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Wasp
The war has raged for nearly a year and Earth desperately needs an edge to overcome the Sirian Empire's huge advantage in personnel and equipment. That's where James Mowry comes in. Intensively trained, his appearance surgically altered, Mowry secretly lands on one of the Empire's planets. His mission: to sap morale, cause mayhem, tie up resources, and wage a one-man war on a planet of 80 million--in short, to be like the wasp buzzing around a car to distract the driver...and causing him to crash.
175 pages, Paperback
First published November 1, 1957
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2969 people want to read
About the author
Eric Frank Russell
384 books108 followersEric Frank Russell was a British author best known for his science fiction novels and short stories. Much of his work was first published in the United States, in John W. Campbell's Astounding Science Fiction and other pulp magazines. Russell also wrote horror fiction for Weird Tales, and non-fiction articles on Fortean topics. A few of his stories were published under pseudonyms, of which Duncan H. Munro was used most often.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 266 reviews
February 15, 2017
Have you ever had a wasp fly into your car while you’re driving? Have you swerved trying to swat the creature, and nearly careened into a tree or lamppost, killing yourself and your passengers? This idea - that a tiny insect can kill a carload of people and cause thousands of dollars in damage - is the central analogy in Eric Frank Russell’s Wasp. In Russell’s story one lone man wages war like a wasp, using cunning and surprise to destroy vast amounts of material, paralyze a society and even cripple a government. From this concept comes a book that is a shining star of a golden-age SF novel of espionage in an interstellar conflict.
A lot of Golden Age SF has aged poorly, but Wasp remains compelling, convincing and entertaining sixty years after its publication, even though the actions of central character James Mowry are sometimes a little questionable in our post-September 11 present.
Mowry, a ‘Terran’ (A word very common to 1950s SF) is selected to be part of an espionage operation against Earth’s enemies in an interstellar war; The Sirian Empire (?). His role is to go undercover and undermine the government and morale of the Sirian world he is sent to, in any manner possible – he is the titular insect on a human scale, sowing panic and destruction among the Sirians on a faraway planet.
And make no mistake- Mowry is a terrorist. Using a large cache of armaments, disguises and gadgets he is dropped onto the planet with he commits murders, send letter bombs, and spreads propaganda, aiming to trick the local government into believing they have a full-scale revolt on their hands.
While reading this book I mused that the distinction between wartime espionage and terrorism sometimes seems to be very thin. I suspect that from the perspective of the victims of either there isn’t much difference between the two. Regardless, Mowry’s artful terror campaign makes for a pacey story that flies along at a rapid clip, and his inventiveness in his campaign of destabilization makes for interesting reading. Among his many tricks, he fixes anti-government stickers on hundreds of shop windows that, when removed, leave their message etched into the glass, forcing mass store closures and the huge expense of entire streets of replacement windows.
Wasp is a great read, but it was written in 1959 and carries a few hallmarks of its era. It’s a little Cold War at times - the two competing civilizations share similarities with the US and USSR - and you shouldn’t expect strong female characters (or any female characters, really) or viewpoints from alternate sexualities or ethnicities other than generic soldierly white guys. If you can stomach that, then Wasp is a great read, a real gem of its era.
If you need another testament to the quality of this book, Neil Gaiman optioned it for a film some time back, but let his rights lapse after the World Trade Center attacks. As great a book as this is, the world is not ready for a movie where the central hero is a successful terrorist.
A lot of Golden Age SF has aged poorly, but Wasp remains compelling, convincing and entertaining sixty years after its publication, even though the actions of central character James Mowry are sometimes a little questionable in our post-September 11 present.
Mowry, a ‘Terran’ (A word very common to 1950s SF) is selected to be part of an espionage operation against Earth’s enemies in an interstellar war; The Sirian Empire (?). His role is to go undercover and undermine the government and morale of the Sirian world he is sent to, in any manner possible – he is the titular insect on a human scale, sowing panic and destruction among the Sirians on a faraway planet.
And make no mistake- Mowry is a terrorist. Using a large cache of armaments, disguises and gadgets he is dropped onto the planet with he commits murders, send letter bombs, and spreads propaganda, aiming to trick the local government into believing they have a full-scale revolt on their hands.
While reading this book I mused that the distinction between wartime espionage and terrorism sometimes seems to be very thin. I suspect that from the perspective of the victims of either there isn’t much difference between the two. Regardless, Mowry’s artful terror campaign makes for a pacey story that flies along at a rapid clip, and his inventiveness in his campaign of destabilization makes for interesting reading. Among his many tricks, he fixes anti-government stickers on hundreds of shop windows that, when removed, leave their message etched into the glass, forcing mass store closures and the huge expense of entire streets of replacement windows.
Wasp is a great read, but it was written in 1959 and carries a few hallmarks of its era. It’s a little Cold War at times - the two competing civilizations share similarities with the US and USSR - and you shouldn’t expect strong female characters (or any female characters, really) or viewpoints from alternate sexualities or ethnicities other than generic soldierly white guys. If you can stomach that, then Wasp is a great read, a real gem of its era.
If you need another testament to the quality of this book, Neil Gaiman optioned it for a film some time back, but let his rights lapse after the World Trade Center attacks. As great a book as this is, the world is not ready for a movie where the central hero is a successful terrorist.
May 13, 2010
This surprisingly unknown Golden Age SF novel features a human agent who is recruited for a daring psy-ops mission against the Sirians, a thinly disguised version of WW II Japan. When he arrives for his briefing, the agent's controller starts by telling him a story. Four fully-grown humans are driving along in a car. A tiny wasp, weighing only a few grams, flies in through the window, and stings one of the people. It manages to create so much panic and confusion that they drive off the road and crash, despite the fact that they are enormously bigger, heavier, stronger and smarter than their tiny adversary. The controller tells the agent that they want him to be that wasp, and inflict similar damage on the Sirians using minimal resources.
They drop him on the enemy planet along with his box of tricks, and he gets to work making it look like there is a huge, sinister resistance movement. He plants little stickers on shop windows; they are cleverly gimmicked so that, when people try to wash them off, they etch the resistance movement's logo on the glass. He posts a couple of real letter bombs, then many more fake ones that just contain harmless pieces of wire, but succeed in terrifying the whole postal service. Once he's got them sufficiently softened up, he delivers his pièce de resistance: a genuine mine that sinks a large ship, followed by a horde of clever little sea-going devices that from a distance look like periscopes poked up by submarines. Needless to say, there are no submarines. The enemy becomes increasingly panic-stricken and bewildered. Morale drops. By the time the real human invasion fleet arrives, they only put up token resistance.
So here's a question that's occurred to me several times during the last few years. Did Osama bin Laden ever read Wasp? I can't help wondering.
They drop him on the enemy planet along with his box of tricks, and he gets to work making it look like there is a huge, sinister resistance movement. He plants little stickers on shop windows; they are cleverly gimmicked so that, when people try to wash them off, they etch the resistance movement's logo on the glass. He posts a couple of real letter bombs, then many more fake ones that just contain harmless pieces of wire, but succeed in terrifying the whole postal service. Once he's got them sufficiently softened up, he delivers his pièce de resistance: a genuine mine that sinks a large ship, followed by a horde of clever little sea-going devices that from a distance look like periscopes poked up by submarines. Needless to say, there are no submarines. The enemy becomes increasingly panic-stricken and bewildered. Morale drops. By the time the real human invasion fleet arrives, they only put up token resistance.
So here's a question that's occurred to me several times during the last few years. Did Osama bin Laden ever read Wasp? I can't help wondering.
March 30, 2017
There seems to exist some very real confusion as to just what English sci-fi author Eric Frank Russell did during WW2. Some sources would have us believe that he worked for British Intelligence during the war years, while others claim that he was merely an RAF radio operator and mechanic. Whatever the real story may be, the writer put his war experiences to good use over a decade later, when he wrote what would be his sixth novel out of an eventual 10, "Wasp." Initially released as an Avalon Books hardcover in November 1957, when Russell was already 52, "Wasp" has been called one of its author's finest works. This reader was fortunate enough to acquire the 35-cent Permabook paperback edition from 1959 at NYC bookstore extraordinaire The Strand (selling price: a very reasonable $5), and am happy to report that Russell is now a very solid 3 for 3 with me, after having previously read "The Best of Eric Frank Russell" (1978), as well as his wonderful 1955 offering, "Men, Martians and Machines."
