Margaret Atwood on John Wyndham

Always liked John Wyndham’s cosy catastrophes – thought truth is that was more John Christopher’s style, and this is an interesting piece by Margaret Atwood on Wyndham.

The Day of the Triffids was good, if overblown (and perhaps not so oddly reminiscent of Wells). The Kraken Wakes was my favourite. An alien invasion story that had genuinely alien aliens. They don’t care in the slightest about humans, they just want to terraform the Earth to their advantage and we’re an inconvenience.

The Chrysalids – I spent days trying to work out whether certain characters in it came from Holland or New Zealand. I’m pretty sure it was the latter. The Midwich Cuckooks which was pretty creepy. Not quite so cosy.

Like Atwood I never read The Outward Urge or Trouble with Lichen, though I recall attempting the last and not getting anywhere. Nor did I read Chocky which is the subject of her article. But it sounds good.