded as an error.

Regardless of these issues, an explicit reference to the key "Viagens" planet Krishna in the second Kukulkan novel, "The Venom Trees of Sunga", definitively places Kukulkan in the "Viagens" universe.