Status
Available
Call number
Publication
Ballantine Books (New York, 1964). 1st edition, 1st printing. 320 pages. 75¢.
Description
This Hugo Award-winning disaster epic from the Science Fiction Grand Master "ranks among [his] most ambitious works" (SFSite). The Wanderer inspires feelings of pure terror in the hearts of the five billion human beings inhabiting Planet Earth. The presence of an alien planet causes increasingly severe tragedies and chaos. However, one man stands apart from the mass of frightened humanity. For him, the legendary Wanderer is a mere tale of bizarre alien domination and human submission. His conception of the Wanderer bleeds into unrequited love for the mysterious "she" who owns him.
User reviews
LibraryThing member figre
Sometimes we forget just how long the global disaster story has existed. You know the kind –the stories of individuals are told in front of the backdrop “the world is coming to an end!” It can really be traced all the way back to the beginning of science fiction (wherever you want to mark
I was reminded of this as I read Leiber’s book, first published in 1964. A cataclysmic disaster befalls human kind and we watch its impact on the lives of the people scattered throughout the globe. Fifty years ago and this type of story was a staple.
These types of stories can be fun, they can be tedious, they can run the same gamut of possibilities as any novel. However, this one has two things going for it. The first is that it was written by Fritz Leiber. That should be enough right there. However, the other thing going for it is that Leiber has based this disaster on a very strange but potentially scientifically accurate scenario. Sure, it’s a little far-fetched to think that a planet can appear out of nowhere next to the moon. But Leiber has done his homework (as the greats always do) and makes us believe, with a mix of verisimilitude and science, that this could really be happening.
This is a reminder of why some of us have not “outgrown” science fiction – grand experiences told within the human experience.
After some background into the lives of the people we will be following, the novel dives into its strange premise. A planet appears next to the moon. It has a disastrous impact on the moon as the planet begins sucking pieces of the moon into the planet’s gravity field. And, of course, that much extra mass out there has an effect on the earth – earthquakes, weather, and, of course, huge tides.
Through the travails of various individuals (including one who is located on the moon), we see the impacts of these disasters. Many of these people don’t make it to the end of the book, but our main protagonists do. And, as many of these books do, this one ends with a promise that the human spirit will prevail.
Okay, that last sentence is unfair. It makes it seem that the book is trite. And that is not the case. As I’ve noted, Leiber is a craftsman and does his job well in this book.
However, there are a few quibbles. First, there are a couple of sex scenes (60s sex scenes – don’t worry) that really stink. They should be expurgated in all future editions. I also felt the introduction of the aliens (whoops, kind of a spoiler) and that important plot point wasn’t handled well. When it first occurred, I got very upset about its inclusion and, while I eventually got used to it and it began to work, at first I just wanted to get back to the other parts of the story. In addition, some of the alien sections didn’t gibe well. Why two such completely different responses from two aliens? Why should we shift from thinking of them as bad guys to victims?
And finally, because the book isn’t a 600-page extravaganza (the type we seem to have fallen in love with), there isn’t much time available to deeply explore the lives of anyone outside of the three major protagonists. Most of the others are fleshed out as more than cardboard, but they are pure supporting characters that appear to be put in to show the rest of the world and break up the main story.
But all that being said, the book is good. And it is fun to read. Were it written today, it would probably have to be a trilogy (or tetralogy or whatever length someone like George R. R. Martin is going for.) There would be deep dives into all of the ancillary characters and numbing pages of exposition. Yes, I might have wanted to see more than we were given, but I am not convinced such an expansion would have made this a better book.
Ultimately, I am happy with what we have…and satisfied that nothing more really need be added.
Show More
that start).) And it is a staple, its popularity ebbing and flowing just as any trend. But I think that, because books are so much longer now (particularly science fiction books), many people fall into the trap of thinking it has only now become really popular.I was reminded of this as I read Leiber’s book, first published in 1964. A cataclysmic disaster befalls human kind and we watch its impact on the lives of the people scattered throughout the globe. Fifty years ago and this type of story was a staple.
These types of stories can be fun, they can be tedious, they can run the same gamut of possibilities as any novel. However, this one has two things going for it. The first is that it was written by Fritz Leiber. That should be enough right there. However, the other thing going for it is that Leiber has based this disaster on a very strange but potentially scientifically accurate scenario. Sure, it’s a little far-fetched to think that a planet can appear out of nowhere next to the moon. But Leiber has done his homework (as the greats always do) and makes us believe, with a mix of verisimilitude and science, that this could really be happening.
