The Outward Urge

This is the first John Wyndham novel I have read in over 12 years, and is not one of his better known ones. The action takes place over a period of 200 years from 1994 onwards (35 years into the future when the book was published). It concerns the race to build a space station on the Moon and move ever outwards into space, to Mars, then Venus, then the Asteroid Belt, and thence, who knows. Successive generations of one family, the Troons/Trunhos, drive this forward over 200 years from 1994-2194, pursuing and seeking to satisfy their desire to spread ever further away and explore the unknown.
The geopolitics is interesting. There is a mysterious (to the observers on the moon) Great Northern War in 2044 where the US, Europe and Russia are show more all wiped out, but it isn't clear who started it and what the circumstances are. The geopolitical centre of Earth moves southwards to Brazil and Australia, and outer space becomes a "province of Brazil". Members of the Troon family suffer fatal misfortunes, including being blown up trying to stop a missile, dying on the surface of Mars, and as a victim of conflicts between the new superpowers following the first expedition to Venus.
Incidentally, Venus as depicted here is the pre-1960s version with watery oceans and rain, plant and insect life, before in our world the early probes discovered it had a surface temperature of nearly 500 degrees C and an air pressure 90 times that of Earth. In line with a lot of science fiction, the story says more about the Earth of the time it was written (1950s) rather than the future times it portrays, with no women in prominent positions (there is only one, minor, female character in the story), everyone smoking, and computers still using punch cards to process data. Overall though quite an enjoyable read but nowhere near as impactful as Wyndham's more famous works. show less

This book contains five short stories, each of which is more or less self contained yet carries the thread of the space faring Troon dynasty through a period of around 200 years. It starts in a (then to be future) 1994 with the building of a British space station (hoorah!), moves onto a (British) Moon base, then Mars, Venus and finally out to the asteroid belt.

The stories are actually well put together, although they are obviously written from the point of view of someone living in the 1950s when the Space Race was only just about to start and men walking on the moon was still a distant dream. Its also rather amusing to see Britain still being thought of as a Great Power with enough resources (at least at the start of the book) to build show more a space station and a moon base. History has shown that we just about managed one small satellite launch all by ourselves before giving in and just helping NASA and ESA.

There are some amusing aspects to this retro sci-fi. For example when one Troon is in space helping to construct the British space station, he's stubbing out fags on the metal bulk head. Smoking was such a common thing back in the 1950s I guess nobody would see that as odd, but I bet they don't let them have ciggies on the ISS! ;-) show less

You can enjoy The Outward Urge on a couple different levels. On the surface, it's a collection of short stories about humanity's exploration of space. Dig a little deeper and a couple sub-themes stand out. These stories cover 200 years of the history of the Troon family to show how the desire to explore can follow a family line. The stories are also thinly veiled rhetoric on how human infighting undermines technical acumen.

On another level altogether, you can read this series of stories that were written over a decade before humans landed on the moon to examine the hopes and dreams of a generation. This was written when our own solar system was still so full of habitable promise.

Some of the short stories are better than others. The show more first story has a cowboy flair to it, while the last episode deals with the human effects of cryogenic freezing. I picked up this book because I enjoy Wyndam and wanted a light read. I found that, plus a little extra. show less

As ever, Wyndham's (or is it Parkes') prose style is a joy to read. As a fix up novel, it works pretty well, perhaps losing a bit of momentum between the episodes.

Wonderfully Speculative, But Exceedingly Dry

I decided to take this from Time Out to Did Not Finish because life is too short and I can't see myself getting anything more from this. Not bad, just not fordl me.

As a transfemme, I will be forever amused by the protagonist's name being Troon, which if you aren't trans and/ or chronically online has become a relatively newly minted slur for trans folx, particularly transfemmes, by the particularly virulently hateful Twitter transphobes. I genuinely cracked up when I statted the audiobook.

*Currently on Time Out after reading two of the five stories*

I listened to two of the five linked stories and might come back to the rest at some point, but with so much else to read this is doubtful.

