Today, June 16, is the birthday of Murray Leinster (1896-1975).  I was going to cover the novellas on the Retro Hugo ballot after I read the short stories, but with Leinster’s birthday today, I’m going to cover this one.

Leinster was a prolific author in the 1920s, 30s, and 40s. He won the Hugo Award in 1956 for “Exploration Team”. At his best, Leinster had few peers. He was the author of such classics as “First Contact” and “Sidewise in Time”, for which the Sidewise Award is named. He anticipated the internet in “A Logic Named Joe”. I wonder if Al Gore read that one before he invented the internet.

“Trog” appeared in the June 1944 issue of Astounding. It has never been reprinted.

The story is set in 1956.  Civilization has been collapsing for four years. The general consensus is that humanity has a collective, mass consciousness that has tired of civilization. It takes over people at random and causes them to destroy things. Supply lines have been disrupted. Food is scarce. Things that break cannot be replaced. People destroy things. Those that do are called trogs, short for troglodytes.

Frankly, I found a lot of uncomfortable parallels with today while I read this tale. *glares at news channels*

The hero of the story is Dick Drummond. Yes, that’s really his name. He, his girlfriend Sally (daughter of a brilliant scientist killed in a plane crash early in the story), and their colleagues figure out a way to trap a trog. No one has ever seen a trog. The working theory is that the mass consciousness causes blackouts during which a person becomes a trog and destroys things.

Turns out that’s not really what’s going  on. There is a group of people who are determined to destroy civilization. *glares at “protestors” who destroy the businesses and neighborhoods of those they claim to be fighting for* There’s a racial angle to this plan, although probably not the way that sentence makes you think. (Did I mention that I saw some parallels with today?)

The story drags a bit in the middle where Drummond and his colleagues discuss in great detail the technology they need to win the fight. Other than that, I rather enjoyed the story. There parallels really didn’t bother me much. I thought they provided an interesting mirror in which to view things that Leinster probably never thought would happen.

I suspect the reason this story has never been reprinted is because of its length.The fact that it is on the final ballot surprises me a little for that reason.  I’m not sure it could get published today. I don’t see too many stories that have such a positive view of American ingenuity. This story was published during World War II, and the patriotic aspect isn’t surprising. I rather liked that aspect of it. While it’s not at the level of “Sidewise in Time”, “Trog” was a good story, and I’m glad it’s getting attention by being a Retro Hugo finalist.