Book Review: Pulp Adventures on the Moon edited by Jonathan W. Sweet
Once upon a time, humans went to the moon. Yes, the moon up in the sky! It was awesome, but then other matters took precedence, and there wasn’t the budget, and we just never went back. But we still dream of moon exploration as we did back before we had the means to get there. This collection of twelve pieces of science fiction and speculation from the pulp magazines was published in 2019, the fiftieth anniversary of the first manned moon landing.
After a brief introduction by the editor, we begin with “First Target in Space” by R.L. Farnsworth. This essay talks a little bit about the difficulties of reaching the moon, but more about why we might want to, from both a symbolic and scientific viewpoint. Some dated science, but interesting.
“Hollywood on the Moon” by Henry Kuttner is a rollicking tale of adventure and a bit of Hollywood parody. It turns out that the far side of the moon is one enormous deep crater, able to be domed over and turned into a living space relatively easily, and the movie industry has moved in there lock, stock and barrel. Our protagonist is Tony Quade, special effects director, who needs to lead his unit in completing a big-budget space opera on time. One of his sets is on an asteroid about to be eaten by a space eddy, and that causes some problems.
Adding to Tony’s headaches are one of his crew going rogue after a mineral strike, and a pretty stowaway who wants to get into pictures. Oh, and alien monsters! Will Tony be able to save Nine Planets from bankruptcy? A fun story, if implausible in places.
“Afraid” by W.E. Thiessen stars Norman Kane, an explorer known for his courage, who inwardly knows that he’s a coward who lives in constant fear. But he may be just the man to deal with the Mocs, who use their uncanny mental powers to show their victims their worst nightmares. “True courage does not come from not having fear, etc.”
“Wobblies in the Moon” by Frank Belknap Long sadly is not about space union organization, but alien plants. Botanist and amateur detective John Carstairs is called to a wealthy man’s private moon manor to take charge of the title mobile vegetation. The millionaire is found dead surrounded by the wobblies, but without a mark on him? How was the murder done? An amusing typo in this one; a nettle that’s pierced someone’s skin and caused minor inconvenience is described as being “five to six inches in diameter.”
“Turnover Time” by Noel Loomis has a professor being rushed to the moon to investigate some photographs taken of Mars to determine if the Martians have built an invasion fleet. A subplot is that he’s being threatened to pass a student who’s failing his class by a powerful parent. The professor previously passed another student as a mercy and as gratitude for being passed by that student’s father when he should have failed a class lo these many years ago.
As it turns out, the student the professor passed is the pilot of the spaceship, and has gotten too dependent on the automated systems to give him the correct course calculations. We almost have a The Cold Equations moment. As it also turns out, the class the professor was given a free pass on is the one he needs to interpret the photographs, and he’s on the edge of either genocide or letting Earth fall to invaders when the pilot, now reviewing the information he should have learned in his class, gives the professor the clue he needs.
All of which is to say, pay attention in class!
“Moon Dust” by Oliver Saari has the first manned rocket to the moon land in a particularly particulate area of the moon’s surface, and sink as though trapped in quicksand. The pilot sees no way out, but he’s going to go out fighting.
“Moon Patrol” by Victor Rousseau has space cop Dan Connolly tasked with taking an engineer to the moon with him in his “jallopy” to inspect their atmosphere plant. He doesn’t like passengers and he’s also got a terrible toothache. But hey, only 24 hours from now, his moon dentist, the quarter-Martian Dr. Pram, will fix him up.
As it happens, the Moon Patrol is severely underfunded and their old-fashioned jallopies are the slowest spaceships around, no match for the speedy atomic models. This is usually a source of frustration, but when a gang of criminals steals the atmosphere plant’s payroll with a chemical trick, his old beater is the only ship that can catch them.
I did not like the not at all established twist that puts Officer Connolly on top. “Oh, I noticed their course took them right past this one secret asteroid with special properties that will knock out their engine, but not mine.”
“Life on the Moon” by Alexander Samalman is a short humor piece. The first volunteer to land on the moon finds life there, but it’s not what he thinks.
“One Came Back” by George Whitley has a freighter in the Pacific Ocean learn that the first spacecraft to return from the Moon (several expeditions apparently died during the landing) is about to splash down near them. Hey, turns out they’re the nearest ship! The ending is what would generally be the opening scene of a horror film.
“Welcome to Luna” by Charles E. Fritch involves a man making a solo flight to the moon, and a truly solo one. When the first manned ships to Luna exploded, the government gave up and started sending only unmanned ones. Mack Evans needed to go to the moon in person, and everyone around him ridiculed the idea, so he had to be self-taught, and build the rocket entirely by himself. Surely he will be the first living man on the moon. Right? It feels like Mr. Fritch was trying for a Bradbury feel but not quite getting there.
“Homesteader” by James Blish has an inspector come to the moon to investigate the military operation to send ships to Mars. Those ships are blowing up on the regular, and Congress wants to know why before pumping more money into them. The inspector may not have the imagination to thrive in space, but he’s good at noticing details.
“Escape from Earth” (uncredited) is a final essay on what it will take to achieve escape velocity; basically the fuel to make it practical didn’t exist yet, but scientists were optimistic.
None of these stories are the big classics of moon-based science fiction, which is how this small press anthology was able to afford them. That said, it’s a decent selection. I liked “Turnover Time” and “Hollywood on the Moon” the best, “Moon Patrol” and “Welcome to Luna” the least.
My generation was robbed, and it looks increasingly likely that we will not get back to the moon in my lifetime, let alone me being able to go in person as I have so longed to do. But perhaps my grand-relatives will finally be able to loose those bonds and return to space exploration.
Recommended to anyone who dreams of the moon.
