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Commander Craig #1
Beyond the Black Enigma
Beyond the Black Enigma was written by Bart Somers, published by Paperback Library, Inc. and was printed in 1968 in a Paperback binding.
- GenresScience Fiction
160 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1965
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
November 4, 2024
Beyond the Black Enigma by Bart Somers is a pulp Sci-Fi space adventure from 1965. It's part of my Sci-Fi challenge, books from my bookshelf with less than 200 pages and the earliest published. This is the 9th book in the challenge. It's been quite a mix, from 2.0 star ratings up to 4.5. Unfortunately this one ended up being 2.0 stars.
Not to say it wasn't entertaining. It was a pure space adventure, would probably have suited the old movie serials you used to get at the beginning of the Saturday matinee? Anyone old enough to remember those? Each week you would get a 15 minute episode with a cliff hanger ending that made you want to see what happened the next week. Anyway I digress.
Commander John Craig of Alert Command is trying to enjoy some well earned time off after battling aliens on a strange planet when he is called back to duty. Two space fleets have disappeared into a sort of black hole, it's called... wait for it... The Black Enigma. Craig is to head into the Enigma on a one man space ship and try to find out what happened. Like James Bond, he is given a a case filled with the newest equipment to help him battle any bad guys. And off he goes.
He makes it through the Enigma, decides to check out a planet that might be inhabitable. He finds the fleet but there are no crews! Deciding to have a rest, he wakes up to discover not only is his ship gone but all of the fleet ships have disappeared too. Wandering through the woods, he finds a city and then later a village in the woods. He meets a tribe of people living in the woods, hiding from invaders from somewhere else. (Here is where we do get an interesting concept. The Toparrs are able to travel in time; from the past (where Craig landed), to the present where the Rhydd live and the future (where the Toparr live).) The Toparr want to destroy the Rhydd and also take their children and women to the future...
Got it? Oh I also have to say that Somers seems to like the letter R when naming his groups of people. It's like he had Siri then and asked Siri to give him alien sounding names.. LOL OK, you're right that was irrelevant. Anyway, Craig and one of the people he meets in the Rhydd village, a lovely lady named Fiona, yup, that's her name, are able to travel into the future to try and save the remaining Rhydd and the crews of the starships and also battle the Toparr. It's all a great adventure with lots of action. When I was a kid back in the 60s I used to read these $.50 pulp Sci-Fi books by the bucket load. Remember those books that were reversible, with a story on each side. I loved those. Some were great, some not so great. This sort of falls in the not so great but just entertainment category. (2.0 stars)
Not to say it wasn't entertaining. It was a pure space adventure, would probably have suited the old movie serials you used to get at the beginning of the Saturday matinee? Anyone old enough to remember those? Each week you would get a 15 minute episode with a cliff hanger ending that made you want to see what happened the next week. Anyway I digress.
Commander John Craig of Alert Command is trying to enjoy some well earned time off after battling aliens on a strange planet when he is called back to duty. Two space fleets have disappeared into a sort of black hole, it's called... wait for it... The Black Enigma. Craig is to head into the Enigma on a one man space ship and try to find out what happened. Like James Bond, he is given a a case filled with the newest equipment to help him battle any bad guys. And off he goes.
He makes it through the Enigma, decides to check out a planet that might be inhabitable. He finds the fleet but there are no crews! Deciding to have a rest, he wakes up to discover not only is his ship gone but all of the fleet ships have disappeared too. Wandering through the woods, he finds a city and then later a village in the woods. He meets a tribe of people living in the woods, hiding from invaders from somewhere else. (Here is where we do get an interesting concept. The Toparrs are able to travel in time; from the past (where Craig landed), to the present where the Rhydd live and the future (where the Toparr live).) The Toparr want to destroy the Rhydd and also take their children and women to the future...
Got it? Oh I also have to say that Somers seems to like the letter R when naming his groups of people. It's like he had Siri then and asked Siri to give him alien sounding names.. LOL OK, you're right that was irrelevant. Anyway, Craig and one of the people he meets in the Rhydd village, a lovely lady named Fiona, yup, that's her name, are able to travel into the future to try and save the remaining Rhydd and the crews of the starships and also battle the Toparr. It's all a great adventure with lots of action. When I was a kid back in the 60s I used to read these $.50 pulp Sci-Fi books by the bucket load. Remember those books that were reversible, with a story on each side. I loved those. Some were great, some not so great. This sort of falls in the not so great but just entertainment category. (2.0 stars)
August 30, 2023
This is a totally forgettable of its era pulp story. It starts out with some James Bond in Space potential, but quickly falls into a near Sword & Planet type tale. It ends up being overly convoluted and uninteresting.
July 13, 2025
It ended way too abruptly for my taste. I get its pulp action but it took the time to introduce drama/live interests only to wrap things up in a quick summary. Otherwise a decently entertaining sci-fi adventure. Bought and read mainly for the cool cover art.
July 11, 2017
My first "dime store" sci-fi novel. Really fun and interesting.
March 28, 2018
Another science fiction fantasy. Commander Craig is a wonderful hero and this, though weird was an interesting book. Real true to it’s time.
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May 3, 2019I have the german edition: Welten am Abgrund
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews