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The Wandering Worlds
a strange and vicious attack of mental energy is suddenly unleashed on the occupants of Explorer Globe 13 during a routine mission to find mineral wealth in a distant planetary system.
- GenresScience FictionFiction
172 pages, Paperback
Published January 1, 1977
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
July 17, 2018
Right at the intersection between inner space-focused New Wave and gee-whiz Golden Age rocketry, this is an unusual but strangely compelling tale of individual human limitations writ large amongst the cosmos. The characters are vividly drawn, if not given enough to do, and there are deep thematics at play that elevate an already pretty interesting “who are the aliens and how do we stop them from killing us?” narrative.
The major flaw here is that the second act is full of what is transparently filler material - borderline purple ruminations that seem tossed off in a single haphazard writing session in which Greenough gave himself a word count but nothing to accomplish with it, so he just circled the same questions repeatedly and hoped no one would notice. It’s a shame, because it mars an otherwise strong story with a powerful climax. Recommended for fans of first contact stories with alien aliens, and for folks interested in tracing sf history.
(For example why the awful Mote in God’s Eye, and not this, is considered the touchstone for 1970s first contact stories should be a matter of pressing historical concern...)
The major flaw here is that the second act is full of what is transparently filler material - borderline purple ruminations that seem tossed off in a single haphazard writing session in which Greenough gave himself a word count but nothing to accomplish with it, so he just circled the same questions repeatedly and hoped no one would notice. It’s a shame, because it mars an otherwise strong story with a powerful climax. Recommended for fans of first contact stories with alien aliens, and for folks interested in tracing sf history.
(For example why the awful Mote in God’s Eye, and not this, is considered the touchstone for 1970s first contact stories should be a matter of pressing historical concern...)
September 23, 2024
So with only 20 mentions on GR and only three other reviews it may come as no surprise that this is not the overlooked masterpiece of 70's classic sci-fi...
At least, not MY overlooked masterpiece. It is not a terrible book, probably, but it has issues - if you are right into the New Wave sci-fi; experimental, psychological, philosophical, imitating literature ect ect, then this book might be just your thing! But it was not what I expected from the blurb, and that gave me little patience with the eternal maunderings and emo-like examinations of the inner pathways of the excruciatingly convoluted (yet basic) minds of the characters.
Reading the back; it sounds exciting, a classic, fun fast paced sci-fi adventure. Except, it does not really live up to that; the blurb on the back is not false, it just gives a completely erroneous idea about what this book will deliver.
This is the plot according to Deb;
Starts after an 'alien attack' leaving two out of three trainees in coma. No one saw these 'aliens' no one has ever heard of any such being or attack, they just ASSUME they must be aliens because... um... it hurt?
The mental 'attacks' keep coming the remaining trainee succumbs, the three remaining adults suffer the alien shipboard telepathic menial is unaffected. There is a lot of maundering on the part of the main protagonist (a not-captain, who is meant to be a super, six sensory human but who is childish in most ways) and a little less from the other three characters. There are a lot of assumptions being made about everything that happens to them (really, not a lot) and none of them involve Occam's razor or a lot of intelligence. They are on a probe following a predetermined route from which they cannot deviate (and they have no weapons) they try to radio for help but get no response. They send one guy down to explore the face of a planet in the system they are traveling though (which is a GREAT idea, obviously, when there are hostiles around) and he finds some crystals that may or may not be a plot builder: spoiler, of course they are. Eventually, it ends, thank goodness.
The whole 'atmosphere' of the book was slow, laborious to read and... just not great. And the central theme? The title? Not even mentioned in passing until the last few pages. The main character is inclined toward posturing in purple prose. Is also exceptionally unconvincing as a 'captain' an 'integrator' or as a superior, sixth sense human. He is just barely adequate as human at all. He would psych out of a FIFO mine worker, I suspect, let alone a pilot.
