Pariah Planet

"Pariah Planet" by Murray Leinster is a science fiction novel written in the early 1960s. The story revolves around a medical officer named Calhoun and his tormal companion, Murgatroyd, who embark on a journey to a troubled planet facing a health crisis and deep-seated prejudices. The underlying themes focus on fear, paranoia, and the consequences of misunderstanding, especially pertaining to a group labeled as "blueskins," people who survived a plague and are now seen as a threat. The opening of the novel introduces Calhoun as he pilots the Med Ship Aesclipus Twenty towards the planet Weald, which is gripped by fear of the blueskins, a group hailing from the nearby planet Dara. As he makes preparations for landing and descends into the atmosphere, he grapples with the challenges of navigating a society that has allowed its apprehensions to shape xenophobic policies. When he arrives, he discovers that a recent tragedy, possibly linked to the blueskins, has escalated fears and tensions. Through Calhoun's interactions, the narrative develops a complex observation of how quickly fear can lead to scapegoating and societal unrest, setting the stage for a confrontation between humanity's better nature and its darker instincts. (This is an automatically generated summary.)

Murray Leinster was a pen name of William Fitzgerald Jenkins, an American writer of genre fiction, particularly of science fiction. He wrote and published more than 1,500 short stories and articles, 14 movie scripts, and hundreds of radio scripts and television plays.