In "Wasp," the reader makes the acquaintance of one James Mowry, who, when we first encounter him, is being offered a job as the "wasp" of the title. Earth, at this point, has been at war with the Sirian Combine for 10 months, and Mowry's job will be to go to one of the Sirian planets (Jaimec, as it turns out) and, single-handedly, cause as much trouble for the Sirians there as possible. (His commanding officer offers the analogy of a wasp that can fly into a moving automobile and cause a fatal crash, just by buzzing around.) Once dumped on Jaimec, Mowry gets busy with the nine phases of his campaign, befuddling and harassing the enemy in advance of a (hopeful) Terran attack. Phase 1 involves the surreptitious distribution of propaganda leaflets; 2, the mailing of intimidating letters to the authorities, and sowing the belief that there is such an organization as the Dirac Angestun Gesept, or the Sirian Freedom Party; 3, the hiring of contract killers to take out high government officials and spread terror; 4, placing phony wire taps to increase uncertainty, as well as the spreading of false gossip (or, as we call them today, "alternative facts"); all the way to Phase 9, the sabotaging of ships to raise terror on the high seas. Mowry, who had lived on the Sirian home world Dirac with his family for the first 17 years of his life, would seem to be the perfect candidate for the job, and after his skin is dyed purple, his ears are pinned back surgically, and his extra teeth are extracted, he looks the part, as well. But can Mowry, one man against an entire planet, carry out his task, before the Gestapo-like Sirian secret police, the Kaitempi (actually, probably a nod to the Japanese secret police of WW2, the Kempeitai), capture him, torture him for information, and summarily do away with him on their strangling block?
Writing in his "Ultimate Guide to Science Fiction," Scottish critic David Pringle says of "Wasp": "…One brilliant Earthman confounds the stupid Sirian enemy...an amusing but chauvinistic tale, with a distinct flavour of World War II heroics." Well, this reader would only half agree with that assessment. First of all, the man-in-the-street Sirians that Mowry comes up against are not particularly stupid (at least, no more so than the average Terran), while the Sirian government officials and their Kaitempi goons are anything but. Indeed, a good part of the suspense in Russell's book derives from the fact that Mowry only just barely manages to elude his pursuers time and again; pursuers who always seem able to track him down, be it in the Jaimecan capital of Pertane or one of the lesser cities that Mowry operates in. We worry about Mowry, knowing full well what will happen to him when he is finally caught, which event would almost seem an inevitability. (And no, I would never dream of revealing whether or not Mowry is indeed ever captured, and thus ruin any potential reader's suspense.) Repeatedly, Mowry is compelled to make the 20-mile trudge through the forest (thanking his lucky stars for Jaimec's 7/8 Earth gravity!), to his hideout cave, in order to regroup, change his disguise, and obtain new phony IDs. The Sirians surely do not give him an easy time with his assignment, and are decidedly not stupid, despite the fact that Mowry, in Bond-like fashion, narrowly outwits them continuously. As to the WW2 heroics, Pringle is absolutely correct. With very little reworking, "Wasp" could indeed have been turned into a tale of 1940s European intrigue, its sci-fi details being fairly minimal. Pertane, to be sure, feels very much like a film noirish city, with its tough-talking hoods, sleazy bars, guns, buses, and cheap hotels. Take away the otherworldly setting and the purple-skinned aliens, as well as the "dynocars" that run on broadcast power, and the antigrav devices on the spaceships, and the book's sci-fi trappings would be practically nonexistent.
As for Pringle's assertion that the book is "amusing," no reader would ever argue. Russell was often mistaken by his readers for an American author (much like C.L. Moore and Leigh Brackett were erroneously thought to be male by theirs) due to his tough-guy language, constant use of slang, and heavy dashes of humor, and "Wasp" shows off his inimitable wisecracking style to a marked degree. Thus, minor characters are given nicknames based on their physical attributes (such as Major Pigface, Sniffy, Fatso), and the reader is given such wonderfully hardboiled prose as this:
"The gun in his hand emitted a phut, no louder than that of an air pistol. Sagramatholou remained standing, a blue hole in his forehead. His mouth hung open in an idiotic gape. Then his knees gave way and he plunged forward face first...."
Russell was indeed a terrific writer (supposedly, "Astounding Science-Fiction" editor John W. Campbell's favorite!), and "Wasp," compact and fast moving as its titular insect, finds him at the peak of his abilities.
The book contains any number of gripping scenes, including the two killings that Mowry perpetrates on Kaitempi brass, a very suspenseful jail break, and the planting of limpet mines in a heavily guarded harbor. The book, unsurprisingly, was purchased in the hopes of making it into a successful film. Very much surprisingly, that purchase was made by The Beatles' Apple Corps (!), which paid almost 5,000 pounds for the film rights; sadly, the project never reached fruition. But Sir Paul, if you ever read this (and Ringo, since you were the one who signed the contract), this book would make for a surefire blockbuster today, I feel. Mowry is a wonderful character (tough, resourceful, ever ready with a quip...although Russell doesn't give us all that much in the way of a background biography for the man) who would translate perfectly on the big screen. So, c'mon, guys..."Dig It." "Let it Be." "From Me to You." "Please Please Me." "Think for Yourself." "We Can Work it Out." "Don’t Let Me Down." "The End."
Oh...one other thing, actually. I try to steer clear of political commentary in these reviews, but there is one passage in "Wasp" (which, incidentally, has been referred to by others as a comedic "terrorist's handbook") that I feel all members of the current Trump administration should read...and heed. To wit:
"The more persistently a government maintains silence on a given subject of discussion, the more the public talks about it and thinks about it. The longer and more stubborn the silence, the guiltier the government looks to the talkers and thinkers. In time of war, the most morale-lowering question that can be asked is 'What are they hiding from us now?'”
(By the way, this review originally appeared on the FanLit website at http://www.fantasyliterature.com/ ... a most ideal destination for all fans of Eric Frank Russell....)
In "Wasp," the reader makes the acquaintance of one James Mowry, who, when we first encounter him, is being offered a job as the "wasp" of the title. Earth, at this point, has been at war with the Sirian Combine for 10 months, and Mowry's job will be to go to one of the Sirian planets (Jaimec, as it turns out) and, single-handedly, cause as much trouble for the Sirians there as possible. (His commanding officer offers the analogy of a wasp that can fly into a moving automobile and cause a fatal crash, just by buzzing around.) Once dumped on Jaimec, Mowry gets busy with the nine phases of his campaign, befuddling and harassing the enemy in advance of a (hopeful) Terran attack. Phase 1 involves the surreptitious distribution of propaganda leaflets; 2, the mailing of intimidating letters to the authorities, and sowing the belief that there is such an organization as the Dirac Angestun Gesept, or the Sirian Freedom Party; 3, the hiring of contract killers to take out high government officials and spread terror; 4, placing phony wire taps to increase uncertainty, as well as the spreading of false gossip (or, as we call them today, "alternative facts"); all the way to Phase 9, the sabotaging of ships to raise terror on the high seas. Mowry, who had lived on the Sirian home world Dirac with his family for the first 17 years of his life, would seem to be the perfect candidate for the job, and after his skin is dyed purple, his ears are pinned back surgically, and his extra teeth are extracted, he looks the part, as well. But can Mowry, one man against an entire planet, carry out his task, before the Gestapo-like Sirian secret police, the Kaitempi (actually, probably a nod to the Japanese secret police of WW2, the Kempeitai), capture him, torture him for information, and summarily do away with him on their strangling block?
