The novel “Rogue in Space” by Fredric Brown was published for the first time in 1957. It’s the result of the union and the expansion of two stories published separately, “Gateway to Darkness” (1949) and “Gateway to Glory” (1950).

Crag is a former astronaut who ended up becoming a criminal. When he gets arrested for possession of a lethal drug, his prospects are very grim. Judge Olliver sentences him to a memory wipe but secretly offers him an escape route. Olliver has big ambitions but needs something that will ensure the power and thinks he can impose his will if Crag can steal a disintegrator.

A sentient asteroid wanders the cosmos. In the course of its long life, it never found creatures like him and has learned to feel his way around the universe without the need for common perception senses. After many travels, it enters a solar system in which there are life forms very different from it born on the third planet who have expanded on other planets.

Fredric Brown became famous in the field of science fiction especially for his short stories often very short and for some novels, especially with humorous contents. In his career, he also wrote many detective mystery / detective stories. In the two stories then reworked to obtain the novel “Rogue in Space” he put together various elements of the different genres.

Crag’s story has some noir tones since the protagonist is a former astronaut who lost everything as a result of an accident. At that point, he became a criminal and, among other things, a drug dealer. This part isn’t very developed: it seems that Fredric Brown just used some basic element of that genre for Crag’s story.

Subsequently, the development of the first part of the novel, the one in which Crag is forced to work for judge Olliver, the story contains some elements of satire on the society of the 23rd century. Crag, who initially is the villain of the story, ends up becoming almost a bastion of integrity in a society that is decadent mainly because of corruption.

There’s an almost total reversal of roles between the beginning and the end of the novel, which isn’t entirely consistent. Crag, who initially seems like a criminal with no possibility of redemption, ends up involved in an attempt to rise to power by judge Olliver which leads him to get disgusted by the rich people’s life style. For a period he lives in a luxurious hotel where he can have access to any sexual service, one of the most explicit symptoms of the corruption of society.

In the course of the novel, following the intervention of the sentient asteroid, there is a very strong change in the tone of the story. This shows more than everything else how “Rogue in Space” is the union of two separate stories but it’s only one of its flaws.

At that time, science fiction stories were generally much more based on plots and ideas than characters. The protagonist is relatively developed and the other characters, even those as important as judge Olliver and his wife, have little development.

Maybe Fredric Brown was too far ahead to the time when he wrote the stories that make up “Rogue in Space”. Today there are several examples of genre blending that include science fiction and noir and put them together in a harmonious way. Instead, this novel had little success, ending up being a quite uneven mix of many different elements.

Unfortunately, “Rogue in Space” has overall more flaws than qualities, making it the worst science fiction novel by Fredric Brown. It might be of interest to fans of this author.