But Will I Like It: The Astronauts Must not Land

Continuing our series of mini-reviews from enthusiastic Gateway readers, here’s a classic SF reader’s take on John Brunner’s The Astronauts Must Not Land . . .

The first FTL starship has returned accompanied, or coincidentally accompanied, by monstrous apparitions in the sky and appearances of some of its crew, on Earth, before any of them have returned. This is a first contact novel. The question it poses, almost unaddressed by Science Fiction authors before or since, is how about if advanced civilisation lived and had its being in hyperspace while the ‘normal’ three-dimensional space we live in was a small, limited, anomaly. Its a great concept wrapped with good SF albeit accompanied by a teeny bit too much philosophy. Like much SF of its time its halfway between a short story and a modern full-length novel. It leaves you wanting more.

The Astronauts Must Not Land is published by SF Gateway in a revised edition, under its revised title, More Things in Heaven. You can find it and more of John Brunner’s work via his Author page on the SF Gateway website, and read about John Brunner in his entry in The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction.