Tag Archives: murray leinster

Book Review: A Thousand Degrees Below Zero by Murray Leinster

The Thrill Book - July 1919In the middle of summer, an ice floe materializes in New York harbor, leaving two ships in distress. During the ensuing confusion, a strange black aircraft descends and hovers over the scene before vanishing as quickly as it appeared. Shortly after, several more ice “cakes” form without warning in the Straits of Gibraltar, Folkestone Harbor, and Yokohama.

With panic mounting across the globe, a manifesto is sent to the British government from a man named Wladislaw Varrhus, who announces his intention to assume control of all world governments and establish himself as dictator. If the nations fail to meet his demands, more waterways will be frozen, disrupting commerce.

The American military consults with one Professor Hawkins and his assistant Teddy Gerrod, who develop a method to neutralize Varrhus’s “cold bombs”—but the deranged inventor is not so easily foiled. He not only returns with an improved version of his cold bomb, but murders Professor Hawkins in revenge. With the help of the professor’s daughter, Evelyn, and an American pilot named Davis, Teddy devises a plan to defeat Varrhus.

A Thousand Degrees Below Zero was Murray Leinster’s (William Fitzgerald Jenkins) first published novella, featured in the July 1919 edition of The Thrill Book pulp magazine. It’s a typical Leinster story with two-dimensional protagonists and a plot that relies heavily on the science and technology of the time with inventive twists. A fun science fiction adventure tale that would make an enjoyable TV movie.

Book Review: The Wailing Asteroid by Murray Leinster

The Wailing Asteroid by Murray LeinsterA signal from outer space reaches Earth and is broadcast over the radio, interrupting Joe Burke just as he is about to propose to his secretary and longtime friend, Sandy Lund. As it turns out, the signal is comprised of sounds resembling those of a flute. They are eerily familiar to Burke from a recurring dream he had as a child after his uncle gifted him with a number of relics found in a Cro-Magnon cave.

Though disappointed, Sandy returns to Burke’s engineering office where he plays a recording he made of the sounds years before and they are an exact match to those from space. Soon after, astronomers identify the source of the signal as an asteroid on a course that will bring it close to Earth.

Without sufficient evidence, the United States and Russia interpret the signals as a threat. The two major powers compete, and fail, to send a craft to the meet the aliens. However, Burke designs and constructs a small ship with the assistance of a yacht builder named Holmes and a taciturn electronics expert named Keller. Sandy’s sister Pam joins the team to assist with tracking orders and receiving shipments.

Early in their testing of a reactionless drive, an explosive mishap draws the attention of a reporter, two government agents, and the police. Burke tries to persuade them that he is building an advanced bomb shelter. They are not convinced and suspect Burke and company of conspiring with the aliens. A few days later, the police return to arrest them, but Burke launches the ship with Holmes, Keller, and the Lund sisters aboard.

A week and a half later, they reach the asteroid and fly the ship through a tunnel, which closes behind them. Lights, breathable air, and an artifcial gravity system are activated, allowing the intrepid voyagers to leave the ship. To their dismay, they find the asteroid devoid of life.

Burke and his team explore the interior and learn that it is a garrison, long abandoned by its troops. They also interpret the flute-like signal as a beacon ordering the ancient soldiers to return in order to defend against an approaching enemy. Who were the soldiers and where did they go? More importantly, can Burke and company learn how to operate the garrison in time to defend Earth against this powerful and unknown threat from interstellar space?

If you can ignore Leinster’s cardboard characterizations—such as the whiny and emotionally clueless Burke and the stereotypical capricious, husband-hunting women—The Wailing Asteroid is an enjoyable light-hearted adventure with a healthy dose of plausible 1960s science and engineering.

Book Review: Murray Leinster’s Space Tug

Space Tug by Murray LeinsterJoe Kenmore and his crew, astronauts with the Space Exploration Project, have been assigned to deliver supplies and defensive weapons to the Platform, mankind’s first space station.

Orbiting 4,000 miles above the Earth, the Platform was constructed solely by the United States after the United Nations had rejected the proposal. As a result, the Platform is now targeted by enemy nations suspicious as to its true purpose. Expeditions to and from the Platform are under constant threat of attack by ground to space missiles—which is precisely what happens to Kenmore and crew.

After some quick thinking and imaginative solutions, they manage to thwart the bombardment and safely arrive at the Platform only to be met with scorn by the Platform’s lead scientist, Doctor Sanford. Shortly after Kenmore and his crew unload the supplies, Sanford, on the verge of a mental breakdown under the constant threat of death, attempts to kill everyone aboard the Platform. After a second ship arrives carrying Sanford’s replacement, U.S. Navy Commander Brown, Kenmore and crew depart in their ship while some of the Platform’s crew escort Sanford off in another.

As both vessels approach the Earth’s surface, Sanford’s ship is promptly destroyed by enemy fire while Kenmore and crew narrowly evade destruction. Once back at base, Kenmore is informed that Space Exploration Corporation has been contracted by the U.S. government to build a Moonship. If the vessel survives the journey, the moon will become United States territory. Will Kenmore and his crew be the first men to venture to Earth’s as-yet unexplored satellite?

In terms of plot, Space Tug is a step above the typical young adult SF adventures of the 1950s. Although most of the conflict is external to the protagonist, Murray Leinster delivers surprising moments of depth in Joe Kenmore and his crew—Haney (whose first name is never revealed), native American Chief Bender, and the “midget” Mike Scandia—all of whom are depicted as technically savvy and scientifically literate. In fact, due to his size, Scandia is the most skilled among them in zero-gravity maneuvering—a fact in which he vociferously revels.