The show more Cold War, pre-moon landing speculation here is palpable and inspired. I can't imagine just how mind blowing this would have been at the time of publishing. But reading it today, despite the clear quality of the writing and ideas, it's difficult to get over just how dense, drawn out, and dry the writing is.

I generally like to dive into books without reviews, which now I have checked out, and, like so many Audible Included titles from famous authors, it appears that this is a long way from the best and most typical work of this author. This makes it a much better read for a fan or completionist, rather than as an introduction, so I'll be sure to read more of their classics before I return.

Decent performance, if a rather bizarre use of America accent that sounds a bit like Suzy Izzard (stand up comedian) doing an impression of Michael Shannon or Broden Kelly (Aunty Donna) as one of the many Craig Mazins. show less

"Areology," he corrected me. "You can't possibly talk about the geology of Mars. Doesn't make sense."
Future history told though members of the Troon family who all feel the Outward Urge to travel in space, an exploration of the Solar System, its space stations, Moon bases, Mars landings, Venus and the asteroids. On Earth, a nuclear war wipes out most of the Northern Hemisphere leaving Brazil as the main world power. As Australia threatens Brazil, the space explorers break away to establish a third power called "Space". I particularly enjoyed reading about the three separate moonbases, observing the conflict on Earth and the differing actions they took (Russians, Americans, and British); and the madness that took over one of the Mars show more explorers.
(Lucas Parkes is a pen-name for John Wyndham). show less

La caratteristica principale di Jhon Wyndham, è di essere uno dei primi scrittori di fantascienza ad essere accettato anche dai lettori di altri generi narrativi.
Iniziò a scrivere già nel 1931, e le sue storie, piene di scenari apocalittici, ebbero molto successo alla fine della seconda guerra mondiale.

1958: Outword Urge (Uomini e stelle)

Told in 5 parts, The Outward Urge is the story of 5 successive eras in the development of space travel and exploration. By now, the topic has covered ad nauseum and books of the sort are left (often with good reason) sitting in the corner or propping up an old table. What differentiates this from those though is that it was written in 1959 when space travel was still a passing dream to most and, as show more those who have read John Wyndham before will know, the author makes a perfect mix of fact, fiction and philosophy backed by genuinely good story telling to get his point across.
The characters of the novel are very well conceived and all too realistic in their reactions to the circumstances presented to them. I find that John Wyndham has a talent for portraying his characters believably and accurately, which lends his far-out stories an air of realism that many authors lack. In one particular scene of Mars, the third part of the novel, one of two men stranded in a craft on Mars believes the other to be an alien in the man's body; positively bereft of reality, his calm insanity becomes absolutely chilling to one reading in the quiet of the night.

Writing The Outward Urge presented serious obstacles to the author due to the technical nature of writing such a story, solved by consulting Lucas Parkes for the technological details to make it all more believable. Considering the erratic leaps and bounds technology has made since 1959, many predictions weren't so far off- such as the prediction of a space station by 1994 or the use of "narrow radar beams" used for tracking distances (think lasers).

Most important however are the author's suggestions about the other aspects of space travel. While loosely connected, each story part brings its own unique interpretation and representations of the political, social and individual implications of space travel to the tale, with a very clear voice about where the he stands on each. Here too his predictions are eerily accurate. In the fourth part, Venus, he tells of the modern superpower, Brazil, claiming Space as its province, illustrating the absurdity of man's claim to territory. In the first part, The Space Station, man's desire to reach the stars is overshadowed by his government's desire to exploit its tactical possibilities (think STARWARS program) and futher its position in the global rankings. This theme of Government Agenda versus Man carries on throughout and what often begins in personal or technological triumph ends in aggressive positioning and political wrangling, robbing the moment of any victory. Pervasive in each also though is that glimmering possibility that Man will one day overcome his political chains.

As with most of John Wyndham's other novels, The Outward Urge is nothing mind-blowing or particularly overwhelming, but it is a good story and very well written. What he lacks in explosive impact he exceeds in the art of subtlety and intelligence. The book can be read with ease in a day or two and, if you're anything like me, you'll find yourself itching for more and checking out the rest of his works for appeasement. See wwwdotyourwordsdotca for more. show less