Category Archives: Startling Stories (SS)

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The Solar Invasion (CF#20)

Title: The Solar Invasion (Complete Novel)
Author: Manly Wade Wellman
Year: 1946
Variant Title of: The Solar Invasion (by Manly Wade Wellman)
Type: novel
Series: Captain Future
Series Number: 20
“Curt Newton, Joan Randall and the Futuremen cruise into a strange world peopled with weird, pallid inhabitants, on the quest of a lost satellite which was mysterious plucked from the sky”

Publications:

  • Startling Stories, Fall 1946, (Oct 1946, ed. Sam Merwin, Jr., publ. Better Publications, Inc., $0.15, 116pp, pulp, magazine) Cover: Earle Bergey
  • The Solar Invasion, (Oct 1968, Manly Wade Wellman, publ. Popular Library, #60-2346, $0.60, 126pp, pb) Cover: Frank Frazetta

Book Reviews:

  • Son of WSFA Journal. 33:9-10. September 1971. (D. Halterman)
  • Gammell, Leon L., The Annotated Guide to Startling Stories, Starmont House, 1986, p. 21. “The last Captain Future novel, written by an author other than Edmond Hamilton. This one concerns the return of the Futuremen’s arch-enemy, Ul Quorn, the Magician of Mars, from his inadvertent exile in another dimension, leading an army of light-hating aliens from a world of darkness to overrun the Solar System. An interesting enough story in its own right and capably written as always by this fine author. Unfortunately, Mr. Wellman did not do his homework for this assignment and reread all the earlier novels in the series, with the result that he committed a monumental blunder in returning to life for this story President Carew [i.e. Carthew] of the System Government, who was murdered in Outlaws of the Moon by interplanetary gangsters and the Futuremen framed for the crime. Reprinted in 1966 by Popular Library in paperback.”

cf20pulp
solarinvasionsolarinvasion-verso

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OPUS#236 Unforgiven, The

OPUS: #236
Title: The Unforgiven
Author: Edmond Hamilton
Year: 1953
Type: short story
“The hailed him as a hero for the one deed which he hoped to forget …”
“Adult interplanetary fiction about a hero with a guilt-complex” – Gammell, Leon L., The Annotated Guide to Startling Stories, Starmont House, 1986, p. 82
Publications:

  • Startling Stories, Vol. 31, no. 1, October 1953, (Oct 1953, ed. Samuel Mines, publ. Better Publications, Inc.; Kokomo, IN, $0.25, 132pp, Pulp, magazine), pp. 76-84. Cover: Alex Schomburg
  • Science Fiction Yearbook, Number 3, (1969, ed. Helen Tono, publ. Popular Library, Inc., $0.50, 100pp, Pulp, magazine) Cover: Virgil Finlay

Book review:

  • Gammell, Leon L., The Annotated Guide to Startling Stories, Starmont House, 1986, p. 82. “Adult interplanetary fiction about a hero with a guilt-complex.”

ebook: http://www.unz.org/Pub/StartlingStories-1953oct-00076

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OPUS#232 Earthmen No More [CF#26]

OPUS: #232
Title: Earthmen No More
Author: Edmond Hamilton
Year: 1951
Type: novelette
Series: Captain Future
Series Number: 26
cf26pulp
“When the Futuremen revived John Carney from his deep freeze, he wanted to go home – but where in space was home?”
「洗練と技巧をもって、カーティス・ニュートンの冒険に取り組んだ。新しい作品はオリジナルの長編よりもよくできており、もし＜＜キャプテン・フューチャー＞＞の冒険がこれだけだったら、登場人物たちも通常思われているよりも、もっと立派な存在として記録されることになっただろう。物語の広がりも地球規模となり、最後の三篇（中略）では、人類、生命、大宇宙の起源と本質に関する秘密が解明されてゆく」 – マイク・アシュリー著 ; 牧眞司訳『SF雑誌の歴史：黄金期そして革命』（東京創元社, 2015）p. 26.
Publications:

  • Startling Stories, Vol. 23, no. 1, March 1951, (Mar 1951, ed. Sam Merwin, Jr., publ. Better Publications, Inc.; Springfield, MA, $0.25, 164pp, Pulp, magazine) Cover: Earle Bergey; Illust : Orban
  • Thrilling Novels, No. 39, 1996

Reviews:

  • Gammell, Leon L., The Annotated Guide to Startling Stories, Starmont House, 1986, p. 70. “Probably the most serious in tone of all the Captain Future stories, either the early novels or the later novelettes, concerning a man of the late twentieth century revived from a deep freeze in space to face the mind-boggling marvels — and difficulties — of the far future, Well-written and thought provoking.”

ebook: https://archive.org/details/Startling_Stories_v23n01_1951-03.Better_c2c_ufikus-DPP

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OPUS#233 Birthplace of Creation [CF#27]

OPUS: 233
Title: Birthplace of Creation
Author: Edmond Hamilton
Year: 1951
Type: novelette
Series: Captain Future
Series Number: 27
cf27pulp
“In their final adventure the Futuremen are called on to save the Universe itself from a madman’s destructive whim!”
「洗練と技巧をもって、カーティス・ニュートンの冒険に取り組んだ。新しい作品はオリジナルの長編よりもよくできており、もし＜＜キャプテン・フューチャー＞＞の冒険がこれだけだったら、登場人物たちも通常思われているよりも、もっと立派な存在として記録されることになっただろう。物語の広がりも地球規模となり、最後の三篇（中略）では、人類、生命、大宇宙の起源と本質に関する秘密が解明されてゆく」 – マイク・アシュリー著 ; 牧眞司訳『SF雑誌の歴史：黄金期そして革命』（東京創元社, 2015）p. 26.
Publications:

  • Startling Stories, Vol. 23, no. 2, May 1951, (May 1951, ed. Sam Merwin, Jr., publ. Better Publications, Inc.; Kokomo, IN, $0.25, 164pp, Pulp, magazine) Cover: Earle Bergey; Ill : Orban
  • Startling Stories (UK), No. 8, August 1952. Ill : Michael Jones
  • Starwind : Science Fiction and Fantasy. Vol. 2, No. 1, Fall, August 1976
  • Thilling Novels, No. 39, 1996

Reviews:

  • Gammell, Leon L., The Annotated Guide to Startling Stories, Starmont House, 1986, p. 71. “Last of the Captain Future series, more or less of a sequel to the earlier novel, The Quest Beyond the Stars (Captain Future, Winter, 1942), wherein the Futuremen first discovered the wondrous Birthplace from whence all matter in our universe comes into being, and to which they now return to keep a power-hungry madman from subjecting it to his destructive whims. Better written than the earlier novel, but not nearly as much fun.”

ebook: https://archive.org/details/StarwindV02n011976Autumn/page/n47

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OPUS#231 Moon of the Unforgotten [CF#25]

OPUS: #231
Title: Moon of the Unforgotten
Author: Edmond Hamilton
Year: 1951
Type: novelette
Series: Captain Future
Series Number: 25
cf25pulp
“Curt Newton and Otho plumb the perilous secrets of the Jovian Moon Europa- where Ezra Gurney, friend of the Futuremen, has fallen prey to a mystic cult!”
「洗練と技巧をもって、カーティス・ニュートンの冒険に取り組んだ。新しい作品はオリジナルの長編よりもよくできており、もし＜＜キャプテン・フューチャー＞＞の冒険がこれだけだったら、登場人物たちも通常思われているよりも、もっと立派な存在として記録されることになっただろう。物語の広がりも地球規模となり、最後の三篇（中略）では、人類、生命、大宇宙の起源と本質に関する秘密が解明されてゆく」 – マイク・アシュリー著 ; 牧眞司訳『SF雑誌の歴史：黄金期そして革命』（東京創元社, 2015）p. 26.
Publications:

  • Startling Stories, Vol. 22, no. 3, January 1951, (Jan 1951, ed. Sam Merwin, Jr., publ. Better Publications, Inc.; Springfield, MA, $0.25, 164pp, pulp, magazine), pp. 118-134. Cover: Earle Bergey; Illust: Orban
  • Startling Stories (Canada), Vol. 22, no. 3, January 1951
  • Thrilling Novels, No. 39, 1996

Contents:
Chapter 1 The Second Life 118
Chapter 2 The Inn of the Three Red Moons 122
Chapter 3 The House of Returning 126
Chapter 4 The Unforgotten 130
Reviews:

  • Gammell, Leon L., The Annotated Guide to Startling Stories, Starmont House, 1986, p. 70. “Another well-written entry in this series of shorter pieces in the long-enduring sage of Curt Newton and the Futuremen, wherein the intrepid quarter attempt to utilize a the secret humanity’s ultimate origins that lie hidden within the human brain itself.”

ebook: http://www.unz.org/Pub/StartlingStories-1951jan-00118
ebook: https://archive.org/details/StartlingStoriesV22N03195101

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OPUS#230 Pardon My Iron Nerves [CF#24]

OPUS: #230
Title: Pardon My Iron Nerves
Author: Edmond Hamilton
Year: 1950
Type: novelette
Series: Captain Future
Series Number: 24
“If you think Grag’s an insensitive robot, read his own account of getting psychoanalyzed and repairing to Pluto’s forth Moon!”
Publications:

  • Startling Stories, Vol. 22, no. 2, November 1950, (Nov 1950, ed. Sam Merwin, Jr., publ. Better Publications, Inc., $0.25, 164pp, Pulp, magazine), pp. 78-96. Cover: Earle Bergey; Illust : Orban
  • Startling Stories (Canada), Vol. 22, no. 2, November 1950
  • Thilling Novels, No. 49, 1996

Contents:
Chapter 1 Metal Man 78
Chapter 2 Mission to Pluto 84
Chapter 3 The Machs 87
Chapter 4 Crazy Moon 92
Reviews:

  • Gammell, Leon L., The Annotated Guide to Startling Stories, Starmont House, 1986, p. 68. “Amusing story of Captain Future’s robot pal, Grag, and the nervous breakdown he imagined he was about to suffer, caused from being in intimate contact with humans so much of the time. How he quells the revolt of the “free” mining machines on Dis, remote satellite of Pluto, is a riot.”

ebook: http://www.unz.org/Pub/StartlingStories-1950nov-00078

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OPUS#229 Harpers of Titan, The [CF#23]

OPUS: #229
Title: The Harpers of Titan
Author: Edmond Hamilton
Year: 1950
Type: novelette
Series: Captain Future
Series Number: 23
cf23pulp
“Again Simon Wright, the “Brain” lives in a human body, and in that guise contends with the most hideous peril he has ever faced – a menace driving a planet to madness!”
Publications:

  • Startling Stories, Vol. 22, no. 1, September 1950, (Sep 1950, ed. Sam Merwin, Jr., publ. Better Publications, Inc., $0.25, 164pp, Pulp, magazine) Cover: Earle Bergey
  • Startling Stories (Canada), Vol. 22, no. 1, September 1950
  • Startling Stories (UK), No. 4, December 1950
  • Dr. Cyclops, (1967, ed. uncredited, publ. Popular Library, #445-02485-060, $0.60, 127pp, pb, anth) Cover: Herbert J. Bruck

Reviews:

  • Gammell, Leon L., The Annotated Guide to Startling Stories, Starmont House, 1986, p. 68. “Excellent Captain Future story of the people of Saturn’s largest moon and the strange cult of the Harpers that obsessed them almost to madness, and of how Simon Wright, the bodiless brain and long-time mentor of Curt Newton, had to take on full human guise once more in order to combat this bizarre menace.”

ebook: https://archive.org/details/Startling_Stories_v22n01_1950-09.Better (lack of many pages)

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OPUS#228 City at World’s End, The

OPUS: #228
Title: The City at World’s End (Complete Novel)
Author: Edmond Hamilton
Year: 1950
Variant Title of: City at World’s End (by Edmond Hamilton)
Type: novella
Note: The Two Thousand Centuries
“At first the people of Middletown thought that the superbomb was only a dud but actually it hurled all their town forward a million years!”
「超原子爆弾の爆発によって、アメリカの小さな町が数百万年後の未来にふきとばされ、住民たちはその時代の地球に人間が住んでいないことを知る。ここで描かれているのは、窮地におちいった人間たちの行動と、彼らが発見する星間文明である。この文明を築いたのは、はるか以前に地球に飛び出した人類で、支配圏を拡大しつづけているうちに、自分たちが地球で生まれた種族であるという意識を完全に失ってしまっている。この地球人類は、発展段階の劣る人間型の種族とコンタクトして、その種族を文明化して銀河連邦の一員にくわえようとしていたのである。」-『ＳＦ百科図鑑』
Publications:

  • Startling Stories, Vol. 21, no. 3, July 1950, (Jul 1950, ed. Sam Merwin, Jr., publ. Better Publications, Inc., $0.25, 164pp, Pulp, magazine) Cover: Earle Bergey
  • City at World’s End, (Feb 1951, Edmond Hamilton, publ. Frederick Fell, $2.75, 239pp, hc)
  • City at World’s End, (1952, Edmond Hamilton, publ. Museum Press (Science Fiction Club), 9/6, 192pp, hc)
  • City at World’s End, (1954, Edmond Hamilton, publ. Corgi, #T58, 2/-, 221pp, pb) Cover: John Richards
  •  City at World’s End, (Sep 1957, Edmond Hamilton, publ. Fawcett Crest, #s184, $0.35, 160pp, pb) Cover: Richard Powers
  • City at World’s End, (Dec 1961, Edmond Hamilton, publ. Crest Books / Fawcett Publications, #s494, $0.35, 160pp, pb) Cover: Richard Powers
  • City at World’s End, (1964, Edmond Hamilton, publ. Crest Books / Fawcett World Library, #L758, $0.45, 160pp, pb) Cover: Richard Powers
  • City at World’s End, (Jan 1974, Edmond Hamilton, publ. Fawcett Crest, #M2026, $0.95, 160pp, pb) Cover: Paul Lehr
  • City at World’s End, (Jul 1983, Edmond Hamilton, publ. Del Rey / Ballantine, 0-345-30987-1, C$3.50, 201pp, pb) Cover: Rick Sternbach
  • City at World’s End, (Jul 1983, Edmond Hamilton, publ. Del Rey / Ballantine, 0-345-30987-1, $2.75, 201pp, pb) Cover: Rick Sternbach
  • City at World’s End, (Sep 2007, Edmond Hamilton, publ. Brownstone Books, 1-4344-8567-6, $24.95, 160pp, hc)
  • City at World’s End, (Sep 2008, Edmond Hamilton, publ. Baen, 978-0-345-30987-7, $4.00, ebook) Cover: Doug Chaffee
  • King of Stars, (Sep 2008, Edmond Hamilton, publ. Baen, $20.00, ebook, omni) Cover: Doug Chaffee
  • City at World’s End, (date unknown, Edmond Hamilton, publ. Crest Giant, #s184, $0.50, 160pp, pb) Cover: Richard Powers

Reviews:

  • Review by Jack Kelsey (1951) in Fantasy Advertiser, Volume 5, No. 2,  June 1951
  • Review by The Editors (1951) in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, August 1951
  • Review by L. Sprague de Camp (1951) in Astounding Science Fiction, August 1951
  • Review by Groff Conklin (1952) in Galaxy Science Fiction, March 1952
  • Review by P. Schuyler Miller (1965) in Analog Science Fiction -> Science Fact, June 1965
  • Review by Dick and Nicki Lynch, Chat : newszine of the Chattanooga Science Fiction Association, v1, no. 10, July, 1977
  • Review by Baird Searles (1984) in Isaac Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine, January 1984
  • Gammell, Leon L., The Annotated Guide to Startling Stories, Starmont House, 1986, p. 28. “”A much more literate and adult novel than the old World Wrecker’s earlier, cosmos -encompassing efforts, detailing the somewhat startling adventures experienced by a small townful of twentieth century inhabitants suddenly catapulted unexpectedly by the detonation of the ultimate weapon into an incredibly remote future wherein old Sol is a a virtually lifeless cinder and earth is a deserted and well- nigh forgotten world. This is a very well written and interesting novel indeed, though perhaps the sentimental aspects of it were a little overdone for my admittedly somewhat Philistine tastes, with many fascinating alien characters from the far-flung Galactic Confederation of allied worlds that now dominate the universe who come in reply to the stranded Earth-people’s desperate distress call, particularly Gorr Holl, the man-bear mechanic from Capella. He’s a corker. Reprinted in 1951 by Frederick Fell in hardcover, and then in paperback first in 1953 by Galaxy Science Fiction Novels, and then in 1954 by Corgi (England), and again in 1956 by Crest. “
  • Analog. 47(6):142-143. August 1951. (L. de Camp)
  • Galaxy. 3(6):83. March 1952. (G. Conklin)
  • New Worlds Science Fiction. No.18:96. November 1952. (L. Flood)
  • Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction. 2(4):83-84. August 1951.(Boucher & McComas)

CE.ht6
ebook: http://manybooks.net/titles/hamiltoneother05cityworldsend.html
ebook: https://archive.org/details/Galaxy_Science_Fiction_Novel_18_Edmond_Hamilton_City_at_Worlds_End_1953

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OPUS#227 Children of the Sun [CF#22]

OPUS: #227
Title: Children of the Sun
Author: Edmond Hamilton
Year: 1950
Type: novelette
Series: Captain Future
Series Number: 22
“Curt Newton, in quest of a friend lost inside Vulcan, faces the most insidious dangers he has ever known in his entire galactic career!”
Publications:

  • Startling Stories, Vol. 21, no. 2, May 1950, (May 1950, ed. Sam Merwin, Jr., publ. Better Publications, Inc., $0.25, 164pp, Pulp, magazine), pp. 98-116.  Ill : Orban
  • Startling Stories (Canada), Vol. 21, no. 2, May 1950
  • Thrilling Novels. No. 39, 1996

Contents:
Chapter 1 Quest of the Futurmen 98
Chapter 2 Citadel of Mystery 104
Chapter 3 Dread Metamorphosis 108
Chapter 4 The Bright Ones 111
Reviews:

  • Gammell, Leon L., The Annotated Guide to Startling Stories, Starmont House, 1986, p. 66-67. “The Futuremen attempt to save their friend, Philip Carlin, guest hero of Red Sun of Danger, from a strange and poetic destiny within the heart of fiery Vulcan.”

ebook: http://www.unz.org/Pub/StartlingStories-1950may-00098

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OPUS#226 Return of the Captain Future, The [CF#21]

OPUS: #226
Title: The Return of Captain Future
Author: Edmond Hamilton
Year: 1950
Type: novelette
Series: Captain Future
Series Number: 21
“The Man of Tomorrow Clashes in Fierce Combat with Mankind’s Deadliest Enemy – the Linid!”
Publications:

    • Startling Stories, Vol. 20, no. 3, January 1950, (Jan 1950, ed. Sam Merwin, Jr., publ. Better Publications, Inc., $0.25, 164pp, Pulp, magazine) Cover: Earle Bergey
    • Startling Stories (Canada), Vol. 20, no. 3, January 1950
    • Fantastic Adventure Stories, No. 2, Pulp Tales Press, 2008.7

Reviews:

  • Gammell, Leon L., The Annotated Guide to Startling Stories, Starmont House, 1986, p. 65. “First in a series of novelettes featuring the further exploits of Curt Newton and the Futuremen, probably better written but not quite as much fun as the original novels. In this one the Futuemen return from another galaxy, bearing with them a living survivor of the Linid, the non-human race that once ruled the Universe before the rise of mankind and its contemporaries.”