The Flying Sorcerers

The Flying Sorcerers is a humorous 1971 science fiction novel by David Gerrold and Larry Niven. The plot concerns the efforts of an astronaut and geologist/anthropologist, Purple to get away from a primitive world where he is stranded, and return to his people. The events are seen from the perspective of Lant, one of the natives, who becomes, in the course of the novel, Speaker, or chieftain, of his people. The natives, a fur covered people, beli... more

The Flying Sorcerers is a humorous 1971 science fiction novel by David Gerrold and Larry Niven. The plot concerns the efforts of an astronaut and geologist/anthropologist, Purple to get away from a primitive world where he is stranded, and return to his people. The events are seen from the perspective of Lant, one of the natives, who becomes, in the course of the novel, Speaker, or chieftain, of his people. The natives, a fur covered people, believe in magic and the book shows how sufficiently advanced technology would be perceived by a primitive society. Purple lands in an egg-shaped vehicle. He casually disrupts the lives of Lant's people, and thoughtlessly demeans Shoogar, the village magician. Shoogar gets revenge by destroying Purple's vehicle—while the magician certainly tries to destroy it, he is more successful than he could have dreamed—it turns out to be an atomic explosion! Many of the villagers are dead or injured, the rest, including Lant and Shoogar, are forced to flee.... less