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The Secret of the Ninth Planet
While the circumnavigation of the solar system seems farfetched, it may not be once the problem of effective anti-gravitational control is solved. In this book I have assumed that the many researchers now actually at work on this problem will achieve such a result in the next decade. It is not at all impossible that they may for we all know that the more minds that work at a problem, the sooner it will be solved. The discovery of a means of negating, reversing or otherwise utilizing the immense force of gravitation for space flight purposes is now thought to be within the bounds of probability. It should occur some time within the next hundred years, possibly in even the short period I assume here.
Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1959
About the author
Donald A. Wollheim
297 books36 followersDonald Allen Wollheim was a science fiction writer, editor, publisher and fan. He published his own works under pseudonyms, including David Grinnell.
A member of the Futurians, he was one of the leading influences on the development of science fiction and science fiction fandom in the 20th century United States.
In 1937, Wollheim founded the Fantasy Amateur Press Association. The first mailing was distributed in July of that year and included this statement from Wollheim: "There are many fans desiring to put out a voice who dare not, for fear of being obliged to keep it up, and for the worry and time taken by subscriptions and advertising. It is for them and for the fan who admits it is his hobby and not his business that we formed the FAPA."
Wollheim was also a member of the New York Science Fiction League, one of the clubs established by Hugo Gernsback to promote science fiction. When Wollheim published a complaint of non-payment for stories against Gernsback, Gernsback dissolved the New York chapter of the club.
Wollheim's first story, "The Man from Ariel," was published in the January 1934 issue of Wonder Stories when Wollheim was nineteen. Wollheim was not paid for the story and when he began to look into the situation, he learned that many other authors had not been paid for their work, publishing his findings in the Bulletin of the Terrestrial Fantascience Guild. Gernsback eventually settled the case with Wollheim and other authors out of court for $75, but when Wollheim submitted another story to Gernsback, under the pseudonym "Millard Verne Gordon," he was again not paid. One of Wollheim's short stories, "Mimic" was made into the feature film of the same name, which was released in 1997.
He left Avon Books in 1952 to work for A. A. Wyn at Ace Books. In 1953 he introduced science fiction to the Ace lineup, and for 20 years edited their renowned sf list. Ace was well known for the Ace Doubles series which consisted of pairs of books, usually by different authors, bound back-to-back with two "front" covers. Because these paired books had to fit a fixed total page-length, one or both were usually heavily abridged to fit, and Wollheim often made many other editorial alterations and title changes — as witness the many differences between Poul Anderson's Ace novel War of the Wing-Men and its definitive revised edition, The Man Who Counts. It was also during the 1950s he bought the book Junk by William S. Burroughs, which, in his inimitable fashion, he retitled Junkie.
In 1965 Wollheim published an unauthorized Ace edition of The Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien in three volumes — the first mass-market paperback edition of Tolkien's epic. This was done because Wollheim believed the Houghton Mifflin hardcover editions failed to properly assert copyright. In a 2006 interview, Wollheim's daughter claimed that Tolkien had angered her father by saying that his magnum opus would never be published in so ‘degenerate a form’ as the paperback book. However, Tolkien had previously authorized a paperback edition of The Hobbit in 1961, and eventually supported paperback editions of The Lord of the Rings and several of his other texts. In any case, Ace was forced to cease publishing the unauthorized edition and to pay Tolkien for their sales following a grass-roots campaign and boycott by Tolkien's U.S. fans. In 1993 a court found that the copyright loophole suggested by Ace Books was incorrect and their paperback edition found to have been a violation of Tolkien's copyright under US law.
After leaving Ace he founded DAW Books in 1971, named by his initials, which can claim to be the first mass market specialist science fiction and fantasy fiction publishing house. In later years, when his distributors, New American Library, threatened to withhold distribution of Thomas Burnett Swann's Biblical fantasy How are the Mighty Fallen (1974) because of its homosexual con
A member of the Futurians, he was one of the leading influences on the development of science fiction and science fiction fandom in the 20th century United States.
In 1937, Wollheim founded the Fantasy Amateur Press Association. The first mailing was distributed in July of that year and included this statement from Wollheim: "There are many fans desiring to put out a voice who dare not, for fear of being obliged to keep it up, and for the worry and time taken by subscriptions and advertising. It is for them and for the fan who admits it is his hobby and not his business that we formed the FAPA."
Wollheim was also a member of the New York Science Fiction League, one of the clubs established by Hugo Gernsback to promote science fiction. When Wollheim published a complaint of non-payment for stories against Gernsback, Gernsback dissolved the New York chapter of the club.
Wollheim's first story, "The Man from Ariel," was published in the January 1934 issue of Wonder Stories when Wollheim was nineteen. Wollheim was not paid for the story and when he began to look into the situation, he learned that many other authors had not been paid for their work, publishing his findings in the Bulletin of the Terrestrial Fantascience Guild. Gernsback eventually settled the case with Wollheim and other authors out of court for $75, but when Wollheim submitted another story to Gernsback, under the pseudonym "Millard Verne Gordon," he was again not paid. One of Wollheim's short stories, "Mimic" was made into the feature film of the same name, which was released in 1997.