Writing in his "Ultimate Guide to Science Fiction," Scottish critic David Pringle says of "Wasp": "…One brilliant Earthman confounds the stupid Sirian enemy...an amusing but chauvinistic tale, with a distinct flavour of World War II heroics." Well, this reader would only half agree with that assessment. First of all, the man-in-the-street Sirians that Mowry comes up against are not particularly stupid (at least, no more so than the average Terran), while the Sirian government officials and their Kaitempi goons are anything but. Indeed, a good part of the suspense in Russell's book derives from the fact that Mowry only just barely manages to elude his pursuers time and again; pursuers who always seem able to track him down, be it in the Jaimecan capital of Pertane or one of the lesser cities that Mowry operates in. We worry about Mowry, knowing full well what will happen to him when he is finally caught, which event would almost seem an inevitability. (And no, I would never dream of revealing whether or not Mowry is indeed ever captured, and thus ruin any potential reader's suspense.) Repeatedly, Mowry is compelled to make the 20-mile trudge through the forest (thanking his lucky stars for Jaimec's 7/8 Earth gravity!), to his hideout cave, in order to regroup, change his disguise, and obtain new phony IDs. The Sirians surely do not give him an easy time with his assignment, and are decidedly not stupid, despite the fact that Mowry, in Bond-like fashion, narrowly outwits them continuously. As to the WW2 heroics, Pringle is absolutely correct. With very little reworking, "Wasp" could indeed have been turned into a tale of 1940s European intrigue, its sci-fi details being fairly minimal. Pertane, to be sure, feels very much like a film noirish city, with its tough-talking hoods, sleazy bars, guns, buses, and cheap hotels. Take away the otherworldly setting and the purple-skinned aliens, as well as the "dynocars" that run on broadcast power, and the antigrav devices on the spaceships, and the book's sci-fi trappings would be practically nonexistent.
As for Pringle's assertion that the book is "amusing," no reader would ever argue. Russell was often mistaken by his readers for an American author (much like C.L. Moore and Leigh Brackett were erroneously thought to be male by theirs) due to his tough-guy language, constant use of slang, and heavy dashes of humor, and "Wasp" shows off his inimitable wisecracking style to a marked degree. Thus, minor characters are given nicknames based on their physical attributes (such as Major Pigface, Sniffy, Fatso), and the reader is given such wonderfully hardboiled prose as this:
"The gun in his hand emitted a phut, no louder than that of an air pistol. Sagramatholou remained standing, a blue hole in his forehead. His mouth hung open in an idiotic gape. Then his knees gave way and he plunged forward face first...."
Russell was indeed a terrific writer (supposedly, "Astounding Science-Fiction" editor John W. Campbell's favorite!), and "Wasp," compact and fast moving as its titular insect, finds him at the peak of his abilities.
The book contains any number of gripping scenes, including the two killings that Mowry perpetrates on Kaitempi brass, a very suspenseful jail break, and the planting of limpet mines in a heavily guarded harbor. The book, unsurprisingly, was purchased in the hopes of making it into a successful film. Very much surprisingly, that purchase was made by The Beatles' Apple Corps (!), which paid almost 5,000 pounds for the film rights; sadly, the project never reached fruition. But Sir Paul, if you ever read this (and Ringo, since you were the one who signed the contract), this book would make for a surefire blockbuster today, I feel. Mowry is a wonderful character (tough, resourceful, ever ready with a quip...although Russell doesn't give us all that much in the way of a background biography for the man) who would translate perfectly on the big screen. So, c'mon, guys..."Dig It." "Let it Be." "From Me to You." "Please Please Me." "Think for Yourself." "We Can Work it Out." "Don’t Let Me Down." "The End."
Oh...one other thing, actually. I try to steer clear of political commentary in these reviews, but there is one passage in "Wasp" (which, incidentally, has been referred to by others as a comedic "terrorist's handbook") that I feel all members of the current Trump administration should read...and heed. To wit:
"The more persistently a government maintains silence on a given subject of discussion, the more the public talks about it and thinks about it. The longer and more stubborn the silence, the guiltier the government looks to the talkers and thinkers. In time of war, the most morale-lowering question that can be asked is 'What are they hiding from us now?'”
(By the way, this review originally appeared on the FanLit website at http://www.fantasyliterature.com/ ... a most ideal destination for all fans of Eric Frank Russell....)
March 30, 2022
"The weight of a wasp is under half an ounce. Compared with a human being its size is minute, its strength negligible. Its sole armament is a tiny syringe holding a drop of irritant, formic acid, and in this case it didn't even use it. Nevertheless it killed four big men and converted a large, powerful car into a heap of scrap."
"I see the point," agreed Mowry, "but where do I come in?"
"Right here," said Wolf. "We want you to become a wasp"
In the war against the alien Sirian empire our hero, Mowry, must become an irritant among them...
"You will be dropped surreptitiously upon a Sirian held planet and be left to make yourself as awkward as possible."
Anti war stickers start the disruptions...
A minor collision on the street caused abusive shouts between drivers and drew a mob of onlookers. Taking prompt advantage of the situation, Mowry slapped a sticker in the middle of a shop window while backed up against it by the crowd all of whom were looking the other way. He then wormed himself forward and got well into the mob before somebody noticed the window's adornment and attracted general attention to it. The audience turned around, Mowry with them, and gaped at the discovery.
The finder, a gaunt, middle-aged Sirian with pop eyes, pointed an incredulous finger and stuttered, "Just l-l-look at that! They must be m-mad in that shop. The Kaitempi will take them all to p-p-prison."
Mowry edged forward for a better look and read the sticker aloud. " Those who stand upon the platform and openly approve the war will stand upon the scaffold and weepingly regret it. Dirac Angestun Gesept (Sirian Freedom Party)." He put on a frown. "The people in the shop can't be responsible for this - they wouldn't dare."
"S-s-somebody ought to do s-something about it," declared Pop Eyes, waving his arms around.
S-s-somebody did, to wit, a cop. He muscled through the crowd, looked on the pavement for the body, bent down and felt around in case the victim happened to be invisible. Finding nothing, he straightened up, glowered at the audience and growled, "Now, what's all this?
"Pop Eyes pointed again, this time with the proprietary air of one who has been granted a patent on the discovery. "S-see what it s-says on the window."
Waving him away, the cop addressed the crowd with considerable menace. "If anyone knows the identity of the culprit and refuses to reveal it, he will be deemed equally guilty and will suffer equally when caught."
Using propaganda stickers, fake bombs, real bombs, assassinations, greedy thieves and more Mowry succeeds in tying up all the planetary armed forces into chasing an anti war party that does not exist.
A very funny terrorist handbook.
Enjoy!
"I see the point," agreed Mowry, "but where do I come in?"
"Right here," said Wolf. "We want you to become a wasp"
In the war against the alien Sirian empire our hero, Mowry, must become an irritant among them...
"You will be dropped surreptitiously upon a Sirian held planet and be left to make yourself as awkward as possible."
Anti war stickers start the disruptions...
A minor collision on the street caused abusive shouts between drivers and drew a mob of onlookers. Taking prompt advantage of the situation, Mowry slapped a sticker in the middle of a shop window while backed up against it by the crowd all of whom were looking the other way. He then wormed himself forward and got well into the mob before somebody noticed the window's adornment and attracted general attention to it. The audience turned around, Mowry with them, and gaped at the discovery.
The finder, a gaunt, middle-aged Sirian with pop eyes, pointed an incredulous finger and stuttered, "Just l-l-look at that! They must be m-mad in that shop. The Kaitempi will take them all to p-p-prison."
Mowry edged forward for a better look and read the sticker aloud. " Those who stand upon the platform and openly approve the war will stand upon the scaffold and weepingly regret it. Dirac Angestun Gesept (Sirian Freedom Party)." He put on a frown. "The people in the shop can't be responsible for this - they wouldn't dare."
"S-s-somebody ought to do s-something about it," declared Pop Eyes, waving his arms around.
S-s-somebody did, to wit, a cop. He muscled through the crowd, looked on the pavement for the body, bent down and felt around in case the victim happened to be invisible. Finding nothing, he straightened up, glowered at the audience and growled, "Now, what's all this?
"Pop Eyes pointed again, this time with the proprietary air of one who has been granted a patent on the discovery. "S-see what it s-says on the window."
Waving him away, the cop addressed the crowd with considerable menace. "If anyone knows the identity of the culprit and refuses to reveal it, he will be deemed equally guilty and will suffer equally when caught."
