Books Front Lines and Frontiers Pulp Fiction at Its Pulpiest: Invaders from Rigel by Fletcher Pratt This alien invasion tale has everything but the kitchen sink… By Alan Brown | Published on May 27, 2025 Comment 0 Share New Share In this bi-weekly series reviewing classic science fiction and fantasy books, Alan Brown looks at the front lines and frontiers of the field; books about soldiers and spacers, scientists and engineers, explorers and adventurers. Stories full of what Shakespeare used to refer to as “alarums and excursions”: battles, chases, clashes, and the stuff of excitement. One of the first science fiction books for adults I ever read turned out to be not so “grown-up” after all. Invaders from Rigel was a typical tale from the days of the old pulp magazines—full of adventure, and moving at a breakneck pace, but also full of improbable occurrences, implausible science, and stiff characters (and not just because some of them were made of metal). There was no lack of action and ideas, including people turned into robots, intelligent alien elephants, sinister underground lairs, massive battles, and all manner of strange weapons. Like junk food, the book was full of flavor and calories, but with very little in the way of nutritional value. In my youngest days, I drew my reading material from a number of sources. One was the Scholastic Book Club, when they held book sales at the elementary school. Another was my father’s collection of juvenile books from his youth. And a third source was the local library. But very quickly, I tore through all the reading material that was considered appropriate for my age, and started looking for something more challenging. There was plenty to choose from, because my father subscribed to both Analog and Galaxy science fiction magazines, and bought a lot of books himself. But one of the first books that caught my eye was a paperback called Invaders from Rigel. It was written by Fletcher Pratt, who had written one of my favorite illustrated Civil War history books, and sported a cover that grabbed my young eye, as it was full of pulpy excitement: There was a giant spaceship landing in the background, and green aliens with fishbowl helmets and ray guns. It would be hard for any youngster to resist exciting stuff like that. While Invaders from Rigel is the first alien invasion book I ever read, it is certainly not my favorite. That honor goes to another book I read at a very early age, Sleeping Planet by William Burkett. If you want to read a great book about plucky Earthlings vanquishing alien invaders, that one is definitely worth seeking out. Invaders from Rigel was published in hardback by Avalon Books in 1960, with its first paperback edition, from Airmont Books (the one I read), issued in 1964. In style, it feels like a throwback to the science fiction of the pre-WWII era, which turns out to be the result of the novel being expanded from an earlier tale, “The Onslaught from Rigel,” first published in the magazine Wonder Stories Quarterly in 1932. Published after the author’s death, the novel may be a piece that was found unsold in his papers and manuscripts. About the Author Murray Fletcher Pratt (1897-1956), who wrote under the name Fletcher Pratt, was an American historian, naval wargamer, and writer of science fiction and fantasy. In this column, I have reviewed Pratt’s work before, looking at the fantasy book The Compleat Enchanter, which he cowrote with L. Sprague de Camp, and you can find more biographical information there. That biography is certainly worth a look, as Pratt had a fascinating life. You can find some of Pratt’s work to read for free here on Project Gutenberg, including “The Onslaught from Rigel.” First Impressions Everyone always remembers the first time they did something, and generally remembers it fondly. Your first movie, or first book—these experiences linger in your mind. And like a little duck searching for its mother, you imprint on those events, and judge additional experiences in relationship to them. Having Invaders from Rigel as my first grown-up science fiction adventure certainly left me with an interesting yardstick with which to measure future reading. It had everything except the kitchen sink crammed between its pages. There was a planetary cataclysm, some people turned into robots, others whose blood iron was replaced by cobalt, mysterious energy sources, creepy aliens, mountain lairs, giant battles, wild inventions, and even a little romance. The style was lurid, the plot galloped along, and the events were improbable. But as I read more widely, I realized that while I had a lot of fun reading Invaders from Rigel, it was far from good. I began to see the value in more realistic characters, in science grounded in reality (or at least the appearance of reality), in plots that built the story in a logical manner, and in more carefully crafted prose. The biggest gift Invaders from Rigel left with me was an ability to suspend my disbelief even when a writer was pushing past the limits of believability. And rather than be disappointed that nothing would ever be as good as my first adult book, I had nowhere to go but up! Invaders from Rigel Murray Lee awakens in his New York penthouse apartment to find that he has been turned into a clockwork man of metal, with hair the consistency of steel wool. His roommate, Ben Ruby, has awakened before him, and discovered that if they drink anything, it should be lubricating oil, and that connecting one leg and the opposite arm to a battery serves as a meal that leaves them “recharged” and refreshed. They believe their condition is the result of a radioactive comet that was heading toward the Earth. The city beneath them is silent, and they discover that most of its inhabitants have been turned into immobile statues. They encounter a woman, Gloria Rutherford, who had been staying in the top floor of a hotel, whose throat is sore with rust from having tried a drink of water. To attract the attention of other survivors, they decide to torch the old Metropolitan Opera House (a building that in real life had deteriorated and become kind of an eyesore). They end up finding just over a dozen people who survived the transition to their new metallic form. Because altitude and fresh air seemed to be linked to successful conversion, the survivors are generally from the top floors of buildings: the very rich or their servants. This tends to emphasize the class differences of the time, and the portrayal of one