| Up the Walls of the World | |
|---|---|
Up the Walls of the World. 1984 Ace Books edition cover |
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| Author(s) | James Tiptree, Jr. |
| Cover artist | Don Brautigam |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Genre(s) | Science Fiction novel |
| Publisher | Berkley Books |
| Publication date | February 1978 |
| Media type | Print (Hardcover and Paperback) |
| Pages | 319 pp |
| ISBN | 0-399-12083-1 |
| OCLC Number | 3167162 |
| Dewey Decimal | 813/.5/4 |
| LC Classification | PZ4.T597 Up PS3570.I66 |
Up the Walls of the World is a 1978 science fiction novel by the American author Alice Sheldon who wrote under the pen name of James Tiptree, Jr. It was the first novel she published having until then worked and built a reputation only in the field of short stories.
The novel explores the possibility that telepathy and other psychic phenomena are real. It sympathetically describes an attempt to invade the Earth by beings with advanced telepathic abilities from the planet Tyree.
It considers the subject of sentience in different life forms inhabiting widely different environments, in computers and in a vast sentient inhabitant of deep space formed of a network of widely spaced nodes. It is Sheldon's skill to be able to write convincingly of the experience of beings in all of these.
In some respects the novel could also be considered a part of occult and spiritual writing.
The story takes place in 3 settings which unfold together.
In November 2006 astronomers discovered a polar vortex on Saturn very similar to the one described by Alice Sheldon in this novel. Ref