This is a reminder of why some of us have not “outgrown” science fiction – grand experiences told within the human experience.
After some background into the lives of the people we will be following, the novel dives into its strange premise. A planet appears next to the moon. It has a disastrous impact on the moon as the planet begins sucking pieces of the moon into the planet’s gravity field. And, of course, that much extra mass out there has an effect on the earth – earthquakes, weather, and, of course, huge tides.
Through the travails of various individuals (including one who is located on the moon), we see the impacts of these disasters. Many of these people don’t make it to the end of the book, but our main protagonists do. And, as many of these books do, this one ends with a promise that the human spirit will prevail.
Okay, that last sentence is unfair. It makes it seem that the book is trite. And that is not the case. As I’ve noted, Leiber is a craftsman and does his job well in this book.
However, there are a few quibbles. First, there are a couple of sex scenes (60s sex scenes – don’t worry) that really stink. They should be expurgated in all future editions. I also felt the introduction of the aliens (whoops, kind of a spoiler) and that important plot point wasn’t handled well. When it first occurred, I got very upset about its inclusion and, while I eventually got used to it and it began to work, at first I just wanted to get back to the other parts of the story. In addition, some of the alien sections didn’t gibe well. Why two such completely different responses from two aliens? Why should we shift from thinking of them as bad guys to victims?
And finally, because the book isn’t a 600-page extravaganza (the type we seem to have fallen in love with), there isn’t much time available to deeply explore the lives of anyone outside of the three major protagonists. Most of the others are fleshed out as more than cardboard, but they are pure supporting characters that appear to be put in to show the rest of the world and break up the main story.
But all that being said, the book is good. And it is fun to read. Were it written today, it would probably have to be a trilogy (or tetralogy or whatever length someone like George R. R. Martin is going for.) There would be deep dives into all of the ancillary characters and numbing pages of exposition. Yes, I might have wanted to see more than we were given, but I am not convinced such an expansion would have made this a better book.
Ultimately, I am happy with what we have…and satisfied that nothing more really need be added.
Show Less
LibraryThing member daniel.links
Another charity shop bargain - after the first few pages I thought it was going to be an uncomfortably dated novel, but in fact it had an original idea, and moved fast enough that the interludes with less central characters seemed to pass by rapidly enough.
Worth a read.
Worth a read.
LibraryThing member aarondesk
A so-so book. It could have probably been condensed to 50 pages and been fine. The rest of the book is just fluff. A strange sort of fluff that follows the lives of perhaps a dozen different groups as the world falls apart. The groups are all odd in their own strange ways. The message seems to be
Show More
that when the world will fall apart, all the weirdos will come out in mass. The main plot about the 'Wanderer' is interesting, but not enough is actually given to it. Show Less
LibraryThing member Creeps
Eh. I love Leiber, but this has aged poorly. He tries to go for the "same event as seen through the eyes of many different people" story, but it seems like even he got tired of most of these extras and focused almost entirely upon the main cast. The fact that aliens were involved with the story
Show More
seemed to be almost a throwaway. Sure, he was probably going for a "huge extraterrestrial event happens in the blink of eye...business as usual for aliens, big friggin deal for Earth" thing, but it just seemed so... empty. Character development was minimal. You don't really get attached to anyone. Show Less
LibraryThing member RandyStafford
Lucifer's Hammer sort of set me up for disappointment with this novel. Both novels flip back and forth between a large cast of characters before and after a disaster that comes from the heavens. Both depict that destruction in full immersion 3-D, Dolby Digital IMAX glory. Both are pretty rigorous
The characters are colorful enough, all met on the eve of a lunar eclipse. They include a group of "saucer students", an American astronaut on a lunar base, a man sailing solo across the Atlantic, a has-been actor on a mission to bomb the Presidential Palace of Nicaragua, a sex-crazed couple in New York out to compose a musical, a couple of poets in the UK, a would-be treasure hunter off the seas of Vietnam, a captain ferrying fascists on an atomic-powered liner en route to a coup in Brazil, a science fiction fan who falls in with a dying millionaire, and a German scientist who absolutely will not accept any evidence of the apocalypse apart from his own instruments. The Black Dahlia killer just may put in an appearance too. They are all interesting, colorful, their segments generally at the right length.
The plot? After a lunar eclipse, another big object appears in the sky, the moon starts to get ripped apart, and massive tidal devastation - along with volcanic eruptions and earthquakes - is caused by that object. The first hundred pages mysteriously dragged for me, though. I think less ominous foreshadowing and anarchy and strife - at least on stage - than in the longer Lucifer's Hammer explains my dissatisfaction.
However, the latter part of the novel introduces a new and surprising element very much in keeping with some of Leiber's short fiction which sides with the dangerous and eccentric over an enforced safe, sane order of things. Aliens, cats, E. E. "Doc" Smith, and interspecies attraction all make an appearance too.
Read it for the characters and that last third and not for disaster porn.
Show More
in their science at the beginning though this novel, due to its plot twists, ends up in space opera territory. Still, a story where the moon gets chewed up, millions die from tidal waves, and civilization starts to fray should be more entertaining than it turns out to be.The characters are colorful enough, all met on the eve of a lunar eclipse. They include a group of "saucer students", an American astronaut on a lunar base, a man sailing solo across the Atlantic, a has-been actor on a mission to bomb the Presidential Palace of Nicaragua, a sex-crazed couple in New York out to compose a musical, a couple of poets in the UK, a would-be treasure hunter off the seas of Vietnam, a captain ferrying fascists on an atomic-powered liner en route to a coup in Brazil, a science fiction fan who falls in with a dying millionaire, and a German scientist who absolutely will not accept any evidence of the apocalypse apart from his own instruments. The Black Dahlia killer just may put in an appearance too. They are all interesting, colorful, their segments generally at the right length.
The plot? After a lunar eclipse, another big object appears in the sky, the moon starts to get ripped apart, and massive tidal devastation - along with volcanic eruptions and earthquakes - is caused by that object. The first hundred pages mysteriously dragged for me, though. I think less ominous foreshadowing and anarchy and strife - at least on stage - than in the longer Lucifer's Hammer explains my dissatisfaction.
However, the latter part of the novel introduces a new and surprising element very much in keeping with some of Leiber's short fiction which sides with the dangerous and eccentric over an enforced safe, sane order of things. Aliens, cats, E. E. "Doc" Smith, and interspecies attraction all make an appearance too.
Read it for the characters and that last third and not for disaster porn.
Show Less
LibraryThing member wrobert
I just finished it. I can see how this won the Hugo. A lot of references to this history of the genre, and to fandom. Unfortunately, it also has a lot of thin characterization, and probably needed a significant editor. You can tell that Leiber is trying to capture the immensity of the disaster that
Show More
would be caused by such an event, a planet like ship coming into orbit, but most of it feels tedious and repetitive. It has some interesting science fictional moments, for instance thinking through the effect on the tides, but most of the satire falls flat, and occasionally slips into racist stereotype. The literary references often feel forced as well. Show Less
LibraryThing member JalenV
The Wanderer first came out in 1964. It was probably considered smutty back then. Now, it's almost tame. The story follows what happens to persons in various parts of the world when a planet-sized object appears near our moon.
The American characters range from scientists to stoners. The
Mr. Leiber jumps from the adventure of one character or group of characters, coming back to them to let us know how they're doing. Not everyone survives.
There will be some use of the N word, mostly from white bigots against a group of African-Americans traveling with their rich, old, sick white employer. No, he doesn't regain consciousness only to save the day with a few well-chosen words during all of their adventures, although white supremacists would hate one of his remarks. One bigot's remarks about college-educated N-words and science was particularly offensive, but Barbara was right and he was wrong.
I was offended by the fact that the drunk fares better than the stoners, though both provide cautionary tales about needing to be able to think clearly when disaster strikes. (Some of the humor is of the gallows variety. Some I didn't find funny.)
The astronaut gets his name on the back of the book, but aside from using the memory of one of Edgar Rice Burroughs' Mars books to save his life and an interesting tour of the Wanderer, his best friend, Paul, gets more time. I found Paul's interactions with a lovely alien cat lady one of the best parts of the book.
Mr. Leiber even provides a possible solution to a famous unsolved murder during one of the segments following a group of flying saucer students.
