Category Archives: Startling Stories (SS)

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OPUS#222 Valley of Creation, The

OPUS: #222
Title: The Valley of Creation (Complete Novel)
Author: Edmond Hamilton
Year: 1948
Variant Title of: The Valley of Creation (by Edmond Hamilton )
Type: novella
“In the darkness, there came to Eric Nelson a summons and a warning – a summons to a land where beast and human walked alike, a warning of war and massacre strange and terrible!”

Contents:
Chapter 1 Dream Shadows 9
Chapter 2 Witch-Girl 12
Chapter 3 Into Mystery 17
Chapter 4 Hidden Land 21
Chapter 5 Wolf Hatred 25
Chapter 6 Daring Plan 29
Chapter 7 Secret Mission 32
Chapter 8 Weird City 35
Chapter 9 Judgment of the Guardian 39
Chapter 10 Dread Metmorphosis 41
Chapter 11 Forest Danger 45
Chapter 12 Death in Anschan 48
Chapter 13 The Fight in the Palace 52
Chapter 14 Return to Doom 55
Chapter 15 The Wrath of the Clans 57
Chapter 16 The Covern of Creation 61
Chapter 17 The Day of the Brotherhood 65

「『最後の惑星船の謎』の中で、スペース・オペラを完全に捨て去っている。チベットにある人類未踏の谷には、人間と動物がテレパシーで結びついている文明が発達を遂げていた。だから美しいエンシャーラは、自分の飼っている鷲のエイ、狼のターク、虎のクォールとつねに連絡しあっている。ところがル・ランの谷に冒険家エリック・ネルスンがやってきたために、この小さな世界は戦乱に巻きこまれる。ネルスンの肉体から精神が分離して狼の身体にはいりこみ、彼自身、狼の姿となって四本足の同胞の側に立って戦わねばならなくなる。だが、最後には再び人間の姿に戻り、エンシャーラの愛をかちえて、永久にル・ランの谷に住むことになるのだ。」 – ジャック・サドゥール著; 鹿島茂,鈴木秀治訳『現代SFの歴史』(早川書房, 1984.12) p. 189-190

Publications:

  • Startling Stories, Vol. 32, no. 2, July 1948, (Jul 1948, ed. Sam Merwin, Jr., publ. Better Publications, Inc., $0.20, 148pp, Pulp, magazine), pp. 9-69. Cover: Earle Bergey; Illust: Finlay
  • The Valley of Creation, (1964, Edmond Hamilton, publ. Lancer, #72-721, $0.50, 159pp, pb) Cover: Emsh
  • The Valley of Creation, (1967, Edmond Hamilton, publ. Lancer, #73-577, $0.60, 159pp, pb) Cover: Emsh
  • The Valley of Creation, (1972, Edmond Hamilton, publ. Lodestone, #B-5006, $0.75, 159pp, pb) Cover: Emsh
  • The Valley of Creation, (Sep 2008, Edmond Hamilton, publ. Baen, 978-1-4377-3577-2, $4.00, ebook) Cover: Doug Chaffee
  • King of Stars, (Sep 2008, Edmond Hamilton, publ. Baen, $20.00, ebook, omni) Cover: Doug Chaffee

Reviews:

  • Review by P. Schuyler Miller (1965) in Analog Science Fact -> Science Fiction, February 1965
  • Review by P. Schuyler Miller (1967) in Analog Science Fiction -> Science Fact, August 1967
  • Gammell, Leon L., The Annotated Guide to Startling Stories, Starmont House, 1986, p. 24. “Probably Edmond Hamilton’s finest novel, at least in my personal estimation. Poetic, poignant, enthralling and exciting story of the hidden Valley of the Brotherhood, and how unscrupulous mercenaries from the outside world cane there to use their modern weapons to turn the tide in an ancient war between men and beasts—eagles, wolves, tigers, horses — with human intellect and understanding. In a real whale of a cliffhanger climax, author Hamilton surpasses himself in explaining the ultimate origin of the Brotherhood and how and why men and the beasts are really and literally brothers. I really have some reservations on the genetic credibility of the idea he proposes in the chapter about the Cavern of Creation, but the writing is so fine and the story is so good as to overshadow anything as comparatively unimportant as scientific plausibility. Long overdue for hardcover respectability, if only in the Science Fiction Book Club cheapo format. Reprinted in 1964 in a somewhat revised edition by Lancer paperbacks.”

