David Gerrold - The War Against The Chtorr

The War Against The Chtorr

Gerrold is the author of the War Against the Chtorr series of books, about an invasion of Earth by mysterious aliens: A Matter for Men (1983), A Day for Damnation (1985), A Rage for Revenge (1989), and A Season for Slaughter (1993). As of 2012, he is still writing the fifth book (A Method For Madness), and has contracted to write a sixth (A Time For Treason). The ending chapters of the series have been set aside for the seventh and final book, which will be A Case For Courage. As of 2007, he said he was only four sequences away from completing book five. The first two books exist in both "original" and "extended" versions.

The alien invasion is an ecological one. Instead of earthlings terraforming another planet, the aliens are "Chtorraforming" Earth. Instead of armies, the unseen aggressors gradually unleash plants and animals from their older, more evolved planet (which is indicated as being perhaps a half billion years older than Earth, and evolved into a higher effective competitiveness). These outcompete and displace their terrestrial counterparts and Earth becomes more and more Chtorr-like as the "war" progresses. With each book, additional layers, features, creatures, details and characteristics are exposed. The Chtorran ecology created by Gerrold is so complex there was at one time rumored to be a "Red Book" in the works - an illustrated field guide to Chtorran wildlife.

One reason given by Gerrold for the length of time taken between books 4 and 5 is the need to develop a writing style called "first person psychotic". Indications are that the central character attempts to survive by adaptation without being absorbed by the alien ecology, descends into his own personal version of living hell, or both. The 5th book is available for preorder at a major online seller. The date was given as July 2011, however the book was not released on that date and the option to preorder removed and replaced with an option to be notified when the book is released. The revised release date was moved to 2014 as well.

Portions of the remaining books have made it into print, however. Gerrold released to fans a cliffhanger teaser chapter from Method for Madness. In his collection The Involuntary Human (ISBN 978-1-886778-68-X), he included "It Needs Salt" (as a portion of the planned but not formally scheduled Time for Treason). Finally, he also published the story "Enterprise Fish" in a volume of Thrilling Wonder Stories, (ISBN 978-0-9796718-1-4; Ed. by Winston Engle). "Enterprise Fish" is described as an excerpt from Time For Treason. The Chtorr series and its central character have moved through stages of development with each book in the series, with another layer of the Chtorran ecology explained and understanding of it unveiled with each successive book. Since "It Needs Salt" and "Enterprise Fish" are short stories from planned future layers of plot and character development, fans of the series are forewarned that they contain "spoilers".