Lost: A Moon

by Paul Capon

A planet manned by robots — three human beings captured and carried off from Earth to that this is the theme of Paul Capon's latest science thriller for boys. When young Stephen Craig came over from America to stay with his girl friend Daney and her father, all seemed set for a peaceful, happy holiday on the coast, with Mr. Salgado painting landscapes, Daney and Steve swimming and boating. Their weirdest dreams would have seemed tame beside the reality of what befell these three when, while swimming one morning, they were snatched out of the sea by a mechanical monster and transported by it through space.Phobos is one of the moons which revolve round Mars — so the astronomers say. In PaulCapon's story he tells us that it is really an artificial satellite set going by the Martians — a gigantic mechanical brain which controls the automatons it reproduces.To this nightmare world the three humans were taken, a world peopled by creatures which could perform superhuman tasks, but could not feel any emotion. What hope of understanding or pity could there be from them? How could Mr. Salgado, Stephen and Daney escape with their lives?Paul Capon tells the story of their dangers and eventual triumph with that mixture of the factual and the bizarre which make his stories so vivid. However exotic the fantasy it always has its roots in scientific possibilities.Paul Capon (1912-1969) was a British novelist of considerable reputation. He had over twenty novels to his credit and counted film editing and script writing as part of his experience. He traveled extensively in Europe and made a hobby of chess, book-collecting and swimming.

Genres: Fiction

134 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1955

About the author

Paul Capon (1912-1969) was a British novelist of considerable reputation. He had over twenty novels to his credit and counted film editing and script writing as part of his experience. He traveled extensively in Europe and made hobbies of chess, book-collecting and swimming.

Reviews

[Jonathan Norton · Rating 3 out of 5]

I saw a copy of this under its original title "Phobos The Robot Planet" at a jumble sale when I was about 9 and was intrigued by it. I think my brother bought it but gave it away later. Internet searches revealed the author and also that second-hand examples were quite pricey, but last year it finally got the digital print-on-demand reincarnation under the second title given to it.

I suppose Capon might have adjusted the name for the sake of strict scientific correctness (Phobos is a moon not a planet; but then we can argue what counts as a "planet", since the original notion of "wandering star" would cover the satellites as well as bodies of any size, such as Pluto). But never mind. This is a 1950s "thriller for boys" written just on the brink of the real space age. It has magnetic boots and Martian canals and pre-Mariner/Venera ideas of what Mars and Venus would be like. The plot is interesting (the Martians vacated their world long ago, leaving the robot brain of their biggest space station behind, and it now wants to study humans). Good to see that problems of radical translation aren't passed over too quickly, the "unemotional" nature of robotic intelliegence is sketched in, but it all ends a bit fast and I can't help feeling a bit of sympathy for the Phobotic mind. There's enough ideas here for any adult SF writer of the time, and it's a shame Capon didn't develop it at greater length for that marketplace, it might have been more famous.

[Bill Marston · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read it in grade school 1955, as a 3rd grade 7yo boy. The first science fiction novel I read! So of course I must forever give it 5stars. I cannot recall enough to support a review of it, after 65 years. I was just lucky that the title on its binding in my public school’s library caught my eye when I was really after the next one in that marvelous series of American political histories and Civil War historical novelizations, or a cowboy book.

[Randy Lewis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Giving this four stars purely for nostalgia. I read this book as a child and it instilled a life long love of science fiction. Re-reading it after fifty years brought back the initial thrill of reading a form of fiction totally unlike anything I had read before.

It's dated and most kids today could probably point out the errors in the descriptions of Mars but it was great for its time.