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Deadly Litter
Captain Gregory searches for the only survivor of an eleven-year-old crash to find out what materials from that spaceship might be drifting back towards Earth
175 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1964
About the author
James White
96 books140 followersLibrarian Note:
There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.
James White was a Northern Irish author of science fiction novellas, short stories and novels. He was born in Belfast and returned there after spending some early years in Canada. He became a fan of science fiction in 1941 and co-wrote two fan magazines, from 1948 to 1953 and 1952 to 1965. Encouraged by other fans, White began publishing short stories in 1953, and his first novel was published in 1957. His best-known novels were the twelve of the Sector General series, the first published in 1962 and the last after his death. White also published nine other novels, two of which were nominated for major awards, unsuccessfully.
White abhorred violence, and medical and other emergencies were the sources of dramatic tension in his stories. The "Sector General" series is regarded as defining the genre of medical science fiction, and as introducing a memorable crew of aliens. Although missing winning the most prestigious honours four times, White gained other awards for specific works and for contributions to science fiction. He was also Guest-of-Honour of several conventions.
There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.
James White was a Northern Irish author of science fiction novellas, short stories and novels. He was born in Belfast and returned there after spending some early years in Canada. He became a fan of science fiction in 1941 and co-wrote two fan magazines, from 1948 to 1953 and 1952 to 1965. Encouraged by other fans, White began publishing short stories in 1953, and his first novel was published in 1957. His best-known novels were the twelve of the Sector General series, the first published in 1962 and the last after his death. White also published nine other novels, two of which were nominated for major awards, unsuccessfully.
White abhorred violence, and medical and other emergencies were the sources of dramatic tension in his stories. The "Sector General" series is regarded as defining the genre of medical science fiction, and as introducing a memorable crew of aliens. Although missing winning the most prestigious honours four times, White gained other awards for specific works and for contributions to science fiction. He was also Guest-of-Honour of several conventions.
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
January 10, 2021
I stumbled across James White some years ago with this Sector General series of books. I think read his Federation World book and was hooked. As a result I set about finding his other works and collecting - and yes I have only just got around the reading it now!
So what of this book - apart from discovering it was a signed edition! The book consists of 4 stories all on a similar theme of space travel yet are all independent of each other.
what I enjoyed about this book was that even though it was published in 1964 the stories are still as valid (as much as they can be) today. If you consider how little we knew about space flight (and still don't now) and the insightful observations from the stories you realise how ahead of his time James White was (after all nearly 50 years later a film uses the concept of space debris as a plot device).
I think that Science Fiction is probably the most sensitive to time - it feels at times that almost as soon as a book is written especially when it encompasses scientific or technical concepts it starts to age - some age better than others but at times there are those that even though they have aged they still have lessons for us to learn and this book (and the author of it) I feel certainly do.
So what of this book - apart from discovering it was a signed edition! The book consists of 4 stories all on a similar theme of space travel yet are all independent of each other.
what I enjoyed about this book was that even though it was published in 1964 the stories are still as valid (as much as they can be) today. If you consider how little we knew about space flight (and still don't now) and the insightful observations from the stories you realise how ahead of his time James White was (after all nearly 50 years later a film uses the concept of space debris as a plot device).
I think that Science Fiction is probably the most sensitive to time - it feels at times that almost as soon as a book is written especially when it encompasses scientific or technical concepts it starts to age - some age better than others but at times there are those that even though they have aged they still have lessons for us to learn and this book (and the author of it) I feel certainly do.
August 12, 2019
James White was an Irish science fiction writer best known and remembered for his Sector General speculative medical series. Deadly Litter collects four of his early novelettes that are not part of the series that appeared in British magazines in the late '50s; the title story was from SF Adventures and the other three appeared in the pre-Moorcock New Worlds. They're pretty standard big-idea/puzzle stories with little in the way of memorable characterization. The Lights Outside the Windows may be the most casually gender-biased story ever, but the other three are good examples of hard-sf from the time. Deadly Litter is a story that foresaw the problems of too much junk left floating in orbit that we're just now beginning to appreciate.