Using propaganda stickers, fake bombs, real bombs, assassinations, greedy thieves and more Mowry succeeds in tying up all the planetary armed forces into chasing an anti war party that does not exist.
A very funny terrorist handbook.
Enjoy!
December 30, 2021
”The driver lost control at high speed while swiping at a wasp which had flown in through a window, and was buzzing around his face.
The weight of a wasp is under half an ounce. Compared with a human being, the wasp’s size is minute, its strength negligible. Its sole armament is a tiny syringe holding a drop of irritant, formic acid. In this instance, the wasp didn’t use it. Nevertheless, that wasp killed four big men and converted a large, powerful car into a heap of scrap.”
The premise for this novel is deceptively simple. It deals with the disruption, or destabilization, of enemy resources and government by individuals acting as saboteurs. These individuals, also known as “wasps” go through a rigorous training regime for the sole purpose of annoying enemy forces to such an extent that they get tied down (i.e. making it unable for them to commit their military might elsewhere while dealing with a problem on home ground).
”By the time they’ve finished with you, you’ll be fully qualified to function as a complete and absolute pain-in-the-neck.”
Much like saboteurs during the Second World War, these wasps are dropped behind enemy lines, where they have to rely on their wits and a formidable array of equipment and false identities, to survive and cause as much havoc as possible. Bearing in mind that “behind enemy lines” refers to planets in the Sirian system (referring to the star Sirius), the wasps are well and truly alone. It’s not totally random, though, the whole operation is divided into nine phases, with the last being a pre-invasion tactic (or “the last straw”). I don’t want to go into too much detail here, because this is such a fun book the best is to just read it and see for yourself.
Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown – but infinitely more so when a wasp crawls into bed with it.
Wasp details the exploits of one particular wasp. It’s a fairly quick read, and at times darkly funny. It was published in the 1950s so there are some glaring anachronisms (for a Science Fiction novel about interstellar warfare and far future insurrection and espionage / sabotage), even so these actually seem to add to the charm of the book. A classic!
December 2, 2023
EFR is a near-forgotten author from the post-WWII Pulp Era of Science-Fiction literature. Wasp, one of his most well-known novels, is a Cold War spy novel dressed up (barely) as a Science-Fiction novel, with the Sirians, an alien race, standing in for the Russians, and "wasp" agents sent undercover to distract and confuse the enemy much like the chaos caused by a wasp flying around in a vehicle in motion. Wasp is notable for having its motion picture rights purchased by the Beatles in 1970, although no film version was ever made.
August 15, 2021
Wasp is one of Russell's best novels, and has aged better than most of the contemporary sf of its time. It's the story of James Mowry, who is sent into enemy Sirian territory to act as a one-man terrorist; he's to be like a wasp distracting the driver of a car, and, similar to The Space Willies, reflects Russell's favorite notion that an extraordinary individual is far more valuable in a conflict than a bureaucracy-directed army. It's a David vs. Goliath story, set in a Cold War analog that's still relevant and chilling.
June 11, 2022
This is a WW2 spy novel masquerading as SF novel by a British author, whose main works are from the late 1930s to 60s, in particular this very book from 1957. I read it as a part of monthly reading for June 2022 at The Evolution of Science Fiction group.
The story starts with the protagonist, James Mowry being recruited by some Terran government agency to take part in the ongoing war between Terra and Sirius. As we find out, the war with the Sirian Combine already goes for ten months. Terrans have much better tech, but Sirians outnumber them twelve to one, therefore a conventional war of attrition can be lost. However, Terrans decided to go unconventional: to make selected individuals into wasps. Not literally, but based on an example:
let's consider this auto smash up. The survivor was able to tell us the cause before he died. He said the driver lost control at high speed while swiping at a wasp which had flown in through a window and was buzzing around his face [...] The weight of a wasp is under half an ounce. Compared with a human being, the wasp's size is minute, its strength negligible. Its sole armament is a tiny syringe holding a drop of irritant, formic acid. In this instance, the wasp didn't use it. Nevertheless, that wasp killed four big men and converted a large, powerful car into a heap of scrap.
Just like the abovementioned wasp, a Terran agent can cause discord and problems for a large enemy population, sawing discontent, organizing terrorist strikes and spreading malicious rumors. It is easy to do, for Terrans and Sirians are too similar, differences being minuscule: so the agency searched for “a short man who can walk slightly bandy-legged, with his ears pinned back, and his face dyed purple.” For this is enough to look like a Sirian. I guess that clearly shows that the original ideas weren’t about a far away planet in the future, but about the enemies in WW2. Moreover, there is a possibility that the author, who officially was in the Royal Air Force during World War Two, may well have had firsthand experience of the operations of the British Special Operations Executive agents who were trained to disrupt the Nazis in occupied Europe in much the same way as Mowry does here.
The disruptions Mowry makes look very old-fashioned now: he covertly puts stickers with anti-war propaganda and chalks graffities, mass-mails threatening letters to people close to the authorities, murders several secret police guys… when the authorities (and there is the totalitarian Sirian regime with their brutal thugs of the secret police, who can take and torture anyone) try to capture him, he evades, changing identities and outsmarting them, so it looks more and more like a parody of a bad spy novel, where the agent is head and shoulders above opponents. They don’t have ubiquitous surveillance, don’t use dogs or their SF equivalent – heck, it seems that he paints only his face purple, so just checking his body would have helped!
So, the story has a very nice idea, but it could have worked with a short story or novelette, not a full novel, even if a short one by modern standards. Moreover, closer to the end Mowry’s actions are more and more like what we now call terrorist activities often targeting civilians, which are ‘enemy’ of course but non-combatants, maybe even grudging against the war. There are SF elements, like Terran ships using anti-grav and faster than light travel, or Sirians using beaming energy to their cars, but it is more like an afterthought.
The story starts with the protagonist, James Mowry being recruited by some Terran government agency to take part in the ongoing war between Terra and Sirius. As we find out, the war with the Sirian Combine already goes for ten months. Terrans have much better tech, but Sirians outnumber them twelve to one, therefore a conventional war of attrition can be lost. However, Terrans decided to go unconventional: to make selected individuals into wasps. Not literally, but based on an example:
let's consider this auto smash up. The survivor was able to tell us the cause before he died. He said the driver lost control at high speed while swiping at a wasp which had flown in through a window and was buzzing around his face [...] The weight of a wasp is under half an ounce. Compared with a human being, the wasp's size is minute, its strength negligible. Its sole armament is a tiny syringe holding a drop of irritant, formic acid. In this instance, the wasp didn't use it. Nevertheless, that wasp killed four big men and converted a large, powerful car into a heap of scrap.
Just like the abovementioned wasp, a Terran agent can cause discord and problems for a large enemy population, sawing discontent, organizing terrorist strikes and spreading malicious rumors. It is easy to do, for Terrans and Sirians are too similar, differences being minuscule: so the agency searched for “a short man who can walk slightly bandy-legged, with his ears pinned back, and his face dyed purple.” For this is enough to look like a Sirian. I guess that clearly shows that the original ideas weren’t about a far away planet in the future, but about the enemies in WW2. Moreover, there is a possibility that the author, who officially was in the Royal Air Force during World War Two, may well have had firsthand experience of the operations of the British Special Operations Executive agents who were trained to disrupt the Nazis in occupied Europe in much the same way as Mowry does here.
The disruptions Mowry makes look very old-fashioned now: he covertly puts stickers with anti-war propaganda and chalks graffities, mass-mails threatening letters to people close to the authorities, murders several secret police guys… when the authorities (and there is the totalitarian Sirian regime with their brutal thugs of the secret police, who can take and torture anyone) try to capture him, he evades, changing identities and outsmarting them, so it looks more and more like a parody of a bad spy novel, where the agent is head and shoulders above opponents. They don’t have ubiquitous surveillance, don’t use dogs or their SF equivalent – heck, it seems that he paints only his face purple, so just checking his body would have helped!
