KINGS OF SPACE
First Published on 13th May 1954 - 192 pages
This
book first introduces us to Group Captain Timothy (nicknamed 'Tiger') Clinton
R.A.F. (retired) and his son, Rex Clinton, whilst they are spending a deer-stalking
holiday in the lonely mountains of Inverness-shire. Lost in the Scottish fog
they see red lights in the form of a cross and this leads them to lonely Glensalich Castle, where they meet Professor Lucius Brane
and his butler, Judkins. The Professor has heard of
Tiger Clinton as he is a well-known aircraft engineer and as a result is
willing to show him a vehicle he has been building for space travel, which he
has called the Spacemaster. The vehicle is
still being tested. The Professor has managed to harness the powers of cosmic
rays, which are everywhere, as motive power. Initial tests are by remote
control, but then the Professor, with Tiger, Rex and Judkins, goes into orbit for
the first time. The next trip is an orbit around the moon and then an actual
moon landing is undertaken. Taking with them 'cosmosuits'
our heroes find primitive vegetation on parts of the moon and specimens of
strange animal life. They next decide to travel to Venus to be the first to see
under the mysterious layers of cloud. Here they discover dinosaurs. They also
find a lack of cosmic rays penetrating the cloud cover makes taking off
hazardous but they manage to get safely back to earth. The next objective is
Mars, with a preliminary landing on one of the moons of Mars, Phobos. Here they find graves and the dead body of a human
like man, perfectly preserved. Going on to Mars they find the planet dead and
vast canels choked with weeds and rushes. The also
find a big city, obviously designed and built by an advanced civilisation.
Leaving Judkins to empty the rubbish from the Spacemaster, the Professor, Tiger and Rex go and
explore. They find a man, alive but apparently seriously ill. Tiger thinks the
man is suffering from a form of sleeping sickness. It is then that they see the
swarms of mosquitoes begin to rise from the overgrown canels.
It appears that the inhabitants of Mars have lost a war against the insects
that have now completely overwhelmed the planet. Returning to earth, the
Professor plans to use insecticides from Earth to destroy the blight and modern
drugs to cure the sick. However, on arrival at their launch pad, a man
confronts them with a gun. Another man is also present. They demand the plans
of the 'airship' and force the Professor to show the Spacemaster
to them. This the Professor does, but he quickly jumps out leaving Judkins to send the two men hurtling into space with the
remote control. With the door open, the two men must have been killed. The ship
is lost, but the Professor is already planning to build a bigger and better
ship for a rescue trip to Mars.
The original artwork for this book was once in my private collection
Click
here to see the story illustrations from this book
Click here to see an original
advertising leaflet for the Science Fiction books
Kings of Space
Subtitle - A story of Interplanetary Exploration
Publication Details - published by Hodder and Stoughton
First Edition
Frontispiece
Click on the Frontispiece to enlarge it
Original first edition boards