Wandl the Invader

Gregg Haljan #2

by Ray Cummings

There were nine major planets in the Solar System, and it was within their boundaries that man first set up interplanetary commerce and began trading with the ancient Martian civilization. And then they discovered a tenth planet -- a maverick! This tenth world, if it had an orbit, had a strange one, for it was heading inwards from interstellar space, heading close to the Earth-Mars spaceways, upsetting astronautic calculations and raising turmoil on the two inhabited worlds. But even so none suspected then just how much trouble this new world would make. For it was WANDL THE INVADER and it was no barren planetoid. It was a manned world, manned by minds and monsters and traveling into our system with a purpose beyond that of astronomical accident!

Genres: Science Fiction, Space Opera, Audiobook

128 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1932

About the author

Raymond King Cummings. His career resulted in some 750 novels and short stories, using also the pen names Ray King, Gabrielle Cummings, and Gabriel Wilson.

See Wikipedia

Reviews

[Roddy Williams · Rating 3 out of 5]

'A CLASSIC NOVEL OF INTERPLANETARY WARFARE! There were nine major planets in the Solar System, and it was within their boundaries that man first set up interplanetary commerce and began trading with the ancient Martian civilization. And then they discovered a tenth planet -- a maverick!

This tenth world, if it had an orbit, had a strange one, for it was heading inwards from interstellar space, heading close to the Earth-Mars spaceways, upsetting astronautic calculations and raising turmoil on the two inhabited worlds.

But even so none suspected then just how much trouble this new world would make. For it was WANDL THE INVADER and it was no barren planetoid. It was a manned world, manned by minds and monsters and traveling into our system with a purpose beyond that of astronomical accident!'

Blurb from unknown edition

Gregg Haljan and his friend Snap along with their girlfriends, Anita and Venza, are called upon to investigate a Martian visitor, Molo, a notorious pirate.
Molo (seemingly like most alien males of the 1930s) has a taste for Earth women. Anita and Venza (they appear to have no choice in the matter) are sent to the nightclub he is currently partying in to try and schmooze him and find out why he is here.
Gregg and Snap, able to spy on the club via hidden cameras, discover that the Martian is in league with other aliens, aliens who are merely overlarge brains sprouting eyes and tiny hands.
Meanwhile, a new planet is detected in the Solar System; the tiny world of Wandl, controlled and directed through space by the Big Brain Tiny Arms people. Their aim is to conquer Earth, Venus and Mars making them part of the Wandl Empire.
They are ruled by an extra large brain known as The Great Intelligence. One imagines that a being so great and so intelligent would surely have been able to think of a more original name for himself, but hey ho!
When Earth is attacked by a Wandl gravity light beam Gregg and Snap set off in a ship to combat the Wandl fleet while the girls are taken away on the Martian ship, and the boys are forced to make it their mission to defeat the giant brains and save their women. To be honest, though, the women seem far more competent to look after themselves than Gregg and Snap.
It's a standard bit of hokum for the time, owing very little to actual scientific principles. The concept of Martians adapting to Earth culture to the extent that they love a late night cocktail in a New York bar is a bit of a stretch, also.
Not a bad read, though.

[Elise · Rating 5 out of 5]

Actually really good! Devoid of the usual “yikes” content from old media. A really fun space adventure and look at the science of the time.

[William · Rating 4 out of 5]

Entertaining space listening 🎶🔰

Another will written fantasy Sci-Fi space adventure thriller short story by Ray Cummings about a planet that is trying to take control of earth 🌎, Mars, and Venus. Four young space explorers race to prevent this from happening too the successful ending. I would recommend this novella to readers of space fantasy novels 👍🔰. Enjoy the adventure of reading all kinds of different types of novels 👍🔰 and books 📚. 2022 👒😊💑🏡

[Timothy James · Rating 2 out of 5]

An all action story of invaders from space, exploring an alien world and space battles. A fun story but dated with very dodgy science and two dimensional characters.

[Briana · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read on LibriVox (free audio books in the public domain).

[Kyle Dougherty · Rating 4 out of 5]

Apparently this title is part of some sort of trilogy?
I wasn't aware when I started it.

Ray Cummings is great for his fantastical ideas, though he tends to leave out more details than I would like when he describes new settings and concepts. I suppose he's more of the fantastical epic storytelling type of sci-fi author than the purely scientific type. This story is action-packed, featuring both space and hand-to-hand combat. Will the "good guys" triumph over the hideous invaders? I think we all know the answer to that question.

[SciFiOne · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ace Double Novel D497
Wandl the Invader, Ray Cummings, C-
I Speak For Earth, Keith Woodcot B+

[Ann · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was an audiobook from LibriVox.

https://librivox.org/wandl-the-invade...

[AG Fishman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Space Opera at its best with mighty space battles, very odd and evil aliens, sinister traitors to the human race. Good fun science fiction.