What was the name of C.S. Lewis’s fictional planet trilogy’s first novel?

C.S. Lewis’s Space Trilogy begins with Out of the Silent Planet. The science-fiction novel was published in 1938 and follows Elwin Ransom, a philologist who is kidnapped and taken to the planet Mars, called Malacandra by its inhabitants.

The book combines planetary adventure with Christian and philosophical themes. Lewis presents Earth as the “silent planet,” a world cut off from the harmonious spiritual order found elsewhere in the cosmos. Ransom’s linguistic skills help him understand the cultures he encounters.

The second book, Perelandra, appeared in 1943, and the third, That Hideous Strength, was published in 1945. Together, the books are commonly called the Space Trilogy or the Ransom Trilogy.

Although the series is often discussed alongside modern science fiction, Lewis was especially interested in ideas about morality, language, technology, and humanity’s place in the universe. The trilogy is separate from The Chronicles of Narnia and from Lewis’s strictly nonfiction Christian works.