Forgotten Book Friday: Donald Wollheim

A week or so ago I posted about Donald Wollheim’s wonderful juvenile SF novel called The Secret of the Martian Moons (Moons), a favorite of my youth. Little did I know that I was about to discover—not some forgotten books, but some never known books. It turns out that Wollheim wrote a virtual trilogy of young adult novels with similar themes. The other two are called: The Secret of Saturn’s Rings (Rings) and The Secret of the Ninth Planet (Planet). I had never heard of either but I had to have them, and thanks to the internet I was able to order copies of each. I’ve already finished reading them.

The three books each feature a different main character, but all are young men just reaching adulthood. “Moons” features Nelson Parr. “Rings” features Bruce Rhodes. And “Planet” features Burl Denning. They are largely interchangeable, and character development is not the attraction of these novels.

You already know what I think of “Moons,” so here’s my take on the other two. The Secret of Saturn’s Rings features Bruce Rhodes and his scientist father in a desperate race to reach Saturn’s rings. To save earth, they have to prove Bruce’s father’s theory about how the rings formed. Much like Nelson Parr and his father in The Secret of the Martian Moons, Bruce and his father are endangered by saboteurs. “Moons” was first printed in 1955, and “Rings” is copyrighted 1954, which makes me think that “Rings” was almost a run through for the later “Moons.” “Rings” is not as strong as “Moons,” and is weakest of the three books by a good margin. Don’t get me wrong, though, it’s still a fun book.

The Secret of the Ninth Planet is copyright 1959, which makes it the last of the three. It is very good. I believe if I’d read it when I was a teenager I’d remember it about as fondly as I do “Moons.” In “Planet,” Burl Denning starts out working with his father on an archeological trip to South America, but he ends up, without his father, on a spaceship racing to save earth from a group of aliens who are “stealing” the Sun’s energy.

In some ways, “Planet” is actually better than “Moons.” Instead of being focused on one planet, Burl and his fellow crew members must visit Mercury, Venus, Mars, and some of the moons of the outer planets before they reach lonely Pluto. For sheer world building then, it tops “Moons.” However, the book gives much of the “Secret” away earlier in the book than in “Moons,” and the secret itself is not quite as “cool” as in “Moons.” I still rate “Moons” a touch above, but I liked “Planet” a lot too.

I wish I’d found both “Planet” and “Rings” in my youth. Touring the solar system with Donald Wollheim could have wiled away a few more of my hours. I would have liked that.

PS: NOTE: Since I’ve been so swamped at work, I haven’t had a chance to pick a winner in the Strange World contest. I'm going to let it run until the end of January. So if you’d still like to enter to win a free book, check out this post.
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Thanksgiving, and Friday's Forgotten Books

First let me wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving, and forgive me for not getting around for all my regular blog visits today. I didn’t get to check blogs Wednesday and when I called up my Google Reader list this morning the number of posts was just beyond any chance of catching up. So I used the “Mark all as Read” choice and spent the rest of the day eating turkey and napping.

My post for today/tomorrow is for Forgotten Book Fridays, which is the brainchild of Patti Abbott. My choice for today is The Secret of the Martian Moons by Donald A. Wollheim. It was publishd by Holt, Rinehart, and Winston in 1955, and was part of a “juvenile” line, what today would be considered young adult. It’s an example of an SF subgenre that I’d call “Space Opera,” where the emphasis is on adventure.

“Martian Moons” was published before I was born, and I’m not quite sure at what age I read it. Probably I was no more than 12 or 13, and I found the book in the small Charleston, Arkansas library. At that time I wanted to be an astronaut myself and was especially enamored of Mars. This story didn’t let me down with its mixture of adventure and mystery.

The story begins with Nelson Parr, returning to Mars at age 16 after four years on earth. Nelson had been born on Mars, where his parents were scientists investigating the civilization left behind by an original Martian race. Unfortunately, the scientists had not had much luck in cracking the mystery of the aliens and Earth politicians were about to shut down the project because of costs.

But when everyone else leaves Mars to return to earth, Nelson, his father, and a few others stay behind on a “secret mission.” I won’t tell you what this mission is; it’s part of the fun of the book. But I will say that it involves a secret trip to Phobos, and later Deimos, which mean “fear” and “panic” by the way. And along the way there is one exciting revelation after another about the mystery of Mars’ original civilization.

This was all pretty heady stuff to the boy I was then, and in preparation for this post I reread the book and found it just as much fun, although not quite as surprising, as I had in those long gone days of youth. I even realized that elements from this book have worked their way unconsciously into concepts that I’ve developed for my own writing, including for the universe in which the Talera stories are set.

The Secret of the Martian Moons was a book that I remembered for years and years until, in my forties, I sought it out and bought my own copy. I remember the smile on my face when the package arrived and I took the book out and ran my fingers over the cover. And sitting here now writing this, I’m still smiling.

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