Because I watch the science channel, I can't be as optimistic about the book's end as the author was.
Dog lovers: there's a German shepherd named Ragnarok.
Cat lovers: I'm not sure how her name is spelled, but there's a dear cat named Meow.
The American characters range from scientists to stoners. The
Show More
non-American characters also range in occupation. The Wanderer (the name given to the object), has a catastrophic influence on the tides and the weather. I won't go so far as to say Earth's population is drastically reduced, but reduced it definitely is.Mr. Leiber jumps from the adventure of one character or group of characters, coming back to them to let us know how they're doing. Not everyone survives.
There will be some use of the N word, mostly from white bigots against a group of African-Americans traveling with their rich, old, sick white employer. No, he doesn't regain consciousness only to save the day with a few well-chosen words during all of their adventures, although white supremacists would hate one of his remarks. One bigot's remarks about college-educated N-words and science was particularly offensive, but Barbara was right and he was wrong.
I was offended by the fact that the drunk fares better than the stoners, though both provide cautionary tales about needing to be able to think clearly when disaster strikes. (Some of the humor is of the gallows variety. Some I didn't find funny.)
The astronaut gets his name on the back of the book, but aside from using the memory of one of Edgar Rice Burroughs' Mars books to save his life and an interesting tour of the Wanderer, his best friend, Paul, gets more time. I found Paul's interactions with a lovely alien cat lady one of the best parts of the book.
Mr. Leiber even provides a possible solution to a famous unsolved murder during one of the segments following a group of flying saucer students.
Because I watch the science channel, I can't be as optimistic about the book's end as the author was.
Dog lovers: there's a German shepherd named Ragnarok.
Cat lovers: I'm not sure how her name is spelled, but there's a dear cat named Meow.
Show Less
LibraryThing member brakketh
Solid science fiction about the impacts of a planet-sized space craft appearing next to Earth with the likely impacts of their gravity. Some exploration of the damage to society and interaction with some of the alien species. References a number of 50s science fiction series.
LibraryThing member ikeman100
Fritz is brilliant but a bit strange.
LibraryThing member Karlstar
This is garbage. Apparently Lieber feels that in an end of the world scenario, most people will behave badly and he takes the opportunity to denigrate, insult and bemean every minority group possible. Do not read. My opinion of him as an author has taken a big hit here.
LibraryThing member Stevil2001
As the epigraphs and some of the early dialogue in the novel makes clear, this is an attempt to take the space opera concept of planets that can move through interstellar space (as seen in, for example "Doc" Smith's Lensman novels) and apply some real-world logic to it. If a mobile planet appeared
I was very into it at first, but the more I read it, the less interested I was; at 346 pages (in my Gollancz edition, at least), the book is just too long proportional to the amount of interesting things that happen. Leiber reminds me of his contemporary Clifford Simak, good at both mood and character, but it felt like not much was actually happening. Groups of people very slowly make it from point A to point B. And it just keeps going on and on and on. The beginning of the book, as the disaster begins to unfold, it utterly captivating, but having grabbed you, Leiber assumes you will continue to be captivated by the same thing slowly unspooling for hundreds of pages. Probably could have been a cracker of a novella, but my least favorite of the seven Hugo-winning novels I've read over the last few years, except for The Forever Machine.
Show More
in Earth's solar system, what would be the result? The book unfolds like a disaster movie, following a number of parallel plotlines about different people dealing with effects like the break-up of the moon and some incredibly high and low tides.I was very into it at first, but the more I read it, the less interested I was; at 346 pages (in my Gollancz edition, at least), the book is just too long proportional to the amount of interesting things that happen. Leiber reminds me of his contemporary Clifford Simak, good at both mood and character, but it felt like not much was actually happening. Groups of people very slowly make it from point A to point B. And it just keeps going on and on and on. The beginning of the book, as the disaster begins to unfold, it utterly captivating, but having grabbed you, Leiber assumes you will continue to be captivated by the same thing slowly unspooling for hundreds of pages. Probably could have been a cracker of a novella, but my least favorite of the seven Hugo-winning novels I've read over the last few years, except for The Forever Machine.
Show Less
Subjects
Awards
Hugo Award (Nominee — Novel — 1965)
Language
Original language
English
Original publication date
1964
Physical description
318 p.
Similar in this library
Jem by Frederik Pohl