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The Astounding, the Amazing, and the Unknown: A Novel
Based on an incredible true episode of World War II history, Paul Malmont’s new novel is a rollicking blend of fact and fiction about the men and women who were recruited to defeat the Nazis and ended up creating the future. In 1943, when the United States learns that Germany is on the verge of a deadly innovation that could tip the balance of the war, the government turns to an unlikely source for the nation’s top science fiction writers. Installed at a covert military lab within the Philadelphia Naval Yard are the most brilliant of these young visionaries. The unruly band is led by Robert Heinlein, the dashing and complicated master of the genre. His “Kamikaze Group,” which includes the ambitious genius Isaac Asimov, is tasked with transforming the wonders of science fiction into science fact and unlocking the secrets to invisibility, death rays, force fields, weather control, and other astounding phenomena—and finding it harder than they ever imagined. When a German spy washes ashore near the abandoned Long Island ruins of a mysterious energy facility, the military begins to fear that the Nazis are a step ahead of Heinlein’s group. Now the oddball team, joined by old friends from the Pulp Era including L. Ron Hubbard (court-martialed for attacking Mexico), must race to catch up. The answers they seek may be locked in the legendary War of Currents, which was fought decades earlier between Nikola Tesla and Thomas Edison. As the threat of an imminent Nazi invasion of America grows more and more possible, events are set in motion that just may revolutionize the future—or destroy it—while forcing the writers to challenge the limits of talent, imagination, love, destiny, and even reality itself. Blazing at breathtaking speed from forgotten tunnels deep beneath Manhattan to top-secret battles in the North Pacific, and careening from truth to pulp and back again, The Astounding, the Amazing, and the Unknown is a sweeping, romantic epic—a page-turning rocket ship ride through the history of the future.
432 pages, Hardcover
First published July 5, 2011
17 people are currently reading
377 people want to read
About the author
Paul Malmont
14 books61 followersThe author of THE CHINATOWN DEATH CLOUD PERIL and his latest, JACK LONDON IN PARADISE."
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 84 reviews
May 21, 2021
Rating: 3.5* of five
The Publisher Says: Based on an incredible true episode of World War II history, Paul Malmont’s new novel is a rollicking blend of fact and fiction about the men and women who were recruited to defeat the Nazis and ended up creating the future.
In 1943, when the United States learns that Germany is on the verge of a deadly innovation that could tip the balance of the war, the government turns to an unlikely source for help: the nation’s top science fiction writers. Installed at a covert military lab within the Philadelphia Naval Yard are the most brilliant of these young visionaries. The unruly band is led by Robert Heinlein, the dashing and complicated master of the genre. His “Kamikaze Group,” which includes the ambitious genius Isaac Asimov, is tasked with transforming the wonders of science fiction into science fact and unlocking the secrets to invisibility, death rays, force fields, weather control, and other astounding phenomena—and finding it harder than they ever imagined.
When a German spy washes ashore near the abandoned Long Island ruins of a mysterious energy facility, the military begins to fear that the Nazis are a step ahead of Heinlein’s group. Now the oddball team, joined by old friends from the Pulp Era including L. Ron Hubbard (court-martialed for attacking Mexico), must race to catch up. The answers they seek may be locked in the legendary War of Currents, which was fought decades earlier between Nikola Tesla and Thomas Edison. As the threat of an imminent Nazi invasion of America grows more and more possible, events are set in motion that just may revolutionize the future—or destroy it—while forcing the writers to challenge the limits of talent, imagination, love, destiny, and even reality itself.
Blazing at breathtaking speed from forgotten tunnels deep beneath Manhattan to top-secret battles in the North Pacific, and careening from truth to pulp and back again, The Astounding, the Amazing, and the Unknown is a sweeping, romantic epic—a page-turning rocket ship ride through the history of the future.
My Review: The Philadelphia Experiment, a real project that took place during WWII and produced a long-lived tale of a whole ship that *poof* vanished from Philadelphia Navy Yard, was seen in Norfolk, Virginia, then *poof* reappeared in Philadelphia in far less time than it would take to sail there, is the backdrop of this fantabulous beast of a Franken-novel. Facts are here aplenty, stitched to the imaginitive suppositions of the author, and the tale enacted by the great science fiction writers of the First Golden Age: Robert Heinlein, ex-Navy man and scientist; Isaac Asimov, unfit for combat service but a chemist earning his PhD at Columbia when roped into the Philadelphia Experiment; Lester Dent, Walter Gibson, L. Ron Hubbard (blech)...and their wives, their lesser lights, and a seemingly endless cast of characters famous if you know who they are, like Lyman Binch, the only person to work for both Tesla and Edison.
The author propels his cast from pillar to post and back again. He puts them in incredibly perilous situations, he makes it impossible for them to survive, and then rescues them via last-minute coincidences and harum-scarum action. And in the end, after assembling the dramatis personae via the most unsubtle ruse of them all, he actually solves Tunguska, Wardenclyffe, and the Philadelphia Experiment, with a side order of conspiracy theory, in ~30pp.
I'm exhausted.
Fairly happily so, I admit. The dialogue bears down a little much on the side of "As you know, Bob..." and "the reason I've brought you all here tonight is...", but for most people under 60 that really is the only way he can tell his story and make it even faintly believable.
What's most appealing about the novel is its true-to-the-pulps feel. I like the way it honors the genre of the dear, dead pulp science fiction mags of the 30s through the 60s by using--with a wryly arched eyebrow--their every convention, technique, and trope, then with a short coda, bringing the modern sensibility in harmony with the pulpish piffle that has quite enjoyably rollicked on before.
Mr. Malmont sent me a very nicely inscribed ARC of the novel when I won it in a contest on his website. It struck me that he's a lot like the old pulp writers. He's an advertising copywriter who clearly loves popular fiction in the SF genre, and is at home telling tales to entertain you, his reader, as he entertains himself. He's good at evoking mood and atmosphere. He's happiest when busiest, too.
My god...wouldn't surprise me a bit to find out he was a robot. o.0
The Publisher Says: Based on an incredible true episode of World War II history, Paul Malmont’s new novel is a rollicking blend of fact and fiction about the men and women who were recruited to defeat the Nazis and ended up creating the future.
In 1943, when the United States learns that Germany is on the verge of a deadly innovation that could tip the balance of the war, the government turns to an unlikely source for help: the nation’s top science fiction writers. Installed at a covert military lab within the Philadelphia Naval Yard are the most brilliant of these young visionaries. The unruly band is led by Robert Heinlein, the dashing and complicated master of the genre. His “Kamikaze Group,” which includes the ambitious genius Isaac Asimov, is tasked with transforming the wonders of science fiction into science fact and unlocking the secrets to invisibility, death rays, force fields, weather control, and other astounding phenomena—and finding it harder than they ever imagined.
