The CoDominium Stories

A Pournelle Set of Universe

These are the stories of the CoDominium, the mega-state formed by the American-Soviet alliance which dominates Earth during the twenty-first century.

Proposed and created by Jerry Pournelle, the CoDominium Universe may have appeared most prominently in The Mote in Gods Eye developed 1970-1973 with Larry Niven.  With the fall of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War, the CoDominium timeline is still valid in terms of predicting nationalistic cooperation toward governing and exploiting space.  Just replace a Russian influence with Asia Pacific or European or Middle Eastern  political cultures and skip forward about 50 years.  The Codominium stories set 1000-2000 years from now are just as compelling and predictive.  (Feel free to disagree in the comments below).

You can acquire these stories in one of two ways.

 (1) Four paperback books (Falkenberg’s Legion, Prince of Mercenaries, Go Tell the Spartans, Prince of Sparta) plus the short story “He Fell Into a Dark Hole.” 

(2) One hardcover book (The Prince) plus the short story “He Fell Into a Dark Hole.” The Prince combines the contents of the paperbacks, plus four pages of new material.

The chronological reading order of these stories is as follows:

• FALKENBERG’S LEGION, Prologue.   (Same as THE PRINCE, pp. 8-17.)
  
  
• FALKENBERG’S LEGION, Part One.   (Same as THE PRINCE, pp. 18-173; the map on p. 6 is useful here.)
  
  
• THE PRINCE, pages 174-176.
  
  
• “He Fell Into a Dark Hole.” This short story is a bit hard to find. It originally appeared in Analog, March 1973. It was reprinted in Black Holes and Other Marvels (1978, ed. Pournelle) and again in There Will Be War, vol. 5: Warrior (1986, ed. Pournelle). If you can’t find it, it isn’t essential to the remaining stories, but it gives a more personal view of Admiral Lermontov and Senator Grant than the other books do.
  
  
• FALKENBERG’S LEGION, Part Two: prologue and chapters 1–11.   (Same as THE PRINCE, pp. 177-286.)
  
  
• PRINCE OF MERCENARIES: chapters 12, 13, and most of 14 (pages 134-171, ending with the words “the cheering began”).   (Same as THE PRINCE, pp. 388-414.)
  
  
• PRINCE OF MERCENARIES: chapters 1–11.   (Same as THE PRINCE, pp. 293-387.)
  
  
• PRINCE OF MERCENARIES: remainder of chapter 14, and then chapters 15–27.   (Same as THE PRINCE, pp. 414-529; the map on p. 292 is useful here.)
  
  
• FALKENBERG’S LEGION, Part Two: chapter 12.   (Same as THE PRINCE, pp. 287-290.)
  
  
• GO TELL THE SPARTANS.   (Same as THE PRINCE, pp. 611-857; the map on p. 860 is quite useful.)
  
  
• THE PRINCE, p. 533.
  
  
• FALKENBERG’S LEGION, Part Two: chapters 13–22.   (Same as THE PRINCE, pp. 534-610; the map on pp. 4-5 is useful here!)
  
  
• PRINCE OF SPARTA.   (Same as THE PRINCE, pp. 859-1151.)

The Second Empire Stories

These stories are set during the Second Empire of Man, in the thirty-first century. Most of them deal with humanity’s first contact with an alien species.

The best chronological reading order of these stories is as follows:

• “Motelight”. This was originally intended to be the prologue to The Mote in God’s Eye, but it was cut to shorten the final book. It was later published as part of the article “Building the Mote In God’s Eye” (printed in Galaxy, January 1976; reprinted in A Step Farther Out [1979, Pournelle], and reprinted again in N-Space [1990, Niven]). “Motelight” appears near the beginning of the article “Building the Mote in God’s Eye”. Within this article, the story “Motelight” is printed in italics, and ends with the words “for one hundred and fifteen years.” The rest of the article is an essay that should not be read until after you have read The Mote in God’s Eye!
  
  
• “In Memoriam: Howard Grote Littlemead”. This is Larry Niven’s rewrite of “Motelight”, in verse! It was published in the hard-to-find Niven’s Laws (1984, Niven). Very optional.
  
  
• “Reflex”. This was originally intended to be the first chapter of The Mote in God’s Eye, but it was cut to make the novel shorter. It was later printed in There Will Be War vol. I (1983, ed. Pournelle).
  
  
• THE MOTE IN GOD’S EYE.
  
  
• Optionally, you can now read the remainder of the article “Building the Mote In God’s Eye”.
  
  
• KING DAVID’S SPACESHIP. This novel takes place at the exact same time as The Mote in God’s Eye, but should be read after it to avoid spoilers.
  
  
• THE GRIPPING HAND.
  
  
• OUTIES.

The three introductory pieces (“Motelight”, “In Memoriam: Howard Grote Littlemead”, and “Reflex”) may be hard to find. If you can’t track them down, just skip them. (Remember, the authors deleted these stories from the book, so they aren’t essential!) The Mote in God’s Eye is one of the greatest science-fiction novels ever written, and is highly recommended – with or without these prequels.