So, the story has a very nice idea, but it could have worked with a short story or novelette, not a full novel, even if a short one by modern standards. Moreover, closer to the end Mowry’s actions are more and more like what we now call terrorist activities often targeting civilians, which are ‘enemy’ of course but non-combatants, maybe even grudging against the war. There are SF elements, like Terran ships using anti-grav and faster than light travel, or Sirians using beaming energy to their cars, but it is more like an afterthought.
January 5, 2009
4.5 stars. A classic (and controversial) SF tale focusing on the use of "terrorism" as a way to bring about the downfall of an evil alien government. Well written and a lot of fun. Recommended!!
May 12, 2018
Βαθμολογία: 9/10
Μετά από κάμποσα χρόνια σκέψης και περισυλλογής, τελικά πήρα την απόφαση λίγες μέρες πριν να αγοράσω κάποια βιβλία από τις ακριβές εκδόσεις Locus-7. Για αρχή παρήγγειλα τρία κλασικά μυθιστορήματα επιστημονικής φαντασίας, αυτά που ήταν πιο ψηλά στη λίστα με τα βιβλία των συγκεκριμένων εκδόσεων που ήθελα κάποια στιγμή να αποκτήσω. Δυο του γνωστού Κλίφορντ Σιμάκ και ένα κάποιου Έρικ Φρανκ Ράσελ, που χάρη στην ιστορία και τη θεματολογία του μου κίνησε το ενδιαφέρον.
Λοιπόν, το "Σφήκα" είναι ένα από τα πιο ψυχαγωγικά και απολαυστικά μυθιστορήματα επιστημονικής φαντασίας που έχω διαβάσει. Ήμουν σίγουρος ότι θα ήταν ακριβώς του γούστου μου, και δεν έπεσα έξω. Πως έχει η ιστορία: Βρισκόμαστε εν μέσω ενός πολέμου της ανθρωπότητας εναντίον ενός εξωγήινου πολιτισμού, με τη Γη να στέλνει σ'έναν από τους εξωγήινους πλανήτες έναν ειδικά εκπαιδευμένο πράκτορα, ώστε με προβοκάτσιες και σαμποτάζ, να αναστατώσει την αστυνομική, στρατιωτική και πολιτική ηγεσία του τόπου, και έτσι κατά κάποιο τρόπο να στρώσει το χάλι στις Γήινες δυνάμεις σε περίπτωση εισβολής, αλλά και να αποδιοργανώσει τη γενικότερη στρατηγική των εξωγήινων.
Σαν μυθιστόρημα επιστημονικής φαντασίας είναι παλαιάς κοπής και σε σημεία δείχνει τα εξήντα και βάλε χρόνια του, όμως ο τρόπος γραφής είναι πραγματικά απολαυστικός, κάπως ανάλαφρος και συνάμα κυνικός, με γλαφυρές περιγραφές και ωραίους διαλόγους, χωρίς ανούσιες και βαρετές λεπτομέρειες. Επίσης βρήκα φοβερές όλες αυτές τις τεχνικές που χρησιμοποίησε ο εξαιρετικά συμπαθής πρωταγωνιστής, οι οποίες σίγουρα είναι βγαλμένες από την πραγματικότητα του Ψυχρού Πολέμου. Μπορεί να πει κανείς ότι το βιβλίο λειτουργεί και σαν μια αλληγορία για την παράνοια που επικρατούσε τη δεκαετία του '50, ενώ ταυτόχρονα δείχνει πως λειτουργούν οι προβοκάτορες και οι σαμποτέρ. Γενικά είναι ένα φοβερό βιβλίο, το οποίο ουσιαστικά διάβασα μονορούφι. Το μόνο σίγουρο είναι ότι θα διαβάσω και άλλες ιστορίες του συγγραφέα!
Μετά από κάμποσα χρόνια σκέψης και περισυλλογής, τελικά πήρα την απόφαση λίγες μέρες πριν να αγοράσω κάποια βιβλία από τις ακριβές εκδόσεις Locus-7. Για αρχή παρήγγειλα τρία κλασικά μυθιστορήματα επιστημονικής φαντασίας, αυτά που ήταν πιο ψηλά στη λίστα με τα βιβλία των συγκεκριμένων εκδόσεων που ήθελα κάποια στιγμή να αποκτήσω. Δυο του γνωστού Κλίφορντ Σιμάκ και ένα κάποιου Έρικ Φρανκ Ράσελ, που χάρη στην ιστορία και τη θεματολογία του μου κίνησε το ενδιαφέρον.
Λοιπόν, το "Σφήκα" είναι ένα από τα πιο ψυχαγωγικά και απολαυστικά μυθιστορήματα επιστημονικής φαντασίας που έχω διαβάσει. Ήμουν σίγουρος ότι θα ήταν ακριβώς του γούστου μου, και δεν έπεσα έξω. Πως έχει η ιστορία: Βρισκόμαστε εν μέσω ενός πολέμου της ανθρωπότητας εναντίον ενός εξωγήινου πολιτισμού, με τη Γη να στέλνει σ'έναν από τους εξωγήινους πλανήτες έναν ειδικά εκπαιδευμένο πράκτορα, ώστε με προβοκάτσιες και σαμποτάζ, να αναστατώσει την αστυνομική, στρατιωτική και πολιτική ηγεσία του τόπου, και έτσι κατά κάποιο τρόπο να στρώσει το χάλι στις Γήινες δυνάμεις σε περίπτωση εισβολής, αλλά και να αποδιοργανώσει τη γενικότερη στρατηγική των εξωγήινων.
Σαν μυθιστόρημα επιστημονικής φαντασίας είναι παλαιάς κοπής και σε σημεία δείχνει τα εξήντα και βάλε χρόνια του, όμως ο τρόπος γραφής είναι πραγματικά απολαυστικός, κάπως ανάλαφρος και συνάμα κυνικός, με γλαφυρές περιγραφές και ωραίους διαλόγους, χωρίς ανούσιες και βαρετές λεπτομέρειες. Επίσης βρήκα φοβερές όλες αυτές τις τεχνικές που χρησιμοποίησε ο εξαιρετικά συμπαθής πρωταγωνιστής, οι οποίες σίγουρα είναι βγαλμένες από την πραγματικότητα του Ψυχρού Πολέμου. Μπορεί να πει κανείς ότι το βιβλίο λειτουργεί και σαν μια αλληγορία για την παράνοια που επικρατούσε τη δεκαετία του '50, ενώ ταυτόχρονα δείχνει πως λειτουργούν οι προβοκάτορες και οι σαμποτέρ. Γενικά είναι ένα φοβερό βιβλίο, το οποίο ουσιαστικά διάβασα μονορούφι. Το μόνο σίγουρο είναι ότι θα διαβάσω και άλλες ιστορίες του συγγραφέα!
January 23, 2008
Summary: EF Russell's best-known book, Wasp is an excellently told story of one man working undercover in wartime to build enemy paranoia and confusion in preparation to a (less-bloody) invasion. Funny and clever idea- and story-SF with little character development and an "alien" culture clearly based on the Axis powers.
Eric Frank Russell worked in British military intelligence during WWII, in a group that dreamt up strange tricks to counter Axis intelligence. As one of the most inventive minds in that era's SF scene and a strong believer in human ingenuity, he must have been fabulous at it.
This story follows James Mowry, a somewhat-unwilling recruit in Earth's war against the Sirian empire. Mowry had lived on a Sirian world when young, spoke the language fluently, and was physically acceptable for the part: undergo cosmetic surgery and blend in to the populace of a world Earth has targeted for attack.
The concept is familiar to Russell's fans, that one person, prepared and willing to act extremely creatively, can outwit a larger, more organized group that doesn't expect the attack. In this case, it's by inventing a rebellion group and ensuring his cover story doesn't connect to it. In The Space Willies it's one man pretending that all humans have invisible symbiotes that need propitiating.
Mowry's recruiter tells him the story of four criminals in a get-away car fleeing a crime. They are only caught because a wasp flies into the far and the driver panics. Mowry is asked to be that wasp to the Sirians. Earth trains him, drops him on his target world with a large cache of clever supplies, and trusts his ingenuity to apply their tricks in order to slowly increase the government's level of abreaction until it becomes self-sustaining.
