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Professor Jameson Space Adventure #1
The Planet of the Double Sun
Professor Jameson, the most brilliant scientist of his day, arranged to have his perfectly preserved body encased in a super-scientific tomb orbiting the Earth forever. But the Jameson Satellite was discovered countless millennia in the future by the incredible machine men of Zor, and Professor Jameson was brought back to life through their advanced knowledge.
He found that Earth and all of humanity had been gone for eons, that he was the last man alive -- and the Zoromes were offering to make him on of them, a nearly immortal being of metal, wandering throughout the Universe in search of adventure!
Contains "The Jameson Satellite", "The Planet of the Double Sun",
and "The Return of the Tripeds".
He found that Earth and all of humanity had been gone for eons, that he was the last man alive -- and the Zoromes were offering to make him on of them, a nearly immortal being of metal, wandering throughout the Universe in search of adventure!
Contains "The Jameson Satellite", "The Planet of the Double Sun",
and "The Return of the Tripeds".
- GenresScience FictionFiction
123 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1967
1 person is currently reading
78 people want to read
About the author
Neil R. Jones
73 books6 followersNeil Ronald Jones (29 May 1909 - 15 February 1988) was an American author who worked for the state of New York. Not prolific, and little remembered today, Jones was ground–breaking in science fiction. His first story, "The Death's Head Meteor", was published in Air Wonder Stories in 1930, recording the first use of "astronaut". He also pioneered cyborg and robotic characters, and is credited with inspiring the modern idea of Cryonics. Most of his stories fit into a "future history" like that of Robert A. Heinlein or Cordwainer Smith, well before either of them used this convention in their fiction.
Rating not even a cover mention, the first installment of Jones' most popular creation, "The Jameson Satellite", appeared in the July 1931 issue of Amazing Stories. The hero was Professor Jameson, the last Earthman, who became immortal through the science of the Zoromes. Jameson was obsessed with the idea of perfectly preserving his body after death and succeeded by having it launched into space in a small capsule. Jameson's body survived for 40,000,000 years, where it was found orbiting a dead planet Earth by a passing Zorome exploration ship. The Zoromes, or machine men as they sometimes called themselves, were cyborgs. They came from a race of biological beings who had achieved immortality by transferring their brains to machine bodies. They occasionally assisted members of other races with this transition (i.e. the Tri-Peds and the Mumes), allowing others to become Zoromes and join them on their expeditions, which sometimes lasted hundreds of years. So, much like the Borg of the Star Trek series, a Zorome crew could be made up of assimilated members of many different biological species. The Zoromes discovered that Jameson's body had been so well preserved that they were able to repair his brain, incorporate it into a Zorome machine body and restart it. The professor joined their crew and, over the course of the series, participated in many adventures, even visiting Zor, the Zorome homeworld, where he met biological Zoromes. The professor eventually rose to command his own crew of machine men on a new Zorome exploration ship. "The Jameson Satellite" proved so popular with readers that later installments in Amazing Stories got not only cover mentions but the cover artwork.
Being cryopreserved and revived is an idea that would recur in SF, such as in Gene Roddenberry's Genesis II. One young science fiction fan who read The Jameson Satellite and drew inspiration from the idea of cryonics was Robert Ettinger, who became known as the father of cryonics. The Zoromes are also credited by Isaac Asimov as one of the inspirations behind the robots of his Robot series.
Masamune Shirow paid homage to Jones in his cyborg-populated Ghost in the Shell saga by including a no-frills brain-in-a-box design, even naming them Jameson-type cyborgs.
Jameson (or 21MM392, as he was known to his fellow metal beings) was the subject of twenty-one stories between 1931 and 1951, when Jones stopped writing, with nine stories still unpublished. In the late 1960s, Ace Books editor Donald A. Wollheim compiled five collections, comprising sixteen of these, including two previously unpublished. In all there were thirty Jameson stories written (twenty four eventually saw publication, six remain unpublished), and twenty-two unrelated pieces.
