Wine of the Dreamers

Wine of the Dreamers

First edition cover
Author	John D. MacDonald
Language	English
Genre	Science fiction
Publisher	Greenberg
Publication date	1951
Publication place	United States
Media type	Print
Pages	219

Wine of the Dreamers is a 1951 science fiction novel by American writer John D. MacDonald. Wine of the Dreamers was his first science fiction novel and one of his earliest published novels altogether.^[1] Though he later also wrote the science fiction novels Ballroom of the Skies and The Girl, the Gold Watch & Everything, MacDonald was primarily a writer of mysteries. A later version was published under the name Planet of the Dreamers before reverting to the original title upon further printings.

The book is set both on Earth (dealing with a top-secret military spaceflight project in an imagined 1975) and a far-away planet of humans able to influence Earth while they sleep, believing that the planet and all its inhabitants are simply part of their dreams that they can toy with. MacDonald described the book as "a symbolic novel of how when original purposes are forgotten, the uses of ritual can be destructive."^[1]

Galaxy reviewer Groff Conklin wrote that "The skill and the imagination with which the tale is developed are genuinely satisfying."^[2] P. Schuyler Miller found the novel to be "well and smoothly told, with likable characters a bit beyond the cardboard stage."^[3]

References

1. Merrill, Hugh (2000). The Red Hot Typewriter: The Life and Times of John D. MacDonald. MacMillan. pp. 79, 89. ISBN 978-0-312-20905-6.
2. "Galaxy's 5 Star Shelf," Galaxy Science Fiction, December 1951, p.111.
3. "The Reference Library", Astounding Science Fiction, April 1952, p.112-13