Of the 172 pages, probably less than 20 actually have much to do with the promised plot. Exaggeration? Maybe; but we only get any hint of hazy plot in the last ten pages the 'Wandering Worlds' I am pretty sure are first mentioned ten pages before the end, the crystals? The aliens? Just, don't get me started! The majority of the text is the different characters agonising over anything and everything inside their own heads. It is tedious and repetitious.
Italics are used and abused to indicate when people are thinking... sometimes, but not others. One person's internal monologue takes over from another person's internal monologue without warning at times... [Pg 94] 'Perfect sense or no sense... he can't decide, and neither can I.
Now even if the intense examination of their own emotions matters to you and you enjoy reading it in extremely purple prose there are some other experimental experiences awaiting the incautious reader (all 20 of us, apparently). There are on average 5 ????? question marks per page, and NOT from dialogue, but from internal maunderings. Then at the end it swaps to !!! exclamation marks or question marks – remove them and that might be several pages shorter. I was so bored at one stage that I opened the book at random to count the ??? per page, I found no pages with none, and the maximum I counted was thirteen.
Because there was so little actual interesting stuff to engage with I had time to get really irked by the characterisation and the gender... *ahem* issues...
Ruthe is a horrible person (she is the 'eye') and everyone hates her... why? Apparently because she is ugly, old, fat, she snores and she is a born again deist of some kind. I kid you not. Everyone bullies her and I am not really cool with it.
Jocelyn (the ear) on the other hand is young beautiful, blind and everyone just adores her even the reptilian alien. Both human males are of course in love with her. She spends most of her time crying 'without tears' - the author is really enraptured by the fact that when she went blind her tear ducts stopped working – and moping around the place she does not seem to have any useful function as a team mate either. Seriously, she is a wet dish cloth and the adoration she inspires is more than a bit nasty, given that the only reason ever given for it is her beauty. Oh yeah, and the alien Keek who spends most of his time mentally eavesdropping on her thinks she is a wonderful person for... reasons... I guess? That we are never shown?
I think Keek is deeply creepy, TBH, but that might just be me, the author clearly liked him a lot.
And, this gender thing that the author has going: The three trainees who get mentally blasted by the hypothetical aliens? Well, the young girl when she dies of.... Whatever? They get fully sentimental over her and how beautiful she was and her parents waiting for her return, so they refrigerate her body to return to her parents, if and when they make it back. The young man when he goes, gets unceremoniously dumped in space, the parents apparently, are not going to care about his death anymore than the emotionally inept crew do.
IDK the social stuff felt icky and worse because it is entirely from the insides of heads that are MOSTLY as attractive as a DSM-V classified serial killer. I might not have minded if there was adventure and not just people stuck inside their heads but as it was I was bored and had time to be critical.
Don't trust me though; go ahead and read it, if you like 70's SFF, I can't wait to hear your thoughts.
Also on YouTube https://studio.youtube.com/video/GqtO...
At least, not MY overlooked masterpiece. It is not a terrible book, probably, but it has issues - if you are right into the New Wave sci-fi; experimental, psychological, philosophical, imitating literature ect ect, then this book might be just your thing! But it was not what I expected from the blurb, and that gave me little patience with the eternal maunderings and emo-like examinations of the inner pathways of the excruciatingly convoluted (yet basic) minds of the characters.
Reading the back; it sounds exciting, a classic, fun fast paced sci-fi adventure. Except, it does not really live up to that; the blurb on the back is not false, it just gives a completely erroneous idea about what this book will deliver.
This is the plot according to Deb;
Starts after an 'alien attack' leaving two out of three trainees in coma. No one saw these 'aliens' no one has ever heard of any such being or attack, they just ASSUME they must be aliens because... um... it hurt?