Rating not even a cover mention, the first installment of Jones' most popular creation, "The Jameson Satellite", appeared in the July 1931 issue of Amazing Stories. The hero was Professor Jameson, the last Earthman, who became immortal through the science of the Zoromes. Jameson was obsessed with the idea of perfectly preserving his body after death and succeeded by having it launched into space in a small capsule. Jameson's body survived for 40,000,000 years, where it was found orbiting a dead planet Earth by a passing Zorome exploration ship. The Zoromes, or machine men as they sometimes called themselves, were cyborgs. They came from a race of biological beings who had achieved immortality by transferring their brains to machine bodies. They occasionally assisted members of other races with this transition (i.e. the Tri-Peds and the Mumes), allowing others to become Zoromes and join them on their expeditions, which sometimes lasted hundreds of years. So, much like the Borg of the Star Trek series, a Zorome crew could be made up of assimilated members of many different biological species. The Zoromes discovered that Jameson's body had been so well preserved that they were able to repair his brain, incorporate it into a Zorome machine body and restart it. The professor joined their crew and, over the course of the series, participated in many adventures, even visiting Zor, the Zorome homeworld, where he met biological Zoromes. The professor eventually rose to command his own crew of machine men on a new Zorome exploration ship. "The Jameson Satellite" proved so popular with readers that later installments in Amazing Stories got not only cover mentions but the cover artwork.
Being cryopreserved and revived is an idea that would recur in SF, such as in Gene Roddenberry's Genesis II. One young science fiction fan who read The Jameson Satellite and drew inspiration from the idea of cryonics was Robert Ettinger, who became known as the father of cryonics. The Zoromes are also credited by Isaac Asimov as one of the inspirations behind the robots of his Robot series.
Masamune Shirow paid homage to Jones in his cyborg-populated Ghost in the Shell saga by including a no-frills brain-in-a-box design, even naming them Jameson-type cyborgs.
Jameson (or 21MM392, as he was known to his fellow metal beings) was the subject of twenty-one stories between 1931 and 1951, when Jones stopped writing, with nine stories still unpublished. In the late 1960s, Ace Books editor Donald A. Wollheim compiled five collections, comprising sixteen of these, including two previously unpublished. In all there were thirty Jameson stories written (twenty four eventually saw publication, six remain unpublished), and twenty-two unrelated pieces.
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
August 7, 2022
Neil R. Jones (1909-1988) was prolific science fiction writer of the pulp era. His most popular series of stories, published beginning in the 1930s, features Professor Jameson, a man of our own times who now explores the universe 40 million years in the future, as an immortal cyborg. The Jameson stories are known to have inspired Isaac Asimov as a child, and were known to other writers of the later golden age. In all, there were twenty-one Professor Jameson stories published between 1931 and 1951. In 1967, Ace Books re-published the stories in the form of five short books, each collecting several stories, in order. Collection #1, “The Planet of the Double Sun”, contains the first three stories:
1) The Jameson Satellite, Amazing Stories, July 1931.
2) The Planet of the Double Sun, Amazing Stories, February 1932.
3) The Return of the Tripeds, Amazing Stories, May 1932.
The science of these stories seems preposterous to modern sensibilities, but it is important to remember that the human experience of space travel did not start until decades later. In “The Jameson Satellite”, after his death, Professor Jameson’s nephew launches his body into Earth orbit. There it is preserved unaltered for 40 million years, beyond the survival of the human race, until it is discovered by the interstellar roaming Zoromes. The Zoromes have implanted their organic brains into machine bodies, and thus achieved immortality. (Apparently, brains do not deteriorate like the rest of the organic body). Since Professor Jameson has died, his body is now useless, but the Zoromes implant his brain into one of their own machine bodies, and he joins them. This then is the set-up for all future stories in the series, including the two others included in this book. It is worth noting that the three-legged aliens known as the Tripeds were inspired by H. G. Wells’ The War of the Worlds, and interesting to realize that Jones was of the generation between Wells and Asimov. This was fascinating reading, from a history of science fiction perspective, but I also appreciated Jones’ physical descriptions which were detailed and rich with imagery.
1) The Jameson Satellite, Amazing Stories, July 1931.
2) The Planet of the Double Sun, Amazing Stories, February 1932.
3) The Return of the Tripeds, Amazing Stories, May 1932.
The science of these stories seems preposterous to modern sensibilities, but it is important to remember that the human experience of space travel did not start until decades later. In “The Jameson Satellite”, after his death, Professor Jameson’s nephew launches his body into Earth orbit. There it is preserved unaltered for 40 million years, beyond the survival of the human race, until it is discovered by the interstellar roaming Zoromes. The Zoromes have implanted their organic brains into machine bodies, and thus achieved immortality. (Apparently, brains do not deteriorate like the rest of the organic body). Since Professor Jameson has died, his body is now useless, but the Zoromes implant his brain into one of their own machine bodies, and he joins them. This then is the set-up for all future stories in the series, including the two others included in this book. It is worth noting that the three-legged aliens known as the Tripeds were inspired by H. G. Wells’ The War of the Worlds, and interesting to realize that Jones was of the generation between Wells and Asimov. This was fascinating reading, from a history of science fiction perspective, but I also appreciated Jones’ physical descriptions which were detailed and rich with imagery.
December 11, 2022
I feel like I just came from the biggest, best party in space. Yes, it got crashed by some evil hypnotists from another dimension - which, y’know, could have been a downer - but this ended up making things better. But then, I always love evil hypnotists - I can’t speak for an entire threatened humanity, but they are no buzzkill. Quite the opposite.
And even in this case, when I speak of “entire threatened humanity” so casually, as it relates to this book of three linked short stories from the 1930s, that’s just one guy, Professor Jameson, 40 million years in the future. And he’s been converted into metal - immortal, unless something crushes his brain.
All the aliens Professor Jameson meets - starting with the Zoromes of the far future, who sort of come off as friendly Daleks - and the adventures tied to meeting, or battling, these various life forms, are a blast. I also had deep thoughts, even though this book is not really trying for deep thoughts. I mean, when Jameson stands on a precipice, encased in his new metal body, and wonders if he wants to join the infinitely curious Zoromes on a near-as-dammit indefinite space exploration to boggle a tin-canned mind, or just end it all and seek a different sort immortality…well, I kind of sympathized. When, later, he got stranded somewhere for hundreds of years and had to wait for a little luck, and progress, from a civilization he could only monitor from a distance, I felt the immensity of space and time versus human (modified human) loneliness.
But this is an inventive action romp in space, above all - or rather, one wonderful origin story, and two wild romps. And yes, forty million years from now, there may not be pretzels any more, but there are still similar twists. Plus, desire for revenge as a response to intended genocide, apparently never gets old.
I’m tempted to seek out more of Professor Jameson’s (2IMM392’s) further exploits, but for now I’ll just bask in the inner afterglow of what was a ridiculous party, that got better, not worse, when those bat-things half-phased in and tried to spoil the fun.
And even in this case, when I speak of “entire threatened humanity” so casually, as it relates to this book of three linked short stories from the 1930s, that’s just one guy, Professor Jameson, 40 million years in the future. And he’s been converted into metal - immortal, unless something crushes his brain.
All the aliens Professor Jameson meets - starting with the Zoromes of the far future, who sort of come off as friendly Daleks - and the adventures tied to meeting, or battling, these various life forms, are a blast. I also had deep thoughts, even though this book is not really trying for deep thoughts. I mean, when Jameson stands on a precipice, encased in his new metal body, and wonders if he wants to join the infinitely curious Zoromes on a near-as-dammit indefinite space exploration to boggle a tin-canned mind, or just end it all and seek a different sort immortality…well, I kind of sympathized. When, later, he got stranded somewhere for hundreds of years and had to wait for a little luck, and progress, from a civilization he could only monitor from a distance, I felt the immensity of space and time versus human (modified human) loneliness.
But this is an inventive action romp in space, above all - or rather, one wonderful origin story, and two wild romps. And yes, forty million years from now, there may not be pretzels any more, but there are still similar twists. Plus, desire for revenge as a response to intended genocide, apparently never gets old.
I’m tempted to seek out more of Professor Jameson’s (2IMM392’s) further exploits, but for now I’ll just bask in the inner afterglow of what was a ridiculous party, that got better, not worse, when those bat-things half-phased in and tried to spoil the fun.
January 19, 2019
Neil R. Jones ( 1909-1988) was one of the groundbreaking pulp magazine writers--and is totally forgotten today. He was writing through the 20s, 30s, and 40s, and he created a long-running series featuring "Professor Jameson." I had heard of this series but had never read any of it--until now. This book includes the first short stories about the Professor. He's a genius who puts himself into suspended animation in a satellite orbiting Earth. And, millions of years later, he's found--and revived by the Zoromes. They are cyborgs or machine men who turn out to be nice guys and they provide the prof with a robot body. Now, housed in a virtually indestructible body, Jameson can go off and explore the galaxy. An enjoyable story, but to enjoy it, you need to like the pulpy style. Jones and his Professor Jameson do not deserve to be forgotten!
June 6, 2013
I picked up the five volume Ace series of Neil R. Jones' Professor Jameson Space Adventures from eBay. Classic tales from the Golden Age of Science Fiction. This book begins with 'The Jameson Satellite', first published in the July 1931 Amazing Stories. On his death Dr Jameson's body is fired into orbit. 40,000,000 years later the Zoromes, brains in boxes with legs and tentacles, turn up and in an act of misplaced charity take the human's brain and stick it into one of their bodies. Now called 21MM392 he joins his metallic chums on a grand tour of the galaxy, meeting bizarre alien races, fighting galactic terrors and having sparkling conversations that would put Mr Logic to shame. The fact that everyone is called either a string of numbers or names like Grlpx and Plggxfs makes it sometimes hard to follow ('Alas', cried 25X-987, '149Z-24 has gone insane and murdered 372V-22 and 69B-496!'). Yet despite the complete lack of characterisation, stilted dialogue and ridiculous melodrama the series had an inventive scope that's hard to beat.
December 12, 2017
It can be entertaining to read older SciFi to see how much the genre has matured. This story was published in 1967 and typifies the genre at the time. The central character is a white male American who surpasses the abilities of all other beings and admits of no weaknesses. Through the sheer power of his intellect he survives centuries of isolation, leads in strategic and tactical responses to violence and can out-think other beings (despite their clear technical superiority evidenced in interstellar spacecraft). This is the scifi version of the great white hunter. Amusing over the distance of time but disturbing as a vision of the future from the author's perspective.
July 1, 2020
I love Professor Jameson and the Zoromes! So inventive and fun, though the science is a bit wonky, even for 1967!
February 27, 2025
review of
Neil R. Jones's The Planet of the Double Sun
by tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE - February 26, 2025
I have a soft spot (a weak spot?) for ANY SciFi, no matter how primitive. Even though greats of SF were already long established, the appearance of serialized works like this one in early-mid 20th century magazines didn't live up to their ancestor's standards.
"Truly, it can be stated that the Jameson series of Neil R. Jones has been the longest running continuous character adventure series in the history of science-fiction"
[..]
"In THE PLANET OF THE DOUBLE SUN, Ace Books presents the start of this terrific series." - p 1
& it's on the basis of that that I decided to read this. I enjoyed it, there was plenty of imagination in it.. but it was lacking a believable complexity & subtlety.
"Neil Ronald Jones (May 29, 1909 – February 15, 1988) was an American writer who worked for the state of New York. His first story, "The Death's Head Meteor", was published in Air Wonder Stories in 1930, possibly recording the first use of "astronaut" in fiction. He also pioneered cyborg and robotic characters, and is credited with inspiring the modern idea of cryonics. Most of his stories fit into a "future history" like that of Robert A. Heinlein or Cordwainer Smith, well before either of them used this convention in their fiction.
"Rating not even a cover mention, the first installment of Jones' most popular creation, "The Jameson Satellite", appeared in the July 1931 issue of Amazing Stories. The hero was Professor Jameson, the last Earthman, who became immortal through the science of the Zoromes."
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neil_R....
Jameson starts off on Earth. He's preparing for his death.
"He would have his body shot into space enclosed in a rocket to become a satellite of the Earth as long as the Earth continued to exist. He reasoned logically. Any material substance, whether of organic or inorganic origin, cast into the depths of space would exist indefinitely." - p 8
Good idea, there, prof.
40,000,000 yrs later..
"The bodies of these strange creatures were square blocks of a metal closely resembling steel, while for appendages, the metal cube was upheld by four jointed legs capable of movement. A set of six tentacles, all metal, like the rest of the body, curved outward from the upper half of the cubic body. Surmounting it was a queer-shaped head rising to a peak in the centerand equipped with a circle of eyes all the way around the head." - pp 11-12
"These were the Zoromes of the planet Zor, which rotated on its way around a star millions of light-years distant from our solar system. The Zoromes, several hundred thousand years before, had reached a stage in science where they searched for immortality and eternal relief from bodily ills and various deficiencies of flesh and blood anatomy. They had sought freedom from death, and had found it, but at the same time they had destroyed the propensities for birth. And for several hundred thousand years there had been no births and few deaths in the history of the Zoromes.
"This strange race of people had built their own mechanical bodies, and by operation upon one another had removed their brains to the metal heads from which they directed the functions and movements of their inorganic anatomies." - p 12
Ok, that's interesting & imaginative but it occurs to me that their metal bodies seem limited & that over several hundred thousand yrs they probably wd've improved on them. Furthermore, uh, brains are organic & therefore susceptible to the physical problems their original bodies had - regardless of being encased in metal.
ANYWAY, Professor Jameson's dead body is found in the orbiting satellite by the Zoromes & they rescue him &..
"The brain was brought to consciousness. The creature's body was discarded after the all-important brain had been removed." - p 19
Um, cdn't they've saved the body too & asked the creature whether he wanted his brain separated from it? Instead they just put it in a metal body. What a shock to wake up to! But the prof rolls w/ it, a little too quickly to my mind. Then the prof joins the Zoromes in wondering about the current state of the Earth.
""I wonder whether or not there are any ruins here to be found?" queried 25X-987.
""I don't believe so," replied the professor. "I remember hearing an eminent scientist of my day state that, given fifty thousand years, every structure and other creation of man would be obliterated entirely from off the Earth's surface."
""And he was right," endorsed the machine man of Zor. "Time is a great effacer."" - p 28
Even tho the Zoromes are several hundred thousand yrs old they don't seem to be significantly more intellectually advanced than the professor, who rapidly assumes a domineering position, wch the Zoromes seem to accept as only natural. Gee, I wonder if that's a plot device to help the reader feel strongly attached to the (formerly) human character?
The Zoromes & the prof reach the titular planet. Since there are 2 suns emitting 2 different colored lights the lighting of the planet undergoes changes based on wch suns are present &/or dominant. The description of this is one of my favorite parts of the bk. I leave it unquoted.
""Look!" spoke the professor waving a tentacle at a scrawled figure upon the wall. "There is what the Tripeds looked like! See–the figure has three legs, and there are also three jointed arms!"
""And there above him are the two shining suns," said another of the machine men, pointing out the solar orbs upon the wall of the rock.
""He is running," observed 72N-4783." - p 44
&, yes, they've discovered remnants of another intelligent species that's apparently been decimated, the Tripeds. Apparently, the same danger that decimated the Tripeds is now destroying the Zorome landing party.
""25X-987," warned the professor, "we are now but seven where we came fifty-one. I advise that we leave at once to avoid complete extinction."
""But they can't get us inside our spaceship, and I am going to return to the canyon of the bones to see if our companions are really beyond recall. I shall also solve the mystery, and wreak our revenge upon whatever creatures have killed my comrades."
""Your revenge will but lead you on to destruction," stated Professor Jameson." - p 56
Oh, well.. the professor, who's tolerated in his bossiness at other times isn't heeded when his fears are most prescient.
"For over forty million years he had lain preserved in death within the rocket container, to be found and brought back to life by the Zoromes. And now he was consigned by the irony of fate to a similiar existence, except that, this time, he was not bereft of life and the sensation of living, His was to be a perpetual life of loneliness, in trivial comparison with the life of a flesh and blood creature of any planet." - p 74
Jameson is discovered by Tripeds from a planet other than the one where they were wiped out. They launch an invasion on the planet where the Tripeds & the Zoromes were decimated w/ revenge in mind.
""We'll kill their entire population!" said another.
""We must send someone back to report to Glrg an Brix!" announced Snrpd.
""And bring back two airships," added Professor Jameson. "There is room for two within the cube if one side is opened for their entrance. Two will be sufficient for our needs at present."" - p 102
These are the good guys, of course, proposing total genocide of beings native to the planet that their precessors & now they are encroaching upon. This is part & parcel of the politics of the novel.
"The machine man and his three-legged companions waited patiently for the dawn. They would then cruise over this strange world to which they had been transported by the scientific sorcery of the transition cube. At last they had come to grips with the Emkls, those wraiths who had spread their hypnotic scourge across the portals separating two dimensions, the blue from the orange and blue." - p 104
The Tripeds hit a winner against the Emkls w/ gas bombs. Apparently WWI & the use of chlorine gas didn't dissuade the author from promoting such a weapon in his post-WWI novel.
""Are you all right?" inquired Ravlt.
""One tentacle missing is all," replied the machine man. "The rest of my ships' company were wiped out."
""So we saw before we let fly with the gas bombs," said Ravlt. "You're lucky to be a machine man. Otherwise the Emkls would have done for you just as easily."
""The bombs did their work well," commended the professor. "The entire city's population is wiped out. The streets are literally choked with the dead."" - p 112
Well, there's more - & there's a happy ending that's condusive to the sequels that I'll probably never read. It's better than any SciFi I'm ever likely to write so I'll commedn it for that.. - but I don't REcommend it.
Neil R. Jones's The Planet of the Double Sun
by tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE - February 26, 2025
I have a soft spot (a weak spot?) for ANY SciFi, no matter how primitive. Even though greats of SF were already long established, the appearance of serialized works like this one in early-mid 20th century magazines didn't live up to their ancestor's standards.
"Truly, it can be stated that the Jameson series of Neil R. Jones has been the longest running continuous character adventure series in the history of science-fiction"
[..]
"In THE PLANET OF THE DOUBLE SUN, Ace Books presents the start of this terrific series." - p 1
& it's on the basis of that that I decided to read this. I enjoyed it, there was plenty of imagination in it.. but it was lacking a believable complexity & subtlety.
"Neil Ronald Jones (May 29, 1909 – February 15, 1988) was an American writer who worked for the state of New York. His first story, "The Death's Head Meteor", was published in Air Wonder Stories in 1930, possibly recording the first use of "astronaut" in fiction. He also pioneered cyborg and robotic characters, and is credited with inspiring the modern idea of cryonics. Most of his stories fit into a "future history" like that of Robert A. Heinlein or Cordwainer Smith, well before either of them used this convention in their fiction.
"Rating not even a cover mention, the first installment of Jones' most popular creation, "The Jameson Satellite", appeared in the July 1931 issue of Amazing Stories. The hero was Professor Jameson, the last Earthman, who became immortal through the science of the Zoromes."
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neil_R....
Jameson starts off on Earth. He's preparing for his death.
"He would have his body shot into space enclosed in a rocket to become a satellite of the Earth as long as the Earth continued to exist. He reasoned logically. Any material substance, whether of organic or inorganic origin, cast into the depths of space would exist indefinitely." - p 8
Good idea, there, prof.
40,000,000 yrs later..
"The bodies of these strange creatures were square blocks of a metal closely resembling steel, while for appendages, the metal cube was upheld by four jointed legs capable of movement. A set of six tentacles, all metal, like the rest of the body, curved outward from the upper half of the cubic body. Surmounting it was a queer-shaped head rising to a peak in the centerand equipped with a circle of eyes all the way around the head." - pp 11-12
"These were the Zoromes of the planet Zor, which rotated on its way around a star millions of light-years distant from our solar system. The Zoromes, several hundred thousand years before, had reached a stage in science where they searched for immortality and eternal relief from bodily ills and various deficiencies of flesh and blood anatomy. They had sought freedom from death, and had found it, but at the same time they had destroyed the propensities for birth. And for several hundred thousand years there had been no births and few deaths in the history of the Zoromes.
"This strange race of people had built their own mechanical bodies, and by operation upon one another had removed their brains to the metal heads from which they directed the functions and movements of their inorganic anatomies." - p 12
Ok, that's interesting & imaginative but it occurs to me that their metal bodies seem limited & that over several hundred thousand yrs they probably wd've improved on them. Furthermore, uh, brains are organic & therefore susceptible to the physical problems their original bodies had - regardless of being encased in metal.
ANYWAY, Professor Jameson's dead body is found in the orbiting satellite by the Zoromes & they rescue him &..
"The brain was brought to consciousness. The creature's body was discarded after the all-important brain had been removed." - p 19
Um, cdn't they've saved the body too & asked the creature whether he wanted his brain separated from it? Instead they just put it in a metal body. What a shock to wake up to! But the prof rolls w/ it, a little too quickly to my mind. Then the prof joins the Zoromes in wondering about the current state of the Earth.
""I wonder whether or not there are any ruins here to be found?" queried 25X-987.
""I don't believe so," replied the professor. "I remember hearing an eminent scientist of my day state that, given fifty thousand years, every structure and other creation of man would be obliterated entirely from off the Earth's surface."
""And he was right," endorsed the machine man of Zor. "Time is a great effacer."" - p 28
Even tho the Zoromes are several hundred thousand yrs old they don't seem to be significantly more intellectually advanced than the professor, who rapidly assumes a domineering position, wch the Zoromes seem to accept as only natural. Gee, I wonder if that's a plot device to help the reader feel strongly attached to the (formerly) human character?
The Zoromes & the prof reach the titular planet. Since there are 2 suns emitting 2 different colored lights the lighting of the planet undergoes changes based on wch suns are present &/or dominant. The description of this is one of my favorite parts of the bk. I leave it unquoted.
""Look!" spoke the professor waving a tentacle at a scrawled figure upon the wall. "There is what the Tripeds looked like! See–the figure has three legs, and there are also three jointed arms!"
""And there above him are the two shining suns," said another of the machine men, pointing out the solar orbs upon the wall of the rock.
""He is running," observed 72N-4783." - p 44
&, yes, they've discovered remnants of another intelligent species that's apparently been decimated, the Tripeds. Apparently, the same danger that decimated the Tripeds is now destroying the Zorome landing party.
""25X-987," warned the professor, "we are now but seven where we came fifty-one. I advise that we leave at once to avoid complete extinction."
""But they can't get us inside our spaceship, and I am going to return to the canyon of the bones to see if our companions are really beyond recall. I shall also solve the mystery, and wreak our revenge upon whatever creatures have killed my comrades."
""Your revenge will but lead you on to destruction," stated Professor Jameson." - p 56
Oh, well.. the professor, who's tolerated in his bossiness at other times isn't heeded when his fears are most prescient.
"For over forty million years he had lain preserved in death within the rocket container, to be found and brought back to life by the Zoromes. And now he was consigned by the irony of fate to a similiar existence, except that, this time, he was not bereft of life and the sensation of living, His was to be a perpetual life of loneliness, in trivial comparison with the life of a flesh and blood creature of any planet." - p 74
Jameson is discovered by Tripeds from a planet other than the one where they were wiped out. They launch an invasion on the planet where the Tripeds & the Zoromes were decimated w/ revenge in mind.
""We'll kill their entire population!" said another.
""We must send someone back to report to Glrg an Brix!" announced Snrpd.
""And bring back two airships," added Professor Jameson. "There is room for two within the cube if one side is opened for their entrance. Two will be sufficient for our needs at present."" - p 102
These are the good guys, of course, proposing total genocide of beings native to the planet that their precessors & now they are encroaching upon. This is part & parcel of the politics of the novel.
"The machine man and his three-legged companions waited patiently for the dawn. They would then cruise over this strange world to which they had been transported by the scientific sorcery of the transition cube. At last they had come to grips with the Emkls, those wraiths who had spread their hypnotic scourge across the portals separating two dimensions, the blue from the orange and blue." - p 104
The Tripeds hit a winner against the Emkls w/ gas bombs. Apparently WWI & the use of chlorine gas didn't dissuade the author from promoting such a weapon in his post-WWI novel.
""Are you all right?" inquired Ravlt.
""One tentacle missing is all," replied the machine man. "The rest of my ships' company were wiped out."
""So we saw before we let fly with the gas bombs," said Ravlt. "You're lucky to be a machine man. Otherwise the Emkls would have done for you just as easily."
""The bombs did their work well," commended the professor. "The entire city's population is wiped out. The streets are literally choked with the dead."" - p 112
Well, there's more - & there's a happy ending that's condusive to the sequels that I'll probably never read. It's better than any SciFi I'm ever likely to write so I'll commedn it for that.. - but I don't REcommend it.
February 22, 2023
Decades ago I received "Doomsday on Ajiat" as a gift from a neighbor. I never forgot that title and years later decided to accumulate the entire collection. On a whim, I finally decided to dive into this first volume.
I found it a big disappointment. A goofy premise, uninteresting story, and terrible science (even for the 1930's, it seems to me). Little explanation is given for any event, and what little there is seems implausible. And giving the machine men alphanumeric designations with no pattern just adds to the confusion. And the Tripeds apparently are unfamiliar with vowels so their names are unpronounceable. I slogged through to the end to see if there was a pay-off and there wasn't.
The thought that kept coming back is that this was something akin to an adventure tale that might engage unsophisticated children.
Mildly entertaining in parts avoided one star. I will be selling this sorry collection post haste.
I found it a big disappointment. A goofy premise, uninteresting story, and terrible science (even for the 1930's, it seems to me). Little explanation is given for any event, and what little there is seems implausible. And giving the machine men alphanumeric designations with no pattern just adds to the confusion. And the Tripeds apparently are unfamiliar with vowels so their names are unpronounceable. I slogged through to the end to see if there was a pay-off and there wasn't.
