The Outward Urge

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The Outward Urge is a sf novel by John Wyndham which is a collection of linked short stories, originally published in four issues of the magazine <i>"New Worlds Science Fiction"</i>. The collection was originally published with those four chapters in 1959. A 5th chapter was included in later versions. It was originally published in the November 1960 issue of New Wolds as a separate short story, 'The Emptiness of Space'. The stated authorship has a peculiar history. It was published as cowritten by John Wyndham &amp; Lucas Parkes, but they were different pen-names for the same writer. He had used the pen-name Lucas Parkes earlier in his career. Unlike most of his novels, The Outward Urge was closer to typical hard sf &amp; his publishers decided they wanted to use the Wyndham &amp; Parkes byline because it was "not your usual Wyndham style". It's future history set from 1994 to 2194. With chapters at 50-year intervals, it tells the story of the exploration of space, with space stations in Earth orbit, then moon bases, landings on Mars in 2094, Venus in 2144, &amp; the asteroids. This is told thru Troon family members who play an important part in the exploration of space, since they all feel "the outward urge", the desire to travel further into space. They all "hear the thin gnat-voices cry, star to faint star across the sky"--a quote from The Jolly Company by Rupert Brooke. In 1994 "Ticker" Troon is killed foiling a Soviet missile attack on a British space station, &amp; is later awarded a posthumous Victoria Cross. In 2044 a major nuclear war between the USSR &amp; the West wipes out most of the Northern Hemisphere, leaving Brazil as the main world power, which then claims that "Space is a province of Brazil". However Australia eventually emerges as a serious rival.