ebook: http://www.unz.org/Pub/StartlingStories-1948jul-00009

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OPUS#216 Proxy Planeteers

OPUS: #216
Title: Proxy Planeteers
Author: Edmond Hamilton
Year: 1947
Type: short story
“When robots go hunting for uranium on Mercury, a pair of scientists fall under a radio-active spell of hypnotism!”

Publications:

  • Startling Stories, Vol. 15, no. 3, July 1947, (Jul 1947, ed. Sam Merwin, Jr., publ. Better Publications, Inc.; Chicago, $0.15, 116pp, Pulp, magazine), pp. 88-96. Cover: Earle Bergey; Illust: Marchioni

Book review:

  • Gammell, Leon L., The Annotated Guide to Startling Stories, Starmont House, 1986, p. 58. “Robot proxies explore hostile Mercury for Earthling scientists, unaware of indigenous intelligent life-forms that have a thing or two to say about this invasion.”

ebook: http://www.unz.org/Pub/StartlingStories-1947jul-00088

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OPUS#214 Star of Life, The

OPUS: #214
Title: The Star of Life (Excerpt)
Author: Edmond Hamilton
Year: 1947
Type: novella
Synopsis: Kirk Hammond is frozen in space and then enters the Earth 10,000 years in the future. He encounters three species of man kind: humankind who make up most of the galaxy, the Vramen who never die because they live on the restricted planet whose sun is the Star of Life. Mankind wants desperately to enjoy eternal life too, but the Vramen will not allow it.
“Kirk Hammond leads a future civilization in a desperate struggle against rule by a minority which derives its power through knowledge of the secret of immortality!”
Publications:

  • Startling Stories, Vol. 14, no. 3, January 1947, (Jan 1947, ed. Sam Merwin, Jr., publ. Better Publications, Inc.; Chicago, $0.15, 116pp, Pulp, magazine), pp. 13-71. Cover: Earle Bergey; Illust: Marchioni
  • The Star of Life, (Feb 1959, Edmond Hamilton, publ. Dodd, Mead/Torquil, $2.95, 192pp, hc)
  • The Star of Life, (Feb 1959, Edmond Hamilton, publ. Dodd, C$3.50, 192pp, hc)
  • The Star of Life, (Apr 1959, Edmond Hamilton, publ. Dodd, Mead/Torquil / SFBC, $1.20, 192pp, hc)
  • The Star of Life, (Oct 1959, Edmond Hamilton, publ. Crest, #s329, $0.35, 187pp, pb) Cover: Richard Powers
  • as Man Who Missed the Moon, Star Weekly (Toronto, Canada). (8/15-1959)
  • as Man Who Missed the Moon, in: Corsicana Daily Sun, []-[], 1959.
  • as Man Who Missed the Moon, in: The Times Recorder, []-[], 1959.
  • as Man Who Missed the Moon, in: The Decatur Daily, []-[], 1959.
  • as Man Who Missed the Moon, in: The Titusville Herald, []-[], 1959.
  • as Man Who Missed the Moon, in: Republican and Herald, []-[], 1960.
  • as Man Who Missed the Moon, in: Simpson’s Leader-Times, []-[], 1960.
  • as Man Who Missed the Moon, in: Tyrone Daily Herald, 1959-1961 [info]
  • as Man Who Missed the Moon, in: Reading Eagle (Sunday Eagle : Book of the Week), Jan. 24, 1960-April 10, 1960. [ebook]
  • Space Opera, (Aug 1974, ed. Brian W. Aldiss, publ. Futura, 0-86007-058-1, £0.50, 324pp, pb, anth) Cover: Eddie Jones
  • Space Opera, (Nov 1974, ed. Brian W. Aldiss, publ. Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 0-297-76811-5, £, 324pp, hc, anth)
  • THE EIGHTY-MINUTE HOUR, Aldiss, Doubleday, 1974
  • THE EIGHTY-MINUTE HOUR, Aldiss,Cape (UK), 1974
  • Space Opera, (1975, ed. Brian W. Aldiss, publ. BCA by arrangement with Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 324pp, hc, anth) Cover: Brian Aldiss
  • Space Opera, (1975, ed. Brian W. Aldiss, publ. Futura, 0-86007-847-7, £0.60, 324pp, pb, anth)
  • Space Opera, (Mar 1975, ed. Brian W. Aldiss, publ. Doubleday, 0-385-07873-0, $7.95, 322pp, hc, anth) Cover: Lawrence Ratzkin
  • Space Opera, (May 1975, ed. Brian W. Aldiss, publ. Doubleday / SFBC, #1064, $1.98, 304pp, hc, anth) Cover: Lawrence Ratzkin
  • THE EIGHTY-MINUTE HOUR, Aldiss,Pan Books(UK), 1975
  • Space Opera, (Mar 1977, ed. Brian Aldiss, publ. Berkley Medallion, 0-425-03344-9, $1.50, xii+243pp, pb, anth) Cover: Vincent Di Fate
  • THE EIGHTY-MINUTE HOUR, Aldiss, Triad/Panther(UK), 1985
  •  The Star of Life, (Sep 2008, Edmond Hamilton, publ. Baen, 978-0-245-23226-8, $4.00, ebook)
  • King of Stars, (Sep 2008, Edmond Hamilton, publ. Baen, $20.00, ebook, omni) Cover: Doug Chaffee

