What do you think?
Rate this book
Planet der Träumer
This book, by one of the greatest authors of Science Fiction to-day, is a dramatic story of two worlds - of Earth and of the strange dying planet in outer space, whose inhabitants, The Dreamers, are determined to keep man chained to the earth. A story of world conflict that is bound to grip you.
143 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1951
29 people are currently reading
372 people want to read
About the author
John D. MacDonald
583 books1,390 followersJohn D. MacDonald was born in Sharon, Pennsylvania, and educated at the Universities of Pennsylvania, Syracuse and Harvard, where he took an MBA in 1939. During WW2, he rose to the rank of Colonel, and while serving in the Army and in the Far East, sent a short story to his wife for sale, successfully. He served in the Office of Strategic Services (O.S.S.) in the China-Burma-India Theater of Operations. After the war, he decided to try writing for a year, to see if he could make a living. Over 500 short stories and 70 novels resulted, including 21 Travis McGee novels.
Following complications of an earlier heart bypass operation, MacDonald slipped into a coma on December 10 and died at age 70, on December 28, 1986, in St. Mary's Hospital in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He was survived by his wife Dorothy (1911-1989) and a son, Maynard.
In the years since his death MacDonald has been praised by authors as diverse as Stephen King, Spider Robinson, Jimmy Buffett, Kingsley Amis and Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.. Thirty-three years after his passing the Travis McGee novels are still in print.
Following complications of an earlier heart bypass operation, MacDonald slipped into a coma on December 10 and died at age 70, on December 28, 1986, in St. Mary's Hospital in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He was survived by his wife Dorothy (1911-1989) and a son, Maynard.
In the years since his death MacDonald has been praised by authors as diverse as Stephen King, Spider Robinson, Jimmy Buffett, Kingsley Amis and Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.. Thirty-three years after his passing the Travis McGee novels are still in print.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 59 reviews
October 30, 2020
Rating: 3 surprised stars of five
The Publisher Says: Wine of the Dreamers, a classic science fiction novel from John D. MacDonald, the beloved author of Cape Fear and the Travis McGee series, is now available as an eBook.
They are the Watchers: pale laboratory creatures living in a remote, sealed-off world. Their game, their religion, their release is to dream, and their dreams carry across the galaxy to lodge in the minds of the inhabitants of another world: the planet Earth. But as the human race approaches a dream of their own—traveling beyond their own planet to other worlds—the Watchers step in. For escape from Earth is an impossible dream, one that the Watchers will go to any length to destroy.
My Review: JOHN D. MACDONALD WROTE SCI FI?!?
*splutter*
Well blow me down and call me Shorty! I would never, ever in a month of Sundays have guessed that Travis McGee's daddy ventured into outer space! But he did, and I have now passed its odd and lumpy lineaments before my eyes.
I poke around the Internet when I'm at a loose end. I found a Wikipedia article on Startling Stories, a pulp rag from the Golden Age of SF. Oooh, lookee here, what innocent things the ancestors were, I thought, and oooh how scrummy there's a link to an internet archive of the magazines!
Babes in brass bras...ads for defunct brands of whisky using Mexican artists...Vaseline Hair Tonic...JOHN D. MACDONALD?!?
Downloaded and read. And what a ride it was: Square-jawed hetero male has non-rapey friendship with bodacious curvy babe. Not at all like the MacDonald we know and love. (Or don't love, as the case may be.) This is an aberration, explained by a plot twist in the story of the Dreamers. Now this is an old chestnut, the mental passengers who suddenly take over innocent earthlings for malign purposes. It wasn't the latest thing in 1950 (!!) when the story appeared in Startling Stories. But it's an evergreen for a reason, it explains the strange turns and periodic about-faces that humans actually do have. There was a moment when I thought, "aha this explains Parseltongue!" before I realized JK Rowling's younger than I am and not known to be related to MacDonald...the only means I can imagine whereby the Scottish lassie would've heard of this obscure gem.
In more or less 50,000 words, MacDonald hit all the buttons of an action adventure on multiple planets, America's inevitable domination of the Space Race, and that eternal favorite of male readers, Man's Unique Destiny to Rule and Dominate! It was 1950, go fight the odds.
As I scrolled through the PDF file, I was increasingly amazed at the un-MacDonald-ness of the story. His touch with a wisecrack was entirely absent, his trademark pessimism was not yet at full cry as the ending was hopeful (!), and while I would not put MacDonald up there with Henry James in the ability to convey character in a few well-chosen words, these folks were Central Casting call sheets.
So it was that, despite the siren call of sleep, I scrolled and scrolled through the scanned pages of this deeply forgotten footnote to the popular career of MacDonald. It was certainly MacDonaldy in the sense that, despite the humorously outdated science, and despite the hoary familiar trope being unspooled before me, I couldn't think of a good reason not to keep right on reading until the inevitable ending. And by inevitable, I mean so clearly telegraphed in the set-up that Helen Keller running out of a burning building wouldn't have any trouble supplying it for you.
Sophisticates are therewith warned.
In fact, would I recommend starting this little marvy to most people? No, not really, it's not earth-shatteringly good at anything. It's a curiosity, and a charmingly old-fashioned stroll down memory lane for those of us on the downhill slide to death.
The Publisher Says: Wine of the Dreamers, a classic science fiction novel from John D. MacDonald, the beloved author of Cape Fear and the Travis McGee series, is now available as an eBook.
They are the Watchers: pale laboratory creatures living in a remote, sealed-off world. Their game, their religion, their release is to dream, and their dreams carry across the galaxy to lodge in the minds of the inhabitants of another world: the planet Earth. But as the human race approaches a dream of their own—traveling beyond their own planet to other worlds—the Watchers step in. For escape from Earth is an impossible dream, one that the Watchers will go to any length to destroy.
My Review: JOHN D. MACDONALD WROTE SCI FI?!?
*splutter*
Well blow me down and call me Shorty! I would never, ever in a month of Sundays have guessed that Travis McGee's daddy ventured into outer space! But he did, and I have now passed its odd and lumpy lineaments before my eyes.
I poke around the Internet when I'm at a loose end. I found a Wikipedia article on Startling Stories, a pulp rag from the Golden Age of SF. Oooh, lookee here, what innocent things the ancestors were, I thought, and oooh how scrummy there's a link to an internet archive of the magazines!
Babes in brass bras...ads for defunct brands of whisky using Mexican artists...Vaseline Hair Tonic...JOHN D. MACDONALD?!?
Downloaded and read. And what a ride it was: Square-jawed hetero male has non-rapey friendship with bodacious curvy babe. Not at all like the MacDonald we know and love. (Or don't love, as the case may be.) This is an aberration, explained by a plot twist in the story of the Dreamers. Now this is an old chestnut, the mental passengers who suddenly take over innocent earthlings for malign purposes. It wasn't the latest thing in 1950 (!!) when the story appeared in Startling Stories. But it's an evergreen for a reason, it explains the strange turns and periodic about-faces that humans actually do have. There was a moment when I thought, "aha this explains Parseltongue!" before I realized JK Rowling's younger than I am and not known to be related to MacDonald...the only means I can imagine whereby the Scottish lassie would've heard of this obscure gem.
In more or less 50,000 words, MacDonald hit all the buttons of an action adventure on multiple planets, America's inevitable domination of the Space Race, and that eternal favorite of male readers, Man's Unique Destiny to Rule and Dominate! It was 1950, go fight the odds.
As I scrolled through the PDF file, I was increasingly amazed at the un-MacDonald-ness of the story. His touch with a wisecrack was entirely absent, his trademark pessimism was not yet at full cry as the ending was hopeful (!), and while I would not put MacDonald up there with Henry James in the ability to convey character in a few well-chosen words, these folks were Central Casting call sheets.