He left Avon Books in 1952 to work for A. A. Wyn at Ace Books. In 1953 he introduced science fiction to the Ace lineup, and for 20 years edited their renowned sf list. Ace was well known for the Ace Doubles series which consisted of pairs of books, usually by different authors, bound back-to-back with two "front" covers. Because these paired books had to fit a fixed total page-length, one or both were usually heavily abridged to fit, and Wollheim often made many other editorial alterations and title changes — as witness the many differences between Poul Anderson's Ace novel War of the Wing-Men and its definitive revised edition, The Man Who Counts. It was also during the 1950s he bought the book Junk by William S. Burroughs, which, in his inimitable fashion, he retitled Junkie.
In 1965 Wollheim published an unauthorized Ace edition of The Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien in three volumes — the first mass-market paperback edition of Tolkien's epic. This was done because Wollheim believed the Houghton Mifflin hardcover editions failed to properly assert copyright. In a 2006 interview, Wollheim's daughter claimed that Tolkien had angered her father by saying that his magnum opus would never be published in so ‘degenerate a form’ as the paperback book. However, Tolkien had previously authorized a paperback edition of The Hobbit in 1961, and eventually supported paperback editions of The Lord of the Rings and several of his other texts. In any case, Ace was forced to cease publishing the unauthorized edition and to pay Tolkien for their sales following a grass-roots campaign and boycott by Tolkien's U.S. fans. In 1993 a court found that the copyright loophole suggested by Ace Books was incorrect and their paperback edition found to have been a violation of Tolkien's copyright under US law.
After leaving Ace he founded DAW Books in 1971, named by his initials, which can claim to be the first mass market specialist science fiction and fantasy fiction publishing house. In later years, when his distributors, New American Library, threatened to withhold distribution of Thomas Burnett Swann's Biblical fantasy How are the Mighty Fallen (1974) because of its homosexual con
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 34 reviews
January 7, 2024
Back in pre Star Wars days, before Industrial Light and Magic, before actual space flights and basically before anything person born after 2012 would recognize an modern, a lot of books were written to include a kid, usually a teenager, most often a male. The notion was to create a 'you are there feeling', with the child reader closely identifying with the teen in the book. Eventually we got stories and TV programing staring impossibly young medical doctors and scientists, and vampire hunters but that merely updates the convention. In The Secret Of The Ninth Planet by Donald A. Wollheim the central character is High School student and adventuresome Burl Denning. And how is that for a manly name? Through his eyes we will travel the solar system too learn this secret.
As a pre-teen I had read all of Donald A. Wollheim’s Mike Mars books and through them felt that much more closely the on gong real adventure of America’s earliest space flights. Since then, I have learned that Mr. Wollheim was a respected, influential early author of modern era science fiction. I will be reading more from his shelf but it is a kindness to say that there is something hokey about The Secret Of The Ninth Planet. Mostly I enjoyed it as in enjoying something that is campy in a way not intended. It is family friendly to the extreme, but it is hard to imagine even an 10 year old reading it. It might get by as a bed time story book. So maybe the audience is now old guys like me seeking to remember an era long past. A woman reader? Ladies are welcome to read, just do not look for any female characters. Not so much as a secretary or a coffee fetcher. I guess in the late 50’s a female character in a boy’s book might be a cooty carrier.
So the 4 strars is a stretch, but ya just cannot take it all that serious
As for the science, welllll maybe not. A crisis is brought on by some not of this earth plot to steal power from the sun. This theft will, somehow destabilize the sun and cause it to go super nova. Also the US suddenly has a prototype anti-gravity space ship. Credit for this idea goes to H G Wells. Wiki relates that the US Air Force in the 1950 was interested in anti-gravity but nothing ever came of it except a law to keep the military from researching things with no military application. Prolly unknown to Wollheim was John Jacob Astor’s A Journey to Other Worlds Yes American millionaire Astor, wrote a science fiction, space travel book using anti gravity and imagined a ship much like Wollheim’s.
After traversing the Solar system, in order, there will be a climatic confrontation and the good guys will make a lot of friends.
As a pre-teen I had read all of Donald A. Wollheim’s Mike Mars books and through them felt that much more closely the on gong real adventure of America’s earliest space flights. Since then, I have learned that Mr. Wollheim was a respected, influential early author of modern era science fiction. I will be reading more from his shelf but it is a kindness to say that there is something hokey about The Secret Of The Ninth Planet. Mostly I enjoyed it as in enjoying something that is campy in a way not intended. It is family friendly to the extreme, but it is hard to imagine even an 10 year old reading it. It might get by as a bed time story book. So maybe the audience is now old guys like me seeking to remember an era long past. A woman reader? Ladies are welcome to read, just do not look for any female characters. Not so much as a secretary or a coffee fetcher. I guess in the late 50’s a female character in a boy’s book might be a cooty carrier.