This is a WWII resistance/partisan story with an SF setting and some fun SF technology (the chalk that acid-etches the surface it's on if you try to wash it off is a favorite). It's relatively light, it's quite engaging, and it comes from a time when SF writers were happy to praise individual action and personal creativity as the highest virtue of humanity and to show that creativity without irony.
This book is clearly from a certain era of SF, but it has aged very well and still reads as fresh and enjoyable, with very little of the "making allowances" much older SF requires. One of the best-known and most-loved SF books most people have never heard of :-)
Eric Frank Russell worked in British military intelligence during WWII, in a group that dreamt up strange tricks to counter Axis intelligence. As one of the most inventive minds in that era's SF scene and a strong believer in human ingenuity, he must have been fabulous at it.
This story follows James Mowry, a somewhat-unwilling recruit in Earth's war against the Sirian empire. Mowry had lived on a Sirian world when young, spoke the language fluently, and was physically acceptable for the part: undergo cosmetic surgery and blend in to the populace of a world Earth has targeted for attack.
The concept is familiar to Russell's fans, that one person, prepared and willing to act extremely creatively, can outwit a larger, more organized group that doesn't expect the attack. In this case, it's by inventing a rebellion group and ensuring his cover story doesn't connect to it. In The Space Willies it's one man pretending that all humans have invisible symbiotes that need propitiating.
Mowry's recruiter tells him the story of four criminals in a get-away car fleeing a crime. They are only caught because a wasp flies into the far and the driver panics. Mowry is asked to be that wasp to the Sirians. Earth trains him, drops him on his target world with a large cache of clever supplies, and trusts his ingenuity to apply their tricks in order to slowly increase the government's level of abreaction until it becomes self-sustaining.
This is a WWII resistance/partisan story with an SF setting and some fun SF technology (the chalk that acid-etches the surface it's on if you try to wash it off is a favorite). It's relatively light, it's quite engaging, and it comes from a time when SF writers were happy to praise individual action and personal creativity as the highest virtue of humanity and to show that creativity without irony.
This book is clearly from a certain era of SF, but it has aged very well and still reads as fresh and enjoyable, with very little of the "making allowances" much older SF requires. One of the best-known and most-loved SF books most people have never heard of :-)
April 11, 2012
Read this if you want to know how terrorism 'works'. And mind you, Eric Frank Russell was one crafty author. His aliens are more like humans than not. Just to avoid any controversy, Russell created a far away planet (Planet Jaimec) on which our protagonist (or is he?) must practice his 'skills' of terrorism for the whole humanity.
Now let me just leave you with one of the gems from the novel (don't worry, it won't spoil anything, the dialogue takes place in the first chapter itself):
"Finally, let's consider this auto smash up. The survivor was able to tell us the cause before he died. He said the driver lost control at high speed while swiping at a wasp which had flown in through a window and was buzzing around his face."
Wolf said, "The weight of a wasp is under half an ounce. Compared with a human being, the wasp's size is minute, its strength negligible. Its sole armament is a tiny syringe holding a drop of irritant, formic acid. In this instance, the wasp didn't use it. Nevertheless, that wasp killed four big men and converted a large, powerful car into a heap of scrap."
"I see the point, but where do I come in?"
"Right here," said Wolf. "We want you to become a wasp."
Now let me just leave you with one of the gems from the novel (don't worry, it won't spoil anything, the dialogue takes place in the first chapter itself):
"Finally, let's consider this auto smash up. The survivor was able to tell us the cause before he died. He said the driver lost control at high speed while swiping at a wasp which had flown in through a window and was buzzing around his face."
Wolf said, "The weight of a wasp is under half an ounce. Compared with a human being, the wasp's size is minute, its strength negligible. Its sole armament is a tiny syringe holding a drop of irritant, formic acid. In this instance, the wasp didn't use it. Nevertheless, that wasp killed four big men and converted a large, powerful car into a heap of scrap."
"I see the point, but where do I come in?"
"Right here," said Wolf. "We want you to become a wasp."
July 21, 2014
-Visión entrañable pero poco actual.-
Género. Ciencia-Ficción.
Lo que nos cuenta. James Mowry es reclutado por el Servicio Secreto, debido a sus antecedentes, historial y personalidad, para llevar a cabo acciones de subversión y desestabilización entre la Mancomunidad Siriana con la que la Tierra está en guerra. Tras su adiestramiento técnico, una nave le deposita en el planeta Jaimec y comienza su labor empezando por pequeñas cosas.
¿Quiere saber más de este libro, sin spoilers? Visite:
http://librosdeolethros.blogspot.com/...
Género. Ciencia-Ficción.
Lo que nos cuenta. James Mowry es reclutado por el Servicio Secreto, debido a sus antecedentes, historial y personalidad, para llevar a cabo acciones de subversión y desestabilización entre la Mancomunidad Siriana con la que la Tierra está en guerra. Tras su adiestramiento técnico, una nave le deposita en el planeta Jaimec y comienza su labor empezando por pequeñas cosas.
¿Quiere saber más de este libro, sin spoilers? Visite:
http://librosdeolethros.blogspot.com/...
February 12, 2019
3/10
Otro que leí en su día por pillarle de resto de ediciones. La nota lo dice todo.
Otro que leí en su día por pillarle de resto de ediciones. La nota lo dice todo.
March 20, 2024
This is a reread of one of my favorite books from my teens (never mind how old I am). If a wasp can fly into a car and cause that car to crash, killing all occupants, then a highly trained, well equipped agent can be placed on a planet, behind enemy lines and cause all kinds of problems for said enemy. I enjoyed reading this book again and recommend it highly. Live Long
August 2, 2009
Great book. Loved this quote:
"It looked as if he was doomed to become a hero from sheer lack of courage to be a coward."
"It looked as if he was doomed to become a hero from sheer lack of courage to be a coward."
January 16, 2014
Sometimes, when you read too much about Hubbard and Scientologists being creepy, you have to clink out and read some Golden Age SF.
This one's actually a lot of fun: Terrans (why never "earth"?) are at war with the Sirians, who are technologically behind but make that up in bigger numbers (gee, I wonder on which political conflict of the 1950s this is based). A human is sent to one of the outer Sirian planets to stir things up. The protagonist is sent with unlimited money and advanced tech to impersonate an entire rebel army by distributing propaganda, killing people, bombing people etc. There is no moral in here since Sirians are Others and the ones he kills are always overtly characterized as being "evil", no ambiguity there. How he succeeds at his terrorist mission is at times fun and at times surprisingly well-thought out.
Without spoilering too much, the ending is actually exactly like I would imagine such a story in real life to end. No overtly heroic stuff, that was unexpected from books of the era - you would expect the guy with the chiseled chin to ride off into the sunset with the love of his life.
Of course, since it's Golden Age SF the protagonist is one-dimensional (feelings are boring, characters are boring, let's have more story), overpowered (unlimited money! Advanced technology!), lucky when the plot demands it etc.
Recommended for: Terrorists who think that blowing themselves up is ineffective and need better ideas. Friends of "classic" SF. It's fun for an afternoon.
This one's actually a lot of fun: Terrans (why never "earth"?) are at war with the Sirians, who are technologically behind but make that up in bigger numbers (gee, I wonder on which political conflict of the 1950s this is based). A human is sent to one of the outer Sirian planets to stir things up. The protagonist is sent with unlimited money and advanced tech to impersonate an entire rebel army by distributing propaganda, killing people, bombing people etc. There is no moral in here since Sirians are Others and the ones he kills are always overtly characterized as being "evil", no ambiguity there. How he succeeds at his terrorist mission is at times fun and at times surprisingly well-thought out.
Without spoilering too much, the ending is actually exactly like I would imagine such a story in real life to end. No overtly heroic stuff, that was unexpected from books of the era - you would expect the guy with the chiseled chin to ride off into the sunset with the love of his life.
Of course, since it's Golden Age SF the protagonist is one-dimensional (feelings are boring, characters are boring, let's have more story), overpowered (unlimited money! Advanced technology!), lucky when the plot demands it etc.
Recommended for: Terrorists who think that blowing themselves up is ineffective and need better ideas. Friends of "classic" SF. It's fun for an afternoon.