So it was that, despite the siren call of sleep, I scrolled and scrolled through the scanned pages of this deeply forgotten footnote to the popular career of MacDonald. It was certainly MacDonaldy in the sense that, despite the humorously outdated science, and despite the hoary familiar trope being unspooled before me, I couldn't think of a good reason not to keep right on reading until the inevitable ending. And by inevitable, I mean so clearly telegraphed in the set-up that Helen Keller running out of a burning building wouldn't have any trouble supplying it for you.
Sophisticates are therewith warned.
In fact, would I recommend starting this little marvy to most people? No, not really, it's not earth-shatteringly good at anything. It's a curiosity, and a charmingly old-fashioned stroll down memory lane for those of us on the downhill slide to death.
January 22, 2023
Wine of the Dreamers (1951), probably his best SF, is a chilling paranoia-piece on ET Puppet Masters.
It has the Puppet Masters as degenerate thrill-seekers, who think they're playing video games while they ruin people's lives. This is heavy-duty paranoia-SF, and compulsively readable. Time for a reread, I think.
It was reprinted in a 1980 omnibus, Time & Tomorrow, which also includes The Girl, the Gold Watch & Everything (1962), a very entertaining wish-fulfillment fantasy. Both are compulsively readable and well-worth looking for.
I think I have a copy of this. I'll go on a treasure-hunt, when I'm ready to re-read. Actually, the mmpbs are pretty well organized . . . 😇
It has the Puppet Masters as degenerate thrill-seekers, who think they're playing video games while they ruin people's lives. This is heavy-duty paranoia-SF, and compulsively readable. Time for a reread, I think.
It was reprinted in a 1980 omnibus, Time & Tomorrow, which also includes The Girl, the Gold Watch & Everything (1962), a very entertaining wish-fulfillment fantasy. Both are compulsively readable and well-worth looking for.
I think I have a copy of this. I'll go on a treasure-hunt, when I'm ready to re-read. Actually, the mmpbs are pretty well organized . . . 😇
January 18, 2019
MacDonald’s Science Fiction
Long before he discovered Travis McGee, the Busted Flush, and the Bahai Marina, MacDonald wrote a whole lot of science fiction shorts and three science fiction novels. Originally published in 1950, Wine of the Dreamers is a fairly typical pulp-era science fiction novel focusing on scientists, rockets, aliens. MacDonald also incorporates a lot of ideas that resurfaced in Twilight Zone episodes and Star Trek (the real original) episodes such as long distance mind control, the idea that more advanced beings could use us as playthings, toys if you will, and the idea that we are as foreign and difficult to understand to aliens as they might be to us. The heart of the story is that maybe we don’t believe in UFOs and space aliens, but maybe, just maybe, they think we’re just in their dreams as well.
Long before he discovered Travis McGee, the Busted Flush, and the Bahai Marina, MacDonald wrote a whole lot of science fiction shorts and three science fiction novels. Originally published in 1950, Wine of the Dreamers is a fairly typical pulp-era science fiction novel focusing on scientists, rockets, aliens. MacDonald also incorporates a lot of ideas that resurfaced in Twilight Zone episodes and Star Trek (the real original) episodes such as long distance mind control, the idea that more advanced beings could use us as playthings, toys if you will, and the idea that we are as foreign and difficult to understand to aliens as they might be to us. The heart of the story is that maybe we don’t believe in UFOs and space aliens, but maybe, just maybe, they think we’re just in their dreams as well.
March 1, 2015
I'm sure many people will look at this book as the typical dime-store, 50's pulp Sci-fi novel; however, it is much more than that. Like I have been with many slim, 1950's Sci-fi volumes recently, I was surprised and taken by both the originality of the premise and the moral implications wrought throughout the book as a result. Even if it is not a "great" work of modern American literature, many current works could benefit from the prescience and originality contained in this book's pages.
Many people know John D. MacDonald for his Travis McGee books, but I would hope he would have been a well-known author just from this and its topical companion novel, "Ballroom of the Skies." Good Sci-fi always strives to balance technology with realism, while exploring some facet--tragic or otherwise--of the human condition. "Wine of the Dreamers" does all this in an original and beautiful way.
Read it, and enjoy it.
Many people know John D. MacDonald for his Travis McGee books, but I would hope he would have been a well-known author just from this and its topical companion novel, "Ballroom of the Skies." Good Sci-fi always strives to balance technology with realism, while exploring some facet--tragic or otherwise--of the human condition. "Wine of the Dreamers" does all this in an original and beautiful way.
Read it, and enjoy it.
January 7, 2017
Classic science fiction, well-written and straightforward. Aliens, spaceships, telepathy, an intriguing plot and a surprisingly non-violent resolution. Well done, John.
September 25, 2011
looking through my ratings, i see i've never given a book written by john d. macdonald less than three stars. i am always entertained by his writing: he's primarily known for cape fear, and his bounty hunter travis mcgee's colour series, both of which are rightfully admired, and i would argue, classics of american pulp fiction, because they perfectly encapsulate the glamour that came with being an american in his era, tempering it with concerns with what should be done with all the bounty.
this is a pulp science fiction gem. my copy has an astronaut lighting a cigarette with his helmet still on. a deep space program is being plagued by strange cases of possession. they begin to wonder if random accidents are really so random. what if the only plague to humanity is another part of humanity? a boy becomes a man in an controlled underground city, and begins to search for answers as to what his existence means, what it means to dream. and there is a little romance, and a little grotesquerie. again, a common complaint of mine: the pacing is off: it's too long in set up and ending wrapped up too abruptly. and well, the ending is sort of cheesy. :)
this is really more of a 3.5. but like i said, never less than a three.
this is a pulp science fiction gem. my copy has an astronaut lighting a cigarette with his helmet still on. a deep space program is being plagued by strange cases of possession. they begin to wonder if random accidents are really so random. what if the only plague to humanity is another part of humanity? a boy becomes a man in an controlled underground city, and begins to search for answers as to what his existence means, what it means to dream. and there is a little romance, and a little grotesquerie. again, a common complaint of mine: the pacing is off: it's too long in set up and ending wrapped up too abruptly. and well, the ending is sort of cheesy. :)
this is really more of a 3.5. but like i said, never less than a three.
June 15, 2025
25 dec 14, christmas day...3:54 p.m. e.s.t.
#13 from macdonald for me. the story description sounds fascinating. has that possession theme...if i read that right...and if i did not read it right, that is fine too. i've been happy w/the stories i have read from macdonald. this is one of the early ones.
(1951),wine of the dreamers
story begins:
the soft purr of the turbine was almost lost in the roar of wind as the gray sedan traveled south through the new mexico night. the night air, as always, was cool. night in this land, he thought, is different. the land seems to rest from the heavy fist of the sun.
step out of the cool shadows of early morning and the sun is a vast white blow between the eyes. the sun sucks greedily at all liquids. a man lost for a full day in the wastes of rock and sand will be found in the blue dusk, curled in a fetal position, lips black, body withered and mummified like the long-dead.
okee dokee then, as the good doctor said (concrete & stucco, 1981), onward and upward.
time place scene settings
* 1975...this is a futuristic 1975
*new mexico...a highway in the desert of new mexico...a grey sedan traveling down that highway
*a bar on that highway
*a conference room in new mexico
*presumably another planet...with very earth-like nouns
*there are three dream worlds these in-bred beings...humans...can scan or survey...though they believe they are dreaming them
*that place in the sangre de cristo mountains, new mexico, where project tempo is underway
*beatty one...named after a deceased scientist...a 170' diameter spaceship under wrap (camo against satellite) at project tempo
*ormazd...the 3rd world (heh!) where the beings are advanced, where they live for the development and progress of pure thought void of emotion...where they've developed the reading of minds and where ultimately they will eliminate words
*the dreamers...raul kinson among them...travel, via dream, to what appear to be three stages of man...worlds...times
*the three worlds the watchers have colonized thousands of years ago:
*1st marith: the sword spear world, circling delta canis minoris near procyron
*2nd earth
*the third world...! ormazd, in the beta aquilae system near altair...The Tommyknockers...king uses the "altair" name for the place where the young boy is sent...the brother of the one who has the magic show in the back yard.