So the 4 strars is a stretch, but ya just cannot take it all that serious
As for the science, welllll maybe not. A crisis is brought on by some not of this earth plot to steal power from the sun. This theft will, somehow destabilize the sun and cause it to go super nova. Also the US suddenly has a prototype anti-gravity space ship. Credit for this idea goes to H G Wells. Wiki relates that the US Air Force in the 1950 was interested in anti-gravity but nothing ever came of it except a law to keep the military from researching things with no military application. Prolly unknown to Wollheim was John Jacob Astor’s A Journey to Other Worlds Yes American millionaire Astor, wrote a science fiction, space travel book using anti gravity and imagined a ship much like Wollheim’s.
After traversing the Solar system, in order, there will be a climatic confrontation and the good guys will make a lot of friends.
April 29, 2021
Wollheim was an important figure in the science fiction field, famed as an editor at Avon and Ace and as the founder of DAW, of course, but he was also a writer of many works that I've enjoyed. Sadly, the science in this one is just abysmal. It was published as an adventure for younger readers in 1959, but the science seems fifty years out of date even for the time. Pluto, home to an advanced civilization, was originally a planet circling another star, but it wanders away and goes into orbit around Sol. It's cold way out there, so the survivors set up stations on the eight interior planets to steal their solar power and relay it to Pluto. Luckily, in the very near future, Earthlings have recently perfected an anti-gravity drive so they mount an expedition to destroy the pesky power-stealing stations. A young man who happened to be near the Earth station when it was activated and gets zapped with a mysterious force that somehow allows him to operate the alien controls goes along with the team of scientists and military personnel on the anti-gravity ship that just happens to be ready for a take-off. They're equipped with hand-held weapons to shoot small atomic bombs, and make many poor decisions like landing on Venus and explore it wearing shorts. They make the grand tour of the planets, destroying stations as they go with A- and H-bombs, until they reach Pluto, where they are captured and put into an interstellar zoo, but manage to lead a revolt. To be fair, it's not a bad adventure story in so far as the pacing and suspense, and his aliens are interesting. Many things are never explained, like why the Plutonians don't move closer or why they don't set up their stations in space closer to the sun or.... Well, a lot of it just doesn't make much sense. My 1973 paperback edition has a cover showing an astronaut being menaced by what appears to be a swarm of macaroni noodles. Wollheim wrote some very good YA novels, such as the Mike Mars series, with intelligent scientific premises, but this one isn't in the same league.
October 4, 2013
Hogy is harangozta be George Lucas az új Star Wars trilógia nyitó epizódját? "Every generation has a legend" - ez a betűsor ragyogott fel a Baljós árnyak első trailer-ének kezdő képkockáin. Nos, amint a Csillagok Háborúja (szigorúan saját kezűleg kiszínezett!) képregényei egy folytonosan táguló fantáziabirodalom Nagy Bummját jelentették sokunk számára, akik a '80-as évek elején élték meg szellemi ébredezésüket, a sci-fi novellák terén valamiért és valahogyan, ki tudja mi okból és mi végett, de Donald A. Wollheim A kilencedik bolygó titka c. írása vált gyermekkorom egyik emblematikus olvasmányává.
Szeretek nosztalgiázni, csak időm nincs rá. Ez már a vénülés csalhatatlan jele volna? Meglehet. Bárhogyan is légyen, de amikor alkalmam nyílott rá, hogy egy kellőképpen felszerelt antikvárium s némi anyagi ráfordítás segítségével újra összerakjam teljes gyűjteményemet a legendás Robur magazin köteteiből (egykoron ezektől külső kényszer hatására kellett megválnom), pillanatnyi kétség sem merült fel, hogy ne A kilencedik bolygó titkával kezdjem a sok kiváló novella újraolvasását. A megelevenedett gyermekkori emlékképek hatása alatt, a rám váró gondtalan szórakozás ígéretével nedvesítettem meg ajkam, mint egy pályát tévesztett szatír, és hirtelen ötlettől vezérelve emeltem a tétet: olvassuk csak ezt a remek novellát most szimultán, s az egyébként kiváló magyar fordítás mellé tálaljuk köretnek az angol eredetit.
Persze a történet ezúttal is olyan véget ért, mint máskor. Mint például amikor az ember harmincöt évesen leül a tévé elé, s arra számít, hogy Nils Holgersson Márton lúd hátán tett csodálatos utazása heteken át tartja majd izgalomban őt magát, s az egész munkahelyi kollektívát - és aztán mégsem; vagy mint amikor felnőtt fejjel napokon keresztül azon morfondíroz, hogy mi volt olyan baromira izgalmas egy Willy Fogg-ra keresztelt cilinderes oroszlán föld körüli útjában, vagy hogy miért szereltetett mindenki villogó fénysort Skodájának hűtőrácsa elé, miközben a képernyőkön a göndör mellszőrzetű Hasselhoff barátunk egy beszélő autó társaságában aprította a rosszfiúkat.
