Nightwings (novella)

Lore & Background

The story is set in a decadent, caste-based future where humanity is divided into guilds, each with specific roles. Some guild members appear genetically engineered, such as the Fliers, who can fly, and the Watchers, who watch distant stars. The main character is a Watcher tasked with monitoring the skies for alien invasion using sophisticated equipment, alongside a young Flier girl and a Changeling (who belongs to no guild). They visit the old city of Roum (suspected to be Rome) and become entangled in events involving a possible invasion.

Other great cities mentioned include Jorslem (Jerusalem), Stambool (Istanbul), Marsay (Marseille), Donsk (Gdańsk), Nayrub (Nairobi), Dijon, Palerm (Palermo), and Perris (Paris), though each has only a few thousand inhabitants. According to Silverberg's introductions, the changes required to combine the three novellas into a fixup novel were relatively minor.

Reader's Guide

"Nightwings" is significant as a Hugo Award-winning novella that exemplifies Robert Silverberg's mid-career shift toward more literary and thematically complex science fiction. Its depiction of a decadent, guild-based society and the tension between observation and action resonates with Cold War anxieties about surveillance and invasion. The novella's success helped cement Silverberg's reputation as a major figure in the genre during the late 1960s. The work also demonstrates the fixup novel form, where three previously published novellas were combined with minimal changes into a single narrative. Its adaptations—a 1985 graphic novel by Cary Bates and Gene Colan, and a 1987 audiobook—extended its reach beyond print. The story's legacy includes its influence on later dystopian and post-apocalyptic fiction, as well as its exploration of caste, genetic engineering, and the decline of civilization.

Did You Know?

• "Nightwings" was first published in Galaxy Science Fiction magazine in September 1968.
• It won the Hugo Award for Best Novella in 1969 and the Prix Apollo Award in 1976.
• The novella was adapted as a graphic novel in 1985, the second in the DC Science Fiction Graphic Novel line.
• The city of Roum in the story is suspected to be Rome.