April 14, 2012
In the future, Earth is at war with Sirian Empire, a fascist police state. A human secret agent, James Mowry, after being recruited and trained as a subversive is sent to planet Jaimec. His mission is to cause domestic chaos among the Sirians, foment unrest in order to faciliate a Terran attack. Singlehandedly, Mowry creates the illusion of a revolutionary organization, Dirac Angestan Gesept. The "live long" valediction is a wonderful foreshadowing for Star Trek's "live long and prosper."
May 26, 2025
Marginal at best. I know it’s from the Golden Age, but it was really dated. Earth is at war with another stellar civilization; however, alongside antigravity technology rests typewriter and land-line telephones. A covert Earth agent is sent to the alien world to foment internal strife. But this alien world is basically identical to Earth in every facet. Buses, cars, walkie-talkies, typewriters, currency, etc. Russell is incapable of building an alien world that seems believable, which diminished the read.
September 16, 2023
Tylko to skończyłem bo jest krótkie
March 18, 2024
This is a reread of one of my favorite books from my teens (never mind how old I am). If a wasp can fly into a car and cause that car to crash, killing all occupants, then a highly trained, well equipped agent can be placed on a planet, behind enemy lines and cause all kinds of problems for said enemy. I enjoyed reading this book again and recommend it highly. Live Long
April 1, 2020
Home grown terrorist
pain-in-the-ass patriot
fearless stickerer.
pain-in-the-ass patriot
fearless stickerer.
March 12, 2014
"It would be a very long time before anyone, especially in America, was ready for a terrorist hero" points out Lisa Tuttle in her introduction to this 1957 novel, as an explanation as to why Neil Gaiman never got around to making a movie of it despite purchasing the rights. And one can see her point. This is a novel one feels very guilty about enjoying.
The story is the basic wartime espionage plot. Lone secret agent is secretly dropped in the middle of enemy territory with instructions to cause mayhem and chaos, out of all proportion to his numbers - just like a wasp can cause a car crash without even using its sting. But the twist here is that this isn't an American or British spy operating in Berlin, or a Confederate agent operating in New York. No, the man in question is human enough - an Earthling (or "Terran" as the book has it) sewing discord and terror among the population of an alien confederation, a blue-skinned, pointy-eared, bow-legged race known as the Sirian Combine.
The war has reached a stalemate. The Sirians outnumber the Earthlings twelve to one, but our side (naturally) has superior technology and strategy. So James Mowry, who was born on a planet in the Sirian Empire, is dispatched to do his patriotic duty - which he proceeds to do with a vengeance, inventing an imaginary terrorist organization, assassinating high-ranking officials, and generally doing all he can to undermine the Sirian war effort.
And, as a reader, I couldn't help but cheer him along. After all, I am a "Terran," and if we ever get into a war against an alien race I'd sooner we win than lose. And one's sympathy is, naturally, with the lone, brave, hunted individual having to survive on his wits against a whole planet.
But all the time, there is a nasty thought at the back of one's mind. Mowry, you see, is a terrorist, and a particularly nasty, sociopathic one at that. He shows little remorse at the pain and injury he causes to the high-ranking enemies he kills, or the the innocent Sirians who also suffer in his wake. It does not help that despite their unearthly appearance, the Sirians seem to have families, jobs, likes, emotions and feelings just like us. Indeed, when visualizing the action in your mind, you'll find yourselves seeing them as earth-type humans, so familiar are their emotions and expressions.
It might be possible to defend this book as a piece of satire, deliberately lampshading the evils of terrorism, even in a "noble" cause, and Lisa Tuttle's introduction even suggests this. And to be fair, Russell has written some highly regarded anti-war stories. But somehow, the fact that he is so obviously enjoying himself telling the story works against this defense.
Russell describes Mowty's activities in lascivious, colorful detail. Like a slavering, trembling-with-secret-delight Fundamentalist Christian evangelist describing the filthy secret activities of homosexuals or the contents of a gonzo porn mag, it's clear to the intelligent reader that the author is actually enjoying the description of the evil activities that his hero carries out. Very little sympathy is wasted on the the victims, even those of lowly status (with one exception - an innocent elderly male, kicked to death by a Sirian cop, so of course it can be divorced from any guilt attaching to Mowry.
And by the end, half of your mind is glad that Mowry has succeeded, and "our" side has won - the other half is retching with disgust at what we needed to do to secure the victory! I would imagine that Americans might feel similar about the atomic bombs dropped on Nagasaki and Hiroshima, or the British about the bombing raids on Berlin.
Terry Pratchett has gone on record as saying he would have given anything to have written this work, and that he could not imagine "a funnier terrorists' handbook."
I have to admit, I found very little to laugh at in this story. I did, however, find it exciting, suspenseful and an excellently told adventure yarn. And it's hard to go by the fact that anyone living in a country in which basic freedoms have been won on the battlefield owes a debt to those that served "undercover" doing things that even ordinary soldiers could not bring themselves to do, in the service of their country.
Yes, I enjoyed it a lot. And stripping it of the star I would otherwise given it judged purely on its narrative value has totally failed to assuage my conscience.
The story is the basic wartime espionage plot. Lone secret agent is secretly dropped in the middle of enemy territory with instructions to cause mayhem and chaos, out of all proportion to his numbers - just like a wasp can cause a car crash without even using its sting. But the twist here is that this isn't an American or British spy operating in Berlin, or a Confederate agent operating in New York. No, the man in question is human enough - an Earthling (or "Terran" as the book has it) sewing discord and terror among the population of an alien confederation, a blue-skinned, pointy-eared, bow-legged race known as the Sirian Combine.
The war has reached a stalemate. The Sirians outnumber the Earthlings twelve to one, but our side (naturally) has superior technology and strategy. So James Mowry, who was born on a planet in the Sirian Empire, is dispatched to do his patriotic duty - which he proceeds to do with a vengeance, inventing an imaginary terrorist organization, assassinating high-ranking officials, and generally doing all he can to undermine the Sirian war effort.
And, as a reader, I couldn't help but cheer him along. After all, I am a "Terran," and if we ever get into a war against an alien race I'd sooner we win than lose. And one's sympathy is, naturally, with the lone, brave, hunted individual having to survive on his wits against a whole planet.
But all the time, there is a nasty thought at the back of one's mind. Mowry, you see, is a terrorist, and a particularly nasty, sociopathic one at that. He shows little remorse at the pain and injury he causes to the high-ranking enemies he kills, or the the innocent Sirians who also suffer in his wake. It does not help that despite their unearthly appearance, the Sirians seem to have families, jobs, likes, emotions and feelings just like us. Indeed, when visualizing the action in your mind, you'll find yourselves seeing them as earth-type humans, so familiar are their emotions and expressions.
It might be possible to defend this book as a piece of satire, deliberately lampshading the evils of terrorism, even in a "noble" cause, and Lisa Tuttle's introduction even suggests this. And to be fair, Russell has written some highly regarded anti-war stories. But somehow, the fact that he is so obviously enjoying himself telling the story works against this defense.
Russell describes Mowty's activities in lascivious, colorful detail. Like a slavering, trembling-with-secret-delight Fundamentalist Christian evangelist describing the filthy secret activities of homosexuals or the contents of a gonzo porn mag, it's clear to the intelligent reader that the author is actually enjoying the description of the evil activities that his hero carries out. Very little sympathy is wasted on the the victims, even those of lowly status (with one exception - an innocent elderly male, kicked to death by a Sirian cop, so of course it can be divorced from any guilt attaching to Mowry.
And by the end, half of your mind is glad that Mowry has succeeded, and "our" side has won - the other half is retching with disgust at what we needed to do to secure the victory! I would imagine that Americans might feel similar about the atomic bombs dropped on Nagasaki and Hiroshima, or the British about the bombing raids on Berlin.
Terry Pratchett has gone on record as saying he would have given anything to have written this work, and that he could not imagine "a funnier terrorists' handbook."
I have to admit, I found very little to laugh at in this story. I did, however, find it exciting, suspenseful and an excellently told adventure yarn. And it's hard to go by the fact that anyone living in a country in which basic freedoms have been won on the battlefield owes a debt to those that served "undercover" doing things that even ordinary soldiers could not bring themselves to do, in the service of their country.