Természetesen, nem azt kívánom bizonygatni, hogy A kilencedik bolygó titka egy rosszul megírt, gyermeteg történet lenne. Távolról sem! Inkább rá- mintsem lebeszélni szeretnék bárkit is, hogy belekóstoljon a sci-fi irodalom hőskorának jellegzetes varázsát hordozó műbe. Gondoljunk csak bele, a novella 1959-ben jelent meg nyomtatásban. Szabad-e csodálkoznunk akkor, hogy a történet magán viseli a hidegháború, a fegyverkezési verseny, az amerikai és az orosz űrprogram őrült tempójú vetélkedésének lenyomatát?! Lehetett-e pusztítóbb fegyver az emberi elme, s így a sci-fi író fantáziája számára, mint az atom- és a hidrogén-bomba ilyen-olyan variációi? Miért is számított volna túlzásnak az elméleti fizika forradalmi elméleteinek fényében, hogy az embert évtizedeken belül antigravitációs hajtóművek repítik a Naprendszer bolygóira, s még azon is túl? S miképpen vélekedett akkortájt a tudományos közvélemény a közeli planéták lakhatóságáról, amikor javában dúlt a vita a Mars-csatornák körül?
A kilencedik bolygó titka, mely voltaképpen egy pszeudo-trilógia egyik története, mindazoknak garantált szórakozást fog nyújtani, akik szerettek gyermekek és fiatalok lenni, s még nem felejtették el ma sem, hogyan is kell azt csinálni.
Szeretek nosztalgiázni, csak időm nincs rá. Ez már a vénülés csalhatatlan jele volna? Meglehet. Bárhogyan is légyen, de amikor alkalmam nyílott rá, hogy egy kellőképpen felszerelt antikvárium s némi anyagi ráfordítás segítségével újra összerakjam teljes gyűjteményemet a legendás Robur magazin köteteiből (egykoron ezektől külső kényszer hatására kellett megválnom), pillanatnyi kétség sem merült fel, hogy ne A kilencedik bolygó titkával kezdjem a sok kiváló novella újraolvasását. A megelevenedett gyermekkori emlékképek hatása alatt, a rám váró gondtalan szórakozás ígéretével nedvesítettem meg ajkam, mint egy pályát tévesztett szatír, és hirtelen ötlettől vezérelve emeltem a tétet: olvassuk csak ezt a remek novellát most szimultán, s az egyébként kiváló magyar fordítás mellé tálaljuk köretnek az angol eredetit.
Persze a történet ezúttal is olyan véget ért, mint máskor. Mint például amikor az ember harmincöt évesen leül a tévé elé, s arra számít, hogy Nils Holgersson Márton lúd hátán tett csodálatos utazása heteken át tartja majd izgalomban őt magát, s az egész munkahelyi kollektívát - és aztán mégsem; vagy mint amikor felnőtt fejjel napokon keresztül azon morfondíroz, hogy mi volt olyan baromira izgalmas egy Willy Fogg-ra keresztelt cilinderes oroszlán föld körüli útjában, vagy hogy miért szereltetett mindenki villogó fénysort Skodájának hűtőrácsa elé, miközben a képernyőkön a göndör mellszőrzetű Hasselhoff barátunk egy beszélő autó társaságában aprította a rosszfiúkat.
Természetesen, nem azt kívánom bizonygatni, hogy A kilencedik bolygó titka egy rosszul megírt, gyermeteg történet lenne. Távolról sem! Inkább rá- mintsem lebeszélni szeretnék bárkit is, hogy belekóstoljon a sci-fi irodalom hőskorának jellegzetes varázsát hordozó műbe. Gondoljunk csak bele, a novella 1959-ben jelent meg nyomtatásban. Szabad-e csodálkoznunk akkor, hogy a történet magán viseli a hidegháború, a fegyverkezési verseny, az amerikai és az orosz űrprogram őrült tempójú vetélkedésének lenyomatát?! Lehetett-e pusztítóbb fegyver az emberi elme, s így a sci-fi író fantáziája számára, mint az atom- és a hidrogén-bomba ilyen-olyan variációi? Miért is számított volna túlzásnak az elméleti fizika forradalmi elméleteinek fényében, hogy az embert évtizedeken belül antigravitációs hajtóművek repítik a Naprendszer bolygóira, s még azon is túl? S miképpen vélekedett akkortájt a tudományos közvélemény a közeli planéták lakhatóságáról, amikor javában dúlt a vita a Mars-csatornák körül?
A kilencedik bolygó titka, mely voltaképpen egy pszeudo-trilógia egyik története, mindazoknak garantált szórakozást fog nyújtani, akik szerettek gyermekek és fiatalok lenni, s még nem felejtették el ma sem, hogyan is kell azt csinálni.
January 11, 2009
What an excellent book. Definitely a bit of a Young adult book but I enjoyed it immensely. This ranks up there with "The Secret of the Martian Moons" by Wollheim, and is far better than "The Secret of Saturn's Rings."
A great fun adventure.
A great fun adventure.
December 14, 2021
Wollheim has provided a mix of fairly typical 1950s sci-fi and planetary romance - it has a pretty strong pulp influence. Typical of the period, the heroes are all male and (assumed, but not explicitly stated) all white. I don't recall there being a named female character in the book - the hero visits his mother at one point, but even that happens off-stage.
The author has made some attempt to keep the science reasonable, but has made a couple of major errors, one being that he has Pluto as being the same size as Earth. To be fair, I am not sure of what the state of knowledge of Pluto was in the late 50s, when this was written.
