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The Outward Urge

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The Outward Urge

By: John Wyndham
Narrated by: Felipe Pacheco, Theo Solomon, Dorje Swallow
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About this listen

The 'outward urge' was a factor in the Troon inheritance. Successive generations of Troons, looking up at the stars, heard the siren voices that called them out into Space. And, as the frontiers of Space receded, there was usually one Troon, if not more, out there, helping to push them back.

The four exciting episodes related here deal with the parts they played in the building of the Space Station, the occupation of the Moon, the first landing on Mars and the trouble about Venus.

John Wyndham, author of The Day of the Triffids and The Kraken Wakes, stays strictly on the tram-lines of future possibility in this book, which he has written in collaboration with Lucas Parkes as technical adviser. In an age in which what goes up need not necessarily come down, the likely adventures of the conquistadors of Space are every bit as exciting as any world menaced by triffids.

©1959 John Wyndham (P)2022 Audible, Ltd Post-Apocalyptic Science Fiction Space Exploration Fiction Interstellar Solar System

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All stars
Most relevant
Basically, enjoyable but nothing like his more famous novels. I enjoyed each short story, but they reminded me of retro comic #scifi stories. I think I may have been expecting too much. 😃👍

Very Different from other Wyndham stories.

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In this elegant story there are more questions than answers. They challenge the reader to think, to explore and to step into the adventure of life. The Outward Urge is a great book and a great challenge to lift ourselves to more.

More questions than answers.

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This is a classic, as in the technology is laughably out of date. Also some of the olden day attitudes can be a bit eyebrow raising. Yet, it is worthy of a read. The concept of expansion off planet is a rich place to mine decent stories.

A compendium of linked stories.

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This is quite different to the others of Wyndham's works I've read, but I enjoyed it. It has five chapters set 50 years apart between 1994 and 2194, following different members of the Troon family making further steps in space exploration. These chapters could be read as standalone stories, but they do build a narrative of the world together and I think they add to each other; although the last chapter, which is shorter than the others, was added after the original version of the book, and I do consider the fourth chapter a better conclusion to the overall story, although the fifth is still interesting in its own right.

Different to Wyndham's other work

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I read this in the 70s when I first discovered Wyndham's works and was confused by the story then. Re-engaging with it now through Audible I'm still left with the feeling that this is an epic opus which left a lot out. This could have been a more significant and extensive story.

A Troon to far

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