And Having Writ

This is very silly and probably, on the whole, no better than mediocre, but I absolutely loved it; there's an optimism to it that I found very satisfying.

I bought this on whim at the end of 1980, not having heard of the author; it’s a minor novel that might be described as science-fiction light comedy.

Four aliens from another solar system crash-land their spacecraft in the sea off the coast of the USA in 1908, while Theodore Roosevelt is still president; and they set about negotiating with the natives, whose technology they wish to improve sufficiently to repair the spacecraft.

The aliens are remarkably similar to humans in every way, although they still possess a few items of advanced technology that they salvaged from the wreck. They’re also rather naïve and bumbling; their efforts to influence events do have considerable effects on human politics and technology, but not in the show more ways they intended.

As a comedy it’s no more than mildly amusing, and as science fiction it’s more in the style of the 1950s than the late 1970s, but it’s pleasant and harmless and passes the time amiably enough, if you like this kind of thing.

Bensen’s writing style reminds me vaguely of Hal Clement’s, although Clement didn’t tend to go in for comedy. They were relatively close in age: Clement was 5 years older. show less