When a German spy washes ashore near the abandoned Long Island ruins of a mysterious energy facility, the military begins to fear that the Nazis are a step ahead of Heinlein’s group. Now the oddball team, joined by old friends from the Pulp Era including L. Ron Hubbard (court-martialed for attacking Mexico), must race to catch up. The answers they seek may be locked in the legendary War of Currents, which was fought decades earlier between Nikola Tesla and Thomas Edison. As the threat of an imminent Nazi invasion of America grows more and more possible, events are set in motion that just may revolutionize the future—or destroy it—while forcing the writers to challenge the limits of talent, imagination, love, destiny, and even reality itself.
Blazing at breathtaking speed from forgotten tunnels deep beneath Manhattan to top-secret battles in the North Pacific, and careening from truth to pulp and back again, The Astounding, the Amazing, and the Unknown is a sweeping, romantic epic—a page-turning rocket ship ride through the history of the future.
My Review: The Philadelphia Experiment, a real project that took place during WWII and produced a long-lived tale of a whole ship that *poof* vanished from Philadelphia Navy Yard, was seen in Norfolk, Virginia, then *poof* reappeared in Philadelphia in far less time than it would take to sail there, is the backdrop of this fantabulous beast of a Franken-novel. Facts are here aplenty, stitched to the imaginitive suppositions of the author, and the tale enacted by the great science fiction writers of the First Golden Age: Robert Heinlein, ex-Navy man and scientist; Isaac Asimov, unfit for combat service but a chemist earning his PhD at Columbia when roped into the Philadelphia Experiment; Lester Dent, Walter Gibson, L. Ron Hubbard (blech)...and their wives, their lesser lights, and a seemingly endless cast of characters famous if you know who they are, like Lyman Binch, the only person to work for both Tesla and Edison.
The author propels his cast from pillar to post and back again. He puts them in incredibly perilous situations, he makes it impossible for them to survive, and then rescues them via last-minute coincidences and harum-scarum action. And in the end, after assembling the dramatis personae via the most unsubtle ruse of them all, he actually solves Tunguska, Wardenclyffe, and the Philadelphia Experiment, with a side order of conspiracy theory, in ~30pp.
I'm exhausted.
Fairly happily so, I admit. The dialogue bears down a little much on the side of "As you know, Bob..." and "the reason I've brought you all here tonight is...", but for most people under 60 that really is the only way he can tell his story and make it even faintly believable.
What's most appealing about the novel is its true-to-the-pulps feel. I like the way it honors the genre of the dear, dead pulp science fiction mags of the 30s through the 60s by using--with a wryly arched eyebrow--their every convention, technique, and trope, then with a short coda, bringing the modern sensibility in harmony with the pulpish piffle that has quite enjoyably rollicked on before.
Mr. Malmont sent me a very nicely inscribed ARC of the novel when I won it in a contest on his website. It struck me that he's a lot like the old pulp writers. He's an advertising copywriter who clearly loves popular fiction in the SF genre, and is at home telling tales to entertain you, his reader, as he entertains himself. He's good at evoking mood and atmosphere. He's happiest when busiest, too.
My god...wouldn't surprise me a bit to find out he was a robot. o.0
August 1, 2011
A review mentioning that the basis of this novel is the fact that Robert Heinlein and some other science fiction writers had worked at the Philadelphia Navy Yard during World War Two caught my attention. Curiosity led me to this enjoyable, clever and witty book. The main characters include familiar names to fans of science fiction, fantasy and pulp fiction, including the creators of The Shadow and Doc Savage, not to mention L. Ron Hubbard. Cameos by people like Albert Einstein and John W. Campbell and references to science fiction and fantasy stories add to the fun, as does Malmont's working of historical facts like the FBI's interest in a Cleve Cartmill story about a nuclear weapon. I'm not sure how much fun this is to read if you aren't an avid reader of classic science fiction, particularly the authors who are the protagonists. If after reading this, you get the word play in the novel's title, then this book is for you. If not, the title lists the three most popular/prestigious science fiction and fantasy pulps of the era.
July 24, 2011
4.5 stars
ORIGINALLY POSTED AT Fantasy Literature.
It’s 1943 and World War II is going strong. There are rumors that the Nazis and the Japanese may be about to unleash a deadly secret weapon against America and people are afraid. But America may be able to create some secret weapons of its own, and who better to imagine and design them than the smartest science fiction writers of the age? So, under the direction of John W. Campbell (editor of the SFF magazines Astounding and Unknown), the Navy recruits Robert A. Heinlein, Isaac Asimov, L. Sprague de Camp, and L. Ron Hubbard to turn their imaginations into scientific discoveries.
At first, the goals are simple: make the Navy’s ships invisible to radar, control the weather, defy gravity… But when the SF boys find out that recently-deceased (and possibly murdered) Nikola Tesla had a secret journal describing the construction and use of his own anti-aircraft deathray, pulp-style adventure ensues. Not only do they need to find out how Tesla’s weapon works (surely he used alternating current), they must also evade the War Department, which has suddenly taken an interest in their activities. It seems the Feds have read Cleve Cartmill’s story “Deadline” (published in Astounding) which describes how to make a nuclear bomb. But perhaps most frightening of all is that the SF geeks have to contend with a group of Navy sailor bullies. They can’t compete with them physically, but they can use their brains to get revenge!
The plot of The Astounding, the Amazing, and the Unknown takes a while to get going and is interrupted frequently for the insertion of real facts and history because more than anything, Paul Malmont’s novel is a tribute to 1940s science fiction and the men who wrote and compiled it for the “mags.” Thus, readers will learn all about Robert A. Heinlein’s naval career, tuberculosis, hair loss, and how the biochemist who will become his third (and last) wife influences his politics. Readers will also learn about Isaac Asimov’s fear of flying and some history that explains the development of L. Ron Hubbard’s Scientology cult. Other pulp personalities such as Norvell Page, Lester Dent, Hugo Gernsback, William Gibson, and Frederik Pohl appear in unlikely but amusing places. I think Paul Malmont’s greatest accomplishment, though, is that he shows us how the imagination anticipates and creates scientific discovery and the advancement of our society.
The audiobook version of The Astounding, the Amazing, and the Unknown, which was excellently narrated by Christopher Lane and produced by Brilliance Audio, arrived on my doorstep at just the right time. I happened to be reading some pulps recently (always trying to catch up on all the SF history I missed by being born too late), including L. Sprague de Camp’s Harold Shea stories, which are lovingly mentioned by Malmont. Any science fiction fan has to appreciate Malmont’s obvious affection for the genre.
Not only was this a fun, and sometimes very funny story, but I learned a lot, too. I recommend that anyone who’s not familiar with the Golden Age of Science Fiction, and the way that John Campbell and his favorite SF writers changed the history of SF, do a bit of research before reading The Astounding, the Amazing, and the Unknown. I think you’ll get much more out of it. But, even if you don’t, it’s astoundingly entertaining, as any pulp story should be.
ORIGINALLY POSTED AT Fantasy Literature.
It’s 1943 and World War II is going strong. There are rumors that the Nazis and the Japanese may be about to unleash a deadly secret weapon against America and people are afraid. But America may be able to create some secret weapons of its own, and who better to imagine and design them than the smartest science fiction writers of the age? So, under the direction of John W. Campbell (editor of the SFF magazines Astounding and Unknown), the Navy recruits Robert A. Heinlein, Isaac Asimov, L. Sprague de Camp, and L. Ron Hubbard to turn their imaginations into scientific discoveries.
At first, the goals are simple: make the Navy’s ships invisible to radar, control the weather, defy gravity… But when the SF boys find out that recently-deceased (and possibly murdered) Nikola Tesla had a secret journal describing the construction and use of his own anti-aircraft deathray, pulp-style adventure ensues. Not only do they need to find out how Tesla’s weapon works (surely he used alternating current), they must also evade the War Department, which has suddenly taken an interest in their activities. It seems the Feds have read Cleve Cartmill’s story “Deadline” (published in Astounding) which describes how to make a nuclear bomb. But perhaps most frightening of all is that the SF geeks have to contend with a group of Navy sailor bullies. They can’t compete with them physically, but they can use their brains to get revenge!
The plot of The Astounding, the Amazing, and the Unknown takes a while to get going and is interrupted frequently for the insertion of real facts and history because more than anything, Paul Malmont’s novel is a tribute to 1940s science fiction and the men who wrote and compiled it for the “mags.” Thus, readers will learn all about Robert A. Heinlein’s naval career, tuberculosis, hair loss, and how the biochemist who will become his third (and last) wife influences his politics. Readers will also learn about Isaac Asimov’s fear of flying and some history that explains the development of L. Ron Hubbard’s Scientology cult. Other pulp personalities such as Norvell Page, Lester Dent, Hugo Gernsback, William Gibson, and Frederik Pohl appear in unlikely but amusing places. I think Paul Malmont’s greatest accomplishment, though, is that he shows us how the imagination anticipates and creates scientific discovery and the advancement of our society.
The audiobook version of The Astounding, the Amazing, and the Unknown, which was excellently narrated by Christopher Lane and produced by Brilliance Audio, arrived on my doorstep at just the right time. I happened to be reading some pulps recently (always trying to catch up on all the SF history I missed by being born too late), including L. Sprague de Camp’s Harold Shea stories, which are lovingly mentioned by Malmont. Any science fiction fan has to appreciate Malmont’s obvious affection for the genre.
Not only was this a fun, and sometimes very funny story, but I learned a lot, too. I recommend that anyone who’s not familiar with the Golden Age of Science Fiction, and the way that John Campbell and his favorite SF writers changed the history of SF, do a bit of research before reading The Astounding, the Amazing, and the Unknown. I think you’ll get much more out of it. But, even if you don’t, it’s astoundingly entertaining, as any pulp story should be.
June 5, 2012
Three and a half stars actually. I was quite taken by the sheer effrontery of this book, which fictionalized several of the sf writers I grew up on. It's delicious fun, if a somewhat trashy read, in that the plot is so unlikely and so unwieldy and yet it continually touches down in reality. It has the verisimilitude of history, but it isn't, of course. It's a little like Woody Allen's Midnight in Paris. What gave me a tickle of unease was the realization that if Malmont could do this to Heinlein, Asimov & Co, then some future Malmont could do this to me and Kessel and Willis and Swanwick. With Dozois as our ringleader, as Campbell is here. What would be wrong with that? Dunno, but it makes my skin feel too tight.
September 26, 2011
For a book that held SO much promise, "The Astounding...etc." was a real let-down. The concept is nothing short of fantastic. During WWII, the American government was so desperate to defeat the Germans that they hired a bunch of science fiction writers (all pulp writers at this time) to form a think-tank: to make some of the outrageous things they'd written about (making ships disappear, etc....)
Isaac Asimov is here, Robert Heinlein is here (he was once voted the best science fiction writer alive), L. Sprague de Camp (who wound up writing more fantasy than sci-fi.) - You get the idea. But the funniest character in the book is the IN-famous L. Ron Hubbard. -- Yes, the inventor of Scientology. Even the Navy threw him out! - Incompetent doesn't even begin to describe Mr. Hubbard - but his portrait in the book is a scream.
All of this should have added up to a wonderful romp through old pulp sci-fi, with a few stabs at government regulations. But something falls flat, here, sadly. The Author just doesn't bring it off.
Isaac Asimov is here, Robert Heinlein is here (he was once voted the best science fiction writer alive), L. Sprague de Camp (who wound up writing more fantasy than sci-fi.) - You get the idea. But the funniest character in the book is the IN-famous L. Ron Hubbard. -- Yes, the inventor of Scientology. Even the Navy threw him out! - Incompetent doesn't even begin to describe Mr. Hubbard - but his portrait in the book is a scream.
All of this should have added up to a wonderful romp through old pulp sci-fi, with a few stabs at government regulations. But something falls flat, here, sadly. The Author just doesn't bring it off.
November 24, 2011
3.5 stars really--might have been higher if the author hadn't strained my suspension of disbelief on more than one occasion in this book.
An interesting conceit--Pulp science fiction authors (Campbell, Heinlein, Asimov, de Camp, and Hubbard along with a host of cameos and drop-ins by older and contemporary WWII pulp writers) try to make science fiction into fact for the War Department...and everyone suspects their intentions and abilities...and I loved the way the author worked Tesla's "failed" tech and the Philadelphia Experiment into the plot.
Not having met any of the principal people in any way beyond their fiction or essays, I can't say whether or not the characters match them. Still, while a few coincidences and strains to credulity nearly derailed my reading, the ending delivered on a fun premise.
An interesting conceit--Pulp science fiction authors (Campbell, Heinlein, Asimov, de Camp, and Hubbard along with a host of cameos and drop-ins by older and contemporary WWII pulp writers) try to make science fiction into fact for the War Department...and everyone suspects their intentions and abilities...and I loved the way the author worked Tesla's "failed" tech and the Philadelphia Experiment into the plot.
Not having met any of the principal people in any way beyond their fiction or essays, I can't say whether or not the characters match them. Still, while a few coincidences and strains to credulity nearly derailed my reading, the ending delivered on a fun premise.
July 5, 2011
A really fun read set during World War 2 and imagining the great Pulp and Science Fiction writers of the time were involved with the war effort. The main characters of the book are Robert Heinlein, L. Sprague DeCamp, Isaac Asimov and L. Ron Hubbard, but there are tons of cameos by other folks living at the time (including Walter Gibson and Richard Feynman to name just a couple and leave the rest for you to discover). Also included are references to the Philadelphia Experiment and Tesla's Wardenclyffe tower.
October 4, 2018
Well, I was looking forward to this one -- but it opens really S-L-O-W. So I'm not sure this is one for me. Off to look at less-favorable reviews.....
OK: "a stilted mish-mash of real & fictional events around WW2" (1-star).
"Disjointed and annoying to follow...wish I had put it down." (1-star).
Still, most people liked it. Maybe I'll skip past some of the boring stuff & hope it gets going into fun. If not, well.....
Untouched in over two weeks. Lots of other stuff to read. Not looking good.....
[Weeks later] Came due at library, so I'm closing it out as DNF. Too bad.
OK: "a stilted mish-mash of real & fictional events around WW2" (1-star).
"Disjointed and annoying to follow...wish I had put it down." (1-star).
Still, most people liked it. Maybe I'll skip past some of the boring stuff & hope it gets going into fun. If not, well.....
Untouched in over two weeks. Lots of other stuff to read. Not looking good.....
[Weeks later] Came due at library, so I'm closing it out as DNF. Too bad.
May 6, 2012
A splendid romp through WWII era science fiction and fantasy pro-dom, with a completely demented story to tie together real people and curiously real events.
January 21, 2018
In some ways this is a little bit of a hard book for me to review. Some time in 2007 or 2008 I came up with the idea for a novel based at the Philadelphia Naval Yard with Robert Heinlein, Isaac Asimov and Sprague de Camp as the main characters and with the Philadelphia Experiment and Nikola Tesla at the center of the plot. I still have my notes on it, but I never got around to writing it. But Paul Malmont did in his sequel to The Chinatown Death Cloud Peril. Of course he added in L. Ron Hubbard and small appearances by Lester Dent and Walter Gibson. And it's probably better than what I had in mind.
I liked the book...though definitely not as much as Chinatown. And I think that's for a few reasons. One is that Chinatown was very successful at conveying a "pulp" feel. While SF was still pulp during the war, John W. Campbell (who gets a small part in the book) had managed to start what we now call the Golden Age of Science Fiction and the feel was very much not the same as the "superhero" pulps that were the focus of Chinatown. This book just never quite felt like the Golden Age of SF.
The other problem is that Malmont has definite ticks. In Chinatown, he kept talking about Heinlein and Hubbard being so much younger than Dent even though there was only three years difference in age between Dent and Heinlein and Heinlein had been a Naval officer. Here it was possibly more egregious. I was okay with Asimov being written about as younger, because he was still a college student before he went to work at the Naval Yard. But referring to Sprague de Camp as "The Kid" was ridiculous. He was four years older and infinitely more cosmopolitan than Hubbard. It's a tick that really started to bug me.
And while I understand where Malmont was going bringing in Gertie Asimov and Leslyn Heinlein to the story, they just were never nearly as interesting as Norma Dent was in Chinatown. The resolution of the plot didn't quite work for me. It wasn't quite pulp...though it was a bit...but it sure wasn't SF.
All this would seem to indicate that I didn't really care for the book. And I did. It's still a fun read. And a lot of it worked well. It just wasn't nearly as good as Chinatown and it just didn't hit the buttons that I wanted it to hit.
Probably closer to 3 1/2 stars...but I rounded up.
I liked the book...though definitely not as much as Chinatown. And I think that's for a few reasons. One is that Chinatown was very successful at conveying a "pulp" feel. While SF was still pulp during the war, John W. Campbell (who gets a small part in the book) had managed to start what we now call the Golden Age of Science Fiction and the feel was very much not the same as the "superhero" pulps that were the focus of Chinatown. This book just never quite felt like the Golden Age of SF.
The other problem is that Malmont has definite ticks. In Chinatown, he kept talking about Heinlein and Hubbard being so much younger than Dent even though there was only three years difference in age between Dent and Heinlein and Heinlein had been a Naval officer. Here it was possibly more egregious. I was okay with Asimov being written about as younger, because he was still a college student before he went to work at the Naval Yard. But referring to Sprague de Camp as "The Kid" was ridiculous. He was four years older and infinitely more cosmopolitan than Hubbard. It's a tick that really started to bug me.
And while I understand where Malmont was going bringing in Gertie Asimov and Leslyn Heinlein to the story, they just were never nearly as interesting as Norma Dent was in Chinatown. The resolution of the plot didn't quite work for me. It wasn't quite pulp...though it was a bit...but it sure wasn't SF.
All this would seem to indicate that I didn't really care for the book. And I did. It's still a fun read. And a lot of it worked well. It just wasn't nearly as good as Chinatown and it just didn't hit the buttons that I wanted it to hit.
Probably closer to 3 1/2 stars...but I rounded up.
July 19, 2011
Based on a true episode from World War II, this novel takes place in 1943 when the US government enlists the aid of a group of science fiction writers to develop death rays, jet packs, and other things that they write about in an effort to help defeat the enemy.
Robert "Bob" Heinlein, L. Ron Hubbard, Isaac "don't call me Ike" Asimov, and Sprague de Camp are just a few of the names the reader will recognize. Nikola Tesla's and Thomas Edison's prior war over electricity plays a part in the story. Einstein makes an appearance and even Jimmy Stewart has a cameo as a pilot who has to fly one of the writers somewhere.
The title is taken from the name of three pulp magazines that published science fiction stories.
Personal lives of the writers also played a part in the development of the story. I thought it was interesting to learn about Hubbard's involvement with Parsons and can see where his development of Scientology got its start.
There is also an interesting plot twist near the end that I didn't see coming. That's all I'll say.
I now have Malmont's first book and probably should have read it prior to this one, but it wasn't available at the time.
Robert "Bob" Heinlein, L. Ron Hubbard, Isaac "don't call me Ike" Asimov, and Sprague de Camp are just a few of the names the reader will recognize. Nikola Tesla's and Thomas Edison's prior war over electricity plays a part in the story. Einstein makes an appearance and even Jimmy Stewart has a cameo as a pilot who has to fly one of the writers somewhere.
The title is taken from the name of three pulp magazines that published science fiction stories.
Personal lives of the writers also played a part in the development of the story. I thought it was interesting to learn about Hubbard's involvement with Parsons and can see where his development of Scientology got its start.
There is also an interesting plot twist near the end that I didn't see coming. That's all I'll say.
I now have Malmont's first book and probably should have read it prior to this one, but it wasn't available at the time.
September 7, 2012
What if a group of science fiction writers were assembled by the federal government secretly during WW2 to develop a super weapon to fight Hitler and the Nazi menace. That is the plot of this book. We Heinlein, De Camp, Hubbard and Asimov and more. It is a very interesting premise and the author pulled it off well. What I found really interesting is Malmont's knowledge about pulp fiction of that era and the personal lives of these author. The book is easy to read and it did keep my interested till the end. It is a must read for anyone who has more than a passing interest in the early years of science fiction.
June 28, 2015
Malmont establishes a fun premise. A group of pulp/scifi authors are assembled to help defeat the Axis powers during WW2. These include Asimov, Heinlein, Hubbard, DeCamp and others. They are instructed to help realize the amazing weapons they have envisioned in their stories. I was caught up in it from the start but soon felt too much like an outsider owing to the author's detailed references. Unlike Chabon's Kavalier and Clay, I was not invited in to learn more. Rather, I felt more and more excluded with each page. Plus it dragged on so those pages became heavy. For some this will be an absolute treat so I do not want to be harsh...it was simply not my cup of tea.