*the home planet of the watchers, near a dying red sun near alpha centaurai
*the dream corridor...area of the building that is the watchers universe, beyond is nothing...where they have their dream cases...almost like a tanning bed...only they dream here in the cases
*rooms of learning...there are other levels that the frail, in-bred watchers do not visit anymore...where raul, because of his healthier body...is able to visit...described as rooms with "television"...a word not used, that is implied...film...
*private rooms...of jord orlan...who has private rooms because he is the leader
*the mess hall
*joe's alibi...bar where lane and others wash up
*muroc...the ship lands at muroc...
characters major minor real imagined fictional famous peripheral
*bard lane: dr. bard lane. chief of project tempo. he is driving the grey sedan in story opener...the prisoner in the backseat, sedated, a kind of co-worker on the seat beside him (kormal, a fellow scientist)...and they (inly is asleep on the seat beside lane) are traveling from one scene to another, presumably to the conference room where decisions about their project, project tempo, will be made. bard lane is a 34-year-old scientist, born in ohio, orphaned at eight, described as...intelligent, quick, curious, scientific...an uncle raised him
*sharan inly: dr. inly...part of project tempo with bard lane. she is project assistant in charge of psycho adjustment
*the young girls dance
*indians
*160 million americans
*melvin c lynn: the man the senate couldn't silence...some kind of reporter...and the reader listens to the radio with bard lane on that new mexico highway as melvin c lynn reports on wilkins' mead...that cures boredom through a simple process of intensifying your reception to stimuli.
*informed sources...delegates...pan-asia delegate...snooper satellites...expedition personnel on moon
*bliss bailey, the staten island ferry boat captain...who took the boat for a ride...'it seemed like a good idea at the time.'
*guard...commuters...nude blonde...witnesses...employers...slot machine divorce law
*wally blime, speaker-of-the-house...'something told me to do it.'
*police
*larry roy, national tv favorite...suicide...6th husband of
*melly muro, larry's 7th wife
*franz steeval, composer and conductor
*martha needie, jersey city landlady, murders six roomers
*gayla dennison, acquitted of murdering her guardian
*corporal brandt reilly, enlisted man, turned an aircraft cannon on a company formation, killing sixteen and wounding twenty-one
*government psychiatrists,
*pierre brevet, french artist...irate american womanhood
*william "bill" kormal: dr. kormal, competent physicist with over five years at brookhaven...clubs two guards...enters secure area...damage...sets project tempo back four months
*nick adamson...another scientists with project tempo
*colonel roger powys: project coordinator
*major tommy leeber: general sachson's aide, and with the general's wishes, he is sent back with lane and inly to project tempo...so things like kormal's breakdown don't happen again
*enlisted stenographer, a sergeant
*two guards
*captain sangerson: the case of
*general sachson: at conference with others...he wants to prevent setbacks.
*raul kinson: young...becomes 'adult'...i think these that follow are 'aliens'...but much of the words used to describe them suggest either/or...raul is curious about the place where they are...learns things are not what they thought. yes...these are humans, in-bred...a world apart from the earth inhabited by lane...and they have/had attained the ability to visit other worlds...or just earth?...via dreams...and all that is in question, since the numbers "1"..."2"...and "3"...are learned anew by raul though the meaning has been lost to jord and the other 'adults' too, raul is described as...not as in-bred as the others...he has hair, a more human-healthy body, whereas the others are frail, hairless though that is considered beautiful
*others....one spindly girl...two frail boys...
*the dreamers
*woman dreamer
*the watchers...only adults are watchers...watchers were established to watch the three planets colonized by the original planet...a time limit was placed...5,000 years, during which the colonized planet inhabitants would be prevented from space travel...that limit was forgot, prevention is still in force...it has been 10,000 years...the dreamers/watchers have dwindled from the original number...they are in-bred, save for raul and leesa
*leesa: raul's sister...and she, too, is described as a strange one...the reality is she and raul are...not as in-bred as the other watchers
*jord orlan: a kind of supervisor to raul kinson on the world where the dreamers/watchers are located. abides by the law, pregnant pause after by...a sense of the eyes of all glazing over, cock of the head.
*arrud the elder: leader on one world, one of three where the dreamers/watchers go...a world/time where swords & spears exist
*a man named laron: same world as arrud the leader
*another escapee...whose mind is entered by raul as he learns/discovers
*nara: a woman in arrud's world...woman who despises arrud...and whose mind raul enters, observes
*fedra: a woman on raul kinson's world...she is there when he awakens from his three required dreams...that make him an adult...and they are required to consummate an act...the law...hoorah
*a cal-tech group
*lame duck congressmen
*new girl in the outer office...we're on bard's world/earth now...
*men in work clothes
*flagellationists...the selected man...the inclusion of these is strange...one of macdonald's tics...ummmm
*elevator operator
*beatty...scientist...man for whom the beatty one is named, the 170 foot diameter spaceship under wraps at project tempo
*1500 of us working...presumably at project tempo
*fedra-born child
*al...a cop on one of the worlds that raul visits...a 2nd cop...a first who succumbs to raul entering the mind...prone on the sidewalk
in syracuse, new york
bara: dreamer...who likes the 1st world...spears and swords
*minor characters are described, in brief...a child's mind...a woman tied to a post...others who tied her there\
*young adults...associated with leesa, raul's sister
*great brute of a man...leesa's dreams...and here we have the reason for the mary celeste...if memory serves, that ship found with the table set, the ship empty
*a man, a pilot, passengers
*a great man of world two, friends, family, co-workers, doctors
*a lean young male body...visited by raul to talk w/leesa his sister
*a young woman...among many in a hotel...leesa is within
*a couple in a hotel room...george is the name of the man
*man in taxi...the driver, too...a woman in a hotel
*an old man in a park
*leesa's..."grandfather"...was also a strange one, as described by jord orlan to her in a private room
*thomas bellinger...a guard
*bess reilly...part of project tempo...some sort of secretary or something
*names associated with a magazine lane reads:
*mello noonan, russians, teen-age girl in houston, memphis musician brains his girlfriend with a tuba
*the little blonde nurse, anderson...elinor anderson
*a stock woman in white
*#17...a patient
*jerry delane, the young dispensary doctor at project tempo
*heintz lurdorff: hypnotist and psychiatrist
*ryd talleth: this man will seek out leesa since she is not an adult...jord orlan tells her...to make a child with her
*3 women with dusty hair...on the home planet/watcher planet...squat and agile old man...a mixed group performing a stylized dance...small ones cryhing
*two guards...a little blonde cookie
*robinson, guard watching lane at the mess hall
*shellwand...guard
*a tiny figure toppled
*mr. nolan...will gather time cards...project tempo
*miss mees...in accounting office, tempo
*2 bored girls sat at a small table
*reporters and photographers
*senator leedry
*the secretary of war, logan brightling
*12 guards, 12 technicians, elevator operator, 2 laborers, a typist from accounting...dead
*chief of the ordnance to the commanding general
*sergeant at arms
*general roamer...16 years ago
*agency man, bartender, children nearby
*a man in the street, a 2nd, a 3rd...who provide money
*a couple walked hand in hand
*ten of the older men were gathered in jord orlan's quarters
*pelton...no, trimball the reason
*walter howard path: reporter...for whom the pathfinder is named
*new cult: kinsonians
*willy wise...to do with yum-bubble comic/s
*governor nevada...governor new york
*kinsey hallmaster, distinguished reporter
*investigators...tavern owner
*a thick-jowled man, hemstrait, the health officer
*patrolman quinn...one of two with hemstrait
*belter...bard worked with him in the past
*the attendant...secretary of weather...secretary of agriculture...an atlanta hostess...a bemused broker...
