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The Wind Between the Worlds
Del Rey wrote the original (and much longer) version of this novella many years earlier, was unable to place it and only hauled it from the trunk when Horace Gold in mid-1950 solicited something for his new magazine. THE WIND BETWEEN THE WORLDS is at least in conception a standard ASTOUNDING problem-solving story (interstellar matter transmitter is sabotaged; Earth and alien ports are in danger, resourceful engineer-protagonist figures out the solution) with a standard STARTLING STORIES subplot (engineer and his pretty female assistant are deeply attracted but he's too dedicated to his job to get fresh). The premise however is ingenious—alien cultures intervene and as a result of this Earth is given the means for interstellar trade before the planet has even achieved space travel. Teleportation as an instrument of routine commerce (and profit) was a fairly original concept at the time this story was published. Del Rey's altered culture is lived-in, letting the story act...
(Novella originally published in Galaxy Magazine)
(Novella originally published in Galaxy Magazine)
118 pages, ebook
First published January 1, 1951
11 people want to read
About the author
Lester del Rey
634 books117 followersLester del Rey was an American science fiction author and editor. Del Rey is especially famous for his juvenile novels such as those which are part of the Winston Science Fiction series, and for Del Rey Books, the fantasy and science fiction branch of Ballantine Books edited by Lester del Rey and his fourth wife Judy-Lynn del Rey.
Also published as:
Philip St. John
Eric van Lihn
Erik van Lhin
Kenneth Wright
Edson McCann (with Frederik Pohl)
Also published as:
Philip St. John
Eric van Lihn
Erik van Lhin
Kenneth Wright
Edson McCann (with Frederik Pohl)
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
April 29, 2021
Sabotage has threatened Earth's place in the galactic community and the onsite engineer must learn to cooperate with his alien companions to find a solution before it's too late.
Del Rey's story is tense and exciting and, while it does not really cause any real surprises in terms of the sabotage plot, it is a landmark in its portrayal of strong women - let down somewhat by the end.
Del Rey's story is tense and exciting and, while it does not really cause any real surprises in terms of the sabotage plot, it is a landmark in its portrayal of strong women - let down somewhat by the end.
January 15, 2016
A classic bit of sci-fi, presented here with some background info about how it came to be - this is a pretty nice format, I'd be very happy to read a lot more of these Rosetta e-books. The background info is just enough to place it in the overall world of SF, and not so much you're dazed and confused with names and magazines. In particular, there's some nice biographical detail about the cantankerous Harold Gold, who commissioned this story, and del Rey himself (who with his wife Judy, much later started the legendary del Rey imprint and then went and inflicted Terry Brooks on all of us. I forgive him. I do.)
So basically the plot is simple: We have transporter technology but it's an equal exchange system (mass for mass) and it's an instant exchange system - send a thing, get back a thing. It's not intended for the portals to stay open, so when an accident causes the portal to get jammed open, the unthinkable happens: Our atmosphere starts being teleported to a planet on the other side of the galaxy. And we start getting theirs, except, theirs isn't oxygen, it's chlorine.
It's up to two men, one woman and a sentient tree to solve the problem before two worlds are poisoned, or worse the US drops a bomb on the whole deal, which the techs think will probably just jam the portals open forever, sealing everyone's fate.
This is a particularly interesting story for a number of reasons:
- Humanity stumbles on the beginnings of transporter technology, and that's the trigger for observing aliens to step in and finish it off for us with tech far beyond our means.
- By making it high tech, but we don't even understand it, del Rey gets to write a fairly hard sci-fi story but without bogging down in actual technical detail. This is far less about the tech than it is about the effect the tech has on our society and culture.
- That means we've now got instantaneous travel and trade with other alien cultures, without having created either space travel or even conquered our own solar system. Comparatively, we're not just primitives, but seem to be acting like it. Babes in the woods. Naturally that doesn't sit well.
- There's a woman high up in the chain of command, and she's sexually aggressive (don't worry, this is no romance.) That must have been far far out there back when this was written. It's interesting to read, because it was so unexpected.
- del Rey is clearly fond of engineers and not so much of politicians, which pretty much fits my world view, so there's a lot of fun to be had there.
There's a couple of plot points that are mentioned to be editorial suggestions, later removed, but this is the original text of the first published version. I think I'd like to read the later version where those two small things were reverted.
I'd highly recommend this wee treasure to anyone who's interested in trying out some of the classic 50's era sci-fi, but can't figure out where to start (or has been burnt by trying to wade into all that by themselves - lord knows I have.)
So basically the plot is simple: We have transporter technology but it's an equal exchange system (mass for mass) and it's an instant exchange system - send a thing, get back a thing. It's not intended for the portals to stay open, so when an accident causes the portal to get jammed open, the unthinkable happens: Our atmosphere starts being teleported to a planet on the other side of the galaxy. And we start getting theirs, except, theirs isn't oxygen, it's chlorine.
It's up to two men, one woman and a sentient tree to solve the problem before two worlds are poisoned, or worse the US drops a bomb on the whole deal, which the techs think will probably just jam the portals open forever, sealing everyone's fate.
This is a particularly interesting story for a number of reasons:
- Humanity stumbles on the beginnings of transporter technology, and that's the trigger for observing aliens to step in and finish it off for us with tech far beyond our means.
- By making it high tech, but we don't even understand it, del Rey gets to write a fairly hard sci-fi story but without bogging down in actual technical detail. This is far less about the tech than it is about the effect the tech has on our society and culture.
- That means we've now got instantaneous travel and trade with other alien cultures, without having created either space travel or even conquered our own solar system. Comparatively, we're not just primitives, but seem to be acting like it. Babes in the woods. Naturally that doesn't sit well.
- There's a woman high up in the chain of command, and she's sexually aggressive (don't worry, this is no romance.) That must have been far far out there back when this was written. It's interesting to read, because it was so unexpected.
- del Rey is clearly fond of engineers and not so much of politicians, which pretty much fits my world view, so there's a lot of fun to be had there.
There's a couple of plot points that are mentioned to be editorial suggestions, later removed, but this is the original text of the first published version. I think I'd like to read the later version where those two small things were reverted.
I'd highly recommend this wee treasure to anyone who's interested in trying out some of the classic 50's era sci-fi, but can't figure out where to start (or has been burnt by trying to wade into all that by themselves - lord knows I have.)
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews