Worlds of Difference
Outer Space. By Eunice Holsaert. Illustrated by
Ronni Solbert. (Oliver and Boyd, 7s. 6d.) Space Travel. By William M. Hutchinson.
(Oliver and Boyd, 4s. 6d.)
The Moon of Gomrath. By Alan Garner. (Collins, 12s. 6d.) EVERY year, as the annual covey of children's books is flushed from the pre-Christmas coverts, the proportion of those dealing directly or indirectly with science increases. Whatever Messrs. Hailsham, Boyle or Wilson may be darkly planning for formal education, the publishers are already making sure that a scien- tific education can start even before a toddler gets to Infant School. Oliver and Boyd's series, `The Open Gate Library,' is designed for this youngest of all reader-categories. Outer Space, No. 3 in the series, has two or three easy sentences on each double-page spread; the illus- trations are simplified (and not, I'm afraid, very attractive) and the basic facts of space travel presented in the same sort of repetitive, almost mesmeric prose that one is used to in books about Susie's dolly-house. It is a brave attempt to realise what seems to me a very questionable idea; must the poor toddler's head be crammed with space-age fact before he is even through the first stage of fantasy?
As a parent I would rather wait a few years, until the child is old enough for the same publisher's `Outlook Series,' in which the infor- mation is detailed enough to cohere, the illustra- tions accurate enough to increase the reader's understanding. No. 5 in this series, Space Travel, is an excellent primer for eight-to-ten-year-olds, answering all the immediately obvious questions about what has been done so 'far, and taking a brief look at the future. No. 2 in the same series, Time, is rather disappointing—it should really have been called `Clocks,' since that is all it concerns itself with : the big questions about Time, and its relationship to space and velocity, arc not even glanced at, so that an excellent opportunity to forge a link between two branches of knowledge is thrown away.
Ray Bethers, who does his own brooding illus- trations, and whose Islands of Adventure I remember with pleasure, has now produced a rather arbitrary compilation which seems to lack any unifying idea. Discoveries contains twenty short articles in forty pages, ranging from Dr. Mantell's discovery of the iguanodon fossil—the first dinosaur--in 1825 to the possibilities which face us in the first years of the space age. Mr. Bethers's own warm enthusiasm for the fruits of human curiosity makes each separate little article, attractive, but somehow they fail to add up to an exciting book.
The Daily Express Science Annual is again wonderful value for money--my children have virtually dismembered with constant use the last one, although it is aimed at a higher age-group- the early teens—than theirs. Chapman Pincher, the Consultant Editor, has assembled a fine team of experts to write the sixteen articles—on under- sea research, colour TV, Teistar, the Laser, and
many other exciting new advances—and there is even one of Brian W. Aldiss's spine-chilling science fiction stories.
It is interesting that the editors of this Annual should have thought to include Mr. Aldiss's story, for there is a point at which`science proper blends almost imperceptibly into science fiction. There are many modern discoveries which are so far removed from common experience that any imaginative mind is bound to use them as a take- off pad for the uninhibited space of speculation, and to my mind the best science fiction is always based upon a known possibility. Arthur C. Clarke, a well-known science fiction author and an enthusiastic undersea explorer, has based Dolphin Island on Dr. Lilly's recent researches with dolphins. There seems to be no doubt that these fascinating mammals have both high intel- ligence and the ability to communicate through sound. Mr. Clarke has taken our present know- ledge a century forward, supposed that a rudimentary system of communication between men and dolphins has been established, and woven around this stimulating idea a warm- hearted adventure story. Even in science fiction the basic problems of human relationships remain much the same. The central conflict in Moon of Mutiny is one that has been explored again and again in earth- bound novels of adventure. Fred Halpern, the young hero, has extraordinary ability but a youthful lack of discipline. He can plot an orbit in his head quicker than a computer, but finds it difficult to understand the necessity, in the new frontiers of space, for absolute obedience. Even when he has understood, there is bound to come, as to any brave midshipman of naval fiction, the moment when he is convinced that the leader's estimate of a situation is wrong, his own right— the moment at which disobedience becomes, retrospectively, a virtue. This is a very credible piece of juvenile science fiction.
Destination Mars is again cast in a common convention, with a group of four young heroes (the Leader, the Maths Wizard, the Prole mechanical genius, the Loyal Lieutenant) whose heroism is being put to the ultimate test by a father-figure, himself a hero of a less technically advanced age. The science fiction thesis is also a common one : the Martians as intelligences so refined that they no longer have bodies at all, and manifest themselves only as a dancing spot of light (shades of Tinker Bell!). Their plans to leave their dying planet by entering the bodies of our heroes are foiled more by chance than anY earthly cunning, which rather takes the bite out of the tale, and the general atmosphere is a bit too Boy's-Own-Paperish for my taste, but the narrative pace is brisk enough.
A further shading-off of categories carries us back into a different kind of fantasy, where the Old Magic of Celtic mythology performs much the same function as the New Magic of the space- time infandibulum. Alan Garner is a devoted student of magical folklore, and weaves into his books a whole world of related mythologic-, much as Robert Graves does in The White Goddess. It is impossible to categorise The Moon of Gomrath: the adventures of Susan and Cohn among the dwarfs and elves and still-living gods in whose moonlight warrings they become in- volved rely for excitement less on a fixed story- line than on the fiery colours of the legends they are moving among. This is a rich, generous book, studded with magical names and the bright sweet) of an ancient imagery. Names, as any science fiction writer knows, can be powerful spells: Ibis whole volume is a spell—handle with care.
JEREMY DROOPS
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