*timber malloy...a musician i think
*700 girls at fonda electric waiting to take a cigarette break
*a sanitarium attendant
*a radar-radak tech...12 miles from omaha
a note on the telling
yes, so...3rd-person multiple character point-of-view...this story is a hoot. written in, what, the early 50s...macdonald writes about the paris peace talks. heh! mind-boggling, because only a few years earlier and continuing, vietnam and the usa were engaged in paris, peace talks--the story takes place in a futuristic 1975. did macdonald have a crystal ball? black thirteen? when bard and inly are speaking in the bar...about the reporter melvin...more: wonder what compulsion makes him go all oily over a nice juicy hammer murder? heh! the only thing...i don't believe macdonald will take the story down the road i wish he'd travelled...parody. but this one does remind me of others...vonnegut, The Sirens of Titan...and more recently...Carrion Comfort, from dan simmons...cronin's triology The Passage the first ...he finish the last yet? onward, upward
gush...before i am finished, at the page 92 of 175 point
i am really liking this story! heh! one...because it is refreshing to read this story that is more than half a century old and to know that someone else had the same manner of idea i have...and a way of explaining why things are so frunky. the watchers! said the possession idea appealed. and...for me...possession explains why there is an option for hate speech when one flags a review. what the hell is hate speech? in macdonald's story, hate speech is heresy...the kind of heresy that raul speaks...it is raising awareness...pointing to the blindness of others, the willing ignorance of others. we have it in spades (a pun if you wish it) here in my world. i'm at the point in the story where raul wishes to meet with lane...they've communicated via dream...and jord is becoming aware of raul's...heresy. i love the idea that the third world is a place that wants to forgo words altogether...eliminate emotion...that it is a more advanced world. here on this world where the zombies are taught not to denigrate the different, where the zombies are taught there is such a thing as hate speech...something that can be flagged...third world is a signifier without a signified, allowed on the screen where usage has fallen for the more palatable developing nations...colonialism, still. this story contains the idea of colonialism. ooompa loompa
update, finished, 26 dec 14, friday, 11:51 a.m. e.s.t.
finished...great story! i've marked it as a favorite. story includes an afterword from macdonald, written in 1968...18 years after he said he penned the story...and other than saying he was long enough away from it to wonder what would happen next...he too was jolted by finding that the paris peace talks were still going on...or wait now...what?
he was writing that in '68...before...
i dunno. strange. anyway, there's an afterword in this...and apparently the story Ballroom of the Skies is another story that was resurrected in the 60s...or something. macdonald calls them companion pieces...calls them science-fantasy....what does he know?
good story. check it out. good story. worth a read
#13 from macdonald for me. the story description sounds fascinating. has that possession theme...if i read that right...and if i did not read it right, that is fine too. i've been happy w/the stories i have read from macdonald. this is one of the early ones.
(1951),wine of the dreamers
story begins:
the soft purr of the turbine was almost lost in the roar of wind as the gray sedan traveled south through the new mexico night. the night air, as always, was cool. night in this land, he thought, is different. the land seems to rest from the heavy fist of the sun.
step out of the cool shadows of early morning and the sun is a vast white blow between the eyes. the sun sucks greedily at all liquids. a man lost for a full day in the wastes of rock and sand will be found in the blue dusk, curled in a fetal position, lips black, body withered and mummified like the long-dead.
okee dokee then, as the good doctor said (concrete & stucco, 1981), onward and upward.
time place scene settings
* 1975...this is a futuristic 1975
*new mexico...a highway in the desert of new mexico...a grey sedan traveling down that highway
*a bar on that highway
*a conference room in new mexico
*presumably another planet...with very earth-like nouns
*there are three dream worlds these in-bred beings...humans...can scan or survey...though they believe they are dreaming them
*that place in the sangre de cristo mountains, new mexico, where project tempo is underway
*beatty one...named after a deceased scientist...a 170' diameter spaceship under wrap (camo against satellite) at project tempo
*ormazd...the 3rd world (heh!) where the beings are advanced, where they live for the development and progress of pure thought void of emotion...where they've developed the reading of minds and where ultimately they will eliminate words
*the dreamers...raul kinson among them...travel, via dream, to what appear to be three stages of man...worlds...times
*the three worlds the watchers have colonized thousands of years ago:
*1st marith: the sword spear world, circling delta canis minoris near procyron
*2nd earth
*the third world...! ormazd, in the beta aquilae system near altair...The Tommyknockers...king uses the "altair" name for the place where the young boy is sent...the brother of the one who has the magic show in the back yard.
*the home planet of the watchers, near a dying red sun near alpha centaurai
*the dream corridor...area of the building that is the watchers universe, beyond is nothing...where they have their dream cases...almost like a tanning bed...only they dream here in the cases
*rooms of learning...there are other levels that the frail, in-bred watchers do not visit anymore...where raul, because of his healthier body...is able to visit...described as rooms with "television"...a word not used, that is implied...film...
*private rooms...of jord orlan...who has private rooms because he is the leader
*the mess hall
*joe's alibi...bar where lane and others wash up
*muroc...the ship lands at muroc...
characters major minor real imagined fictional famous peripheral
*bard lane: dr. bard lane. chief of project tempo. he is driving the grey sedan in story opener...the prisoner in the backseat, sedated, a kind of co-worker on the seat beside him (kormal, a fellow scientist)...and they (inly is asleep on the seat beside lane) are traveling from one scene to another, presumably to the conference room where decisions about their project, project tempo, will be made. bard lane is a 34-year-old scientist, born in ohio, orphaned at eight, described as...intelligent, quick, curious, scientific...an uncle raised him
*sharan inly: dr. inly...part of project tempo with bard lane. she is project assistant in charge of psycho adjustment
*the young girls dance
*indians
*160 million americans
*melvin c lynn: the man the senate couldn't silence...some kind of reporter...and the reader listens to the radio with bard lane on that new mexico highway as melvin c lynn reports on wilkins' mead...that cures boredom through a simple process of intensifying your reception to stimuli.
*informed sources...delegates...pan-asia delegate...snooper satellites...expedition personnel on moon
*bliss bailey, the staten island ferry boat captain...who took the boat for a ride...'it seemed like a good idea at the time.'
*guard...commuters...nude blonde...witnesses...employers...slot machine divorce law
*wally blime, speaker-of-the-house...'something told me to do it.'
*police
*larry roy, national tv favorite...suicide...6th husband of
*melly muro, larry's 7th wife
*franz steeval, composer and conductor
*martha needie, jersey city landlady, murders six roomers
*gayla dennison, acquitted of murdering her guardian
*corporal brandt reilly, enlisted man, turned an aircraft cannon on a company formation, killing sixteen and wounding twenty-one
*government psychiatrists,
*pierre brevet, french artist...irate american womanhood
*william "bill" kormal: dr. kormal, competent physicist with over five years at brookhaven...clubs two guards...enters secure area...damage...sets project tempo back four months
*nick adamson...another scientists with project tempo
*colonel roger powys: project coordinator
*major tommy leeber: general sachson's aide, and with the general's wishes, he is sent back with lane and inly to project tempo...so things like kormal's breakdown don't happen again
*enlisted stenographer, a sergeant
*two guards
*captain sangerson: the case of
*general sachson: at conference with others...he wants to prevent setbacks.
*raul kinson: young...becomes 'adult'...i think these that follow are 'aliens'...but much of the words used to describe them suggest either/or...raul is curious about the place where they are...learns things are not what they thought. yes...these are humans, in-bred...a world apart from the earth inhabited by lane...and they have/had attained the ability to visit other worlds...or just earth?...via dreams...and all that is in question, since the numbers "1"..."2"...and "3"...are learned anew by raul though the meaning has been lost to jord and the other 'adults' too, raul is described as...not as in-bred as the others...he has hair, a more human-healthy body, whereas the others are frail, hairless though that is considered beautiful
*others....one spindly girl...two frail boys...
*the dreamers
*woman dreamer
*the watchers...only adults are watchers...watchers were established to watch the three planets colonized by the original planet...a time limit was placed...5,000 years, during which the colonized planet inhabitants would be prevented from space travel...that limit was forgot, prevention is still in force...it has been 10,000 years...the dreamers/watchers have dwindled from the original number...they are in-bred, save for raul and leesa
*leesa: raul's sister...and she, too, is described as a strange one...the reality is she and raul are...not as in-bred as the other watchers
*jord orlan: a kind of supervisor to raul kinson on the world where the dreamers/watchers are located. abides by the law, pregnant pause after by...a sense of the eyes of all glazing over, cock of the head.
*arrud the elder: leader on one world, one of three where the dreamers/watchers go...a world/time where swords & spears exist
*a man named laron: same world as arrud the leader
*another escapee...whose mind is entered by raul as he learns/discovers
*nara: a woman in arrud's world...woman who despises arrud...and whose mind raul enters, observes
*fedra: a woman on raul kinson's world...she is there when he awakens from his three required dreams...that make him an adult...and they are required to consummate an act...the law...hoorah
*a cal-tech group
*lame duck congressmen
*new girl in the outer office...we're on bard's world/earth now...
*men in work clothes
*flagellationists...the selected man...the inclusion of these is strange...one of macdonald's tics...ummmm
*elevator operator
*beatty...scientist...man for whom the beatty one is named, the 170 foot diameter spaceship under wraps at project tempo
*1500 of us working...presumably at project tempo
*fedra-born child
*al...a cop on one of the worlds that raul visits...a 2nd cop...a first who succumbs to raul entering the mind...prone on the sidewalk
in syracuse, new york
bara: dreamer...who likes the 1st world...spears and swords
*minor characters are described, in brief...a child's mind...a woman tied to a post...others who tied her there\
*young adults...associated with leesa, raul's sister
*great brute of a man...leesa's dreams...and here we have the reason for the mary celeste...if memory serves, that ship found with the table set, the ship empty
*a man, a pilot, passengers
*a great man of world two, friends, family, co-workers, doctors
*a lean young male body...visited by raul to talk w/leesa his sister
*a young woman...among many in a hotel...leesa is within
*a couple in a hotel room...george is the name of the man
*man in taxi...the driver, too...a woman in a hotel
*an old man in a park
*leesa's..."grandfather"...was also a strange one, as described by jord orlan to her in a private room
*thomas bellinger...a guard
*bess reilly...part of project tempo...some sort of secretary or something
*names associated with a magazine lane reads:
*mello noonan, russians, teen-age girl in houston, memphis musician brains his girlfriend with a tuba
*the little blonde nurse, anderson...elinor anderson
*a stock woman in white
*#17...a patient
*jerry delane, the young dispensary doctor at project tempo
*heintz lurdorff: hypnotist and psychiatrist
*ryd talleth: this man will seek out leesa since she is not an adult...jord orlan tells her...to make a child with her
*3 women with dusty hair...on the home planet/watcher planet...squat and agile old man...a mixed group performing a stylized dance...small ones cryhing
*two guards...a little blonde cookie
*robinson, guard watching lane at the mess hall
*shellwand...guard
*a tiny figure toppled
*mr. nolan...will gather time cards...project tempo
*miss mees...in accounting office, tempo
*2 bored girls sat at a small table
*reporters and photographers
*senator leedry
*the secretary of war, logan brightling
*12 guards, 12 technicians, elevator operator, 2 laborers, a typist from accounting...dead
*chief of the ordnance to the commanding general
*sergeant at arms
*general roamer...16 years ago
*agency man, bartender, children nearby
*a man in the street, a 2nd, a 3rd...who provide money
*a couple walked hand in hand
*ten of the older men were gathered in jord orlan's quarters
*pelton...no, trimball the reason
*walter howard path: reporter...for whom the pathfinder is named
*new cult: kinsonians
*willy wise...to do with yum-bubble comic/s
*governor nevada...governor new york
*kinsey hallmaster, distinguished reporter
*investigators...tavern owner
*a thick-jowled man, hemstrait, the health officer
*patrolman quinn...one of two with hemstrait
*belter...bard worked with him in the past
*the attendant...secretary of weather...secretary of agriculture...an atlanta hostess...a bemused broker...
*timber malloy...a musician i think
*700 girls at fonda electric waiting to take a cigarette break
*a sanitarium attendant
*a radar-radak tech...12 miles from omaha
a note on the telling
yes, so...3rd-person multiple character point-of-view...this story is a hoot. written in, what, the early 50s...macdonald writes about the paris peace talks. heh! mind-boggling, because only a few years earlier and continuing, vietnam and the usa were engaged in paris, peace talks--the story takes place in a futuristic 1975. did macdonald have a crystal ball? black thirteen? when bard and inly are speaking in the bar...about the reporter melvin...more: wonder what compulsion makes him go all oily over a nice juicy hammer murder? heh! the only thing...i don't believe macdonald will take the story down the road i wish he'd travelled...parody. but this one does remind me of others...vonnegut, The Sirens of Titan...and more recently...Carrion Comfort, from dan simmons...cronin's triology The Passage the first ...he finish the last yet? onward, upward
gush...before i am finished, at the page 92 of 175 point
i am really liking this story! heh! one...because it is refreshing to read this story that is more than half a century old and to know that someone else had the same manner of idea i have...and a way of explaining why things are so frunky. the watchers! said the possession idea appealed. and...for me...possession explains why there is an option for hate speech when one flags a review. what the hell is hate speech? in macdonald's story, hate speech is heresy...the kind of heresy that raul speaks...it is raising awareness...pointing to the blindness of others, the willing ignorance of others. we have it in spades (a pun if you wish it) here in my world. i'm at the point in the story where raul wishes to meet with lane...they've communicated via dream...and jord is becoming aware of raul's...heresy. i love the idea that the third world is a place that wants to forgo words altogether...eliminate emotion...that it is a more advanced world. here on this world where the zombies are taught not to denigrate the different, where the zombies are taught there is such a thing as hate speech...something that can be flagged...third world is a signifier without a signified, allowed on the screen where usage has fallen for the more palatable developing nations...colonialism, still. this story contains the idea of colonialism. ooompa loompa
update, finished, 26 dec 14, friday, 11:51 a.m. e.s.t.
finished...great story! i've marked it as a favorite. story includes an afterword from macdonald, written in 1968...18 years after he said he penned the story...and other than saying he was long enough away from it to wonder what would happen next...he too was jolted by finding that the paris peace talks were still going on...or wait now...what?
he was writing that in '68...before...
i dunno. strange. anyway, there's an afterword in this...and apparently the story Ballroom of the Skies is another story that was resurrected in the 60s...or something. macdonald calls them companion pieces...calls them science-fantasy....what does he know?
good story. check it out. good story. worth a read
October 25, 2020
Didn't much enjoy this one, but I soldiered on with it for completion's sake, since I've been reading my way through the rest of John D. MacDonald's science fiction, and what the heck, it's a short book. But still. There are two threads here: a Robert Silverberg-style story about a decadent far-future arcology whose residents think it's the entire world, and a the sequences set on a 1950s Earthbound military-funded base where scientists are working on a new kind of rocket ship.
The arcology stuff is fairly interesting, as an iconoclast starts to figure out that the arcology's laws and lives are based on lies, and that the "dream machines" that send the populace off into the heads of other people on other worlds, where they typically wreak murderous havoc for fun, are actually sending them into real people's heads, and real worlds. The rocket-base stuff is pretty dull, based in some very detailed laying out of politics and relationships that mostly don't have a huge effect on the story. The characters are paper-thin, almost hilariously antiquated stereotypes straight out of 1950s atomic-monster movies, and once the future-dreamer starts contacting them directly, there's a lot of pretty boring, circular, "Oh, but this can't be happening" business as everyone denies what's going on.
Eventually, well over halfway through the book, all the pieces are in place for the actual action, as some elements from the future world set out to sabotage the Earth project, but as soon as the story's up and running, it starts moving at ridiculous speed, with most of the important character decisions and a fair bit of the action happening offscreen, leaving readers to just see the consequences. All told, a really interesting narrative setup, executed in a very clumsy 1950s sci-fi vein. It's instructive to read this just to see how much science fiction has veered toward a character-first dynamic, where what the characters are feeling and thinking, and how they make their decisions and why, are as important or more important than what they actually do. Here, there are no audience avatars except the future-dreamer, who we understand better than most, even though he's a remote and alien presence. Mostly, people are what they do, and what they do is sometimes baffling, especially at the end, where we're suddenly given an "Oh, and everyone got married offscreen to people they'd barely even met within the course of the actual story" ending. An odd book, full of heady ideas but with very little sense for motivations or experience.
The arcology stuff is fairly interesting, as an iconoclast starts to figure out that the arcology's laws and lives are based on lies, and that the "dream machines" that send the populace off into the heads of other people on other worlds, where they typically wreak murderous havoc for fun, are actually sending them into real people's heads, and real worlds. The rocket-base stuff is pretty dull, based in some very detailed laying out of politics and relationships that mostly don't have a huge effect on the story. The characters are paper-thin, almost hilariously antiquated stereotypes straight out of 1950s atomic-monster movies, and once the future-dreamer starts contacting them directly, there's a lot of pretty boring, circular, "Oh, but this can't be happening" business as everyone denies what's going on.
Eventually, well over halfway through the book, all the pieces are in place for the actual action, as some elements from the future world set out to sabotage the Earth project, but as soon as the story's up and running, it starts moving at ridiculous speed, with most of the important character decisions and a fair bit of the action happening offscreen, leaving readers to just see the consequences. All told, a really interesting narrative setup, executed in a very clumsy 1950s sci-fi vein. It's instructive to read this just to see how much science fiction has veered toward a character-first dynamic, where what the characters are feeling and thinking, and how they make their decisions and why, are as important or more important than what they actually do. Here, there are no audience avatars except the future-dreamer, who we understand better than most, even though he's a remote and alien presence. Mostly, people are what they do, and what they do is sometimes baffling, especially at the end, where we're suddenly given an "Oh, and everyone got married offscreen to people they'd barely even met within the course of the actual story" ending. An odd book, full of heady ideas but with very little sense for motivations or experience.
February 13, 2018
I first read this book when I was 12. It changed my worldview. When I was in college, I adapted it to a movie screenplay.
August 9, 2021
Cheesy love stories between humans and alien/humans, even I have to cringe at the female image represented, simple black and white worldview, superskilled heros, ridiculous technology even for the 50's. An SF book weak on science and laughable on plot. Didn't age well.
May 2, 2018
Charmingly dated early-50s SF set in the exotic future of 1975, Wine of the Dreamers still manages to surprise and though I found it a little rough at the start it really pulled me in by the halfway mark with clever ideas and entertaining twists.
August 1, 2008
John D. MacDonald could write Science fiction as well as mysteries. This is an SF novel. Very fine.
April 16, 2017
I first read this when I was in my early teens.
I am now 62. I loved this book when I first read it nearly 50 years ago. As a kid, I read every science fiction book I could find - Heinlein, Silverberg, Asimov, Norton, Nourse, Sturgeon, Dick - and their predecessors, Wells, Burroughs, Verne.
MacDonald himself wrote (at the end of this edition) about rereading his own book 18 years (and 50 novels) after he'd first written it. Like the author, I had forgotten much of the story and its characters. It was fun to return to the worlds MacDonald created as a kind of explanation for the random unexplainable violence in our world.
I am now 62. I loved this book when I first read it nearly 50 years ago. As a kid, I read every science fiction book I could find - Heinlein, Silverberg, Asimov, Norton, Nourse, Sturgeon, Dick - and their predecessors, Wells, Burroughs, Verne.
MacDonald himself wrote (at the end of this edition) about rereading his own book 18 years (and 50 novels) after he'd first written it. Like the author, I had forgotten much of the story and its characters. It was fun to return to the worlds MacDonald created as a kind of explanation for the random unexplainable violence in our world.
July 10, 2016
I like John D. MacDonald a lot, but of course I know him better from his crime and detective novels than I do his science-fiction. I'm generally not a big fan of reading science-fiction, but given the author, I decided to give this a try.
It wasn't bad. It made some sort of logical sense, and while it took me some time to get through it (due to distractions in my own life), I thought it was a decent story, well told.
That said, I very much look forward to reading John D. MacDonald's other novels. I feel no need to rush out and read his other science-fiction works at the moment.
It wasn't bad. It made some sort of logical sense, and while it took me some time to get through it (due to distractions in my own life), I thought it was a decent story, well told.
That said, I very much look forward to reading John D. MacDonald's other novels. I feel no need to rush out and read his other science-fiction works at the moment.
December 6, 2022
The start didn't grab me right off, but the story was VERY interesting. I can't believe I enjoyed sci-fi this much.
.
The plot moved along with a good pace, the writing was funny and entertaining, tho to be frank I had to reread some technical parts and I still didn't understand all of them(I guess I'm just stupid). Characterization of male and female characters were ok. Since it's an old work, typical gendered traits are a given.
.
I don't know much about the writer, but having read this book by him, I'm intrigued to read more of his writings.
.
The plot moved along with a good pace, the writing was funny and entertaining, tho to be frank I had to reread some technical parts and I still didn't understand all of them(I guess I'm just stupid). Characterization of male and female characters were ok. Since it's an old work, typical gendered traits are a given.
.
I don't know much about the writer, but having read this book by him, I'm intrigued to read more of his writings.
March 7, 2013
Wine of the Dreamers... Where do I even start? This novel had me hooked. I started to care more about the alien world and their customs than the Earth-bound story after a while. The thought of aliens entering human bodies through what they think are "dreaming machines" and causing trouble and catastrophes was interesting to me. The way the aliens described objects unknown to them was also quite interesting.
May 22, 2008
For a 1951 sci-fi novel by a man who would really come into his own as an author of detective novels, Wine of the Dreamers is not half-bad. In context. For its time.
(But I'd still rather read a Travis McGee book.)
(But I'd still rather read a Travis McGee book.)
December 18, 2020
The science fiction elements themselves are what they are, and there's a stodginess to the retrofuture 1975 that says more about MacDonald's 1951 and especially themes that he uses in Travis McGee--that the world is going to hell and the kids are not all right.
But MacDonald's writing elevates the material, not just because of its craftsmanship but how he darts seamlessly between styles, from the straightforward narration to news broadcasts and other transcripts, all done with distinct and believable voices. His mystery/suspense leanings leaked through with unflinching looks at the dysfunctional Earth society, all its rawness lurking beneath: a graphically yet succinctly described suicide, a bureaucratic medical professional prescribing death-of-personality by shock treatment, a series of horrible individual incidents shot at the reader.
The two Earth protagonists--romantically circling each other for months--decide in a moment of tension not to sleep with one another for mutual comfort. Despite their obvious good qualities and mutual affection, each is not quite right for the other. I respect that development, that MacDonald shied away from the easy path.
Unfortunately, that easy path returned later as the author seemed determined to stick the happy ending, despite the messages of social decay and bureaucratic interference and control.
But MacDonald's writing elevates the material, not just because of its craftsmanship but how he darts seamlessly between styles, from the straightforward narration to news broadcasts and other transcripts, all done with distinct and believable voices. His mystery/suspense leanings leaked through with unflinching looks at the dysfunctional Earth society, all its rawness lurking beneath: a graphically yet succinctly described suicide, a bureaucratic medical professional prescribing death-of-personality by shock treatment, a series of horrible individual incidents shot at the reader.