Yes, I enjoyed it a lot. And stripping it of the star I would otherwise given it judged purely on its narrative value has totally failed to assuage my conscience.
August 9, 2023
3,5⭐️
bardzo szybka, mnóstwo akcji, miłe zaskoczenie
bardzo szybka, mnóstwo akcji, miłe zaskoczenie
March 3, 2010
I'm in the mood for science fiction, so I got this classic on my Kindle. Wasp meets the basic standard for enjoyable reading: a coherent story that kept me engaged. I bet this book affects today's readers very differently than the Cold War audience for which it was published. I wouldn't even classify this as science fiction. The story is about a guy chosen by his government (Earth) to be a lone terrorist against the enemy (an alien planet). As long as you accept that the aliens are truly aliens, evil, deserving of death and destruction, you can root for and admire our hero's resourcefulness. However, as a citizen of a country that has been the target of terrorism, I couldn't help empathizing with the aliens, too. They were obviously the bad guys, the aggressors, and had no humanity. But I'm a child of the cultural relativism age and I had trouble suspending my disbelief on that. All the same, the action keeps moving, and the author crams suspense into every page, all the way to the effective ending. Have fun with this, but don't turn on your socio-political analysis.
June 9, 2022
This is pretty disappointing. While this counts as Science Fiction, it doesn't feel like it. It feels more like a spy thriller, and it possibly started out as one. It takes place on an planet of Sirians, but their culture is almost indistinguishable from 1950's Earth culture, though they did have video phones. The aliens differ from Earthlings only in skin color and a slightly different shape of the ear, thus a human can impersonate one pretty easily.
The protagonist is sent to sow confusion among the Sirians, to help Terrans beat them in a war. Since this is described as a humorous novel, I expected that to consist mostly of spreading rumors and doing small pranks. It starts like that, then it quickly escalates to full-out terrorism with indiscriminate murder and bombing of civilian targets. Such things can perhaps be justified in a war, but our hero doesn't have even a tiny fleeting thought about the morality of it. That is not what I find light humor.
The protagonist is sent to sow confusion among the Sirians, to help Terrans beat them in a war. Since this is described as a humorous novel, I expected that to consist mostly of spreading rumors and doing small pranks. It starts like that, then it quickly escalates to full-out terrorism with indiscriminate murder and bombing of civilian targets. Such things can perhaps be justified in a war, but our hero doesn't have even a tiny fleeting thought about the morality of it. That is not what I find light humor.
December 16, 2017
Not really my kind of thing unfortunately, I was expecting much more philosophical consideration of the notion of being a "wasp". But the main character is basically mindless and thoughtless, just follows his orders, and the story is just one long pure action sequence from start to end. No reflection on the morality of what he is doing, no attachments formed with the locals, he just coldly and ruthlessly exploits them in line with his orders to destabilise them. On this front, there is a few cynical insights into human nature and group psychology, in the methods he deploys to stir up trouble. But it was not enough or deep and insightful enough to hold my interest for very long.
January 31, 2022
A reasonably easy read, but very light on the sci-fi. It takes place on another planet with an alien species, but could easily have just been another country on earth. I suppose that may have been partly the point; getting some fictional distance to illuminate the real closeness and so on.
The quote on the cover from Terry Pratchett hooked me in: "I'd have given anything to have written Wasp. I can't imagine a funnier terrorist's handbook." Well, I'm pretty sure the corners of my mouth never even twitched upwards. 🙁
The quote on the cover from Terry Pratchett hooked me in: "I'd have given anything to have written Wasp. I can't imagine a funnier terrorist's handbook." Well, I'm pretty sure the corners of my mouth never even twitched upwards. 🙁
June 19, 2025
One of the best entries in the SF Masterworks series, this is a tense, gripping and humorous story of one man's covert operation to seed dissent on an enemy planet with disruption, fake propaganda and gossip.
ie by being annoying. What a great job to have!!
The book hooked me from the get go. Within 50 pages we get the mission briefing, humorous anecdotes, a trip to another planet, some brief background, a bit of extra-planetary subterfuge and the start of the campaign against the enemy including propaganda leafleting, disruption on a train and the killing of a high profile military target. Phew!
From there the tension just kept rising and I have no shame in saying I was rooting for Mowry all the way, despite having no initial reason to pick a side in the war and some of his antics having morally troublesome consequences towards innocent citizens. I'm sure that highlights some deep rooted problem in my psyche and perhaps it's fair to say I fell a bit too easily into step, but when the Gestapo-like enforcement appear to thwart him, then it was hard not to root for his cause. And there are plenty of genuinely tense moments where I wasn't sure if he'd finally get caught or what his escape plan would be.
Despite some moments requiring a suspension of disbelief, it's mostly intelligently thought out, proceeding quickly and with little preamble; something I wish more writers today would take notes on, as this is a prime example of tight, focused plotting with snappy dialogue, that gets a lot done in well under 200 pages. The only pin I'd put in this was that the purism of the science fiction element is somewhat oblique to the plot. The premise could work for any war, but it's scaled up here in the background to a mini galactic scale just for extra effect. Perhaps though, that Cold War feel gives it a greater appeal outside of it's own genre.
Overall, fantastic; I laughed and was gripped until the end.
ie by being annoying. What a great job to have!!
The book hooked me from the get go. Within 50 pages we get the mission briefing, humorous anecdotes, a trip to another planet, some brief background, a bit of extra-planetary subterfuge and the start of the campaign against the enemy including propaganda leafleting, disruption on a train and the killing of a high profile military target. Phew!
From there the tension just kept rising and I have no shame in saying I was rooting for Mowry all the way, despite having no initial reason to pick a side in the war and some of his antics having morally troublesome consequences towards innocent citizens. I'm sure that highlights some deep rooted problem in my psyche and perhaps it's fair to say I fell a bit too easily into step, but when the Gestapo-like enforcement appear to thwart him, then it was hard not to root for his cause. And there are plenty of genuinely tense moments where I wasn't sure if he'd finally get caught or what his escape plan would be.
Despite some moments requiring a suspension of disbelief, it's mostly intelligently thought out, proceeding quickly and with little preamble; something I wish more writers today would take notes on, as this is a prime example of tight, focused plotting with snappy dialogue, that gets a lot done in well under 200 pages. The only pin I'd put in this was that the purism of the science fiction element is somewhat oblique to the plot. The premise could work for any war, but it's scaled up here in the background to a mini galactic scale just for extra effect. Perhaps though, that Cold War feel gives it a greater appeal outside of it's own genre.
Overall, fantastic; I laughed and was gripped until the end.
August 4, 2024
"Osa" w moich oczach to napisany nieco nieumiejętnie manifest antywojenny. Ale od początku. Bohaterem jest James, który zostaje zrzucony na jedną z planet wrogiej rasy, z którą Ziemia prowadzi wojnę. Jego zadaniem jest być "osą" czyki tak naprawde szpiegiem, ktory od wewnątrz ma siać spustoszenie na terytorium wroga. I tu zaczynają się małe problemy. Często wkrada się nuda, bo o samym Jamesie wiemy mało, a w dodatku za dużo jest powtarzania tych samych czynności. Może autor miał na celu pokazać jak wygląda praca szpiega - monotonna, dająca minimalne efekty za każdym razem. Niemniej jednak przemyca on ustami różnych pogląd na wojnę - każdy chciałby ją zakończyć. Niestety wejścia w głąb bohaterów tu nie uświadczymy. Żadnej psychologii czy większej charakterystyki choćby przez jakieś wzmianki o przeszłości. Natomiast zakończenie uznaje za całkiem zaskakujące, które pokazuje, że wojna nie kończy się nigdy. Jak w uniwersum Fallout - War, war never changes.
Całość czyta się szybko i bezboleśnie, szkoda tylko, że pod płaszczem antywojennych poglądów nie znajdziemy nic więcej.
Całość czyta się szybko i bezboleśnie, szkoda tylko, że pod płaszczem antywojennych poglądów nie znajdziemy nic więcej.
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