Classic Sci-Fi Literature: Rip Foster Rides the Grey Planet

[Kerbas_ad_astra]

This is a book that my father gave to me many years ago.  It was originally published in 1952, and despite being reprinted a couple of times a few years later, it seems its publishers neglected to extend its copyright over the years and so it's in the public domain, available for you to read for free at Project Gutenberg (here's the direct link to the HTML file for online reading -- and there's an audiobook as well, which was news to me as I made this post).

It's a great sci-fi adventure story.  Just about every chapter ends on a cliffhanger (and usually with an exclamation point), with such phrases as "P for perihelion and P for peril. In this case, they were the same thing!"  The science is also pretty good -- the author, Harold Goodwin (writing under the penname "Blake Savage"), was the director of atomic test operations for the Federal Civil Defense Administration at the time that he wrote Rip Foster, and the world of Rip Foster employs nuclear thermal rockets and pulse propulsion (concepts that were being seriously studied at the time) to explore the solar system.

It is also definitely a work of its time, in a sort of charming way -- our hero is a Planeteer (think "space marine") fighting for the Federation of Free Governments against the evil Consolidation of Planetary Governments (abbreviated as Consops and "Connies"...), and he does his calculations with a slide rule and radios his figures back to the ship or Headquarters for checking by "electronic computer".

The story goes that Lt. Richard Ingalls Peter "Rip" Foster has just graduated from the academy, and his first assignment (given with great urgency) is to get to the asteroid belt.  A Federation cruiser found an asteroid of nearly pure thorium (valuable nuclear fuel -- especially since it's already in space), but tongues wagged in the bars at Marsport (as they do) and now the Connies know about it as well.  Rip and his squad are to bring this asteroid back to Earth orbit while keeping the Connies off it...and they'll do anything short of starting a war to get it from him.

Sadly, while the book was written to set up a character and setting for a series of stories, no further adventures of Rip were written.  I'm usually dismissive of the endless Hollywood retreads, but this is one book I wouldn't mind seeing a movie version or remake -- and as fun (and cinematic) as it is in its original state, I think a setting update could also work really well.  With the fall of the Soviet Union and the entry of other nations and private corporations into the aerospace world (including interplanetary exploration and prospecting), a remade Rip Foster could approach the conflict from a space piracy and intrigue perspective, in addition to (or instead of) the usual clash of superpowers.

What do you all think?

Edited December 16, 2015 by Kerbas_ad_astra

[Vanamonde]

I think the spaceship on the cover is utterly awesome. 

[Kerbas_ad_astra]

1 hour ago, Vanamonde said:

I think the spaceship on the cover is utterly awesome. 

The Federation's American-designed "snapper-boats" (fighter craft, so named because their sudden accelerations would snap an unsecured pilot right out of his seat) are described as being streamlined, even though it's not necessary (and since the main gun is fixed in the nose, it usually flies at one angle and points at another anyway) -- the Americans just like clean lines. 

[rodion_herrera]

One of the few books that actually has a countryman of mine (Filipino) as part of the crew (Paulo Santos). This book, and Heinlein's Starship Troopers (in the book Rico was from Manila, Philippines and not Buenos Aires).

Edited December 18, 2015 by rodion_herrera