And Having Writ…
1978 second printing
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| Author | Donald R. Bensen |
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| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Science fiction, Alternate history |
| Publisher | Bobbs-Merrill |
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Publication date
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1978 |
| Media type | Print (hardback & paperback) |
| Pages | 250 pp (first edition, hardback) |
| ISBN | (first edition, hardback) |
| OCLC | 3870456 |
| 813/.5/4 | |
| LC Class | PZ4.B4739 An PS3552.E54765 |
And Having Writ... is a 1978 science fiction/alternate history novel by American writer Donald R. Bensen. Nominated for the 1979 John W. Campbell Award, it tells the story of aliens who crash-land on Earth in 1908 and then journey around the planet, trying to jump-start World War I. Even though they fail to do this, they succeed in creating the circumstances for their ultimate departure from Earth after a period of suspended animation.
According to the novel, the Siberian explosion was originally caused by the crash landing of the spaceship named The Wanderer. In this alternate reality, however, the alien astronauts are able to commandeer their failing vessel so that it lands in the Pacific Ocean, just outside San Francisco.
Shortly after landing, the quartet of spacemen are rescued from the sea by an American ship and taken to California.The Wanderer sinks into the ocean, and the team reasons that they must find a way to accelerate Earth’s technological advances so that they can get back home. The eventual conclusion at which they arrive is that they must provoke the planet into what Ari claims is an inevitable global conflict, one that will (through weaponry innovations) result in a boom of new science and industry.
The four astronauts never identify their home world, merely saying that they are a team of Explorers sent to gather information about foreign planets.
The astronauts interact with a number of important global personages during their stay on Earth.
"a smoothly humorous sf novel set in an alternate world engendered by the survival of the aliens whose crash-landing caused the Siberian Tunguska explosion of 1908. Thomas Alva Edison and H.G. Wells make appearances (John Clute/Encyclopedia of SF).
The actual Tunguska Event was a massive explosion in Siberia, in June 1908. The explosion, unexplained even today, felled sixty million trees and produced shockwaves that could be felt four hundred miles away. A popular explanation is that a small comet disintegrated just before impact; conspiracy theorists have more interesting explanations.
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Wikipedia