Fallen Spaceman

"Fallen Spaceman" is a science fiction short story by Australian writer Lee Harding. It was first published in the June 1971 issue of If : Worlds of Science Fiction.^[1]

"Fallen Spaceman"
Short story by Lee Harding
Country	Australia
Language	English
Genre(s)	Science Fiction
Publication
Published in	If : Worlds of Science Fiction
Publication type	Periodical
Media type	Print
Publication date	June 1971

Plot summary

Mattaro, the spaceman of the title, finds himself along and abandoned in orbit around a planet after his ship, the Star Wind, unexpectedly accelerates away from him while he is undertaking a routine, exterior inspection of the ship's drive systems. With only a few hours of oxygen left in his spacesuit he must find a way to get to the planet below and somehow survive.

Critical reception

Writing in SF Commentary Bruce Gillespie called this story " a good yarn and very well told." He went on: "A few Hardingisms remain (Harding characters tend to 'shiver' in times of danger and lapse into panicked italics) but not many."^[2]

Publication history

After the story's initial publication in If magazine in June 1971, it was revised and expanded to novella length under the title The Fallen Spaceman. This version was later published as follows:

• 1973, Cassell, Australia^[3]
• 1975, Cassell, Australia^[4]
• 1980, Harper & Row, USA^[5]
• 1982, Bantam Skylark, USA^[6]

Award

• Australian SF Achievement Award, Best Australian Science Fiction, winner, 1972^[7]

Note

You can read the full text of the story on the Internet Archive.^[8]

See also

• 1971 in Australian literature