The more grievous error is .
Overall, it was an enjoyable revisiting of the type of sci-fi that was prevalent in my childhood, although it hasn't really aged well.
The author has made some attempt to keep the science reasonable, but has made a couple of major errors, one being that he has Pluto as being the same size as Earth. To be fair, I am not sure of what the state of knowledge of Pluto was in the late 50s, when this was written.
The more grievous error is .
Overall, it was an enjoyable revisiting of the type of sci-fi that was prevalent in my childhood, although it hasn't really aged well.
August 11, 2023
Interesting, odd, fantastic (who cares about science or physics, right?), but fun to read. I saw a documentary about Casa Susannah, a place for cross-dressing men in the 1960's - the author was a visitor there, and his daughter was interviewed in the documentary - that's how I heard about him, and why I decided to read this book
February 7, 2009
An alien race has put a sun tapping device on Earth. Burl Denning and his father find, Burl being imbued with an energy that allows him to shut down the device. Now he's a crew member of an experimental ship visiting all the planets looking for these machines.
As they destroy each one and move farther out in the solar system, booby traps start to show up. Also, each projector seems to be beaming energy toward Pluto. The enemy is there, knows they are coming, and is moving to greet their desperate mission.
As they destroy each one and move farther out in the solar system, booby traps start to show up. Also, each projector seems to be beaming energy toward Pluto. The enemy is there, knows they are coming, and is moving to greet their desperate mission.
August 15, 2021
Donald A. Wollheim is mostly known for being a mid-century science-fiction editor and publisher. His dispute with J.R.R. Tolkien is legendary. Wollheim was so in love with Tolkien’s writings that he wanted to publish themas paperbacks. But the great fantasy author had better judgment about writing then then he did about the publishing industry in his day. Tolkien was insulted, thinking of that format as being reserved only for the lowest forms of literature. The world can thank Wollheim for winning the argument because if he hadn’t, Tolkien’s works would never have reached the mass appeal they have to this day. Aside from publishing, Wollheim also tried his hand at writing a few short novels. The Secret Of the Ninth Planet is said to be his best. If that is true then his other novels aren’t worth reading. With a little more effort, this book could have been mediocre, but the author didn’t quite make it to that level of quality.
At the start, a high school student named Burl Denning and his father are doing archaeological work in the mountains of Peru. But something startling happens. The sun goes behind a cloud and the temperature becomes slightly cooler. You might ask yourself why this is such a shock and you might find that there is no good answer. It’s not like such a thing never happens. Before you know it, a plane flies over them and drops a metal tube with a message in it especially for them. It is from the American government who say that some dudes in outer space are stealing sunlight from Earth and their sun-tapper plant is within walking distance of Burl and his father. They must immediately go there and blow it up or the planet will perish.
So Burl and his dad take off to find this place. They blast a hole in the wall because archaeologists always carry high-powered explosives in their backpacks wherever they go. Inside they find some machinery made out of metal domes, disks, and rods. Immediately they know what they have to do. They take out their rifles and start shooting in every direction. This isn’t without its risks. I mean you don’t just walk into a power station and start shooting. Who knows what could be in those domes. They were lucky they weren’t full of explosives. They didn’t even check to see if there were space alien security guards with laser guns or something. The ricocheting bullets could have lodged on their brains or blown their balls off. All the machinery did shut down, though, and Earth was safe once again. Then Burl touched one of the globes and got a jolt of energy. From then on he had that special kind of glow, not that he needed it because he really was a special kind of guy all along.
Back at a California air force base, the government told Burl he had to go to outer space. See, that special glow he obtained meant he was special in another way. It didn’t turn him gay or anything, it just meant that he was the only one who could turn off these sun-tapping machines. The scientists had discovered that every planet housed a sun-tapping plant so Burl and his crew would have to fly through space and destroy each one before all the energy got drained from the sun, causing the universe to die. This sounded like a lot of responsibility for a pimply faced teenager with raging hormones but Burl was up to the task. After all, there couldn’t be anything more exciting than being a fresh-faced young guy on a spaceship full of macho astronauts. A rocket ship is long, hard, and full of astronauts unlike a submarine which is long, hard, and full of seamen.
The action stays exciting until the crew leaves Mars. By action I mean landing on Mercury, Venus, and Mars to locate the sun-tappers. They shoot these places up and haul ass to get out. Mars is the only planet that is inhabited by anything that isn’t slime and the astronauts almost lose their lives escaping from the mob of angry Martians. This section of the book has some imaginative descriptions and the majority of the novel’s action. After that they just fly around space, dropping nuclear bombs and shooting their guns. The Mars expedition is the peak of the excitement and it feels as though Wollheim ran out of ideas at that point.
Finally the crew lands on Pluto and the secret scheme of the nefarious Plutonians is revealed. The climax had some potential for saving this flailing piece of crap of a story but it just came off as silly, cheesy, and pretentious. The abrupt ending made it seem like Wollheim finished quickly because he some more urgent business to attend to, like getting home on time to avoid missing the beginning of Leave It to Beaver.