Contents
Chapter 1 Space Doom 13
Chapter 2 Return to Life 16
Chapter 3 New Earth 18
Chapter 4 After Ten Thousand Years 21
Chapter 5 Peril from the Sky 25
Chapter 6 Vraman Girl 27
Chapter 7 Weird Attack 30
Chapter 8 In Rurooma 32
Chapter 9 Prison Planet 36
Chapter 10 Star-Men’s Hatred 40
Chapter 11 Inside the Force-Wall 44
Chapter 12 Into the Sun-Swarm 47
Chapter 13 On Mysterious Althar 51
Chapter 14 Alien City 54
Chapter 15 The Fight with the Machine 58
Chapter 16 Dread Revelation 61
Chapter 17 In the Sky City 64
Chapter 18 Battle and Death 68

Reviews:

  • Gardner, Thomas S., “From Fan-tods : It’s Fiction, but is it science?,” in: Fantasy Aspects, issue 2 (Nov. 1947), p. 9.
  • Gammell, Leon L., The Annotated Guide to Startling Stories, Starmont House, 1986, p. 21. “Pretty fair interplanetary novel of the far future, somewhat more philosophical in tone than most of the works of this admittedly somewhat repetitive but still remarkably imaginative and entertaining author. This is the story of the Star of Life, a unique luminary whose rays endow humans with immortality and create profound mutations in their germ plasm, engendering entirely new species of humanity in their offspring — the Second Men, immortal and brilliant, who control interstellar civilization of the future, the Third Men, colossal intellects interested solely in scientific and philosophical experimentation and research. Full of cliches and overly convenient coincidences, but still a damned good read even today. Reprinted in hardcover in 1959 by Torquil, NY, and by Crest in paperback the same year.”

ebook: http://www.unz.org/Pub/StartlingStories-1947jan-00013

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OPUS#208 Dead Planet, The

OPUS: #208
Title: The Dead Planet
Author: Edmond Hamilton
Year: 1946
Type: short story
“Star travelers from a distant galaxy crash on a lost world” — TOC
“Star travelers from a distant galaxy crash on a last world to confront horror and wonder – and a shocking surprise!”