September 18, 2014
I'd classify this as historical fiction with some of the leading science fiction authors of the mid twentieth century as the main characters (with walk on parts for a couple notable scientists). The pulp writers have been collected by the U.S. government to imagine and develop sci-fi inspired technology to help with the war effort (WWII), and they soon become obsessed with the lost research of Nikola Tesla. It's a clever premise and a good read, overall, but the lack of a clear protagonist makes it less absorbing than it could have been.
August 9, 2011
I don't think I would have enjoyed this book as much if it weren't for the characters being authors I've read. Interesting, though.
May 28, 2013
2 reviews at FanLit:
http://www.fantasyliterature.com/fant...
http://www.fantasyliterature.com/fant...
July 24, 2014
Inside baseball for sci-fi geeks, provided your knowledge base goes allllll the way back.
June 22, 2020
‘The Astounding, the Amazing and the Unknown’ is a follow up to ‘The Chinatown Death Cloud Peril’ but can be read independently. In ‘The Chinatown Death Cloud Peril’, author Paul Malmont plunged pulp writers Walter Gibson (The Shadow) Lester Dent (Doc Savage) and L. Ron Hubbard (Dianetics and Scientology, but not yet) into a deadly adventure mostly set in Chinatown New York. They were joined later by ex-Naval man who was on the run from gangsters after a failed venture with a silver mine. Together they solved the mystery and saved the world (spoiler).
I enjoyed that hugely and when I learned that there was a follow-up book featuring Robert Heinlein, Isaac Asimov, L. Sprague de Camp and L. Ron Hubbard in another adventure I bought it immediately. I’ve heard of Gibson and Dent but I’m a lifelong fan of Heinlein and Asimov and wanted to see what Malmont would do with them, and to them. I was not disappointed.
The story takes place shortly after Heinlein, Asimov and de Camp have begun work at the Naval Yard in Philadelphia trying to develop superweapons for the war. They learn of an installation built by Nikolai Tesla that might be used as a weapon and set out to investigate. Cue a lot of running around in tunnels under New York, interference from the FBI and harassment by naval bureaucrats. There’s also some talk about pulp fiction and a few guest stars pop up along the way. When you’re having fun with famous people you might as well enjoy it so Malmont has pilot Jimmy Stewart fly Hubbard to the Aleutians when Heinlein wants to get rid of him. Sam Moskowitz and Ray Bradbury get walk-on parts.
It’s pretty clear that Heinlein is top man as far as the author is concerned, a well-rounded figure, physically, mentally and morally superior to his peers with L. Sprague de Camp second. Asimov’s physical timidity is shown but that’s something Asimov admitted himself. As in ‘The Chinatown Deathcloud Peril’, Hubbard is portrayed as a flawed character rather than evil. He was on the downhill slide from success as a pulp writer to success as a second rate Messiah.
It’s well researched and the adventure plot is secondary, for me, to the insights into the characters. As this is faction it has to be taken with a pinch of salt but I’ve read biographies of the leads and the portrayals seem fairly accurate. Asimov’s knee-trembler on a New York rooftop was going a bit far though.
Entertaining and worth a look for fans of Golden Age science fiction who like a laugh.
Eamonn Murphy
I enjoyed that hugely and when I learned that there was a follow-up book featuring Robert Heinlein, Isaac Asimov, L. Sprague de Camp and L. Ron Hubbard in another adventure I bought it immediately. I’ve heard of Gibson and Dent but I’m a lifelong fan of Heinlein and Asimov and wanted to see what Malmont would do with them, and to them. I was not disappointed.
The story takes place shortly after Heinlein, Asimov and de Camp have begun work at the Naval Yard in Philadelphia trying to develop superweapons for the war. They learn of an installation built by Nikolai Tesla that might be used as a weapon and set out to investigate. Cue a lot of running around in tunnels under New York, interference from the FBI and harassment by naval bureaucrats. There’s also some talk about pulp fiction and a few guest stars pop up along the way. When you’re having fun with famous people you might as well enjoy it so Malmont has pilot Jimmy Stewart fly Hubbard to the Aleutians when Heinlein wants to get rid of him. Sam Moskowitz and Ray Bradbury get walk-on parts.
It’s pretty clear that Heinlein is top man as far as the author is concerned, a well-rounded figure, physically, mentally and morally superior to his peers with L. Sprague de Camp second. Asimov’s physical timidity is shown but that’s something Asimov admitted himself. As in ‘The Chinatown Deathcloud Peril’, Hubbard is portrayed as a flawed character rather than evil. He was on the downhill slide from success as a pulp writer to success as a second rate Messiah.
It’s well researched and the adventure plot is secondary, for me, to the insights into the characters. As this is faction it has to be taken with a pinch of salt but I’ve read biographies of the leads and the portrayals seem fairly accurate. Asimov’s knee-trembler on a New York rooftop was going a bit far though.
Entertaining and worth a look for fans of Golden Age science fiction who like a laugh.
Eamonn Murphy
October 19, 2023
A kind-of sequel to The Chinatown Death Cloud Peril, where the pulp writers of the old Doc Savage, The Shadow, and others joined forces to deal with "real world" pulp madness. In this adventure, those pulp writers become co-stars and the new heroes are Isaac Asimov, Robert Heinlein, L. Sprague deCamp and other new, science fiction and fantasy authors.
And it takes place during WWII, with the Manhattan Project in the background and Heinlein hiring Asmov, deCamp, and others for a secret think-tank of science fiction writers who are also scientists. Based on the actual lab think tank, for which Heinlein actually did hire these pulp authors.
Do to a misunderstanding, the heroes think that the Nazis have found out about Nikolas Tesla's "Death Ray" experiments and plan to find what's left and complete it, themselves. So the heroes embark on a deadly adventure wherein someone is killing people (starting with Tesla) via the telephone (!!). And Federal Agents think EVERYONE is a fascist or communist spy, including our heroes.
Add Asimov's and Heinlein's and (gasp, yes!) L. Ron Hubbard's marriage issues (yep, ol' L. Ron was one of the most prolific early pulp authors, before he went nutso with the weird religion). Included in the tale is the "explanation" as to how Hubbard came up with Scientology.
Another wild and fun adventure romp through America (from the Samoan islands to Long Island, and points in-between) with the guys who wrote the wildest romps, ever!
Fun. Excitement. Adventure. Basically, all the things a Jedi doesn't crave! Worth the time. Read it!
And it takes place during WWII, with the Manhattan Project in the background and Heinlein hiring Asmov, deCamp, and others for a secret think-tank of science fiction writers who are also scientists. Based on the actual lab think tank, for which Heinlein actually did hire these pulp authors.
Do to a misunderstanding, the heroes think that the Nazis have found out about Nikolas Tesla's "Death Ray" experiments and plan to find what's left and complete it, themselves. So the heroes embark on a deadly adventure wherein someone is killing people (starting with Tesla) via the telephone (!!). And Federal Agents think EVERYONE is a fascist or communist spy, including our heroes.
Add Asimov's and Heinlein's and (gasp, yes!) L. Ron Hubbard's marriage issues (yep, ol' L. Ron was one of the most prolific early pulp authors, before he went nutso with the weird religion). Included in the tale is the "explanation" as to how Hubbard came up with Scientology.
Another wild and fun adventure romp through America (from the Samoan islands to Long Island, and points in-between) with the guys who wrote the wildest romps, ever!
Fun. Excitement. Adventure. Basically, all the things a Jedi doesn't crave! Worth the time. Read it!
July 2, 2023
It's 1943 and the US Government has hired a group of sci-fi pulp authors led by Robert Heinlein to run the "Kamikaze Project". Their goal is to create startling and amazing technologies to help win the war. Death rays, invisible ships, everything goes, though the project might just be an enormous piece of misdirection to distract the enemy. The team includes Isaac "Ike" Asimov, L. Sprague de Camp, John Campbell, and Lafayette "L. Ron" Hubbard. They have a laboratory at the Navy Yard in Philly but all the "real" military on the base endlessly tease and harass them anyway. Then a Nazi washes up near a mysterious abandoned energy research facility on Long Island and the group gets embroiled in a global conspiracy that involves Nikola Tesla, Thomas Edison, and more.
What's perhaps most amazing about this story is that it's actually based on real-life events from the era, though clearly embellished and enhanced by author Malmont to create a story almost ready to publish in the pulps of that period.
The weak spot, however, is the characterizations, most notably of Isaac Asimov and L. Ron Hubbard. They're troubling and portray most of the group as weak, immature, and self-centered. Whether it's accurate to their personalities or not, since so many well-known people are included in the book, I would have liked Malmont to make the characters just a *bit* more likable. Instead, you grow to dislike almost all of the sci-fi cadre, ultimately wondering how they could have later produced such seminal works that helped create our current technological age. This mars what would otherwise have been a very entertaining read for me. Your experience will undoubtedly vary.
What's perhaps most amazing about this story is that it's actually based on real-life events from the era, though clearly embellished and enhanced by author Malmont to create a story almost ready to publish in the pulps of that period.
The weak spot, however, is the characterizations, most notably of Isaac Asimov and L. Ron Hubbard. They're troubling and portray most of the group as weak, immature, and self-centered. Whether it's accurate to their personalities or not, since so many well-known people are included in the book, I would have liked Malmont to make the characters just a *bit* more likable. Instead, you grow to dislike almost all of the sci-fi cadre, ultimately wondering how they could have later produced such seminal works that helped create our current technological age. This mars what would otherwise have been a very entertaining read for me. Your experience will undoubtedly vary.
September 5, 2022
Interesting premise. The book took me a long time to get into, but once I did it told an interesting story. Pacing was my only issue with the book. Parts move on like butter - as my grandma used to say... Others took on the pacing of a slow moving stream that takes an age to get from source to ocean.
March 14, 2018
For characters, take the early great sci-fi authors, sprinkle in some of the great pulp action authors, season with true tales of Tesla, and set it all amid the wild events of WWII. All in all, a worthy follow up to The Chinatown Death Cloud Peril.
June 24, 2019
A fun ride of a novel. Malmont takes a bit of truth and weaves a story worthy of the pulps. I'd suggest reading the Chinatown Death Cloud Peril first.
Read
February 22, 2022Lots of fun
A fun run with the great authors of the pulp era. Fighting for Truth, Justice, and trying not to get shot.
A fun run with the great authors of the pulp era. Fighting for Truth, Justice, and trying not to get shot.
April 24, 2022
A great concept but disappointing execution. After a good, compelling beginning, the book becomes clumsy, hard-to-follow, and a chore to complete.
February 18, 2023
Full review below:
http://oasfis.org/Event%20Horizon%20A...
http://oasfis.org/Event%20Horizon%20A...
January 12, 2014
4 1/2 stars
What to say? A fun read and meet with three of the twentieth centuries most prolific and creative authors, Robert A. Heinlein, Isaac Asimov, and L. Sprague de Camp. They've been put to work at the Naval Yard in Pennsylvania[1] trying to make the impossible (and highly improbable) both possible and real. Who put them to work? John Campbell. It actually turns out to be a ruse to deflect from the work being done for the Manhattan Project (Trinity).
Heinlein, de Camp, and Asimov
Who are these people?
Robert A. Heinlein - who wrote a large number of very popular science fiction stories and books, including The Roads Must Roll, The Green Hills of Earth, and Starship Troopers, is the leader of the group of scientist who are trying to make a ship disappear. He has a lot on his mind, with a hard drinking wife, the possibility that Nikolai Tesla may have managed to create a super weapon, and everyone trying to figure out why he quit writing for the pulps.
Isaac Asimov - who wrote the Foundation books and about robots. Working for Heinlein as his chemist, Asimov is trying to figure out the right formula for making a ship disappear from radar. Though newly married, he's finding more enjoyment writing his stories and running around with Heinlein and de Camp looking for super-weapons than spending time with his young wife, Gerti.
L. Sprague de Camp - who wrote a mix of science fiction and fantasy with his writing partner Fletcher Pratt, like the series of stories collected in
The Compleat Enchanter: The Magical Misadventures of Harold Shea
. His specialty is aeronautics, but in the book, he's just a good companion to have along.
L. Ron Hubbard - best known for starting a religion (Scientology) just sort of invites himself along for the ride, much to everyone's irritation. Still, Heinlein manages to put him to work and sends him off on a wild goose chase to the south pacific.
John W. Campbell - ostensibly the head of the group in Pennsylvania, Campbell is best known for his editorship of Astounding and Unknown, and a number of other lines published by Street & Smith (the same people who brought us The Shadow and Doc Savage). He's been accredited with helping to launch a number of authors' careers during the Golden Era of SF.
Mainly this book is about trying to find out whether Tesla's tower, which, if it had worked right, would have provided everyone electricity for free, might have actually been a possible weapon which could be used to protect the US from outside attack or even used as a long range weapon.[a]&[2]
Along the way we meet such people as the father of SF pulps, Hugo Gernsback, various pulp legends, such as Walter Gibson (bka Maxwell Grant) and Lester Dent (bka Kenneth Robeson) and Albert Einstein, who was a consultant for the US Navy during WWII, visit Menlo Park and Tesla's testing site, Wardenclyffe, and a number of other interesting and fun interludes, all of which propels the story forward at a fast, highly enjoyable pace.
[1] Site of "The Philadelphia Experiment". The ship, USS Eldridge, was never proven to have actually teleported according to Naval records.
[a] Conspiracy theory still insists that the explosion in Tonguska was caused by Tesla's first and only test of his tower. It's been proven that a large meteor or comet actually caused the damage. Still, it plays an interesting role in the book, since it gets everyone's hopes up about the feasibility of the tower's use ...
[2] This concept has been put to good use by Larry Correia in his book series, The Grimnoir Chronicles.
What to say? A fun read and meet with three of the twentieth centuries most prolific and creative authors, Robert A. Heinlein, Isaac Asimov, and L. Sprague de Camp. They've been put to work at the Naval Yard in Pennsylvania[1] trying to make the impossible (and highly improbable) both possible and real. Who put them to work? John Campbell. It actually turns out to be a ruse to deflect from the work being done for the Manhattan Project (Trinity).
Heinlein, de Camp, and Asimov
Who are these people?
Robert A. Heinlein - who wrote a large number of very popular science fiction stories and books, including The Roads Must Roll, The Green Hills of Earth, and Starship Troopers, is the leader of the group of scientist who are trying to make a ship disappear. He has a lot on his mind, with a hard drinking wife, the possibility that Nikolai Tesla may have managed to create a super weapon, and everyone trying to figure out why he quit writing for the pulps.
Isaac Asimov - who wrote the Foundation books and about robots. Working for Heinlein as his chemist, Asimov is trying to figure out the right formula for making a ship disappear from radar. Though newly married, he's finding more enjoyment writing his stories and running around with Heinlein and de Camp looking for super-weapons than spending time with his young wife, Gerti.
L. Sprague de Camp - who wrote a mix of science fiction and fantasy with his writing partner Fletcher Pratt, like the series of stories collected in
The Compleat Enchanter: The Magical Misadventures of Harold Shea
. His specialty is aeronautics, but in the book, he's just a good companion to have along.
L. Ron Hubbard - best known for starting a religion (Scientology) just sort of invites himself along for the ride, much to everyone's irritation. Still, Heinlein manages to put him to work and sends him off on a wild goose chase to the south pacific.John W. Campbell - ostensibly the head of the group in Pennsylvania, Campbell is best known for his editorship of Astounding and Unknown, and a number of other lines published by Street & Smith (the same people who brought us The Shadow and Doc Savage). He's been accredited with helping to launch a number of authors' careers during the Golden Era of SF.
Mainly this book is about trying to find out whether Tesla's tower, which, if it had worked right, would have provided everyone electricity for free, might have actually been a possible weapon which could be used to protect the US from outside attack or even used as a long range weapon.[a]&[2]
Along the way we meet such people as the father of SF pulps, Hugo Gernsback, various pulp legends, such as Walter Gibson (bka Maxwell Grant) and Lester Dent (bka Kenneth Robeson) and Albert Einstein, who was a consultant for the US Navy during WWII, visit Menlo Park and Tesla's testing site, Wardenclyffe, and a number of other interesting and fun interludes, all of which propels the story forward at a fast, highly enjoyable pace.
[1] Site of "The Philadelphia Experiment". The ship, USS Eldridge, was never proven to have actually teleported according to Naval records.
[a] Conspiracy theory still insists that the explosion in Tonguska was caused by Tesla's first and only test of his tower. It's been proven that a large meteor or comet actually caused the damage. Still, it plays an interesting role in the book, since it gets everyone's hopes up about the feasibility of the tower's use ...
[2] This concept has been put to good use by Larry Correia in his book series, The Grimnoir Chronicles.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 24, 2011
In the world of Science Fiction, the range of potential subjects is such that not only can we deal with vast distances but also a variety of ‘what if’s’. Indeed, we can also blur the lines between reality and fiction, through alternate universes or just by playing with what happened.
Here’s a great example of a book that mixes real events with fiction, and real people with some fictional.
The real events involve the war work of some of our legendary science fiction writers: Isaac Asimov, Robert Heinlein, L. Sprague de Camp, L. Ron Hubbard. It is well documented in books, such as William H. Patterson’s recent biography of Robert A. Heinlein, that these writers worked together under Heinlein at the Philadelphia Naval Shipyards.
Here things are taken a step further, in that Malmont supposes that in 1943 this gang of intensely serious, studious and gifted authors are actually involved in a covert war mission. The so-called Kamikaze Group, led by Bob, are given the task of turning the science-fictional flights of imagination into something real. Ron and Isaac are employed to create an invisibility paint but really want to make scientist Nikola Tesla’s Wardenclyffe Tower work as a Wunderwaffe, a ‘wonder weapon’. The rumour is that Tesla has made this work, but shut it down following its initial tests. Tesla is now dead, believed by some such as Gernsback as murdered, so its purpose is unclear. Is it an energy beam with unlimited power, a weapon of mass destruction or a means of providing free energy to those who want it? And does it work?
In order to determine whether Tesla’s ideas work, the Group travel from California to New York and to the Aleutian Islands and the Kingdom of Tonga in search for components of Tesla’s machine. Following their covert activities is the FBI, convinced that the Group is working on an Anti-American Communist plot. The end of the novel is a race between testing the potential super-weapon and avoiding those out to cover up the secret, people who will not stop at killing those who know about the device.
There’s a lot of fun as our fictional/semi-fictional characters intermix with real people: Hugo Gernsback, John W. Campbell and Albert Einstein, to mention just a few. We also have the return of William Gibson (creator of The Shadow) and Lester Dent (creator of Doc Savage) who were in Malmont’s first book in the series, The Chinatown Death Cloud Peril and who aid our group in times of need.
What is engaging here is the way that Malmont fleshes out the SF authors that we think we may know quite well. They are all quite quirky. Bob is seen as a film-star like leader who has pretty much given up writing SF, and who has a decidedly odd wife, Leslyn, diagnosed as an insane alcoholic. Ron is a character generally seen as a weaker link in the group. Having being demoted in the Navy, going through a separation and having career issues, he spends a lot of time with women and drinking, whilst dabbles in religion and secret societies. Isaac is perhaps the brightest but one of the most neurotic - a shy, geeky guy who writes galaxy-spanning SF whilst afraid of heights and who is trying to make his recent marriage work. Sprague de Camp , who with Catherine Crook/de Camp is one of a couple with near-royalty status in the science fiction fraternity and whose levelheadedness and sensibilities act as a useful sounding post through the novel.
It must be remembered that this is fiction, though some proceedings here are based on real events and comments in the biographies and autobiographies of the authors included. Whereas there is a risk that our view of the ‘real’ authors may be coloured by their fictional exploits, the characters themselves are generally treated with respect and have understandable (if at times unlikeable) motives. At times this can be a little unnerving – some of them have sex! – but generally their characteristics fit what we as readers imagine the authors to be like.
This is a great novel that celebrates the fledgling days of the genre and mixes it up with an excitingly fast paced, pulp-style plot. We have secret agents, hidden underground chambers, dead bodies, betrayals and obscure satanic rituals. There’s even a little romance. Most of all, though, there’s a warm reverence for the originators of SF pulp.
A great surprise and recommended for anyone with a love of ‘the old stuff’.
Here’s a great example of a book that mixes real events with fiction, and real people with some fictional.
The real events involve the war work of some of our legendary science fiction writers: Isaac Asimov, Robert Heinlein, L. Sprague de Camp, L. Ron Hubbard. It is well documented in books, such as William H. Patterson’s recent biography of Robert A. Heinlein, that these writers worked together under Heinlein at the Philadelphia Naval Shipyards.
