Trouble on Titan

by Alan E. Nourse

The tenacious Colonel Benedict and his son, Tuck, are sent to Titan, Saturn’s fifth moon, to investigate reports of smuggling. Soon they discover that the less-than-friendly colony is hiding much more than just a smuggler. Together they dig up a scandalous case of interstellar sabotage and what the colonists reverently refer to as “THE BIG SECRET,” which could destroy Earth’s power supply - forever.

Can the Colonel and Tuck resolve an age-old dispute between the Titan colonists and Earthly authorities before the clock runs out? Mankinds fate depends on it . . .

Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction, Young Adult

192 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1954

About the author

Alan Edward Nourse was an American science fiction (SF) author and physician. He also wrote under the name Dr. X
He wrote both juvenile and adult science fiction, as well as nonfiction works about medicine and science.
Alan Nourse was born to Benjamin and Grace (Ogg) Nourse. He attended high school in Long Island, New York. He served in the U.S. Navy after World War II. He earned a Bachelor of Science degree in 1951 from Rutgers University, New Brunswick, New Jersey. He married Ann Morton on June 11, 1952 in Lynden, New Jersey. He received a Doctor of Medicine (M.D.) degree in 1955 from the University of Pennsylvania. He served his one year internship at Virginia Mason Hospital in Seattle, Washington. He practiced medicine in North Bend, Washington from 1958 to 1963 and also pursued his writing career.
He had helped pay for his medical education by writing science fiction for magazines. After retiring from medicine, he continued writing. His regular column in Good Housekeeping magazine earned him the nickname "Family Doctor".
He was a friend of fellow author Avram Davidson. Robert A. Heinlein dedicated his 1964 novel Farnham's Freehold to Nourse. Heinlein in part dedicated his 1982 novel Friday to Nourse's wife Ann.

His novel The Bladerunner lent its name to the Blade Runner movie, but no other aspects of its plot or characters, which were taken from Philip K. Dick's Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? In the late 1970s an attempt to adapt The Bladerunner for the screen was made, with Beat Generation author William S. Burroughs commissioned to write a story treatment; no film was ever developed but the story treatment was later published as the novella, Blade Runner (a movie).
His novel Star Surgeon has been recorded as a public domain audio book at LibriVox
His pen names included "Al Edwards" and "Doctor X".

He died in Thorp, Washington.

Reviews

[Craig · Rating 3 out of 5]

Originally published in 1954 as part of the Winston line of juvenile sf (what they call y.a. these days), I thought Trouble on Titan held up fairly well from a scientific viewpoint. Of course there was no such thing as diversity in 1954, and certainly no such thing as sex, at least in books for young people (the only mention of female characters is as Mrs. Someone or Mom), but it's not a bad science puzzle story. Nourse wrote a number of books for younger readers, as well as some good sf stories with a medical backdrop. (I've been told that his name should be pronounced "Nurse" rather than "Norse.") The plot has a couple of questionable coincidental twists, but it's a fun if predictable adventure. The book includes an entertaining introduction that explains what he was trying to accomplish and how he went about it.

[Joe Santoro · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've read a few other juvenile stories from this era, and this one certainly carries plenty of similarities to the ones Heinlein and others wrote... the kids in the story come together to figure out a problem the adults can't solve because they're too bound in their ways. It's a well executed verision of that plot, but it's pretty much the same one you can read lots of other places.

This one also mixed in a fair bit of the older adventure/travelogue of the solar system type story... we find a settled universe, but one that's 'realistic' (for what was known in 1954, anyway). There are semi-sentient aliens on Titan, but nothing like Burroughs. (funnily enough, said aliens are mentioned only casually and are totally unimportant). It also has a much more realistic time line for space colonization than most... many 50s and 60s books had moon colonies by 1990.. this one imagines the first moon landing in 1976 and takes place 200 years later. There was also a nice shout out to Heinlein with 'Rolling Roads' as a key form of transport on Earth, which made me smile.

The story was really just one big logic whole away from 5 stars... the premise is that the miners on Titan are unhappy because they mine the Macguffinium (sorry, it's too late for me to find the name of the pretend element) that makes the worlds energy go. But, how'd they get to Titan to discover it without the energy? They talk about atomics a bit, but it's clear that World Infrastructure can only support the mining colonies in space because of the mineral .

I guess maybe there was a bit on Earth? Or they had nuclear plants that lasted long enough to get going? Anyway, I know that's totally not the point and has nothing to do with the plot, but it bugged me a bit. Otherwise, a great classic 'YA' sci fi.

[Thom · Rating 4 out of 5]

Likely compared to the Heinlein juveniles which were published around the same time, I found this story to be quite a bit better. Ten years later, RAH would dedicate his novel Farnham's Freehold to Alan E. Nourse, and Trouble on Titan was his first published full-length work.

The descriptions of Titan are darn close to what probes found fifty years after this book was published, even though the silicon life forms are a bit fanciful. Women could have played a stronger role here, especially as the colony was described as balanced. The story works well, even though the villain is mostly a cliche. There is a good reason this novel was included in the Winston science fiction series (juvenile novels with a focus on science) and James Wallace Harris' "Defining Science Fiction Books of the 50s" list.

Definitely looking forward to reading more from the late Alan Nourse in the near future!

[Mark White · Rating 2 out of 5]

I picked this one up at a used book store, having fond memories of Nourse's Raiders From The Rings. Unfortunately this was a major disappointment.

The plot is your standard YA adventure - a high school kid accompanies his interplanetary trouble shooter father to Titan where the miners are in revolt. Together with a miner's son of the same age he cuts through adult prejudice etc to save the day. But that's not the problem.

