A World by the Tale

"A World by the Tale" by Randall Garrett is a science fiction novel written in the early 1960s. The story revolves around Professor John Hamish McLeod, a zoologist who becomes the first Earthman to leave the Solar System and embarks on an interstellar journey to a distant planet named Gelakin. Upon his return, McLeod is approached by the Union Bureau of Investigation (U.B.I.) regarding his experiences and a book he wrote about them, which unintentionally becomes a source of embarrassment for Earth and its inhabitants. In the narrative, McLeod navigates the complexities of Earth’s relationship with Galactic civilizations, particularly through the unfortunate reception of his book "Interstellar Ark," which is met with ridicule by Galactic readers. As he faces fallout from his perceived failures, McLeod grapples with the implications of trading with a technologically superior civilization, their views on authorship and wealth, and the need for Earth to secure interstellar credits. As he works to salvage his reputation and determine his responsibilities to his planet and its inhabitants, McLeod finds himself in a position of unexpected leverage that may shape Earth's future in the galaxy. Ultimately, the book explores themes of cultural misunderstanding, economic disparity, and the quest for identity in a rapidly changing universe. (This is an automatically generated summary.)

Gordon Randall Phillip David Garrett was an American science fiction and fantasy author. He was a contributor to Astounding and other science fiction magazines of the 1950s and 1960s. He instructed Robert Silverberg in the techniques of selling large quantities of action-adventure science fiction, and collaborated with him on two novels about men from Earth disrupting a peaceful agrarian civilization on an alien planet.