When Worlds Collide

Phillip Wylie &
Edwin Balmer

In a way this one is difficult to separate from its well loved film adaptation, but the novel has a great deal more depth than the film. Of course the difference between an original novel and a novelisation is the difference between night and day.

For those unfamiliar with the story, it opens with a group of scientists preparing to inform the world of the very close passing of two untethered planets rushing through the universe.

It is written with the kind of constrained politeness common with novels written in the nineteen twenties and thirties, along with the considered language you get with science fiction novels trying to deliver a serious message.

The story follows a small group of scientific individuals planning the delivery of a rocket to land on one of the other worlds, which due to a freak of physics will replace the Earth in orbit around the Sun; or to believe the conclusions in the book, it is the hand of God arranging it so. As common with other science fiction of the era, the divine guiding hand is ever present and the physics of the situation goes hand in hand with a guiding power.

There are lots of fascinating prescient moments due to the period in which the book was written: the concepts of space flight, the idea that weightlessness exists only where the gravitational fields cancel each other out, harnessing nuclear power for propulsion. These say less about true future telling and more about how scientific inquiry has often been guided by dreamers.

What I have always found fascinating with post apocalyptic fiction coming from a Christian cultural background is that genuine distrust of humanity as a whole. And this book has that in spades. The uncouth hoards descending into chaos and trying their utmost to tear down the noble souls chosen to be saved. This element of the complete and utter breakdown of society is something sadly missing from the film adaptation, yet the difference in the plot gives more than enough room for it here. As well as the chance at having a few digs at other nations.

The narrative goes through distinct phases, and at times you can feel a sense of urgency that diminishes when the authors remember to update you on how far away the impending doom is. So despite attempting some human stories to ground the book, it is largely an unemotional look at what might happen in such a situation and how God might intervene to save a chosen few.

The ending of the novel does leave a small element of doubt, which adds a satisfying twist, but its existence may be explained by the availability of a sequel.