The giant world

About this book

"The giant world" by Ray Cummings is a science fiction novel written in the early 20th century. It follows clerk-turned-explorer Frank Elgon and the twins Martt and Frannie as they journey in a size- and time-shifting craft to a concave “Inner Surface” to find Brett, encountering the singer Leela, her family, and an indolent, art-loving society shadowed by marauding giants from a vaster outer realm. The tale blends romance, awe at strange scales, and rising menace as human-sized lives collide with titanic powers.

The opening of the story finds Frank Elgon summoned by Dr. Gryce to help find Brett, only to arrive as the old man dies; honoring his last wish, Frank, Martt, and Frannie enlarge a remaining model craft and descend to the Inner Surface. In the city of Crescent they reunite with Brett—now living with Leela and set to marry—while learning of Romantica’s peaceful, music-rich life and the uneasy rumors of giants near Reaf. During a lantern-lit island festival, a towering figure appears offshore, panic erupts, and giant agents drug Leela and Frannie, shrinking them beyond immediate rescue as Brett and Frank look on in horror. Martt and Leela’s impetuous sister Zee then pursue the captors by fast sail through fog to Reaf, hoping to steal the size-changing drugs from a sleeping giant, while Frannie’s viewpoint traces a breathless, size-shifting ride on horned mounts and a plunge into the subterranean rivers that lead toward the giants’ world.