Giant, technologically superior aliens have conquered Earth, but humankind survives - even flourishes in a way. Men and women live, like mice, in burrows in the massive walls of the huge homes of the aliens, and scurry about under their feet, stealing from them. A complex social and religious order has evolved, with women preserving knowledge and working as healers, and men serving as warriors and thieves. For the aliens, men and women are just a nuisance, nothing more than vermin. Which, ironically, may just be humankind's strength and point the way forward.
Of Men and Monsters (S.F. MASTERWORKS)
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Book Description
'One of the genre's very few genuinely comic, genuinely incisive writers' THE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF SCIENCE
About the Author
William Tenn (1920-2010) was the pseudonym of Philip Klass. Although he was born in London, he spent most of his life in America, teaching writing and SF at Pennsylvania State College from 1966. He began writing after serving in the Second World War and published his first story, 'Alexander the Bait' in ASTOUNDING SCIENCE FICTION in 1946. Stories like 'Down Among the Dead Men', 'The Liberation of Earth' and 'The Custodian' quickly established him as a fine, funny and thoughtful satirist. In 1999 William Tenn was selected the Science Fiction Writers of America's Author Emeritus.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
By A. M. Warman
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
An entertaining book with thought provoking subject matter well worth a read for any SF fan . Personally id like to see a film made but that's just me
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
By Marshall Lord
TOP 100 REVIEWER
Format:Paperback
This has one of the more memorable opening lines in Science Fiction ...
"Mankind consisted of 128 people."
Earth has been conquered by giant alien invaders who have almost exterminated humankind. The few survivors live primitive, barbaric lives in burrows, or hiding in the walls of the alien's dwellings. They live in fear of the new lords of the earth.
The author, William Tenn, wrote several short story collections but this is his only novel, and it deserves more recognition than it received.
"Mankind consisted of 128 people."
Earth has been conquered by giant alien invaders who have almost exterminated humankind. The few survivors live primitive, barbaric lives in burrows, or hiding in the walls of the alien's dwellings. They live in fear of the new lords of the earth.
The author, William Tenn, wrote several short story collections but this is his only novel, and it deserves more recognition than it received.
By Behan
Format:Paperback
From the opening quote onward, this book, with its tiny humans and giant, inscrutable aliens, is begging for comparison to Gulliver's Travels, and it stands within a proud tradition of fantastical post-apocalypse SF, such as Hothouse, Non-Stop and Riddley Walker. All these stories use SF to examine Man by putting him in a new context, by making him small and savage and a stranger in a strange land.
Don't worry that this review is starting to read like an essay in comparative literature: This is an exciting afternoon's escapism, where men live like mice in the buildings of giant alien invaders, who regard humans as vermin. As seems inevitable in the eyes of SF writers, post-apocalyptic humanity has reverted to tribal barbarism and superstition; the story concerns a plucky young lad called Eric, who must find his way in this confusing world. It's terribly good fun and the sense of adventure and jeopardy kept me rolling through the pages: much like the Aldisses I mentioned, this is fiction first and speculation later.
As for the title, it's less a nod to Steinbeck, than to the Robert Burns ode. Ultimately, Tenn's humane view is that we are feeble, back-biting little parasites by nature, and the best we can do is embrace it, since our best laid plains gang SO aft agley.
Don't worry that this review is starting to read like an essay in comparative literature: This is an exciting afternoon's escapism, where men live like mice in the buildings of giant alien invaders, who regard humans as vermin. As seems inevitable in the eyes of SF writers, post-apocalyptic humanity has reverted to tribal barbarism and superstition; the story concerns a plucky young lad called Eric, who must find his way in this confusing world. It's terribly good fun and the sense of adventure and jeopardy kept me rolling through the pages: much like the Aldisses I mentioned, this is fiction first and speculation later.
As for the title, it's less a nod to Steinbeck, than to the Robert Burns ode. Ultimately, Tenn's humane view is that we are feeble, back-biting little parasites by nature, and the best we can do is embrace it, since our best laid plains gang SO aft agley.
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4.3 out of 5 stars
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
4.0 out of 5 stars
Deserves being called a classic
"Of Men and Monsters" is another novel that belongs in the classic category. It's not very difficult to see that William Tenn likes to turn things upside down. Read more
Published 23 days ago by humanitysdarkerside
4.0 out of 5 stars
Rats in the Walls
This is a nice little book, a future primitive tale that is actually a satire on humanity and our inflated view of ourselves. Sounds boring? It's not. Read more
Published 1 month ago by Jason
4.0 out of 5 stars
A Good Afternoons Read!!
What if hundreds of years from now Earth had been colonised by monstrous alien beings and mankind had been annihilated almost to the point of extinction? Read more
Published 5 months ago by Markie
5.0 out of 5 stars
My favourite book I have read this year and highly recommended.
I had never read any William Tenn before that I remember, although short fiction often flies by without the authors name being registered, but I have now added this name to my... Read more
Published 5 months ago by amak
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Swiftian Satirist
I discovered Tenn in my teens, and have rediscovered him in recent years. The sharpest and wittiest of all SF writers in my opinion, but largely forgotten because most of his work... Read more
Published 16 months ago by M. C. Francis
4.0 out of 5 stars
Putting Man In His Place
The clue, of course, is in the title, a steal from Steinbeck's `Of Mice and Men' and relevant in the sense that the place of the mice in the original title has been taken by... Read more
Published on 26 Aug 2010 by Rod Williams
3.0 out of 5 stars
Good concept, bad ending
This book started off slowly, gathered pace through the middle, and then stopped abruptly. The end of the story made so little sense that I found myself checking to see if it was... Read more
Published on 23 Dec 2003 by "glawen_clattuc"
4.0 out of 5 stars
Back in print? Wow!
Of course, what the world REALLY needs is a complete collection of Tenn's short fiction (he was never all that prolific, you know), but this'll do for now, I suppose. Read more
Published on 6 Dec 2000 by GeoX
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