August 12, 2014
“People in space must be prepared to encounter the bizarre… the horrifying… the hostile… and the alien. And in DEADLY LITTER man is threatened from all sides, struggling for sanity and survival against the hazards of space, frantically seeking new ways of conquering the unknown and the unpredictable…
But man’s greatest enemy in space is… man. The most dangerous obstacle he must overcome… himself.
four stories of man dealing with man in space…”
Blurb from the 1968 Corgi paperback edition.
Grapeliners –
The Ideal Captain
The Lights Outside the Windows
Deadly Litter - SCIENCE FICTION ADVENTURES No 13, February 1960
A collection of four stories by White in which he explores the effects (on Man and in ‘Deadly Litter’ on space itself) of space travel.
‘Grapeliners’ is a first contact story in which a rather bizarrely designed passenger transport encounters its first alien ship.
The transport vessel, crewed by mostly elderly people who find the effects of radiation on their reproductive capabilities not really a problem, and the extension of their lifespans by life in low gravity environments a bit of a bonus – drags its passengers behind it in individual globular compartments; hence the name Grapeliners.
The plot – in which the Captain has to find a way to communicate with the aliens whose ship has become entangled in the ‘bunch of grapes’ – is far less interesting than White’s exemplary characterisation and attention to detail.
Like the rest of the stories it is well-structured and contains what seems to be White’s trademark technique of initially confusing and intriguing the reader who has to read on to find out what’s actually happening.
‘The Ideal Captain’ uses the same ploy in a somewhat more complex tale of a new second-in-command aboard a five-man ship. the ship has a new Captain, who has interviewed the three remaining crewmembers and impressed them mightily. As it turns out, there is actually no Captain at all. The men have been hypnotised to believe that their Captain is the best Captain there could be. the second-in-command however, has a secondary mission; to investigate the secret organisation which seems to have taken over the space servicer from within.
It’s an oddly van-vogtian piece with its logical master of psychology hero and his esoteric science.
In ‘The Lights Outside The Windows’ White again flips out the red herring and initially gives the impression that the secret of this space passenger line’s success is that it is crewed by children.
In this future it is discovered that men are fundamentally incapable of living in space. the sight of the immensity drives them mad. Women, on the other hand, cope with it rather well.
So, most liner captains are women, and different companies employ different strategies in order to deal with the problems of the crew. One would have thought –given the vast body of evidence of women taking over men’s jobs during World War II – that the ideal solution would be all-female crews, or ships with no windows.
Sadly, White is of the opinion that men are more technically and mechanically minded, so this company’s solution is to hypnotise the male crew into believing they are four years old and in a training centre preparing them to be space-ship crew when they grow up.
The passengers are drugged to save them from the horrors of space, but one is a spy and having palmed his drugs, escapes from his hammock and tries to discover the secret of the Liner company’s success.
The Captain and the ‘boys’ must stop him.
‘Deadly Litter’. The title story is set in a future where ‘litter’ dumped in space has become a deadly menace. After years in which ships – concerned by the economics of a mass/fuel ratio – have been routinely dumping excess weight into space. It has been discovered that the ‘litter’, retaining the same velocity as the original flight, has in many cases become trapped by the sun’s gravity and is speeding around the solar system, waiting for a ship to crash into.
Caulfield, an officer on board an earlier flight which dumped much of its mass in order to make an emergency landing, has now been apprehended. Caulfield’s deposition could help to chart the course of the debris in order that ships could avoid running into it.
Caulfield is hiding something however, and it is up to the captain to find out what that is before the deadly litter causes further deaths.
As is usual for White, this is a clever and complex tale, fusing drama and science seamlessly. For modern readers one suspects that Caulfield’s secret isn’t that difficult to work out, but the beauty of this story lies elsewhere. At its heart is an ecological message probably more important to us now than it was in the early Nineteen Sixties.
White also includes some amazing decorative flourishes, such as the ‘gardens’ created on the outside of ships from recycled materials, and also providing a logical, ecological and psychological reason for their existence.
It’s a shame that White, a writer of such obvious quality, is not more widely recognised as a major voice within the genre.
But man’s greatest enemy in space is… man. The most dangerous obstacle he must overcome… himself.
four stories of man dealing with man in space…”
Blurb from the 1968 Corgi paperback edition.
