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The Wanderer (Fritz Leiber novel)
Encyclopedia
The Wanderer is the title of a science fiction
novel by Fritz Leiber
about a wandering planet
that enters the solar system
. It won the 1965 Hugo Award
for Best Novel
.
The narrative follows multiple disconnected groups of characters to portray the widespread impact of the Wanderer on the entire population of the Earth (and above it) as well as the varied reactions of different groups as they struggle to cope and survive.
From the point of view of most of the population of the Earth, a new planet appears out of nothing close to the Moon, shortly after a total lunar eclipse. Over a period of few days the planet appears to consume the Moon. On Earth, the new planet's gravity causes death and destruction as it raises huge ocean tides and causes earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. Flying saucers appear in the skies, apparently trying to mitigate some of the disastrous effects. Then after a spectacular battle in space between the new planet and another, the skies are empty again. Earth is left without a Moon.
The novel follows the lives of people around the globe. There is a man attempting a solo crossing of the Atlantic ocean, a smuggler operating off the coast of Vietnam, two friends in England, a trio of drug addicts in New York City, and the military controllers of the USA Moon mission, deep in a bunker somewhere near Washington DC.
The new planet is referred to by everybody as simply "the Wanderer".
The main protagonists are three longtime friends. Paul Hagbolt is escorting Margo Gelhorn (and her cat, Miaow) to observe the lunar eclipse at an observatory in California. Their friend, and Margo's fiance, is Don Merriam, one of the American astronauts at the Moon base. Following on a whim a sign advertising a "flying saucer symposium", Paul and Margo fall in with a group of intellectuals, dreamers, charlatans and misfits. At that point events overtake them. The new planet appears and triggers an earthquake that buries their cars in a landslide. They must avoid tsunamis, more earthquakes, roving mobs and flying saucers to survive. On the Moon Don Merriam is the only one to escape the destruction of the moonbase. He tries to take off in one of the base's spaceships, only to fall through the Moon itself as it splits into two under the influence of the new planet. His ship is eventually captured by the inhabitants of the new planet.
Events take a bizarre turn when the group of saucer enthusiasts is faced with a tsunami. A flying saucer appears, and a cat-like being uses some kind of gun to repel the waves. Then the being uses the same device to pull Paul, who is holding Miaow, into the saucer. At the same time the gun falls into the hands of the people on the ground.
In the saucer Paul meets a being calling itself Tigerishka. A large, female telepathic feline creature, she initially mistakes Miaow as the intelligent being whose thoughts she can hear, and Paul as a "monkey". Realizing her mistake, she regards Paul with contempt. Monkey-beings are not well regarded by her people. However she slowly warms to him, and explains why her planet has appeared to consume the moon.
Like many of the human characters, her people are intellectuals, dreamers, charlatans and misfits. They belong to a culture that spans the Universe, has achieved immortality, and can construct planets and traverse hyperspace. They can create bodies for themselves that reflect the origins of their races, such as Tigerishka's cat-form. However they are fleeing their culture's police. Their culture rejects nonconformists, instead devoting itself to ensuring that intelligent life survives to the end of time. Tigerishka's people want to explore hyperspace, and tinker with space, time and the Mind. Their flight has brought them to Earth orbit simply to refuel. Huge amounts of matter must be converted to energy to power their hyperspace drive and their weapons.
As alien as Tigerishka is, Paul becomes besotted with her. Tigerishka eventually yields to his advances. At the same time, Don Merriam has been rescued with his ship by the Wanderer's other spaceships. He is reunited with Paul aboard Tigerishka's ship. Now they must testify in the Wanderer's trial, for the police have arrived. A second planet, "The Stranger", colored a dull gray where the Wanderer is bright purple and yellow, appears and threatens battle. Don and Paul give their testimony as to the good treatment they have seen, along with thousands of other humans appearing by some kind of holographic projection. However the trial goes badly. Paul and Don are evacuated in Don's ship, placed into position close to Earth by Tigerishka. Tigerishka takes Miaow with her back to her planet. Then the final battle takes place, and both planets disappear. In the final scene, Margo and her companions walk to Vandenberg Spaceport as Don's ship comes in to land.
, 2000) as part of the SF Masterworks
series.
Science fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
novel by Fritz Leiber
Fritz Leiber
Fritz Reuter Leiber, Jr. was an American writer of fantasy, horror and science fiction. He was also a poet, actor in theatre and films, playwright, expert chess player and a champion fencer. Possibly his greatest chess accomplishment was winning clear first in the 1958 Santa Monica Open.. With...
about a wandering planet
Planet
A planet is a celestial body orbiting a star or stellar remnant that is massive enough to be rounded by its own gravity, is not massive enough to cause thermonuclear fusion, and has cleared its neighbouring region of planetesimals.The term planet is ancient, with ties to history, science,...
that enters the solar system
Solar System
The Solar System consists of the Sun and the astronomical objects gravitationally bound in orbit around it, all of which formed from the collapse of a giant molecular cloud approximately 4.6 billion years ago. The vast majority of the system's mass is in the Sun...
