And Having Writ...

And Having Writ...  

1978 second printing
Author(s) Donald R. Bensen
Country United States
Language English
Genre(s) Science Fiction, Alternate history
Publisher Bobbs-Merrill
Publication date 1978
Media type Print (Hardback & Paperback)
Pages 250 pp (first edition, hardback)
ISBN ISBN 0672520788 (first edition, hardback)
OCLC Number 3870456
Dewey Decimal 813/.5/4
LC Classification PZ4.B4739 An PS3552.E54765

And Having Writ... is a 1978 science fiction/alternate history novel written by Donald R. Bensen.

It was nominated for the 1979 John W. Campbell Award.[1]

Contents

Plot introduction

Four aliens crash-land on Earth in 1908 and then journey around the planet, trying to jump-start World War I. Even though they fail to do this, they succeed in creating the circumstances for their ultimate departure from Earth after a period of suspended animation.[2]

Plot summary

According to the novel, the Siberian explosion was originally caused by the crash landing of the spaceship Wanderer. In this alternate reality, however, the alien astronauts are able to commandeer their failing vessel so that it lands in the Pacific Ocean, just outside of San Francisco.

Shortly after landing, the quartet of spacemen are rescued from the sea by an American ship and taken to California.[2] The Wanderer sinks into the ocean, and the team reasons that they must find a way to accelerate Earth’s technological advances so that they can get back home. The eventual conclusion they arrive at is that they must provoke the planet into what Ari says as an inevitable global conflict, one that, through weaponry innovations, will result in boom of new science and industry.

Characters in "And Having Writ..."

The astronauts and their roles

The four astronauts never identify their home world, merely saying that they are a team of Explorers sent to gather information about foreign planets.

Historical Figures

The astronauts interact with a number of important global personages during their stay on Earth.

Literary significance & criticism

"a smoothly humorous sf novel set in an alternate world engendered by the survival of the aliens whose crash-landing caused the Siberian Tunguska explosion of 1908. Thomas Alva Edison and H.G. Wells make appearances (John Clute/Encyclopedia of SF).[3]

Allusions/references to actual history, geography and current science

The actual Tunguska Event was a massive explosion in Siberia, in June 1908. The explosion, unexplained even today, felled sixty million trees and produced shockwaves that could be felt four hundred miles away. A popular explanation is that a small comet disintegrated just before impact; conspiracy theorists have more interesting explanations.

Release details

Footnotes

  1. ^ "Campbell awards 1979". http://www.locusmag.com/SFAwards/Db/Cmem1979.html. Retrieved 2006-07-27. 
  2. ^ a b c "Bensen, D.R. And Having Writ... plot". Uchronia: The Alternate History List. http://www.uchronia.net/bib.cgi/label.html?id=bensandhav. Retrieved 2006-07-27. 
  3. ^ Clute, John; Peter Nicholls (25 November 1999). The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction. Orbit. ISBN 1857238974. 

References