The two Earth protagonists--romantically circling each other for months--decide in a moment of tension not to sleep with one another for mutual comfort. Despite their obvious good qualities and mutual affection, each is not quite right for the other. I respect that development, that MacDonald shied away from the easy path.
Unfortunately, that easy path returned later as the author seemed determined to stick the happy ending, despite the messages of social decay and bureaucratic interference and control.
May 3, 2023
If it wasn’t for the author I would probably have rated two stars, partly because I’m not a big sci-fi fan and, as this book shows, he wasn’t much of a sci-fi writer. In and afterward he said it’s more to be considered science fantasy. Written in 1951, very early in his career, far off alien beings who physically resemble earthlings, who lie in special chambers in order to “dream,” believing nothing in the dreams are real, whereas in fact they are creating mayhem and death and bad shit all over planet Earth. it’s a convoluted story of this alien race, all of whom live in one windowless, giant, many storied building, who believe there is no existence outside this building, until an adventurous youngster and his sister push the boundaries and learn otherwise. The population on this far off planet is dwindling every year, there are now only 50 or so alive, so the brother and sister decide they must attempt to make contact with earthlings and even travel to earth; there are six ancient yet functional spaceships outside the windowless building. The book is 1950 sexist and misogynistic as all hell, I read it once before probably 30 years ago, this will be my last time to read it but I’m glad I did. It’s interesting to me to read a writer in the early stages of their career when they are learning and refining their craft. Lastly, to find out if the book has a happy ending or not I guess you’ll have to read it or else buy me a beer 😉
May 25, 2023
Full review: https://sciencefictionruminations.com...
"Note: I did not finish this one. Maybe the last third elevates the story? Unfortunately, there are always books that I lose interest in and cannot convince myself to finish.
I’ve recently two powerful John D. MacDonald short stories–“Flaw” (1949) and “Spectator Sport” (1950)–for my series on critical takes on space travel and the impact of future media respectively. Both stories took a hypercritical stance the future impact of technology. In “Flaw,” an astronaut’s suffering [...]"
"Note: I did not finish this one. Maybe the last third elevates the story? Unfortunately, there are always books that I lose interest in and cannot convince myself to finish.
I’ve recently two powerful John D. MacDonald short stories–“Flaw” (1949) and “Spectator Sport” (1950)–for my series on critical takes on space travel and the impact of future media respectively. Both stories took a hypercritical stance the future impact of technology. In “Flaw,” an astronaut’s suffering [...]"
September 18, 2025
Una trama un poco rebuscada sin demasiado atractivo, personas que pueden controlar a otras desde distancias estelares con personajes bastante estereotipados, el científico, el militar, la mujer psicóloga;(de la que se describe su atuendo pero no el de los hombres)...
Tampoco me ha parecido muy aprovechado todo lo que puede dar de sí el mundo donde viven los soñadores.
Tampoco me ha parecido muy aprovechado todo lo que puede dar de sí el mundo donde viven los soñadores.
May 17, 2015
MacDonald war mir als Autor von Kriminalstories ein Begriff und ich war überrascht, als ich auf PLANET DER TRÄUMER stieß. Es ist nicht nur eine seiner erste Romanveröffentlichungen überhaupt(1951), sondern auch sein erster Science Fiction Roman.
PLANET DER TRÄUMER gehört zu den wirklich lesenswerten SF-Romanen - nicht nur der frühen 50er Jahre - und überrascht durch eine spannende, gut aufgebaute und gut erzählte Handlung, die gesellschaftliche und ethische Fragen aufwirft. Ein lupenreiner SF-Roman, der ohne das zu der Zeit übliche Weltraumgeballer und klischeehafte Feindbilder auskommt und mich an die späteren Romane von Philip K. Dick denken ließ, der sich auch immer mit der Frage beschäftigte, was Realität ist und was wir über sie wissen können.
Auf einem sehr fernen Planeten leben die Wächter. Sie sind ein degeneriertes Volk, das nur eine einzige Aufgabe hat: in eigens dafür geschaffenen Apparaturen zu "träumen". Tatsächlich begeben sie sich auf diese Weise mit ihrem Geist in die Körper von Menschen und veranlassen diese dazu, allerlei Unsinniges, zumeist Zerstörerisches zu tun. Ein schlechtes Gewissen haben die Wächter nicht, denn sie wissen nichts von der Existenz der Menschen und halten diese für reine Traumwesen, die sie zu ihrer ergötzlichen Unterhaltung nach Belieben manipulieren können. Nur der junger Wächter Raul Kinson hinterfragt dieses sonderbare Konstrukt.
Auf der Erde bricht dieweil das interstellare Raumfahrtzeitalter an und ein Team von Wissenschaftlern arbeitet fieberhaft an einer Rakete mit neuer Technik, die Reisen durch den Hyperraum ermöglichen soll. Doch willkürliche Akte der Gewalt und der Zerstörung behindern und gefährden das Projekt.
In dieser Situation nimmt Raul Kinson mit dem Projektleiter Bard Lane Kontakt auf und offenbart ihm, dass die Wächter hinter den Sabotageakten stecken.
Der Witz der Story liegt darin, dass die Wächter nicht an die Existenz der Menschen glauben, diese wiederum nicht an die der Wächter.
Tatsächlich gelingt es MacDonald, nachvollziehbare Erklärungen für das Verhalten der Wächter zu liefern (auch wenn diese selbst schon seit 50.000 Jahren vergessen haben, was ihre Aufgabe ist).
Die klassischen Pulp-Elemente der SF seiner Zeit finden sich hier kaum noch (abgeehen von einer kleinen interstellaren Romanze, die aber kein allzu großes Gewicht bekommt) und ich halte PLANET DER TRÄUMER für einen kleinen Meilenstein der SF.
Gesellschaftskritik, technische Utopie und eine komplexe Handlung, die unter den vom Autoren geschaffenen Prämissen auch Sinn ergibt, heben das Buch aus der Masse der SF-Literatur seiner Zeit heraus und machen es zu einem auch heute noch lesenswerten Buch.
Nicht unerwähnt soll bleiben, dass die ordentliche und gut lesbare Übertragung ins Deutsche von Wulf H. Bergner maßgeblich zum Lesegenuss beiträgt; immerhin wurden die meisten SF-Stories und Romane schludrig von schlechtbezahlten Übersetzern hingepfuscht, oft auch sinnentstellend gekürzt. Das alles ist hier zum Glück nicht der Fall.
Fazit: 4,5 Sterne, klare Leseempfehlung
PLANET DER TRÄUMER gehört zu den wirklich lesenswerten SF-Romanen - nicht nur der frühen 50er Jahre - und überrascht durch eine spannende, gut aufgebaute und gut erzählte Handlung, die gesellschaftliche und ethische Fragen aufwirft. Ein lupenreiner SF-Roman, der ohne das zu der Zeit übliche Weltraumgeballer und klischeehafte Feindbilder auskommt und mich an die späteren Romane von Philip K. Dick denken ließ, der sich auch immer mit der Frage beschäftigte, was Realität ist und was wir über sie wissen können.
Auf einem sehr fernen Planeten leben die Wächter. Sie sind ein degeneriertes Volk, das nur eine einzige Aufgabe hat: in eigens dafür geschaffenen Apparaturen zu "träumen". Tatsächlich begeben sie sich auf diese Weise mit ihrem Geist in die Körper von Menschen und veranlassen diese dazu, allerlei Unsinniges, zumeist Zerstörerisches zu tun. Ein schlechtes Gewissen haben die Wächter nicht, denn sie wissen nichts von der Existenz der Menschen und halten diese für reine Traumwesen, die sie zu ihrer ergötzlichen Unterhaltung nach Belieben manipulieren können. Nur der junger Wächter Raul Kinson hinterfragt dieses sonderbare Konstrukt.