. It won the 1965 Hugo Award
Hugo Award
The Hugo Awards are given annually for the best science fiction or fantasy works and achievements of the previous year. The award is named after Hugo Gernsback, the founder of the pioneering science fiction magazine Amazing Stories, and was officially named the Science Fiction Achievement Awards...
for Best Novel
Hugo Award for Best Novel
The Hugo Awards are given every year by the World Science Fiction Society for the best science fiction or fantasy works and achievements of the previous year. The award is named after Hugo Gernsback, the founder of the pioneering science fiction magazine Amazing Stories, and was once officially...
.
The narrative follows multiple disconnected groups of characters to portray the widespread impact of the Wanderer on the entire population of the Earth (and above it) as well as the varied reactions of different groups as they struggle to cope and survive.
Plot
The novel is set in a future a few decades ahead of the 1960s, when it was written. The USA is still competing with the Soviet Union. Both have functioning bases on the Moon, and the Soviets have gained the lead in sending an expedition to Mars.From the point of view of most of the population of the Earth, a new planet appears out of nothing close to the Moon, shortly after a total lunar eclipse. Over a period of few days the planet appears to consume the Moon. On Earth, the new planet's gravity causes death and destruction as it raises huge ocean tides and causes earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. Flying saucers appear in the skies, apparently trying to mitigate some of the disastrous effects. Then after a spectacular battle in space between the new planet and another, the skies are empty again. Earth is left without a Moon.
The novel follows the lives of people around the globe. There is a man attempting a solo crossing of the Atlantic ocean, a smuggler operating off the coast of Vietnam, two friends in England, a trio of drug addicts in New York City, and the military controllers of the USA Moon mission, deep in a bunker somewhere near Washington DC.
The new planet is referred to by everybody as simply "the Wanderer".
The main protagonists are three longtime friends. Paul Hagbolt is escorting Margo Gelhorn (and her cat, Miaow) to observe the lunar eclipse at an observatory in California. Their friend, and Margo's fiance, is Don Merriam, one of the American astronauts at the Moon base. Following on a whim a sign advertising a "flying saucer symposium", Paul and Margo fall in with a group of intellectuals, dreamers, charlatans and misfits. At that point events overtake them. The new planet appears and triggers an earthquake that buries their cars in a landslide. They must avoid tsunamis, more earthquakes, roving mobs and flying saucers to survive. On the Moon Don Merriam is the only one to escape the destruction of the moonbase. He tries to take off in one of the base's spaceships, only to fall through the Moon itself as it splits into two under the influence of the new planet. His ship is eventually captured by the inhabitants of the new planet.
Events take a bizarre turn when the group of saucer enthusiasts is faced with a tsunami. A flying saucer appears, and a cat-like being uses some kind of gun to repel the waves. Then the being uses the same device to pull Paul, who is holding Miaow, into the saucer. At the same time the gun falls into the hands of the people on the ground.
In the saucer Paul meets a being calling itself Tigerishka. A large, female telepathic feline creature, she initially mistakes Miaow as the intelligent being whose thoughts she can hear, and Paul as a "monkey". Realizing her mistake, she regards Paul with contempt. Monkey-beings are not well regarded by her people. However she slowly warms to him, and explains why her planet has appeared to consume the moon.
Like many of the human characters, her people are intellectuals, dreamers, charlatans and misfits. They belong to a culture that spans the Universe, has achieved immortality, and can construct planets and traverse hyperspace. They can create bodies for themselves that reflect the origins of their races, such as Tigerishka's cat-form. However they are fleeing their culture's police. Their culture rejects nonconformists, instead devoting itself to ensuring that intelligent life survives to the end of time. Tigerishka's people want to explore hyperspace, and tinker with space, time and the Mind. Their flight has brought them to Earth orbit simply to refuel. Huge amounts of matter must be converted to energy to power their hyperspace drive and their weapons.
As alien as Tigerishka is, Paul becomes besotted with her. Tigerishka eventually yields to his advances. At the same time, Don Merriam has been rescued with his ship by the Wanderer's other spaceships. He is reunited with Paul aboard Tigerishka's ship. Now they must testify in the Wanderer's trial, for the police have arrived. A second planet, "The Stranger", colored a dull gray where the Wanderer is bright purple and yellow, appears and threatens battle. Don and Paul give their testimony as to the good treatment they have seen, along with thousands of other humans appearing by some kind of holographic projection. However the trial goes badly. Paul and Don are evacuated in Don's ship, placed into position close to Earth by Tigerishka. Tigerishka takes Miaow with her back to her planet. Then the final battle takes place, and both planets disappear. In the final scene, Margo and her companions walk to Vandenberg Spaceport as Don's ship comes in to land.
The three friends
Margo Gelhorn, Paul Hagbolt and Donald Merriam have been friends since High School. Don became an astronaut, and Paul followed him into NASA by using his journalism qualifications to become a publicist for the agency. Margo eventually bestowed her affections on Don and became his fiancee. This left Paul with unrequited feelings for her, although Margo tells Paul that his feelings for Don are "more than brotherly". The three form an odd triangle. Margo herself is manipulative and exploits both Paul and Don to serve her ends. Don is a loner at heart, however. The triangle is set to fly apart. Their collision with the Saucer Symposium provides the trigger.The Saucer Symposium
When Paul and Margo encounter the Saucer Symposium on the beach near Vandenberg, they give the participants nicknames.- "Doc" (Rudolf Brecht) is a relentless debunker of UFO myths and a top-notch piano salesman. He is one of the symposium organizers and chairmen.