The Secret Of the Ninth Planet gets off to a good start, even if it is a bit goofy. Wollheim just couldn’t keep the whole thing going. It’s kind of like watching a porno where the guy has trouble finishing at the end while his partner lays on her back with a bored look of annoyance on her face that says “Just get it over with already. I have to make a phone call.” Donald Wollheim made a good decision in directing all his energies towards publishing. He didn’t quite have what it takes to be a good writer. And the next time some space monsters start diverting sunlight from Earth, we should thank them instead of killing them. We’re getting roasted this summer because of global warming while California, Oregon, and a couple Greek islands are literally on fire. Greenland and the polar icecaps are melting and they have just discovered a new hole in the ozone layer over the Arctic Sea. Next time the climate starts to cool down by a notch, just leave it the fuck alone.
At the start, a high school student named Burl Denning and his father are doing archaeological work in the mountains of Peru. But something startling happens. The sun goes behind a cloud and the temperature becomes slightly cooler. You might ask yourself why this is such a shock and you might find that there is no good answer. It’s not like such a thing never happens. Before you know it, a plane flies over them and drops a metal tube with a message in it especially for them. It is from the American government who say that some dudes in outer space are stealing sunlight from Earth and their sun-tapper plant is within walking distance of Burl and his father. They must immediately go there and blow it up or the planet will perish.
So Burl and his dad take off to find this place. They blast a hole in the wall because archaeologists always carry high-powered explosives in their backpacks wherever they go. Inside they find some machinery made out of metal domes, disks, and rods. Immediately they know what they have to do. They take out their rifles and start shooting in every direction. This isn’t without its risks. I mean you don’t just walk into a power station and start shooting. Who knows what could be in those domes. They were lucky they weren’t full of explosives. They didn’t even check to see if there were space alien security guards with laser guns or something. The ricocheting bullets could have lodged on their brains or blown their balls off. All the machinery did shut down, though, and Earth was safe once again. Then Burl touched one of the globes and got a jolt of energy. From then on he had that special kind of glow, not that he needed it because he really was a special kind of guy all along.
Back at a California air force base, the government told Burl he had to go to outer space. See, that special glow he obtained meant he was special in another way. It didn’t turn him gay or anything, it just meant that he was the only one who could turn off these sun-tapping machines. The scientists had discovered that every planet housed a sun-tapping plant so Burl and his crew would have to fly through space and destroy each one before all the energy got drained from the sun, causing the universe to die. This sounded like a lot of responsibility for a pimply faced teenager with raging hormones but Burl was up to the task. After all, there couldn’t be anything more exciting than being a fresh-faced young guy on a spaceship full of macho astronauts. A rocket ship is long, hard, and full of astronauts unlike a submarine which is long, hard, and full of seamen.
The action stays exciting until the crew leaves Mars. By action I mean landing on Mercury, Venus, and Mars to locate the sun-tappers. They shoot these places up and haul ass to get out. Mars is the only planet that is inhabited by anything that isn’t slime and the astronauts almost lose their lives escaping from the mob of angry Martians. This section of the book has some imaginative descriptions and the majority of the novel’s action. After that they just fly around space, dropping nuclear bombs and shooting their guns. The Mars expedition is the peak of the excitement and it feels as though Wollheim ran out of ideas at that point.
Finally the crew lands on Pluto and the secret scheme of the nefarious Plutonians is revealed. The climax had some potential for saving this flailing piece of crap of a story but it just came off as silly, cheesy, and pretentious. The abrupt ending made it seem like Wollheim finished quickly because he some more urgent business to attend to, like getting home on time to avoid missing the beginning of Leave It to Beaver.
The Secret Of the Ninth Planet gets off to a good start, even if it is a bit goofy. Wollheim just couldn’t keep the whole thing going. It’s kind of like watching a porno where the guy has trouble finishing at the end while his partner lays on her back with a bored look of annoyance on her face that says “Just get it over with already. I have to make a phone call.” Donald Wollheim made a good decision in directing all his energies towards publishing. He didn’t quite have what it takes to be a good writer. And the next time some space monsters start diverting sunlight from Earth, we should thank them instead of killing them. We’re getting roasted this summer because of global warming while California, Oregon, and a couple Greek islands are literally on fire. Greenland and the polar icecaps are melting and they have just discovered a new hole in the ozone layer over the Arctic Sea. Next time the climate starts to cool down by a notch, just leave it the fuck alone.
April 19, 2026
Juvenil fiction with a plot that bears not too much thinking about.
Aliens are tapping the Sun, diverting it's sunlight, leading to colder climate. Humans are able to track one device on Earth and others scattered throughout our star system. Thankfully science has just developed an Anti-Grav drive system that allows a spaceship to ignore the gravity of one celestial body and let itself be attracked by another solving the pesky escape velocity problem, technically just falling through space.
Yeah, it's all rather silly, and in typical juvenil fiction manner they encounter on their journey adversaries that are solved in no more than two chapters before heading to the next destination.
Especially funny is the very American reaction to the first Sun-tap, never mind the ricochet:
All in all, still a nice diversion.
