Invasion

Leinster, Murray, 1896-1975Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

3.4

Word count: 57K words
Chapters: 6

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.Invasion by Murray LeinsterAuthor: Leinster, Murray, 1896-1975,Language: English, Class: PS: Language and Literatures: American and Canadian literature, Release Date: Jul 19, 2009

Editor's review

Invasion is a novella by Murray Leinster, an early master of science fiction, and is a free public-domain eBook from Project Gutenberg. Leinster excelled at handling alien-contact themes with tight plotting and cool technical imagination; the title points directly to invasion, making this a good read for anyone curious about mid-twentieth-century American science fiction. As a public-domain electronic text, it has a low barrier to entry and is short enough to finish in one sitting on a commute or before bed. While reading, note how the author uses science-fictional premises to reflect Cold War-era social psychology and how he portrays the role of scientists. One caveat: the book is in the original English with no modern annotations, so first-time readers may need a dictionary; also, early science fiction's gender and racial representations carry the limitations of their time and are best viewed with a sense of literary history.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers who want to understand the early history of American science fiction
Science fiction fans who enjoy alien-invasion themes
People who need short English texts for reading practice
Readers studying the social context of mid-twentieth-century science fiction

Not a good fit for

Readers who prefer contemporary long-form hard science fiction
Beginners who are not yet ready for English reading
Readers expecting a fully developed world and complex character arcs

Reading tips

Read the opening paragraphs first to gauge the English difficulty, then decide whether to read closely or casually.
Jot down key information about the alien setup to follow the plot more easily.
After finishing, make brief notes comparing it with common Cold War-era science fiction motifs.
If time is limited, read the climactic passages first and then go back to the buildup.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

FAQ

Is this book in Chinese or English?

According to Project Gutenberg, this is an English-language eBook with no accompanying Chinese translation, so readers need some English proficiency.

Is it long? Can it be read in one sitting?

The metadata does not give a word count, but as a public-domain science fiction novella it is short and can be read on a commute or over one or two evenings.

Do I need a background in science fiction?

Not necessarily. The story is driven by an invasion event and newcomers can follow it; familiarity with early science fiction and the Cold War context will, however, help in understanding its period flavor.

Does this book have annotations or an introduction?

The Project Gutenberg edition consists mainly of the public-domain original text and usually includes no modern introduction or detailed annotations, so readers must look up background material themselves.

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About the author

Leinster, Murray, 1896-1975 Author

Murray Leinster (1896–1975) was an American science fiction writer whose real name was William Fitzgerald Jenkins. He was a prolific author of short stories and novels, and this site holds thirty-nine of his works, including The Mad Planet, The Pirates of Ersatz, The Machine That Saved The World, The Forgotten Planet, The Wailing Asteroid, The Invaders, The Runaway Skyscraper, and Scrimshaw. His science fiction often deals with interstellar adventure, strange planets, and technological speculation, with tightly plotted, boldly imaginative narratives that also reflect on human society and the conditions of survival; some works are also categorized as inspirational growth. Public information is limited, making biographical details difficult to describe, but the surviving works show his important place in twentieth-century American popular science fiction and his influence on later writers in the genre.