There is little fluff in this story, aside from a slight romance brewing between Kenmore and Sally Holt, daughter of Major Holt, the base commander. The pacing is fast, the tension is constant, and there is just enough technical jargon as to provide a sense of authenticity and verisimilitude.

Book Review: Murray Leinster’s Doctor to the Stars

Murray Leinster - Doctor to the StarsThis collection of three thoroughly enjoyable novellas by William Fitzgerald Jenkins (aka Murray Leinster) focuses on the characters of Calhoun, from the Interstellar Medical Service, and his diminutive furry companion Murgatroyd, a tormal. Together, they travel in the medical ship, Esclipus Twenty, to perform routine planetary health inspections—but the various crises they encounter are anything but routine.

Stories include “The Grandfathers’ War”, “Med Ship Man”, and “Tallien Three.”

In responding to an emergency call for medical assistance, Calhoun and Murgatroyd find themselves caught in the middle of an interplanetary war between generations. After their sun was predicted to explode in the near future, the Phaedrans sent their children to the Canis system to begin colonizing its third world. Afterward, the elders continued to ship out children and grandchildren until the new colony become overburdened and could no longer adequately feed or care for them, resulting in an outbreak of disease—and rebellion. As Calhoun works to manufacture a cure in his med ship, he must also stop a pending invasion by the elder Phaedrans in “The Grandfathers’ War.”

In “Med Ship Man,” Calhoun and Murgatroyd land in what appears to be an abandoned spaceport on the planet Maya and are later joined by an arrogant, wealthy businessman from an orbiting cargo vessel. As Calhoun pieces together the reason for the abrupt disappearance of the citizens of Maya City, he realizes that a technology imported from another planet might have frightened the people into abandoning their lands—and that the businessman knows more about the scheme than he’s willing to admit.

While attempting to land on the planet, “Tallien Three,” to perform a long overdue health inspection, Calhoun learns that an uprising is in progress committed by a growing group of mentally ill citizens called  “paras.”  While the government works to find a vaccine for this pathogen, Calhoun learns that the planet’s chief scientist might himself be a para. Can Calhoun make his way back to his ship and find a cure before he, too, succumbs to insanity?

Book Review: Science Fiction Omnibus edited by Groff Conklin

This collection of 11 reprinted tales edited by Groff Conklin features some of the most skilled storytellers in vintage SF including Arthur C. Clarke, Isaac Asimov, H.P. Lovecraft, Lester Del Rey, Ray Bradbury, Frederic Brown, and more. There were at least three entries that I recalled reading in other collections as recently as a few months ago, but they were absolutely worth a second pass.Science Fiction Omnibus

In A.J. Deutsch’s “A Subway Named Mobius,” an entire passenger train is lost for months in a closed rail system. When transportation officials and a local mathematician with a theory attempt to locate the train, they discover that they can hear it—in multiple locations—but cannot see it since it has passed into another dimension. Will the train ever reemerge and if so, how can this be prevented from happening again?

In one of H.P. Lovecraft’s most popular stories, a meteorite crashes into a field of crops where it begins to poison both soil and water, driving the farmer and his family insane. It’s soon discovered that the vile, luminous substance that infected the area might be intelligent. How will the locals rid themselves of “The Colour Out of Space”?

When alien psychologists learn that Earth has finally achieved interstellar travel, the decision is made to invite them into the Federation of Planets, an honor which no race has ever turned down… until now.  Discover why in Isaac Asimov’s “Homo Sol.”

Anthony Boucher brings us hapless ventriloquist Paul Peters who encounters a benevolent extraterrestrial creature at a local zoo. The alien, relieved to finally find someone with whom he can communicate, enlists Paul’s help in finding his long lost love. At first, the pair is undecided on a strategy until Paul comes up with a new routine known as “The Star Dummy.”

A spaceship explodes ejecting its helpless crew into space. Fortunately, they’d had just enough time to don their spacesuits—but not their personal propulsion systems. As a result, each man is hurled on an uncontrollable trajectory with just enough time to settle their differences and make peace with their collective fate in Ray Bradbury’s “Kaleidoscope.”

When an Earth naval vessel lands on the alien world Shaksembender, the crew of three is greeted by a party of wary copper-skinned humanoids who had been expecting their arrival based on the prophesy of Fraser, the first human space explorer to visit their planet 300 years ago. Using a hidden mind-reading device against the alien emissary, the pilot of the Earth ship discovers that Fraser warned the aliens to be circumspect if the next human explorers utter two specific words… but will we ever learn those words in Eric Frank Russell’s “Test Piece”?

The incompetence of bureaucracy at a Galactic level is showcased in Murray Leinster’s “Plague.”  When all the women of the planet Pharona are consumed and killed by a bizarre luminescent organism, the planet is placed in quarantine and Space Navy reservist Ben Sholto is dispatched in his private vessel to ensure no one escapes. When a ship, piloted by Ben’s lost love Sally, emerges from Pharona, he takes her aboard in an attempt to cure her, making them both fugitives.

In John D. MacDonald’s “Spectator Sport,” a scientist travels into the future only to find society under control of a government that does not take kindly to independent thinking and prefers its citizens to be docile zombies.

In Arthur C. Clarke’s much reprinted “History Lesson,” five thousand years after an ice age has claimed all human life on Earth, Venusians arrive and uncover relics left in a vault—one of which is a roll of 35mm film that they believe depicts typical human behavior… or not.

A concerned citizen confronts physicist John Graham about the doomsday weapon Graham is developing and leaves him with a frightening metaphor that strikes close to the heart in Fredric Brown’s “The Weapon.”

Long after mankind has gone extinct, a race of heuristic automatons have taken over the Earth. A group of robotic biologists undertake experiments to reboot the human race in order to learn more about the concept of “Instinct,” which is also the name of this classic tale by Lester Del Rey.