The mental 'attacks' keep coming the remaining trainee succumbs, the three remaining adults suffer the alien shipboard telepathic menial is unaffected. There is a lot of maundering on the part of the main protagonist (a not-captain, who is meant to be a super, six sensory human but who is childish in most ways) and a little less from the other three characters. There are a lot of assumptions being made about everything that happens to them (really, not a lot) and none of them involve Occam's razor or a lot of intelligence. They are on a probe following a predetermined route from which they cannot deviate (and they have no weapons) they try to radio for help but get no response. They send one guy down to explore the face of a planet in the system they are traveling though (which is a GREAT idea, obviously, when there are hostiles around) and he finds some crystals that may or may not be a plot builder: spoiler, of course they are. Eventually, it ends, thank goodness.
The whole 'atmosphere' of the book was slow, laborious to read and... just not great. And the central theme? The title? Not even mentioned in passing until the last few pages. The main character is inclined toward posturing in purple prose. Is also exceptionally unconvincing as a 'captain' an 'integrator' or as a superior, sixth sense human. He is just barely adequate as human at all. He would psych out of a FIFO mine worker, I suspect, let alone a pilot.
Of the 172 pages, probably less than 20 actually have much to do with the promised plot. Exaggeration? Maybe; but we only get any hint of hazy plot in the last ten pages the 'Wandering Worlds' I am pretty sure are first mentioned ten pages before the end, the crystals? The aliens? Just, don't get me started! The majority of the text is the different characters agonising over anything and everything inside their own heads. It is tedious and repetitious.
Italics are used and abused to indicate when people are thinking... sometimes, but not others. One person's internal monologue takes over from another person's internal monologue without warning at times... [Pg 94] 'Perfect sense or no sense... he can't decide, and neither can I.
Now even if the intense examination of their own emotions matters to you and you enjoy reading it in extremely purple prose there are some other experimental experiences awaiting the incautious reader (all 20 of us, apparently). There are on average 5 ????? question marks per page, and NOT from dialogue, but from internal maunderings. Then at the end it swaps to !!! exclamation marks or question marks – remove them and that might be several pages shorter. I was so bored at one stage that I opened the book at random to count the ??? per page, I found no pages with none, and the maximum I counted was thirteen.
Because there was so little actual interesting stuff to engage with I had time to get really irked by the characterisation and the gender... *ahem* issues...
Ruthe is a horrible person (she is the 'eye') and everyone hates her... why? Apparently because she is ugly, old, fat, she snores and she is a born again deist of some kind. I kid you not. Everyone bullies her and I am not really cool with it.
Jocelyn (the ear) on the other hand is young beautiful, blind and everyone just adores her even the reptilian alien. Both human males are of course in love with her. She spends most of her time crying 'without tears' - the author is really enraptured by the fact that when she went blind her tear ducts stopped working – and moping around the place she does not seem to have any useful function as a team mate either. Seriously, she is a wet dish cloth and the adoration she inspires is more than a bit nasty, given that the only reason ever given for it is her beauty. Oh yeah, and the alien Keek who spends most of his time mentally eavesdropping on her thinks she is a wonderful person for... reasons... I guess? That we are never shown?
I think Keek is deeply creepy, TBH, but that might just be me, the author clearly liked him a lot.
And, this gender thing that the author has going: The three trainees who get mentally blasted by the hypothetical aliens? Well, the young girl when she dies of.... Whatever? They get fully sentimental over her and how beautiful she was and her parents waiting for her return, so they refrigerate her body to return to her parents, if and when they make it back. The young man when he goes, gets unceremoniously dumped in space, the parents apparently, are not going to care about his death anymore than the emotionally inept crew do.
IDK the social stuff felt icky and worse because it is entirely from the insides of heads that are MOSTLY as attractive as a DSM-V classified serial killer. I might not have minded if there was adventure and not just people stuck inside their heads but as it was I was bored and had time to be critical.
Don't trust me though; go ahead and read it, if you like 70's SFF, I can't wait to hear your thoughts.
Also on YouTube https://studio.youtube.com/video/GqtO...
September 13, 2025
This is a rather obscure book, and I got it from a package deal with other SF novels. I chose to read it because it was the lowest rated book in my collection, and I want to give those books a chance. However, this one deserves the low average rating.
