Edmond Hamilton continues to be one of my favorite authors of the sort of action-packed adventure science fiction I really enjoy. This novella originally appeared in the December 1942 issue of AMAZING STORIES. There’s a free e-book edition available on Amazon, which is where I read it.
This yarn is set in our solar system, no deep space or space opera in this one.
Instead, it has a gritty, hardboiled tone as meteor miner Lance Kenniston (a
pulp hero name if I ever saw one) and his hulking Jovian partner trick a group
of rich, thrill-seeking space tourists from Earth into helping them try to
recover a fortune in loot from a crashed spaceship that belonged to a notorious
space pirate. The wrecked ship is on Vesta, the second-largest body in the
Asteroid Belt, and since it’s surrounded by smaller asteroids, that makes it
the World With a Thousand Moons, according to the title.
Just navigating through those orbiting obstacles and getting there is enough of
a challenge, but Vesta is also inhabited by mysterious, deadly creatures that
are feared throughout the solar system. Throw in the complication that not
everything is as it appears to be at first, and you’ve got the makings of a
fast-paced, exciting tale.
It occurred to me as I was reading this novella that it’s the science fiction
equivalent of the sort of adventure stories H. Bedford-Jones was so good at. You’ve
got a two-fisted sailor (spaceman) protagonist, a beautiful girl, a treasure to
be salvaged, treachery all around, and despicable bad guys. I always enjoy this
plot when Bedford-Jones uses it, and in Hamilton’s hands, it’s almost as good.
I had a fine time reading THE WORLD WITH A THOUSAND MOONS. If you’re a fan of
classic-style science fiction, there’s a good chance you would, too.
Recommended.
1 comment:
Keep 'em coming James. I read your blog every morning needing a healthy fix of American trash fiction.
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