''Rogue in Space'' is a
science fiction
Science fiction (often shortened to sci-fi or abbreviated SF) is a genre of speculative fiction that deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts. These concepts may include information technology and robotics, biological manipulations, space ...
novel by American writer
Fredric Brown
Fredric Brown (October 29, 1906 – March 11, 1972) was an American science fiction, fantasy, and mystery writer.D. J. McReynolds, "The Short Fiction of Fredric Brown" in Frank N. Magill, (ed.) ''Survey of Science Fiction Literature'', Vol. ...
, first published in 1957. Brown expanded two earlier novelettes ("Gateway to Darkness", published in ''
Super Science Stories
''Super Science Stories'' was an American pulp science fiction magazine published by Popular Publications from 1940 to 1943, and again from 1949 to 1951. Popular launched it under their Fictioneers imprint, which they used for magazines, pay ...
'' in 1949; and "Gateway to Glory", published in ''
Amazing Stories
''Amazing Stories'' is an American science fiction magazine launched in April 1926 by Hugo Gernsback's Experimenter Publishing. It was the first magazine devoted solely to science fiction. Science fiction stories had made regular appearance ...
'' in 1950) to form the novel.
Plot summary
In the book a sentient and powerful
asteroid
An asteroid is a minor planet—an object larger than a meteoroid that is neither a planet nor an identified comet—that orbits within the Solar System#Inner Solar System, inner Solar System or is co-orbital with Jupiter (Trojan asteroids). As ...
arrives in the solar system's asteroid belt after countless aeons of wandering interstellar space. Passing by another asteroid, the living asteroid makes its first ever encounter with other living beings—a likeable criminal involved in a life-and-death struggle with a corrupt and power-mad judge.
The judge is eventually killed, but so too is his beautiful wife who had allied herself with the criminal, the couple falling in love. Whilst the god-like living asteroid builds a new world around itself, and blocks all mankind's efforts to investigate it, eventually the criminal returns to the planet with a small group. The sentient asteroid allows them to make planetfall, but only the criminal can accept living in the new Eden created for him, and they eventually depart. The alien then resurrects the late judge's wife.
Reception
Floyd C. Gale reviewed the novel unfavorably in
''Galaxy'', saying that the story's logical flaws could have been forgiven "had Brown realized he was writing a funny story and treated it that way. He didn't."
Anthony Boucher
William Anthony Parker White (August 21, 1911 – April 29, 1968), better known by his pen name Anthony Boucher (), was an American author, critic, and editor who wrote several classic mystery novels, short stories, science fiction, and radio dr ...
defined ''Rogue in Space'' "a thumping error in judgment," saying the decision to expand "one of
rown'sleast interesting stories to novel length" produced a work that had "lost what small virtues it once possessed, and become slow, ponderous, humorless
ndpretentious."
["Recommended Reading," '']F&SF
''The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction'' (usually referred to as ''F&SF'') is a U.S. fantasy and science-fiction magazine, first published in 1949 by Mystery House, a subsidiary of Lawrence Spivak's Mercury Press. Editors Anthony Bouche ...
'', May 1957, p.75.
John Varley's story "Lollipop and the Tar Baby", set in his ''
Eight Worlds
The Eight Worlds is the fictional setting of a series of science fiction novels and short stories by John Varley, in which the Solar System has been colonized by human refugees fleeing an alien invasion of the Earth. Earth and Jupiter are off-l ...
'' future, uses a similar premise - featuring a sentient
Black Hole
A black hole is a massive, compact astronomical object so dense that its gravity prevents anything from escaping, even light. Albert Einstein's theory of general relativity predicts that a sufficiently compact mass will form a black hole. Th ...
and its interactions with humans.
References
Sources
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External links
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Review
1957 American novels
1957 science fiction novels
Novels by Fredric Brown
American science fiction novels
E. P. Dutton books
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