Japanese servant in particular is gratingly offensive. One of the other survivors is a professional dancer named Marta Lami, who responds to these strange events with good humor. They also find the city plagued by strange and malevolent giant birds with two sets of wings (forward wings that provide lift, and rear wings that beat to propel the beasts). So the survivors arm themselves for protection. The survivors elect Ben as their leader, but two rich men rebel at being told what to do, lure Marta into a car under false pretenses, and head upstate. They encounter more of the malevolent birds, and decide to visit West Point to see if there are any survivors at the military academy who might be able to protect them. But all they can find is one poor soul that has been animated to the point where they are conscious, but barely able to move, a horrifying situation. Marta realizes she has been duped, but at this point they are attacked by the birds again. Back in New York, the rest of the survivors find themselves in a running battle with the birds, who seem to be intelligent, and who have started dropping powerful incendiary bombs. So the survivors try to commandeer a destroyer, USS Ward, in the hope its anti-aircraft guns can defend them. But the birds are too much for them, and the destroyer is damaged beyond repair. They radio for help, and to their surprise, an Australian destroyer, Brisbane, comes to their defense. But when the Australians come aboard, the New Yorkers find that their skin is blue, as the effects of the comet in the Southern Hemisphere have replaced people’s blood iron with cobalt (try not to think too hard about this, as from a chemical standpoint, it doesn’t make much sense). But while the Americans find the blue Australians strange, the Australians find the metal Americans beyond comprehension. The Australians call the birds dodos, and that name sticks. A glowing message appears over the city, “SOFT MEN EXIT. HARD MEN ARE WORKERS BELONGING. MUST RETURN. THIS MEANS YOU.” And then, “WARNING. FLY AWAY ACURSED PLACE.” It is a sign that either the birds are intelligent, or they have intelligent masters, and that there is a method to the activities of these alien invaders. Ben and an Australian pilot take a plane to do some reconnaissance, and find a mysterious installation in the Catskills, but are driven away by a mysterious ray gun and a squadron of dodos. There is a break in the action, during which the forces of humanity decide to take on the invaders, and the survivors from New York are pressed into service as a tank force that lands in New Jersey, their metal form making them ideal for the role. Murray and Ben are leaders of this force, and Gloria proves to be a crack shot. But while the human forces make some initial gains, they are soon faced with alien energy weapons and impenetrable tanks that send them retreating. And at this point, about halfway through the book, a metal man, Lieutenant Herbert Sherman, late of the US Army Air Force, shows up not only to turn the conflict around, but also to upend the narrative. At this point, the original characters are nearly forgotten, and Sherman becomes the main protagonist of the book. Sherman had been flying around the Northeast, trying to find survivors, when he was shot down and captured by the invaders. He was taken to their underground fortress in the Catskills, where he found the invaders were slender elephant-like creatures who called themselves the Lassans. Sherman helped them learn English, thinking communication could only help the situation. He found himself manipulated by force fields that controlled his body and tortured him. He was surrounded by metallic ape-men, who were controlled by the Lassans with electronic helmets connected to their minions by long cables (there was no Wi-Fi in their toolkits, apparently). He encountered Marta, one of the original New York survivors, and the two of them developed a mutual affection and respect. They tried to escape, but only he was successful, and he vowed to return to free her. With Sherman’s knowledge of the invaders and their technology, the humans begin to implement new countermeasures and offensive weapons, and there is soon a technological arms race, where new devices are fielded at a breakneck pace. The tale starts to feel like an E.E. “Doc” Smith adventure, with the protagonists spinning out one invention after another. And these devices are quite improbable, which illustrates an important point—sometimes it is better for science fiction authors not to share their notes and explain too much, as a little mystery can tend to make advanced technology more believable. An improbable explanation is sometimes not as good as no explanation at all. And having ordinary people dream these things up, and building prototypes in a workshop within a few hours or days, is quite a stretch. The battle between humans and aliens seesaws back and forth for a few chapters, and while I won’t share all the details, it is no surprise that the plucky humans come out on top. The metal people are restored to their original fleshy forms by exposure to emanations from a mysterious substance from the center of the earth (again, the less you ponder some of these developments, the better). In the end, friends are reunited, and true love prevails. Final Thoughts Invaders from Rigel is pulp fiction at its pulpiest, and not without its flaws. Its expansion from novelette to novel is far from seamless, as some of the material from the 1932 original tale was not even updated when the expanded story was released in 1960. The switching of viewpoint protagonists from Murray Lee in the beginning to Herbert Sherman in the second half is jarring. But while the gender and class differences displayed in the story are sometimes offensive, some of the female characters, especially Gloria and Marta, have quite a bit of agency, and prove themselves to be equal to, if not better than, some of the men. The invaders are a bit weird, but Pratt deserves some credit for trying to portray aliens that are truly different from the humans. In the end, despite the flaws, the relentless energy of the tale carries the day, and keeps the reader engaged. I now look forward to your feedback. If you’ve read Invaders from Rigel, I’d be interested in your impressions. And I’d enjoy hearing about any other tales of alien invasion you’ve enjoyed![end-mark] The post Pulp Fiction at Its Pulpiest: Invaders from Rigel by Fletcher Pratt appeared first on Reactor.