I understand it's a YA novel and that it's very dated (written in 1954) but even allowing for that it still misses. There are logical inconsistencies, plot holes you could drive a spaceship through, characters acting with wilful ignorance, continuity errors, you name it. Examples: They have been driving from Titan base to the landing field every month for 150 years, but it's still an off road adventure with serious risk of getting lost or stuck, you have to swap seats to pilot the plane but swapping back you don't, etc. The "Science" part of the SciFi here is pretty consistent with what was known at the time (except for the completely pointless local lifeforms) but for the rest it's plain poor writing and looks like it was dashed off to meet a deadline. Even 1950s Young Adult readers deserve better than this.

If you want old school YA SciFi in the same vein that won't insult your intelligence I can recommend Heinlein's Farmer In The Sky but not this. I'm still looking for a copy of Raiders From The Rings in the hope it is as good as I remember and not as poor as this one turned out to be. Wish me luck.

[Deb Omnivorous Reader · Rating 2 out of 5]

It was ok....
I have to admit that a good portion of the reason I bought it was because of the cover, that is some gorgeous classic sci-fi artwork it has! The story did not live up to the cover really. It was very juvenilia 'boy's own adventure' type story, about how two kids solve the problems of a Titan mining community that could not be solved by their fathers one of whom is a skilled diplomat and the other a colony leader.

So, ok, very very dated but this author wrote it in the 50's - he is actually mentioned by Robert A. Heinlein and he has dated about the same.

I also mention it on youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p2SHY...

[Thomas · Rating 4 out of 5]

Alan Nourse was a science fiction writer with a day job as a practicing physician. He began writing science fiction to help pay for his medical education and continued writing in the genre for over 30 years. In his first novel, Trouble on Titan (1954), a boy travels to Titan with his stiff-necked military father. He makes friends on Titan and helps his father deal with a dangerous rebellion. There are other surprises as father and son each have things to learn. The adventure keeps moving, and the science elements are not as dated as one might expect, with one glaring exception--no one would use wood to shore up a mine tunnel on Titan. Nourse and Robert Heinlein were friends for decades, and Trouble on Titan reads like an early Heinlein juvenile, which is not a bad thing.

[Charles · Rating 5 out of 5]

Alan E. Nourse was barely on my radar as a writer until fairly recently. I read one book by him, Raiders from the Rings, and liked it quite a lot. It was young adult SF, and so I picked up another YA SF book by him called Trouble on Titan. This one was even better. An exciting story and really well written. There's a fair amount of poetry in Nourse's work. After this book, I checked him out. He was a medical doctor in addition to writing. Born in 1928 and died in 1992. If I'd known who he was as a teenager he might have become one of my favorite SF writers. Now I'm going to check online for some more of his books. Maybe you should too.

[Eugene · Rating 4 out of 5]

Could be forty years since I read this as a lad. At first I struggled to suspend my disbelief at the rather unbelievable plot (e.g. senior Earth diplomat/troubleshooter takes son with him on extremely dangerous mission!) but by the end I had really enjoyed the story and was reminded of why I'd loved it all those years ago. Distant mining colonies, rocket ships, tunnels, strange alien creatures, rebellious miners, etc. Oh yeah. :-)

[Roger · Rating 3 out of 5]

Trouble on Titan is just the kind of science fiction I like, with things like spaceship building and planet exploration. However, it didn't grip me; it was a little too predictable, a little repetitive and drawn out. There were one or two ideas of interest, like a jet designed to fly in a methane atmosphere using oxygen for it's fuel.

[Michael Ritchie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Thin plotting and pulp science fiction of its time.

[tyRonE hArDing · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good little sci fi tale.

[James Paterson · Rating 4 out of 5]

The reveal that the antagonist had evil intentions caused the story to miss the opportunity to deal with the ethical dilemma and consider the opposing original viewpoint

[Alex Manescu · Rating 3 out of 5]

A friend described this book as sometimes a little too weird and I think that captures it well. Love when they throw in a little expanse style space war in between the trans humanism psychedelia.

[Joseph · Rating 4 out of 5]

Trouble on Titan was the 2nd "real" Sci-Fi I'd ever read... back in 5th grade (with some difficulty), yet it isn't a "juvie" book. It's plot was the basis for years of space dreams and books I thought I'd write. By no coincidence, my fave computer game is Sid's "Alpha Centauri", an extension -in a way- of the story in my mind. I first read it so long ago that only recently did I rediscover that Alan E. Nourse, now one of my top 10 authors, penned Trouble on Titan (such nice surprises are stock and trade in Sci-Fi). Nourse has always been good with tight plots and well thought-out scientific and insightful psychic extrapolations (His "The Universe Between" is in my 10 best... because I'd personally experienced something very like it). He also seems to me somewhat less stilted and 50's "aw-shucks" than many of his contemporaries with personal interactions.

So as not to kill the plot, I'll state ToT is the story of the Earth colony on Saturn's huge moon Titan and it's inhabitant's struggle for self rule and their novel solution. Titan's atmosphere and cold temps give interesting options for scientific advances and living. Nourse takes some advantage of that to the advantage of many authors afterwards. One of my fave concepts was the methane breathing jet engines that used oxygen for fuel. Today it may be somewhat dated but for the those who enjoy the wide-eyed 50's way of Sci-Fi prose, and to a ready mind, ToT is still a very good book with many valid concepts and emotions to convey.

[SciFiOne · Rating 3 out of 5]

1984 grade C+

Juvenile

[Frank · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of the Winston juvenile sci-fi series. Read back in 1998.

[Keith · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty good s-f novel of my youth.