Publications:

  • Startling Stories, Vol. 13, no. 3, Spring 1946, (May 1946, ed. Sam Merwin, Jr., publ. Better Publications, Inc., $0.15, 116pp, Pulp, magazine), pp. 84-89. Cover: Earle Bergey; Illust: Morey
  • Worlds of Tomorrow: Science-Fiction With a Difference, (1953, ed. August Derleth, publ. Pellegrini & Cudahy, $3.95, 351pp, hc, anth) Cover: Ronald Clyne
  • Worlds of Tomorrow, (1955, ed. August Derleth, publ. Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 9/6, 224pp, hc, anth)
  • Worlds of Tomorrow, (Oct 1958, ed. August Derleth, publ. Berkley, #G-163, $0.35, 172pp, pb, anth) Cover: Richard Powers
  • Worlds of Tomorrow, (1963, ed. August Derleth, publ. Four Square Books, #794, 2/6, 160pp, pb, anth)
  • Exploring Other Worlds, (1963, ed. Sam Moskowitz, publ. Collier Books, #as551, $0.95, 256pp, pb, anth)
  • Exploring Other Worlds, (1967, ed. Sam Moskowitz, publ. Collier Books, #02311, $0.95, 256pp, pb, anth) Cover: Don Ivan Punchatz
  • Worlds of Tomorrow, (Jul 1967, ed. August Derleth, publ. Four Square Books, #1922, 3/6, 160pp, pb, anth)
  • Exploring Other Worlds, (1969, ed. Sam Moskowitz, publ. Collier Books, #02311, $0.95, 256pp, pb, anth) Cover: Don Ivan Punchatz
  • Ghosts, Castles, and Victims: Studies in Gothic Horror, (Aug 1974, ed. Jack C. Wolf, Barbara H. Wolf, publ. Fawcett Crest, #Q1997, $1.50, 576pp, pb, anth)
  • Space Stories, (Sep 1996, ed. Mike Ashley, publ. Robinson Children’s Books, 1-85487-451-9, £4.99, xii+402pp, tp, anth)
  • The Random House Book of Science Fiction Stories, (Jun 1997, ed. Mike Ashley, publ. Random House, 0-679-88527-7, $9.99, xii+402pp, tp, anth) Cover: Neal McPheeters
  • Bruce Coville’s Strange Worlds, (Feb 2000, ed. Bruce Coville, publ. Avon Camelot, 0-380-80256-2, $4.99, 196pp, tp, anth) Cover: Ernie Colon

Book review:

  • Gammell, Leon L., The Annotated Guide to Startling Stories, Starmont House, 1986, p. 56. “A good one about aliens who discover the lost planet of Earth, guarded by its dead.”

ebook: http://www.unz.org/Pub/StartlingStories-1946q1-00084
ebook: https://archive.org/details/StartlingStoriesV13N031946Spring

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OPUS#206 Outlaw World [CF#19]

OPUS: #206
Title: Outlaw World
Author: Edmond Hamilton
Year: 1946
Type: novella
Series: Captain Future
Series Number: 19
“On the trail of malevolent space pirates, Curt Newton and the Futuremen combat the evil machinations of the Uranian Ru Ghur, who plans the total destruction of the Universe!”

Publications:

  • Startling Stories, Vol. 13, no. 1, Winter 1946, (Jan 1946, ed. Sam Merwin, Jr., publ. Better Publications, Inc.; Chicago, $0.15, 100pp, Pulp, magazine) Cover: Earle Bergey; Illust: Orban
  • Startling Stories (Canada), Vol. 13, no. 1, Winter 1946
  • Startling Stories (Canada), No. 1, June 1949
  • Outlaw World, (1969, Edmond Hamilton, publ. Popular Library, #60-2376, $0.60, 126pp, pb) Cover: Frank Frazetta

Reviews:

  • Gammell, Leon L., The Annotated Guide to Startling Stories, Starmont House, 1986, p. 19. “Edmond Hamilton’s last Captain Future novel, though he wrote several excellent novelettes on the subject for Startling Stories a few years later. This one is a prettyfair entry in the series, concerning the Futuremen’s search for the location of the secret outlaw world whose unscrupulous overlord is plotting a monumental crime coup with the aid of the radium he has been stealing all over the Solar System. Reprinted in 1969 in paperback by Popular Library. “
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OPUS#204 Trouble on Triton

OPUS: #204
Title: Trouble on Triton
Author: Edmond Hamilton
Year: 1945
Type: novelette
“Web Carter stages a drama that is not in the script”– TOC
“To save the starving natives of Triton, Web Carter stages a drama that is not in the script!”

Publications:

  • Startling Stories, Vol. 12, no. 3, Fall 1945, (Oct 1945, ed. Sam Merwin, Jr., publ. Better Publications, Inc., $0.15, 100pp, Pulp, magazine) Cover: Earle Bergey; Illust: Marchioni

Book review:

  • Gammell, Leon L., The Annotated Guide to Startling Stories, Starmont House, 1986, p. 55. “Good old-fashioned space opera by the master practitioner of the genre.”

ebook: https://archive.org/details/StartlingStoriesV12n031945Fall56ufikusDPP

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OPUS#199 Red Sun of Danger [CF#18]

OPUS: #199
Title: Red Sun of Danger
Author: Brett Sterling (Edmond Hamilton)
Year: 1945
Type: novella
Series: Captain Future
Series Number: 18
“From the archives of the mighty Ancients, Curt Newton brings back forgotten Denebian science to balk a greed-maddened schemer who seeks to loose unspeakable terror on the Universe!”
Publication:

  • Startling Stories [v12 #1, Spring 1945] (15¢, 116pp, pulp, cover by Earle Bergey), pp. 11-71. Illustrated by Thomas.
  • Danger Planet, (1968, Brett Sterling, publ. Popular Library, #60-2335, $0.60, 128pp, pb) Cover: Frank Frazetta

Awards:
1996 – Red Sun of Danger [vt Danger Planet] Retro Hugo Award, Novel (Nomination)

Book review:

  • Gammell, Leon L., The Annotated Guide to Startling Stories, Starmont House, 1986, p.18. “Even though Captain Future’s own magazine had been dropped from publication, the character proved so popular that other novels were still written about him and appeared from time to time in the pages of Startling Stories. I understand this one was written by Edmond Hamilton, the originator of the series, under this house pseudonym for some unknown reason or other. This novel is typical of its kind, the usual fast-paced wild adventures among the inhabitants of various alien worlds, with a hint of mystery in this one, and even vaguely Lovecraftian overtones with the temporary revival in the final chapter of the Kangas, those mighty beings who once ruled the Universe before the rise of man or even man’s immediate predecessors. Reprinted in 1968 in paperback by Popular Library as Danger Planet. “

ebook: https://archive.org/details/StartlingStoriesV12N01Spring1945

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OPUS#172 Yank at Valhalla, A

OPUS: #172
Title: A Yank at Valhalla
Author: Edmond Hamilton
Year: 1950
Type: novella
Variant Titles: The Monsters of Juntonheim (1950) – Edmond Hamilton
“… American Invades a … Land That Time Forgotten … Finds a Wonder … That Is Forbidden to All Mortals!”–TOC
“The gods knew a science that was older than man … but they looked to the human intruder in order to find their salvation”
Publications:

  • Startling Stories, Vol. 5, no. 1, January 1941, (Jan 1941, ed. Mort Weisinger, publ. Better Publications, Inc., $0.15, 132pp, Pulp, magazine) Cover: E. K. Bergey; Illust: Wesso
  • The Monsters of Juntonheim, (1950, Edmond Hamilton, publ. World Distributors / Sydney Pemberton, 1/6, 160pp, pb)
  • Fantastic Story Magazine, Vol. 5, no. 1, January 1953, (Jan 1953, ed. Samuel Mines, publ. Best Books, Inc., $0.25, 148pp, Pulp, magazine) Cover: Earle K. Bergey
  • A Yank at Valhalla / The Sun Destroyers, (Mar 1973, Edmond Hamilton, Ross Rocklynne, publ. Ace (Ace Double #93900), #93900, $0.95, 128 + 156pp, dos, omni)
  • A Yank at Valhalla, (2003, Edmond Hamilton, publ. Renaissance E Books, 1-58873-167-7, $4.99, ebook)
  • A Yank at Valhalla, (Sep 2008, Edmond Hamilton, publ. Baen, 978-0-505-51336-6, $4.00, ebook)
  • King of Stars, (Sep 2008, Edmond Hamilton, publ. Baen, $20.00, ebook, omni) Cover: Doug Chaffee

Reviews:

  • Gammell, Leon L., The Annotated Guide to Startling Stories, Starmont House, 1986, p. 9. “Excellent mixture of lost race adventure and mythology. Keith Masters discovers a hitherto unexplored region at the North Pole where various prominent figures out of Norse mythology—both the malevolent giants of Jotunheim [i.e. Juntonheim] and the rugged AEsir gods of Asgard—are still alive and well, kept in a state of perpetual immortality by radiations from Muspelheim, the radioactive subterranean world directly beneath their land, from whence all life on Earth originally came. Much of the following plot concerns the escape of Loki, the Norse god of evil, in this version a brilliant but renegade AEsir scientist attempting to harness the forces of nature in order to control first Asgard and then the world, from the seemingly impregnable prison in which his fellow Asgardians have trapped him with his two horrid pets, the Fenris wolf and the Midgard serpent, terrifying monsters endowed with superior size and intelligence by their master’s scientific magic. Due to the machinations of his various allies among the Jotuns, of course, Loki does ultimately escape from his scientifically-induced imprisonment, and from then on the story’s conclusion is well-nigh inevitable. Ragnarok, Twilight of the Gods, comes, and the all-too-mortal immortals of Asgard go down to their last defeat, valiantly dragging their enemies with them into the darkness, while the subterranean world of Muspelheim disrupts into final cataclysmic destruction beneath them. Published in paperback first in 1950 as The Monsters of Jotunheim [i.e. Juntonheim] by World Distributors/Sydney Pemberton, Manchester, and then in 1973, under its original title, by Ace as part of a double novel.
    “

ebook: BookReader

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OPUS#151 Three Planeteers, The

OPUS: #151
Title: The Three Planeteers (Complete Novel)
Author: Edmond Hamilton
Year: 1940
Type: novel
Note: The Two Thousand Centuries
“From Earth, Venus and Mercury, three Musketeers of Space, accompanied by a female D’Artagnan, rocket out in a grim battle against the League of the Cold Worlds!”
「地球人、火星人、金生人のトリオが、太陽系を股にかけて、悪の軍勢にたちむかうという、むちゃくちゃなお話である。」 – マイク・アシュリー著; 牧眞司訳『SF雑誌の歴史 : パルプマガジンの饗宴』（東京創元社, 2004.7） p. 170
Contents:
01 Comrades of Peril 13
02 Cold-World Menace 16
03 Into the Zone 22
04 Pirate Princess 26
05 Secret Enemy 31
06 The Trap 36
07 Shadow of the League 40
08 Out of the Past 44
09 Imprisoned Planeteers 50
10 Under Saturn’s Rings 55
11 Secret Police 58
12 Citadel of Fear 64
13 Dictator of Worlds 68
14 Under the Psychophones 72
15 Though the Tempest 76
16 Forbidden World 80
17 In the Shining Wastes 85
18 Damned Souls of Erebus 89
19 Cheerly’s Cunning 92
20 At Uranus’ Orbit 96
21 The Fight on the Moon 101
22 Blaine’s Weapon 104-105, 120, 122-126
23 Epilogue 126-129
Publications:

