Reading order
| # | Title | Published | Author | Buy on Amazon |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | When Worlds Collide | 1932 | Philip Wylie | Buy |
| 2 | After Worlds Collide | 1933 | Philip Wylie | Buy |
| 3 | The Terrans of Beta | 2011 | Philip Wylie | Buy |
Philip Wylie’s When Worlds Collide (1932), co-written with Edwin Balmer, is one of the foundational disaster novels of science fiction. The story follows scientists and engineers racing to build a spacecraft that can carry a small group of survivors to a new world before a rogue planet destroys Earth. After Worlds Collide (1933) picks up with the survivors on their new planet, facing the challenges of starting civilization over.
The 1951 film adaptation made the story a lasting part of popular culture, and the books remain readable as early examples of the “planetary disaster” subgenre. The Terrans of Beta (2011) is a much later addition that continues the story, though the original two books are the ones that established the series’ reputation.