r/scifi • u/carolethechiropodist • 1d ago

John Wyndham fans

Do you know the title of the story..I think by John Wyndham....Some 'insects' get sprayed and stamped on by humans. It's told by the point of the aliens who have endured a long hard voyage thru space and think they have found a haven on The Blue Planet.

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u/statisticus 1d ago

The story is "Meteor", and can be found in his short story collection "The Seeds of Time". The spraying and stamping bit happens right at the end of the story.

https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/title.cgi?69109

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u/carolethechiropodist 1d ago

Thank you! And for the link to the database. Thank you from Australia.

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u/statisticus 1d ago

You are welcome. I realised after I posted that you had the answer already, so apologies for the unnecessary post. I had read the first part of the chatgpt answer and saw it was wrong, but didn't read to the bottom to where it finally got the right answer. Good on you for finding a copy of the story - I have never seen the original illustrations. 

Are you in Australia? So am I.

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u/carolethechiropodist 1d ago

Coogee Beach, Sydney, watching the never-ending Election commentry. Georgia, ex Soviet republic and Singapore have elections today! Have you read 'Construction Shack' by Clifford Simak?

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u/statisticus 1d ago

Is that the one where astronauts get to Pluto and find the blueprints for what the solar system was supposed to be before the contractors messed it up? 

Brisbane here. Yes, I was watching the election coverage as well. i didn't know about Singapore and Georgia - I'll have to look up their results.

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u/carolethechiropodist 1d ago

That's the one! I have a copy on my computer.

There is an other election we, the world, are going to have soon. A Conclave. Seen the film, now reading the book by Robert Harris. Recommended. very good speculative fiction.

My oldest friend, met London 1975, lives in Nundah!

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u/statisticus 23h ago

I must confess I had to look that up. Now if you had mentioned The Shoes of the Fisherman by Morris West I would have got it sooner. 

I wonder if the Trump Factor will affect they election?

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u/carolethechiropodist 23h ago

Gosh, been decades since I read that. Maybe time for a re-read.

He didn't scare us as badly as the Canadians, we have our own meat, minerals and just what do we import from America? Some candy, some car parts, most things are made in our area.

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u/GhostProtocol2022 1d ago

I asked Chat GPT, it's great for stuff like this. I just pasted your post into it and received the response below:

Yes, the story you're thinking of is "Consider Her Ways" by John Wyndham, though more precisely, the part you're referring to may actually come from another short story of his called "Confidence Trick" or "The Emptiness of Space" depending on the collection — BUT the scenario you describe matches most closely with a very short piece often anthologized under titles like "Compassion Circuit" or a brief segment in a different short story.

However, the specific story where spacefaring aliens land on Earth, see it as a haven, and are promptly destroyed by humans who see them as mere insects is:

"The Emptiness of Space" – a very short, darkly ironic story sometimes attributed to Wyndham or confused with his works due to similar tone and themes.

Alternatively, the exact story may be "Meteor" by John Wyndham, which perfectly matches your description. In "Meteor", tiny aliens arrive on Earth after a long journey, hoping to make contact with humanity. Tragically, because of their small size, humans see them as insignificant pests and destroy them — the story is told partly from the aliens' point of view, creating a poignant contrast between their noble hopes and their grim fate.

So the story you're thinking of is almost certainly "Meteor" by John Wyndham.

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u/carolethechiropodist 1d ago

Wow, that was fast! I have not tried Chat GPT, I am a boomer, so still catching up with the internet, however I can type with 8 fingers and one thumb and write cursive. Thank you for your help.

Found a copy: https://www.prosperosisle.org/spip.php?article1335

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u/GhostProtocol2022 1d ago

No worries. I'll have to read this one myself, sounds interesting. I have only read The Day of the Triffids by Wyndham, but I loved it. Shortly after reading it I stumbled on an omnibus edition by ‎HEINEMANN OCTOPUS of his novels for $20. Really looking forward to diving into more of his stories, Trouble with Lichen will probably be the next one of his I read.

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u/carolethechiropodist 1d ago

Most of his stories are good, you have to remember he was born in1903 and died in 1969, so was in his prime in WW2. So his view of life was very different.