  • Startling Stories, Vol. 3, no. 1, January 1940, (Jan 1940, ed. Mort Weisinger, publ. Better Publications, Inc., $0.15, 132pp, Pulp, magazine) Cover: Brown Illust: Finlay

Review:

  • Gammell, Leon L., The Annotated Guide to Startling Stories, Starmont House, 1986, p. 6. “Typical rip-roaring Hamilton space opera. Nothing exceptional, but a rattling good yarn of three adventurers of the spaceways—an Earthling, a Martian and a Venusian–who join forces to combat the malevolent machinations of the evil League of the Cold Worlds to dominate the entire Solar System, including an heroic journey to the radioactive world of Erebus, outermost outpost of Sol’s family. This was possibly the prototype novel for the later Captain Future novels that started in their own magazine, a companion to both Startling Stories and Thrilling Wonder Stories, in Spring of 1940. “
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OPUS#144 Prisoner of Mars, The

OPUS: #144
Title: The Prisoner of Mars (Complete Novel)
Author: Edmond Hamilton
Year: 1939
Variant Title of: Tharkol, Lord of the Unknown (by Edmond Hamilton)
Type: NOVEL
「[註：後の『スター・キング』の原型となった作品。] 若いアメリカ人フィリップ・クレインが、偶然ある機械を見つけだすのだが、たちまちその機械によって火星に運ばれてしまう。そこで彼は自分が亡き王の息子であり、現在の君主ラヌーの異父兄弟だということを知る。ところで、このラヌーは誘拐されたばかりなので、フィリップは何も状況が分からないままに、自分の役割を演じなければならない。そのうえ、彼は兄弟とあまりにもよく似ているので、ラヌーの婚約者マーラ姫も間違えてしまう。マーラはラヌーをまったく愛していなかったけれども、政治的な理由でラヌーと結婚することになってしまっていたのである。マーラはフィリップに心を奪われてしまうが、フィリップはすでに地球人の婚約者ケイがいたので話はややこしくなる。」- ジャック・サドゥール著; 鹿島茂,鈴木秀治訳『現代SFの歴史』(早川書房, 1984.12) p. 187-188
Publications:

  • Startling Stories, Vol. 1, no. 3, May 1939, (May 1939, ed. Mort Weisinger, publ. Better Publications, Inc., $0.15, 132pp, Pulp, magazine) Cover: Howard V. Brown; Illust: Wesso
  • Tharkol, Lord of the Unknown, (1950, Edmond Hamilton, publ. World Distributors / Sydney Pemberton, 1/6, 160pp, pb) Cover: H. W. Wesso

Review:

  • Gammell, Leon L., The Annotated Guide to Startling Stories, Starmont House, 1986, p. 4. “Interplanetary Prisoner of Zenda-type pastiche, by the late grand old master of the space opera, largely forgotten and neglected nowadays. Though born of an Earthly mother, Philip Crain discovers that his father was the advance guard of a Martian invasion force, accidentally marooned on Earth for his entire lifetime, and his look-alike cousin is the ruler of Mars. Accidentally transported to Mars via matter-transmitter, he becomes quickly involved in the political intrigue, swashbuckling action and eventual exchange of identities that is the usual hallmark of this kind of story, but Hamilton’s novel is fast-paced and exciting, and should make good reading even today, interspersed with interesting characters to liven up the plot, among whom are a diabolical mechanical brain manipulating the inhabitants of two worlds for its own obscure purposes and a giant robot servant, almost human in its faithfulness and loyalty, perhaps a foreshadowing of the irrepressible Grag of the Captain Future series. At the end of the story, Hamilton offers an ingenious solution for resolving the difficulties of the two warring planets, which stem largely from the Red World’s desperate need for water for her dead and desiccated oceans, very simply accomplished by transporting the terrestrial polar ice-caps to Mars through the matter-transmitters that were to provide passage originally for her invading armies. Who knows? Perhaps this will be the very method used in terraforming Mars to make it livable for our first colonies in the not-so-distant future, even as Hamilton’s storybook space-suits were the prototype for the ones used by today’s astronauts! “