Aliens are tapping the Sun, diverting it's sunlight, leading to colder climate. Humans are able to track one device on Earth and others scattered throughout our star system. Thankfully science has just developed an Anti-Grav drive system that allows a spaceship to ignore the gravity of one celestial body and let itself be attracked by another solving the pesky escape velocity problem, technically just falling through space.
Yeah, it's all rather silly, and in typical juvenil fiction manner they encounter on their journey adversaries that are solved in no more than two chapters before heading to the next destination.
Especially funny is the very American reaction to the first Sun-tap, never mind the ricochet:
His father shook his head. "I had only those two cans with me. We could try shooting into the machinery." Leveling his rifle, he fired at a glassy globe perched upon the central sphere. The bullet pinged off it, and they saw that it had failed even to dent the glistening surface.
"It won't work," said the elder Denning, after several more shots had produced the same result and the concussion reverberating from the enclosed walls had nearly deafened them.
All in all, still a nice diversion.
September 9, 2017
I found this book via Project Gutenberg and found it to be pretty bad. The story is a 1950s juvenile novel about a young lad who through blind luck becomes uniquely qualified to join a secret military mission to explore the solar system in search of the hostile aliens who are planning to blow up the Sun. The storyline is quite implausible, though I kept reading to the end. Probably the things that kept me going was the fascination of seeing how he imagined the different planets of the solar system in this grand tour, and that aspect of the story is certainly of interest.
If I had read it at age ten I probably would have enjoyed it a lot more. Reading it in my fifties it doesn't work nearly so well.
If I had read it at age ten I probably would have enjoyed it a lot more. Reading it in my fifties it doesn't work nearly so well.
August 25, 2021
Fantasy listening
A will written fantasy Sci-Fi space opera adventure novella with interesting will developed characters. The story line is set some time in the future with earth 🌎being attacked from outer space. A group of volunteers are sent on a mission that will visit each of the nine planets in earth's solar system and the fun begins. I would recommend this novella to readers of space operas . Enjoy the adventure of reading or listening 2021
Alexa reads to me due to eye damage and issues from shingles. Stay safe
A will written fantasy Sci-Fi space opera adventure novella with interesting will developed characters. The story line is set some time in the future with earth 🌎being attacked from outer space. A group of volunteers are sent on a mission that will visit each of the nine planets in earth's solar system and the fun begins. I would recommend this novella to readers of space operas . Enjoy the adventure of reading or listening 2021
Alexa reads to me due to eye damage and issues from shingles. Stay safe
September 26, 2025
I tried to rate this with consideration to its time ... but, yeah, this is just not very good. When the author sank to the expedient of aliens meeting the (human) protagonist and communicating their origin and complex history through hand gestures, that's where I smacked my forehead. There just wasn't that much thought put into this. I liked The Secret of the Martian Moons but this companion book did not live up to it.
May 1, 2021
Written in 1950s with events taking place in late 20th century, so there are many assumptions which were not realized; e.g. Pluto is earth-sized and made of rock, Venus is a water world, space travel is possible using anti-gravity technology (so going to Pluto takes a couple of weeks), intelligent life exists on Mars, Neptune and Pluto. For juvenile readers. Emphasis on action, battles, and bombings, not science, logic, and plausibility.
January 5, 2021
Figyelembe véve, hogy 1959-es a könyv: izgalmasnak, egyáltalán nem volt izgalmas, viszont érdekes volt. Természetesen, kötelezően szerepeltek benne marslakók és még pár földönkívüli faj, akik inkább viccesek voltak. Didaktikussága miatt, főleg gyerekeknek lehet inkább izgalmasabb, érdekesebb, mert szépen végigveszi a naprendszerünk bolygóit.
May 31, 2025
Yes, the science is hopelessly naive (even for 1959) but the fiction is grand---a rip-roaring hybrid of The Hardy Boys, Tom Swift, and Buck Rogers. This is pure pulp heaven featuring a balmy ocean on Venus, angry Martian bugs, and a secret on Pluto so monumental it will change human destiny...FOREVER! So put your brain in neutral, place your cynicism on hold, and just enjoy! LOL!
October 12, 2018
A classic Hard Sci-Fi selection...even though the "facts" are different today with the new information that we've acquired.....nevertheless, it's STILL a quality version of work that compares favorably to the old school Barsoom series of Edgar Rice Burroughs. Highly Recommended....
October 30, 2019
Very interesting story line
I enjoyed the plot; very descriptive scenes. I really liked the ending. SPOILER ALERT : Had me wondering if the "enemy" might be benevolent and the solar tap stations set up to prevent "global warming" but that is the plot for another story.
I enjoyed the plot; very descriptive scenes. I really liked the ending. SPOILER ALERT : Had me wondering if the "enemy" might be benevolent and the solar tap stations set up to prevent "global warming" but that is the plot for another story.
August 20, 2021
At the time of this book's publication, Pluto was declared to be a planet. Since the space program was evolved since, I could forgive the lack of consistency. But, there were plot holes and the book ended abruptly.
April 25, 2022
Nothing special at all here. The premise itself was intriguing enough, but the story was very "by the numbers" and I did not connect at all with the characters or their mission. Plus I'm not the biggest fan of science-fiction anyway, so I didn't really get much out of this one.