Grapeliners –
The Ideal Captain
The Lights Outside the Windows
Deadly Litter - SCIENCE FICTION ADVENTURES No 13, February 1960
A collection of four stories by White in which he explores the effects (on Man and in ‘Deadly Litter’ on space itself) of space travel.
‘Grapeliners’ is a first contact story in which a rather bizarrely designed passenger transport encounters its first alien ship.
The transport vessel, crewed by mostly elderly people who find the effects of radiation on their reproductive capabilities not really a problem, and the extension of their lifespans by life in low gravity environments a bit of a bonus – drags its passengers behind it in individual globular compartments; hence the name Grapeliners.
The plot – in which the Captain has to find a way to communicate with the aliens whose ship has become entangled in the ‘bunch of grapes’ – is far less interesting than White’s exemplary characterisation and attention to detail.
Like the rest of the stories it is well-structured and contains what seems to be White’s trademark technique of initially confusing and intriguing the reader who has to read on to find out what’s actually happening.
‘The Ideal Captain’ uses the same ploy in a somewhat more complex tale of a new second-in-command aboard a five-man ship. the ship has a new Captain, who has interviewed the three remaining crewmembers and impressed them mightily. As it turns out, there is actually no Captain at all. The men have been hypnotised to believe that their Captain is the best Captain there could be. the second-in-command however, has a secondary mission; to investigate the secret organisation which seems to have taken over the space servicer from within.
It’s an oddly van-vogtian piece with its logical master of psychology hero and his esoteric science.
In ‘The Lights Outside The Windows’ White again flips out the red herring and initially gives the impression that the secret of this space passenger line’s success is that it is crewed by children.
In this future it is discovered that men are fundamentally incapable of living in space. the sight of the immensity drives them mad. Women, on the other hand, cope with it rather well.
So, most liner captains are women, and different companies employ different strategies in order to deal with the problems of the crew. One would have thought –given the vast body of evidence of women taking over men’s jobs during World War II – that the ideal solution would be all-female crews, or ships with no windows.
Sadly, White is of the opinion that men are more technically and mechanically minded, so this company’s solution is to hypnotise the male crew into believing they are four years old and in a training centre preparing them to be space-ship crew when they grow up.
The passengers are drugged to save them from the horrors of space, but one is a spy and having palmed his drugs, escapes from his hammock and tries to discover the secret of the Liner company’s success.
The Captain and the ‘boys’ must stop him.
‘Deadly Litter’. The title story is set in a future where ‘litter’ dumped in space has become a deadly menace. After years in which ships – concerned by the economics of a mass/fuel ratio – have been routinely dumping excess weight into space. It has been discovered that the ‘litter’, retaining the same velocity as the original flight, has in many cases become trapped by the sun’s gravity and is speeding around the solar system, waiting for a ship to crash into.
Caulfield, an officer on board an earlier flight which dumped much of its mass in order to make an emergency landing, has now been apprehended. Caulfield’s deposition could help to chart the course of the debris in order that ships could avoid running into it.
Caulfield is hiding something however, and it is up to the captain to find out what that is before the deadly litter causes further deaths.
As is usual for White, this is a clever and complex tale, fusing drama and science seamlessly. For modern readers one suspects that Caulfield’s secret isn’t that difficult to work out, but the beauty of this story lies elsewhere. At its heart is an ecological message probably more important to us now than it was in the early Nineteen Sixties.
White also includes some amazing decorative flourishes, such as the ‘gardens’ created on the outside of ships from recycled materials, and also providing a logical, ecological and psychological reason for their existence.
It’s a shame that White, a writer of such obvious quality, is not more widely recognised as a major voice within the genre.
March 16, 2021
First plot is basically about first contact, technological world-building is about how to transport passengers safely (to Mars, iirc), but the more important themes are connected to each other: what is the value of older people, and what to do about deadly radiations & about space neurosis.
Second story is about how Cold War rivalries on Earth get translated to space. And also about the value of a good Captain. Some of the psychology has been proven wrong, but there were possibilities at the time of writing that made it plausible that our astronauts would need this kind of care.
Third has a woman Captain. It's both a sincere attempt on White's part to be more inclusive and respectful, but also laughably sexist. Still worth reading for the punch, though.
Fourth is the title story; basic plot given by title. But tracking the litter is so important that even eleven years later the survivor of a ship that lightened its load is being interrogated for details to help the analysts track the debris cloud. I solved the mystery pretty quickly, at least the 'what' to it... but I'm very confused by the how/where/why.
Bottom line: I don't know if much of the science holds up, but I read it as What If this was the way things worked, then what would spacemen and engineers do? For example, is White right, that psychologists would be encouraged to use different kinds of behavioral conditioning and hypnosis techniques? Surely not....
The stories could be told more gracefully, but this is a fun read and if you like old SF and can easily find this, check it out. I got a copy from my local university's library. It is not (yet) on openlibrary.org but several others of White's works are and I might check out some of the stand-alones.
Second story is about how Cold War rivalries on Earth get translated to space. And also about the value of a good Captain. Some of the psychology has been proven wrong, but there were possibilities at the time of writing that made it plausible that our astronauts would need this kind of care.
Third has a woman Captain. It's both a sincere attempt on White's part to be more inclusive and respectful, but also laughably sexist. Still worth reading for the punch, though.
Fourth is the title story; basic plot given by title. But tracking the litter is so important that even eleven years later the survivor of a ship that lightened its load is being interrogated for details to help the analysts track the debris cloud. I solved the mystery pretty quickly, at least the 'what' to it... but I'm very confused by the how/where/why.
Bottom line: I don't know if much of the science holds up, but I read it as What If this was the way things worked, then what would spacemen and engineers do? For example, is White right, that psychologists would be encouraged to use different kinds of behavioral conditioning and hypnosis techniques? Surely not....
The stories could be told more gracefully, but this is a fun read and if you like old SF and can easily find this, check it out. I got a copy from my local university's library. It is not (yet) on openlibrary.org but several others of White's works are and I might check out some of the stand-alones.
Read
April 12, 2009Most anthologies are a mixed bag--this is more so than most. I've been rereading this, and I've got past 'Grapeliner', about a plastic spaceship consisting of tethered bubbles, and into 'The Ideal Captain'. The other two stories are 'The Lights Outside The Windows', and the titular 'Deadly Litter'.
White had a long and prolific career, though he rarely wrote full-length novels, and even those have an episodic quality. He did write a few descriptions of how he came up with his ideas--often in idle barroom conversation, I gather.
These stories were written in the late 50s/early 60s, and there're a few technical quibbles, but not many. Otherwise, as with most of White's works, they wear well.
White had a long and prolific career, though he rarely wrote full-length novels, and even those have an episodic quality. He did write a few descriptions of how he came up with his ideas--often in idle barroom conversation, I gather.
These stories were written in the late 50s/early 60s, and there're a few technical quibbles, but not many. Otherwise, as with most of White's works, they wear well.
April 13, 2019
Just do like james White books.
February 8, 2025
While scrolling through TikTok a couple of years ago, I came across a video by the author Robert J. Sawyer extolling the virtues of James White’s “Sector General” series. Intrigued by his description of White’s upbeat, hopeful science fiction novels, I went to my local used bookstore and picked up copies of every volume of the series they had on their shelves. It wasn’t until later that I discovered that, despite the similar cover design to the Del Rey copies of the Sector General novels I had purchased and the generic title that I mistook for a medical reference, this collection was not part of the series, but a collection of four stories set outside that universe.
Learning this led me at first to deprioritize the book among my readings, then to move it to the top in order to make space on my shelves. Yet after I read it I put it right back there in order to read it again, so impressed I was with the virtues of the tales within it. All four are set in space, and are united by a common theme of spacefarers tackling crises that imperil their existence. The first of these, “Grapeliner,” is a first contact story involving not a team of trained experts on the far edges of known space but the captain and crew of a spaceliner traveling between Earth and Mars. The Earth-Mars route is also a feature of the next two stories, the first of which, “The Ideal Captain,” is premised on the concept of a crew that – with the exception of a psychologist serving as second-in-command – has been conditioned into believing that their nonexistent commander is their different ideals of such a figure so as to ensure maximum obedience. It’s an incredibly interesting concept, yet I was disappointed by White’s failure to explore its possibilities to their fullest, pivoting instead around a development that, while interesting as well, would have been better off as a story in its own right.
Conditioning is also an important component of the plot of “The Lights Outside the Windows,” in which the neurosis caused in men by the vastness of space forces an unusual arrangement for space travel. It’s one that includes a complication that makes for a nice twist at the end of the story. There’s also a twist to “Deadly Litter,” the story from which the collection derives its (somewhat unfortunate and unfitting) name. In it, White presciently anticipates the growing problem of space junk and the hazards it poses. It’s a story that encapsulates nicely everything I have come to expect from him: an imaginative premise, enjoyable storytelling, and a satisfying but not entirely unexpected resolution. While he may not rank among the greatest authors of the genre, White nevertheless demonstrates throughout all of the stories here a vision that deserves more attention than it receives today. We could all do with more of his brand of optimism.
Learning this led me at first to deprioritize the book among my readings, then to move it to the top in order to make space on my shelves. Yet after I read it I put it right back there in order to read it again, so impressed I was with the virtues of the tales within it. All four are set in space, and are united by a common theme of spacefarers tackling crises that imperil their existence. The first of these, “Grapeliner,” is a first contact story involving not a team of trained experts on the far edges of known space but the captain and crew of a spaceliner traveling between Earth and Mars. The Earth-Mars route is also a feature of the next two stories, the first of which, “The Ideal Captain,” is premised on the concept of a crew that – with the exception of a psychologist serving as second-in-command – has been conditioned into believing that their nonexistent commander is their different ideals of such a figure so as to ensure maximum obedience. It’s an incredibly interesting concept, yet I was disappointed by White’s failure to explore its possibilities to their fullest, pivoting instead around a development that, while interesting as well, would have been better off as a story in its own right.
Conditioning is also an important component of the plot of “The Lights Outside the Windows,” in which the neurosis caused in men by the vastness of space forces an unusual arrangement for space travel. It’s one that includes a complication that makes for a nice twist at the end of the story. There’s also a twist to “Deadly Litter,” the story from which the collection derives its (somewhat unfortunate and unfitting) name. In it, White presciently anticipates the growing problem of space junk and the hazards it poses. It’s a story that encapsulates nicely everything I have come to expect from him: an imaginative premise, enjoyable storytelling, and a satisfying but not entirely unexpected resolution. While he may not rank among the greatest authors of the genre, White nevertheless demonstrates throughout all of the stories here a vision that deserves more attention than it receives today. We could all do with more of his brand of optimism.
March 21, 2026
Four very good stories from author James White. A departure from his Sector General series, they cover a wide variety of human issues, all dealing with intrasolar spaceflight. There is murder mystery, psychological problems, and environmental issues. All presented in White's great entertaining style.
It is 1960's science fiction. Not a text book. So 'dated' science is a given.
That is all I'll say. I myself want to find out about a book by reading it. Not by being given a play-by- play of what is in it. These are good, entertaining stories.
It is 1960's science fiction. Not a text book. So 'dated' science is a given.
That is all I'll say. I myself want to find out about a book by reading it. Not by being given a play-by- play of what is in it. These are good, entertaining stories.
September 19, 2022
Four pretty short stories from the author of the Sector General series.
First one is alien contact, a bit meh but ok.
The middle two are all about the psychological effects of space travel and possible solutions etc of working around it.
The last story is the title of the book and is a pretty good one even though you can guess the twist partway through, still a decent read all the same.
The old cliche "of its time" is called for here.
First one is alien contact, a bit meh but ok.
The middle two are all about the psychological effects of space travel and possible solutions etc of working around it.
The last story is the title of the book and is a pretty good one even though you can guess the twist partway through, still a decent read all the same.
The old cliche "of its time" is called for here.
May 12, 2022
White sa sicuramente scrivere ma questa raccolta è noiosissima, ho sbadigliato tutto il tempo.
Interessante racconto breve di tale Bill Pronzini al termine del libro, intitolato “Gatto”, una specie di gioco di scrittura senza troppe pretese.
Interessante racconto breve di tale Bill Pronzini al termine del libro, intitolato “Gatto”, una specie di gioco di scrittura senza troppe pretese.
September 9, 2019
Four interesting space stories which cover different aspects of life in space.
July 1, 2026
3⭐️ A Good Book/Unexceptional
April 26, 2026
Excellent collection of short stories.
June 5, 2015
1985 grade B
short novel
short novel
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews