Synopsis

The wind all over the earth suddenly and inexplicably starts to get stronger and keeps mounting, stopping the world’s transportation and then wiping away all of the buildings.

History

First publication: New Worlds, serialized September to October 1961

Expanded and reworked to be The Wind from Nowhere.

Review

A remarkable work. In some ways this is pretty traditional. I can see the influence of SF movies like War of the Worlds and When Worlds Collide. In others the story becomes more like Moby Dick with its obssessed character. Humanity is both good and bad in this story, never descending completely into barbarism, but definitely being selfish. The images of destruction are haunting and well painted, reminsding me of the work of J. M. W. Turner. The characters are good. Yet I can’t give this the top honors. I think Ballard was able to do better in other works. It is his longest work at this date, so he did not have experience yet with longer stories. Still highly recommended, or read the full novel version.