When the moon fell

In Short

Set against the backdrop of a global apocalypse, Morrison Colladay's 1929 science fiction novel follows an aviator stationed in Labrador who survives the literal falling of the moon. As gravitational shocks, colossal tidal waves, and extreme climate shifts wipe out industrial civilization, the narrator and his wireless operator companion take to the skies. They eventually find refuge in Greenland alongside other survivors, helping forge a rational new society from the remnants of a shattered world. It has endured as an inventive, early interplanetary disaster narrative capturing humanity's resilience amid unimaginable cosmic destruction.

The Story

The narrative opens in 1929 with astronomers detecting strange aberrations in the moon's motion, caused by an unseen interstellar visitor passing through the solar system. While urban populations succumb to a paralyzing hopelessness or religious fervor, the narrator remains isolated at an observation post in Point Amour, Labrador, alongside wireless operator Jim Daley. Jim rushes in with a broadcast bulletin issued jointly by the Smithsonian Institution and the British Royal Society, announcing that the moon has been thrown from its orbit and will collide with the earth in the central Pacific region.

Recognizing that escape is impossible near the coast, the two men load a monoplane with gasoline and food and fly inland across the Laurentian Mountains. Below them, a sinister, orange-glowing moon looms increasingly large in a burnished copper sky, accompanied by howling hurricane winds and plummeting temperatures. They shelter their plane inside a deep mountain depression, weathering terrifying earthquakes, blinding reflections, and the terrifying approach of the scarlet lunar sphere.

Eventually, the moon's direct plunge is temporarily arrested, settling into a fifteen-hour orbit that brings repeated tidal waves. During one such pass, a wall of salt water sweeps into their ravine, but they narrowly survive. Four hours later, the final collision occurs while they are asleep. When the narrator awakens, a warm rain is falling, all ice and snow have vanished, and the earth's rotation has fundamentally shifted into a permanent 365-day daylight cycle without darkness.

Realizing that civilization has likely been destroyed, the pair survey a steaming, ocean-swamped landscape from their mountain ridge. Refueling their undamaged monoplane, they set a compass-less course northward toward Greenland, hoping to find a rumored interior refuge. Midway across the turbulent ocean, they are intercepted by a giant Fokker monoplane that guides them safely to Upernavik. There, they reunite with old acquaintances like Billy Matthews, joining a community of three thousand survivors who use aircraft to rescue stranded groups across the Arctic.

Just as stability seems within reach, seismographs record ominous subterranean vibrations. Another cataclysm looms, and the community relies on the narrator's expertise to decide whether to take flight or seek shelter on land. He advises moving planes to narrow ravines while survivors climb the heights. A massive final upheaval occurs, forcing the ocean floor between Labrador and Norway ten thousand feet into the air to form a vast new continental landmass. Five years later, a rational, English-speaking civilization has successfully organized itself across this new territory. Now enjoying stable conditions, the narrator and Jim prepare a metallic dirigible to explore the untouched, ruined wreckage of the old world on the other side of the planet.

How It Unfolds

• The warning arrives: Isolated in Labrador, the narrator learns from a Smithsonian radio bulletin brought by Jim Daley that an unknown force has knocked the moon out of its orbit toward a fatal collision.
• Flight to the interior: Recognizing that coastal areas face certain destruction from impending tidal waves, the two men load their monoplane with fuel and provisions and fly inland across the Laurentian Mountains.
• The scarlet approach: Sheltered inside a rocky mountain depression beneath a copper sky, they watch in awe as the massive, glowing moon draws closer, accompanied by freezing gales and violent earthquakes.
• The collision and aftermath: After the earth and moon collide, the survivors awaken to a warm, unending rain, a vanished ice cap, and an altered planetary axis that eliminates regular night.
• Journey to Greenland: Leaving their Labrador refuge behind, the pair fly across a turbulent, steaming ocean, following a larger Fokker aircraft to a thriving survivor colony established near Upernavik.
• The final upheaval: When seismic instruments signal a new disaster, the community heeds the narrator's advice to secure planes in ravines and seek high ground before a massive tectonic shift elevates the entire ocean floor into a new continent.

The People

The narrator is an aviation writer and experienced pilot whose practical temperament, technical knowledge, and calm demeanor enable him to survive extreme hazards and eventually guide a new civilization's planning. Jim Daley is the energetic wireless operator at the Labrador station whose youthful enthusiasm and steady companionship anchor the narrator throughout the ordeal; together, they face each successive disaster with pragmatic resourcefulness, sharing pipe smoke and maintaining their morale. Billy Matthews is a college friend and government air mail pilot who greets the pair upon their arrival in Greenland, organizing rescue missions and relying on the narrator's expertise during subsequent crises. Anonymous scientists and astronomers represent the intellectual backbone of humanity, calmly broadcasting vital calculations until the end and establishing a rational foundation for the post-catastrophe world. The indigenous inhabitants of Labrador and the ordinary citizens worldwide who succumb to apathy or perish in the cataclysm highlight the tragic human cost of the event. Finally, the resilient survivors gathered in Greenland share a common struggle against overwhelming cosmic forces, transforming from isolated witnesses into the cooperative architects of a forward-looking global society.

In Its Own Voice

Reflecting on the initial hopelessness that paralyzed society when the news first broke, the narrator notes:

The religious people of the period regarded the coming event as fulfillment of a prophecy of the destruction of the world in the Last Day.

Describing the eerie appearance of the lunar body as it loomed large over their mountain shelter, the narrator observes:

It came over the sandstone ridge, a great scarlet globe mottled with black.

Contemplating the profound solitude and desolation of the steaming ocean after the cataclysmic impact, the narrator remarks:

I felt as if we had been carried back to the early days of the world, before continents were formed and life emerged from chaos.

What It's Really About

The book explores the fragility of human civilization when confronted with indifferent cosmic forces and inevitable extinction. It examines how society reacts psychologically to total disaster, contrasting widespread fatalism and religious panic with the quiet heroism of scientists who continue their work until the final moment. Furthermore, the narrative investigates themes of rebirth and rational reconstruction, arguing that human society can be successfully rebuilt from scratch on a foundation of reason, science, and cooperation rather than old prejudices. Finally, it questions humanity's place in the universe, emphasizing that our survival depends on adaptability and courage when facing radical, world-altering changes.

Why Read It Today

Readers who appreciate classic speculative fiction, vintage disaster stories, and early planetary adventures will find much to admire in this inventive narrative. Written in an era when aviation was capturing the popular imagination, the book delivers a unique atmosphere combining technical realism with cosmic scale, evoking the strange, dreamlike stillness of a world stripped of its familiar rhythms. While modern readers might notice period conventions, such as the casual treatment of indigenous populations and somewhat dated prose styles, these elements reflect the historical context of 1920s pulp science fiction rather than hindering the core experience. What ultimately stays with you is the resilient spirit of the characters and the awe-inspiring vision of a completely transformed Earth, where continents rise anew from the sea and humanity dares to look toward an uncharted future. It remains a fascinating historical artifact that captures both the anxieties and the boundless optimism of early twentieth-century speculative imagination.