Earthbound

by Milton Lesser

"We'll thunder off to Io,Out in the Jovian Moons.We'll feast our eyes and seek the skiesAnd plunder Martian ruins!"The "Spaceman's Chant" turned from a spirited to a heartbreaking refrain when Cadet Peter Hodges learned that he would never be allowed to "thunder off to Io."Bitter disappointment, to a youth whose father had been one of the first space captains, motivates this gripping tale of the future. Studded with detail of the spaceports, ships and men that handle interplanetary flight, Earthbound is the very human drama of a disillusioned cadet forced by circumstances to help plunder the very space liners he was trained to protect.How Pete Hodges became involved with interplanetary racketeers, his dramatic escape, his flight to the asteroids on a mission the authorities knew could not succed, is a finely wrought drama that only an author of Milton Lesser's stature could write. Fired with suspense and action, this story of one young man's determination to face the speckled blackness of outer space is science fiction at its best! Milton Lesser was raised in Brooklyn and attended the College of William and Mary. After several years writing science fiction under his given name, including four books for the Winston Science Fiction series, he legally adopted the pen name Stephen Marlowe. He authored more than fifty novels, including nearly two dozen featuring globe-trotting private eye Chester Drum.

Genres: Science Fiction

158 pages, Kindle Edition

First published April 1, 1952

About the author

Milton Lesser was an American author of science fiction, mystery novels, and fictional autobiographies of Christopher Columbus, Spanish author Miguel de Cervantes, and Edgar Allan Poe. He is best known for his detective character Chester Drum, whom he created in the 1955 novel The Second Longest Night.

He was awarded the French Prix Gutenberg du Livre in 1988, and in 1997 he was awarded the "Life Achievement Award" by the Private Eye Writers of America. He lived with his wife Ann in Williamsburg, Virginia.

His pseudonyms include Adam Chase, Stephen Marlowe, Andrew Frazer, C.H. Thames, Jason Ridgway and Ellery Queen.

Reviews

[Diane Pierce · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book numerous times as a youngster. The story stayed with me for years. Just reread it and still found it enjoyable. Drama, intrigue, heroics, and friendship all rolled into one novel. To me it is timeless

[Dennis · Rating 3 out of 5]

Book is old so the story is dated in terms of Sci-Fi. However, still a decent story line.

[Brian Scott · Rating 2 out of 5]

A memorable base, and that’s about it...

WINSTON SCIENCE FICTION #1: “Earthbound” by Milton Lesser

While I was in junior high, during the 1980s, I read some books from the "Winston Science Fiction" series--without realizing they were a series.

Winston Science Fiction #1 is “Earthbound”, by Milton Lesser. It answered a question I’d had for years. I had been trying to recall the title of the sf book I read when I was a kid, that featured a rocket base in Antarctica. It was this one. Apparently, I had gotten it mixed-up with “Rocket Jockey” by Lester Del Rey (also a Winston Science Fiction juvenile).

I liked “Earthbound” more as a teenager than as an adult. The story is pretty cookie-cutter, and the characters are fairly generic. There is a lot of B-movie talk about what it means to grow up and be a man. The last act of the novel is a painfully inaccurate portrayal of what being on a crippled ship in the asteroid belt would be like.

At the same time, the editors of the Winston Science Fiction series wanted readers to learn actual science, and this book makes a good first attempt at that by including a glossary defining various terms encountered in the story. For that reason, I’m giving it a gold star for effort.
And the rocket base in Antarctica is still a really cool idea. 😉

[Non-native Virginian · Rating 5 out of 5]

Don't confuse this with the 2011 book of the same name by Joe Haldeman (which I did not like). This Earthbound by Milton Lesser, published in 1952, is a fun, adventurous, pre-space travel sci-fi story. It was written well before human space travel, so the concepts, technologies, terminology, etc. are completely outdated and naive. Still, as a fan of this type of story (i.e., pre-space travel sci-fi), I recommend enjoying this book and reliving a long-lost past of wonder and speculation!