The thought that kept coming back is that this was something akin to an adventure tale that might engage unsophisticated children.
Mildly entertaining in parts avoided one star. I will be selling this sorry collection post haste.
November 10, 2011
A true surprise! A really good straight sci-fi novel that I just picked from my strange ebook library at random. A scientist striving for immortality finds it 40,000,000 years after the collapse of civilization when his corpse is found by a traveling race of machine people (humanoid brains housed in robotic bodies) and they revive his brain. As a new machine person, Professor Jameson heads off with them on their exploratory journeys.
This is the first book of a series, and whatever other ones I find are definitely going in my to-read list.
This is the first book of a series, and whatever other ones I find are definitely going in my to-read list.
December 24, 2019
The ushering in of science fiction's golden age was pretty thorough (at least in the literary world) in expanding science fiction past the action-romps in space that dominated the pulps, radio serials, and films of the time.
While I generally think of this as a good thing, moving science fiction away from its horror-fantasy roots, it's easy to forget why these were so popular. They're incredibly fun.
The "Professor Jameson" series, penned in the 1930's by Neil R. Jones and featured in Amazing Stories, deserves a better history than the one it's received, bordering on none at all. It was one of the more popular installments of Amazing Stories, and well liked by Hugo Gernsback himself. (For those unfamiliar, the man largely responsible for popularizing science fiction literature, for whom the Hugo awards are named.)
The series is a tale of a scientist who puts himself in stasis in a rocket orbiting earth in the search for eventual immortality. Eventually, he is awoken my machine men with the brains of a race from a distant galaxy who give him the same tin-can treatment and embark on an action space adventure.
It's really fun stuff, and I highly recommend the series as a whole for those who get any sort of value from classic pulp sci-fi.
While I generally think of this as a good thing, moving science fiction away from its horror-fantasy roots, it's easy to forget why these were so popular. They're incredibly fun.
The "Professor Jameson" series, penned in the 1930's by Neil R. Jones and featured in Amazing Stories, deserves a better history than the one it's received, bordering on none at all. It was one of the more popular installments of Amazing Stories, and well liked by Hugo Gernsback himself. (For those unfamiliar, the man largely responsible for popularizing science fiction literature, for whom the Hugo awards are named.)
The series is a tale of a scientist who puts himself in stasis in a rocket orbiting earth in the search for eventual immortality. Eventually, he is awoken my machine men with the brains of a race from a distant galaxy who give him the same tin-can treatment and embark on an action space adventure.
It's really fun stuff, and I highly recommend the series as a whole for those who get any sort of value from classic pulp sci-fi.
December 5, 2019
The Planet of The Double Sun is the first of the Ace Book reprints of The Professor jameson series which first appeared in 1930. Yes it is dated, but it is a good example of the early pace opera genre. This slim volume contains the first three installments that introduced Professor Jameson, an Earthman who died, but who wanted his body to remain in orbit around Earth for as long as possible. 40 million years later the Zoromes, a space faring race that exchanged their flesh and blood bodies for metal casings, much like cyborgs, that are capable of immortality, find the professor's rocket and are able to revive the brain of the professor and encase it in the metal body of the Zoromes. From there they zoom off into the depths of space for adventure and exploration.
Finding a planetary system of a double star they land and find incredible beauty and hideous death. If you enjoy early space opera, then this may be up your alley. I found it better than I expected. I plan on continuing the journey.
Finding a planetary system of a double star they land and find incredible beauty and hideous death. If you enjoy early space opera, then this may be up your alley. I found it better than I expected. I plan on continuing the journey.
May 4, 2025
Completely deranged, but with a bit of charm from it. It's not often that you read a tale where an egotistical professor's eternal tomb leads him to life among alien cyborgs, and participating in inter-species genocide. Stunned to find out how large a shadow this story cast on the sci-fi that would follow it!
November 13, 2024
2.5 stars/5
Pretty ordinary 1930s pulp in 3 parts with the most interesting revolving around the initial Zoromes robots (who are all given coded numeric names which adds to the confusion)- but then it goes down a very wacky hill. Could not wait for this to end.
Pretty ordinary 1930s pulp in 3 parts with the most interesting revolving around the initial Zoromes robots (who are all given coded numeric names which adds to the confusion)- but then it goes down a very wacky hill. Could not wait for this to end.
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August 25, 2010EX-LIB.
May 12, 2015
I have fond memories of this but will it live up to expectations?
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