The title suggests something spectacular, but it's only after drudging through 90% of the book that you find out what that title refers to. The majority of this novel is introspections of four crew members on an exploration vessel. Each has enhanced abilities that allow them to detect danger and opportunities. From the story's start they're being attacked by a mysterious enemy. This sounds like an interesting set-up, but all the book does is go through each member's inner deliberations as to the nature of the attacks, the enemy, each other, and their mission. These characters are bland, the dialogue is unnatural (exclamation points everywhere), there are too many unclear POV-shifts (3rd person omniscient is very poorly done here), and for some reason, one character (a woman) keeps being described as ugly and big-breasted.
The author clearly tries to hide the identity of the aliens from the reader to instill a sense of mystery, but he never gives you anything else to be interested in. The characters are full of self-doubt and continuously speculate inwardly about everything.
Don't bother with this one.
The title suggests something spectacular, but it's only after drudging through 90% of the book that you find out what that title refers to. The majority of this novel is introspections of four crew members on an exploration vessel. Each has enhanced abilities that allow them to detect danger and opportunities. From the story's start they're being attacked by a mysterious enemy. This sounds like an interesting set-up, but all the book does is go through each member's inner deliberations as to the nature of the attacks, the enemy, each other, and their mission. These characters are bland, the dialogue is unnatural (exclamation points everywhere), there are too many unclear POV-shifts (3rd person omniscient is very poorly done here), and for some reason, one character (a woman) keeps being described as ugly and big-breasted.
The author clearly tries to hide the identity of the aliens from the reader to instill a sense of mystery, but he never gives you anything else to be interested in. The characters are full of self-doubt and continuously speculate inwardly about everything.
Don't bother with this one.
June 18, 2017
A very interesting premise with some nice ideas, but a few flaws leave this as interesting read for the science fiction fan, but not one for those who commonly read outside the genre.
There is a myth that there are planets which move outside stable orbits in erratic fashion. Into this universe Earth is sending out scouts, and this book follows the story of the crew of EG13. The front cover was obviously painted with the artits seeing the description of the ship from the author, but this is a minor complaint.
As mentioned there are some interesting ideas in this book:
EG13 is on a pre-subscribed course which the crew cannot change
Crew forming the Eyes, Ears, Mouth, and Head of the ship, each having their own unique rolls
A psychic attack on the crew
Unfortunately it is also let down by some writing errors, which shows that this is one of his few books.
Too much vague descriptions about the psychic attack, which just got confusing
Referring to the crew by either their firstname or surname but no seeming logic about which one to use, including once when one character asked a question using the other character's firstname and the author referring to the response by using the characters' surname
Overall an interesting read, with some different ideas.
There is a myth that there are planets which move outside stable orbits in erratic fashion. Into this universe Earth is sending out scouts, and this book follows the story of the crew of EG13. The front cover was obviously painted with the artits seeing the description of the ship from the author, but this is a minor complaint.
As mentioned there are some interesting ideas in this book:
EG13 is on a pre-subscribed course which the crew cannot change
Crew forming the Eyes, Ears, Mouth, and Head of the ship, each having their own unique rolls
A psychic attack on the crew
Unfortunately it is also let down by some writing errors, which shows that this is one of his few books.
Too much vague descriptions about the psychic attack, which just got confusing
Referring to the crew by either their firstname or surname but no seeming logic about which one to use, including once when one character asked a question using the other character's firstname and the author referring to the response by using the characters' surname
Overall an interesting read, with some different ideas.
June 22, 2022
I debated giving this book 3 or 4 stars but I settled for four because I actually really liked it - I looked the story and the characters (most of the time), and I also liked the world building; even though it was set in the same sheltered place for the whole book. However, two things I didn’t like were the excessive use of exclamation marks and sometimes it was hard to follow in terms of which characters thoughts it was focusing on. Other than that I really liked it and I thought it was an interesting story based on an interesting concept.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews