When the Moon Fell

Catalog Note *When the Moon Fell* is science fiction set in a reconstructed future civilization documenting the catastrophe that befell Earth. In 1929, astronomers detect aberrations in the moon's orbit caused by an unknown celestial invader passing through the solar system. The disturbance dislodges the moon from its orbit, causing it to hurtle toward Earth with inevitable collision predicted in the central Pacific. The narrator, a former war pilot and writer, is stationed in remote Labrador observing transatlantic flights when wireless operator Jim Daley brings news from the Smithsonian Institution warning of imminent global disaster. Facing tidal waves and unprecedented atmospheric upheaval, the narrator and Daley flee inland by aircraft to the Laurentian Mountains, hoping the interior provides shelter. The moon grows visibly larger overhead—a scarlet, black-mottled globe—as atmospheric conditions deteriorate into hurricane-force winds and extreme cold. The narrative captures their physical struggle for survival amid apocalyptic phenomena.