Global InformationTypewriter in the Sky information
 First hardcover edition | |
| Author | L. Ron Hubbard |
|---|---|
| Cover artist | David Kyle[1] |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Subject | Science fantasy |
| Publisher | Gnome Press |
Publication date | 1940 (serial format) |
| Media type | Hardcover |
| Pages | 256 |
| ISBN | 0-88404-933-7 |
| OCLC | 33083581 |
Dewey Decimal | 813/.52 22 |
| LC Class | PS3515.U1417 T96 1995 |
| Preceded by | The Ultimate Adventure |
| Followed by | Final Blackout |
Typewriter in the Sky is a science fantasy novel by American writer L. Ron Hubbard. The protagonist Mike de Wolf finds himself inside the story of his friend Horace Hackett's book. He must survive conflict on the high seas in the Caribbean during the 17th century, before eventually returning to his native New York City. Each time a significant event occurs to the protagonist in the story he hears the sounds of a typewriter in the sky. At the story's conclusion, de Wolf wonders if he is still a character in someone else's story. The work was first published in a two-part serial format in 1940 in Unknown Fantasy Fiction. It was twice published as a combined book with Hubbard's work Fear. In 1995 Bridge Publications re-released the work along with an audio edition.
Writers have placed the story within several different genres, including science fiction,[2][3] a subgenre of science fiction called recursive science fiction,[4][5] and fantasy.[6][7] Masters of the Occult author Daniel Cohen noted the book contributed to Hubbard's reception among influential science fiction authors of the 1940s.[8] It is regarded as classic science fiction by The Houghton Mifflin Dictionary of Biography in its entry on Hubbard,[3] as well as by writer James Gunn,[9] and publications including the Daily News of Los Angeles,[10] and Chicago Sun-Times.[11] Writers have placed Typewriter in the Sky within the Golden Age of Science Fiction.[12][13] Authors Mike Resnick and Robert J. Sawyer classed the story within the science fiction subgenre recursive science fiction,[4] and writer Gary Westfahl wrote that Hubbard may have been influenced by the 1921 Luigi Pirandello play within the recursive fantasy subgenre, Six Characters in Search of an Author.[5] The book is listed in Fantasy: The 100 Best Books,[7] and Rivals of Weird Tales: 30 Great Fantasy and Horror Stories from the Weird Fiction Pulps placed it among the best quality fantasy writing of the 20th century.[14] Writers characterized the overarching theme within the book as dealing with an individual caught between two different worlds.[15][16]
Typewriter in the Sky was generally well-received, and regular readers of Hubbard's stories at the time widely appreciated the work.[17][18] Anthony Boucher and J. Francis McComas wrote in a 1951 review that the story was amusing though it could have used copy editing,[19] and Groff Conklin described its concept as silly.[20] The New York Times review the same year said it had a lively pace.[21] Damon Knight was critical of the depiction of the protagonist's fate, and concluded the ending of the book made up for this defect.[22] Books including The Classic Era of American Pulp Magazines and Pulp Culture: The Art of Fiction Magazines characterized the work as one of Hubbard's best stories.[23][24] Adam Roberts pointed out Hubbard likely based the character of pulp fiction writer Horace Hackett on himself.[25]
Subsequent to the story's publication, commentators have speculated that its influence impacted themes in later science fiction works.[26][27] Paul Di Filippo wrote that the 1949 book What Mad Universe by Fredric Brown may have drawn from Hubbard's tale.[26] Umberto Rossi asserted in a book on writer Philip K. Dick that Typewriter in the Sky likely influenced Dick's first published short story "Beyond Lies the Wub" (1951), in addition to his novel The Cosmic Puppets (1957).[28] Harlan Ellison compared it to the 1985 film The Purple Rose of Cairo.[27] Gary Westfahl likened the Typewriter in the Sky to the 2006 film Stranger than Fiction, going so far as to suggest the two had virtually an identical narrative.[29]
- ^ von Ruff, Al (2016), "Publication: Typewriter in the Sky / Fear", Internet Speculative Fiction Database, ISFDB Engine; ISFDB Publication Record # 52657, retrieved March 11, 2016
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