See Luna and Die (John Keir Cross)

Schoolboy Tom Glenn and his family are one of the first people to live on the Moon, which in the early days of colonisation is mainly inhabited by old millionaires who are able to afford the huge cost of becoming a 'Moon-dweller'. One day an unscheduled rocket arrives from Earth which has been commandeered by a bunch of criminals headed by Giovanni Frescati, known as the King of the Soho underworld, who have escaped to start a new life on the Moon. Can Tom and his gang of friends thwart the plans of the evil mob?

John Keir Cross mainly worked on scripts for the BBC, but he wrote a few children's books as well (including the very good Blackadder set during the Napoleonic Wars) and this is a snappy tale in the Enid Blyton mould (but better written) about plucky kids tackling dangerous criminals. Amusing that it is set in 1995, when it was thought that cities on the Moon would be in vogue (not precisely sure when this was written, but definitely pre-1960).

Overall:- 6/10

Planet:- The Moon  Year:- 1995

Included in:-
Stirring Stories For Boys edited by Eric Duthie (23 pages)

Death and the Sensperience Poet (Joseph Green)

Alistair McAlistair is searching the swamps of a planet similar to Earth, for a missing crew member whose communicator isn't responding. The place is inhabited by swamp-dwellers (who are human in form) and large carnivorous birdmen. Events develop when a member of another search party also disappears and McAlistair starts to have visions of his long dead wife (who committed suicide), whereupon he is drawn towards one of the large plants that grow in the swamp.

Author Joseph Green wrote quite a few short stories from the 1960's onwards and this one creates a decent atmosphere in the gloomy swamp. It becomes too much of a 'message' tale by the end though and the concluding explanation wraps everything up in too trite a way for this to rise above the mediocre (the pretentious title doesn't help either).

Overall:- 5.5/10

Planet:- Achernar

Included in:-
New Writings in SF-17 edited by John Carnell (15 pages)