September 26, 2017
Apparently I've read this before?
I don't recall it but it was a decent little read.
I don't recall it but it was a decent little read.
March 29, 2019
Too drawn out.....not what I thought it was about
November 8, 2022
Great fun
April 24, 2019
I liked the story but the librivox audiobook I used was appallingly read. I did find it was far too relaxed a book for what was happening. How did so few people die and so few accidents happen.
June 24, 2015
Simply written, yet gives satisfying descriptions and adventures at each planet! Interesting ideas about space travel and imaginative descriptions of the planets and their inhabitants. Did I learn more about planets than I had already known? (elementary school knowledge) Not really. But I did enjoy reading a book with technical terms which is also imaginatively fun and liberal. One doesn't come across that too often in the scholarly life. In the scholarly life, hints of personality in writing style (usually arrogance, other times silliness) and grammatical/punctuation errors are looked at with glee and much distraction! So imagine how much glee this simple book must bring me.
The moral justification for waging war was loose, but it was also necessary for good action and thus forgivable. Another interesting thing to throw into this miscellaneous paragraph: Wollheim, the author, concludes that Pluto was not an original planet of the solar system but a planet jettisoned off from another solar system, thus not apart of our solar system as we believe today! He was ahead of the curve (not really since we have known Pluto was odd for a while, probably a basis for this book). I know the word "jettison" was not used in perfectly fitting context, but I really wanted to use it so spare me the criticism!
Ending this review on a relevant note, Wollheim's ninth planet novel is a palatable science fiction space snack if you're looking for that dehydrated astronaut ice cream to munch on.
The moral justification for waging war was loose, but it was also necessary for good action and thus forgivable. Another interesting thing to throw into this miscellaneous paragraph: Wollheim, the author, concludes that Pluto was not an original planet of the solar system but a planet jettisoned off from another solar system, thus not apart of our solar system as we believe today! He was ahead of the curve (not really since we have known Pluto was odd for a while, probably a basis for this book). I know the word "jettison" was not used in perfectly fitting context, but I really wanted to use it so spare me the criticism!
Ending this review on a relevant note, Wollheim's ninth planet novel is a palatable science fiction space snack if you're looking for that dehydrated astronaut ice cream to munch on.
September 2, 2013
The Secret of the Ninth Planet by Donald A Wollheim is a YA science-fiction novel from 1959. Reading it was an exercise in nostalgia. It's a space adventure set in the solar system as it was conceived in the fifties. Most of it is now completely wrong--though it was accepted as being plausible theory when written. Mercury keeps one side to the sun all the time. Asimov wrote a science fiction mystery based on that assumption. We now know that it rotates slowly. Venus in the Fifties and before was frequently imagined as a hot, wet world not the violent poisoned maelstrom we now know it to be.
Mars, in the novel, of course has canals and even cities and inhabitants. This, in my opinion, is the most interesting section of the novel with its hive mind creatures. Even Neptune has an odd kind of life, but Pluto is described as a moonless planet the size of Earth which has been robbed from another star--far from the dwarf planet that we now realise it is.
Don't look for any psychological depth and be advised that all the characters are male--
Mars, in the novel, of course has canals and even cities and inhabitants. This, in my opinion, is the most interesting section of the novel with its hive mind creatures. Even Neptune has an odd kind of life, but Pluto is described as a moonless planet the size of Earth which has been robbed from another star--far from the dwarf planet that we now realise it is.
Don't look for any psychological depth and be advised that all the characters are male--
December 24, 2013
I bought this book for one reason: three years ago, Mike Brown did a signing in Boston for _How I Killed Pluto_ and I wanted him to sign a copy of this book. But I didn't own one. Now I do. If Brown ever does another signing, I'll bring it along.
I took the opportunity to read it (which I hadn't done since I was in elementary school). It's exactly what it tries to be -- a boy's-own adventure (written in 1959) in which a teenager tours the solar system. Invent the minimum possible plot which could require this; you've probably replicated this book's gimmick.
The author is optimistic about the invention of antigravity, which he admits in the foreword is probably necessary for manned travel to other planets. Sadly, still waiting.
I took the opportunity to read it (which I hadn't done since I was in elementary school). It's exactly what it tries to be -- a boy's-own adventure (written in 1959) in which a teenager tours the solar system. Invent the minimum possible plot which could require this; you've probably replicated this book's gimmick.
The author is optimistic about the invention of antigravity, which he admits in the foreword is probably necessary for manned travel to other planets. Sadly, still waiting.
September 15, 2011
Juvenile sic-fi story of solar system exploration and defeating a solar system enemy. Pretty good story, even if a little simplistic.
July 27, 2012
If I had time to write a screenplay adaption to a scifi book it would be this one and I'd modify it to take place today. I loved this book even if it was a little cheesy.
November 23, 2012
This was one of the first science fiction books I read at around age 9. It is, of course, a children's book and superficial in many ways but it still reads well 51 years later.
May 28, 2013
This was a very disappointing read. The characters were one-dimensional and the plot was very flat and boring.
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