Auf der Erde bricht dieweil das interstellare Raumfahrtzeitalter an und ein Team von Wissenschaftlern arbeitet fieberhaft an einer Rakete mit neuer Technik, die Reisen durch den Hyperraum ermöglichen soll. Doch willkürliche Akte der Gewalt und der Zerstörung behindern und gefährden das Projekt.
In dieser Situation nimmt Raul Kinson mit dem Projektleiter Bard Lane Kontakt auf und offenbart ihm, dass die Wächter hinter den Sabotageakten stecken.
Der Witz der Story liegt darin, dass die Wächter nicht an die Existenz der Menschen glauben, diese wiederum nicht an die der Wächter.
Tatsächlich gelingt es MacDonald, nachvollziehbare Erklärungen für das Verhalten der Wächter zu liefern (auch wenn diese selbst schon seit 50.000 Jahren vergessen haben, was ihre Aufgabe ist).
Die klassischen Pulp-Elemente der SF seiner Zeit finden sich hier kaum noch (abgeehen von einer kleinen interstellaren Romanze, die aber kein allzu großes Gewicht bekommt) und ich halte PLANET DER TRÄUMER für einen kleinen Meilenstein der SF.
Gesellschaftskritik, technische Utopie und eine komplexe Handlung, die unter den vom Autoren geschaffenen Prämissen auch Sinn ergibt, heben das Buch aus der Masse der SF-Literatur seiner Zeit heraus und machen es zu einem auch heute noch lesenswerten Buch.
Nicht unerwähnt soll bleiben, dass die ordentliche und gut lesbare Übertragung ins Deutsche von Wulf H. Bergner maßgeblich zum Lesegenuss beiträgt; immerhin wurden die meisten SF-Stories und Romane schludrig von schlechtbezahlten Übersetzern hingepfuscht, oft auch sinnentstellend gekürzt. Das alles ist hier zum Glück nicht der Fall.
Fazit: 4,5 Sterne, klare Leseempfehlung
July 1, 2025
Arkadaşımın kitaplığında eski ve güzel kapaklı bir bilimkurgu görünce ödünç almadan duramadığım bir kitaptı Düşgörenler Gezegeni. O yüzden tam olarak sıfır beklentiyle okumaya başladım. İnsanlığın çözülemeyen psikolojik durumları üzerine akıllıca bir temelde kurgulanmış bir hikaye. İçerisine Silo dizisini andıran distopik, otoriter de bir toplum iliştirmiş minimize bir şekilde. Hikayeye çok kurcalamadan, detaylandırmadan, yüzeysel birçok bilim kurgu elementi serpiştirilmiş. Beklentim düşük olduğu için chill bir bilim kurgı okuyorum havası yarattı o yüzden bende bu durum ve kitaptan bayağı zevk aldım. Çok düşünülmemiş bariz bir final ve bazı basit detaylar sonlara doğru biraz can sıksa da genel olarak güzel bir okuma deneyimi yaşadım.
November 15, 2020
I've endeavored to read both of John D. MacDonald's science fiction books. This one has similar complaints and observations as i made in my review of 'Ballroom of the Skies'. Please see that one for more.
This is a better story, as silly as it is. MacDonald's fatalist view of the human species is front and center nevertheless. Man is evil and, in whatever form, will kill himself. This book is from 1951 and we are still here despite the often hysterical end-of-the-world-types like JDM.
MacDonald's efforts to depict multiple dimensions is impressive. This is the best of the book. On a similar level is his mind control writings. The rest is pretty standard science fiction scribbling.
Characters are far better written than 'Ballroom', but far thinner than JDM's later work. Settings are too sketchy as JDM seemed to really struggle writing something that doesn't exist.
Bottom line: I don't recommend this book. 4 out of ten points.
This is a better story, as silly as it is. MacDonald's fatalist view of the human species is front and center nevertheless. Man is evil and, in whatever form, will kill himself. This book is from 1951 and we are still here despite the often hysterical end-of-the-world-types like JDM.
MacDonald's efforts to depict multiple dimensions is impressive. This is the best of the book. On a similar level is his mind control writings. The rest is pretty standard science fiction scribbling.
Characters are far better written than 'Ballroom', but far thinner than JDM's later work. Settings are too sketchy as JDM seemed to really struggle writing something that doesn't exist.
Bottom line: I don't recommend this book. 4 out of ten points.
August 5, 2021
Still Amazing
I read this story a very, very long time ago - early 1970s. It caught my imagination. A few years later, I read it again, and it was still amazing. Recently, I was looking everywhere to find out the title but all I could remember was the silo they lived in and vaguely about dreamers. I found this book in the trilogy I did remember and found 2 titles. I already knew it wasn't "The Girl, The Gold Watch and Everything" as that became a movie I remembered fondly. So, I downloaded the other 2 in that book.
Well, this is the story I was looking for. And, 50 years later, this story is still mind blowing and amazing. Are we all just a dream sometimes controlled by Watchers, or are we real?
I read this story a very, very long time ago - early 1970s. It caught my imagination. A few years later, I read it again, and it was still amazing. Recently, I was looking everywhere to find out the title but all I could remember was the silo they lived in and vaguely about dreamers. I found this book in the trilogy I did remember and found 2 titles. I already knew it wasn't "The Girl, The Gold Watch and Everything" as that became a movie I remembered fondly. So, I downloaded the other 2 in that book.
Well, this is the story I was looking for. And, 50 years later, this story is still mind blowing and amazing. Are we all just a dream sometimes controlled by Watchers, or are we real?
August 31, 2018
Harbinger of Bladerunner
Early science fantasy by John D MacDonald
An outsider in a controlled society discovers the evils being perpetrated by that society and fights back. Set against backdrop of a more contemporary society than Bladerunner. Written in the cities some of the prognostications about the future ring eeriely true. What cars the craziness of our school shootings. The answer proposed here is entirely fantastical, and the dialog and concerns are dated the idea that women lack the logic of men certainly sounds laughable to a contemporary reader.
Early science fantasy by John D MacDonald
An outsider in a controlled society discovers the evils being perpetrated by that society and fights back. Set against backdrop of a more contemporary society than Bladerunner. Written in the cities some of the prognostications about the future ring eeriely true. What cars the craziness of our school shootings. The answer proposed here is entirely fantastical, and the dialog and concerns are dated the idea that women lack the logic of men certainly sounds laughable to a contemporary reader.
February 13, 2020
Though this book ws written over 70 years ago, it remains timeless as he brings to life charachters who sek the truth to their existence in a world goverened by meaningless laws. Humanity remains unprogressive in a time of technological advancement as war seems to e never-ending and inevitable...
This novel started of soooper slow, but the story was a great one.
This novel started of soooper slow, but the story was a great one.
September 27, 2021
I liked the characters, Bard & Sharon, Raul & Leesa, more than the ideas, which is interesting considering this is old pulp. But the What If is interesting: what if random crimes were actually cases of possession of telepathic aliens?
I appreciate the detail that the dreamers need their special machines and that they can't actually come to invade us in person. ;)
I appreciate the detail that the dreamers need their special machines and that they can't actually come to invade us in person. ;)
March 6, 2022
Excellent, of course!
A classic from 1951. Deserves a better rating than the one on Goodreads. On Amazon it's 4.4 out of 5. It is not nail-biting suspense. It is smoothly written and relatable science fiction. John D McDonald wrote 78 novels of both thrillers and science fiction.
A classic from 1951. Deserves a better rating than the one on Goodreads. On Amazon it's 4.4 out of 5. It is not nail-biting suspense. It is smoothly written and relatable science fiction. John D McDonald wrote 78 novels of both thrillers and science fiction.
February 4, 2022
3.5 ROUNDED UP. I really enjoyed this concept and world building and narrative! There were a few corny parts but overall it felt very different from other science fiction books I've read! Definitely recommend for a quick scifi read.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 59 reviews