- "Turban" (Rama Joan) is a mystic who wears a turban and a man's tuxedo. She was once the wife of a New York stockbroker but abandoned the comfortable lifestyle to lecture on mysticism and participate in events like the Symposium as a search for enlightenment.
- "Beardy" (Prof. Ross Hunter) is a sociologist from Oregon State University. He originally began studying UFO groups but became interested in the subject itself. During the adventures caused by the appearance of the Wanderer, he gets close to Margo and eventually seduces her, in the process exposing and neutralizing her manipulative instincts.
- "The Little Man" (Clarence Dowd) is a meticulous documenter of UFO events. He draws the Wanderer as it shows its different faces to Earth. These drawings appear in the book.
- "The Ramrod" (Charlie Furby) is a tough-looking man who is really a fantasist. He insists that he has been transported to planets such as Ispan, whose location only he knows, but later admits he did this entirely in his fantasies. He is accompanied by two women who may both be his wives, part of a polygamous sect.
New Yorkers
- Sally Harris and Jake Lesher are looking for a good time and thinking about writing a play. They start with an amorous encounter on a Coney IslandConey IslandConey Island is a peninsula and beach on the Atlantic Ocean in southern Brooklyn, New York, United States. The site was formerly an outer barrier island, but became partially connected to the mainland by landfill....
roller coaster, reaching a high in every sense at the instant the Wanderer appears. They wander through the crowds in Times Square, then take refuge in a penthouse apartment as the flood tides begin. They barely survive as the tides caused by Wanderer and the Stranger almost reach their roof level. - Arab Jones, Pepe Martinez and High Bundy are stoners. High on marijuana, they chase the sight of the Wanderer through the streets of New York, making up crazy stories about it. They are eventually drowned by in-rushing tides in a subway station.
Floridians
- Barbara Katz is another adventurous young woman with an agenda. She catches an old millionaire, Knolls K. Kettering III, spying on her with his telescope while she sunbathes. Deciding to become his "friend" she dons a black "playsuit" and sneaks into his yard during the eclipse, finding him observing the event with the same telescope. With "KKK" and his black servants, she tries to escape the flood tides by driving to high ground in the limousine. Dodging racist policemen and a delegation of Ku Kux Klan vigilantes they ride out one flood by climbing trees, then find a washed-up yacht in which they survive the subsequent catastrophes.
An undisclosed location
- General "Spike" Stevens and Colonel Mabel Wallingford are two members of Mission Control team for the Moonbase, stationed deep underground somewhere near Washington D.C. At first they think the events are a "problem", a simulation created by their superiors to test their readiness. Not long after they realize that the events on their screens are real, the facility floods with water. Stevens and Wallingford are left trapped together. Fully aware they are about to die, the find their final release in each other, despite having hated each other from the moment they met.
In Great Britain
- Dai Davies and Richard Hillary enjoy a drink together in the English county of Somerset and then go their separate ways. Hillary returns to the Home Counties of England but is caught in the exodus from the lowlands as tides flood the Thames basin. He survives by reaching high ground in the Malvern Hills. Davies, a romantic poet, composes odes to the new planet and then attempts to walk to Wales across the apparently dry estuary of the river Severn. He is finally engulfed in a huge version of the Severn boreSevern boreThe Severn bore is a tidal bore seen on the tidal reaches of the River Severn in England. It forms somewhat upstream of Sharpness, and can be seen as far upstream as Maisemore.- Formation :...
and drowns.
At sea
- Wolf Loner is attempting a solo crossing of the Atlantic. Because of bad weather, and the loss of radio communication, he has no idea that anything is happening in the sky. His first inkling that anything strange has happened is when his boat bumps up against the bell tower of Old North ChurchOld North ChurchOld North Church , at 193 Salem Street, in the North End of Boston, is the location from which the famous "One if by land, and two if by sea" signal is said to have been sent...
in Boston. - Bagong Bung is a smuggler supplying both sides in a guerilla war, operating off the coast of Vietnam. The suddenly large tides uncover a wreck on the sea floor, which he loots for treasure.
- Off the coast of South America, the atomic powered cruise liner "Prince Charles" is hijacked by revolutionaries. Flood tides carry it deep into the Amazon basin where it eventually comes to rest on land, like Noah's Ark, with hundreds of passengers.
Availability
The Wanderer is available in paperback under ISBN 0575071125 (GollanczGollancz
Gollancz often refers to the British publishing house Victor Gollancz Ltd.Gollancz, a family name originating from the Polish town Gołańcz , is mainly known as the name of a prominent British Jewish family, including:* Sir Hermann Gollancz , rabbi* Sir Israel Gollancz , scholar of...
, 2000) as part of the SF Masterworks
SF Masterworks
SF Masterworks is a series of science fiction books started by Millennium and currently published by Gollancz ....
series.