Here things are taken a step further, in that Malmont supposes that in 1943 this gang of intensely serious, studious and gifted authors are actually involved in a covert war mission. The so-called Kamikaze Group, led by Bob, are given the task of turning the science-fictional flights of imagination into something real. Ron and Isaac are employed to create an invisibility paint but really want to make scientist Nikola Tesla’s Wardenclyffe Tower work as a Wunderwaffe, a ‘wonder weapon’. The rumour is that Tesla has made this work, but shut it down following its initial tests. Tesla is now dead, believed by some such as Gernsback as murdered, so its purpose is unclear. Is it an energy beam with unlimited power, a weapon of mass destruction or a means of providing free energy to those who want it? And does it work?
In order to determine whether Tesla’s ideas work, the Group travel from California to New York and to the Aleutian Islands and the Kingdom of Tonga in search for components of Tesla’s machine. Following their covert activities is the FBI, convinced that the Group is working on an Anti-American Communist plot. The end of the novel is a race between testing the potential super-weapon and avoiding those out to cover up the secret, people who will not stop at killing those who know about the device.
There’s a lot of fun as our fictional/semi-fictional characters intermix with real people: Hugo Gernsback, John W. Campbell and Albert Einstein, to mention just a few. We also have the return of William Gibson (creator of The Shadow) and Lester Dent (creator of Doc Savage) who were in Malmont’s first book in the series, The Chinatown Death Cloud Peril and who aid our group in times of need.
What is engaging here is the way that Malmont fleshes out the SF authors that we think we may know quite well. They are all quite quirky. Bob is seen as a film-star like leader who has pretty much given up writing SF, and who has a decidedly odd wife, Leslyn, diagnosed as an insane alcoholic. Ron is a character generally seen as a weaker link in the group. Having being demoted in the Navy, going through a separation and having career issues, he spends a lot of time with women and drinking, whilst dabbles in religion and secret societies. Isaac is perhaps the brightest but one of the most neurotic - a shy, geeky guy who writes galaxy-spanning SF whilst afraid of heights and who is trying to make his recent marriage work. Sprague de Camp , who with Catherine Crook/de Camp is one of a couple with near-royalty status in the science fiction fraternity and whose levelheadedness and sensibilities act as a useful sounding post through the novel.
It must be remembered that this is fiction, though some proceedings here are based on real events and comments in the biographies and autobiographies of the authors included. Whereas there is a risk that our view of the ‘real’ authors may be coloured by their fictional exploits, the characters themselves are generally treated with respect and have understandable (if at times unlikeable) motives. At times this can be a little unnerving – some of them have sex! – but generally their characteristics fit what we as readers imagine the authors to be like.
This is a great novel that celebrates the fledgling days of the genre and mixes it up with an excitingly fast paced, pulp-style plot. We have secret agents, hidden underground chambers, dead bodies, betrayals and obscure satanic rituals. There’s even a little romance. Most of all, though, there’s a warm reverence for the originators of SF pulp.
A great surprise and recommended for anyone with a love of ‘the old stuff’.
September 2, 2018
3WR: "Astoundingly, amazingly terrible."
May 30, 2013
What would have happened if our government thought that the Germans were close to developing a super weapon during World War II? Author Paul Malmont supposes that the Navy would have recruited a special think tank of pulp magazine Sci-Fi writers to turn the ideas of Science Fiction – such as death rays, weather control, and invisibility – into science fact. Malmont takes this premise and runs with it, bringing the reader along for one heck of a joy ride with such authors as Robert Heinlein, Isaac Asimov (don’t call him “Ike”), L. Sprague de Camp, L. Ron Hubbard and others. At first I was worried about the book’s length (432 pages) and not being able to finish it before I had to finish my next book club book, but it was such a fun, fast read that by the time I finished, I was wishing that the book didn't have to end.
I got just a bit confused at first because there is a story within a story, but once I picked up on that, I got so engrossed in Malmont's plot and the semi-fictionalized versions of these writers from Science Fiction’s Golden Age, that I just kept turning pages as quickly as my eyes would let me. If you’re a fan of the classic Sci-Fi authors of the first half of the last century, as well as the men who inspired them, such as Jack Campbell, Walter Gibson & Lester Dent, you’ll want to see what would have happened if they had all worked together to help beat the Nazis. Fans of World War II era Historical Fiction will also enjoy the author’s blend of fact and fiction as this adventurous novel is based on a true story. Robert Heinlein and L. Ron Hubbard were both in the Navy and Heinlein did work at the Philadelphia Navy Yard, while Hubbard was in the South Pacific during WWII. Other historical figures are involved as one of the answers to Germany’s “Wunderwaffe” may lie in a secret project that Nikola Tesla had worked on years before, and was revisiting before he died mysteriously. Of course, Asimov, de Camp and others had an education in actual science, which helps them track down what Tesla was working on after he lost the electrical wars with Edison and Marconi stole credit for inventing the radio.
The book reminded me a bit of the Pulitzer Prize winning novel, The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay by Michael Chabon, mostly due to the similar time period (1940′s) and subject matter (comic books versus pulp science fiction). Both books are based on historical events and facts, but fictionalized just enough to be entertaining and tell a great story. The other thing that Malmont's book did was make me want to learn more about the real lives of these early Sci-Fi writers. For example, was Heinlein’s first wife really mentally unbalanced? Did Asimov and his wife really have intimacy issues? And, was Hubbard, well, were many of the rumors about him true? Oh, and the title? It comes from three of the famous science fiction pulp magazines of the day.
I got just a bit confused at first because there is a story within a story, but once I picked up on that, I got so engrossed in Malmont's plot and the semi-fictionalized versions of these writers from Science Fiction’s Golden Age, that I just kept turning pages as quickly as my eyes would let me. If you’re a fan of the classic Sci-Fi authors of the first half of the last century, as well as the men who inspired them, such as Jack Campbell, Walter Gibson & Lester Dent, you’ll want to see what would have happened if they had all worked together to help beat the Nazis. Fans of World War II era Historical Fiction will also enjoy the author’s blend of fact and fiction as this adventurous novel is based on a true story. Robert Heinlein and L. Ron Hubbard were both in the Navy and Heinlein did work at the Philadelphia Navy Yard, while Hubbard was in the South Pacific during WWII. Other historical figures are involved as one of the answers to Germany’s “Wunderwaffe” may lie in a secret project that Nikola Tesla had worked on years before, and was revisiting before he died mysteriously. Of course, Asimov, de Camp and others had an education in actual science, which helps them track down what Tesla was working on after he lost the electrical wars with Edison and Marconi stole credit for inventing the radio.
The book reminded me a bit of the Pulitzer Prize winning novel, The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay by Michael Chabon, mostly due to the similar time period (1940′s) and subject matter (comic books versus pulp science fiction). Both books are based on historical events and facts, but fictionalized just enough to be entertaining and tell a great story. The other thing that Malmont's book did was make me want to learn more about the real lives of these early Sci-Fi writers. For example, was Heinlein’s first wife really mentally unbalanced? Did Asimov and his wife really have intimacy issues? And, was Hubbard, well, were many of the rumors about him true? Oh, and the title? It comes from three of the famous science fiction pulp magazines of the day.
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